PRG Controlling VARI-LITE Equipment Using DMX 512 - Manual (Page 172)

DMX512 R EFERENCE G UIDE
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8-Bit DMX The universally accepted lighting control protocol in the entertainment industry. A console uses this
protocol to control specific devices in a lighting system. A DMX512 channel packet is eight bits of absolute
parameter data. 8-bit refers to the resolution of the signal: 256 step resolution, providing channel values from
0 through 255. A DMX512 data packet is a group of 512 data channels.
16-Bit DMX To smooth out the movement of automated luminaires, the industry has adopted 16-bit DMX. This is not a
change to the DMX512 specification, rather a change in the way luminaires and consoles treat DMX512
information. In practice, 16-bit DMX adds a DMX512 channel each to pan and tilt - pan coarse, pan fine, tilt
coarse, tilt fine, instead of just pan and tilt. The console and luminaire combine these levels and increase the
resolution of pan and tilt from 256 steps to a theoretical maximum 65,536 steps at the console level, resulting
in the ability to position the luminaire more accurately.