NovaStar VX400s: LED mapping, scaling, PIP and signal loss

Quick Configuration is intended for a regular screen made of cabinets with the same resolution. Entering total width and height is not enough: check Cabinet Row Qty, Cabinet Column Qty, Port 1 Cabinet Qty and Data Flow (Front View). Interpret direction from the front of the LED wall and compare it with the physical wiring before choosing a pattern.

The manual requires equal cabinet counts on the used ports except the last, which may carry fewer, with complete row or column groups. If the installation does not meet those conditions or mixes sizes, prepare the configuration in NovaLCT-Mars as documented. Do not force Quick Configuration and then crop the picture to conceal a scrambled map. Check cabinet identification and continuity before saving to receiving cards.

If cabinets are correctly placed and only part of the content is missing, check Output Settings. With Scale disabled, operation is pixel-to-pixel: a smaller source leaves unused screen area, while a larger one can be cropped. Compare input pixels with screen pixels first; do not confuse video resolution with physical dimensions in meters.

Auto Scale fills the screen, but check proportions using a circle or grid to spot distortion. To select part of the content, enable Scale and disable Auto Scale; check Input Crop, then Output Layer. Repeated cabinets, swapped rows or jumps between modules point back to the data path and map: scaling cannot correct that connection.

Before changing cables, check the Main Layer Source and PIP Source combination. The VX400s table excludes HDMI with DVI, VGA1 with VGA2 and CVBS1 with CVBS2 as simultaneous pairs. Test each source alone, then an allowed pair; when both work alone, that helps separate a shared-resource limitation from a failed input.

Check PIP size, position and crop too: a window outside the visible area can look like a lost signal. If the missing feature is Fade, the manual makes transitions available with PIP off. Agree on the composition that needs to stay on screen before disabling it and rehearse the change; do not assume another NovaStar processor behaves the same way.

Do not rely on that for continuity with this model. The manual warns that the screen goes black if the current source is lost while Freeze is active. A frozen picture does not turn the VX400s into a standalone player. Before changing computers, prepare another valid source and rehearse switching with the event’s actual wiring.

If the LED is already black, check input presence, Black Out and PIP state before restarting. An internal pattern, used outside the show, helps separate the output path from the source: if it appears, follow input and composition; if it does not, inspect power, sending and mapping in the affected section. Return to Normal afterward and verify real content, not just the pattern.