JW Stark
  1. EngineeringSource
  2. NetworkingTransport
  3. Artificial IntelligenceAnalysis

Find the fault everyone else has been working around.

When the AV vendor blames IT—and IT blames AV—I find the actual problem.

Remote root-cause engineering for AV-over-IP, networked audio, broadcast video, multicast, timing, routing, and the infrastructure underneath them.

ModeRemote engineering
ScopeDefined before payment
OutputWritten findings
StatusAccepting select cases

Vendors & platforms we engineer across

Fault domains

The expensive problems are rarely isolated.

The symptom may be audio, video, control, or timing. The cause may be three switches away, hidden in an election, policy, boundary, route, or assumption nobody verified.

01 / Multicast

Traffic behaves until topology changes.

IGMP snooping, querier election, mrouter state, flooding, pruning, TTL, and the uplink that changes the failure pattern.

02 / Timing

Clocking looks stable—until it is not.

Dante, AES67, PTP domains, grandmaster selection, boundary behavior, transparent clocks, and scheduled dropouts.

03 / Transport

The network carries packets, but not predictably.

VLANs, QoS, ACLs, routing, VPN dependencies, MTU, congestion, stack behavior, optics, and path asymmetry.

04 / AV-over-IP

Endpoints fail while every dashboard stays green.

Q-SYS, Extron NAV, SDVoE, IPTV, encoder-decoder paths, control dependencies, bandwidth, and firmware interactions.

05 / Intermittent

The fault clears before anyone captures it.

Capture strategy, event correlation, telemetry gaps, state transitions, trigger reconstruction, and evidence preservation.

06 / Escalation

Every team has a plausible explanation.

An independent engineering read across vendors, integrators, IT teams, and signal domains to identify the test that settles it.

AI-assisted engineering

More evidence reviewed before the first recommendation.

AI is used as an analysis multiplier—not a substitute for engineering judgment. It helps structure the timeline, compare configurations, extract signals from logs, correlate evidence, and surface contradictions before I make the final call.

Configurations Packet captures Event logs Topology Firmware states Vendor documentation

Operating method

Clear scope. Senior engineering. No open-ended support contract.

Every case starts with intake. If it is outside my expertise, requires physical installation, or is not a good remote-support candidate, I will tell you before payment.

  1. Submit the evidence

    Describe the symptom, path, environment, changes, stakes, and what has already been ruled out. Sanitized logs, diagrams, screenshots, and configurations can be included.

  2. Fit and scope review

    I determine whether the case is a fit, identify missing evidence, and recommend the appropriate engagement before anything is scheduled or charged.

  3. Work the real system

    Live remote testing, configuration review, packet analysis, event correlation, and targeted experiments against the actual environment.

  4. Document the answer

    You receive the probable root cause, evidence, remediation steps, validation criteria, and the changes that reduce the chance of recurrence.

Engagements

You are buying an answer—not my calendar.

Fixed-fee options for defined problems, with emergency engineering reserved for production-impacting situations. Intake comes first so the scope stays controlled.

Defined fault

Diagnostic Triage

$195

For a clearly bounded issue that needs an experienced second set of eyes.

  • Pre-session evidence review
  • Up to 90 minutes live remote troubleshooting
  • Root-cause hypotheses and test plan
  • Brief written findings and next actions
  • One system or one defined fault
Submit for triage
Bounded, hands-on

Remote Troubleshooting

$495

When a defined fault needs more than a second opinion—hands on the problem with your team on the line.

  • Pre-session evidence review
  • Up to two hours live remote engineering
  • We drive the read-only tests and safe fixes
  • Validation and rollback on every change
  • Written findings and next steps
Book troubleshooting
Production impact

Emergency Engineering

$350 / hour

For live outages, imminent events, after-hours escalations, and critical commissioning deadlines.

  • Two-hour minimum
  • Nights and weekends when available
  • Live production troubleshooting
  • Rapid decision support
  • Offered only after intake review
Request emergency review

Not sure which level applies? Submit the diagnosis first. I will review the case and recommend the appropriate engagement before scheduling or payment.

Engineer

Enterprise networking. Enterprise AV. AI-assisted analysis.

JW Stark is built around the investigation layer—not installation labor. I work remotely with integrators, IT teams, venues, broadcasters, education, houses of worship, corporate environments, and organizations with systems that have already survived normal troubleshooting.

My background spans support, systems administration, network engineering, infrastructure, solutions design, AV-over-IP, multicast, timing, audio, video, routing, switching, and commissioning.

I take a small number of cases at a time. That is deliberate: it protects quality, keeps turnaround realistic, and makes it easier to say no quickly when the case is not a strong fit.

DanteLevel 3
Q-SYSCertified
Extron NAVCertified
Netgear AVDesign
SDVoECertified
LocationMinneapolis–St. Paul

Who am I working with?

Basic contact details so I can respond to the case review.

Transmission received

Your diagnostic intake was sent.

I will review the system details and get back to you as soon as I can by email or text, using the contact information you provided.

No engagement has started yet. I will confirm fit, scope, pricing, and scheduling separately.

Email John directly