Lighting desk

[Mr_P]

a bit off topic , but what drive me crazy is that no one design a SHUTTER ( or keystone ) UI . It is ridiculous we still have to rotate a wheel , actually many wheels to control a simple mechanism like Frame Shutter or in the case of Catalyst Keystone.

not true - go look at keystone controls n the mix window - click and drag!!

the Hog II did a giant step actually it create a entire NEW ERA of the lighting control and we now still living in that era . Every Desk mentioned it's son of the Hog but one of them did I big step forward in term of usability .
Yes for sure we went in to the networking days but the programmers are look a lot like the old hog .

Hog was advanced for its time, but AVO, ETC, JANDS compulite all have good range of desks - not all as good as each other for dealing with media servers - but good in their field and unique from the Hog2

Just recently I tough how many waste of time as been spent from zilllions of companies to create desk like maxxyz , vista , compulite and many others witch have a really little market share compared to what Maa and HES does .

Vista is a great desk - ideally suited for timeline programming....

I personally think the era of the hardware lighting desk it will be shortly over .

NEVER - people like hands on FADERS and KNOBS - mice are a pain! - you can only control one thing at once with a mouse or even touchscreen. Faders and knobs allow programmers to do more than one thing at once.

Granted - PC systems have their place for offline programming at the airport - or creating custom fixtures, or updating pallet names - but are no substiue when faced with a hard programmig session on big shows.

I will grant one exception to the pc lighting controller however, in use as a midi or MSC slave on an installation.

We got a clear example of what a lighting tool can be using common hardware .
Catalyst it's a strong software run on common computers , and it live in a real world eco system , where every year CPU goes faster and cost less .
I don't see why a lighting desk have to cost 40.000 euro ! ( more or less ) when the fastest Pc cost 4.000 .

Indeed why need faders and other " special " input devices that can't be found outside the lighting industry , then why not make only this input devices ? and use the personal computer industry power and growing speed .
Yes I know there are companies that sell this side wings and this is good .

Well you;ve just contradicted yourself and re-afirmed he need for hardware!

HES and Maa and so ETC and Martin does Pc software witch are not really designed to be a Pc software . What they do they are simulating the real hardware desk but are not truly designed to be operated on a Pc .
( Just to clarify , when I say Pc I don't think to a little 13" laptop )

not true - Hog PC works great!

Indeed working using a Hog III Pc software ( IMO ) it's better then anything else , but I still working in a " SIMULATOR " of the real Hog .

As far I remember when I was a boy I saw big hardware machines to editing videos , monochromatic CTR monitors was display information to control many ( I think the was ) betacam VCRs .

what do we have today ?

technology has moved on! - the microprocessor replaced the valve 40 years ago!

best hollywood movies are edited on Mac or Pc certainly not a 13" laptop , but a real workstation filled with all the goods necessary to do what it's need.

So as I said , I might be bit off topic but since we start speaking of lighting desks i like to give my clear and deep opinion .

So im still not clear - are you pro hardware or software lighting desks?

Lighting desks are here to stay - the ameture user may only be able to afford a PC and offline software - but you'll find that every PRO user and hire company around the worldstill use real desks....

The future of video control is in dedicated video control desks. Take a look at the coolux control surface for pandoras box - is an interesting solution for them. -

(Catalyst is better though)

S