Restaurant Lightshow

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Jorge Orwell said:
I thought I would post this for anyone in the future who is in need of additional information about dongles.

There are many dongles on the market. How does one choose a good dongle? I had been hoping someone here would recommend a brand name based on their experience using a dongle. That was the reason I had written a previous post about that, which no one answered as far as giving me a brand name based on their experience using a dongle.

There are the two dongles I gave links to above in a previous post. From additional research, many people have had problems with the $60 Enttec dongle. I've found no one having a problem with the pro version of that same dongle. So I will get the pro version even though it's more expensive than the $60 dongle.

As for accessories for the dongle, I have no information about that and will ask about that elsewhere, so as not to bother anyone on here. Hope this helps someone in the future.

Jorge
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I specifically upgraded from an OpenDMX (the cheap one) to the Pro because of problems it had with the Colorstrip. I support your decision...why buy twice?

Other than cables and a terminator you shouldn't need accessories. I have found a DMX splitter useful to reduce the amount of wiring needed (I use the Entech one) but they aren't necessary.

John Tuck: There's more to it than compatability with the software, although that is a necessity! Both the OpenDMX and the Vellman interfaces work but have limitations that will make them unsuitable for some purposes or devices. Unless you understand these limitations and know that they won't affect you, going with a less limited interface/'dongle' will save some hair-pulling.
 
What about a Vellman dongle? Ben at NLFX sells them. Probably get a good price. And, if you ask Ben (the DMX guru) will provide free advice. If it were me asking Ben, I'd take it as gospel.
 
WINErS just gave him options many are using I didnt say it was the only option oh and by the way it is JON TUCK drop the H!:triwink:
 
TwinSpinDJ said:
What about a Vellman dongle? Ben at NLFX sells them. Probably get a good price. And, if you ask Ben (the DMX guru) will provide free advice. If it were me asking Ben, I'd take it as gospel.
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The Vellman dongle sends out packets slower when it is controlling a large number of DMX channels...or so I'm told. I have not used one personally, but that's what I came across when researching Colorstrip problems. Erratic packet speed is what causes Colorstrips to 'flicker' in color mixing mode.

If you aren't going to be using very many channels, the Vellman may work fine for you. (or if you only have fixtures that don't care--most don't--it'll work fine with lots of channels too)
 
The velleman and the enttec are both fine controllers, however, they do have some problems with rgb color mixing on many chauvet fixtures in particular. If you're not using Chauvet products, then either is fine. Actually, Dwight from Chauvet said a while back that the newer fixtures didn't have that problem anymore.

I prefer the enttec pro dongle however, as you can control the buffer sizes, and packet speed.

With my colorstrips, I can RGB color mix with a pro dongle, with the enttec open dmx, and velleman, the lights flicker and flash when RGB color picking.

This is the only problem I've ever found. Others mileage may vary, but I know many folks with the freestyler / velleman combo who have no issues at all with their non-chauvet lights.

Another plus to the non-pro dongles is that they don't need drivers.

The Pro Dongles do.

While Ben is the pinnacle of super geeky goodness, I have never seen him tout the benefits of freestyler. He is a vendor for many other more expensive DMX softwares, and doing so wouldn't be in his best interest. I wouldn't take his lack of vocal support for the freestyler product as disapproval. (I know how some of you are :)

You never know though!
 
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