Digispot 7000

[Techdirector]

Anyone used these in anger rather than just in a blacked out demo area? I have a project in the development stage where projections etc are crucial. It would be nice to know if this is a route to take.

[AHYoung]

as far as im aware the Robe unit takes a standard Sanyo Xp100 and puts it in a moving yoke, puts a led washlight on the front and adds some digital gobo effects etc. however you pay a premium to say the least. We have had the XP100s in our hire stock for a couple of years now and they are decent units and fairly bright for the size etc so in terms of brightness as long as you are not trying to fill the back of a stage and competing with loads of mac 2000s etc you should be fine, as you say the shows all about projection, so light it sensibly and youl be fine

 

it has to be said that years ago we had DMX moving mirrors made with a grand plan for DMX controlled multiple moving video projections. The result being that once you get over the fact that the video moves, its not actually that clever an effect and has its own problems with the consequent image rotation and loss of focus. It was very quickly discounted as it simply looked better to use the projectors in a more traditional manner. these days with affordable high brightness units, if you want to move video around the stage, project full frame onto the stage and then move the video elements within the full frame to my mind it will look better and be easier and for that matter cheaper having looked at the trade price on a robe digispot.

 

again if you need to project onto different multiple screens / objects, id use multiple projectors which might sound daft, but I bet it will look better.

 

im prepared to be convinced but has anyone seen / used digispots or similar used in a particularly creative way, ive seen a show with hi end dl1s where all they did was pan fire effects from left to right on a cyc. I remember years ago thinking it was clearly the future of lighting, but it seems to have gone the way of the flying car and space trousers...

[steve h]

as far as im aware the Robe unit takes a standard Sanyo Xp100 and puts it in a moving yoke, puts a led washlight on the front and adds some digital gobo effects etc.

 

don't forget they have also attached a media server which allows for all sorts of magic...and is certainly more than just a couple of gobo wheels!

 

Steve

[AHYoung]

as far as im aware the Robe unit takes a standard Sanyo Xp100 and puts it in a moving yoke, puts a led washlight on the front and adds some digital gobo effects etc.

 

don't forget they have also attached a media server which allows for all sorts of magic...and is certainly more than just a couple of gobo wheels!

 

Steve

 

fair enough, but the unit costs about 30! grand more than the projector, and to be honest the media server allows for the kind of magic ie reliance on inbuilt effects that kind of goes against the creative use of video, if you want magic, go out with a camera, do some animation, bend it into something else on your computer whatever but in my mind original content created for the show will always look better than the inbuilt stuff.

[Joe Bleasdale]

if you want magic, go out with a camera, do some animation, bend it into something else on your computer whatever but in my mind original content created for the show will always look better than the inbuilt stuff.

 

The DL.3 (a direct reival of the DT 7000) from High End Systems has on on board camera and can do some pretty cool things... maybe it is worth using the DL over the DT, wilst the inbuilt media servers in both fixtures are different, they are both the same resolution.

 

Best Regards,

[timmeh2]

Hi

 

Having used the DL2 and DL3 extensively I favour them over the others.

 

The collage generator is unique and allows you to split an image over multiple projectors, without the need for a seperate media server.

 

The onboard camera is rather cool and you can send the image of one camera to a layer on another, and maniplate the effects in realtime via DMX.

 

All the best

Timmeh

[Joe Bleasdale]

Having used the DL2 and DL3 extensively I favour them over the others.

 

Just out of interest... where did you hire the DL.3 from? last I heard there wernt any in hire stocks in the UK... Neg have DL.2 but I am yet to find DL.3.

 

Thanks,

[jacet]

Anyone used these in anger rather than just in a blacked out demo area? I have a project in the development stage where projections etc are crucial. It would be nice to know if this is a route to take.

Yep. As others have said, they are very expensive but I haven't had any complaints against them. Never had any reliability issues with them and must say the built in effects and control allow you to get your image fitting your screen pretty nicely even under the most difficult circumstances, features like image stitching and effects to project onto very randomly shaped surfaces (i.e. it's got features such as projecting into a 90deg corner). Keystone, focus, zoom, digital x/y positioning, digital iris and banners (like a shutter in a generic profile) all offer adequate control... And yes, the LEDs are quite punchy.

As for the media server, it does come loaded with stuff but presumably you'll be using your own footage. It's pretty easy to upload content onto it or use the live input feed from elsewhere.

 

But yes, in summary I'd say they do the job that they're designed to do pretty well... As for value for money, I couldn't really comment having never bought one.

