The ATVO Data Tunnel is a new application that enables you to run ATVO and iRacing on separate computers. The Data Tunnel transfers the iRacing data over your local network in an efficient way such that ATVO can receive and run your overlays on a separate PC in real-time with no delays. Using the Data Tunnel allows for a large increase in overlay performance in case your PC is not powerful enough to run both iRacing and ATVO with complex themes.

The Data Tunnel is especially useful in combination with NDI, since you can now completely separate your iRacing and ATVO overlay recordings, and merge them back together via NDI.

Data Tunnel is intended for more professional broadcasting setups working with multiple camera views and separate streaming of iRacing and the overlay graphics. If you broadcast both iRacing and ATVO overlays at the same time, then Data Tunnel may not be useful for you.


Starting Data Tunnel
ATVO Data Tunnel is a separate application, but it can be started via ATVO from the Remote - Data Tunnel menu. You can also find it in your ATVO install directory under 'DataTunnel' and create a shortcut to the "ATVO.Data.Tunnel.exe" file.


Data Tunnel setup
A typical setup for using Data Tunnel is to have two PCs connected over a local network (LAN). One PC ("PC1") will run iRacing, while the other PC ("PC2") will run ATVO.

PC1: "Server" or iRacing PC:

• PC1: run iRacing and start the ATVO Data Tunnel.
• PC1: go to the Server tab, enter a desired port number and click Start Server. The server can only be started once connection to iRacing is established.

PC2: "Client" or ATVO PC:

• Start ATVO and enable Data Tunnel by going to the Settings - General Settings and change Data Source to "Data Tunnel".
• Restart ATVO to ensure the change is applied. ATVO should obtain an orange border and say it is waiting for Data Tunnel connection.
• Start Data Tunnel via the Remote - Data Tunnel menu.
• Go to the Client tab and enter the local IP address of your server PC1. Also enter the same port number you supplied on the server PC.
• Click Connect to start the connection.

If successful, ATVO should now be receiving iRacing data via the Data Tunnel, even though no iRacing is running on the ATVO computer.


Two-sided connection
ATVO Data Tunnel will also send back commands from ATVO to iRacing, for example when you switch drivers or cameras or use the replay controls. This way your workflow is exactly the same as with a direct iRacing data connection.


Make sure your use LAN connection
While it is possible to connect via public IP, the amount of data will likely be too large for real-time data streaming and you will suffer from large delays. Ensure you use a LAN and local IP to connect for a smooth experience.

Hi Nick,

I'm having an issue getting this to work. On the "Client" PC, its not giving me the option of connecting to the correct IP. It's only showing the IP of the Client PC, and not the Server PC. Can this be adjusted to be able to manually enter the IP address?

Thanks

EDIT - Never mind - you can!

Yes you can enter any IP. Although the dropdown should be showing all local network connections so I am not sure why your client PC was not listed. Are you sure it's on the same local network and you aren't connecting over the internet? While possible it will most likely be a bad experience.

Is it possible to use this method to run ATVO on another PC and stream it to a browser source?

We cannot export the graphics as a browser source, however we do support NDI which is very similar. With an OBS plugin you can add an NDI source which shows the ATVO graphics similar to a browser source. ATVO can then run on another computer as OBS, as long as they are on the same local network.

The Data Tunnel is one step further removed - it allows you to also run ATVO and iRacing on different computers. You can of course combine these if you have enough computers :)

Basically the three typical setups are:

1. 1 PC: ATVO, iRacing and OBS all run on the same PC. ATVO graphics are physically moved on top of iRacing window and captured via screen capture. This captures both ATVO and iRacing at the same time.
2. 2 PCs: ATVO and iRacing run on one PC, while OBS runs on a second PC. Use NDI to capture and stream the graphics over LAN to your OBS PC. This gives you a separate source for the ATVO graphics. How you insert iRacing graphics behind that is up to you (another NDI source is possible or any other method).
3. 3 PCs: iRacing on PC1, ATVO on PC2, OBS on PC3. Use Data Tunnel to let ATVO receive iRacing data via LAN, and use NDI to capture the graphics in OBS. Again, how you capture iRacing is up to you.

You can go even further if you really need maximum performance and flexibility but it is quickly overkill for anyone other than the professional broadcasters (e.g. iRacing themselves). You can use multiple iRacing camera views and mix them all together via any means you want. Then you can use one of those for the data (or yet another iRacing PC just for the data, connected via Data Tunnel), and use NDI to put the ATVO graphics on top of your mixed iRacing streams.