Computer requirements

[HBChristmas]

I'm new to LOR and in the market to purchase a laptop for both sequencing and playing my show. I will likely purchase show time sequencing softwear suite "pro" as it looks to be the only one that operates pixels. I'm not using pixels this year but I plan to add a pixel tree in 2017. I'm looking for advice on requirements in the areas of memory, graphics, processor, and hard drive. I would like to purchase an ample machine that will handle both tasks  effectively without over kill. I will probably purchase a laptop with windows 10 but that's not set in stone. I've looked in the software section of the LOR page and I have found the minimum requirements but I'm sure in the big picture that's not enough. I'm hoping that the expirenced show creators out there will offer some advise so I purchase the proper machine for my needs. 

 

Thanks 

[LOR Staff]

Any computer of recent vintage will run the S4 software just fine.

Pro is not the only version that can run Pixels.  Pro comes with the Pixel Editor which helps with programming pixels, however you can run them just fine with Advanced as well.

Also, no need to purchase Pro up front.  You can always upgrade later, and the cost is just the difference between the level you have and the level you want.

[k6ccc]

Running the show and sequencing have very different requirements.  To play a how, requires very little in the way of computer resources.  Personally I am running my show on an old HP desktop that I bought in the fall of 2012 and it was a lease return refurb at that time, so I assume it was new in the 2008 - 2010 timeframe.  It's a Pentium 4 running at 3 GHz with 1GB of RAM, a 80 GB hard drive, and using XP as an OS.  My 2015 show was a little under 5,000 channels on three LOR networks plus E1.31.  On a couple of really fast sections of one song, the show computer ran out of CPU performance.  That was fixed by switching to intensity files for playback.  Then it was at worst about 20% CPU loading.  BTW, I think I paid $80 for the computer from TigerDirect.com

Sequencing is a different matter.  That takes more horsepower and for large numbers of fast stuff, a better video card for good performance.  I will point out that even an old slow computer CAN sequence, it just takes longer, so it will be annoying since you will spend LOTS of time sequencing.  One thing to keep in mind is that while your show is running, (especially if it's a slow computer), you really don't want to be using that computer for anything else (including sequencing).  Therefore, I recommend separate computers for playing and sequencing.  Now I do handicap myself in that regard in that I run a year round landscape lighting show so except on the weekends, any time I'm home, the show computer is running a show.  I use the same computer for sequencing that I use for most other PC uses.

So the summary of all this is to get something cheap as a show computer (old give away PCs generally are fast enough), and then get something modern for sequencing.  A good video card and multiple monitors is HIGHLY recommended (especially as your shows get more complex).

 

[EmmienLightFan]

Running your show doesn't take much.

 

I use an old PC. Only 4GB of RAM, 2TB Hard Disk (Way too much) and a 2.4GHZ dual core CPU.

It runs several thousand channels fine.

 

My sequencing PC is quite powerful. It really helps. Mine has 16GB of RAM, 3.6GHZ quad core CPU, Nvidia 680 GPU with 4GB of graphics RAM, and two monitors.

The more monitors you have, the better. You have have the sequence editor on one, and the visualiser on the other. If I could I would have 6. One for the visualiser, one for the sequence editor, one for the pixel editor, one for SuperStar, one for XLights, and one for the internet or file manager.

Unfortunately I don't have the space for all these.

 

 

[OzAz]

I'm using a few year old laptop, running windows 10, and have no problems sequencing and visualising.

HOWEVER, the Pixel Editor won't run, I get an error stating OpenGL is too low a version.

So if you plan on buying Pro version and using Pixel Editor you'll need a fairly new graphics card that can run OpenGL 1.5 or higher