I'm keeping my display simple (minus one thing that I've been working on that no one is doing and will get a video once I get all my stuff). I know the following opinion may "offend" people, but it is not meant to. It is simply what I like to see.
I see these huge displays with 70,000+ lights and they look guaty to me. Plus the lights are not choreographed to the music, beats or crescendos. There is just WAY too much going on. I went to 5 light shows here in Jacksonville, 3 were horribly choreographed/programmed, one was decent and the smallest one was by far the best. It looks like the people spent 95% buying and hanging lights and 5% on programming.
One very popular blinky flashy guy said he spent 15 hours for every minute of music. AND, it showed. That seems about right to me. My guess is he had 10k-15k nodes and 30k-45k channels.
While that all seems off topic, the point is simple, a few outlines of your house, a very sparse yard display (maybe a mega tree and some arches), a few strobes, and some spot lights. Say 10k nodes and 30k channels. To me, when you keep it that small but add in the freedom of color and great ideas like this arch, the smart strings are the only way to go.
