One thing in common though, cinema or not, is that professional installers still prefer to deploy stuff in a 19" rack. . It's not just because a 19" rack is a "work of art", as some of them start like one and inevitably change into a work of compromises over the years, but it's more like standardization and having a location to put "technical stuff". So, it either needs to fit on a DIN-rail inside a box or cabinet that can be closed or in a 19" rack.
A real "power relays" module would be great to have, but there are other solutions to it. Sometimes it's better to concentrate on what you're good at. We have a few directly on modbus. Sometimes you need to switch some heavy loads and I don't like putting relays in a chain, as it increases the risk of one getting stuck and it also increases delay.
I guess stuff has changed in the last 20 or so years, because I remember plastic being much more expensive in small to medium quantities than most metal works, because plastic requires expensive molds to be made while thin metal sheeting could simply be done by laser-cutting and some coating afterwards. In the end, the 19" rack-mountable JNIOR would only require a face-plate made from metal. The rest could probably be made from plastic, although metal obviously gives a more high-quality feel to it.
I do see a lot of applications of the JNIOR in other areas, especially in the area of office automation and maybe even professional home automation. You're never going to compete against those cheapo wireless gadgets in this market, nor won't you be able to compete against Nest, Ring and all the other privacy-invading stuff the big tech companies are dumping in our homes, but there is a whole market for more robust solutions.
Semi-professional and professional show control is also still an interesting market without too much players. What you should have though, is something like a simple scripting language and something like a simple interface builder like Alcorn McBride offers. If you also manage to put it into a 19" box, theme parks, all kinds of day attractions are obvious customers and I know some are already using it for some small-scale applications. But right now, nobody is going to run Splash Mountain on a single JNIOR yet.
A real "power relays" module would be great to have, but there are other solutions to it. Sometimes it's better to concentrate on what you're good at. We have a few directly on modbus. Sometimes you need to switch some heavy loads and I don't like putting relays in a chain, as it increases the risk of one getting stuck and it also increases delay.
I guess stuff has changed in the last 20 or so years, because I remember plastic being much more expensive in small to medium quantities than most metal works, because plastic requires expensive molds to be made while thin metal sheeting could simply be done by laser-cutting and some coating afterwards. In the end, the 19" rack-mountable JNIOR would only require a face-plate made from metal. The rest could probably be made from plastic, although metal obviously gives a more high-quality feel to it.
I do see a lot of applications of the JNIOR in other areas, especially in the area of office automation and maybe even professional home automation. You're never going to compete against those cheapo wireless gadgets in this market, nor won't you be able to compete against Nest, Ring and all the other privacy-invading stuff the big tech companies are dumping in our homes, but there is a whole market for more robust solutions.
Semi-professional and professional show control is also still an interesting market without too much players. What you should have though, is something like a simple scripting language and something like a simple interface builder like Alcorn McBride offers. If you also manage to put it into a 19" box, theme parks, all kinds of day attractions are obvious customers and I know some are already using it for some small-scale applications. But right now, nobody is going to run Splash Mountain on a single JNIOR yet.
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