Great Debate, switch or not

[cenote]

With the release news, I start to wonder, do I switch or not? Do I continue to program the rest of the songs in LOR I...than convert to run. or do I just back up, and continue the program in LOR II?

My feeling is I continue to write in LOR I, than convert to LORII for the Shows. That way I am able to easily convert back to LOR I to run shows if I run into problems.

Thoughts on what others may do?

Chuck

[Nonick22]

My songs are done in LOR I. I made sure to finish them last night so I can convert and have a fall back. But I fully intend on using LOR II this year. :cool:

[WayneKremer]

Well...I have been sitting on the fence for awhile on this. But, I gotta wonder. Besides making some sequencing easier to do, what true advantage is there in upgrading to LOR II? Most of the features I have seen only have to do with shuffling channels around, better sequencing tools, improved visualizer, and video capability.

If you haven't started sequencing, you're screwed for this year. On top of that, it's going to take everyone time to learn LOR II and get accustomed to using it. By that time, it's too late. Additionally, why would you want to put on beta software for no advantage or looks to your show? Please...explain that to me. If it gives you problems...you'll have them most likely through Christmas and I can already imagine people complaining in the forums on to fix something quick so their shows will work correctly. If you want the kind of misery...so be it.

I just don't understand the immediate need and why you would want to put yourself in such situation. Beyond that, Dan has never put an upgrade to LOR sequencer out on his support page. It has always been a direct email with a link and password. So, I don't know what you guys are thinking about it being put out on the support page...unless Dan does something totally different. You can keep checking all you want though.

I plan on using LOR II next year...with the newer features than what it has now. I would like to enjoy my holidays and not worry about any problems I'll run into. But, to each their own....

[Push Eject]

I have purposely not sequenced much so far this season, so YES, I will totally go for LOR II.

Okay, really, I'm a lazy father of twin three-year-olds so my free time is not entirely my own.

Still -- I brew award-winning beer.

[Tim Fischer]

Here's my thoughts:

I have most sequencing done. What's remaining is 6 or 7 bumper spots, plus hopefully one more song.

What I think I might do is sequence the bumpers in LOR I. I will then, if I"m feeling brave, sequence the remaining song in LOR II.

That way if something really bad happens and I end up reverting to LOR I, I'll only lose one sequence. But I'll still get to have some fun with LOR II...

-Tim

[cenote]

Tim Fischer wrote:

That way if something really bad happens and I end up reverting to LOR I, I'll only lose one sequence. But I'll still get to have some fun with LOR II...

-Tim

I'm on your boat.

Thanks for re-insuring me I'm not the only one.

Chuck

[DerrickHoffland]

*edit*

Never mind.

[Dale W]

Tim Fischer wrote:

Here's my thoughts:

I have most sequencing done. What's remaining is 6 or 7 bumper spots, plus hopefully one more song.

What I think I might do is sequence the bumpers in LOR I. I will then, if I"m feeling brave, sequence the remaining song in LOR II.

That way if something really bad happens and I end up reverting to LOR I, I'll only lose one sequence. But I'll still get to have some fun with LOR II...

-Tim

Download LORII and reassign the default folders to light-o-rama II (you will have to type in II).

Open a 1.6... folder in LOR II, save under a different name. Play with it and if you are not completely convinced, use your LOR I sequence editor for the sequence. You are still out the time you spent on LOR II, but you do not lose any of your LOR I sequences through a conversion process.

[john southeast iowa]

If you have 2 computers (both would have to meet the requirements) and a LOR1 cd why not leave one set with LOR1 and update ther other to LOR2 and just plug your controllers into whichever computer you want to use for your shows?

[Ralph D]

Alright, everyone had a head start on me last night because i had to work and i couldn't download. heres my 2 cents worth, has anyone read all the gamma introducing stuff. it is filled with so much stuff, and things you cant do in lor 1 who cares if you don't want to mess with whats done already, doesn't every want to touch and feel the new toy? well sorry if i sound excited im really not, I just am and would have down loaded gamma on thnaks giving if that is when it was out. we all will be useing it soon anyway, well I guess everyone knows what im doing, Im useing gamma! and if for some reason i don't like it I will go back to lor 1. it just finished downloading my yeah, see ya.

Ralph

[bkdraft]

I updated mine. I only have one more song to do and I will do that in LOR II. I did backup my entire sequence folder so I still do have all my LOR I files. I still have LOR I on my laptop so if something does come up I can use it to keep my show runing and I am not dead in the water.

James

[Denny]

I have LOR I on my desktop and LOR II on the laptop. Backed up my LOR I sequence on a thumb drive so I can transfer it to the desktop, if need be.

