NovaStar CX40 Pro: commissioning the 9 Mpx COEX 4K controller

The NovaStar CX40 Pro belongs to the COEX series, the range of all-in-one controllers built for large-scale LED walls: broadcast sets, xR shooting volumes, control rooms and high-end event stages. It combines a sending card, an image processor and a 40 Gbps optical output port in a single rack chassis, feeding the latest generation of 5 Gbps receiving cards such as the CA50E or the XA50 Pro.

Its loading capacity reaches 9 million pixels, placing it above the entry and mid-range COEX controllers. That capacity relies on six 5 Gbps Ethernet output ports, each able to feed a substantial section of the wall, and on the optical port that acts as the main trunk toward remote receiving racks, sometimes tens of metres from the control room.

This tutorial follows the logic of a real installation: identifying the available video inputs, network and optical cabling, configuration from the front touchscreen, colour tuning through a 3D LUT, then supervision via VMP. Every figure quoted comes from the official CX40 Pro specifications sheet (revision V1.5.0, 30 September 2025).

1. What the CX40 Pro is for, and which projects need it

The CX40 Pro targets installations where the video source is professional-grade and reliability is critical: TV sets with an LED backdrop, live-shot xR sets, crisis control rooms, very large-diagonal display walls. Its dual 12G-SDI inputs with loop through make it one of the few COEX controllers directly compatible with a broadcast control room, with no intermediate HDMI conversion.

Choosing the CX40 Pro over an entry-level model becomes necessary once the wall exceeds a standard controller's capacity or the project demands a native 4K signal with no latency compromise. Adaptive frame rate automatically tunes the output cadence to the wall's driving circuits, limiting flicker artefacts visible to shooting cameras.

• Broadcast set: 12G-SDI input wired straight from the video control room.
• xR volume: reduced latency to keep the LED backdrop and tracking camera in sync.
• Control room: aggregating several DP and HDMI sources on the same wall.
• High-end events: 40G optical trunk to place the receiving rack far from the control desk.

Always check whether your source runs at 8, 10 or 12 bits before wiring: the CX40 Pro accepts all three depths on input, but gradient rendering depends directly on the choice made upstream in the control room.

2. Official technical specifications

The table below reproduces the figures published in the CX40 Pro V1.5.0 specifications sheet. These figures set the limits to respect before any cabling: number of inputs, loading capacity and output network throughput.

The 40 Gbps optical port is not interchangeable with the 5 Gbps Ethernet ports: it is a dedicated trunk to a receiving rack fitted with the matching optical module. Never plug a standard Cat6 cable into it.

3. Hardware check before commissioning

Before racking the unit, check the CX40 Pro chassis, the power cord, optical transceivers compatible with the 40 Gbps port, and the wall configuration documentation supplied by the panel manufacturer. The optical port needs an SFP+ or QSFP module matching the stated throughput, which is not always supplied as standard.

Also prepare shielded network cables for the six 5 Gbps Ethernet outputs, an optical fibre long enough for the remote receiving rack, and a computer with VMP installed for configuration and colour calibration.

• CX40 Pro chassis and power cord checked on unboxing.
• 40 Gbps-compatible optical transceivers verified before cabling.
• Shielded network cables for the six 5 Gbps outputs.
• Cabinet configuration file obtained from the panel manufacturer.
• PC with VMP installed and firewall cleared for network discovery.

4. Wiring the video inputs

The CX40 Pro offers four input families: two HDMI 2.0 ports with loop through, one DisplayPort 1.2, and two 12G-SDI ports with loop through. Loop through lets the signal pass on to a monitoring display or a second device without duplicating the source, which is especially useful in a broadcast control room where the same feed must be visible in several places.

On an xR shooting set, favour 12G-SDI for its robustness over long cable runs and its immunity to the set's electromagnetic interference. In a fixed control room, DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 2.0 is generally enough, since the distance between source and controller is shorter.

• HDMI 2.0: PC sources, broadcast desks, streaming encoders.
• DisplayPort 1.2: graphics workstations and simulation stations.
• 12G-SDI: broadcast control room, set cameras, professional video mixers.
• Loop through enabled to check the signal on a monitoring display with no extra hardware.

On an xR shoot, connect the CX40 Pro's Genlock to the same sync reference as the cameras: this avoids visible tearing in post-production on moving shots.

5. 5 Gbps network and the 40G optical trunk

The CX40 Pro's six 5 Gbps Ethernet ports share the total 9 million pixel load toward the receiving cards. With 5 Gbps cards such as the CA50E or the XA50 Pro, each port can feed a much wider wall segment than with a standard Gigabit network, reducing the number of cables needed on large installations.

