And for me, a 512 channel visualizer doesn't help much in world with 4096 - 16k channels may be become fairly common.
To me, I'm planning on bringing in my star toppers (into my office) to view, because this year I discovered that the RGB SS items
really fade a lot different than incand. lights ... and some of the fades I've used previously are ineffective ... and you really have to see how they look to grasp the non-linear fading characteristics properly. In fact, I copied from sequencing from my traditional Holdman star into my RGB SS Node star and a of the sequencing disappeared, because they were basically "off" at some of the lower fade intensities ... and looked different at the others.
So to me, I agree that a lot of visualizers are just not worth the time anymore and there nothing like seeing something perform in person to know how it will look. I think for me, bringing in a star topper into my office will the best visualizer I can use. Perhaps I could also bring in a SS Flex string arch to visualize how the arch looks and behaves.
Yes, this is a bit of a pain, but I don't think any software or device is going to show how these items will truly look or behave.
I understand from the testing / diagnostic perspective they would still be nice ... but I test the entire show several times each year when I hook it up, so thats worked for me ... so I"m more interesting in know what looks good and what doesn't.