paulears Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 I've seen the usb software to allow network control of their 500/300 desks from a remote pc. is it any good. seems to be around £130 and allows monitoring and control of the main desk via cat5 connections. I've no experience at all of lighting and networks. there appears to be a network card in the main desk - is it as simple as a reverse cat 5 cable between the two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 I've no experience at all of lighting and networks. there appears to be a network card in the main desk - is it as simple as a reverse cat 5 cable between the two?Yup that's about it. All you need is a crossover cat 5 cable, or you can use standard hubs as it uses TCP/IP. Strand supply a USB drive that acts as a dongle. You can also backup shows onto it. It works great with a laptop as a designer's display on the production desk. You view the console screens in windows on your remote pc so you only need one monitor. Although if your laptop supports it (most do), you could plug in a second monitor. IIRC it is possible to have full control of the main console but you have to work with the standard pc keyboard, and the layout isn't particulary friendly. You can buy an (expensive) designers keyboard that is essentially a custom pc keyboard with a different layout. This will turn your laptop into a full user friendly remote. The ability to create a Strand 'Shownet' network is a powerful option as you can also plug 'nodes' into the network that will output DMX, riggers, remote display of the main console etc. Edit: for more info USB Designers Remote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted May 8, 2004 Author Share Posted May 8, 2004 cheers martin,seems like it may well be worth looking atp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Frazer Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Be aware that not all 300/500 consoles have the network software. The remote will not work without this. I think the all the new consoles ship with it a standard but on the older models it was an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Strand supply a USB drive that acts as a dongle. You can also backup shows onto it. It works great with a laptop as a designer's display on the production desk. You view the console screens in windows on your remote pc so you only need one monitor. Although if your laptop supports it (most do), you could plug in a second monitor. IIRC it is possible to have full control of the main console but you have to work with the standard pc keyboard, and the layout isn't particulary friendly. You can buy an (expensive) designers keyboard that is essentially a custom pc keyboard with a different layout. This will turn your laptop into a full user friendly remote.All this, and they still can't get their arses sufficiently into gear to come up with a version of the GeniusPro OLE that works under Windows X-f :blink: :( :o ing-P ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 Be aware that not all 300/500 consoles have the network software. The remote will not work without this. I think the all the new consoles ship with it a standard but on the older models it was an option. is it simply the software thats lacking or was it shipped without the necessary hardware? I would have thought updating the software was fairly easy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Frazer Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 The way Strand work is thus. They sell you a desk with all the software options installed and a password the lets you access the ones that you have paid for. Networker, 500 channels, tracker etc. Upgrading the software will give you the new version but you will still be limited to the options you paid for. It is possible to unlock the other options but you have to pay more money. Apparently this allows them to supply cheaper desks with room for expansion at a later date if needed. The older desks also required a network card were as the new curvy ones have it a standard. Please correct me if I'm wrong but thats how it was when I last used one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomLyall Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 I see, you learn something new every day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 The way Strand work is thus. They sell you a desk with all the software options installed and a password the lets you access the ones that you have paid for. Fortunately they have now scrapped that idea and you get all software components as standard (Networker, Tracker, etc.) You still have to pay for the number of channels you want. I'm not sure if you can add software components to older consoles for free? I do know that you can't upgrade the 400 series to the latest version without a hardware upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 All this, and they still can't get their arses sufficiently into gear to come up with a version of the GeniusPro OLE that works under Windows X-f :blink: :( :o ing-P ... Indeed, and what's daft is Strand claim this USB drive works with windows 2000 & XP, but don't mention 98. I don't know if you can use it as an off line editor though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 Indeed, and what's daft is Strand claim this USB drive works with windows 2000 & XP, but don't mention 98. I don't know if you can use it as an off line editor though.I'm certainly not paying £130 for their USB dongle just so that I can have an OLE that works under WinXP! :( It looks like my trusty old Pentium 133 Win98SE box is going to have to remain under the desk for the foreseeable future, purely so that I can edit Strand showfiles :blink:. I can edit a show file from an old first-generation Arri Imagine on my XP system, yet I can't edit a file from a brand-spanking-new 530i - something wrong there ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Frazer Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 You could use a dual boot system. I used to use boot magic which gives you a menu on startup and allows you boot to any number of OS. You can also disable them so that it boots straight to XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 You could use a dual boot system.Well, yes, I could. And for a while I did, until an old P133 box became my "full-time" GeniusPro OLE system! But why should I have to? It's like having to have an 8-track player in my car in parallel with my CD player, just so that I can play one particular album that I like to listen to from time to time. The new USB dongle proves that they can make GeniusPro (or a modified version of it) run under XP ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted May 9, 2004 Author Share Posted May 9, 2004 I'm going to own up to amazing ignorance here - but on my 125ch 300 I've run out of attributes, but have some channels spare - the info I have says they can be traded off - I've tried unpatching a batch of channels, but can't seem to get them re-allocated as available attributes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 I'm going to own up to amazing ignorance here - but on my 125ch 300 I've run out of attributes, but have some channels spare - the info I have says they can be traded off - I've tried unpatching a batch of channels, but can't seem to get them re-allocated as available attributes.You need to 'delete' the channels. Just unpatching them won't free them up. In the patch screen press the 'chan' softkey then type the channel number(s) you want to delete then hit the 'delete' softkey. You should then be able to use these channels as attributes. It's good practice to delete all the channels before you start patching. Then if you have any gaps in the channel numbers, you get a line between these in the live screen. Useful for breaking up the channel list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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