Ed Slonka Jr Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 Where I got my start too.Heck we all have to start somewhere and do what's in your comfort zone.Still got mine in the basement too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hvasta Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 How many of you bought one and dragged it across the country to use? I was on a layover in Ft. Lauderdale in 2006.. next to our hotel was a WalMart. Walking thru the W-M, just killing time, I spotted the L&SoC box.. played with it for abt 5 minutes in the display, THIS THING WAS LIKE METH!! I was hooked!! Bought it right then and there and carried it with me back to Phoenix, where I set it up, and played it that night. Wife & kids just shook their heads.. they saw the danger in it! I LOVED it, but I wanted to pick the music.. I wanted.. no..I NEEDED more!!Well, a few days later, I saw Carsons video.. I GOTTA HAVE IT!! 'did some searching and found RJ and the DIYC guys.. so I dived right in, bought a bunch of PCB's, parts, cases and Enttec DMXPro to roll my own.. Someone on the DIYC forum wrote little three letters that changed my life (again). LOR!! With it's all-in-one ease, and FANTASTIC support system, I havent looked back (or at anything else) since.So, me? Laugh at a Mr. Christmas box? No, actually I sent mine off to my sister to hook up to her lights to d-light (no reference intended) my niece and nephew. LOL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Kryfka Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I'm like everyone else we all started somewhere and this was a good idea until we found out about LOR.And then we watched our bank account balance go down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JF1993 Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I started out with a Elation T16F, but after a couple of years one of my channels quit on me so I went ahead and got a LOR controller instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_gifford Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I started with a Mr. Christmas setup in 2010 because I couldn't figure out what to do with the free dmx equipment I had. It broke, and was returned after 3 weeks. Then I discovered rgb pixels and E1.31 and everything spiraled out of control from there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I know this is an old thread, but not sure why anyone would "laugh" at these. Would I use one? Absolutely not. Do I think less of those who do? Heck no. No more than I think less of someone who's doing a 16-channel LOR display. Different people have different priorities, different budgets, and different skills. Not to mention have been doing this for different lengths of time... I had been doing an animated display for like 4-5 years (with LOR) when that thing first came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainyoregonchristmas Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 At least the photo shows the 6 channel. Their most recent version is only 4 channels. It's been said, once but I'll say it again. MR CHRISTMAS IS THE GATEWAY DRUG!!!!I did two years with MR C. First year was 6 haphazard mini trees. Second year thanks to breakouts on my cords, I had 6- mini trees, 6-snowflakes, 6 segments of Icicles, and 6 different roof/gutter lines. I thought 24 cords was nuts then... Now my first total year of controlled animation with LOR and I have 3,800 feet of extension cord, an FM transmitter, 64 channels and 13,000 lights.Like I said, gateway drug! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frybread Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I looked at that thing for 3 years and thought wow... but limited. Then I started searching and saw some peoples home built kits that were a little beyond me.And then..... I found LOR... still took me 2 years to buy it. But now.... How many controllers can I get on that 50 amp RV circuit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I have a 12 channel gemmy and still use it for Halloween. Saves me a lot of hassle from sequencing. Christmas is tough enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMaris Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I started with a 12 channel Gemmy also. When I see them at Lowes, I think of how easy it used to be, and then laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainCook Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I don't laugh at them - it gets people hooked on doing something more than just putting out some icicles or a chaser string. I love for everyone to have lights.But when our new neighbor was bending my ear with his engineering knowledge of cell phones and how he wanted to use Mr. Christmas for Halloween because he has such fantastic Christmas decorations with it.... Yes, in that one moment I was quietly laughing inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arteom Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Got mine for $13.50 a few years back on sale, Picked up 9 of them, Gave 7 away to neighbors who hung lights thinking they would like them. Shipped one to family overseas, and keeping one as a memory of what has been.... Now you can imagine the annoyance on our street when you were taking an evening stroll...However It got you in the spirit, and during the season, it brought the street together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainCook Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I'll bet your street looks very cheery and the kids love it. That was a good idea. Now if you can just convince them to use LOR you could get away from that terrible Mr. Christmas sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Czerwinski Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 (edited) I suppose I feel a little worried about it rather than laughing. It gets me to thinking that people think that is what is in my yard or it's just that simple. But then I see some if your posts of how you laugh at that notion later and you inspire me to be bigger than the fear. Thank you. And now I have a charming feeling towards it actually when I see that so many of you started with something like this. Thanks again - for sharing the stories of your early years! Edited November 3, 2012 by Jay Czerwinski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I'll bet your street looks very cheery and the kids love it. That was a good idea. Now if you can just convince them to use LOR you could get away from that terrible Mr. Christmas sound.When I use my Gemmy for halloween, I use a MP3 player and a quality bookshelf speaker. Sounds a lot better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 When I use my Gemmy for halloween, I use a MP3 player and a quality bookshelf speaker. Sounds a lot better.We had a Lights and Sounds of Christmas in 2007 and it's what got me started looking into LOR(that and Holdman). We still use it down at my father inlaw's house and I absolutely *LOVE* hearing and watching it. We have the two beat channels going to his deer and the other 4 channels go to a 1600 light, 10' tree and it rocks! Seriously, it looks great for what it is and once you've lived through a season of one of those things the songs are BURNED into your psyche. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smeighan Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I used Mr Christmas for many years. I had people come every year to see the lights. Children watching the music and lights, what a good feeling. i was unaware of what i could do with more than 6 channels. Last christmas , my show was on a Mr Christmas from Home depot. My problem is the machine would start to fail in cold weather, songs speed up. I started looking in January of this year and found 10,000 people who were doing it a different way.After researching, i wanted to do RGB lights and that was how Nutcracker was born. Now that i have done my first show (Halloween, ) with all new hardware and sequencers. This is so much better. So I thank Mr Christmas for the joy it brought to my 6yo neighbor and to my family over the years, we really enjoyed it. This year, will be a whole new experience.Last year 6 channelsThis year 13K channels (20x120 megatree, 16x128 strings for eaves, arches, windows, Coro star, 96 dmx channels for candy canes, and other 110v lights)thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Rise Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Saw one of these in action last year. what a joke! Just lights blinking on and off. Completely random. I guess some folks think it is cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozentundra52 Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 I started with a 6 channel Gemmy. Used it for 3 years. Used it last season until my LOR got here (middle of Dec.). I just kept playing w/ the lights plugging unplugging until I thought they looked good. The kids like it even better than I did. So that's what it's all about. Doesn't matter if its LOR, Gemmy or whatever it's about the happiness you bring to others! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Fischer Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Saw one of these in action last year. what a joke! Just lights blinking on and off. Completely random. I guess some folks think it is cool.I've seen some videos of people's LOR displays that are even more random, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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