We’ve been hard at work getting things set up for our show this year. Too busy to do many build updates right now, but they will be coming.

As of now we’ve got almost everything set up except for the new virtual matrix/video projection screen, front roof outlines, and SparkleBalls. We have all the parts, just not a lot of time to work on them and no daylight left after work now. We are also still polishing our sequences for the new show elements, and we have added a LOT more of them this year. Our “live” playlist is on our https://oakhillslights.com Web site.

So far I’ve had four bad pixels out of a little over 7000 actual RGB nodes. I’m going to be tracking them closely. A lot of folks have reported significant numbers of bad pixels due to supply chain and other issues in China over the past two years. I’m hoping my choice of using 5v over 12v pays off in fewer problems.

Our show this year consists of:
7035 RGB “bullet” node pixels.
7680 “P10” Panel RGB pixels.
19,200 “virtual” video pixels.

That’s a total of 33,915 pixels. Since each pixel uses three channels of data for Red, Green, and Blue, that’s a total of 101,745 channels of data, updated up to 50 times/second! To do this we are using a total of 9 controller computers to run the pixels, playback media, and manage power for the system. These aren’t big desktop computers or laptops- they are small SBC (Single Board Computers), including Raspberry Pis and Beagle Bones. I’m hoping to get around to a full network/wiring diagram, and of course build information for some of our new stuff, including the Megatree, later in the year.