any info on Pangolin "Beyond"

[Laseronics]

Anyone have any info on the new Pangolin product called Beyond?

[hobbybob]

yup.... it will be released 16th of July.
Further info ? I don't have....

[smogthemog]

PANGOLIN ANNOUNCES THE FUTURE OF LASER SHOW CREATION TECHNOLOGY
Pangolin President William R. Benner, Jr. announces that BEYOND, the future of laser show creation technology is scheduled to launch in July.
ORLANDO, Fla - April 14, 2011 – At the recent Prolight + Sound tradeshow in Frankfurt, Germany Pangolin President and CTO William Benner Jr. gave a much anticipated announcement about BEYOND, the company's all new laser show software for professionals. BEYOND is scheduled to be released on July 16th, 2011, which is the 42nd anniversary of the launch of the Saturn V Rocket, which took astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon for the very first time. William R. Benner, Jr. choose this date to honor his father William R. Benner, Sr. who worked on NASA's Mission control computers, and directly contributed to the success of the Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon.
The new BEYOND software will run on the existing QM2000 hardware (which currently runs the LD2000 software) and also on the Flashback 3 hardware (which currently runs the QuickShow software). Pangolin has also stated throughout the course of the show that they are working on new network hardware for BEYOND, based on a recently-developed technology they call "distributed computing". No official pricing has been released, but the company did comment that all existing LD2000 shows will run on BEYOND, and that anyone who purchases and LD2000 System between April 7th (the start of the Prolight + Sound tradeshow) and July 16th will receive the new BEYOND software for free.
During the Prolight + Sound tradeshow, Pangolin President and CTO William R. Benner, Jr. commented: "We are always looking to the future trying to find newer methods and better ways of powering your laser shows… I am very excited to state that we have been diligently, albeit quietly, been working on our next generation professional software called BEYOND. BEYOND is the future of laser show creation technology, and I am happy to announce that we will officially be launching BEYOND on July 16, 2011!"
About Pangolin Laser Systems and company president William R. Benner, Jr.
Since 1986, Pangolin has amassed over 16,000 clients in 63 countries firmly positioning themselves as the world leader; providing software and hardware solutions to the laser display and text message industries. The company, with offices in the USA, Central Europe, and Mainland China, has received more than 20 awards for technical achievement and product quality, and their software has contributed to more than 350 Artistic Awards for its users. Pangolin has products being used by some of the largest events, companies, and brands currently known, including major theme parks such as Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Studios, and Six Flags; major motion picture companies such as 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks pictures; high-tech companies such as PC Magazine, Boeing, and Lawrence Livermore Labs; popular brands such as Mountain Dew, T-Mobile, and Motorola; major sports teams and events such as the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia Eagles, and Super Bowl XLIV; and top-named musical talent including Madonna, Drake, Usher, Metallica, the Black Eyed Peas, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Jean Michel Jarre, Justin Timberlake and many others.
William R. Benner, Jr. Pangolin's President and CTO, is a best-selling author and internationally recognized software and hardware developer from the United States. He holds numerous Patents, and has received personal letters of commendation from President Ronald Reagan and Florida Governor Bob Graham. He has also been published in the SMPTE Journal, The Laserist, LaserFX, US Tech magazine and Motorola's Embedded Connection magazine. He represented the state of Florida in the United States Skill Olympics and represented the U.S. in the International Skill Olympics trials, receiving gold medals for each. Benner has also received the International Laser Display Associations' highest accolade, the Career Achievement Award.
For more information on Pangolin and their award winning line of products, visit their website at http://www.Pangolin.com. For more information on BEYOND, and to see the speech given by William Benner Jr. at the Prolight + Sound tradeshow visit: http://www.PangolinBEYOND.com.

[hobbybob]

What intrigues me are the following sentences:

The new BEYOND software will run on the existing QM2000 hardware (which currently runs the LD2000 software) and also on the Flashback 3 hardware (which currently runs the QuickShow software).

And

No official pricing has been released, but the company did comment that all existing LD2000 shows will run on BEYOND

Will this mean that we finally be able to run all the LD2000 shows on the FB3 ?
And if so, how are abstracts generated (in software ?) which are now done on the QM boards in Hardware (if i am not mistaken).

