Cue lights... RF or cabled or what?

I thought we hashed this out in an earlier thread that prompted me to write the free WebCue program (baxeldata.com/freeware, the last entry). Haven't mentioned it before as the original poster said "no apps".
sorry, Dave - my memory isn't what it used to be, or should be. Twas very humbling today as I took my annual Stanford U Brain Health Cognitive Assessment (online) ... trying to remember which of a full 52 deck of cards have been flashed on the screen in the past 4 minutes made me feel almost like I was shooting in the dark". Thanks for writing this!
 
My two penn'orth: I'd prefer a wired solution myself, since wireless has a nasty habit of working fine in rehearsal then not when the auditorium is full of pocket radio transmitters all looking for wifi.

I'd also wire it so that the base station and the out stations have lamps in series, so the sm knows that the out station lamp is on (if either fails, neither lights). Then the out station has a normally closed button in series too. so the sm turns on the cue light - sm's light and the remote come on. When the talent react to the cue, they push their button, which flashes their lamp and the sm's lamp, so you have visual feedback that they've seen it and reacted. Then the sm can turn the cue light off again, ready for next time.
 
No worries. I thought they only did that to people in Las Vegas they thought were counting cards. ;)
If you feel like souping up your app a wee bit:

- more connections - 2 gets used up quickly with a SM and say a conductor or FS op
- ability to load a cue list and hit Standby-Next and GO big fat buttons. Make it so the list is a CSV - that way you don't have to build editing functions into the app.

Having to type free text for each cue during a show doesn't seem practical for many environments I work in. I'm usually already octo-podding with mixing, advancing the next mix scene recall, SFX, monitoring wireless performance, and keeping a general eye out for trouble.

If you did all that, it would be worthwhile as a paid/licensed app.

I do share the concern about NNN audience members all filling up the WiFi spectrum with endless hunts for a connection. I learned my lesson that one at a 50K person outdoor event where I foolishly thought I'd be ok mixing from multiple iPads 100' out into the crowd. The solution (and it can work in theater environments, too) was to rapidly borrow a long rugged Ethernet cable from the video truck and extend my AP from stageside to right under my feet at FOH. Luckily i had cable protector already run due to power needs for FOH and the adjacent press riser. But sprinkling a few APs around the venue (mesh could be helpful if you use one that reserves 1 radio for the backhaul) might eliminate the need to cable in the venue. YMMV.
 
I'm a crusty old guy that thinks copper is king. In theater we've gotten fairly good about running wires and cables so they don't get damaged - we know the show relies on them and developed methods and materials to protect our show-dependent resources.

ANYTHING wireless (sorry to DMX folks) is subject to disruption by outside (not under your control) RF if the frequency and/or radiated power is right. Wifi and similar "free spectrum" devices are even more subject to this as the presence and use of devices designed for them cannot be controlled.

Something to think about - with wire and cable, show-critical copper has at least 1 redundant, fall-over-ready signal path. Relying on wireless means either 'more but different' wireless stuff, or running copper or fibre.

If cueing is critical, copper should be involved unless the RF side is bullet proof, and then you'll need 2 RF systems (different frequencies on back up transmitters and receivers, with automatic, on-fail switchover). If it's not mission critical do what works 90% of the time and hope for good luck.
 
I like AlMorton's series lamps, and plain ol' wire!

Again: remember the KISS principal. Seems there's a tendency by the "under 35" set to throw technology at a simple problem just because the technology exists.
 
Of course there was no reboot time on those giant rheostats and patch cables either.
FWIW. I’m several seasons in and many performances using WiFi and DECT for comm in a 600 seat house. So for N<600 WiFi ain’t bad. Covering the parking lot was problematic on a wired headset too :)
 
We use (RC4) wireless DMX and haven't had any problems with it, but I have had occasional stutters on things like aRFR which I put down to WiFi congestion, or maybe we need to increase the number of access points. There are plenty of use cases where wireless works flawlessly, just saying to be aware that sometimes wireless can be iffy.
 
