DMX Lynx vs ACx16

Can anyone compare/contrast them? I've been to the site/forum thing that kinda talks about it, and I've seen the wiki page that shows something and some pics and I se there's some 128 port controller but it's all RJ45 connectors, so where's the AC (or is that DC) go?

Pony if you look here http://www.holidaycoro.com/2010LSHworkshop/  I think this might help out some.

They speak different protocols.  The Lynx/Freestyle boards respond to a DMX signal.  D-Light has its own protocol that is very close to the LOR1 protocol.

DMX doesn't know what a ramp or fade or shimmer is.  It only knows how to do intensity commands, ie, turn on at 50%, turn OFF, turn FULL ON.  But your sequencing software can be used to generate a series of commands that make ramps/fades/shimmers/etc possible.  For a ramp from 0 to 100%, you don't have to create 20 individual commands: 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, etc - the software can generate those for you.  So ramping shimmers are possible to - either the software needs to support them (to make it easier on you) or you can generate them manually (yuck).

D-Light boards speak differently.  Aurora can send it a single command to tell it to ramp from 0 to 100% over the next 3/4 of a second.  The controller then takes over and makes the necessary adjustments to control the lights over that time period. 

There's pros and cons to each.  DMX sends intensity commands to every channel at every time step - so there's no change into how much data gets sent.  For D-Light, the amount of data can vary depending on what's going on in the sequence.  It can be little to none, or much more than the DMX equivalent.

In the end, sequencing is pretty much the same - the only difference is specifying what type of controller you're dealing with.  I haven't noticed a difference in the visual result - it can be different theoretically (update frequency - but that's a software setting), but I haven't noticed any difference.


Edited by deweycooter - 19 Feb 2010 at 2:20pm

I won't answer for Michael, but I would expect for all commands to be supported on the DMX side.

Adding a freestyle means another adapter for the separate network.  That might mean that you will use more cat5 than you would have otherwise used, and you've got a new piece of hardware that you have to have at least some level of understand in how to use, and no guaranteed support.  Some people aren't comfortable going there.  Those are the downsides that I see. 

Well, according to the 2010 Lone Star Holiday DIY Workshop (http://www.holidaycoro.com/2010LSHworkshop/Controller%20Cost%20Comparison.pdf), it's about $60 for a lynx where as the Silver is $120 + heatsinks So half the cost... or more realistically twice the channels.