Author Topic: Hallowindow (Read 22820 times)

AtomSmasher · « **on:** October 23, 2008, 03:10:39 pm »

http://www.hallowindow.com/

It's a shame he doesn't offer his video for sale as a download because I have a window which would be perfect for this and a projector I'm not using. If anyone knows where I can find a video similar to this to show in a window, please let me know.

ChadTower · « **Reply #1 on:** October 23, 2008, 03:13:55 pm »

Oh sonofa... I could do that, too. My storm door is one pane glass.

Hoopz · « **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2008, 03:45:33 pm »

That would be awesome to do. Looks like more DVDs will be there on Oct 30 which doesn't work for this year but maybe next. I have a projector that would work for this too.

ChadTower · « **Reply #3 on:** October 23, 2008, 04:07:33 pm »

Seems like if you were going to do it next year you may as well wait for the next version... looks like he does one every year now. Just make sure to order it in like July. If you follow that site into the Halloween forum there is some startingly cool props people make.

Chemixtry · « **Reply #4 on:** October 23, 2008, 04:22:32 pm »

That is ridiculously cool!

tomdotcom · « **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2008, 04:48:49 pm »

omg i want that!!

Hoopz · « **Reply #6 on:** October 23, 2008, 04:58:50 pm »

Thanks for the link PBJ. I downloaded a few.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #7 on:** October 23, 2008, 05:14:01 pm »

Quote from: pinballjim on October 23, 2008, 04:35:19 pm

Neat idea. I poked around on Google and found a guy doing something similar and posting the clips for free...

Maybe someone here could string them together and make a DVD out of it?

http://backyardtheater.com/forums/index.php?topic=3082.0

Nice find, thanks. It's no where near as good as the official Hallowindow, but it's hard to argue with free

It shouldn't be too hard to string the videos together, and loop them over and over to fill a dvd. He made each video start and end by fading to black, and with 5 videos at 1 minute each, it should make for a decent effect.

2600 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 24, 2008, 09:42:31 am »

Very Cool. I think I am going to pick this up for next year. I'll have to experiment to see how it would look if I opened up the garage door and put a sheet up there?

ChadTower · « **Reply #9 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:05:09 am »

Tried a quick experiment with my storm door last night... no go. Too cold. The inside of the storm door was fogged up completely within 2 minutes because of the heat loss through the glass. I'm a bit afraid of what would happen to the projector lens if I used it outdoors at 30 degrees, too.

shardian · « **Reply #10 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:23:48 am »

I am just baffled that the guy doesn't have it as a paid download. I'm trying to find a torrent somewhere. I'd be happy to pay the guy money, but he's really blowing it in my opinion, especially after it gets national attention via Kim Kommando and other sources.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #11 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:29:04 am »

Quote from: shardian on October 24, 2008, 10:23:48 am

I am just baffled that the guy doesn't have it as a paid download. I'm trying to find a torrent somewhere. I'd be happy to pay the guy money, but he's really blowing it in my opinion, especially after it gets national attention via Kim Kommando and other sources.

I looked for a torrent before I started this thread, but couldn't find one. The guy said he didn't want to put it online because he's afraid it'll get pirated too easily (although it's not exactly difficult to rip a dvd), and so far it looks like he's right, but he's also making a lot less sales then he could be.

Hoopz · « **Reply #12 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:31:07 am »

Quote from: 2600 on October 24, 2008, 09:42:31 am

Very Cool. I think I am going to pick this up for next year. I'll have to experiment to see how it would look if I opened up the garage door and put a sheet up there?

I had thought the same thing. I have a window in my house that's almost identical to his so I am not sure what will work best.

shardian · « **Reply #13 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:33:58 am »

Well let's consider his retarded logic.

He has maybe 500 dvd's to sell, which require an insane amount of work and postage. He sold them all and that is it. Now lets look at digital media. Now that it is on Digg, Kim Komando, etc. The average layperson would send him $5-$10 for a download no problem. Kim Kommando alone could have netted him several thousand downloads more than likely. Even if he got only 1000 downloads ever, that could be $10,000!!!!

Even pirated, he would have still made great profits for his work. Sorry, but 99% of pirateers weren't going to buy your stuff anyways.

shardian · « **Reply #14 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:34:46 am »

I have a double window that is like 6' wide in my living room. It would be perfect for this.

ChadTower · « **Reply #15 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:37:57 am »

Quote from: shardian on October 24, 2008, 10:33:58 am

Well let's consider his retarded logic.

