Number of Universes

[bob_moody]

I have been talking to Edward Bryson of J1sys about their ECG-D4 and ECG-D2 products. (Glad I did too... I learned of a few things from Mr Bryson that were different from what i learned in the forums)

Since my initial intentions are to simply acquire DMX with LOR 3.8 I thought I would ask those that are using DMX a question about the number of DMX universes ... realistically.

With the ECG-D2 I can get 1024 channels in 2 universes. With the ECG-D4, I can get 2048 channels in 4 universes.

Since my initial plan is to run things like display items from HolidayCoro, "dumb" light strips, and perhaps a few elements from CheapLights.com etc, my question is which ECG to run with?

They really aren’t that different in price, but a penny saved is a penny I can spend on something else.....

What is the practicality of having 2 or 4 universes other than the channel count?

Are there any issues when you start loading up a universe that would make you want to split to another universe?

Would things like the LOR sequencer or SuperStar run/program differently with multiple universes rather than all in one?

I appreciate any and all feedback. I'm working on some last minute decisions here and need to (well.. you know) or get off the pot..

Thanks again

Bob Moody

[k6ccc]

Having more universes allows controlling more lights. Assuming using the DMX for RGB pixels, you get 170 pixels per universe. So 2 universes is 340 pixels and 4 universes is 680 pixels.

From what you are planning on doing, you will be a long ways from overloading a single universe.

[edvas69]

Simply the difference is more channels. As far as the load on the network this would be extremely minimal and with DMX because a universe is limited to 512 channels the refresh rate is always guanteed to be around 25 to 28ms.

Now if you plan on using lots of the cheap holiday coro controllers then you may want to consider the D4 purley as a back up plan in case you end up with too many controllers and you get issues with your DMX signal, this way you can break up the controllers over 4 universes. As well a D4 will allow you more distribution and future expansion options.

If you plan on just using 1 universe then the D2 should do well for you because you still have a second DMX universe as a backup plan if you have any issues or need to expand in the future.

If you decide to get into pixels in the future then you really want to get an E1.31 to pixel controller like the ECG-P12R, ECG-PIXAD8, ECG-P2 or the E682 as running DMX controllers for pixels ends up being more expensive with DMX pixel controllers than using E1.31 pixel controllers. So this may strengthen your case to just get a D2 E1.31 to DMX bridge instead of the D4

Edited October 23, 2012 by edvas69

[bob_moody]

Jim and Eddy,

Thank you both for the feedback.

It appears that I can most likely do everything that I want for now with the D2 and since we can use switches to expand the network, I could add any number of pixel controllers as the display develops or add a D4 if I need to expand or any of the other available E1.31 to DMX bridges or pixel controllers.

I appreaciate the help guys...

Bob

Edited October 23, 2012 by bob_moody