I have to support quite a few of the statements that Emil has made.

In USD, a Hog3 is about $25k compared to the MA which is almost twice that.

Many of the large companies who hire me have GrandMA desks so learn it. I however will always spec a Hog3 given the choice.

I love the speed at which I can program a Hog3 and yes it exceeds an MA. I would however say the MA is a better desk. It is better for running a big show if the team is concerned about having multiple interfaces and better multi-interface reliability.

If you're simply a user who has need to only program media servers, then hands down, Hog3 is better and for many of the reasons Emil mentioned.

One thing I will mention to reinforce what Emil said is to use Hog PC instead of the desk itself.

The DP2000 is literally a DMX processor. That little blue node is the heart and the critical part of the system but any computer can run it just as well as the SUSE based Wholehog Controller.

I implore you. It is worth the price to buy a DP2000 for a little less than twice the price of a superwidget.

Oh and, there was a fantastic gentleman from California who created keyboard button labels that show the Hog key configuration. Just check out the High End website and you'll find the link to download them.

Except for the lack of encoder wheels. I can program just as fast now using a regular keyboard as opposed to using a programming wing. Of course I've also had practice.

Oh and not to knock the Linux based Kernel but the average laptop or desktop computer is actually faster and more reliable than the Wholehog3 Controller simply because the motherboard in the Hog is more than a half decade old.

Now for specific reasons why a hog is better for media servers...
I have programmed literally a hundred Catalyst shows on a hog3. I have been very smart though. I started by creating programming templates for each of the different configurations I used the Catalyst.

Now when I show up on show site, 90% of the show is programmed already and all I have to do is use the magic little update button. Needless to say, this has virtually eliminated the need for having the programming wing interface.

So now when I do a Catalyst show, I get on the plane with one carry-on which has my clothes and tablet PC and I check one road case that weights less than 50lbs which has:
1 PC laptop
1 DP2000
1 Playback Wing
2 DMX Ethergates
1 8-port switch
3 Macbook Pros w Catalyst
3 Firewire 800 External Enclosures with Mtron Disks

The alternative with the smallest GrandMA is two roadcases and weight penalties.