VL4000 looks like no joke
- Thread starterWood4321
- Start date
AppollSauce
Member
That looks pretty sweet! I like the framing option, hopefully more fixtures will start to incorporate that in the future. The animation wheels seem cool, I'm not entirely sure how they work though. Can anyone recommend a video that shows more of the animation effects?
techieman33
Well-Known Member
Here's hoping it doesn't weight 200lbs and isn't the size of a small car.
AppollSauce
Member
If they put some wheels on it we could just drive it to the next gig.
According to http://www.vari-lite.com/clientuploads/directory/downloads/VL4000GT_Spot_Spec_031114NA_EUA.pdf, it weighs 79lbs... and takes a whopping 59 dmx addresses. That's a grand total of 8 of these a universe. People are going to have to start dropping artnet/net3 nodes on each truss at this rate... wonder why we haven't seen fixtures that talk net3 natively yet.
techieman33
Well-Known Member
Yeah that has to be coming soon with so many fixtures that have an obscene number of addresses. Look at the magic panel, you only put 2 on a universe.
Perhaps because ETC hasn't made any (yet!)? And any other manufacturer would be shooting themselves in the foot to limit themselves to one brand of control console. [See Control/Dimming - How do we feel about this? Philips Advantage DMX | ControlBooth for the flip side.] DMX512 will still be with us for a long time, even at one fixture per universe, until a fixture comes out that requires more than 512 addresses. I hope I'm retired by then. I have enough trouble getting the fixtures addressed to 001-512; I'd hate to have to address as xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. Yeah, yeah, ACN/RDM...the industry is rushing to adopt.
-----
Am I the only one who finds it peculiar that the unit is offered with 2P&G, L5-20, and 5-15 plugs when it requires "Standard AC power distribution from 200 - 240VAC, 50/60 Hz." ? Hopefully this is simply a misteak on the prelim datasheet.
Last edited:
Likely due to the limit of hubs/switches per network. Each fixture would need a tiny ethernet hub, and more than 3 switches in a run are frowned upon.
Perhaps you could put one in each fixture, but then allow them to output dmx. But that does seem like a lot of extra cost per fixture as well.
That being said, I believe any fixture over 256 channels likely takes art net direct.
techieman33
Well-Known Member
They could build the fixtures to take DMX, NET3 and Artnet. And since ETC doesn't currently build and fixtures that require a lot of channels I doubt they feel much need to rush to a new protocol, like some of the moving light manufacturers will probably be feeling soon. I think it would be great if every fixture had an "IP address" they would just show up on the network and you would assign them unit numbers.
As far as the power cable, that's probably just a list of all of the TrueOne tails they offer for all of their lights that use that connector.
soundlight
Well-Known Member
I'm definitely impressed by this light. It's got some potential. I'm still wary because of Philips recent distilling of everything VL and how many issues they had with the introduction of the Small VLs recently (VL440/770/880). They still haven't worked out all of the software issues with those. That being said, it looks to be a true competitor. It's not really smaller than a VL3000, it's about the same size - but it is lighter, by over 10 pounds, which is good, and it still manages to pack in more features. I definitely like the adjustable spread on the prism, which is a feature they borrowed from the Sharpy. The dichroic animation wheel looks awesome too.
As to the animation wheels - that's something that you generally run out of focus behind/in front of a gobo to create various effects. The dichroic animation wheel is going to be a sweet new addition.
Derek, I heard that they might be making the 1200W version compatible with 120V power. Only one fixture per circuit, but that would still allow use in spaces where VL3Ks have been off limits due to power availability.
Also, they're offering a VL4000 which is a 1200W lamp and a VL4000GT which is a 1500W lamp.
As to the animation wheels - that's something that you generally run out of focus behind/in front of a gobo to create various effects. The dichroic animation wheel is going to be a sweet new addition.
Derek, I heard that they might be making the 1200W version compatible with 120V power. Only one fixture per circuit, but that would still allow use in spaces where VL3Ks have been off limits due to power availability.
Also, they're offering a VL4000 which is a 1200W lamp and a VL4000GT which is a 1500W lamp.
Judge
Active Member
Looks like a neat instrument. Nice new effects. I note that it still looks very much like its from the RoboCop TM school of design.
And I'm talking about the orginal version mind you!
And I'm talking about the orginal version mind you!
Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
Damnit! I watched that video, and water came splashing out all over my lap.
(I rewrote that three times...)
Curiousity: Why are more than three switches in a run frowned upon? It sounds like a random number to me. I can't imagine any physical reason to limit to three switches. You introduce more points of failure I guess, but you do that with a dmx passthru as well...
Edit: Thinking about it a little bit more, what I'd probably do if I had a truss of net3 or artnet capable movers, is drop a one 8 port switch on the truss and just star it out from there. Put it next to the breakout, and your cable lengths are all the same anyways. You get 8 movers per line of dmx, but a 24 port switch sounds much better than a 4x of dmx(3 active +1 spare) which would probably include a node of some sort and a switch anyways, right? Just something to think about.... not that I expect manufacturers to move that way anytime soon
Last edited:
techieman33
Well-Known Member
Your talking fractions of milliseconds under the very load load a switch used to carry data to moving lights.
The limit to the number of switches is a networking deal, there are limits due to latency, as well as data collisions.
I follow the 5-4-3 rule, as it was outlined in "Rock Solid Ethernet" (Fantastic book, I refer to it often!)
Breaking ethernet rules is much like breaking the rules in DMX, like not using a terminator. It will work great, right up to the point it randomly stops working half way through the show.
Due to these limitations, I don't think you will be seeing network hubs/switches built into fixtures any time soon. (Wireless ethernet? possibly.. you never know..)
Also, Don't undersell a Artnet network. There can be a ton of traffic when you start talking about hundreds of universes at once. And those milliseconds can and will be visible in a large network. Did you see the Superbowl halftime show? There was definitely some network latency showing up in the fast color bumps.
Even the pros have issues sometimes.
I'll be honest, I was kind of waiting for this, because I did some reading earlier and found the 5-4-3 rule before asking. Based on my understanding of it (mostly from the wikipedia page about it..) According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-4-3_rule, the rule doesn't apply with modern switches, but rather with early repeaters and only at a backbone level. And I mean, this only makes sense... think about how many switches you probably network through in a big office building.
There will always be latency... the presence or lack of presence of one or two switches isn't going to be the bottleneck though, unless you are using 10/100 switches on a gigabit network or something silly like that..
