David first began using pixels in stage lighting, and then decided to try it out on his house. The result? An urge to create useful and helpful information to help non-technical folks create great Christmas lighting with pixels on their homes!
When you’re making an animated Christmas light display, one key part is often the music. While it would be really cool to set up a big PA system and blast your tunes through the neighborhood, your neighbors might not be excited about that approach! That’s why we use FM transmitters to play our music over […]
One of the biggest challenges of running a Christmas Light display is the weather! While we’d all love to be like Australia and enjoy the summer sun for our Christmas season, this simply isn’t reality! Keeping your display safe from the weather also doesn’t have to be difficult. There are proven ways to water-proof your […]
One of the most difficult parts of sequencing Christmas lights is the sequencing, or creating the patterns and motions in the lights which go to the music of your display. The good news is that sequences can be imported from other users, including sequences that you buy online. While the process isn’t super simple, it […]
We’ve all seen “that house” in our city that synchronizes it’s lighting to music, or perhaps watched an episode or 2 of “The Great Christmas Light Fight” and wondered – should I do that too? Should I sequence my Christmas Lights to music? If you’re going to take the time to make an elaborate Christmas […]
If you’re running a Christmas Light Show that includes pixels, then the signal that goes from your computer to your controllers runs over a network. Whether your display is simple, with just 1 controller, or complex with many controllers, the question still remains: should you run your display on your home network, or let it […]
When I first started sequencing Christmas lights, one of the first questions I had was “What type of computer do I need for xLights or Vixen?” At the end of the day, most modern computers will work great for either xLights or Vixen. A good starting point would be a dual-core processor with a speed […]
When a pixel is only showing some colors, but not all colors, then you know that you either have a failed LED, or an addressing or patching issue. As you begin to light up your Christmas light display, over time you may start to see some of your pixels failing. But before you grab those […]
To choose the right effects for your Christmas light display, you need to consider 3 main factors – your display props, the music itself, and the lyrics of the music. Choosing the right effects at the right time in your Christmas light show can make the difference between your audience thinking “This is cool” and […]
At the beginning of the year, I had already started planning for this year’s Christmas lights. I had created a spreadsheet to help keep track of the lights and equipment that I would need in this year’s set up. On top of that I have already pre-ordered my pixels, also known as PreSale, so that […]
In short, an RGB LED Christmas light pixel can make 16.7 million colors when running at full intensity. If you’ve ever worked with LED lights and talked to an RGB LED salesperson, you may have heard a line like this: “These LED’s can make 16.5 million colors!” And that’s just got to make you raise […]
