Chamsys PC Flickering

[Mexi]

Trying to work out chamsys at the moment. I seem to be having a problem with the lantern (stairville led par) flickering irregularily off. I'm using the enttec open usb box and windows vista.

 

I have tried freestyler, not programmed anything but the colour wheel seems to select colours ok and leaves them on without flicker.

 

Just wondering if this is a problem with vista/open usb that you have to live with?

[niclights]

This sounds to me like one of the classic problems with the cheap LED pars. Try switching to 'music' mode instead of 'auto', assuming it has such a switch! When no DMX signal is present this does put the unit into sound-light, but with a signal you will have normal control. This has been a known 'fix' for the flicker on the Showtec variants.

[niax]

Not completely certain, but the Open DMX box doesn't control the output of the DMX, it does it when the software gives it new DMX data, the problem might lie that Chamsys doesn't control the DMX box in a way which looks like a conventional DMX signal (giving irregular packets) which could confuse the led PAR if it isn't built with the proper DMX standards.

 

Try running it on freestyler and removing the DMX cable and see what happens, if it turns off - it might be this problem

[themadhippy]

Get the same thing with the open dongle my guess is it something to do with

The reason we don't support the Enttec Open interface on the Mac and Linux versions of MagicQ is because the Open device relies on the PC to handle the DMX timing, which is particularly difficult to deal with under these operating systems. Also, nothing against Enttec or their products, but we have found the Open device to be not as reliable and stable as the Pro, and would recommend that people use this in a show situation.

 

Matt

[tvi675]

Hi,

 

The flickering is likely to be caused by the fact that you are using the Open USB rather than the Pro. The Enttec Open device relies on the computer it is connected to to deal with the DMX framing and refresh rate, there is no circuitry inside it to do this and guarantee that there is either a stable, or correct refresh rate. The stability of the refresh rate is dependant on the processing that the PC has to deal with and also the reliability and speed of the USB connection.

 

We have conducted tests on the Open USB and found varying results due to the reasons above. If you need something which has a stable DMX rate then we recommend either using the Enttec Pro or one of our USB DMX Interfaces, both of which use hardware processing to deal with the DMX.

 

Regards,

 

Matt Lemon

ChamSys Ltd

[Mexi]

I did suspect something like the timing problem - thinking about it the flickering is similiar (though inverted) to the flicker of the hard drive light.

 

Would one of your interfaces cure the problem with cheap LED pars?

[niax]

The flickering is likely to be caused by the fact that you are using the Open USB rather than the Pro. The Enttec Open device relies on the computer it is connected to to deal with the DMX framing and refresh rate, there is no circuitry inside it to do this and guarantee that there is either a stable, or correct refresh rate.

 

Sorry to take this thread off topic, but I'm intrested as to why this is a problem. If you output a DMX frame, no matter how irregular it is, shouldn't any DMX devices just take the packet for what it is, just like if you unplug a desk from a set of dimmers, the lights don't go out, it remembers the values for the channels that it's set to watch.

 

Also tvi675 - how different is the open DMX box to code for than the Pro version? I think the emulated serial port is ace, especially as I can do it all in native C# rather than having to invoke methods through COM, is it similar or wildly different?

 

Many thanks,

Nick Hollett

[thelxbloke]

*snip*

just like if you unplug a desk from a set of dimmers, the lights don't go out, it remembers the values for the channels that it's set to watch.

*snip*

 

Only if the recieving devices have that function and it's enabled, not all dimmers do, ours dim over about 1 min if DMX is lost.

 

*Back on topic*

 

I used to have flicker problems with the Enttec Pro with windows, mainly movers "stalling" for 1 sec or so. So I tried the Linux version of MagicQ PC and never had a problem.

 

Regards

Steve

[whitelightlampy]

I used to have the same problem on Daslight gold. The moving effects would time to time freeze for a second and then keep on going.

 

The trick I found is disable all the network cards *sounds crazy* but it worked for me. Before, I took my laptop to a gig, opened daslight, did the job and had pauses every now and then. Then, one day I disabled any pointless hardware (networking and bluetooth) and the freezing and pauses went.

 

I suppose it makes the processor not deal with inactive services in Windows, which could make it think to much and crash and die...as every PC does at the most crucial point. :)

[Mexi]

just as an update, decided to try the software on my old laptop. An old 1.2ghz machine, but chamsys, light factory demo and freestyler all worked perfectly - no messing about. Ive ordered the 'pro' interface anyway, but I really wouldnt consider a p.c. with vista again.

[Atomic_Strobe]

just as an update, decided to try the software on my old laptop. An old 1.2ghz machine, but chamsys, light factory demo and freestyler all worked perfectly - no messing about. Ive ordered the 'pro' interface anyway, but I really wouldnt consider a p.c. with vista again.

 

I had a similar problem with Nextec hardware, switching to a different environment. Descovered old c**** laptop was better than new shiney one.