So I am taking the plunge here - as much about learning how to do pixels effectively as it is about having a really cool home theater. What makes this a little different is that I am using a projector, so there is going to be a LOT of pixels. So here are my questions...
- Amount of pixels. I am using WS2812B strips from BTF. They are the 5050 variety with 300 LEDs/M. The outside dimensions of the screen frame are 51" tall by 86" wide and due to the way the screen attaches to the wall the only place I can attach the pixels is the back of the frame right at the perimeter. which calculates to 128 pixels across v 76 pixels high for a total of 408 pixels. When I did the calculations yesterday I started thinking about processing power and scaling. I am using a Pi4 with 8gB of ram which I have a big cooler attached to so I can overclock it a little if necessary, but will it be necessary? How many pixels can be processed?
- Distance to the wall. Currently I have the screen attached to the wall using 1x2, which moves it out from the wall by 0.75". I plan on adding another 2x2 to this which will move it out to 2.25", but compared to a flat panel, it is still really close. What distance from the wall do you guys find works best for you?
- Pi alone or use a controller and why. I have seen some videos where people say to run the pixels directly from the Pi, and others that let the pi feed data to a controller. If the Pi can do it, wouldn't that potentially be lower in latency than adding another device? Do I need a separate controller and what are the pros / cons specific to Hyperion NG?
- Power supply... Ii have a Mean Well 60A 5V supply and have no problem injecting power to the strips wherever it's necessary, but I don't want to run that much current through the Pi, so I would think to feed the strips their DC directly. But the Pi would at least need to share the ground in order for the data feed to mean anything correct? So should I use the same supply to power the Pi?
- HDCP. My projector is 4K and all of the sources are either 4K native or upscaling (My Roku will deliver 4K all of the time, regardless of the source native). There will NOT be HDR All of my sources are connected to a Marantz preamp with two separate HDMI outputs and can also internally direct the secondary monitor output to analog video (either composite or Y/Pb/Pr component). I have an HDMI to RSB 3 gaming adapter that can stream 4K/60 to the USB, but I'm sure it would clog up the front end of the Pi. But the bigger concern is HDCP. I am using a TV tuner, a Roku Ultra and a UHD Blu-Ray player along with a PC all feeding to the Marantz Preamp. I am a video product engineer and have had enough bad experiences over the last 20 years with HDCP to know that it is bound to be a problem. So here is my question: How do you guys deal with HDCP?
I know this is a lot of questions, but I could not find any FAQ or setup docs here. If anyone can direct me to where they might be, that would be great too.
Thanks in advance.
Best,
Dan