NovaLCT Software: Complete Feature Guide for Beginners

NovaLCT is the nerve centre of any Novastar-based LED screen system. It's the software that connects everything — detecting your hardware, building your screen configuration, controlling brightness and colour, updating firmware, and saving configurations to the screen itself. If you're new to Novastar, understanding what NovaLCT does (and what it doesn't do) saves enormous time and confusion. This guide covers every major feature.

What NovaLCT Is (and Isn't)

NovaLCT is the configuration and control software for Novastar sending devices. It manages the relationship between your Novastar hardware and your LED screen — building the screen map, setting parameters, monitoring hardware health, and calibrating the display.

What NovaLCT is NOT: it is not content playback software, video switching software, or a media server. You play video content through your normal media application (MagicQ, Resolume, VLC, Windows Media, or any other), and NovaLCT runs alongside it managing the LED screen parameters. Think of NovaLCT as the screen's control panel, not its content player.

Downloading and Installing NovaLCT

NovaLCT is free software available directly from Novastar's website. Always download from the official source: www.novastar.tech/products/software

1. Go to www.novastar.tech → Products → Software → NovaLCT
2. Download the latest version for Windows (NovaLCT is Windows-only; Mac users need a Windows VM or PC)
3. Run the installer — standard Windows installation, no special steps required
4. Connect your Novastar sending device to the PC via USB (for sending boxes/cards) or Ethernet (for some VX series models)
5. Launch NovaLCT — it will prompt to detect connected hardware

The NovaLCT Interface: Main Sections

Hardware Connection Panel

The hardware connection panel is where you start every session. It shows all detected sending devices (MCTRL, VX, or installed sending cards) and for each device, the number of receiving cards detected on each output port. This number should match your total cabinet count — if it doesn't, you have a wiring or power problem on the chain.

Screen Configuration (Setup Wizard)

The Screen Configuration wizard is where you build the layout of your screen — telling NovaLCT how many cabinets wide and tall the screen is, which cabinet is first, and how the data routes through them. This is the most important step in getting the screen to display a coherent image rather than scrambled sections.

The wizard guides you through: selecting the sending device output, entering cabinet dimensions (in pixels), setting the cabinet count, choosing the routing direction (S-curve or straight), and then mapping the screen. Once mapped, NovaLCT shows a visual representation of the screen layout.

Screen Control

Screen Control is the day-to-day operating panel. Key controls:

• Brightness slider — global brightness from 0–100%
• Test patterns — display full-screen colours, grey scales, and grid patterns for diagnostic and calibration purposes
• Colour controls — global R, G, B channel adjustment for colour temperature setting
• Freeze — freezes the current image on screen without cutting signal (useful for adjustments)
• Black out — cuts the screen to black while maintaining the connection and configuration

Calibration

The calibration section manages the colour and brightness correction coefficients stored on each receiving card. Basic operations accessible here include seam calibration (adjusting cabinet-to-cabinet brightness matching) and loading or clearing CaliFile calibration data.

Monitoring

The monitoring panel provides live hardware status data from every receiving card in the system: temperature (°C per cabinet), voltage, fan speed (where fans are present), and error flags. This is your early warning system for overheating and hardware failures.

Firmware Update

The firmware update section allows updating the firmware of both the sending device and all connected receiving cards. Firmware updates are distributed by Novastar through their website and are typically needed when: you've encountered a bug, you're updating to a new NovaLCT major version, or when a new feature requires updated firmware.

Loading and Saving Screen Configurations

Screen configurations in NovaLCT are saved as .scfg files — these contain the complete screen layout, cabinet count, pixel mapping, brightness and colour settings, and calibration offsets for your specific screen.

1. After configuring your screen, go to File → Save Configuration and choose a descriptive filename (e.g., "Stage_Screen_8x6_P3.9.scfg")
2. Also send the configuration to the receiving cards: go to Screen Configuration → Send to Hardware — this saves the config to the receiving cards directly
3. With config on the receiving cards, the screen will display correctly after power-on even without a PC connected
4. To reload a saved configuration: File → Open Configuration → select your .scfg file → Send to Hardware
5. Keep multiple configurations saved for different screen sizes or arrangements you use regularly

Common NovaLCT Problems and Solutions