Very confused about Ambilight options

  • I've been reading up, trying to find a good tutorial to get started with, but the more I read, the more I see different options. Here's what I think I understand so far...

    Ambilight
    - project to put up pretty lights behind a tv sync'd to the video content.
    Hyperion - software that takes a video input and determines what colors and where to turn set the lights to.
    esp8266/esp32/nodemcu/Arduino - SoC/microprocessors and the firmware that control them, that is used to connect to the lights?
    WLED - software that runs on esp8266/esp32 boards that controls LEDs.
    WS2812B/WS2811/SK6812/APA102 etc. etc. - LED lights


    Some projects seem to just use a Raspberry Pi + Hyperion to grab video (hdmi -> rca -> usb -> pi) and then use the onboard pins to control the lights.


    So - what are the esp chips/WLED needed for? Is it just to add the ability to use wifi to control the lights?


    I want simplicity as most of my projects get overly complicated and either fail to work as intended or take 10x as long as they should to complete. I have a spare Pi 3 B+ and I have a TV...What do I need to get an simple ambilight project working? I just want to turn on the tv and have nice/sync'd lights.


    Also, there are dizzying amount of LED lights out there....is there a general consensus for the best ones to use?


    Thanks in advanced...

  • hi @medic459 if you only want to have the lights working for Kodi content, you need LEDs and a proper power supply. This obviously neither includes the TV signal coming from the internal tuner, nor any other external source. If you want to have the lights shining for regular TV signal, you need TVheadend in addition.
    You can configure within Hyperion which grabber should be used. You would use the internal (Kodi) grabber in your case.


    I also use a very simple config (x86 HTPC with LibreELEC (Kodi grabber) + Arduino UNO + WS2801 LEDs + PSU). I have chosen the 4-wire WS2801 as I always used these, thanks to the nice community here, I would use sk6812 neutral white nowadays. They have a fourth neutral white LED which lead to proper colors.
    My 55" used 4,x meters of LEDs (total 110 @ 30/meter).


    https://www.btf-lighting.com/c…5v?variant=25757797122148


    ...I will update my LEDs as soon as possible, when the WAF is back for something new :)


    Paulchen-Panther was so kind to make a guide to install hyperion.ng on LibreELEC (RPi)
    https://hyperion-project.org/t…ziell-unofficially.10463/


    Please take care to install Alpha 6 until Alpha 8 becomes available.


    You can also check the the current state of the user guide for more information:
    https://docs.hyperion-project.org/en/user/


    Hope this helps

  • Thank you for your replies: 100% of my tv source is passed through my [home theater] receiver so I have a single HDMI source/input to the tv.
    In this case, do I need the Arduino or another SOC or can I just use my spare Pi?
    HDMI -> Pi -> hyperion -> LEDs?

  • So the content is playing though the RPi (LibreELEC+Kodi) which is connected through an AVR...?
    This would work and you won't need anything else.. In case you want the content is playing from any other set top box, you will need a HDMI splitter and external grabber. At least from my understanding. But I can't help you in that regard, I'm afraid.

  • All content is single hdmi so the plan for any solution would be hdmi source -> hdmi splitter -> grabber -> RPi. My confusion is what to do from there:
    1) use the RPi to trigger lights
    2) RPi -> arduino + WLED -> lights

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  • Thank you for your replies but....None of that answers my original question:
    That 3 part tutorial is awesome and I'll probably end up doing it that way but....once again:
    Some projects seem to just use a Raspberry Pi + Hyperion to grab video (hdmi -> rca -> usb -> pi) and then use the onboard pins to control the lights.
    [why] are the NodeMCU ESP8266/WLED components needed? Can't the pi control the LEDs?

  • Thank you for your replies but....None of that answers my original question:
    That 3 part tutorial is awesome and I'll probably end up doing it that way but....once again:
    Some projects seem to just use a Raspberry Pi + Hyperion to grab video (hdmi -> rca -> usb -> pi) and then use the onboard pins to control the lights.
    [why] are the NodeMCU ESP8266/WLED components needed? Can't the pi control the LEDs?


    Yes the Pi can control the Leds and you'll have a wire between the Pi and the Leds.
    NodeMCU is not needed, it is optional for a somewhat "wireless" installation.
    With NodeMCU, no wire needed between the Pi and the Leds, only between NodeMCU and leds.

  • Ah ha!!!! Now it makes sense...
    So using nodemcu lets me put the pi anywhere and then use wifi to transmit the LED control/info to the nodemcu to control the lights.
    So...if I was already planning to mount the pi on the back of the tv, then I can/should just do HDMI Capture -> Pi -> LEDs for a simple config?

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