Well, I think it is huge mistake to think about hardware without thinking about software first. If you buy a DMX scanner you will not be able to do anything with it other than display random patterns that are somewhat sound manipulated. To actually control a DMX scanner to make it do something interesting you will need either a live DMX board, or less expensively, a cheap DMX controller and some software to control it. Your friends will not be impressed for long if you just have a scanner running in DEMO mode and looping the same effects over and over and over.
So, you have to think about what you want to do with it first. And to do something with it you will need some kind of control device, and that always ends up being some sort of software. What software you want to use will dictate what controller hardware choices you have. If you want Pangolin software, you are stuck with Pangolin hardware. Other packages, including Spaghetti, Mamba, etc, allow more choices and are less expensive but you might have to spend a little more time to make shows. There are no effects in ANY software that are not achievable by any software that I know of. Even Ishow, with enough patience, can be used to create a show as good as the most complicated/expensive software (for the most part).
But, if you buy a 10/15K pps scanner, you won't have the speed to do much except for some simple patterns and limited animations. Most of the free shows you will find and being developed will most likely not look so great on those scanners. Think of it this way. Would you spend money on an old 386 computer today? You can run some old version of Windows and do some word processing but you will NEVER be able to play any of the modern games, or even not so modern games. 20K scanners are like a Pentium III. 30K scanners are like a P4 and higher. That's the way I see it, anyway.
Keep in mind that the difference between a low end ebay system and a system that will be good enough to do the majority of the new stuff doesn't amount to a large amount of money. Nothing that you can't save up in a few months by skipping some lunches now and then or skipping going to a movie a few times. Put things into perspective and then make your decision. Otherwise, you will be like many (including me) that plonk down a decent chuck of change and then end up moving on to something else within a few months or so.
