Just something I came across yesterday. I installed the
Eos 2.6.0 update and have been reading up on the notes. As part of the update,
"Any sACN universes within the 1-63,999 standard range can now be used. 256 universes total can be used."
(Page 11, ETC Supplement - Eos Family v2.6.0)
This leads me to believe that this is in addition to the 2
DMX universes on board. So really, the
Element has the capacity to handle more addresses, as long as you don't exceed the
channel count. This is yet another reason to update use an
ethernet infrastructure. Can someone verify or debunk this for me?
It might be easier to think of it as more usable
address numbers as opposed to the actual amount of addresses. The Elements max capacity remains at 1024 actual total outputs which is unfortunate as every other
console on the
EOS line besides the
Element got an actual output expansion with 2.6. The update to the
sACN protocol allows those to be "
grouped" however the operator wants them to. For instance,
fixture 1 on
lux 1 starts at 101/1.
lux 2 starts at 102/1, upstage cat starts at 201/1,
house starts at 1001/1
etc... allowing you to organize however you want with 63,999 universes all on one
network protocol. This is really useful if you do a lot of gigs in
house with no outside op; or if you are running a tour all you have to do is see the physical location of a light and you know what its
address is, but it's pretty much a nightmare for
road techs who already have a programmed show and just want to
tie in to your rig and update a couple fixtures.
For your average event this is meaningless, as you normally don't use enough fixtures to bottleneck the previous allowance, but in arenas and massive events like the Olympics, this is huge. You can have both organization and massive total outputs, allowing large scale hookups as in as much as 1000
EOS TI consoles hooked up to the same show running different stages or sections or moving lights or someone running moving spots while someone is running front
wash. This is extreme overkill but the average live tv awards ceremony has somewhere around 16 board ops and if I recall correctly the London Olympics Avolites setup had over 100 board operators alone, never mind every single seat was
pixel mapped... Its really just one more step in allowing you to be creative, mostly meaningless to a lot of us. But
ETC is great at just getting out of the way so we as lampies can just be creative with our tools.
From my
point of view, it appears that the Net3
Protocol is being broadened to a more open
sACN instead of the ETCs proprietary NET3, my opinion is that this has to deal with the acquisition of Hog and allowing those consoles to tie directly into installs with ETCs
sACN integrated networks already in place. Again that's just my opinion. But it would be awesome if we can just hook a Hog straight into our rig instead of having to go through another multiport
node just to
crossover dmx to
tie in.
As an MA guy, I'm curious how
ETC handles 16-bit parameters - if you patch 256 16-bit dimmers, is that eating 256 parameters (MA style) or is it eating 512 outputs (The Other Leading Brand style)?
EOS patch is the same as MA on this, if its a 3
channel 8
bit LED, its 3 addresses used, if its a 3
channel 16
bit LED it's still 3 addresses used,
ETC works with
bit depth the same way it does
intensity and Hue Saturation, its all handled 'virtually'.
I have looked at taking the
network approach, but I am just concerned that after I leave people will struggle to use it. If I output
sACN on the
element and run that cable and place a
node at the end, will it convert the
sACN to
DMX for an 18 year old
dimmer rack to understand. I would really like to add more universes and it seems that this is the most viable way without buying a new board. My plan involves cat-5e running from the board to a
switch and
patch panel, and then from that to 5 different places around the theater and terminating those
ethernet lines with gateways. I guess I'm confused about if the gateways convert it to
dmx or leave it as
sACN.
Going
network on an install is pretty much a set it and forget it setup, so there is no real reason to be concerned about others not being able to use it. In fact it would be best to have it set up and then password protect the whole
network... through
EOS you can password protect the nodes, plus they hold their settings if they lose
power so still no reason for someone else to mess with them once its set up and everything is running correctly, especially at a school where you never know who might try to mess with it.
Simply put a
node or gateway is specifically designed to take one
protocol and convert it to another.
DMX is an old and extremely weak signal and is limited by distance, there is some debate as to how long you can go but essentially you don't want to go more than 50 feet in a single cable run, and patch more than 15 fixtures on one run. And in my opinion, that's pushing it depending on the type of fixtures you are using.
To solve this problem, as we often need more than 15 fixtures that each need
dmx in the
LED world, we use nodes. with a
node, we can either go directly out of the
console through
Cat5 to a
node 200 feet away and then amplify the signal while converting it to
DMX at the same time. this is done automatically at the
node, not something you need to setup as you would buy an
sACN node or an
ArtNet node which would directly convert by from
sACN or
ArtNet directly to
DMX on its own, that's its sole purpose in life to take one signal and turn it into another.
It really is
plug and
play besides some complexities that could benefit from having an
ETC Tech set it up, as far as password and static IP stuff, if everything is
ETC brand than the signal running through the
Cat5 is
sACN (unless someone specifically changed it from factory settings) and if its 3 or 5 Pin
DMX cable, than its
DMX protocol running down that cable, and that
DMX coming out of that brand new
node is essentially the same as it was when
DMX first came out, so it should absolutely work with that 18-year-old
dimmer rack.
In ten years time, I'd like to see
Cat5 in and out on all fixtures and eliminate the need for both nodes and
DMX cable but, we just aren't there yet. Some fixtures in Robe, GLP, and Phillips offer this but it's just not mainstream yet. Changes to the lighting world happen slow...
Also it's important to understand that the
network is all about what your bottleneck is. We've established with Net3 you won't have a bottleneck on the
network because of
protocol you can pretty much use as many fixtures as you can
power. HOWEVER.... you will be limited by what your board can output. You are limited on an
Element to 1024 outputs (addresses in use). if you need more than that, simply put you will need another board. You could rent another
Element and put it on the same
network and simply patch half the
network to one
Element and the rest to the other
Element, or you can upgrade your
Element to an
ION for a maximum of 6,144 outputs. Simply put I'd say your school has outgrown an
Element and should seriously consider an
ION. The
ION is still the standard in many colleges and performing arts theaters around the world so it would be extremely beneficial for a school to teach their students on one.
ETC offers grants for free
ION consoles for schools, you can always ask your instructor for permission to apply.
