showstack / software / wireshark
Wireshark
General-purpose packet analyzer with built-in dissectors for Art-Net, ACN/sACN (E1.31), RDM, RDMnet, and OSC, making it a de facto low-level protocol sniffer for lighting/AV networks.
Protocols it speaks
| Protocol | Direction | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| art-net | in | Native artnet dissector present since very early Wireshark releases (display filter fields documented back to version 1.0.0). |
| sacn | in | Dissected via the ACN dissector's 'Streaming DMX' (E1.31) option, which must be enabled in Preferences > Protocols > ACN. |
| acn | in | Dissects the underlying ACN/E1.17 root layer (Root Layer, SDT, wrappers) that sACN rides on. |
| rdm | in | E1.20 RDM dissector; base fields since Wireshark 1.8.0, extended fields since 3.4.0. |
| rdmnet | in | RDMnet dissector added in Wireshark 3.4.0 (commit 'Added RDMnet protocol', March 2020). |
| osc | in | Open Sound Control dissector, documented display filter fields since Wireshark 1.12.0. |
| mdns-dns-sd | in | Decodes mDNS, the fastest way to prove a discovery problem. |
| snmp | in | Decodes SNMP. |
| srt | in | SRT dissector in current builds. |
What to watch for
sACN ('Streaming DMX') dissection is off by default; enable it in Edit > Preferences > Protocols > ACN or universes show up undissected.
Wireshark only shows what's on the wire, it does not judge whether DMX/sACN data is 'correct' — you must manually expand fields to tell level packets (start code 0x00) from per-address priority packets (0xDD).
The Art-Net dissector is missing most Art-Net 4 fields introduced from protocol document revision 1.4DA onward (open bug, GitLab issue #18293).
The ACN/sACN dissector does not fully dissect Universe Discovery or Universe Sync packets in some releases (GitLab issues #18755, #18767).
Typical use
- Confirm whether sACN/Art-Net packets are actually reaching a node's NIC
- Diagnose sACN priority conflicts by inspecting per-address priority (start code 0xDD) vs level (0x00) packets
- Verify RDM/RDMnet discovery and GET/SET transactions between controller and responder
- Capture and archive a show's network traffic for post-mortem analysis after a failure
Sources
- Wireshark Display Filter Reference: Art-Net
- Wireshark Wiki: ACN protocol dissector
- Wireshark Display Filter Reference: RDMnet
- Wireshark Display Filter Reference: RDM
- Wireshark Display Filter Reference: Open Sound Control
- ETC Support: Troubleshooting sACN priority using Wireshark primary
- Wireshark GitLab issue #18293: Art-Net dissector missing Art-Net 4 features
Understand the mechanism
Something wrong, or missing?
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