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| dmx | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Friday February 10th, 2012 04:01 pm |
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1st Post |
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Lincoln Lights Member
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I am looking to build a dongel for LED RCB Lights. Why should I spend the extra money for the Entec (70 + with shipping) vs a USB 485 (30 ish with shipping)
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| Posted: Friday February 10th, 2012 10:17 pm |
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2nd Post |
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Steven Member 
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Theoretically (I will know more once I get my Enttec, Rainbow Flood Extremes, and DMX RGB modules set up), the Enttec offloads much of the DMX work from the computer, resulting in a smoother display with less glitches. This is because the show computer will then have more time to play audio, read sequence files, and generate LOR network traffic. Perhaps I'll have a chance to compare them later.
____________________ LOR user since 2007 |
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| Posted: Friday February 10th, 2012 10:57 pm |
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3rd Post |
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bretk Member 
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The enttec pro offloads some workload from your computer (135-145) on eBay, the enttec open (60-70) on eBay does not do that. I have tried all 3 and prefer the enttec as it has a very good track record in Australia and their lor community. That being said the lor usb485 should work fine, I think mine are the older chipset, as I could not get them to work, while both enttecs work fine for me.
____________________ Bret   
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| Posted: Tuesday February 14th, 2012 11:38 pm |
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4th Post |
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crackchecker Member 
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OK, I'm going to weigh in on this after my experience today. I just got DMX working, yah... bad part...I used a new usb485 and there is a very noticible lag while running. Enttec Pro should take care of that I'm hoping..
____________________  It's a light thing, you wouldn't understand! |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 12:33 am |
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5th Post |
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Jeff Millard Member 
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I compared my ENTTEC Open to my USB485B and saw no difference. No lag of any sort. Jeff
____________________ ...did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 12:38 am |
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6th Post |
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hdracer Member 
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Jeff Millard wrote: I compared my ENTTEC Open to my USB485B and saw no difference. No lag of any sort. Now im happy again! Thanks Jeff! I hate when I read something and you get that gut feeling that you just waisted $$... I have 2 usb485b's Now that I see what you stated about "no visible lag" Im happy as a bug in a rug again.. You just made my heart thump harder than my wife has on Valentines Day.. & she is good but... I gotta give it to you!
____________________ Johnny I have C.L.A.P |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 10:15 am |
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7th Post |
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Jeff Millard Member
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I'm still waiting for some input from someone who has an ENTTEC Pro and a whole bunch of DMX channels programmed with a boat-load of data, to compare it to a USB485B or and ENTTEC Open and give some kind of insight as to the point where the Pro's processor begins to help out. I've put two DMX to WS2801 adapters with a combination of 150 pixels on them along with a Rainbow Flood Extreme on 1 universe using both the ENTTEC and the USB485B. With the ENTTEC connected I also had the USB485B connected to the heart prop I made. With the USB485B used for DMX I used an SC485 to connect to an LOR controller, to power an ELL, to control the Heart prop. The animation was just 1 second shifts from red to green to blue and back again in a 2 second chase across 50 RGB channels duplicated for all three pixel devices and on the CCR controller for the heart. Ran this from the sequencer with loop at end selected. A total of 450 DMX channels and 150 LOR channels with some pretty fast color changes in all directions and it ran fine. It's a P4 machine with 2G mem and XP. The only noticeable issue was when the sequencer would 'page' the visible screen. When I turned that off it ran fine. But, that happens with that computer if it's not controlling any lights. I ran the animation with everything connected from the show player and everything looked fine to me. So, I'm kinda wondering how much more it takes for the ENTTEC Pro's processor to be worth the investment. Multiple universes? I just don't know as that was all the hardware I have for DMX. I'm wondering if I should have placed that animation in a larger LOR sequence from my show, as it only had one LOR CC device in the animation. It's too late to test with all that DMX hardware now. I've shipped 90 of the pixels off to a friend so he can test his new Sandevices E681. Jeff
____________________ ...did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 04:55 pm |
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8th Post |
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Lincoln Lights Member
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thanks for the input. I ordered a usb 485 to run the dmx for now. I figure as I grow in this new addiction, xbox what? I will probable go over board quickly... BUt I thought I would start with smaller steps...
