DMX LOR

[Guest wbottomley]

Honestly, I think the ELOR is the better piece of hardware.

http://www.sandevices.com/ELORinfo.html

[Ponddude]

There has been a lot of talk about the ELOR and I just want to interject here. Nothing negative about the product but with so much going on with all these new DMX devices people should really understand what it does and what it really is.

The ELOR is simply a bridge between LOR and DMX (in this case E1.31 packets), much like the iDMX is. Due to the fact that the LOR Software does not currently support E1.31, the ELOR "tricks" the software into controlling E1.31 devices. It does this by creating 4 DMX networks inside the LOR universe and takes the LOR data it receives and translates it into DMX. Much can be said that this device (in operational principal) is exactly like the iDMX. The iDMX takes in LOR data and transforms it into DMX data. One protocol in, another protocol out.

The interesting thing about the ELOR is that it doesn't "speak" DMX out in the 4 universes it creates...it "speaks" E1.31. I know a lot of you are saying, "Well Greg it is one in the same," and you are right but that fact remains you cannot plug an ethernet based protocol directly into a DMX device. It is my understanding that the ELOR was designed to be plugged directly into any sort E1.31 accepting device.

Lets take an example. If you wanted to use a DMX moving spotlight in your display and purchased the ELOR, you could not use both...in theory. Most standard DMX products do not natively accept the E1.31 protocol so you couldn't just plug one device into another. However, if you wanted to use the SanDevices pixel controller you would have no problem what so ever. The pixel controller accepts E1.31 and once again, it is my understanding this is what it was designed to do.

One nice thing the folks at SanDevices did was to allow for 1 DMX network to be natively produced. That network is created on the 4th iDMX (within the LOR network) and does exactly what 4th packets of E1.31 are doing.

Basically the point of my ramblings here are to explain that the ELOR is nice, it is cheap and does some things that LOR does not yet support. However, do not get confused and think that you are going to get 4 DMX universes from the ELOR. You are really only getting one.

Still a great value, seems like a great device (I just contacted Jim to get mine and do testing with our Seasonal Entertainment products) but it may do more than a lot of people are looking to get into.

Greg

[Steven]

Ponddude wrote:

Much can be said that this device (in operational principal) is exactly like the iDMX.

True in theory. In practice, there is a small "bug" I discovered in the ELOR iDMX emulation that should be fixed in the next release.

One nice thing the folks at SanDevices did was to allow for 1 DMX network to be natively produced. That network is created on the 4th iDMX (within the LOR network) and does exactly what 4th packets of E1.31 are doing.

Basically the point of my ramblings here are to explain that the ELOR is nice, it is cheap and does some things that LOR does not yet support. However, do not get confused and think that you are going to get 4 DMX universes from the ELOR. You are really only getting one.

Still a great value, seems like a great device (I just contacted Jim to get mine and do testing with our Seasonal Entertainment products) but it may do more than a lot of people are looking to get into.

A really great value! For $95 plus shipping, you get something that functions as an iDMX (1 wired universe), as well as a total of 4 E1.31 universes.

This year, I'm going to leave the Ethernet connector unplugged (and not use the 1st 3 Universes), and use the 4th universe as an iDMX, for my first year with DMX. (And by the way, the Rainbow Flood Extreme is the reason I decided to go DMX this year.)

[jimswinder]

Jeff Millard wrote:

The ELOR listens to an LOR network for commands intended for iDMX devices. It takes the data it sees for 4 consecutive iDMX's and sends it over Ethernet as E1.31 data that can be interpreted by some of the popular DIY lighting control hardware. 3 Common devices are the E681 from Sandevices, the EGC-P12R from Joshua Systems... both Pixel controllers.... and the E1.31 to DMX bridge by Robert Martin (RPM) of DIYC, which is based on the design and code of the E68x from Sandevices. It will provide 4 DMX universes from any source capable of transmitting E1.31. A single LOR network is capable of controlling 5 or 6 CCRs according to LOR. That's 750 to 900 channels. The ELOR is attempting to port 2048 channels over E1.31 from a single LOR network that is limited to less than half that. There is some testing being done to try and improve on this issue using the current hardware design. Suffice it to say that things in the DIY world are always It was developed to give users of LOR software access, albeit limited by the bandwidth of the host software, to the E1.31 capable Pixel controllers. As a DMX bridge, the port on the ELOR mirrors the 4th E1.31 DMX universe. So the math goes like this: A total of 2048 iDMX channels interpreted as E1.31 data to 4 DMX universes. In Pixel channels, each Universe has 170 Pixel channels (510 DMX) for a total of 680. The Pixel controller omits the leftover 2 DMX channels, for a Grand total of 2040 DMX channels. The fourth Universe is mirrored to the DMX port which can use all 512 as "intelligent" channels. DIYC has an entire section devoted to the Parallax Propeller chip, with enough code already generated by these developers to make and control all sorts of homade designs. You could actually specialize your hardware to match your creations, and not be limited to that which is available. It's much easier to do than it's thought to be...

Jeff

man, I wish you guys would speak English!!!

Okay...4th grade English!!

[jimswinder]

Jeff Millard wrote:

jimswinder wrote:

man, I wish you guys would speak English!!!

Okay...4th grade English!!

Man, I wish you guys would learn to interpret geek...

LOL

it's ALL Geek to me...

[rstately]

jimswinder wrote:

Jeff Millard wrote:

jimswinder wrote:

man, I wish you guys would speak English!!! 

Okay...4th grade English!! 

Man, I wish you guys would learn to interpret geek...

 

LOL

it's ALL Geek to me... 

I'm looking for the Rosetta Stone for this?

[jimswinder]

rstately wrote:

I'm looking for the Rosetta Stone for this?

Found It!!!


Attached files

[Mwhite7097]

My head hurts now. All this DMX, Elor, and protocol talk makes me dizzier than staring at my strobes. I can barely handle on/off, fade and shimmer.

[upsdude9351]

This is awesome,,, I cant believe this post is still running?,, I looked into the ELOR as well and seemed a little complicated for a DMX "newbie", I must say after someone telling me the IDMX is not considered a DMX universe in S.E., my experiments have been nothing but FUN. As far as plug and play, yes there are cheaper ways to get 2000 and something channels but is that going to be waayy too intimidating and complicated, for someone like me to take the "dive" into DMX? The simplicity built into the IDMX, wich I as an extreme newbie purchased, have not second guessed the purchase one bit. My head was "SPINNING" reading all the information out there. For all the newbs out there like me whose heads are still spinning, I am VERY satisfied with the "plug and play", with the IDMX.. Keep in mind I have not "experimented", with anything else, but for "simplicity", wich I was looking for,,from the get...... I am stoked! An ethernet cable plugged into the IDMX (from a standard controller) and a 3 pronged xlr cable coming out of the back into my dmx par 86's,, vioala! DMX incorporated into my show? No need to speak greek,geek or any of the above, plug n play simple n fun.......:]