Serra Ava posted a price, I edited the price off his posting just to resolve policy issues. Easy mistake.
I think because of budgetting, I'm going to have to stick with ADJ products. Not that that is a bad thing, mind you, just, budgetting is tight and my outstanding clients are slow to pay, so it really hoses things up.
Better than a client who makes me pay for their maintenance up front, then turns around on me and says "Oh, and by the way, we're gonna pay monthly, and on top of that, you'll have to bill us monthly in the rear AND wait 45 days after that to get paid", so I'm eating it 6 ways from Sunday, and all they are serving are poop sandwiches.
I'm not ruling out Elation, but I am thinking 2 things: Short term application is wide area wash, plus I'll be doing more of these shows, so it's not like this is a one-off purchase. But 2, I want a more "feature laden" product that gives me more options after the fact.
For example, assuming Serra Ava is dead on with the 64 LED Pros being a 10-degree spread, that means I gotta put some distance between mounting position and stage to get decent coverage. Typically, I gotta put the stands ON the stage and throw right now. This is more of a Mega Panel, Power Shot or Mega Pixel application. 2 lights per side, and boom: I'm done, leave the 64 LED Pros in the truck. Strike and set goes super fast as they are already mounted to T-Bars and pre-wired as much as possible.
But I'm also listening/reading as to what Serra Ava is saying and taking his input into consideration as well. As I've said, a built in restriction is to stick with Elation or ADJ products, which I don't see as being a fault.
One thing I saw a band do was with the Chauvet equivalent of the Mega Pixel and I really liked that: the internal chasing stuff. I may have that being shown in some video from May of 2009 on my pictures page. Bands really like me doing the chase stuff, so if I can use fewer fixtures and do the same thing.... well, that just makes good business sense.
The biggest concern is "how much spread do I get out of a Mega Pixel" and how deep will it effectively penetrate. I'm fairly sold on it and at the retail price I've seen it at, but honestly, is it the best I should get? Maybe I am better off looking at some 56 LED Pro's instead?
It takes me a while to wrap my head around new products that I'm not familiar with when it comes to lighting. The ADJ videos are great, but the manuals and videos and online descriptions simply fail in providing me the information I need.
I have to cover an area an estimated 50 feet wide by 20 feet deep, and will be using 2 Color Fusions as center up/footlight wash/fill to augment whatever 4 fixtures I purchase. Movers will cover back area fill. Spots are unclear what the hell is going on with those. Existing lights will continue to cover the stage.
If I gotta use the Par38's, I will. If getting LED replacement bulbs(screw-in dimmable replacements, 32 of these and can be gel'ed and not give problems, or RGB+white bulbs, 8 of each) can be done in a cost effective manner, that's another option to explore. I'm looking at like a re-fit, making my own LS70 LED system by simply buying new screw-in bulbs for my existing Par38's and re-using my DP-DMX20L's. THe bulbs are all I need, and I'm find with ADJ using RGB+Yellow, as that's what I've been gel'ing my Par38's for 7 years anyways. But the per bulb price becomes cost probitive at the MSRP price.
So many things to think about. I mean, I can compromise and go strictly with wash lights and work around any limitations they have.
The immediate sitation is difficult because I don't have many options without blocking sightlines and a wide area.
If I go with more of a spot/beam, I want to have 8, so I can have somewhat over-lapping zones, and with a wide beam, I can cover more areas easier. I'll have time to focus because I can boot the cast during one of their many smoke breaks.