Synchronizing Lichtblick Instances
⚠️ This feature is experimental
Synchronization between Lichtblick instances is an early feature under active development. Instabilities or limitations may occur.
Overview
The Lichtblick Sync feature allows users to synchronize playback actions—such as play, pause, seek, and play until—across multiple running instances of Lichtblick on the same platform (desktop-to-desktop or web-to-web). This is especially useful for users working on multi-window/multi-screen setups and comparing MCAPs.
Enabling the Feature
To activate the synchronization:
- Open Lichtblick.
- Go to Settings > Visualization settings > Experimental features.
- Toggle on Sync Lichtblick instances.
Once enabled, a small toggle button will appear in the bottom-right corner of the playback bar.
Using the Sync Feature
Once the feature is enabled and toggled on, the current instance will broadcast playback actions to other active instances running on the same platform.
Supported Broadcast Actions:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Play | Triggers play on all synced instances, starting from the same time. |
| Pause | Pauses all synced instances at the same timestamp. |
| Seek | Seeks all synced instances to a specific point. |
| Play Until | Triggers conditional playback up to a given time across instances. |
🔁 Each instance independently process its own data, but reacts to common control commands.
Requirements and Best Practices
To ensure the feature works properly:
-
All instances must be:
- Open on the same platform: either all desktop or all web.
- Ideally running Lichtblick with the same file.
- Aligned on playback range: The files should cover the same time range.
Otherwise, syncing behavior may be inconsistent.
-
Ensure the "Sync" toggle is enabled in all relevant instances.
Limitations
-
Experimental Feature:
This feature is still under evaluation and subject to change. -
Platform isolation:
Synchronization only works between instances on the same platform:- Desktop-to-desktop ✅
- Web-to-web ✅
- Desktop-to-web ❌
-
Performance-sensitive behavior:
If one instance is under high load (e.g., parsing many topics), it might lag behind others.
Even though actions are synchronized via broadcast, visual synchronization accuracy may vary depending on system performance and buffering behavior. -
Timing offsets may occur:
Playback buffering is local to each instance. The sync mechanism sends time targets, but frame-perfect synchronization is not guaranteed.