He has maybe 500 dvd's to sell, which require an insane amount of work and postage. He sold them all and that is it. Now lets look at digital media. Now that it is on Digg, Kim Komando, etc. The average layperson would send him $5-$10 for a download no problem. Kim Kommando alone could have netted him several thousand downloads more than likely. Even if he got only 1000 downloads ever, that could be $10,000!!!!

Even pirated, he would have still made great profits for his work. Sorry, but 99% of pirateers weren't going to buy your stuff anyways.

Let's consider that he didn't anticipate being dugg and that he didn't prepare for that type of serving of data. Missed opportunity, sure, but calling it retarded isn't fair. You know damn well how random the net can be about what is hot at what moment.

Hoopz · « **Reply #16 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:40:30 am »

I think mine is slightly smaller but right by the front door so its almost identical to his setup.

I played around and put the videos from PBJs site together. They don't look bad. I was really impressed with the number of things that guy had in his that he was selling. The eye, then eyes, then to the spiders etc really just made quite an impression. I appreciate the guy on the outdoor theater site put his stuff up for free though.

I agree about the downloads. I looked for a torrent but would much rather pay the guy for his time. The more this spreads, the more chances he has to bank some serious cash. Or the more he misses the boat.

shardian · « **Reply #17 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:44:08 am »

Hell, even if I found a torrent I would like to send him money.

Come next year, he'll have competitors. There might even be a commercial version available.

ChadTower · « **Reply #18 on:** October 24, 2008, 10:46:31 am »

I have a pretty big picture window that would be perfect, it's a few feet across, but I'd have to route people around the house to see it. Not all that practical.

ahofle · « **Reply #19 on:** October 24, 2008, 12:00:34 pm »

Damn I have the perfect window for this too. I can't believe that guy doesn't accept online payments for download. I would buy it right now. I can't even find it on usenet!

ark_ader · « **Reply #20 on:** October 24, 2008, 12:49:49 pm »

Where I'm living, I would get arrested.

shardian · « **Reply #21 on:** October 24, 2008, 01:06:56 pm »

The way it is so popular today, I figure someone will track down a person who has the cd. A torrent might show up over the weekend.

If not, I will use the free stuff.

ChadTower · « **Reply #22 on:** October 24, 2008, 01:11:51 pm »

It's stuff like this that annoys the crap out of me that the season here invariably turns to freezing at night the week before Halloween. Every year.

ahofle · « **Reply #23 on:** October 24, 2008, 02:32:42 pm »

So you projected it on a sheet or white shower curtain from inside and it fogged up your window?

ChadTower · « **Reply #24 on:** October 24, 2008, 02:38:14 pm »

No, I didn't even get that far. I was setting up a sheet and the door fogged up on its own because it was 68 degrees inside and 30 degrees outside.

RayB · « **Reply #25 on:** October 24, 2008, 03:46:14 pm »

~~Doesn't the window NEED fogging or some sort of slight opacity to even have an image projected on to begin with?~~

From his site: "I pinned a white sheet to the inside of my window and aimed the projector at it. "

So instead of a sheet, use white paper affixed to the window. It won't fog.

ChadTower · « **Reply #26 on:** October 24, 2008, 04:17:46 pm »

It probably would. It was bad. That was just after 3 minutes. After 10 or so the condensation on the inside was actually running down a little bit. I have no idea why it would be that bad - it's a new storm door and it's a full sheet of tempered glass.

shardian · « **Reply #27 on:** October 24, 2008, 04:18:44 pm »

Hmmm, maybe I'll try the paper thing. I have 36" plotter paper here at work. At the least, it will be much easier to hang than a sheet.

ahofle · « **Reply #28 on:** October 24, 2008, 08:57:02 pm »

Just got this setup tonight. Another idea which works PERFECTLY is one of those mattress skirt things. I couldn't find any plain white sheets, but came across one of them in a closet. These things sit under the mattress, have a 'skirt' around them, and are a perfect slightly opaque white material under the mattress part. It almost appears that I put a big screen TV in front of the window from the outside.

Hoopz · « **Reply #29 on:** October 25, 2008, 07:22:29 am »

DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE!

$6 Canadian!

http://www.hallowindow.com/index-dl.html

Hoopz · « **Reply #30 on:** October 25, 2008, 07:44:27 am »

Got it. It was about $4.85 US and it was a fast download. With all of the message boards posting about this, I am sure it's going to blow up.

