Space between Scheduled shows - Showbuilder Software ?

[Djmc2002]

Hey all quick questions, I have decided to run my shows at the top and bottom of each hour.  My sequences for each show run about 17:30 to 18:10' so I have about 13 mins or so at the end of each show that I was going to run just my major tree lights and some house lights with music playing and a voice over stating the show schedule etc, etc.  

 

How are you handling this space between shows in the show builder program?  Can you set something so all or certain channels remain ON?  Do you just build a sequence with the music that is the exact length to run between shows?  The showbuilder program seems simple but I guess I'm making it harder than I need to.  (I have the BASIC PLUS software)

 

I'm sure these are total bonehead questions but I'm new to this software and kind of freaking out as the start date gets close (I have my lights up and basically ready so this software/showbuilder issues is my last major hurdle I forsee)

 

Thanks in advance for any help!!

[George Simmons]

Why not make it easy on everybody and just let your show loop all evening?

 

I'll wager that 99% of your viewers will have no idea, nor will they care, what your schedule is.  They'll arrive when they arrive.  What do you think will happen if someone drives up during your last song?  Do you think they'll sit there for another 13 minutes waiting for the next show?  They don't in Minnesota.

[Djmc2002]

Thanks for your advice! I considered running the show continuously but my concern with traffic congestion because of the narrowness of the roads and the hills in my area I thought that a break would be necessary to keep traffic congestion to a minimum by allowing it to clear out. With that in mind how long of a break between sequences do you use on your show is it backed back with a one or two second break or is there a longer break between sequences?

[George Simmons]

A lot of us here (much higher instances of ADD and OCD than in the general population) have been guilty of over-thinking things at one time or another.  From what I've seen, this is one of the topics that most often gets over-thought.

 

If traffic becomes a problem you can easily adjust for that (on the fly if necessary) by shortening the number of songs in your show.  Most people will drive away when they realize the show has turned over and they're seeing repeats.  (Unless, of course, you do such a super job of sequencing that people want to see it over and over.)

 

I've got a fast enough PC that there is less than a second of time between sequences under ordinary circumstances.  (I also trim off the dead air that you find at the end of most songs.)  I've had to add three seconds between sequences just so there would be a bit of a break between songs.

[Djmc2002]

Well overthinking, OCD describes me! Thanks

[Liberty-Laser]

I 2^nd the idea of shortening the show if needed.  I've done just that in the past & it works.  I also have seen cars sit through several shows, but that's more of an exception.

[ryebred]

This is my fourth year doing this and the first three years I did what the OP was suggesting, only I had a 5 minute break between shows, not 13 minutes. The reasoning was to alleviate traffic and also to give people a chance to see the display with all of the lights on and to take pictures if they wanted. Well guess what happened 99.99% of the time when all the lights came on for those 5 minutes? Everyone drove off. If someone drove up during the break, they might stay for a minute and if the show did not start in that minute then they would drive off.

 

Traffic is not really an issue because I don't seem to get more than 6 cars at a time out there so this year I am doing like George suggested and just looping my show and I have a couple 30 or 40 second demented elf voiceovers I will intersperse every couple of sequences to talk about display details and the website, etc but the lights will still be moving around for those 30 seconds to keep peoples interest.

[jstorms]

If you're trying to keep the traffic down another trick is to occasionally repeat a song, when people hear a song repeated they will often leave.

 

I've also done the kicking a show off every so often. What you do is create a static show of your lights just on, or doing the wave, etc. Then you create your musical show. Then in the scheduler you put in your musical shows, then fill in the gaps with your static show.

 

This year I plan to do the show for neighbors, family, friends etc. So I will have the static show on then will do my musical show on demand and when it is over it will go back to the scheduled static show.

[Djmc2002]

Thank you thank you. All things I needed to hear. A question about at static show, does it need to be the exact length of the space between the musical shows are will the show controller automatically end one show at what ever point it is at when the next scheduled show time is reached? ie static show say 6 mins long and scheduled to start at 6:00pm and the musical show is scheduled to start at 6:05 (1 min prior to the end of the 6 min static show). Will the musical show scheduled for 6:05 over ride the prior show still playing?

[George Simmons]

If by "static" you're referring to an animation sequence,

 

An animation sequence will be ended at precisely the end time of that show.

 

A musical sequence, on the other hand, will play until the sequence ends.

[George Simmons]

That should include that an animation sequence, unlike a musical sequence, will be stopped in progress at the time the current show ends and/or at the time another show is scheduled to begin. 

[Nick Ferchau]

What about musical show (SHOW 1) and an animation show in between (SHOW 2) as a filler on the G3MP3? how should that be scheduled? Show times at 6pm and 9pm with the animated sequence show before, in between, and after Musical show times