The 40 Gbps optical port acts as a single link between the controller in the control room and a receiving rack placed near the LED wall, potentially tens of metres away. This architecture avoids running six heavy network cables over the whole distance: only the fibre travels the long run, while copper distribution happens locally at the receiving rack.

• Balance the load evenly across the six 5 Gbps ports.
• Reserve the 40 Gbps optical port for the long-distance link to the receiving rack.
• Use 5 Gbps receiving cards (CA50E, XA50 Pro) to fully exploit the throughput.
• Check the optical module's compatibility with the stated throughput before powering on.

Do not mix standard Gigabit receiving cards with the 5 Gbps ports without checking backward compatibility: effective throughput falls back to the slowest card, artificially capping the wall's real loading capacity.

6. Configuring from the front touchscreen

The built-in 5.5-inch front touchscreen lets you configure the controller without a computer: selecting the active input, setting the output resolution, enabling adaptive frame rate and quickly reading the MAC address for network registration. This is a real advantage for quick interventions in a control room where connecting a configuration PC is not always practical.

For advanced settings — 3D LUT, fine-grained layer parameters, saving multi-screen presets — VMP remains the reference tool: it offers an overview impossible to get on a 5.5-inch screen and lets you duplicate a validated configuration across several CX40 Pro units in the same fleet.

• Select the active source directly from the touchscreen.
• Read the MAC address for registration in the network directory.
• Enable or disable adaptive frame rate depending on the wall's driving circuits.
• Switch quickly between input profiles during a live show.

7. Importing a 3D LUT and colour calibration

The CX40 Pro accepts 3D colour lookup tables in 33×33×33 and 65×65×65 formats, a finer resolution than the 17×17×17 format common on entry-level controllers. That precision matters on an xR shooting set, where the slightest colour drift between the LED backdrop and physical set elements becomes visible to the camera.

The LUT is usually generated from a colorimetric measurement of the wall with a dedicated probe, then imported via VMP. Once applied, it corrects hue and gamma variations specific to each batch of LED cabinets, ensuring visual consistency across the whole display surface.

Re-measure and re-import a 3D LUT after any LED cabinet replacement on the wall: even from the same manufacturer, a different batch of panels almost always shows a slight colour mismatch against the rest of the screen.

8. Control and supervision through VMP

VMP (Vision Management Platform) centralizes control of several COEX controllers from a single station. It lets you build scenes, switch sources on cue, monitor the network status of the six 5 Gbps ports and the 40 Gbps optical link, and deploy the same 3D LUT across a set of CX40 Pro units used in a multi-screen configuration.

The centralized control protocol and Art-Net compatibility also let the CX40 Pro integrate into a broader show-control chain alongside lighting consoles or media servers, common on event productions combining LED and synchronized lighting.

• Create a VMP account and register each CX40 Pro by its MAC address.
• Group the controllers of a given set or room into a single project.
• Deploy the validated 3D LUT across the whole fleet in one operation.
• Monitor the 40 Gbps optical link and the six 5 Gbps ports from the dashboard.

9. Troubleshooting common issues

Most incidents reported in the field stem from a mismatch between the stated network throughput and the receiving hardware actually installed, or from an optical module incompatible with the 40 Gbps port. The table below lists the priority checks before any return to the workshop.

Commissioning procedure

1. Check the hardware delivered

   Verify the CX40 Pro chassis, power supply, 40 Gbps optical transceivers, and retrieve the cabinet configuration file.

2. Wire the video inputs

   Connect HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 or 12G-SDI sources depending on the control room, enabling loop through if a monitoring display is needed.

3. Deploy the 5 Gbps network and optical link

   Balance the load across the six 5 Gbps Ethernet ports toward the CA50E or XA50 Pro receiving cards, then connect the remote rack through the 40 Gbps optical port.

4. Configure from the touchscreen

   Select the active source, read the MAC address and enable adaptive frame rate according to the wall's driving circuits.

5. Import the 3D LUT

   Measure the wall's colorimetry with a dedicated probe, generate the 33×33×33 or 65×65×65 LUT, then import it via VMP.

6. Supervise through VMP

   Register the controller in VMP by its MAC address, group the CX40 Pro units of a given set, and check the status of the optical link and network ports.

Frequently asked questions

Official documentation

• CX40 Pro LED Display Controller Specifications V1.5.0 (official PDF) — Specifications sheet
• VMP Vision Management Platform User Manual V1.2.0 (official PDF) — User manual
• NovaStar software downloads — Software

Related tutorials

• NovaStar MX40 Pro tutorial: 20-port COEX controller
• NovaStar MX30 tutorial: mid-range COEX controller
• VMP tutorial: controlling a fleet of COEX controllers
• NovaLCT tutorial: LED screen configuration

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