Connectors & signal validation - Docs

Avitly models every port on two axes and refuses to connect ports that cannot physically or electrically work together.

A wiring plan is the logical signal-flow diagram for a job: which device connects to which, over which port, carrying which signal. Avitly checks every connection as you draw it, so a mistake shows up on screen instead of on site.

Before you start

Products need ports defined for validation to catch anything. A port not yet defined behaves as a wildcard and connects to anything, so add ports to your catalog products (by hand, or by scanning a spec sheet) before you rely on the check.

How a port is described

Every port on a device has a connector (the physical plug, like xlr-3, hdmi, or rj45) and a signal it carries (audio, video, data, control, or power). These are independent: a MADI connection uses a BNC plug but carries audio, not video, so Avitly checks both, not just the plug shape.

Build the diagram

Open a project's wiring plans and add devices from the palette on the left, dragging them onto the canvas.
Drag from one device's port to another to draw a connection.
Pick a cable type for the connection from the panel on the right. Cable types are managed per organisation and can carry a colour, a cost per metre, and a list of connectors they support.
Optionally give the connection a label and a length in metres, used in the exported cable schedule.

What gets blocked, and what gets flagged

Direction: one end must be able to send (output or bidirectional) and the other must be able to receive (input or bidirectional). Avitly refuses to complete a connection between two outputs or two inputs.
Signal type: audio, video, data, control, and power never connect to each other. A video output cannot connect to an audio input, and the drag simply will not complete.
Connector family: once direction and signal match, most connectors still need a matching physical family, HDMI will not connect to SDI, DMX will not connect to RS-232, and so on. The exception is line-level analogue audio (XLR, Phoenix, RCA, jack, TRS), which is allowed to cross those connectors freely, since bridging that difference with a cable is routine on site.
Cable type mismatch: if the cable type you picked for a connection does not list the port's actual connector among what it supports, the line renders dashed as a warning. This does not block the connection, since the cable type's connector list is informational, unlike the port compatibility check above.

Tips

A blank or untyped connector on either end is treated as a wildcard and always connects, so devices without ports defined still wire up.
Pin or variant differences, like a 3-pin versus a 5-pin XLR, are deliberately not blocked. The signal check already stops the pairings that actually cannot work; modelling every pinout would flag more false errors than real mistakes.
Export the diagram and its cable schedule as a PDF from the wiring plan toolbar, grouped by cable type with a runs and total length column per type.