Licence Requirement

[JoeyD]

Is the pro level required to actually save and run your controller with sequences from superstar? Also is the 2CCR Licence level of Superstar enough to run 150 Tradional LED light strings.

[Mr. P]

Superstar license requirements:

SuperStar 2-CCR requires Basic or higher

SuperStar 4-CCR requires Basic Plus or higher

SuperStar 8-CCR requires Standard or higher

All higher SuperStar Levels require the Advanced or Pro level license

One tradition led string = one channel. A 2CCR license = 300 channels.

Edited September 26, 2019 by Mr. P

[BrianBruderer]

What Mr. P stated is true for S4. But currently, in S5, in order to run SuperStar you need to do it from a motion effect row and to do motion effect rows you need the Pro license.

 

[JoeyD]

3 hours ago, BrianBruderer said:

What Mr. P stated is true for S4. But currently, in S5, in order to run SuperStar you need to do it from a motion effect row and to do motion effect rows you need the Pro license.

 

That brings me to my next question. I am purchasing the starter package; which software is included with that, s4 or s5? Side note I don't plan on throwing this all together for this season but planning for next season which I've already realized I will need at least a second controller... The beast begins lol. I've read in forums this addiction happens and it all started with an off the shelf show box. Anyway, I've read s5 may be harder to use? Should I I just buy the controllers and s4 software seperately?

[lanopie]

I've been using S5 since it came out in Beta version and have never gone back.  If I were you I would go with S5.  If you have to start learning a new software you might as well go for the latest.

[dibblejr]

4 hours ago, JoeyD said:

That brings me to my next question. I am purchasing the starter package; which software is included with that, s4 or s5? Side note I don't plan on throwing this all together for this season but planning for next season which I've already realized I will need at least a second controller... The beast begins lol. I've read in forums this addiction happens and it all started with an off the shelf show box. Anyway, I've read s5 may be harder to use? Should I I just buy the controllers and s4 software seperately?

You can download either version. The question is how are you at learning new software this late in the season?

There are more S4 users sharing sequences than S5. 

You can always use S4 on one computer and learn S5 on another

Tuff decisions you’ll have to make. Either way you have to start somewhere.

JR

[Mr. P]

I would have to recommend S5 since you are starting out fresh with no knowledge of either as that is the future. Learning S5 after using S4 makes you create a new way of thinking and for many of us, myself included, it is just too much of a change to grasp at this time. Personally I prefer the S4 format so I have chosen to stay there, I may eventually choose to go to S6 😁  but for now I am staying where I am.

[dibblejr]

1 hour ago, Mr. P said:

I would have to recommend S5 since you are starting out fresh with no knowledge of either as that is the future. Learning S5 after using S4 makes you create a new way of thinking and for many of us, myself included, it is just too much of a change to grasp at this time. Personally I prefer the S4 format so I have chosen to stay there, I may eventually choose to go to S6 😁  but for now I am staying where I am.

I agree but it’s really gonna be difficult and shared sequences for S5 is scarce. That’s the only reason I mentioned S4.

Im with you , I will prob pass before I switch.

JR

[JoeyD]

So premade sequences from s4 can't be loaded to s5? Thanks for the info guys. Can't wait to get started on my display for 2020.

[dibblejr]

6 minutes ago, JoeyD said:

So premade sequences from s4 can't be loaded to s5? Thanks for the info guys. Can't wait to get started on my display for 2020.

You have to convert - from what I have been told. People using S5 still request our shared sequences.

JR

[k6ccc]

If the source sequence is in S4 Sequence Editor format (a .LAS or .LMS file) , it's a simple copy and paste to get it into an existing S5 sequence.  That's how I took all the singing faces that JR did for me and inserted them into my S5 sequences.  A similar would apply to a shared .sup file from SuperStar.

 

[dibblejr]

8 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

If the source sequence is in S4 Sequence Editor format (a .LAS or .LMS file) , it's a simple copy and paste to get it into an existing S5 sequence.  That's how I took all the singing faces that JR did for me and inserted them into my S5 sequences.  A similar would apply to a shared .sup file from SuperStar.

 

Interesting. I may have to one day install S5 on my unused desktop.

JR

[MichRX7]

I keep staring at S5 and telling myself to upgrade my license at the start of the year. Then the next thing I know it is August and I'm deep in planning upgrades to my lights and sequences, then I get nervous that I don't have time to learn S5 and convince myself to do it again the next year. I think I need to set myself a February calendar reminder to buy it while I'm snowed in here in Michigan.

After the holidays and pulling everything down in the frigid north I seem to always need to purge myself before thinking about the next holiday season. Of course this next year my daughter wants me to do a Halloween show at her house, so I'll have to start even earlier, lol...

I've been talking myself out of going with a pixie 16 or pixcon for a year now. I'll probably break down and buy one in 2020, but man that SuperStar license is not cheap. (But damn does it look cool).

[tlogan]

I made the move to S5 this year with the thinking that I only have 10 sequences (just under a 30 minute repeating show), 2 dumb controllers (total 32 ch.) and 1 Pixie II. How hard can it be and how long can it take? And most likely, S5 is where the software is headed. My guess is that at some point, S4 will not be supported.

Well, there is a new way to think about it, no doubt. Basically for this year, I've been converting my S4 sequences and not really changing anything. I DID however add another dumb controller and another Pixie II, so I'm figuring out how to work those in to the S5 sequences as I convert. So far, I'm getting a pretty good idea of how S5 works and how I SHOULD have been doing this. So, I just finished the 6th sequence this morning before work and  have 4 more to go. I should be done the end of next wek, given th amount of time I have to work on them.

I recon that after this season, I'll set up my S5 preview and channel config properly and re-convert my sequences and that should set me up to make it MUCH it easier to convert any future S4 sequences and be set up to do my own programming. 

