Surfing4Dough Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 robert seguin, jr. wrote: i was looking at the mini director with mp3 player, i understand there is no clock, so i was going to use a timer to turn it on and off however if you could figure out when your show ends and shut down at that time you cant use a shut down sequence, it could just turn off in the middle of a sequence, does the showtime work the same way, i currently have only 24 channel, i was going to get a mini director at the spring sale and get another 16 channels at the summer sale, i might just go for more channels and keep it on the laptop,I have gone the mini-director the past 2 years, and have been pleased. Used a digital timer so I could control exactly when it turned on or off (unlike a rotary timer which isn't as exact). The first year I tried to adjust it so the show didn't end right in the middle of a song, but this past year just set it to end at 10:30 or 11pm (depending on the night) and it just ended when it ended. Had a voiceover indicating the show run times, so people could expect that. Plus when it just cut off, I am sure people realized by looking at there clock that "oh, it must end at 11" if they didn't hear the voiceover. I typically only have 1-4 cars viewing at any given time, but would say it was rare that somebody was still viewing when the show ended, so it didn't really matter exactly how it ended. I do like that the mini-director can do a start-up sequence (plays once) before the first time the show runs.My understanding is that the DC-MP3 Showtime also can't do a shutdown sequence.One advantage of using a director rather than computer is that your ability to use your controllers becomes more portable. For example, I wanted to use a controller at my church for an event to use just a few channels. Didn't have to mess with taking/setting up a computer also--though a laptop would be easier than a desktop. The mini-director is about the size of the palm of your hand--I even left it connected to the controller and just place both in a box to transport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert seguin, jr. Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 maybe i am over complicating this, the mini director, comes on and the show starts at the beginning, when the timer shuts off where ever, the next day the timer starts again does the show start at the beginning, i would like to have it stand alone, last year i used my laptop and had to plug it in and start it and end it every night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBullard Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 You are correct about the mini-director.It can be set to start the show at the beginning each time power is applied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 mmais68569 wrote: Bob VandenBoom wrote: Yes. I use the DC-MP3 to run a show using 18 CTB16PC controllers. Works great.Please tell us how, I am trying to do some landscape lighting using LOR controllers & this would be great to not have to use a computer. MikeJust for the record, the DC-MP3 Showtime Director DOES NOT have to run "musical sequences", it handles "Animation Sequences" equally well. I use mine to run animation sequences when the show ends at 11pm weeknights, 12am weekends and then had it run a silent animation sequence of all channels by fading them up and down at 40-50% (depending on wether that channel was L.E.D. or Incandescent) during the night and then have it shut down at 6:59am, then at 7am, it would start my day musical (no lights) sequences to play Halloween or Christmas music during the off hours. I tried using a lap top and that just didn't work out as well or as portable as just using the DC-MP3 Showtime Director to handle everything automagically during the particular Holiday I was set up for.BTW: the instructions on the DC-MP3 Showtime Director say it can only handle SD cards up to 2GB, I tried a 4GB SD Hi-Density card in mine and found it worked just fine too.And on a side note here: I also have a directory on my Hard Drive called "Backup SDC Show" (without the quotes of course) and then after I write my show to the SD card, I then copy everything from the SD card to this subdirectory, this way, just in case something would possibly happen, I already have my show on the computer Hard Drive that can just be re-copied (after a quick format of the SD Card) right back on to the SD card. Not that I ever had to use it, but it was there just in case something did go awry. This way I don't have to go through and re-setup my show through the LOR software all over again (which can be quite a pain), just format SD card, copy the files in that directory back to the SD card and re-insert into the MP3 player and run the show! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Young Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I use the mp3 director for a commercial venue I do each season. It does a very nice job. Set it at the beginning of the season, and disconnect it at the end...For home use I employ a pc, because it:1) runs holiday music during the day (using OTSDJ software)2) transfers RDS data to my FM transmitter during the show3) runs video for the displayMy home show wouldn't be a fraction of what it is without using the pc!Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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