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CTS AquaSync

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CTS AquaSync is a Windows program from Colorado Time Systems (CTS), part number R-470-123, that renders live timing and scoring as broadcast-style graphics over a video stream. It takes its data from a CTS timing system and sends the finished graphics to streaming software over NDI, a network video protocol, so no capture hardware sits between the two.12 It runs on top of DisplayLink Plus, or on a reduced build called DisplayLink Plus Lite at facilities without a CTS video display.12

CTS announced the program on 22 April 2026. The announcement was issued as a press release and republished by the swimming press without independent reporting, so its claims about the product are the company’s own.3 The product page records version 1.1.9, dated 14 April 2026.1

Role in the display system

AquaSync separates the video overlay from the scoreboard. A CTS console runs the race and produces scoreboard data, DisplayLink Plus receives it, and AquaSync renders that data as a graphics layer which streaming software composites over the camera feed. Because the output is NDI, it reaches any NDI-capable production system over the network; CTS names OBS and vMix.12

This is a different path from the one CTS documented before AquaSync, in which the stream was produced by capturing the video signal already going to the board, with a capture device between the display computer and the video board controller and a crop applied in the streaming software. That arrangement, and the five controllers CTS supports for it, are described on the DisplayLink Plus page. CTS has not said whether AquaSync replaces that method or sits alongside it.4

One related name is unexplained. The DisplayLink Plus release notes record that the program gained a link to CTStream in 2022, and that the link was repaired in 2024, but CTS has published nothing else about it, and nothing states how it relates to AquaSync.5

Sports and compatible systems

CTS lists AquaSync as working with Gen7 Swimming and Diving, System 6 Swimming and Diving, and water polo on both System 6 and the WTTC tabletop controller. The graphics and layouts for swimming, diving and water polo are supplied with the program rather than designed by the operator, which is the opposite of the template model DisplayLink Plus uses for the board itself.12

Each sport has its own set of overlays to pick from. CTS names two for swimming, a basic grid and a lane-mapped graphic it calls HD Lane Graphics; for diving, an awards and results overlay and a leaderboard; and for water polo, a score bug with the game and shot clocks. The operator’s sequence is to connect the timing system to DisplayLink Plus, start AquaSync, choose the sport and the overlay, send it out over NDI, and place it over the camera feed in the streaming software.6

Licensing and system requirements

AquaSync is sold outright at USD 199.00, and CTS states that it carries no annual fee or subscription.2 The stated requirements are Windows 11, a multi-core processor of at least Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 class, 8 GB of RAM, and 150 MB of storage, with a solid-state drive recommended. DisplayLink Plus or DisplayLink Plus Lite is required as well.12

What the Lite build omits is not documented. CTS says only that it is for facilities without a CTS videoboard and that it ships inside the AquaSync installer, which implies it is a DisplayLink Plus that drives no board, but the company does not say what else it lacks.12

See also

See everything tagged Software.

References

Footnotes

  1. Colorado Time Systems, AquaSync: Overlay Graphics for Live Streaming (v1.1.9, 14 April 2026; compatible systems and requirements). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. Colorado Time Systems, CTS AquaSync (R-470-123, USD 199.00; no annual fee or subscription). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. Swimming World, Colorado Time Systems Introduces CTS AquaSync for Real-Time Aquatic Live Streaming (22 April 2026; a CTS press release, republished). ↩

  4. Colorado Time Systems, DisplayLink Video to Broadcast Software Instructions (F1062) (Rev. 202104). ↩

  5. Colorado Time Systems, Display Link Plus Help, Release Notes topic (CTStream connection added in v4.5.0, 22 April 2022; restored in v4.6.7, 1 October 2024). ↩

  6. Colorado Time Systems, AquaSync Live Streaming Graphics Overlay (the operating sequence and the overlays supplied for each sport). ↩

Last updated September 18, 2026.