Why DMX?

[sittinguphigh]

Being new and not really knowing electronics. I have noticed that most Christmas light sites do not use DMX. I understand that DMX is used professionally for DJ's and stage people. But what is the benefit in using DMX for controlling Christmas lites?

[RJ]

Being new and not really knowing electronics. I have noticed that most Christmas light sites do not use DMX. I understand that DMX is used professionally for DJ's and stage people. But what is the benefit in using DMX for controlling Christmas lites?

Well I would disagree that most do not use DMX. If this was just a few years ago then yes. When I decied to create all of my stuff to use DMX I was told it was a dumb idea and no one would want to use DMX with diy lighting, Cat5 cable can not be used for DMX, and a whole lot of other things. Boy am I glad I did not listen! It is now the most supported protocol in all of animated christmas lighting and almost everyone uses cat5 cable even the newer commerical stuff.  

It is the only current protocol supported by all of the normal software vendors we use. This includes Vixen, LSP, LOR, spectrum is switching to DMX only or so a recent post indicated. In the diy hardware world I would say most equipment now can use DMX and LORS equipment which by far is the largest users base in the hobby supports DMX out of the box.  

RJ

[sittinguphigh]

OK. Maybe they don't make a be deal about telling you that. I will have to look a LOR and others again. I didn't see it.  Maybe they put the Dongle, controller and SSR together. So you are saying RJ that you can't use Vixen without DMX?

Is there some thing special you get with using DMX? Just trying to get a understanding.

Thanks

Mort

[zman]

On my website is a decent DMX Primer. I list (IMHO) the pros and cons of DMX - You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

In short, DMX provides you options that just do not exist with regular lights/controllers. There is developement going on in the DMX world that will blow away your visitors, some of it is here today, some will be coming in the near future. RGG pixels is one example of this. DMX does not lock you into hardware, you have the option of mixing and matching various fixtures and dimmers.

Staying with the DIY world, DMX is the cheapest per channel option available, period.

If I had to start over again with animating a display, I would be 100% DMX/DIY. There are advantages with off the shelf, such as LOR, and I don't regret having come from that area at all, but I am glad that I can mix my LOR network with DIY/DMX.

[D56VillageNut]

I'll second RJ and zman 's comments.  

I still consider myself a newbie but I've also dug around on some of the forums and learned some of the history of this hobby.  Computer Controlled / DIY Christmas lighting has progressed from staight ON/OFF control with relays using Parallel or Serial ports on a PC running a variety of software and protocols that in many cases were user created or found on a forum or bulletin board...... to what we have today with people like RJ that have designed DIY hardware that uses a well defined protocol (DMX) that is supported by well made software such as Vixen, Light Show Pro (LSP), Light-O-Rama (LOR), etc. and can plug into my USB port.

I think of DMX in terms of language.  You'll find that in the DIY world there is also a Renard (REN) protocol.  LOR has their own, as do some other vendors, but DMX is not proprietary and if a device I am interested in speaks DMX then I know that my set-up can communicate with it and I can integrate it into my show.  If it speaks some other language it's not so easy.  Granted there are protocol convertors and such but with DMX being well established it makes it a lot easier to set up lights for a show.

That's MHO but I jumped in with DMX and never looked back.

Alan T

[tbone321]

OK. Maybe they don't make a be deal about telling you that. I will have to look a LOR and others again. I didn't see it.  Maybe they put the Dongle, controller and SSR together. So you are saying RJ that you can't use Vixen without DMX?

Is there some thing special you get with using DMX? Just trying to get a understatnding.

Thanks

Mort

That is not really what he is saying.  Vixen as well as many other programs can be used with any protocol that it has a pluggin for.  DMX is just another protocol but unlike a proprietary one, it is available to anyone that wants to use it.  What you get with DMX is compatability with multiple hardware and software developers that just doesn't happen with a proprietary system.

[chrisl1976]

I'll agree with the rest of the guys.  I started off with D-light controllers (LOR protocol) and now slowly switching to DMX items.  The DMX christmas world is exploding with new technology and in my opinion, DMX is the future of christmas lighting.  Only downside is that currently I dont know of any affordable DMX non-DIY AC controllers like the LOR and D-light controllers.  Anyone know of anyone selling any? 

