Tom Lawrence
Posts: 3
7/12/2011 1:43:46 PM

Hi, My name is Earle and my family and I are interested in upgrading to computerized lighting displays, if you would could you recommend a system and how many channels we may need. My display is listed under TOM in Cottage City, MD 20722. There are so many options I dont know where to begin.

 

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Lee Alder
Posts: 9
7/18/2011 10:29:58 AM

One place I follow is http://www.christmasinshirley.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

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Lee Alder
Posts: 9
7/18/2011 10:33:02 AM

Some parts and boards are here http://shop.martinxmas.com/ and here
http://doityourselfchristmas.com/ under group buys

 

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John Carney
Posts: 4
7/19/2011 4:26:27 AM

When i was starting out I followed http://doityourselfchristmas.com/ and built some Renard SS boards. They were simple and fun to build. Are you wanting to buy or build?

 

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Allison Alerine
Posts: 128
7/19/2011 5:40:23 AM

I would like to know which are the best to buy.. I currently have an animated display.. and do not have any electronics background.. seems like it's getting harder and harder to keep up with changes

 

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John Storms
Posts: 4
7/19/2011 11:31:12 AM

If you're not into soldering guns and flux then you should look at Light-O-Rama. They make a very solid light controller. You will need to buy software, controller, and a connector to hook it up to your computer. I'm a tech guy, but really don't have the patience to build my own boards. I like LOR and they have good customer service.

Most people consider DIY computerized displays to be those where you build your own boards. But if you're not into that sort of thing then LOR is a great alternative. They do sales in Feb/Mar and in summer (coming up).

http://listentoourlights.com/home/how-to

 

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Allison Alerine
Posts: 128
7/19/2011 11:53:44 AM

thank you.. I was looking at the site & emailed customer service.. I was impressed at the fast response .. just wanted to make sure my d-light boxes would work with the LOR software.. need something more updated

 

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Kent Vosburg
Posts: 152
7/19/2011 2:20:21 PM

I would also give a great big thumbs up on LOR. Great products for every level of experience. Sodder it all, or plug in ready to go, they have a product. The Cosmic Color Ribbon is also VERY impressive. Dan has a great bunch of people and AMAZING customer support. You will find report where they backed up a product where someone damaged it even though it was not their fault.

 

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Allison Alerine
Posts: 128
7/19/2011 7:10:11 PM

great to know.. thank you very much.. hate to think to re-do all my sequences but for the upgrade I would rather do it now before we get totally nuts with channels .. going to have to revamp everything anyway.. we just picked up 2 more 16 channel boxes .. hope I can get my Halloween stuff done in time .. right now I have over an hours worth of songs done.. going to be painful for sure :)

 

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Zachary Stoltenberg
Posts: 21
10/6/2011 6:51:33 AM

Allison Alerine wrote:


I use LOR to sequence, and always have. All of my Hardware is D-Light. LOR is great but their hardware is for those with deep pockets looking for plug and play solutions. D-Light recently released the DMX platforms for it's entire line of controllers so they will now work with LOR, LSP, Aurora, Vixen, really, any software that supports DMX outputs. I don't know how much more updated it gets. It should be interesting to see what changes if/when LOR releases their new software s3. I know they are having supplier issues with their hardware currently, guessing they are waiting to release s3 until they have the new generation of hardware to go with it.

 

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Allison Alerine
Posts: 128
10/6/2011 11:18:49 AM

have to jump in and see if I can figure it all out :)

 

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Zachary Stoltenberg
Posts: 21
10/7/2011 7:14:37 AM

http://www.lightorama.com/pdu/

Announcement made today about the release of LOR s3 software. This update should support Open DMX and Raw DMX allowing LOR software to communicate with DMX devices WITHOUT the iDMX unit. Should work with a simple and inexpensive RS485 Dongle. Have to wait until next week for the release but I'll likely download it the hour it is released. I'll finish my software How-To after that!

Zach

 

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Allison Alerine
Posts: 128
10/7/2011 8:21:24 AM

woo hoo!!!

 

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Kent Vosburg
Posts: 152
10/12/2011 7:12:11 AM

thanks for the heads up Zack. So many of us, have been waiting for so long for this.

 

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Zachary Stoltenberg
Posts: 21
10/12/2011 12:41:04 PM

No Problem! I'm pretty anxious as about half the display relies on DMX now and I don't yet have a way to run LOR to them! I've been messing with xLights and it works really well but doesn't have all the scheduling capabilities of LOR. Hopefully it's everything they have promised.

 

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Kent Vosburg
Posts: 152
10/12/2011 9:10:34 PM

Holy crap. I can't even imagine that. Then again that is part of the reason why I am waiting for the next year. I hope everything will shake out by then.

I have big plans for next year, and I believe that DMX will be a big part of that.

 

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