Just Remember the stuff that cheapdmx and holidaycoro sell are considered "DUMB" nodes/modules. They have no chips in the strips/modules/rectangles etc - their colors are controlled by the DMX modules variable voltage to mix colors. So on the samples you get, 3 rect nodes, and 3 square nodes on a single string are ALL controlled together, they can not be seperated on a single controller like the "SMART" string stuff can.
Now not saying this is a bad thing, you just need to remember the capabilities of each type of setup. With the "DUMB" you need seperate controllers if you want to have different colors at the same time. Each setup has its pros/cons - just depends on what you need.
Personally in "my" opinion - the "SMART" way is the future way as you can do the "DUMB" style and use null nodes if you need multiple/seperate elements - but have the future ability for the seperate multi colors in the future.
Hopefully David gets his sample video back up soon, a good example is the stars out in his yard. He daisy chained all the power/data (up to X number of stars to not overload the power supply) from one star to the next in his yard, all using cat5 cable - but each star has a seperate $7 DMX module in them so they can be controlled seperate, i think each star had 3 rectangle nodes in them. Looked very nice.
This also can be obtained with a pixelnet controller and same setup as long as there is no more than 6' between the stars (if I remember correctly) - advantage here - 1 pixelnet controller for 26 stars if you keep with same 3 node per star setup - and can still be done with cat5 cable. So the advantage here is you save on controller cost, but spend a little more on the leds.
Again, either way is a good choice - just depends on your hardware - if your mostly DMX, stay with the DMX controllers, if you want to go pixelnet - head off in that direction.
Another good example that I am in the process of doing now - is his northstar - if you want seperate controllable legs - you need 8 DMX modules, vs 1 or 2 pixelnet controllers to do the same thing - I am gonna use 2 to split up the power in half so whites stay white at the end of the strings instead of a pinkish white. Again it all depends on what type of hardware you want to use or are already using.
Hope this helps you make a better decision on which way to go - good luck and happy building
Myk
