in the future I’d like to use Photon for a “festival”. It’s basically a big stage with like 30-50 fixtures. Well it’s basic math. 50 fixtures * (avg) 20 channels = 1000 channels.
Photon only supports 512 DMX channels. Other software is limited to this range too. So I guess it’s a hardware thingy? Could someone elaborate this to me? Like why is there a limit of 512 DMX channels and how can you extend it.
One thought of myself was that you can’t send more than those 512 channels over one cable. But my knowledge is just too small.
I think one dmx universe supports just 512 Channels. That’s the Case at every dmx universe. Apps that offer more Channels (there are such Apps) can connect to multiple universes. That’s also the case at grandMas, they have 8 universes i think.
Could you expain that to me? I am interested in the technical background of this topic and I couldn’t find anything. Probably searching for the wrong keywords.
Do you have a source / guide / tutorial or anything else for me?
Maybe this helps . I did not understand the background knowledge completely, but I understood that only 512 channels can be used (513 are possible, but one channel is not used - I didn‘t understand why). The data of one channel is sent in one frame. It has a resolution of 8 bits. It sends 8 times on or off. That are the famous 1 and 0 in the world of computers. With these 2 states you can build 2^8 = 256 values (0-255). So every channel can handle 255 states. For dimmers, it is enough, but moving heads need a higher resolution in there movements, they are not fluently with only one channel. So there are two channels used. That gives the possibility to use theoratically 2^16 = 65 536 values, and that‘s really enough.
I have a little basic knowledge from two books, but they are in German. I don‘t know if they would help you .
That‘s one of the reasons only 512 dmx channels can be sent over one universe/cable. If there are more data, it takes too much time and the signals do not arrive just in this moment. If you want to split up these data to multiple universes, the data have to go over the WiFi to the universes first. If the network is not fast enough, the bits and bytes arrive at your devices too late and the show is not in time.
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