r/stagelighting

This is a long shot. I was recently given a bunch of Altman 360Qs and I'm looking to see if there is ANY viable option for converting them from incandescent to LED.

Has anybody dealt with or purchased from ArtFox ? Im just a little suspicious that you have to call a rep, and can't just order from the website.

Hey all, just a question for those that have experience with the Robe iForte LTX/Robospot system.

We have recently purchased (5) of the LTX FS fixtures, along with 4 BaseStations.

We have been using them standalone with 150' Hods for power/dmx/camera video.

However, we've started experimenting using them across longer distances.

This latest festival. We had the lights ~ 450' from the Base Stations.

The Video Feed from the camera was fed from the light 150' to an unmanaged switch, then 300' to another switch, then ~25 feet into the Base Station. The same line also carried our SACN network to our Processing Rack for our lighting rig

We experienced some issues with the camera resyncing mid show, causing the Ops to lose video feed for a moment. Is this simply a distance issue? Or is having the video feed on the same line as the SACN network affecting things?

i run lights for a 300-seat multi-purpose hall in western NC. we do everything from community theater to corporate awards dinners to the occasional touring act passing through. last fall the board finally approved replacing our aging rig and the budget was lets just say not ETC money.

we spec'd 8 Betopper BSW200 LED moving head hybrids as the backbone of our stage lighting rig. 200w spot/beam/wash in one body with an actual motorized zoom, which was the deciding factor. having zoom on a hybrid moving head means i can go from a tight spot for podium work to a wide wash for dinner service without touching the truss. for a venue that changes use case every other night thats huge.

spring season just wrapped. heres what 4 months of daily-ish use looked like.

the zoom range is where these earned their keep. we ran corporate dinners where i needed flat even wash across a 40ft stage at maybe 18ft trim, and the following night id zoom them down to spot a singer at center stage. the transition between modes is smooth enough that i program it into cues and the audience doesnt notice the fixtures changing.

gobo selection is acceptable. not exciting. i use maybe 4 of them regularly and one is a breakup that looks great on cycloramas.

what gave me trouble: one unit had a display that would freeze on the menu screen occasionally around month 2. quick power cycle fixed it every time. mentioned it to betopper support and they pushed a firmware update that solved it completely. whole process took maybe a week of back and forth emails but they were responsive and followed up after.

for 8 units at this price point we paid less than 2 used chauvet rogues would have cost us. im not saying theyre rogues, theyre not. but for a community venue doing 4 different events per week the value math works.

Hello fellow theater people, how are we doing? So, im build for my self a small lighting case, i'm going with a etc Gadget II and a SMC-MIXER, but i also would like to have a compact network switch with wifi to connect with my tablet for touch osc and other systems for backup or smth. I'm looking for 10cm x 7cm, and if i can take off the antennas would be really helpful.

Since now, thank you!!

Hello everyone,

Earlier this month I posted on here inquiring about a new lighting board for our school auditorium, that unfortunately got shut down by administration (even though I got a donor 🤷🏻‍♂️). They say we don't need that and we are not using our current equipment to its fullest potential (not sure they have even seen the board...).

So I am back again seeking any good lighting design workshops. We currently have a ETC eos Element Original (I believe it is the Windows XP model). I am pretty good with getting around the console and using it (and my students). So if any of you know of any good YouTube videos or good companies with paid services please send them this way. This help is much appreciated. TIA

Hey everyone,

We are a very small nonprofit with a three hundred seat theater and our starting to attract some good business. We have an old reliable ETC Express 48/96 I'm looking to replace with something just as simple.

Most software I've found is either for arena productions way outside of our budget or DJ oriented ones like ShowXpress. Most of these tools are focused on moving heads and some don't even offer simple dimmer/faders (head-scratcher!! ShowXpress doesn't even allow you to point a par at an angle!). My question is this: Are there any simple software-based replacements that allow us to run a simple play or recital without having to for the software to do dimmers?

So far I feel like I'm looking for a unicorn. Years ago I learned about StageConsole which I love but the interface is severely... "Windows 95"...

Any ideas would be appreciated.

i do stage lighting installs for small venues around the piedmont area of NC. mostly 100-300 seat rooms, event spaces, renovated warehouses turned wedding venues, that kind of thing. the common thread is the client wants decent lighting, doesnt want to pay for an LD per event, and needs a rig that their in-house person can run with minimal training.

started speccing Betopper BSW200 hybrids into these installs about 8 months ago and wanted to share the thinking because the approach has simplified things a lot.

the basic idea: instead of hanging separate spot, wash and beam fixtures and training the venue staff on which does what, i hang one hybrid per position and program presets they can call up. BSW200 does spot, beam and wash from one yoke with motorized zoom. the venue person doesnt need to know lighting theory, they just press "dinner" or "band" or "awards" on the board and the fixtures do the rest.

ive done 3 installs with this approach now. 6 units, 8 units, and 10 units respectively depending on the room.

what works: the consolidation cuts the fixture count roughly in half compared to a traditional split rig. less fixtures means less DMX runs, less power drops, and less stuff for the venue to maintain. the clients love that part. build quality has also held up well across all three installs, the housing feels solid and the yoke doesnt develop slop even after months of daily repositioning by staff who arent gentle with gear.

what i flag to clients: these are not robe or martin. if a motor fails the replacement timeline is days not hours and theres no local service center. i keep a spare unit for each install i do and ive only needed it once in 8 months (swapped a unit with a flickering gobo wheel, sent the bad one back under warranty).

for installers doing similar work, what are you hanging in budget multi-use rooms? curious if anyone else has landed on the one-hybrid-per-position approach or if theres a better way.

Hey everyone, I recently programmed a GrandMA3 timecode light show using GrandMA3, Capture and Cuepoints and would love to get some feedback.

Any thoughts on the programming or the overall look would be greatly appreciated 🙌