mini director vs showtime LOR1602W

[dknahoolewa]

So. this will be my first year and I'm wondering what the differences are between the mini director that's on sale and the LOR1602W.

I don't want to use a PC to run my show. Can some one help me figure out weather to buy the mini director while on sale or go with the LOR1602W.

I plan to start with 32 channels and add every year.

[Paul Roberson]

The mini director has no built in clock. Meaning you would have to add a external timer, or manually start and stop your show.

The showtimeMP3 director has a built in clock and can start and stop on a schedule you set up and load into it.


Some good info here.

[dknahoolewa]

That's what i was thinking. Is the internal clock worth the extra money? I already have external timers from my static light display.

[David Rise]

I'm just turning my mini director on and off with a switch. ON, the show starts. OFF, the show ends.
No timers necessary.

[dknahoolewa]

that works...but i would forget to turn it off at night. and sometimes I'm not home and the wife is not going to help.

[SoCalJimH]

As you indicated--"I already have external timers from my static light display."

Just use a timer on the power supply of the Mini-Director.

Quick and Easy.(no puns or references please)

[David Rise]

As Jim pointed out. If you already have timers, then use them. Most of the ones now-a-days have a built in time to turn off automatically after a set period of time.

[dknahoolewa]

Cool...thanks guys. Just ordered. guess I'm committed to a real show now!!!

[Paul Roberson]

It will work fine with an external timer, or manual on/off switch.

Couple things to note:

When the show is 'ended' by on/off switch or external timer it is an instant stop. Some including myself do not care for this instant off. (To each their own.)

If you have your show on a schedule with the showtime mp3 director you can end your show 'gracefully'. In other words the sequence that is running can finish before actual shut down. Another thing is you can schedule a 'shutdown' sequence. I have The Star-Spangled Banner as my shutdown sequence. When my show reaches its scheduled shutdown time I have it set up to finish the current sequence. Then my shutdown sequence plays. You can also schedule a 'startup' sequence that plays only once at the beginning of your show.

Some people don't like the 'overtime' caused by such a shutdown. My show is scheduled to shutdown at 10pm, but may not actually end til 10:11 (or whatever) when the current and shutdown sequence finishes playing.


I have a mini director and a showtime director. I have ran my show from both and currently run my show from a computer because of the use of video in our show. I still use the mini director for a display at our kids school.

[Paul Roberson]

Paul Roberson wrote:

It will work fine with an external timer, or manual on/off switch.

Couple things to note:

When the show is 'ended' by on/off switch or external timer it is an instant stop. Some including myself do not care for this instant off. (To each their own.)

If you have your show on a schedule with the showtime mp3 director you can end your show 'gracefully'. In other words the sequence that is running can finish before actual shut down. Another thing is you can schedule a 'shutdown' sequence. I have The Star-Spangled Banner as my shutdown sequence. When my show reaches its scheduled shutdown time I have it set up to finish the current sequence. Then my shutdown sequence plays. You can also schedule a 'startup' sequence that plays only once at the beginning of your show.

Some people don't like the 'overtime' caused by such a shutdown. My show is scheduled to shutdown at 10pm, but may not actually end til 10:11 (or whatever) when the current and shutdown sequence finishes playing.


I have a mini director and a showtime director. I have ran my show from both and currently run my show from a computer because of the use of video in our show. I still use the mini director for a display at our kids school.

OK after more reading http://www.lightorama.com/PDF/DC-MP3_Man_Web.pdf I am not seeing the 'shutdown' sequence option on the showtime director. I do see the startup sequence option. Hmmm. I am either missing it or that is just for a show ran by computer.

BTW. I know some will say do the math on your sequences/show and set your timer accordingly where it will shut down at the end of a sequence. I pretty sure the timing wont work out quite right everytime.

Its all about how much control you want over your display.:cool:

[Guest guest]

Why I went with the DC-MP3 Showtime Director (with the internal clock):

#1. Runs my show at the same exact time every night

#2. Shuts my show off at the same time every night.

#3. Once my show has been shut down, then my overnight animation routine takes over and runs 'til morning.

#4. Once the overnight routine shuts down, it starts my daytime show of holiday music and announcements.

#5. Back to #1



Once set, I never have to touch the timer/clock settings again, in case of a power failure it has battery back up to maintain the clock, so if power is off and show can't run, it will start the show when power is restored, but I don't have to worry about resetting a mechanical or digital timer that does not have battery backup.

So to me, yes, it was well worth the extra cost and investment of having the internal clock, and just allowing it to control everything for me, even when I'm not home I know it will do the job and keep things running properly Did it all month of October 2010 for my Halloween Display and from Thanksgiving 2010 through Jan. 1 2011 for Christmas without a hitch!

Just my opinion, but one I strongly stand on.

