Les
Well-Known Member
LOL nice. I still don't think I will go around theatres calling them fishing lights though. haha
Control/Dimming "Facts" about DMX
- Thread starterderekleffew
- Start date
LOL nice. I still don't think I will go around theatres calling them fishing lights though. haha
shiben
Well-Known Member
Yes they are. I dont recall exactly what types (mainly because where I fish in IL they have all kinds of invasive species that they want dead, so you can catch them any way you like. I know some people who do the same on deer, and that is also illegal in all instances, unless sanctioned by the state Fish and Game people (in my area of IL they do annual deer culling, and they do use this practice, along with some more barbaric ones involving nets and nail guns)). However, I have not been out in a long time (since running off to college), so they might have changed the rules and it could be outright illegal now.
Fish shining is illegal in both Minnesota and Wisconsin... I know someone who has a light similar to that mounted on his truck for "deer shining" which is illegal to hunt with but it's not illegal to do for recreation... Yes, some people actually like to drive around the woods at midnight and look for deer, apparently. Usually beer is involved.
shiben
Well-Known Member
You know that you have very little social life when...
At least its less dangerous than drinking and then snowmobiling (seriously, i can jump that ditch).
DimmerDotCom
Active Member
DimmerDotCom
Active Member
That has got to take some incredibly large amount of boredom...then again, I knew people who liked to play chicken with trains, so yeah.
shiben
Well-Known Member
Thats just a game you cant win, and it sounds like you no longer do. Did the train win finally?
awgiedawgie
Member
Yeah, I pretty much got this far into the thread and was weary of reading. As I started reading the OP, I was laughing as I read something about a "black and white" statement, thinking to myself how some things really should be black and white. The DMX512 standard is... well... a standard.
OK, yes, I use 3-pin XLR mic cables and DMX cables interchangeably with our DMX equipment. BUT, my entire chain of DMX fixtures is less than 200 feet long, and since I purchased all the mic cables, I know they are perfectly capable of doing the job I am using them for. And, since I double-check all the connections before powering on, I know they are not cross-connected. If I were setting up, say, an outdoor concert stage with a 3- or 4-level lighting truss network, which would require the need for several helper elves, you can bet that I would A) buy a couple miles of DMX-grade cable, and B) be sure that every DMX fixture had only 5-pin connectors on them so nobody could accidentally interconnect audio and DMX lines.
The OP was so wrong on so many levels, he might as well have said, "since microphones use a 3-pin XLR connector, so all 3-pin XLR connectors must obviously be carrying a mic-level audio signal." That statement would be ludicrous, at best.
Even before I read any of the replies, I had already decided that I will NEVER buy ANYTHING from CheapLights.com. I would love to be able to quantify how much business this guy screwed himself out of with this one flaming article.
Yeah, I pretty much got this far into the thread and was weary of reading. As I started reading the OP, I was laughing as I read something about a "black and white" statement, thinking to myself how some things really should be black and white. The DMX512 standard is... well... a standard.
OK, yes, I use 3-pin XLR mic cables and DMX cables interchangeably with our DMX equipment. BUT, my entire chain of DMX fixtures is less than 200 feet long, and since I purchased all the mic cables, I know they are perfectly capable of doing the job I am using them for. And, since I double-check all the connections before powering on, I know they are not cross-connected. If I were setting up, say, an outdoor concert stage with a 3- or 4-level lighting truss network, which would require the need for several helper elves, you can bet that I would A) buy a couple miles of DMX-grade cable, and B) be sure that every DMX fixture had only 5-pin connectors on them so nobody could accidentally interconnect audio and DMX lines.
The OP was so wrong on so many levels, he might as well have said, "since microphones use a 3-pin XLR connector, so all 3-pin XLR connectors must obviously be carrying a mic-level audio signal." That statement would be ludicrous, at best.
Even before I read any of the replies, I had already decided that I will NEVER buy ANYTHING from CheapLights.com. I would love to be able to quantify how much business this guy screwed himself out of with this one flaming article.
Very True!
Welcome to CB. awgiedawgie feel free to introduce yourself in the New Member Board.
Anyone else see anything stupid on Cheaplights recently or did they go out of business with all the misinformation
I doubt if such incorrect statements hurt their business significantly. I don't think most theatrical/concert people would even be buying their low end stuff. DJ cable runs are pretty short with only a small number of lights, so there shouldn't be any real problems with signal attenuation or reflections. Most could probably even just use "zip cord" just fine. Bill
DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
Sorry to bring this back up but the reason you can't use phone line instead of cat 5 cable is because there isn't enough lines, cat 5 takes i believe a minimum of 6 lines, phone cable only comes in 4 lines.
Someone needs to do more research.
Sir, I believe it is you that might benefit from some more research in this case...
There is this little thing they call bandwidth and it makes ALL the difference in successful transmission on a cable or nothing (in a digital system).
First and foremost we need to distinguish between Category 5 and 4 pair Category 5 UTP which is the blue string we all know. I can quite easily buy a 25 pair Cat 5 cable...
10 Base T ie. 10 Mbps Ethernet was designed to be able to run on Cat 3 cable, ie. Telephone wire, intentionally for the support of legacy installed cable plant.
A 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps link needs only 2 pair to operate, gigabit needs all 4 pair of a typical 4 pr cable.
If you start to look into the parameters that matter for 500 MHz performance that Cat 6A provides, it becomes very interesting. Note also that 6A is mostly useless for use with Baluns for say AV use because of it's bandwidth optimised design...
DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
I stand corrected thank you for the info I guess I need to do some more networking work.
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On the correct cable note.
Which are the characteristics that on a "dmx cable".
Is Belden 8412 compatible?
Datasheet: http://www.belden.com/techdatas/metric/8412.pdf
Do the "dmx cables" have 2 or 4 conductors? If 2 are the rest of the pins just left unconnected or grounded?
Which are the characteristics that on a "dmx cable".
Is Belden 8412 compatible?
Datasheet: http://www.belden.com/techdatas/metric/8412.pdf
Do the "dmx cables" have 2 or 4 conductors? If 2 are the rest of the pins just left unconnected or grounded?
DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
The Belden 8412 might work, but its certainly not up to standard. DMX has up to 5 conductors, 2 of which are reserved for future use although some companies may have already started using them. Which is one of the reasons some manufacturers are using 3 pin as they don't have the technology on their devices to talk back to the console (originally thought to be used for a more intricate network).
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the impedance of the cable have to match 120 to really be standard?
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