NovaBright DSA 1024 Pixel SPI to DMX Decoder 5-24V with RF Controller for IC Strips WS2811 and 27 Other IC Types

The media could not be loaded.  Updating- [The original IC that I input in the settings was incorrect (the instruction booklet had the wrong one for the tape type I was using). The seller contacted me very promptly and asked if I had set the IC which alerted me that might be an issue. I tried all of the options until I found one that worked for my tape type. Things now function as expected! ] I ordered this decoder to use for a show I was working on that needed DMX control of pixel tape. It works well in standalone mode, I was able to attach the RGB tape I ordered and use all of the preset modes in the decoder. However the moment I connected a DMX cable to box it began the random flashing pattern in the video above. DMX control otherwise functions as expected (I have control of intensity and color of each pixel on the tape) but the random flashing continues regardless of programmed levels. I would like to return this product but continually am getting error messages when I try to contact the seller.

Initial modes and preprogrammed modes work exceedingly well. However, once attaching to DMX, the single is spurious and flickers a lot. With the controller stopping working entirely requiring a hard power reset.I would not recommend this product to anyone.

The instructions are indeed tiny, but I have a magnifying glass. The unit drove a WS2811-based LED strip just fine using its built in presets, so it was able to communicate with the chips on the LED strip OK. However, it was a mess in DMX mode, generating spurious signals as soon as a DMX cable was connected. The LED strip had nonstop random brief flashes of random colors all over it. And while I was able to control pixels with DMX, the spurious signals continued despite it also controlling the strip. Anyway, I'm sending it back.

This device works well, but it could use DMX master dimmer and strobe functions. The DMX functionality maps directly to each pixel color level. It would be nice to have a master dimmer control through DMX, rather than having to fade each pixel individually. It would also be nice to have a master strobe feature, similar to other DMX LED fixtures (1 DMX channel controls the strobe rate). Unfortunately, the old DMX specification update rate is not fast enough for good strobing effects, and trying to quickly flash the individual pixels of the LED strip using DMX, results in unsynchronized flashes up and down the LED strip. This is a flaw with DMX, and not this device. But adding these features could fix this. The competition also seems to be missing these features.Also, this device does have some nice RGB presets for RGB strips, but when using RGBW strips (SK6812), there are no RGBW presets.

This product could be a lot better if they had better documentation for using it. There are too many details for that little paper they call instructions. There should be a link to something online that goes more into details. It says it can control something like 900 pixels. BUT, if it only has 512 channels of DMX, you can quickly do the math and see that you only have 170 RGB or 128 RGBW control. They do have the decoding options (stepped for 3ChRGB -see below) which is loosely explained, but I'm guessing English isn't their primary language for explaining details for dummies...... Overall, for the price it’s a good for a beginner interface to learn about pixel controls. But it would be much better having sACN or ArtNet to be able to individually control more pixels. UPDATE: I finally got this to 'somewhat' work with 4ch RGBW strips. Since this controller is primarily a 3cH, all the settings are focused around 3ch. The RGB order is nice, but only setting 1 and 2 will work correctly with 4Ch RGBW. When they talk about LEN, they are talking about Channel length and not pixel (per LED) length. Number of pixels other than 1 will screw up 4ch RGBW strips. As others have pointed out, don’t expect any of the pre-programmed effects to work with 4chRGBW products. And I could only get something to work with C11 or C32 IC types when using the SK6812 LED tapes. C18 that is listed in the manual only make them come on full white.