[Guest guest]

Paul, there is no shutdown sequence option for the Showtime Director in the Hardware Utility, just a start up sequence option and, again, is only available in the Hardware Utility, neither is available in the "Simple Show Builder" software.

Don't know why it can't or doesn't have a shut down sequence in the HWU, only LOR can answer that one.

Again, there is also no provision for a start up or shut down sequence in the "Simple Show Builder" software.

You only get the shut down sequences when running the show from a PC.

Why they weren't included in the SD versions of both the HWU and the SSB, only LOR knows why they aren't included.

[Paul Roberson]

I understand why its not in the 'simple show builder'. It was created to be as simple as possible.

[wallleyes]

Orville wrote:

Paul, there is no shutdown sequence option for the Showtime Director in the Hardware Utility, just a start up sequence option and, again, is only available in the Hardware Utility, neither is available in the "Simple Show Builder" software.

Don't know why it can't or doesn't have a shut down sequence in the HWU, only LOR can answer that one.

Again, there is also no provision for a start up or shut down sequence in the "Simple Show Builder" software.

You only get the shut down sequences when running the show from a PC.

Why they weren't included in the SD versions of both the HWU and the SSB, only LOR knows why they aren't included.

Thats about the only thing i dislike with the showtime director,not having a shut down sequence option.

[Paul Roberson]

Well, you can schedule a one sequence show to run at the end.

[Surfing4Dough]

To clarify, both the mini-director and the Showtime director can do a startup sequence (meaning you can have a sequence that only plays once on power-up, and the rest of the sequences loop repetitively). My understanding is that neither can do a shut-down sequence--only a PC can. If you advertise that the show ends at 10pm, nobody is going to be upset that it "abruptly" stops at 10pm. However, you could watch the end of the show and adjust the timer a minute or 2 at the end to try to line it up with the end of a song. To be honest, for most of our displays (non-high traffic displays) there will probably only be 0-2 cars that are sitting out there at shut-down time anyway.

Use a $20 digital timer power strip with the mini-director and you just saved a load of money. Can that way still start and stop the show at a precise time (rather than approximate time like you have with a mechanical rotary timer). Run my FM transmitter off the power strip as well.

I also like having the director separate from the controller since I run a DC board off my director in the off-season to power RGB Rainbow Floods/spots for landscape lighting. If it was built into the controller (such as with the LOR1602WMP3), then I would have to have the whole controller stored outside. The mini-director is about the size of your palm too. Also like that I can have the mini-director in my garage whereas I would have to have the LOR1602WMP3 out in the yard (shorter extension cord runs to lights), which would mean going out in the snow if I wanted to swap the SD card for some reason (either during the show or during the day).

[bvinson]

Surfing4Dough wrote:

To clarify, both the mini-director and the Showtime director can do a startup sequence (meaning you can have a sequence that only plays once on power-up, and the rest of the sequences loop repetitively). My understanding is that neither can do a shut-down sequence--only a PC can. If you advertise that the show ends at 10pm, nobody is going to be upset that it "abruptly" stops at 10pm. However, you could watch the end of the show and adjust the timer a minute or 2 at the end to try to line it up with the end of a song. To be honest, for most of our displays (non-high traffic displays) there will probably only be 0-2 cars that are sitting out there at shut-down time anyway.

Use a $20 digital timer power strip with the mini-director and you just saved a load of money. Can that way still start and stop the show at a precise time (rather than approximate time like you have with a mechanical rotary timer). Run my FM transmitter off the power strip as well.

I also like having the director separate from the controller since I run a DC board off my director in the off-season to power RGB Rainbow Floods/spots for landscape lighting. If it was built into the controller (such as with the LOR1602WMP3), then I would have to have the whole controller stored outside. The mini-director is about the size of your palm too. Also like that I can have the mini-director in my garage whereas I would have to have the LOR1602WMP3 out in the yard (shorter extension cord runs to lights), which would mean going out in the snow if I wanted to swap the SD card for some reason (either during the show or during the day).

Thanks for the comments, I was just thinking about this. I'm a newbie about to make purchases and wanted to have a clear game plan on what I'm doing as it relates to the mini director.

[Gary Levelius]

One thing to note that I haven't seen addressed is that whichever director you go with, whether the mini-director or Showtime director, you will still need a LOR1602W or a PC series lighting controller. The directors can not, by themselves, control lights.

-Gary-

[robreza2003]

Just to clarify the timer power strip is connected to the mini director and not the controllers?

[Surfing4Dough]

robreza2003 wrote:

Just to clarify the timer power strip is connected to the mini director and not the controllers?

Yes. Whenever it is powered, it starts the show. That way I also have my RM transmitter and radio frequency sign also on the power strip so they all come on at the same time. I leave the controllers powered 24/7.