Mac capable, combining with neighbors, channel numbers, etc?

[krista]

Hi everyone!

 

Well with the holidays almost being done, my husband and I want to take the jump into creating our own holiday lights show for next year!  Here are some questions we have:

 

1 - We are a MAC house (sorry...I also have a photography business and it's great for that) - does LOR work with mac?  My husband has an older PC laptop that may work if there aren't any other options

1a - I see that there is a trial - would this work on a mac as well?

 

2 - How many channels do people starting out typically get?  We have a decent sized house and yard (and our neighbors may be on board for combining with them as well) so is there a specific number that coorrelate somewhere to size?  I've heard anywhere from 30-60.  We want to make a great show but don't want to completely break the bank.

 

3 - Has anyone done a combo light show with neighbors?

 

4 - We are definitely DIY people but not necessarily electrical savvy - my husband knows how to change outlets and do basic things - any recommendations on how we should start?

 

5 - Lastly a silly question probably - do any lights (we're thinking LED), decorations, etc work with the system or do they need to be certain ones? I'm assuming since everything plugs in (1 plug-in per channel we think?) that any decoration that has a plug in theory will work, correct (so we can use some of our current decorations as well and not have to completely buy all new)?

 

Yes we get that it will become additicting (and it probably doesn't help that I'm slightly picky when I do photo slideshows for clients too) but we are excited!!  Maybe it'll divert to decorating the outside more than the 6 Christmas trees and decorations we have inside.... We'll see!

 

Thanks so much!  Merry Christmas all!

[Aaeolien]

Hey Krista, Welcome to the craziness.

Lor sadly does not work on the Mac platform. I wish that it did. Download the software to the older PC that you currently have and give it a try. It may work just fine for starting out.

We started this year with just 16 channels. I wish we had started with 32 since during sequencing and setup I kept wanting to add things that I just didn't have the channels for. So I would recommend 32. If you don't use them all that's ok.

Lights I just used what I had and stocked up after Christmas last year during all the sales. I have lights from Walmart, big lots, Home Depot. I definetly recommend LEDs as you can use a lot more of them without worrying about blowing fuses and breakers. If you are in it for the long haul then folks recommend buying full wave LED lights from one of the vendors like holidaylightexpress as they are much higher quality and will last a lot longer. I am planning on ordering some this year for an element or 2 in my display. They are pricier of course but starting out use what you have.

There are folks who do combo shows with the neighbors. If they are right next door you can just run the cat5 cable to whatever controller is there or if they are across the street you can use the ELL (easy light linker) which lets you link up wirelessly. I haven't gone down that road yet but the neighbor across the street is interested so maybe soon.

You can use whatever decorations you currently have for sure. As long as you aren't exceeding the amp draw on the controller channels. Folks recommend getting a KillAWatt meter to check current draw. If what you have is LED lights you will need many many many lights to have issues. Incandescent lights you really need to keep track of the current being drawn as it's much easier to reach the limitations.

My last recommendation is read read read. There is so much information out there. Don't be afraid to ask questions. This place is super helpful. And it will become more helpful as folks start pulling down displays and start working on next year. Lots of folks spend time outside talking to people driving by so the forums are kind of quiet right now.

Have fun and enjoy it. Once you start sequencing it becomes addicting real fast. Download the software and play around. It's a blast.

Merry Christmas.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Aaeolien

[Don]

Quick note on the MAC question. Yes, you can run it on MAC. However, you need to use a virtualization program, such as Parallels, in order to do so.

[robigd]

If you own something like VMWare, you can create a Windows OS, but still need a copy of windows software. To be honest, desktop PCs are so inexpensive these days, you could pribably just pick a really good one up for under $400.