DCC starting out - I'm not a techy but so far its been worth it!

[Oldddudders]

16 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Sooo, your the one who bought it? 

Nah, my late mate also bought it - but he worked for Philips. (NB - one 'l' only)

[halsey]

27 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Sooo, your the one who bought it? 

 

Naaaaah  -  it was my Dad bless him...…….

[Harlequin]

My Dad also went for Philips V2000!

 

There seems to be some sort of correlation here between the choice of Philips technology and Railway Modelling!

 

I wonder if the children of all the Betamax and VHS early adopters are now into different hobbies like model ships or wargaming?

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Harlequin

[halsey]

4 hours ago, Harlequin said:

My Dad also went for Philips V2000!

 

There seems to be some sort of correlation here between the choice of Philips technology and Railway Modelling!

 

I wonder if the children of all the Betamax and VHS early adopters are now into different hobbies like model ships or wargaming?

 

 

My Dad was the Model Railway fan in our home as I grew up - I was the reason/excuse to cover his hobby!

[Andymsa]

44 minutes ago, halsey said:

 

My Dad was the Model Railway fan in our home as I grew up - I was the reason/excuse to cover his hobby!

 

Where those purchases carried in a plain paper bag 

[boxbrownie]

18 hours ago, Harlequin said:

My Dad also went for Philips V2000!

 

There seems to be some sort of correlation here between the choice of Philips technology and Railway Modelling!

 

I wonder if the children of all the Betamax and VHS early adopters are now into different hobbies like model ships or wargaming?

 

Definitely not, most likely the Philips “boys” went for P4 found nothing available, then S4 found it even more barren back down to EM, quite enjoyed that for a while but felt left out and came back to OO........not me, I went for SuperBetamax......and now I cannot decide what gauge to go for 

[pauliebanger]

Brunel's Broadgauge? Lol

[rogerzilla]

VHS is the canonical example of how the "good enough" technology usually triumphs, if it's cheaper, easier to use or more available than a technically better option.  IIRC Betamax was initially hampered by tape length and was a bit more expensive, although the picture quality was better. 

 

Also see the failed attempts to replace CD with SACD and DVD Audio.

 

"OO" gauge is wrong, most people know it's wrong, the original reasons for it are long gone, but most stuff is available in OO so people put up with it.

[Philou]

Betamax never took off as Sony - the originators - wanted to keep their technology for themselves and wouldn't licence it. When (Panasonic - I think) licenced VHS, it was too late for Sony though their system was supposedly superior. I never saw Betamax being used, though I believe it lived on in TV studios for a while.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[woodenhead]

19 minutes ago, Philou said:

Betamax never took off as Sony - the originators - wanted to keep their technology for themselves and wouldn't licence it. When (Panasonic - I think) licenced VHS, it was too late for Sony though their system was supposedly superior. I never saw Betamax being used, though I believe it lived on in TV studios for a while.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

It's amazing how companies want to keep tech to themselves, somehow imagining endless riches if they corner a market, but someone always comes along with a new thing and your thing is suddenly a dead end.

 

VHS/Betamax > CD / DVD > Blu-Ray/HD-DVD > Streaming

 

At the moment Blu-Ray and DVDs have one advantage still, they provide higher quality pictures as they are not compressed as they are in streaming services and in some areas Netflix still runs a successful DVD service because the internet is not robust enough to provide streaming to some parts of it's empire.

 

Seems to me the path to success is to licence quickly and gain the sales, isn't that why blu-ray took off over HD-DVD because it looks like Sony learnt their lesson on Betamax.

[boxbrownie]

33 minutes ago, Philou said:

Betamax never took off as Sony - the originators - wanted to keep their technology for themselves and wouldn't licence it. When (Panasonic - I think) licenced VHS, it was too late for Sony though their system was supposedly superior. I never saw Betamax being used, though I believe it lived on in TV studios for a while.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Pretty sure it was JVC who “invented” VHS......Betamax was used a lot by people who knew about the quality increase, usually those in the business.

 

Betamax was developed into BetaCam which was used professionally  (which supplanted U-Matic the early broadcast cassette tape system) which in turn developed into a digital format and then obviously it all went solid state.

 

There is a lot more to it than this “skim” but it was fun at the time trying to keep up with the latest tech, and a battle with the bean counters to get the funds for the upgrades 

[newbryford]

The infamous RMweb thread drift kicks in again...…………..

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by newbryford

[Railpassion]

Surely the way to reduce wiring is to go radio controlled. Just control the locos and never have to clean the track again. 

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Railpassion

[Ron Ron Ron]

35 minutes ago, Railpassion said:

Surely the way to reduce wiring is to go radio controlled. Just control the locos and never have to clean the track again. 

 

Not really.

As a mass adoption option, Dead rail remains as dead as a deadman’s Do Dah.

 

Radio control, as in wireless signal communication (i.e. Bluetooth, WiFi) has a lot going for it, both to supplement DCC and to ultimately replace it.

 

Ron

Edited January 12, 2020 by Ron Ron Ron

[halsey]

48 minutes ago, Railpassion said:

Surely the way to reduce wiring is to go radio controlled. Just control the locos and never have to clean the track again. 

