How can I play and loop my decorations with the AtmosKIT or AtmosKIT Plus?

All of our AtmosFX Projector Kits include a ViewSonic projector, either the M1miniPlus or the M1+. Both projectors have the following throw specifications:The AtmosKIT Plus includes the ViewSonic M1+ projector, with firmware updates specifically designed to suit AtmosFX decorations.

One of the most important features for digital decorating is "looping", where the videos you choose play continuously until you tell the player to stop, allowing your decorations to play for hours until you're ready to retire your display for the night.

How do I connect my decorations to the M1miniPlus or M1+projector?

The ViewSonic M1miniPlus or the M1+ has many video input options. including:

Store your videos on a USB drive or SD card to plug into the projector
Use Screen Mirroring to stream videos from a phone or tablet
Connect an external video player to the HDMI cable input

The M1+ can also allow you to copy decorations to the internal storage of the projector

The most convenient way for many decorators to play their decorations is to use the USB drive input.

How do I copy decorations to my USB drive or microSD card?

Copying your downloaded decorations to a USB drive is an easy process. Here's the steps:

Your digital download is first downloaded onto your computer in a compressed .zip file.
Open the .zip file, and extract the contents. You now have a folder full of your decoration videos.
Copy the video files you want to play onto a USB thumb drive.
Plug the USB drive into the projector to play. That's it!

There are many display options included with AtmosFX decorations, so I recommend copying only the videos you need. For example, if you plan to decorate your window you will only need to copy the "Window" videos. This will save storage space on your USB drive, and save time when you are ready to decorate.

It's important to note that storage devices larger than 32 GB are not compatible with the projector. ViewSonic is working on a solution for this, which should be available as a firmware upgrade in the future.

How do the decorations loop from the USB drive?

To get started, plug in your USB drive and power up the projector.

For the the M1+, when you get to the main menu screen, select the "Source" menu and select USB.

For the M1miniPlus, open the File Management screen from the main menu screen, and then navigate to the USB from the file management menu. For step by step instructions with pictures of using the M1miniPlus USB, click here.

You'll now see your USBs folder and files and can navigate to the decorations you want to see. Simply select one and hit play!

The M1miniPlus and M1+ projectors are set to automatically loop all of the videos in a single folder. If you only want to loop one video or a specific set of videos, you can place them in a separate folder to create the effect. Fortunately, this can be done easily from any computer with a USB port.

Can I create a playlist of decorations in the order I like?

If you want to play your videos in a particular order, this can be easily done as well. The projector will default to playing your video files into an alpha-numeric order. If you rename your videos with a numbered prefix this should force the videos to play in a particular order. For example your videos might be named "01-skeletons.mp4", followed by "02-witch.mp4, "03-pumpkins.mp4", "04-ghosts.mp4" etc.

What if my decorations are interrupted by an error message? (Mac Users)

For decorators who download their decorations from an Apple computer, you may encounter an error message when playing your decorations. The error message will show a file name and say the file is not supported.

If you look at the file name, you will notice that it matches the name of your AtmosFX decoration except that the symbols " ._" appear in front. An example would be "._Boo-Crew.mp4" instead of "Boo-Crew.mp4". The "._" files in in your folder are hidden files created by a Mac when .zip files are opened. They can't be seen on your computer but they will appear when loaded onto other devices. Once the "._" files are deleted they will not appear again, as they are created when the .zip is first opened.

Apple is not concerned about people transferring their files to non-Apple devices. So, even though these files can be a nuisance when transferring to other devices, Apple persists in storing information this way. ViewSonic is aware of the issue and may be able to update the firmware to skip or hide these files in the future. For now, they can be easily deleted.

To remove these files manually in the ViewSonic M1+ menu, start by opening the USB folder and selecting the "._" files. Holding down the "OK" button will bring up checkboxes to select files. You can then select each of the duplicate "._" files and delete them. Once you confirm your drive is clean and you're all set.

If you want to learn more and get some additional tips, please take a look at the article below:

Why won't my decorations play on my projector/TV/media player after I downloaded on a Mac?

If you ever experience an error message you're not sure about, please take a screenshot and share it with our support team. A full screenshot is usually the fastest way to figure out what's causing the problem.

What about "seamless" decorating? What if I see a gap in between decorations?

When playing decorations from a USB drive or SD card, you may notice a "gap" in between videos. A short, single second black frame may appear when one video ends and the next videos starts.

ViewSonic is also working on a solution for this issue, and more details about updates will be shared when they find a solution, until then you do have options to get "seamless" decorating right now.

First, if you use decorations that always reset to black at the beginning and end, then you won't notice anything at all. This means Hollusion and Wall decorations will look seamless even using the USB drive.

Second, you can use the Screen Mirroring feature to connect a phone or tablet to play the decorations. This is especially helpful if you want to make changes to your decorations playlist while the projector is running, or if you want more dynamic remote control of the decorations.

Third, the HDMI input allows you to connect other devices to play the videos. For example, you might connect a computer or a mobile device using an adapter cable.

For a more permanent solution, you may consider a handheld media player. It's like a DVD player, except instead of playing DVDs it plays video files stored on USB drives or SD cards. For example, AtmosFX offers the Sprite Media Player which also includes a motion sensor feature to trigger decorations. There are many affordable options for other handheld media players on the market today if you don't need the motion sensor feature.