[zman]

I'll agree with the rest of the guys.  I started off with D-light controllers (LOR protocol) and now slowly switching to DMX items.  The DMX christmas world is exploding with new technology and in my opinion, DMX is the future of christmas lighting.  Only downside is that currently I dont know of any affordable DMX non-DIY AC controllers like the LOR and D-light controllers.  Anyone know of anyone selling any? 

Chris, whenever you put DMX in front of any commercial product, it WILL be expensive. Outside of using an LOR PC controller as a AC Dimmer Pack, you will not find branded off the shelf AC Dimmers cheap. Maybe in China you can find them, but I am personally still not comfortable investing a lot into products from there. I will wait to see what this year and next yields to product failures coming directly out of China.

DIY products are solid, proven and are within reach of most anyone's budget, you just have to invest the time to assemble them.

Alan brought out another point (I cover in my material). DMX, LOR, AL, Renard, are all languages, period. DMX just happens to be an open published standard, where LOR and the others require specific hardware to go along with that language.

Mark

[dmaccole]

But what is the benefit in using DMX for controlling Christmas lites?

Is there some thing special you get with using DMX? Just trying to get a understatnding.

I can say it in one word: interoperability.

(Well, it's as long word, but just one).

When BDK197 found the three-channel controllers from China (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) he was interested because they use the DMX protocol and he was using DMX because he had the Lynx Dongle. Now he and DMoore have built many props for their Christmas-light shows that use that controller and while there was some DIY involved, it was mostly off-the-shelf.

RIRI7707 is building all sorts of interesting things that can be easily added to his Lynx environment because they all use DMX (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) ... and I'm pretty sure he'll be selling some of them soon.

AussiePhil has kinda gone overboard on his DMX activities (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login) but he understood that the momentum is with DMX.

(My own Sawyer Star project -- still hobbling along -- will eventually produce a controller that can handle an array of 64 LEDs at a DIY price point of about 50 cents per channel, assuming you want to control each LED individually as its own DMX channel.)

What stood in the way of widespread DMX adoption in the Christmas lights world in the past was that there was only one real provider of an intelligent USB/DMX converter (dongle) and that was Enttec, which wants $151 for its non-DIY device. RJ engineered and built an Enttec-compatible dongle that prices out at one-third the cost, but requires the user to solder a handful of components onto a board. That opened the floodgates to DMX adoption in the Christmas light world.

As is inevitable, there are now at least two other DIY DMX converters available and one of them prices out at about $30 (though it's not Enttec compatible). Will someone make a commercial pre-built converter that undercuts the Enttec price? Again, it's inevitable.

To get back to "interoperability," what I know is this: if anybody offers any type of DMX device -- whether originally designed for Christmas lights or not -- I know that I can attach it to my Lynx Dongle and it will work.

The question is not "Why DMX?" The question is "Why not DMX?"

\dmc

[jnealand]

LOR was great when I first started, but then I began my real learning curve.  Now I consider LOR and Planet Christmas like I used to consider AOL.  Good for beginners but move on as soon as you can.  DMX is the future.

[mschell]

Most of the good points have already been mentioned by several posters.

For me, DMX is just another "language" that can be used to talk to controllers.   It is field proven in the theater industry.  Because of all the varied conditions of theater, and the fact that shows setup and take down often, it had to be rugged and resilient.

The Christmas light "industry" has grown quite a bit in the last few years.  Since there were a few "big" manufacturers, their "private" protocols or languages were popular.  However, as things progressed, the flexibility and ruggedness of DMX becomes more important.

The one other thing about DMX vs LOR or AL or Renard is the "streaming" aspect of DMX.  LOR is transactional in that it sends a change in state of a channel one time and only one time.  DMX streams continuously every second, so if one change communication is missed, it will be repeated on the next cycle.   That's why an intelligent dongle is necessary - to keep sending the DMX signal even if no lights change their state.

[rm357]

Seems to me the simple answer is DMX is a well established commercial protocol. All of the others are proprietay and lock you into their hardware.

With DMX, we are not limited to any one vendor's product line.