newbie needs help

[dan barks]

im thinking of buying the showtime package today with the sd card wanted to see if anyone has any experience with it and how easy it is to get started.they make it sound like i can have a show up and running this year.or if there is any other help it would be appreciatedim thinking about 32 channels..

[DisneyMatt10]

I personally don't have any experience with the SD card, I use a PC to power my show.

However, 32 channels is a decent start!! It might be a bit late in the year to start for this year. . . And the only reason I say that is because sequencing the songs takes more time than you would think. Granted, if you have 8 hours free every day you should be able to get the setup ready in time!!! We have 56 channels for this year and it's a bit overwhelming. I started sequencing for this year's show last October and I'm still no where near close to being done!! There's always something that comes up your first season that you didn't expect, and you need time to get everything set up and tested. 

Best of luck with which ever route you choose!! Just know that it's going to be frustrating at first, but once you get everything figured out its a fun hobby!! 

~Matt

[dan barks]

thanks matt.hopefully someone has used the showtime central package it sounds like its almost to easy.they say plug and play i want to be able to do some of my own designs.

[Dennis Laff]

Dan since your running out time for this year you might consider buying a few sequences from Wow lighting if you follow there layout you can get a decent show for this year 

[Brucey]

2 minutes ago, dan barks said:

thanks matt.hopefully someone has used the showtime central package it sounds like its almost to easy.they say plug and play i want to be able to do some of my own designs.

So last year I started my addiction, I mean my Christmas light shows, for the first time by purchasing the 1602G3MP3 which let me run my shows off an SD card (which is basically the same thing you're looking at, just a little beefier).  I already had an SD card and there are a lot of really great people on the sequence sharing forum to help me start my journey.

I had no experience at all with designing an advanced Christmas lightshow but using the downloaded sequences as model, it took almost no time to get the system up and running.  The biggest thing you need to make sure you have enough power to get it up and running.  Pre-made sequences are good to use as a model, but most peoples' homes aren't the same and your decorations won't be the same, so you'll have to pluck and choose from each sequence what'll work for you.

 

I had my first show up and running in about a week after I got everything, upgraded the firmware, and started learning how to use Sequence Editor.  Good luck and let me know if I can help in the same way that so many others have helped me as well.

[LightsWithSoul]

It all depends on the person. For me it took about a week to figure out how everything works together, and maybe a couple more days to learn the sequencing software. It was second nature by the end of the first month. Any questions that arise are almost always answered here. The forums are filled with great people, most of which are more experienced than me. 32 channels is a good start for sure, and assuming you have a decent amount of free time you should have no problem putting this together for this year.

[OzAz]

Dan, if you got the ShowTime Central starter package with the pre-loaded Plug and show SD card, then yes you can have a show up and running in minutes
(well a few hours, plus many more hours building props, hanging lights and wondering where to put the controller boxes etc etc etc  ).

RTM, then plug appropriate lights into the controllers, connect the network cables, connect power to the controllers and switch everything on. The 6 songs + animated filler sequences will automatically start playing and the lights will flash.

Done.  Well sort of...

 

[Parkie]

Hi Dan, I've been using the SD card since we started using LOR in 2011, it's a lot easier when you have a larger area and don't want to leave or dedicate a computer to the display. I see that you are from StL so feel free to stop by Tilles  and I'll be happy to show you how we set up.   

[Orville]

On 8/24/2016 at 0:18 PM, dan barks said:

thanks matt.hopefully someone has used the showtime central package it sounds like its almost to easy.they say plug and play i want to be able to do some of my own designs.

Definitely NOT just plug and play, not like a Mr. Christmas where you just plug in your lights and the box does all the work for you.   Now if you have purchased pre-made shows on an SD Card, that's almost, but still not quite plug and play, you still have to mount your controllers, figure your light placement, run extension cords and cat5 cables to any additional controller{s} you may have.   Still quite a bit of work involved.

I share my sequences for Halloween and Christmas in my sig here, can be found at the bottom of any of my posts.  So feel free to download anything you need to help you get started.   And if you need to find the music, send me a PM here and I can tell you where to find those.

Edited August 25, 2016 by Orville