 

 

It is interesting you say that as someone in my very early days of DCC investigation said it was "like radio control" - "all you do is control/steer locos independently on a track with a handheld controller very easy" - Ha!!

[Crosland]

2 hours ago, rogerzilla said:

"OO" gauge is wrong, most people know it's wrong, the original reasons for it are long gone, but most stuff is available in OO so people put up with it.

 

DCC has a lot wrong with it but is now so entrenched...

 

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

Seems to me the path to success is to licence quickly and gain the sales, 

 

NMRA DCC wasn't the only "command and control" system, not even the only digital one, but Lenz opened their patents...

 

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

The infamous RMweb thread drift kicks in again...…………..

 

 

I've tried to pull it back

 

[Philou]

It is Sunday - a bit of drift allowed - no?

 

To return to halsey's baptism of fire - I will say he's being far more adventurous than me in changing CVs and the like - I wouldn't really know where to start (well I do - but I really don't like fiddling with technology - I know, I know, you can't really break anything). I am fortunate/unfortunate that I don't have a layout at the moment and just use DCC to check that everything is responding as it should. My learning curve is yet to come, so I'm following halsey with interest.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[woodenhead]

Here's some perverse logic.

 

I am considering my next layout to be DCC rather than my usual DC, it does mean some Dapol and Farish locos get sidelined but maybe going DCC is less of a stress than all the wiring I will need for about a dozen point motors plus the sectioning within a terminus and small engine shed.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but if I do the locos and points as DCC then I don't need a big bank of switches set into a unit upon which there is a schematic of the layout - I can simply sketch it and mark all the point addresses on the sketch and the points controlled via the DCC controller?

[boxbrownie]

36 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Correct me if I am wrong but if I do the locos and points as DCC then I don't need a big bank of switches set into a unit upon which there is a schematic of the layout - I can simply sketch it and mark all the point addresses on the sketch and the points controlled via the DCC controller?

Indeed you can, or do it using a controller/base station which has a large LCD display on which you can “draw” the layout plan and just press the point/feature you want to activate/switch.

 

That ways not cheap though, certainly not as cheap as a bit of paper and pencil 

[woodenhead]

Maybe I will convert to the darkside....

[halsey]

3 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Indeed you can, or do it using a controller/base station which has a large LCD display on which you can “draw” the layout plan and just press the point/feature you want to activate/switch.

 

That ways not cheap though, certainly not as cheap as a bit of paper and pencil 

 

I didn't go that far - my points are still traditional Peco surface motors and a switch diagram - reasoning - I didn't think my brain could cope with everything going on on my handset - so far I've been proved right as I do panic when more than 4 locos are doing something at the same time on one handset and I'm trying to find their respective codes in time to stop them hitting something too hard !

[woodenhead]

8 minutes ago, halsey said:

 

I didn't go that far - my points are still traditional Peco surface motors and a switch diagram - reasoning - I didn't think my brain could cope with everything going on on my handset - so far I've been proved right as I do panic when more than 4 locos are doing something at the same time on one handset and I'm trying to find their respective codes in time to stop them hitting something too hard !

For me the stress is all the wiring of the points and I won't be running more than two locos at a time.

[boxbrownie]

24 minutes ago, halsey said:

 

I didn't go that far - my points are still traditional Peco surface motors and a switch diagram - reasoning - I didn't think my brain could cope with everything going on on my handset - so far I've been proved right as I do panic when more than 4 locos are doing something at the same time on one handset and I'm trying to find their respective codes in time to stop them hitting something too hard !

The main reason I went for the console type was that everything can be seen easily on screen.......in fact two Locos at once (each half of the screen) and the function buttons also can have pictograms to show usage making switching easy, if a remote handset is needed this can be added also, the large screen makes programming/controlling very straight forward unlike most handset type controllers which have limited ability to show what’s going on. I just find it a very simple way of controlling everything, although as I said....at a cost, but maybe only the cost of three or four Locos which when you look at how many Locos a some people have it’s a fraction of the complete outlay.

 

I understand some people just don’t like console type controllers and prefer hand held.......so please no arguments on which could/is be better or not, it’s all a matter of personal preference and I am just pointing out mine.

[boxbrownie]

22 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

For me the stress is all the wiring of the points and I won't be running more than two locos at a time.

All my points are/will be controlled from the rails and the motors are all under the built in ballast of the track (Trix C type)

 

I went this way as I now find I can no longer do the fine detail modelling which includes electrical wiring/soldering and fiddling.

 

My baseboard is in three sections and each section will have just a feed to each continuous track section, no extra droppers or extensive wiring, I need it very simple I am afraid.

[BoD]

Give careful consideration to the DCC system you go for.  It is much more complicated to throw points on some than it is on others.  By complicated I mean number of key presses needed both to get there and back to loco control - it’s not hard when you have done it a few times just more time consuming depending on the number of turnouts to throw - although some systems do allow setting whole ‘routes’ through a few key presses.

Edited January 12, 2020 by BoD