I spent over $5000 per year every year for 10 years. The light show was always free for anyone to view. On a good night we would have 500 cars with anywhere from 1-8 people per car. We did encourage people to bring a toy for toys for tots and we did collect food for our church's Christmas food drive. Every year we were on the local TV station and a few years the TV station sent out their helicoptor to broadcast the light show from 500 feet up.
I gave out 5000 full size candy canes per year always free. Nobody makes money doing this. We all do this for the enjoyment in brings our viewers. It's a rich mans hobby. But it is very addictive. For six weeks of the year, I feel like a rock star. Everybody is so appreciative. I had all the correct and necessary recourses to do this. That's why we were very successful. You must have industrial electronics knowledge and fully understand physics. I needed a team of 10 but got by with a team of 3
I recently converted over from NTSC analog 'coax' type cameras to IP cameras. Most of the time it was NTSC PTZ analog cameras. They still worked perfect.
You are right about the unbelievable effort. Its a labor of love. Almost every weekend we spent doing something regarding our show. Building...testing...replacing. It only ended when my boys grew up and moved out of the house.
I use a combination of Amcrest, and Lorex outdoor cameras. Still, when light levels are low and it's dark out, resolution and color disappear regardless of what Lorex calls 'nocturnal cameras' that can see color in the dark. That's baloney. When it's dark out, ALL cameras suffer from lower quality. --Greg--