My advice to the original poster is, like has been mentioned, if you haven't already started on S4, start with S5.

[dibblejr]

1 hour ago, tlogan said:

I made the move to S5 this year with the thinking that I only have 10 sequences (just under a 30 minute repeating show), 2 dumb controllers (total 32 ch.) and 1 Pixie II. How hard can it be and how long can it take? And most likely, S5 is where the software is headed. My guess is that at some point, S4 will not be supported.

Well, there is a new way to think about it, no doubt. Basically for this year, I've been converting my S4 sequences and not really changing anything. I DID however add another dumb controller and another Pixie II, so I'm figuring out how to work those in to the S5 sequences as I convert. So far, I'm getting a pretty good idea of how S5 works and how I SHOULD have been doing this. So, I just finished the 6th sequence this morning before work and  have 4 more to go. I should be done the end of next wek, given th amount of time I have to work on them.

I recon that after this season, I'll set up my S5 preview and channel config properly and re-convert my sequences and that should set me up to make it MUCH it easier to convert any future S4 sequences and be set up to do my own programming. 

My advice to the original poster is, like has been mentioned, if you haven't already started on S4, start with S5.

S4 is not that old and some people still use S2, I just helped a guy not long ago that needed to update from S2- at least S4 to get a pixie16 to work.

So even if S4 does become unsupported once you get a working copy of the software and you are happy (like I am) doesn’t mean that you will have to go to S5.

just my .02

JR

[tlogan]

JR - I basically agree with you, the fact that whatever software version you happen to have (and like) will run forever is a HUGE plus in the software industry. What I meant was that I'm guessing that eventually there will be no more bug fixes or enhancements for S4 so to keep up any enhancements, you would need to go to S5.  Microsoft has been doing this for years; you can still run Win95 but you're not going to get any support and you're missing out on a lot of enhancements. And my recommendation to the original poster was based on the fact that he hasn't started on S4 yet, so to me, it makes sense to start out on S5. I certainly wasn't suggesting that everyone should get off of S4.

[dibblejr]

56 minutes ago, tlogan said:

JR - I basically agree with you, the fact that whatever software version you happen to have (and like) will run forever is a HUGE plus in the software industry. What I meant was that I'm guessing that eventually there will be no more bug fixes or enhancements for S4 so to keep up any enhancements, you would need to go to S5.  Microsoft has been doing this for years; you can still run Win95 but you're not going to get any support and you're missing out on a lot of enhancements. And my recommendation to the original poster was based on the fact that he hasn't started on S4 yet, so to me, it makes sense to start out on S5. I certainly wasn't suggesting that everyone should get off of S4.

Every time I do a MS bug fix or whatever you call it, everything does to heck.

Just today while firing up my show computer there were more updates. After the updates SE would not work (missing 2 dll’s). Upgraded to 4.4.4 and everything worked.

i should say before the update I had no problem testing my latest controller build.

Three days ago on my sequencing laptop which is a gaming laptop only for sequencing I had to MS critical updates.

After the update my speakers built in- started to make that scratchy noise.

Googled and they said to uninstall some app. Uninstalled and it worked that night. Though the bass subwoofer appears not to work.

Last night same sound but this time no app to uninsall.

Warranty expires on 5 Oct (1 year old laptop) but I can’t afford to lose it for who knows how long.

I really dislike the way Windows has integrated everything.

JR

[PhilMassey]

Check out this page from Microsoft

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026528/windows-10-reset-or-reinstall

What build of Win !0 are you currently running. Settings/system/about.

[dibblejr]

8 hours ago, PhilMassey said:

Check out this page from Microsoft

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026528/windows-10-reset-or-reinstall

What build of Win !0 are you currently running. Settings/system/about.

Not sure now, haven’t been home all afternoon.

While sitting in my truck awaiting my boys I called the military exchange on what to do since still under warranty.

They told me my warranty is valid until 20 Nov which is a year after they shipped it.

The 5 Oct warranty date was an email I received from Dell a few days ago asking if I want to extend it.

Then they told me to call Dell. They also told me that if I contact Dell three times for the same reason Dell has to send me a new laptop.

So I call Dell and this is where things take a slight twist.

The Dell support rep tells me my Warranty expired today.

I then asked him how long the warranty was. He said one year. I said well I purchased it Nov 20 2018. He asked “do you have the invoice”? My reply not here with me but I and the military exchange will gladly provide one on Monday.

Then he says “oh we can forget the invoice, I will assist you for free”.

He has me go through my device manager and reinstall my audio driver and it has once again went away. I will test tomorrow to see if it comes back. I have 2more calls before they have to replace the laptop. 

I just hope it works, I can’t afford to lose my sequencing laptop during the holidays.

Not sure of the windows 10 info but I will get that info and post.

Thanks for the reply

JR

[Orville]

18 hours ago, dibblejr said:

Every time I do a MS bug fix or whatever you call it, everything does to heck.

Just today while firing up my show computer there were more updates. After the updates SE would not work (missing 2 dll’s). Upgraded to 4.4.4 and everything worked.

i should say before the update I had no problem testing my latest controller build.

Three days ago on my sequencing laptop which is a gaming laptop only for sequencing I had to MS critical updates.

After the update my speakers built in- started to make that scratchy noise.

Googled and they said to uninstall some app. Uninstalled and it worked that night. Though the bass subwoofer appears not to work.

Last night same sound but this time no app to uninsall.

Warranty expires on 5 Oct (1 year old laptop) but I can’t afford to lose it for who knows how long.

I really dislike the way Windows has integrated everything.

JR

I sure can agree with you on this.  Seems every time you update something in windows it BREAKS something else!  Very annoying.  And I completely agree with your last statement, I don't like that either!