Just my opinions

Jacet

 

E2A with reference to the blacked out demo area... When used in clubnights I find I've had to pull the output from the projectors down to around 30% in the past because they'd been ruining the atmosphere by being too bright... As with any projection it'll suffer from having a shed load of lights focussed at it, but it certainly holds its own.

[cedd]

We've used them before. Sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs with the "image stitch" function from the inbuilt media server to give a whole cyc projection.

 

Whilst I wasn't involved heavily in their use (apart from rigging them - very heavy!) I do know that our LD (who is very used to 30+ movers in our theatre rig) was pretty close to thowing them out of the window. Not because the messed about, just because they took an awful lot of setting up and getting right.

 

One thing to watch is that in transit, the lens assembly can come loose, or it certainly did on their older, little brothers (the 5000's I think).

 

I'd use the optional ethernet as well as DMX for managing content and such. Also make sure you plan and upload your content before rigging - go up ladders to plug in a memory stick and YOU WILL knock their alignment - not fun when you've spent ages image stitching 2 together!

[jacet]

Whilst I wasn't involved heavily in their use (apart from rigging them - very heavy!)

Yep

I do know that our LD (who is very used to 30+ movers in our theatre rig) was pretty close to thowing them out of the window. Not because the messed about, just because they took an awful lot of setting up and getting right.

True, they certainly take a bit of getting used to, also some desks don't make it very easy to use, I certainly wouldn't recommend using something like a masterpiece to control them (not that I would ever recommend someone to use a masterpiece). But once you get your head around it they are pretty powerful units.

One thing to watch is that in transit, the lens assembly can come loose, or it certainly did on their older, little brothers (the 5000's I think).

Yep, I've heard quite a few complaints like that about the 5000s but I think it may have been resolved for the 7000 (though I've never given them any serious abuse).

[timmeh2]

Having used the DL2 and DL3 extensively I favour them over the others.

 

Just out of interest... where did you hire the DL.3 from? last I heard there wernt any in hire stocks in the UK... Neg have DL.2 but I am yet to find DL.3.

 

Thanks,

 

 

Hi Joe

 

IIRC they came from PID.

 

Just as an afterthought about control, you don't have to use a Hog... I used a just-out-of-the-box Avo Tiger to run four DL2s at a gig and didn't have a problem, although the personality is split across 5 handles so takes a little getting used to.

 

All the best

Timmeh

[Joe Bleasdale]

IIRC they came from PID.

 

Thanks alot.

 

Just as an afterthought about control, you don't have to use a Hog... I used a just-out-of-the-box Avo Tiger to run four DL2s at a gig and didn't have a problem, although the personality is split across 5 handles so takes a little getting used to.

 

I second that, if you are running complex fixtures like this from a console, I would recomend having lots of universes, 3 DL.3s will chew up just under 1 universe IIRC. I am not sure about the DT7000's. I would also recomend using the Art-Net features; many consoles can now output Art-Net directly or by use of a node. Hog 3 with a DP8000 will do 16 universes of Art-Net, Road Hog Full Boar will do 12 universes of Art-Net, Grand MA can output 4 or 8 universes directly from the console, Vector can output 16 universes of Art-Net (soon to be more). I could of course go on...

 

Of course you could use an external server such as Cat, Hippo etc and output one feed of SDI to multiple DL3.s. Send a single SDI feed upto the truss, then daisy the SDI in/out on the DL's. This way you only have to control one server, and it stays on the ground to make for easier content upload etc. You would still be to control the pan/tilt of the fixture by just patching the motion layer on the console.

 

Best Regards,

[Ben]

IIRC they came from PID.

 

PID went under last year, the only people with UK stock of the DL3 are HSL

[Joe Bleasdale]

PID went under last year, the only people with UK stock of the DL3 are HSL

 

Really?? The DL.3 is not on their quick quote list and I asked them (I admit that was a while ago) if they stocked them and they said they didn’t. They have the Robes, 3000, 5000 and 7000 listed as well as Cat, Hippo and pixel mad - but not DL.3... Any idea when they got them? Either way, if they do, I have finally managed to find DL.3 and it is close to my home!! :)

 

Thanks,

[Ben]

PID went under last year, the only people with UK stock of the DL3 are HSL

 

Really?? The DL.3 is not on their quick quote list and I asked them (I admit that was a while ago) if they stocked them and they said they didn’t. They have the Robes, 3000, 5000 and 7000 listed as well as Cat, Hippo and pixel mad - but not DL.3... Any idea when they got them? Either way, if they do, I have finally managed to find DL.3 and it is close to my home!! :)

 

Thanks,

 

 

To be honest I didn't know they had them myself until I saw this tread and having worked for HES I just phoned up someone in the know to find out, this was the info I was given by someone in HES...