Anyway would be cool...

Also the new hardware (distributed computing) sounds like expensive, but cool technology. Maybe where you "upload" the shows to this box, so it can play even if the connection with the pc breaks down ? Anyway looking forward to 16th of July.

[hobbybob]

That's why i asked whether the abstracts would run in Software, since i doubt it too.
On the other hand, QM hardware is older style hardware, what it can do can probably done in realtime on the current modern day processors as well. So then the FB3 is just the output device and all processing is done on CPU.

But that would mean a software interpretation of what the hardware on the QM normally does, right ? And i don't know if it is foreseen.
Maybe a convertor which can convert the QM shows to be playable on FB3.
I just say that would be really revolutionary so a lot more people can enjoy the shows also on FB3 ;-)

[norty303]

That's why i asked whether the abstracts would run in Software, since i doubt it too

The FB3 already runs LivePro abstracts and abstracts generated in Abstract app just fine in software.... no reason to think it couldn't do the same with Beyond abstracts too.

[hobbybob]

So basically you are agreeing with me that there is no technical obstruction anymore why it shouldn't work playing LD2000 shows from beyond to the connected FB3 ?

[hobbybob]

And that's exactly the reason why Beyond will probably be more expensive for FB3 than for LD2000. Making it fair towards LD2000 users that they have paid more in the past (and got more in the past like network connectivity, but also the shows).

So asking one time more money from FB3 users this must erase that discussion.
On the other hand, people that buy QM.nets mostly (not all, i know who you are) make money from this professional.
People that buy FB3's are mostly hobbyist that do not make money or less (asking the usual 50 bucks for a show on Uncle Jack's 50th birthday....)
So from that standpoint not asking much money from FB3 users is fair in that way. Or make 3 versions again, like intro basic and pro now exist for LD2000.
That way if people want to upgrade they can, or buy it in 3 easy upgradeable steps. The 3D part will be very advanced is i may believe the people that saw it.
Make that the "pro" part of the deal. The ability to play shows, timeline stuff and for example the ability to drive 3 or 4FBs as basic and then something in between (for instance the ability to play shows from both FB3 and QM).

[hobbybob]

hmm yeah that might be an alternative.
I'm very curious to what their decision will be.
but One thing what I think, since LD2000 has intro, basic and pro their must be something that compensates a lot for this to my guess.
Perhaps they indeed allow for beyond intro for fb3 and beyond basic and beyond pro for fb3
but to my guess the pro, even when for fb3 will be pretty pricey as you said to compensate with the LD2000 system. 100% speculation though.

You ofcourse don't have to compensate buck-for-buck.
I mean, i would love to have had an ethernet able DAC, unfortunately i can't afford it (right now?). People that have QM have that, i think one of the biggest advantages of the QM, next to the great number of shows.

By paying more they have that huge advantage of a networkable DAC, and saved lots of money running cables since tossing a light CAT5 cable is easier than heavy ilda stuff.
So they got value for money ;-) Don't make it too expensive for FB3 users ;-)

[hobbybob]

Ho StOP!

I must have been unclear, or you don't understand my previous post.
I am not talking about having a networked FB3 rendering any QM useless or stock piling up. Just talked about the support to play QM shows on Fb3 nothing less nothing more and making 3 versions so people could upgrade to their likings.

That way pangolin gets paid for the shows (which they already paid for in the past for the QM users), so making extra money from Fb3 users on something that is already there (excellent business plan if you ask me ?). Haven't you read Bill's chapter in the Gamechangers book ? Make something that is easy to reproduce and sell it a lot of times. Shows are already there, created or bought in from others. So easy to produce, Now resell it as often as possible.

And you don't force people to fork out a lot of money at once since you could go in 3 easy steps (especially FB3 is on the low end and QM on the high end). Ofcourse make the first step the most affordable to get a lot of people to beyond (excellent business if you ask me, better have someone upgrade paying a little than not upgrading at all right ?).

I think the upgrade plan must be fair.
So FB3 user that wants the most from Beyond all features pays most (but still less than QM pro paid since the absence of a network port).
LD2000 PRO user that has already paid the most, gets it very cheap.

All versions in between according to version and amount paid already.
Also make special deals for people that have already bought LC MAx or Livepro.

That's my opinion.