how many controllers do I need?

[johnjack]

I want to buy 3 cheap ($100) green laser projectors for beam show for a small room.
Does this mean i need to also buy 3 DAC controllers? because the cheapest I found is $150. Maybe there are controllers that can be connected to more than one projector at once? ...

[WookieBoy]

You can daisy chain lots of projectors off 1 DAC, but they will all do the same thing... which may be fine in a long narrow room above a dancefloor or if you're happy that they all copy each other.
If you invert the x or y axis in one projector, you can do left and right mirrored off 1 DAC and use a second DAC for the center projector... assuming they're all in a line above a stage/dj booth/whatever. This works pretty well and saves you a DAC.

However, be careful buying the cheapest DAC you can find. I've heard some of the cheaper ones are really not very good.
Remember, this isn't a cheap hobby, and you'll actually save money in the long run buy buying better/more expensive kit now than buying cheaper stuff that you'll have to replace later...

[johnjack]

Okay, what DAC will you suggest for a simple 15kpps, <100mW laser?

How do you "daisy chain" multiple projectors to 1 DAC?

Many thanks.

[mixedgas]

Friends don't let Friends Drive Ishow. Avoid it....

Steve

[WookieBoy]

That's pretty much what I was trying to say without naming names...

I'd recommend the Pangolin FB3qs as that's what I use.
But the ethereal and raya DAC s are apparently pretty good as well...

You can daisy chain using the ilda in and out on each projector... or with an ilda y-split cable...

[norty303]

Do you mean Etherdream and RIYA? Or were you still trying to avoid naming names?

[colouredmirrorball]

But the ethereal and raya DAC s are apparently pretty good as well...

Would that be EtherDream and Riya? :P

John, if your projectors have an Ilda out connector, you can connect it to the Ilda in of the following one. That's a daisy chain. If they don't, you need an y-split cable.

[kl79]

Ishow dac with a spaghetti license is not bad i think

( i'm searching for a second hand ishow dac too...if someone have one..let me know)

[colouredmirrorball]

$400 is a plain scam!
Mainly the iShow software sucks, but the DAC is semi-decent. It's only 8 bits for X/Y though, and I think TTL?
Apart from that the drivers only work on 32 bit systems, so if you have a 64 bit computer don't even bother.

Also

Friends don't let Friends Drive Ishow. Avoid it....

Steve

[swamidog]

if you want to throw 70$ away, but a couple lattes at starbucks.

don't invest money in Ishow.

Just how bad is iShow? Someone in Armenia was trying to sell one to me for 400 bucks, so I never bothered learning more about it since many here were saying it sucked. But now I checked it in eBay and it's like 70 bucks, maybe it's not so bad for slow scanners for beam shows?