Honestly if you don’t have a ton of other options, I don’t hate this. I always wanted to get several super thin flatscreens and set them up playing 24/7 nature livestreams from different sources. It would be like gazing out portals to different parts of nature.
Sure, being out in nature would be better, but it’s better than blank walls and parking lots.
Another option i was thinking about just earlier today is the “nature” wallpaper that used to be a thing back in the 70s or so. Whole walls covered in giant photos of rainforests etc. I still see them in customers houses on occasion, usually sun-faded which kinda adds its own ambiance
This reminded me of a character, Martin Silenus from Hyperion Cantos, who has a mansion. In that mansion all of the doors are actually portals. So when you walk into a new room you’re walking into a new room on a different world. So like your living room is on Earth but your dining room could be on the moon. Always thought that was a cool idea.
I loved the concept of Peter F Hamilton’s Commonwealth saga. People invent wormhole technology. Interstellar colonization is done by opening wormholes directly to alien worlds. Except the tech isn’t cheap or easy. IIRC they described an interstellar generator as made of half a cubic kilometer of intricate machinery. They’re giant machines that can open portals to distant star systems.
Because of the immense expense, they need to make maximum use of these gateways. The generators operate on regular schedules, connecting to different worlds in the human sphere of colonization. And to make maximum use of the gateways…they run trains through them. You travel to a distant star system by buying a train ticket.
There are a lot of long nature videos on youtube meant for this purpose - some with relaxing music, some without. I’ll occasionally play one on a TV when I know I’m going to be bouncing around the house all day, and it’s nice.
I don’t know of any actual livestreams like that, but some zoos have livestreams of their aquariums or exhibits that are cool too.
I’ve thought about doing this in my basement rec room to make it feel more “open”. Plan is to take a couple spare flat screens I’m not using, build a wood window frame around them, and put some curtains over them to further sell the effect.
Just haven’t figured out a way to drive them besides sticking a raspberry pi on each one. That would also let me make them “real” windows if I want to feed in the camera views from outside.
You should look at a set tour for Technology Connections on YouTube.
His backdrop is a wall of cube organizers with interesting objects and artifacts from previous episodes. Each cube is backlit, some with flat colors and some with pictures.
The backlights are actually TV screens displaying an array of images that align with the edges of the cubes.
Artificial light. No parallax. Super bright bulb throwing light across the room unless you get a short throw projector, and this is going to get hot and noisy with the fan in an enclosed room for extended periods.
Honestly if you don’t have a ton of other options, I don’t hate this. I always wanted to get several super thin flatscreens and set them up playing 24/7 nature livestreams from different sources. It would be like gazing out portals to different parts of nature.
Sure, being out in nature would be better, but it’s better than blank walls and parking lots.
Another option i was thinking about just earlier today is the “nature” wallpaper that used to be a thing back in the 70s or so. Whole walls covered in giant photos of rainforests etc. I still see them in customers houses on occasion, usually sun-faded which kinda adds its own ambiance
I generally play a burning fire vid on my Philips Ambilight at night. It’s a delight.
If prefer if it was a live stream of somewhere nearby. Maybe not as pretty but it’s closer to actually seeing outdoors
This reminded me of a character, Martin Silenus from Hyperion Cantos, who has a mansion. In that mansion all of the doors are actually portals. So when you walk into a new room you’re walking into a new room on a different world. So like your living room is on Earth but your dining room could be on the moon. Always thought that was a cool idea.
It’s fun and games until the portals turn off and you’re stuck in your house… Or on your toilet in the middle of an ocean.
I loved the concept of Peter F Hamilton’s Commonwealth saga. People invent wormhole technology. Interstellar colonization is done by opening wormholes directly to alien worlds. Except the tech isn’t cheap or easy. IIRC they described an interstellar generator as made of half a cubic kilometer of intricate machinery. They’re giant machines that can open portals to distant star systems.
Because of the immense expense, they need to make maximum use of these gateways. The generators operate on regular schedules, connecting to different worlds in the human sphere of colonization. And to make maximum use of the gateways…they run trains through them. You travel to a distant star system by buying a train ticket.
Nice, adding that book to the list.
There are a lot of long nature videos on youtube meant for this purpose - some with relaxing music, some without. I’ll occasionally play one on a TV when I know I’m going to be bouncing around the house all day, and it’s nice.
I don’t know of any actual livestreams like that, but some zoos have livestreams of their aquariums or exhibits that are cool too.
10 hours of rain in the forest is my jam.
Explore.org has lots of animal cams, lots of live ones too, they’re great although not always the highest quality.
zoo cams are awesome
The Monterey Bay Aquarium otters are my favorite.
I’ve thought about doing this in my basement rec room to make it feel more “open”. Plan is to take a couple spare flat screens I’m not using, build a wood window frame around them, and put some curtains over them to further sell the effect.
Just haven’t figured out a way to drive them besides sticking a raspberry pi on each one. That would also let me make them “real” windows if I want to feed in the camera views from outside.
You should look at a set tour for Technology Connections on YouTube.
His backdrop is a wall of cube organizers with interesting objects and artifacts from previous episodes. Each cube is backlit, some with flat colors and some with pictures.
The backlights are actually TV screens displaying an array of images that align with the edges of the cubes.
Artificial light. No parallax. Super bright bulb throwing light across the room unless you get a short throw projector, and this is going to get hot and noisy with the fan in an enclosed room for extended periods.
Your TV solution sounds better.
You can get decent projectors that are very small now.
Do you have any recommendations? I like these ideas
These are the two my wife chose between for use with her art
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Q5GJ7J7
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YY87FXP