Theoretical vs. actual channels

[Dr. Jones]

Does anybody know the true limitations of the software? I am interested in how many channels LOR has tested with the software?

[scottsgrfx]

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=15686&forum_id=72&highlight=shadrack

here's a start

[Dr. Jones]

scottsgrfx wrote:

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=15686&forum_id=72&highlight=shadrack

here's a start

But how are they controlling the show? is it from a pc?

[Charles Belcher]

Dr. Jones,

This may not be the largest show, but here is what I ended up with.

I programmed and controlled my show from my Dell D810 laptop. I used one network, one serial adapter, one 30 minute long sequence, one show which included that one sequence and scheduled the one show from 6:00pm-9:55pm Sunday-Saturday. I did not use any animated sequences, backgrounds, start-ups nor shut-downs.

This all ran flawlessly from December 1st-28th during a clear night, a foggy night or a rainy night.

I continue to be shocked when I log on to the LOR Forum and read the front page. Almost every topic is "I have a problem...", but back to the point of this post.

I used the following hardware:

(1) Dell D810 laptop with LOR S2 software @ 2.0.16
(3) Dr. DMX opto splitters
(2) Pathway Connectivity DMX Manager Plus units which generated (5) additional 512 channels of DMX
(5) iDMX-1000's driving all LED lighting, fog, snow and moving light channels
(18) 1602 controllers driving an all incandescent lighting system
(2) 800W controllers doing the same
(2) 120 volt relays to trigger the DC motor
(1 pair) Wireless links from inside my house to outside
(1) Martin Maxedia media server

The total channel count was:

1280 channels via the (5) iDMX-1000's
304 channels via the showtime controllers
1800 channels via the Martin Maxedia/Pathways Connectivity units

Earlier in the season I estimated I would be controlling 3500 channels, but the actual count of the above is 3,384. There may have been a channel here or there not used, but for the most part if I had it, I used it.

I only have one little video made. Here is the link:

http://lightstomusic.com/videopage.html



Charles

[Dr. Jones]

- the martin maxedia

I used 6 iDMX 255 channels used on 5 and about 175 on the last

and 21 lor controllers (a 22nd unit with only 3 channels tossed in for good measure)

from other posts, I am thinking my issues are related to the usb driver

[Charles Belcher]

Dr. Jones,

It looks like we were fairly close on the channel usage. Again, after months of reading the "I have a problem" titles in the posts on the LOR forum, I decided to use the KISS principle to the system and keep everything as simple as possible.

I decided to only take a technical step if a situation called for it and fortunately it never came up.

The only situation that ever came up that aggrevated me was the sluggish response after I had programmed about 12 minutes of all those channels. When I would save an edit it would take about 45 seconds to write the change before I could continue programming. This made an already slow process even slower.

I had to eventually cut the audio up in sections, program the individual sections then paste them all back together in order to avoid the sluggishness. But, that worked and it only took a little time in Audacity to do it.

Charles

[LightORamaDan]

Dr. Jones wrote:

scottsgrfx wrote:

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=15686&forum_id=72&highlight=shadrack

here's a start

But how are they controlling the show? is it from a pc?

That show is being controlled from a PC using 4 networks. (could probably fit it on 2 networks but with 4 networks there is no perceivable latency).

As Charles has mentioned you can go big on the channel count.

Your original question is difficult to answer because it depends on so many variables but the answer is that you can run with 1000s of channels when you run from the PC and we have seen shows with close to 1000 channels that run well using a DC-MP3.

The biggest problem with High Channel Sequences is the performance of the Sequence Editor. When you click the play button after you have made changes there can be a considerable pause (very considerable with large sequences). We are make a change to the software (as we speak) that will vastly improve this issue.

[Ponddude]

Charles,

Not to take away from this convo...but I was wondering about one aspect of your display...

What is that screen?? How did you make it, where did you but it from...do you have any pictures?!

PLEASE...MORE INFO...lol:D

[Dr. Jones]

LightORamaDan wrote:

Dr. Jones wrote:

scottsgrfx wrote:

http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=15686&forum_id=72&highlight=shadrack

here's a start

But how are they controlling the show? is it from a pc?

That show is being controlled from a PC using 4 networks. (could probably fit it on 2 networks but with 4 networks there is no perceivable latency).

As Charles has mentioned you can go big on the channel count.

Your original question is difficult to answer because it depends on so many variables but the answer is that you can run with 1000s of channels when you run from the PC and we have seen shows with close to 1000 channels that run well using a DC-MP3.

The biggest problem with High Channel Sequences is the performance of the Sequence Editor. When you click the play button after you have made changes there can be a considerable pause (very considerable with large sequences). We are make a change to the software (as we speak) that will vastly improve this issue.

I was hoping maybe that was the cause of my gremlins this year. I was thinking rs485 might have a limitation as to the size of the data string. And with a high channel count I could be exceding the limitations.

[Charles Belcher]

Ponddude wrote:

Charles,

Not to take away from this convo...but I was wondering about one aspect of your display...

What is that screen?? How did you make it, where did you but it from...do you have any pictures?!

PLEASE...MORE INFO...lol:D

Ponddude,

Not to hijack this thread, but the answer is:

The screen contains (2) rows of (30) each X-Curtain LED tubes. Each tube is one meter long x 2" in diameter and contains (10) pixels each of RGB LED's. Each pixel is a channel; therefore each tube is 30 channels and the whole rig is 1800 channels.

It took (5) universes of DMX to control it. This is professional gear that I use in our day to day business and as such was lucky enough to be able to use it at my home.

You can read about it at:

http://www.acclaimlighting.com/Indoor___Outdoor_LED_s.html

Charles

[Ponddude]

Very impressive. I seems expensive but certainly a great addition to any display.

Thanks for the info!

[NWSanta]

Yeah, I have to agree. I kept both my installation and my Cities installation simple and never had a problem. LOR Hardware is bullet proof and soo sooo easy to use. The hardest part is getting all the sequencing done in time and in tune so that your happy with it.

The scrolling up and down is the hard part. I think I need 2 40 inch LCDs in Portrait mode to Sequence with.

-Evan