I do have a couple questions though. Is the only thing that changed in LOR II the sequence editor? No changes to the hardware utility, etc.?

Having lived in the "dark ages," I am not familiar with the term "gamma version." How is a "gamma" different from a beta? Is it a term for an intermediate release?

[jpohio]

I'm gonna wait until after this season is over, before trying LOR 2.

[DaveK]

Last night was the final dress rehearsal before Thanksgiving and everything was perfect. My 12 invited guests enjoyed the 80 LOR and 5 DMX channels dancing to the music. Not a glitch, hiccup, or hitch with LORII. All my sequences are now created in II or converted to II and there is no need to look back.

[bkdraft]

I have most things set up and running. 16 trees (two colors) mega tree, and 4 arches are running. Have one channel not working so gona have to move that over to another controller I have some spare channels on, no big deal, fix it after New Years. Still like finishing up the last song. Have few more lights to get up, but will have some help on Wednesday to finish up. Plan on going live on Thanksgiving night. So far no problems with LOR II.



Update: Turns out the channel not working was a programing error. All working fine. Run a test run of my 6 songs for this year just now. All is working great!!! Like putting the blue and white icycle lights on the house and then its all done!!!

James

[mcnamara9]

I think everyone should switch. Yesterday, I completed the installation of my 4th customer's LOR display. Yes, I have planned, programmed, built mini trees, mega trees, arches, etc., and installed displays on 4 different houses before Thanksgiving...apparently sleep is over-rated!

Anyways, all the displays programming was done using the beta LOR II and everything has started up without a flaw. The software is great. It makes no difference if you adopt now or later. IF you adopt now, you'll show will go on as planned... I've got one more to go! So download it and have some fun.

[Mesa Holiday Lights]

I was going to switch this year, downloaded it and tried it out. I didn't have any noticeable problems. Then I did some reading about the gamma, and that was the deal breaker for me. Apparently this is a time limited version to 6 months, which should not be a big deal, but since the full version is suppose to come with a firmware upgrade and probably a protocol change, I don't want to chance my D-Light hardware no longer working once the final is released and we are forced to upgrade to it.

I have not seen anything promising or even hinting at backwards compatibility once that takes effect. I'm sure there are other LOR users out there with some D-Light hardware too, I just have the DCx16 board because it was available when I needed a DC board. I would rather not go by another board simply because the software won't talk to it anymore, especially since the D-Light board seems to be better at running the LED MR-16s I use.

Before I can upgrade, I would like some assurances that LORII will still support the old LOR protocol for devices like that, since we can't count on D-Light being able to support a new LOR protocol. Unless they are simply expanding the protocol for the new features and as long as we don't use the new stuff on the channels with the D-Light hardware, then it will still work. Or if in the channel config there will be a legacy LOR controller item we can use. Otherwise I will probably have to stick with 1.61 until I get all LOR hardware or something changes.

Any info from the LOR staff on this would be appreciated.

[grandad]

Mesa Holiday Lights wrote:

Before I can upgrade, I would like some assurances that LORII will still support the old LOR protocol for devices like that, since we can't count on D-Light being able to support a new LOR protocol. Unless they are simply expanding the protocol for the new features and as long as we don't use the new stuff on the channels with the D-Light hardware, then it will still work. Or if in the channel config there will be a legacy LOR controller item we can use. Otherwise I will probably have to stick with 1.61 until I get all LOR hardware or something changes.

Any info from the LOR staff on this would be appreciated.

I too have some D-Light hardware, but I do not think it realistic to ask the L-O-R crew to support a rivals product, particularly as that product was (allegedly) reverse-engineered from their own product!

[bob]

Denny wrote:

I do have a couple questions though. Is the only thing that changed in LOR II the sequence editor? No changes to the hardware utility, etc.?

Having lived in the "dark ages," I am not familiar with the term "gamma version." How is a "gamma" different from a beta? Is it a term for an intermediate release?

All of the programs have been changed. Some of them changed more significantly than others, and probably the Sequence Editor is the one that has changed the most.

By "gamma", we just mean it's still not open to the general public, but it's open to a significantly wider audience than the beta was.

[Mesa Holiday Lights]

Oh, I agree that they have no obligation to support a rival's product. When the announcement that the first release of LORII that it would still support the old protocol, I figured that I could run that until another solution presented itself for D-Light users, but with a 6-month time limit, means that if D-Light can't provide a solution by then we will have to go back to using 1.61. Which of course means that any sequences will be "lost" in terms of use for that hardware.