WHICH DAC? Blah blah blah....

[tsteele93]

I'm sure you've seen it asked a million times.

I have QS and FB3. I like it but am running into its limitations almost immediately and would like to explore other software. And I can't...

I have a Chinese (Goldenstarlaser.com - thanks Winni!) H-RGB1200-DT30 637R170mW / 532G200mW / 447B800mW projector.

I want to get laser cam to start with.

Which DAC is at least as good as FB3 and are there better and what makes them better?

Is there a best bang for the buck DAC that is kind of universally accepted?

I'd like to keep price down, but I don't want to save money and end up with a DAC that is underpowered or one that I'll regret and replace. Any tips greatly appreciated!

Tom

[Picasso]

FB3 is not a bad controller just limited with the software it comes with.....

Ether-Dream this one will have many new features over time, it mostly open source. http://www.ether-dream.com I have two of these and enjoy them, Playing with LSX on them for now but I hope to some day go direct to them and call from SD card frames via a MIDI controller. Just using LSX for basic frame building.

Best bang for buck I would guess to be the Riya line? http://www.riyalasers.com/ Seems to be a great deal of these floating around. I don't own one myself.

[swamidog]

i also recommend the ether-dream dac. it's fantastic with LSX.

FB3 is not a bad controller just limited with the software it comes with.....

Ether-Dream this one will have many new features over time, it mostly open source. http://www.ether-dream.com I have two of these and enjoy them, Playing with LSX on them for now but I hope to some day go direct to them and call from SD card frames via a MIDI controller. Just using LSX for basic frame building.

Best bang for buck I would guess to be the Riya line? http://www.riyalasers.com/ Seems to be a great deal of these floating around. I don't own one myself.

[dzodzo]

i second to Etherdream, in my eyes it's currently the most advanced DAC on the market

also don't expect crisp clean shapes with those DT-30 scanners, just sayin'

[tsteele93]

Thanks, I will check the ether-dream out - it isn't crazy expensive is it?

dzodzo, I know the DT-30's aren't the best, but I was hoping they might be a good compromise from the 20k's and even the std 30k's. I didn't know enough about the projectors when I ordered this one to be sure, but in my quick research it seemed like they might be a good way to get decent scanning without drastically increasing the cost of the projector.

FWIW, I came into this with plans of ordering a REKE500 and ended up with the 1.2 (ish) watt DT-30 model from goldenstarlaser.com so I definitely made some improvements from my initial plans!

UPDATE: Hmm, the ether-dream is a bit over what I had HOPED to spend on a SECOND DAC.

The FB3 says... Flashback 3 laser images look the same as those from other full-fledged Pangolin systems. You get two 12-bit channels for X and Y scanner signals, and four 8-bit color/intensity channels, for red, green, blue and intensity signals.

So I guess my questions boil down to this...

What is the least expensive option that will still give as good of results as the FB3? What would the ether-dream offer to me that would make it worth the premium price over the RIYA models? Sorry if I am being difficult, but I was hoping to come in under $200 on the DAC, maybe that isn't reasonable? I just figured with Pangolin QS running around $500 with software AND DAC that I might be able to pick up a decent DAC at around $150-$200.

[White-Light]

FB3 is not a bad controller just limited with the software it comes with.....

Not totally accurate. It's limited to Pangolin software. If it comes with eg QS, you can upgrade from QS to other software in the Pangolin range.

If you want something to work with open source software, then one of the suggestions above.

I doubt you'll find anything that exceeds Pangolin's professional level software as an overall package though. It's the industry standard software for a reason. It all comes down to price.

[tsteele93]

Not totally accurate. It's limited to Pangolin software. If it comes with eg QS, you can upgrade from QS to other software in the Pangolin range.

If you want something to work with open source software, then one of the suggestions above.

I doubt you'll find anything that exceeds Pangolin's professional level software as an overall package though. It's the industry standard software for a reason. It all comes down to price.

I'm very impressed with and complimentary of QS, but I cannot justify Pangolin's higher end software as a guy with a projector in his bedroom who would like to have an occasional party and maybe set up something cool in the second story window of his house at Halloween/Christmas.

But, I can justify some stuff like lasercam for the sheer coolness factor, but then I am forced to buy a different DAC to do that. I'd be less inclined to do so, but when I see that it isn't the software developers fault that I need a new DAC, but it is Pangolin's decision (which I am sure makes very good sense from their perspective) not to release an SDK/API for other developers to use the FB3, then I start to wonder what other neat and fun goodies I am missing out on...

It is kind of a bummer to buy a piece of hardware and find out that - in spite of interest from developers - that I cannot use it with ANYTHING except Pangolin software. Again, I am very new to projectors so I am sure it makes good sense from Pangolins perspective and I am not criticizing Pangolin since I do not understand the business models of the projector software companies.

However, as a new user I find myself apparently needing a new DAC if I want to play with any of the other software out there...

I might not be that interested in dabbling with other software except lasercam seems kind of amazing for creating animations. I suppose I could try it without a DAC and just save to ILDA files and load them into QS, but Swamidog pointed out that it is hard to set it up without a DAC to see if the settings are getting the input properly.

I wonder if there is a way to use a software/demo DAC to screen only with lasercam?

Tom

[james]

Everyone should have a modified sound card, aka LaserBoy DAC!

There are things you can do with it that you just can't do with any other laser DAC.

It's an 8 channel sound card!

It works in every OS. It plays waves.

There is also at least one live display driver for it. Several of the newer, multi DAC laser applications know how to use it, including LaserCam.

It's cheap to build and the concept will always work as long as there are computers!

James.

[tsteele93]

You aren't biased are you?

I hadn't looked at this because I assumed (perhaps mistakenly) that this was a cheap way to get started at the expense of capability or ease-of-use.

How do I learn more about this? Is it easy and is it good? I probably have a sound card laying around somewhere, maybe...

[swamidog]

you can get an etherdream dac, LSX, and lasercam for roughly the same price of an FB3/Quickshow:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LSX-EtherDre...item2ec09bd51e

Thanks, I will check the ether-dream out - it isn't crazy expensive is it?

dzodzo, I know the DT-30's aren't the best, but I was hoping they might be a good compromise from the 20k's and even the std 30k's. I didn't know enough about the projectors when I ordered this one to be sure, but in my quick research it seemed like they might be a good way to get decent scanning without drastically increasing the cost of the projector.

FWIW, I came into this with plans of ordering a REKE500 and ended up with the 1.2 (ish) watt DT-30 model from goldenstarlaser.com so I definitely made some improvements from my initial plans!

UPDATE: Hmm, the ether-dream is a bit over what I had HOPED to spend on a SECOND DAC.

The FB3 says... Flashback 3 laser images look the same as those from other full-fledged Pangolin systems. You get two 12-bit channels for X and Y scanner signals, and four 8-bit color/intensity channels, for red, green, blue and intensity signals.

So I guess my questions boil down to this...

What is the least expensive option that will still give as good of results as the FB3? What would the ether-dream offer to me that would make it worth the premium price over the RIYA models? Sorry if I am being difficult, but I was hoping to come in under $200 on the DAC, maybe that isn't reasonable? I just figured with Pangolin QS running around $500 with software AND DAC that I might be able to pick up a decent DAC at around $150-$200.