This page covers the network connection a control panel talks over. One checkbox, a port and a password — and one thing to know about when the change takes effect.
Switching it on
Settings → General → Remote control:
| Setting | What it is |
|---|---|
| Allow remote control | Off by default. |
| Port | The port panels connect to. |
| Require a password | Strongly recommended, see below. |
| Password | With Show, New and Copy beside it. |
New generates a password without characters you lose on another keyboard — no I, l, 0 or O to mistype at the other end. Copy puts it on the clipboard for pasting into the panel.
It takes effect after a restart
A change here starts working the next time the program starts, and the settings say so in orange underneath: Changed. This takes effect the next time Ultimate Playout starts. Set it, restart the program, then set up your panel.
Security
Switch the password on. Without one, anybody who can reach the port can stop your broadcast — and on a church or school network that is a larger group than people assume.
Two more habits:
Do not forward the port to the internet. A control panel belongs on the same network. Where somebody genuinely has to reach it from elsewhere, that is a VPN question, not a port-forwarding question.
Change the password when the volunteer team changes. It is written down somewhere by then.
Checking it works
After the restart, connect your panel. If it does not connect, work through them in this order:
- Is Allow remote control really on — and did the program restart since?
- Does the port match on both sides?
- Does the password match? Use Copy rather than typing it.
- Can the panel reach the machine at all — same network, no firewall in between?
If all four are right and the panel still sees nothing, it is almost always a setting changed while the program was running: that only takes effect on the next start.