How ETC does universes

I heard at LDI 2016 that there's a change in the wind as far as how ETC will handle universes. This is great news, but since that hasn't been announced yet I want to give some feedback here as a working console programmer in Hollywood:

Currently, to go beyond the stock, internal channel count of any EOS-based console, ETC requires the addition of enough gateways and/or nodes plus the purchase of additional universes.  In my experience as a programmer, having to buy Universes is ludicrous in the marketplace of your competition. Once purchased, they are burned into the console permanently, they have no resale value, and producers & production companies only see "console". They don't see "universes".  So when renting gear to motion picture & TV productions, if the Ion/Gio cannot output the parameters right away, they go with another platform.

Here is what the other platforms used in Motion Picture/Live TV do: Need more universes? Call the rental house and get an outboard expander (usually come in flavors of 8 dmx universes).  So you can scale up for a big show without having to spend $20K - $60K on added universe count. Plus, the backup on the network has no restriction on parameter count.  FYI: This is not  a call for distributed CPU processing.  I like having the brain in the console.  I see potential issues with a distributed processing design once scaled up.  So the question is how can I scale up a show for one episode (or one set on a feature) and have my backup work with out massive unlock fees?

Case study: Your new Gio@5 comes with 8 universes, but has a max capacity of 64 on paper specs. Using a quote from 4Wall at $550/universe (CA Tax) = $30,800 additional cost to unlock the console's full capacity. Nevermind the additional gateway/node costs which will be large enough on their own. But you can either rent or resell a gateway as a piece of useful hardware if necessary.

Ok, so I bring my maxed-out Gio@5 to a feature film set that is spread across 3 stages.  But I need a console on each stage as backups.  So now I need to buy another set of $30,800 universe unlocks to make this work.  That's almost $100,000 in universe unlocks to handle a movie like Transformers. This is f@&*ing crazy!!!  And this is what's killing your adoption into the live TV and feature film world. Your competitors have no such restriction.  If a Hog/MA system has the outboard processors to expand a production to 100 Universes, backups take control of ALL parameters. I'm on a feature film right now using the Hog platform where it works exactly like this.

As far as TV in Hollywood the ION has been well-adopted, especially in the multi-cam world as the "Expression Replacement".  Why? A.) Most studios were heavily invested in Expressions and will not let them go since they're cash-cows as rentals.  B.) The Expression made ETC known as the go-to console so the ION made a logical upgrade path for non-tech savvy studio executives, and C) Universe counts of conventional light shows (i.e. Sitcoms) are generally under 4 universes and the ION is affordable.  So well done there.  That's why that's working.  But as parameter counts go up with adoption of LED Pixel Tape (1-universe per strip), Movers, Skypanels, etc. into multi-cam productions this is going to change. So you better act fast.

For myself: I own a ION system (3072 parameters) and love your platform. I've tried other platforms and keep coming back to ETC as my console of choice. Your OS has a great FX engine, well thought-out logic, excellent network implementation, awesome screen layouts and NOBODY beats what you guys do with color.  But it still happens that I get asked by Feature Film/Live Variety CLT's (gaffers) "Hey, what console do you use?" and be dismissed on the grounds of parameter count.  Rental houses do not invest in dmx parameters. They invest in hardware. Productions don't care about this because they have no clue what we're talking about (they only see "console").

IMO, if ETC wants adoption into the major feature film world (blockbuster films) and live TV/Performance world (i.e. The Voice), you've got to get off this unlock $550/universe business model.  It's hurting you.  Allow your platform to scale up when needed, and allow backup consoles on a networked system to automatically work with the full parameter count of the master console.



typos.
[edited by: Jason Lord at 2:43 PM (GMT -6) on Sat, Jan 21 2017]
  • You know your 3k Ion can client into a 32k Gio@5?
    It just can't be a backup, well it can but the Gio will drop down to 3k as well.

    So you could have a Ion or other Eos family consoles on the different stages all clients to the primary console with a higher count.

    It would be interesting to know the price of a Hog console and 8 DP8K's vs a Eos console.
    There's no easy solution for any manufacture, we all want more for less.
  • i understand what you're saying, but the example with three stages actually isn't fully suited to back this up: you can't use more than one backup anyway, so you would have to use the client role for at one of your stage. clients need to have a license but the size doesn't matter. only backup and master actually look for the output count in their license
  • I don't want this to be a debate. This thread is about feedback and ideas. I program shows at CBS, Universal, Warner Bros and Nickelodeon. I work on multi-cam TV shows and feature films and this is my feedback.

    The movie I'm on right now has a Master & Backup on every stage. This crew does blockbusters back to back and run a Hog Console/Server backup design on every stage. For EOS it would be like a Gio/RPU backup design. If the Gio is unlocked at 32 universes, the backup has to be also unlocked at 32 universes.

    Are you saying to ignore the backup feature on multi-console environments and only run client mode? Does this seutp work as a backup (at full parameters) if the master console gets disconnected from the network?

    I work on sitcoms a lot. They are live audience performances so I run a Nomad backup of my Ion since the counts are small. If I pull the network cable out of the Ion, the Nomad backup takes over the show.

    But if I'm working with 60 universes because of Pixel Tape, Pixel Tubes, Movers & Sky Panels: this model doesn't work in any economic sense. An EOS Ti needs extravagant unlock fees and so would a backup.

    It would be great to have a solution for this, and also move away from the burned-in-console unlock fee model in any case.
  • I don't know the cost of DP8K's or MA's NPU's but I imagine ETC are at a very similar price for a unlocked Ti and Gateways vs Hog or MA with the remote processors.
    Also ETC are bringing out smaller consoles which have the possibility to control these higher counts so they're not forcing people to buy a Ti every time.

    I do agree for hire shops they need another solution as they don't want every console max'd out.

    Also I'm sure the choice of console isn't just down to price, it must be the op's/programmers spec'ing a console they know.
  • Thank you all for your input. There will be more information forthcoming on this topic in the next several months.
    Best!
    anne
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