Marquee

[Pie4Weebl]

I searched and didn't find that much about it in any previous threads that quite answered my questions so I figured I would post a new thread. The theatre I work at is going to purchase a moving light console for 8 new Vari*lite fixtures, we are looking at the Hog IPC against the Marquee ILC board. I have used the hog in the past and have been playing extensivly with the marquee software but I wanted to see if other users had used the marquee in the real world and encountered any show stopping issues or had any opinion on it vs the hog IPC.

Thanks!

 

[whs07trumpet]

when our theater was recently redone we (not by our own choice) got a Marquee board......probably the best way to describe it is a very expesnive paper weight.....the board constantly freezes (luckily havent had any shows yet) what happens is the board suddenly goes "offline" and you either have to unplug the power to the board (if you're lucky) and the lights will flash off and back on for about 1/2 of a second.....if you're not so lucky....you need to shut down the whole computer system and take about 5 mins for that to reboot....seriously want to chuck the thing out the window.....luckily we've talked to the contractor and they are going to replace the board (won't know what the new one will be (hopefully strand since thats what everything else is) until next week)

in conclusion...AVOID MARQUEE!!

i just hope ET's parent compay buying out strand doesn't affect the quality of strand boards....i know the pallette series now has imbeded XP insted of linux.....and has the marquee software

 

[gafftaper]

I used the Horizon Software which the Marquee was based on and I really liked it. It's quiet easy to use. I've talked to multiple dealers and all of them have been really exicted about selling Marquee. I've seen the demo of Marquee by a factory rep twice. I've also talked to system designers and other "experts" all of whom love the Marquee. You will notice that none of those people I mentioned actually own a Marquee.

The concept is out standing. How well does it work in the real world? Well I can't answer that one. "WHSTrumpet" certainly isn't happy with it... but that could just be one bad console I suppose.

I'm looking at getting either an ILC or a Light Palette for my new theater next summer. The one fear I had about getting a Marquee was that it's a cool product from a small little company. With the big Genlyte buyout the cool software has been reworked so it operates "in a Strand way" (as the Strand guy said.) That's got to be a good thing. The demo I watched of Light Palette at LDI was outstanding. I real liked it.

Also, if you are only using 8 movers, and not a lot of other intelligent stuff, you might consider something from the Strand "Palette" series. They use the same software. You don't have encoder wheels. A lot of the intelligent lighting functions are accessed by way of a sepereate keyboard but that is true for the ILC and the Hog iPC. It could save a lot of money.

 

[whs07trumpet]

i really do like the software....don't get me wrong....it just takes a little getting used to coming from an ETC Express board.....

from what we've heard from the company we bought the board from, they've heard that is one of the problems with the board.....now it may just be a bad board....i dont know....and hopefully thats just the case...

personally....i'm a little iffy about the connection between the computer end and the board....USB

i think that may be the problem with the board suddenely going offline...if it were a parallel connection i could see that being more reliable

and the windows xp worries me too...one reason i am a little nervous about the new Pallette series by Strand. I would much rather trust linux over windows

but that's just my $.02

has anyone else had any problems with the marquee board?

 

[disc2slick]

I'm not familiar, really, with the marquee, but I know horizon that if it is based off of horizon i am a little iffy. Really I don't trust any of the the PC based lighting programs. I understand the appeal but is just too unstable. How many times have you seen your home computer 'freeze' on you (many) versus how many times you've seen an express of obsession 'freeze' (few to zero). I'd say try to drop the money on a real board.

-dan

 

[SHARYNF]

Most of the problems with pc unreliability is that people will not dedicate the pc to that function and leave internet, msn etc etc off the system. If you dedicate the pc to the task and only use it for that task, reliability goes up to a High level
Sharyn

 

[cutlunch]

Most of the problems with pc unreliability is that people will not dedicate the pc to that function and leave internet, msn etc etc off the system. If you dedicate the pc to the task and only use it for that task, reliability goes up to a High level
Sharyn

I agree with SharynF.

That's why Strand have locked down the embedded XP on their new Palette range. They reckoned the instability comes when people try and add their own drivers and bits / pieces. So by locking it down at the factory they know it is leaving as a stable setup.

