Is anyone else using wireless DMX?

[Thomas]

I use the identical system pacman mentions starting this thread, and I've got to say I want at least two more- there's nothing easier than plugging your lights into a wireless receiver and rocking out!

I'm in the staging market now, so it'll all get-in, set up, plot, busk, strike, sleep for 30 mins and start again, and popping a receiver on every truss I pull up saves me searching for the one buggered cable in the rig, and being able to plot from any position makes life SO much easier, I don't think I'll ever hardwire by choice again!

For marquee gigs its vital, for massive arenas is a must, for anything with a bit of distance its absolutely mandatory and for simple ease of use its unbeatable- but in a theatre? Come now, run cable, it'll cost you so much less, and why bother? Get a DMX isolator at the end of the cable from your desk and send a line up each LX and life will be good.

[pacman]

Originally Posted by ship

Why do you want to do this anyway? Is there a real reason other than doing so because it's a concept?

As I mentioned, this facility was built (1998) with no provision for DMX distribution other than console to dimmer racks. So, my reasons (in no particular order) include: no available conduit, thus identifying potential paths & installing conduit & cable; having to rig lines into the flown electrics; buying & installing opto-splitters, wall plates & floor pockets; having to get approval from the maintanence director; laying out the cable runs myself or hiring an archtitect to do the drawings; explainging the project to the electricians & making sure it gets done right; adding to the mess of cables already inherent on any stage; ability to quickly drop in a hazer, fogger or such without having to run a DMX cable from some distant DMX drop; etc. Let's see... I can do all that, or... buy five magic boxes, plug them in & do the 9 rehearsals & 27 performances scheduled within the next 28 days.

I'm in a relatively small building (around 28,000 sq ft) but have been able to get through multiple concrete, block & steel walls across three stories vertically, in a suburban environment. Wireless Solutions has a repeater & high gain antennas for instances where obstacles block the signal. Sorry to sound like a company pitchman, but it's nice to find a product that performs as claimed. I have also heard good things about the City Theatrical stuff & have seen it at LDI, but have not used it.

[What Rigger?]

Originally Posted by stantonsound

hmmmm....my guess is the pan/tilt on the cameras mounted in nascars.

Sorry Stanton, it's not NASCAR. But, ironically, it does have a LOT to do with pan. In a matter of speaking...

[Foxinabox10]

Originally Posted by What Rigger?

Sorry Stanton, it's not NASCAR. But, ironically, it does have a LOT to do with pan. In a matter of speaking...

...something to do with Food Network?

[DarSax]

When he said Pan, I thought Peter Pan, and possibly one of those hookups where moving lights follow an actor because he's wearing a transmitter--the lights just position based on the wireless transmitter.

Don't know if that'd be in DMX protocol though...

[zip]

I would have a rather beginners/noob question related to Wireless DMX...
I might start using some but from all the specifications I can not understand something...
It will probably be a WAP or WIFI transmission but my major question would be:

The main issue would be that on a building we have several DMX units but we can't connect them in a cascade due to the long distances and location of each fixture.
Do the wireless systems work like this?

ANTENNA DMX TRANSMITTER ----------------------------ANTENNA DMX RECEIVER
(Acting like a LAN wireless \
acces point) \
\
\
\
\---- ANTENNA DMX RECEIVER
\
\----- ANTENNA DMX RECEIVER

Or the following Configuration...

ANTENNA DMX TRANSMITTER -----------------------------ANTENNA DMX RECEIVER

ANTENNA DMX TRANSMITTER------------------------------ANTENNA DMX RECEIVER

(for every unit we must set up a different Wireless transmission?)

Sorry for the probably stupid question but an answer related to this would help me very much and I can't find anywhere an answer that can answer me in this way

thank you all in advance...

[Pie4Weebl]

yeah, in most simpler systems you have one trasmitter per universe, so you need as many trasmitters as universes. You can have multiple recivers on a universe so if your whole system uses less than 512 channels you can do it on one trasmitter.

[len]

One thing that just occurred to me is whether the units would be manually addressable (i.e., frequency). I haven't shopped around, but I'll bet the lower priced products don't have that capability. Hate to see a rig where universe 1 was transmitting to universe 4, etc. That would be bad.

[koncept]

what about using some dmx over ethernet? (i know this is going away from the original post) but if you used taht you could probably use wireless bridges to do something similar. but becareful and do not put something that could cause damage on a wireless system
(this is wierd to have so many threads inter relate...or at least the ones i've been watching have been)
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/s...7&goto=newpost

[jmabray]

Originally Posted by DarSax

When he said Pan, I thought Peter Pan, and possibly one of those hookups where moving lights follow an actor because he's wearing a transmitter--the lights just position based on the wireless transmitter.
Don't know if that'd be in DMX protocol though...

That's done by using ultra-sonic sound - not even radio waves of any kind. It's a chirper that sits on the performers head, and transmits to several receivers around the space. Based upon time calculations, it's (relatively) easy to calculate distance from each receiver position. At least that's the way the Wybron product works....