Local Bunnings here is also stocking the 8mm twin wall stuff but also noticed a few new additions including 1200mm x 900mm x 5mm black (which would have been great last year to do without painting) and other colours. I've added some photos and their price tags.
Had a friend buy some Govee Curtain Lights for $139 during the Amazon sales (see Camel Camel Camel to track price) and stuck them on the outside of his house (not a synchronized display - just to put some pictures on it via the app).
I haven't seen any 'mods' for Govee to be compatible with FPP...
I don't have a request system this year, but based on noise heard from inside the house - it's still the free Bluey remix consistently. Even heard rounds of applause the last couple of nights when finished.
I hear you, I did the same. Solder on the power injection, test for some 12 hours total, test while pushing them in and the first few days up were fine. I think there were two dead strings and one dead pixel in total before putting them up. I even posted that I felt I got off lightly. Then it...
I and many others last year had failures of a similar magnitude. Starts off with 2-3, turns into 30-40 a night. I ended up giving up after exhausting my supply of several hundred scotchloks.
Apart from sympathising with your situation, all I can really say is that if it's a bad batch - it won't...