We use (RC4) wireless DMX and haven't had any problems with it, but I have had occasional stutters on things like aRFR which I put down to WiFi congestion, or maybe we need to increase the number of access points. There are plenty of use cases where wireless works flawlessly, just saying to be aware that sometimes wireless can be iffy.
And there is a difference in the use case of having a device that is not moving on wifi vs a tablet running the RFR and you're wandering about possibly hopping off one access point and on to another and constantly fluctuating signal strength. I could be wrong, but I think on wifi there is a constant rebalancing of data throughput based on signal strength.
 
You could be right. We do use the RC4 kit on moving pieces, but they're going to stay in the same coverage area pretty much all the time, and it's covered by the RC4 transmitter, not the wifi repeaters..
 
Sorry I'm late to this.

Like @microstar suggested. I use a Chauvet Obey 4 and a couple of Cheap Chauvet RGB PAR 38's. I use DMX XLR to RJ45 adapters and run a Cat 5 cable between the controller and the fixtures. If you want to go wireless there are lots of wireless DMX options.

The Obey 4 is particularly cool because it has color preset buttons so it's easy for the Stage Manager to jump around a color code.
We use this code:
Blue= Were running as usual not in standby
Yellow= We are in standby
Green= Go... then back to Blue once the cue has passed.
Red= Something is wrong get on headset immediately.
Occasionally we have a need for a single person to be cued for something different and we need to differentiate. We just assign that person a special color like Purple or White... again just use the presets on the Obey 4.

Note I also have a PAR next to the Obey 4 in the booth so that the Stage Manager is always reminded what color is being displayed backstage.
 
If you feel like souping up your app a wee bit:

- more connections - 2 gets used up quickly with a SM and say a conductor or FS op
- ability to load a cue list and hit Standby-Next and GO big fat buttons. Make it so the list is a CSV - that way you don't have to build editing functions into the app.

Having to type free text for each cue during a show doesn't seem practical for many environments I work in. I'm usually already octo-podding with mixing, advancing the next mix scene recall, SFX, monitoring wireless performance, and keeping a general eye out for trouble.

If you did all that, it would be worthwhile as a paid/licensed app.

Just watched the video about WebCue. Looks very useful.
I just got an Echo Show for $19 on sale from Amazon. Thinking of testing this app out because the Echo show is always on, would be great as a permanent display. Problem is, I use mostly Macs, so I'd need to run a VM with windows, just to run the server, which isn't really a big deal.

Agreed though, if the messages are truly 1 to 1, having more than 2 destinations would be key. If it's 1 to all, it's less of a big deal.

Also agree, the ability to have any sort of cue list would be great. I'd probably use something like TextExpander or Keyboard Maestro so I could type something like ##1 for cue 1 and it auto-fills my text.
 
OK, gang. There seems to be some interest in advancing WebCue. I've noted your comments here, but if you want to PM me with your 'wish-list', I'll see what I can do.
 
So not cue lights as we would think of them in this context, but I've recently discovered Tally Arbiter which is some really clever software created to work with tally lights on video cameras. I've wondered if it could be also adapted for use as a cue light. It does allow OSC commands to fire sources, and it works with these little guys over WiFi.

We've been using this for camera work and it is pretty simple and reliable. The only issue is battery life is iffy. You'd want to hardwire the matrix displays
I'm working with TA for it's intended use, but I don't see any reason why David couldn't (or anyone else couldn't) whip up something to make a cue-switch-panel source to drive it.

I'm just using old cellphones with 3" screens. I expect decent life, at least out of newish batteries... and I don't care if the IMEIs are bad.
 
Did an update to WebCue that gives the remote end a button to signal "Ready", with a corresponding signal at the host. We're using old cleaned out phones like Jay does. What do you want next - a cue list or porting to a Mac? (just learning how to do that)
 
Did an update to WebCue that gives the remote end a button to signal "Ready", with a corresponding signal at the host. We're using old cleaned out phones like Jay does. What do you want next - a cue list or porting to a Mac? (just learning how to do that)
I just spent a few minutes checking out your Freeware Download page Dave. You have so many clever pieces of software you've been making! Thanks for sharing them with the rest of the world!
 

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