Sorry about the delay! Lots of other projects going on at the Fortress Hepler.

To answer your questions, @johnnyboy :

• I created a simple one-line script that plays the video on a loop and then added it to the PM2 management via pm2 start boo.sh and pm2 save. I disabled the Magic Mirror interface via pm2 stop MagicMirror and pm2 save. Now when then mirror boots, PM2 only watches over the script that calls the video playback.
• It’s not running the MagicMirror interface. No sense using all that overhead and calls to the weather API when it’s not being displayed.
• Caveat: the right display runs a video on loop under normal circumstances. Commenting out the one line that runs that video file and adding a line to play a different video file was trivial.
• Yes, VLC has the option to play a playlist or single file on a loop. You can find the command line options at VLC Help
• Not really. The file is already on the disk and sized to the resolution of the monitor. There’s no CPU or GPU intensive tasks and the on board hardware acceleration takes care of most of it.

@elitecybernet - Yeah, there is sound included in the video files. I turned it down as it got really distracting really quickly. The video is only like 3 minutes long and hearing the demonic laughter every 3 minutes got old. I think the left portrait was at 50% volume and the right was completely muted.

Now that Halloween is gone, I reverted the left & right displays to their original format. Because PM2 manages the scripts, it took all of 30 seconds per display. The hardest part was remembering their IP address so I could log in.

This is excellent work! It’s so nice to see true innovation. Great job.

@Zack1324 - Absolutely. Over time, they just go bad. That could be the problem.

I would copy the config.js file to another computer first, then format & burn the Raspbian OS to the new card. Run through the Pi setup, use @sdetweil installation scripts to get Magic Mirror up & running and then copy the config.js to the new card. Then it’s just a matter of installing the modules.

I use Win32 Disk Imager for putting images onto SD cards.

@Alphons - Yep. The boss bought a package of spooky videos from AtmosphereX. They’re designed to be run on your TV or projected onto your wall or windows as part of your Halloween decorations.

I edited a few of them together into a 3 minute video and set it to play on a loop.

We’re back in the office after a brief break for a plague. So I got into the mirrors and uploaded some moving portrait videos.

First, the right side:
https://youtu.be/5647bHkcUw0

And on the left side:
https://youtu.be/HT6_DEtfaSc

@videogame95 - I normally put a travel power strip inside the frame for the mirror. I’ve since started adding external switches that cut the power to the power strip, but you can get by with just using the power strip’s plug.

Once you have the power strip in the frame, you can plug in the 3.1 amp adapter into the strip, along with the monitor, LED supply or whatever else you have back there. With some careful shopping, you might find a strip with a USB C plug built into it.

In the future, please post requests for help in the Troubleshooting section of the forum.

@navneetjain - First, it really depends on what country you’re in. In the USA, you can sell off a mirror that you’ve made for yourself, but you can’t turn it into a business selling the mirrors. The reasons involve the patent on the method of displaying information through a sheet of one way glass. Mich looked into it a few years ago and decided that the licensing the patent from the company that owns it wasn’t worth it.

Of course, the above advice is highly depended upon how your company enforces patent infringement. I am not a lawyer and would recommend seeking a good one before starting a business selling the mirrors.

@fribse said in What's the best way to block out area of mirror that doesn't have a monitor behind it?:

@bhepler What is ‘construction paper’? But, yes, the adhesive needs to be invisible.

That may be an Americanism. It’s a thick paper used in craft projects that comes in a variety of bright colors. I was first introduced to it when I was 5 or so, cutting it up with safety scissors to make family portraits. It’s roughly the thickness of business card stock, but it comes in large sheets.

If you are familiar with the cartoon South Park, they use construction paper to make the characters and then animate them (or at least they did in the beginning).

I use black construction paper and tape it to the back of the glass. It sounds like the challenge is to get the paper attached without visible adhesive.

You might be able to use a spray adhesive. There are a couple types that are designed for attaching wood laminate. A light & even coat could work. You would have complete blackout with the paper instead of additional reduction in transmission like you would with the window foil.

@singhharry12 - That’s exactly what I did. Add this line to your configuration: osmMapUrl: "https://cartodb-basemaps-{s}.global.ssl.fastly.net/dark_all/{z}/{x}/{y}.png"

Looks great (actual rain on rain map today!)

Have you tried temporarily hooking up the Pi to a computer monitor? Verify that the Pi is outputting a signal, then try a different HDMI input on your TV.

I have also found that connecting everything and setting the input to the appropriate plug and then turning on the Pi is helpful. You’ll get to see the Pi boot sequence which eliminates any issue with the Magic Mirror interface/electron not displaying content.

I’m a little confused. Is your Rpi on your wireless network at all? Can you use the web browser on your Pi to pull up a website?

It sounds like your Pi isn’t playing well with your new router. If you minimize the MM interface and click on the Wifi symbol in the top right of your mirror, you should be able to select the new SSID and enter the password to get onto the network. Did your Wifi network password also change?

See you around, Space Cowboy.

A couple basic questions:

• Were you ever able to connect to your Raspberry Pi through a VNC connection?
• Can you ping your Raspberry Pi successfully?
• Can you SSH into your Raspberry Pi?

@karsten13 - Dude, that was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

You can use the one-way reflective foil, sure. I have the foil around here somewhere, but I haven’t rigged it up yet. My suggestion is to go to YouTube and watch videos on applying car window tint. It’s basically the same process.

Another possibility is to purchase one-way acrylic instead of glass. It will be more than the glass-and-foil method, but it will be less than a proper piece of one-way glass.

I just tried this out. Thank you for the excellent module! Exactly what I was looking for.

Now if I could just get a dark theme going. I’m cool with the rain being in color, but it would be nice if I could figure out how to get the roads & state borders to only be outlines.

My first mirror had about a 1cm gap between the monitor and the mirror and it was noticeable.

It’s not necessary to dismantle the monitor, but it will improve the finished look.