Plus, those who would have bought the DVD at $30+ for all the ones he had made, will find paying $5 pretty easy. I think it's definitely worth that instead of downloading it which I am sure will be available soon.

ahofle · « **Reply #31 on:** October 25, 2008, 11:19:43 am »

Wait the downloadable version is only 1 minute and 45 seconds? How long is the full DVD?
Hoopz was it worth it? I was hoping for a little longer video. The free ones are 5 minutes.
Great idea about the screensavers...I'm going to check those out now.

EDIT: I bought it anyway. Combined in a playlist with the free ones, this is going to be great!

Hoopz · « **Reply #32 on:** October 25, 2008, 03:34:32 pm »

Quote from: ahofle on October 25, 2008, 11:19:43 am

Wait the downloadable version is only 1 minute and 45 seconds? How long is the full DVD?
Hoopz was it worth it? I was hoping for a little longer video. The free ones are 5 minutes.
Great idea about the screensavers...I'm going to check those out now.

EDIT: I bought it anyway. Combined in a playlist with the free ones, this is going to be great!

I agree. $5 for the quality is worth it. I was surprised that it was so inexpensive. If he was selling the DVD for $30 with shipping, then I expected this to be $10-12 at the minimum. I haven't had a chance to look at those screen savers yet so I may go that route also.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #33 on:** October 26, 2008, 06:49:19 pm »

Just paid the $6 CAD and downloaded Hallowindow and bought a $5 white sheet from walmart, so I'm all set

I'll set it up and have it's first test run tonight. I'll be combining some of the free stuff pbj found with the eye and hallowindow to create something 6 or 7 minutes long, which will run in a loop.

ahofle · « **Reply #34 on:** October 26, 2008, 08:06:43 pm »

That's exactly what I did. Except I didn't merge the video files, I just used Media Player Classic and added all the files to a playlist that repeats. That way I don't have to worry about the different formats/resolutions and just run it full screen.

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #35 on:** October 26, 2008, 08:15:25 pm »

Quote from: ahofle on October 26, 2008, 08:06:43 pm

That's exactly what I did. Except I didn't merge the video files, I just used Media Player Classic and added all the files to a playlist that repeats. That way I don't have to worry about the different formats/resolutions and just run it full screen.

I'm actually connecting my projector to a dvd player, not a computer, which is why I had to merge the files. I have a program that makes it extremely simple to combine video files of different resolutions and formats and make a dvd, so there wasn't much to it. I even created two different movies on the dvd, one is the montage I mentioned before and one is just the giant eye. The program even had a halloween themed menu which worked perfectly

AtomSmasher · « **Reply #36 on:** October 27, 2008, 01:17:10 am »

Well it works great, although most of the free ones don't look too good. The window I'm using is on the second story and several of the free ones would fade out a bit to give the illusion of depth. Unfortunately that means they don't have the sharp contrasts that make it stand out, so unless you're really looking at the window, you don't notice anything is there.

On the other hand, the giant eye and hallowindow itself look great. I think I'll mainly keep it on the giant eye, then switch it to play hallowindow if I see a bunch of people outside. Although, I'll make sure to make a video that plays the eye for 10 minutes, then hallowindow just in case theres constantly a lot of people and I can then just let it run.

*edit* just started burning the new dvd. It now has 4 options: just the eye, just hallowindow, 10 minutes of the eye followed by hallowindow, and 30 minutes of the eye followed by hallowindow. I figure that should cover all of my bases.

protokatie · « **Reply #37 on:** October 27, 2008, 01:42:44 am »

Has anyone thought of spraying fixative on the window? It is basically a "clear" plastic coating, but with multiple layers it becomes semi-opaque. It can be removed easily too. (Razorblade and some windex)

shardian · « **Reply #38 on:** October 27, 2008, 09:25:57 am »

Glad to see he got this up and running. I happily sent him my $4 and some odd cents.

Hoopz · « **Reply #39 on:** October 27, 2008, 10:26:08 am »

I did a test run last night. I have a side window that my wife wanted it done in as opposed to the family room window. It worked well but couldn't easily be seen from the street. You could see it from the front porch and drive way but I just didn't like it there. I'm probably going to change it to the main window and see how that looks.

I had a white sheet in our Halloween decorations tub that was left over from the kids' party a couple of years ago that I used. I'm definitely going to have to iron it as any wrinkles showed up fairly clearly.

I decided to just use the file that I downloaded. I figured 2 minutes is about the length that people will watch. I let it play for about 10 minutes or so last night and thought it looked good.


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