2024 is almost over: what worked, what might you change?

[Skymaster]

I might have missed this but did you change the height etc or just reduce the spacing? Was the thinking to increase the clarity of images/ text or something else? Sorry I'm just starting my megatree planning so keen to get it right first time..

No changes to the physical structure, topper or base, just a density upgrade from 2" to 1", so 150px per strand, rather than 75.
Also went wider from 20 strands at 150 degrees, to 30 strands at about 225 degrees.

Added clarity to images and to effects, also it just "filled in" the look rather than being more dot-like

 

[someoneAUS]

I plan to make a device that will allow me to individually control the audio levels to each. Once I have a fair idea of how it's going to work I'll release futher details here on ACL.

Keen for this. I always feel like I want two outputs that I can control via FPP commands one for the FM transmitter and one for the speakers. In the end this year I just killed the FM. I am not sure it gets much use at our place with how the show is run.

 

[Clegg]

I moved house this year leaving 4 months to retrofit our smaller frontage onto the larger canvas. We also went from a quiet court location with very few displays around us to an area where nearly every 4 houses or so had some kind of Christmas decorations out so we naturally ended up on a 'trail'. There are a few things that surprised me and / or didn't consider that are worth noting for others that might move.

The Bad / Improvement / Unprepared / My Fault:
- Bigger house doesn't mean better layout. I'm not sure if I prefer one over the other, but there were certainly benefits to a smaller footprint with everything working well together (e.g. I feel the smaller house for Carol of the Bells worked better than it has on the larger house).
- With a north-facing front, the magnets didn't hold as well as they did - but we also had a couple of 40 degree days so perhaps there are no surprises there. The ABS printed parts remained solid, but the corflute ones did warp a bit, as did all the channel for the LED strips. Nothing that can't be fixed for next year.
- I was going to rebuild my controller box this year, but with limited time I had to jerry-rig up "something" to get power and data to where it needs to be. While I was aware of it, when you start rolling out wire - I was still making cables on 6th December just to try to get a layout! In the end, I also had to resurrect an older Raspberry Pi 4 + rPi-28D+ to run the left side LED strip and some minions.
- On that, mixing rPi-28D+ and Beaglebone with multisync is not ... great. You can see it in the videos, each song is slightly out and I'm now curious as to whether the Beaglebones would have the same issue. I thought when I ran my first year that there was a bit of a syncing issue with the Pi's but I was also running 600+ pixel strings.
- Traffic! While the busiest night probably had 11-12 cars, I could not get out to film after the second day of the show being on. Note to self - film a day before turning it on for everyone else!
- Don't assume when you buy 2x P5 Outdoor Panels from the same vendor as over 12 months prior, that they will be the same panel type and play nicely with a Colorlight card. I learned a lot very quickly - about how panels have different 'orders' and had to use Excel to produce a Matrix - not fun, something to fix next year but the sign overall worked (outdoor P5 panels are awesomely bright enough during the day time to let viewers know).
- Have an "END" sequence that encourages people to move on. I had people sitting in their cars for the entire 15 minutes "Merry Christmas" was displayed. My bad - I saw a Grinch end sequence I'll need to make my own variant of I think to help end the show.
- Many people drove by, pulled up, watched for not quite a song and some came back multiple times failing to realise that they were singing songs. Also, many EVs in the area that don't have FM radios.
- Having a nice garden out the front obscures the damn matrix! I'll need to get creative next year with how to handle this, and how to use the terrain so that props aren't "hidden".
- People running up to the matrix, on a steepish driveway. My own kids injure themselves on it quite often and it had me very anxious that others might injure themselves too. I need to get a rope or something to stop them - I see this thread has a few ideas on that already.
- I found myself taking the kids inside a lot when things got busy. I do these lights mainly for the kids and neighbours so a little sad that I couldn't take the deck chair out and sit there for the entire night with the kids without feeling like an imposter at your own home.
- Large homes are incredibly hard to film from your phone - I would need to stand in my neigbours living room and knock out a few walls to use the phone at 1x Zoom (camera investment time).

Phewf - that's quite a few negative points.

The Good:
- Adding proper speakers and an amp really helped spread the audio around without blasting too loudly. I'm mindful that our neighbours need to sleep so anything I can do to reduce outdoor noise while allowing footpath viewers to view is a good thing.
- Most of the sequences ported from my old layout to the new layout reasonably well, not that a lot had changed but I also learned that some effects that looked like stars now are 2x2 pixels instead of 1x1 pixel. Overall it didn't impact the viewing.
- The through traffic kept the riff-raff away. I didn't have any special singers to All I want for Christmas is You this year.
- The singing characters are people's favourites and could care less about the songs playing. Even the 20-somethings come out and recognise Thomas, Lightning McQueen, etc...
- People just enjoyed the show in general. I don't mind people seeking me out to explain how it all goes together - always happy to chat, but I found that the quieter court had every second person wanting to know how to build one or asking if I'd be interested in building them one. It just ends up an awkward conversation about dollars and time.
- No promotion on Facebook continues to save me from massive crowds. There was another major display (incredible actually) that did advertise causing clogs on main roads in and out of the area reaffirming that a few posts around can cause you some headaches down the track.
- Outdoor antenna for the FM Transmitter ensured the signal was effectively reached by cars within viewing range. I had this inside the garage previously at the old residence which worked but the clarity wasn't there. (I use one of the boards that plugs into the Pi to also do the RDS).
- The larger P5 Panel Tune To Signs are great for visibility during daylight and allows you to update the message pretty easily. I haven't tried a QR Code on it yet.

Improvements for 2025:
- I need to consider icicles on my roof line if nothing else to have a matrix up there and to help fill in some pixels. Some effects I got away with on the smaller layout don't translate as well to the bigger layout and thus more density is required of sorts. I'm not a fan of the larger snowflakes and wreaths either (and have nowhere to put those anyway). The biggest challenge will be the right hand side of the house.
- I don't have interactive elements, but I think a QR code with the Playlist would work. At least, if viewers have songs they want to see, they can come back later. If I had fewer cars, I might have added the interactive element but otherwise, the interactive element I fear would just cause more mayhem in the street.
- I need access to my garage, so I'll be looking at something like @Johnnyboy's seed matrix so keen to see how that held up. It'll also free up some 4,000 pixels for something new.
- I need to think about distributed power / data now - the runs (especially for the 5V LED strip) are just too long in it's current setup (noticeable at the front of house where power injection was missing).
- I need a good 'end' sequence to encourage cars to move on.

Surprises:
- Different areas have different expectations. This should have been obvious and expected, I just wasn't prepared for having lots of 1-2 song with repeated visits and nearly no foot traffic (quite the opposite!).
- I keep wanting to find ways to add minor interactive elements - then I run the show and realise why I don't want one. I need to remember this one so I don't go off making anything fancy.
- Smaller houses are much easier to wire up and get a nicely coherent display together. I like my old display a lot. While I have potential for the new one, there are some significant challenges I didn't have before including how you run power to your props and how much cabling you'll need. Had I not already invested in the HE123 system, I'd be eager to have a show full of Baldrick boards. Need a box over on the far left? Just build a new box and plug it into your 48 port switch - no need to have the distribution boards, or additional hardware. I liked this about the rPi-28D+ from my first year.