The Series 2 transmission protocol is the default and the recommended protocol for use with all Series 2 and Series 3 devices. This ensures the widest compatibility with RC4Magic devices from 2007 until the present day.

Series 2 was developed prior to the introduction of pixel products and pixel control. Our data compression and data packeting divides the 512 DMX channels into 8 groups of 64 channels. If you are using 3-color (RGB) pixels, the 64 channels of a packet transfer all the colors for 21 pixels, and the first 2 colors of the 22nd pixels. Then, the next data packet starts with the 3rd color of pixel 22 and carries on. The division between our packets breaks the pixels up after some groups of 64 channels (chans 64/65, 128/129, etc.). In the event of data interference or retries, the pixels at the transitions between the packets might momentarily (very very briefly) display the wrong composite RGB color, until both packets are up to date. But in practice, particularly with RC4Magic-900 in the 900MHz band with high RF power, all messages move quickly without delay and no visible artifacts occur. Thus, even if you are using RGB pixels, we still recommend using the Series 2 protocol.

The Series 3 transmission protocol addresses the “pixel boundary problem” described above by sending 9 packets that bundle channels in multiples of 3 (for RGB). But keep in mind that this is only an advantage if 3-color pixels are being used, and starting on a DMX channel that is a multiple of 3. The circumstances where this might be of help are narrow, and in most cases can be ignored. This is especially true with a high-power 900MHz system where packets travel very fast and rarely are lost or retried. In some cases, there are benefits in sending only 8 packets, rather than 9, for a complete 512-channel universe.

All RC4Magic Series 3 receiver and dimmer devices will recognize either packet format (Series 2 and Series 3). You don’t have to choose at the receiver end — either type will work. But if you have an older Series 2 device, it will not recognize the newer Series 3 packet type. (Since RC4Magic-900 has only existed as a Series 3 system, there never were any 900MHz Series 2 devices to worry about — they only exist for 2.4GHz RC4Magic Series 2.)

It is totally fine, and recommended, to use the default Series 2 protocol.