A 24-port, gigabit, managed (L2) switch with VLAN support — a typical choice for the network distribution of video wall controllers and sending cards.
TP-Link · managed network switch, gigabit, L2
TP-Link (Omada) TL-SG3428 LED wall infrastructure
Modern LED wall control systems (NovaStar, Colorlight, Brompton and so on) use an Ethernet network for communication between the sending cards and the video wall processor, and it matters that the switch is managed: VLANs allow the video wall controller's traffic to be separated from the organisation's other network traffic, and per-port load and errors can be monitored. The TL-SG3428 is a 24-port, gigabit, L2 managed switch with 4 SFP slots for uplink/optical expansion.
It is important that LED wall video signal (particularly on high-resolution, high-refresh displays) requires substantial, continuous bandwidth on a gigabit port — if other high-traffic devices (a security camera system, for instance) are also connected to the same switch without VLAN separation, this can lead to congestion and to visible picture faults on the video wall (stuttering, black flashes).
Where the (Omada) TL-SG3428 sits in an LED wall system
The switch sits in the control system's management and content-side network. An important distinction: on most systems the pixel data between the sending card and the receiving card does NOT pass through a commercial switch — that is point-to-point, chained Cat cabling with its own protocol. The switch links the playback server, the management software (supervision of the VNNOX/NovaLCT type), the remote monitoring, the cameras and the control channels between several controllers; this network carries the content and the brightness scheduling into the system.
WHEN IT IS THE RIGHT CHOICE
On systems with several sending cards or several video wall segments, where VLAN-based separation and monitoring of port state matter.
WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR
The theoretical bandwidth of a gigabit port (1000 Mbps) cannot in practice be allocated in full to several high-resolution video streams — on large systems with many sending cards, the network design has to take the actual load into account, not just the port count, with a 10-gigabit uplink or separate segments where needed.
The (Omada) TL-SG3428 in practice
From this follows the most common design mistake: someone puts an office switch between the sending card and the receiving card because 'it's the same RJ45', and the wall does not start or breaks up. On the management side, however, a managed switch really is needed: with the LED wall's control on a separate VLAN, the organisation's other traffic (camera system, guest Wi-Fi, overnight backups) cannot hold up the content download or the remote control. Do not plan for PoE on this task: sending and receiving cards are not PoE-powered, their supply comes from the system's own 5V bus, and spending money on a PoE switch here is unnecessary.
Alternatives to the (Omada) TL-SG3428
A small system with a single sending card does not need a managed switch — a simple unmanaged gigabit switch is enough there to link the player and the supervision. On a larger installation spanning several parts of a building, an optical module can be fitted into the SFP slots, so the switch itself solves the run beyond 100 metres, without an extender. If a 10-gigabit uplink is needed (serving high-resolution content, several players), that is already a different class of switch.
(Omada) TL-SG3428 manual and datasheet
The documents live on the manufacturer's own site and open in a new window — so you always get the latest version. We do not copy or translate their contents.
Related signal transmission and mounting
LED wall infrastructure — but what does it go into?
On its own the TP-Link (Omada) TL-SG3428 is a component. With us it works inside these displays — design, manufacturing and installation included.