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 05:18 pm |
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9th Post |
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bdeditch Member 
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Lincoln Lights wrote: thanks for the input. I ordered a usb 485 to run the dmx for now. I figure as I grow in this new addiction, xbox what? I will probable go over board quickly... BUt I thought I would start with smaller steps... Now how do you use this for DMX, what do you use for network on this, Raw DMX and Universe 1?
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 06:07 pm |
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10th Post |
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Steven Member
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Jeff Millard wrote: ... give some kind of insight as to the point where the Pro's processor begins to help out. I tried comparing the Enttec Pro to the USB485B when running a (musical) sequence with about 250 LOR channels (although about 50 of those channels were on a LOR network set to "(None)" because I was using that port for the DMX test). I didn't notice a difference by switching back and forth. If you look at the problem logically, when using the USB485B, the computer has to send about 40 DMX packets a second through the interface. This load could make it busy so that it misses sending events on the LOR network. When using the Enttec Pro, the computer only has to send something to the interface when an intensity changes, which should reduce the load on the CPU. The real way to test this is to run the Task Manager while playing the sequence. Run it with the USB485B and note the CPU usage, then again with the Enttec Pro. Any practical differences should show up as missed or delayed events, most often on LOR (not DMX) channels. I'm also thinking that if you have a multi-CPU (or multi-Core) system, and if the show player runs on one CPU and the LORCommListener.exe runs on the 2nd CPU, then the load is already split and there won't be any difference between the Enttec Pro and the USB485B.
____________________ LOR user since 2007 |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 06:32 pm |
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11th Post |
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hdracer Member
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Wow! Steven & Jeff are my favs now! Thank you guys so much for researching this out...
____________________ Johnny I have C.L.A.P |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 15th, 2012 07:45 pm |
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12th Post |
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Jeff Millard Member
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Well, I doubt if I can be of any more help here. I've already shipped most of the pixels from my 'test' order off to to sunny Florida where they can be used to test some other new hardware. The P4 in my Dell 8400 is probably dual-core. I didn't pay any attention to the machine, only the lights. My next hardware tests should be around the beginning of May when I intend to have 1000 8MM nodes and 360 WS2801 ribbon pixels, and hopefully an E1.31 pixel controller making the DMX adapter problems null and void. All told it looks like I have to find the time to sequence 1595 RGB pixels and 200+ channels before black Friday... Jeff
____________________ ...did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? |
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| Posted: Friday February 17th, 2012 01:55 am |
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13th Post |
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jeffl Member 
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Dan noted in another post that the older USB485 adapters had slower chips in them and my not be able to handle the DMX protocol properly. He was going to check and see if there was any way to verify what chips were in the older models that were slower. Based on my testing, I won't use the USB485B adapters I have for anything but the LOR protocol. I used an Enttec Pro for 2011 and it worked like a charm, but it does have a price to go with it.
____________________ You know you're addicted when the cost of everything you purchase is compared to a string of lights! Almost 600 Channels for 2011. http://www.ChristmasInBrandon.com |
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| Posted: Friday February 17th, 2012 02:02 am |
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14th Post |
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bretk Member
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jeffl wrote:Dan noted in another post that the older USB485 adapters had slower chips in them and my not be able to handle the DMX protocol properly. I agree on the enttec have me and really like them. But now with sandevices lor to e1.31 bridge coming to market in march with a price of about $100 that will give you 4 dmx universes over Ethernet I will hold off on getting any more enttecs.
____________________ Bret
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| Posted: Friday February 17th, 2012 02:49 am |
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15th Post |
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hdracer Member
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I shall patiently wait too!
____________________ Johnny I have C.L.A.P |
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| Posted: Friday February 17th, 2012 10:35 am |
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16th Post |
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Andrew Bev Member 
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bdeditch wrote:Lincoln Lights wrote:thanks for the input. I ordered a usb 485 to run the dmx for now. I figure as I grow in this new addiction, xbox what? I will probable go over board quickly... BUt I thought I would start with smaller steps... Yes this is how you set it up.