 

[coldnorth57]

Well it is now a few years later and I am running a Marquee Board that is 3 years old and has verson 4.0012 softwaer in itand well it has been a intresting learning curve I do feel that it is a good board and with the new updated softwaer it is more user friendlyI have run many many shows on it and it has never let me down ...where i have a few times

 

[venuetech]

I have run a Horizon Interface with a submaster wing panel for close to ten years. The rare occasions i have had felt the need to contact support at HorizonControl, they responded very promply and answered any questions I had.

It is my understanding that the Strand Pallett software is based on the Marquee software not visa versa. IMHO the corprate structure pushes the strand products as the "flagship" and tends to ignore marketing of the Marquee.

The only reason i have not upgraded to marquee is that I dont have many moving lights in my plot.

 

[mrb]

if the board keeps going offline by itself, it may be that the usb port on the computer is shutting down. I remember seeing in the chamsys docs something about this and what to change on the PC to keep it from happening. I will try to look it up.

 

[mrb]

heres the note on it from chamsys
"This is generally caused by Windows shutting down the USB ports when it incorrectly thinks they are idle. In Windows, click on Control Panel, System, Device Manager and scroll to the bottom to get a list of the USB devices. For each USB Root Hub click on Properties, Power Management and make sure that the option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" is NOT selected."

 

[NickJones]

personally....i'm a little iffy about the connection between the computer end and the board....USB

i think that may be the problem with the board suddenely going offline...if it were a parallel connection i could see that being more reliable

and the windows xp worries me too...one reason i am a little nervous about the new Pallette series by Strand. I would much rather trust linux over windows

One of the major upsides of having USB is that (at least on the newer Strand consoles) allows you to just plug the USB into your computer and run the show off your laptop if the console crashes. This could be the function that saves your show. Read Gaff's post Bad phone call, the Lightboard won't turn on. and now, Strand is trying to get some kind of reputation for good customer service.

I'm a Linux fanboy, but when I use XP it only crashes when I am surfing, downloding, iTunes-ing & rendering video at the same time. Computers crash once they start to get fiddled with, but if you can't fiddle with it, then you are (reasonabley) safe.

Nick

 

[gafftaper]

First off a reminder to all that the first half of this thread is from 2006.

I have run a Horizon Interface with a submaster wing panel for close to ten years. The rare occasions i have had felt the need to contact support at HorizonControl, they responded very promply and answered any questions I had.

It is my understanding that the Strand Pallett software is based on the Marquee software not visa versa. IMHO the corprate structure pushes the strand products as the "flagship" and tends to ignore marketing of the Marquee.

I was a big fan of Horizon and Marquee at one point. Once upon a time they were a small creative company. Then there was a series of buyouts that eventually landed them in the massive Phillips family. Within months of the buyout, they took the Horizon software and gave it a Strand terminology face lift and released it at the core of the new line of Strand consoles. I think it's pretty clear that the upper management is going to ride the bigger horse, taking what they like from Horizon/Marquee to bolster Strand, and drop Horizon/Marquee it when it's no longer useful. Horizon was discontinued about a year ago. Its surprising to me that they are still making Marquee.

I've been using the a Horizon based Strand console for a year and a half now. If you like Horizon/Marquee I think you'll be very happy with the new Strand consoles. I would definitley advise people to not buy a Marquee at this point, it's clearly a doomed product.

 

[DaveySimps]

!~

I have run a Horizon Interface with a submaster wing panel for close to ten years. The rare occasions i have had felt the need to contact support at HorizonControl, they responded very promply and answered any questions I had.

It is my understanding that the Strand Pallett software is based on the Marquee software not visa versa. IMHO the corprate structure pushes the strand products as the "flagship" and tends to ignore marketing of the Marquee.

The only reason i have not upgraded to marquee is that I dont have many moving lights in my plot.

I agree. I have been using Horizon with a wing for 6 years now, and love it. We also have lots of DMX toys (Scrollers, gobo rotators, right arms, etc.) it is great with them, as well as the occasional moving light package we rent a few times a year (usually VL1000's). I was against it at first, but after I got over the mental aspect of not using a traditional board, I really took to it. It has never not been able to do anything we need it to. And it is quick to program and teach others.

~Dave

 

[coldnorth57]

Re: !~

It is nice to see the the Marquee and Horizon is not dead

 

[gafftaper]

Re: !~

It is nice to see the the Marquee and Horizon is not dead

Well Not officially at least... Horizon will live on inside Strand consoles for a long time. However you can't buy a new Horizon system at this point.