____________________ http://tamborinechristmaslights.webs.com/ 
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| Posted: Friday February 17th, 2012 10:58 pm |
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17th Post |
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Jeff Millard Member
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jeffl wrote: Dan noted in another post that the older USB485 adapters had slower chips in them and my not be able to handle the DMX protocol properly. Yeap, sounded a little fishy to me when it's on the officail list for supported adapters. I don't think I ever saw a response to the question about chip IDs or batches. My USB485B is a very early one and it's the one I used to test. For all we know he could be talking of a few or a few hundred. I'm guessing that having the adapter in the official "supported" DMX adapter list, anyone who's got one with a deficient chip will probably be getting a replacement adapter... But I'm only guessing... Jeff
____________________ ...did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? |
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| Posted: Friday February 17th, 2012 11:16 pm |
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18th Post |
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bdeditch Member
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Andrew Bev wrote:bdeditch wrote: I already have a Enttec Pro hooked up and an extra usb from LOR I am going to try hook that up as well.
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| Posted: Sunday February 19th, 2012 04:13 pm |
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19th Post |
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Dr. Jones Member 
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Jeff I re-hashed a show i did in 2008 that used iDMX units and 4 networks, This year I used 4LOR networks and 5DMX networks( i used Lynx dongles). In 2008 I had major latency issues with channels sticking on and fades not happening. This year it ran flawlessly. Just for giggles, I tried setting the show up two other ways, first i used iDMX units instead of the Lynx dongles - knowing I was going to lose 15 nodes and alot of dimming capability ( i still had the show set-up with the iDMX units as 16x16 controllers -aka legacy mode). I saw the same issues I had in 2008, Even at 9 networks(all LOR), There was still noticable lag and dropped commands Then i tried using just the usb485 with no iDMX in RawDMX and I experienced the same issues relating to dropping some commands, but the lag had dissapeared Hope this helps?
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| Posted: Sunday February 19th, 2012 10:46 pm |
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20th Post |
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crackchecker Member
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So Dr. what did you do differently than in 2008 that you know of that got rid of your latency issues? What is your setup? (your computer to ? to ? to ?) Might help others... I'm experamenting with DMX and using usb485 and have those latency issues myself. been thinking about getting a Enttec Pro to see if it goes away. I was always thinking that with dmx you would gain the colors and still have quick/snappy responses. Now it's not looking that way at all. got the colors but forget about all the time spent sequencing on timing marks.
____________________ It's a light thing, you wouldn't understand! |
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| Posted: Sunday February 19th, 2012 11:04 pm |
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21st Post |
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Dr. Jones Member
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There were only 2 changes for testing, though i had to make another to have my actual show. The biggest change was the use of S3 over S2, this allowed for the second change, use of my Lynx dongles. The Lynx dongles are comparable to the Enttec Pro but are DIY. 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voVkY-QRjO8&feature=g-upl&context=G2d64975AUAAAAAAABAA 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImFrQBPo6ZI&feature=g-upl&context=G2241c56AUAAAAAAAAAA For the show this year I had to replace my computer as well. My old dell workhorse wasnt stable. I was able to test with it and then it started blue screening on me. one thing that is not quite visible on this years video is the chase of a sigle pixel (camera got bumped). the chase is across all 300 nodes on the eaves at a timing of .01. in person, it worked like it was supposed to
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| Posted: Sunday February 19th, 2012 11:45 pm |
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22nd Post |
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bretk Member
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The 08 video worked but couldn't access the 2011. Btw the 2008 looked good to me
____________________ Bret
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| Posted: Sunday February 19th, 2012 11:56 pm |
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23rd Post |
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Dr. Jones Member
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bretk wrote: The 08 video worked but couldn't access the 2011. Btw the 2008 looked good to me The 08 video is horrible- there are so many channels sticking on, the CK strands on the eaves didnt change pixel colors at the correct time, the list goes on and on. This was a depressing year. I believe I had gone beyond the limitations of LOR at that point in time. I was able to resolve some issues by running some controllers off of minidirectors controlled from relays. I did alot of testing before work invaded and consumed all my free time
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| Posted: Tuesday February 21st, 2012 02:52 am |
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24th Post |
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jeffl Member
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I notice sticking mainly on my arches and fans. These items have noticeable movement. Other items are hard to tell so the average user would not notice. When my fans and arches stick it's very obvious. My plan is to switch as much of my network over into two DMX networks for 2012. I'm hoping sticking is a thing of the past. I'm just wondering what other gremlins will appear.
____________________ You know you're addicted when the cost of everything you purchase is compared to a string of lights! Almost 600 Channels for 2011. http://www.ChristmasInBrandon.com |
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