
HDMI Light V2: Open-Hardware FPGA-Based Clone of Philips Ambilight (2014) - walterbell
http://hacks.esar.org.uk/hdmi-light-v2/
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seltzered_
Something similar to this was commercialized as lightpack:
[https://lightpack.tv](https://lightpack.tv)

The first version of lightpack was usb driven, and it’s software (prismatik)
is open source:
[https://github.com/woodenshark](https://github.com/woodenshark)

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kylegordon
I was an early backer, and my Lightpack is still working just great. I don't
drive it from Prismatik though, I use Boblight... although I see that it
hasn't been developed in a while.

~~~
seltzered_
I also have the 1st-gen lightpack, but just use it as 'bias' lighting set to
one static color. For some reason never got around to making it more
programmable to track time-of-day.

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pasta
The poor man's version of this is to place an old monitor at the back facing
the wall and then clone and flip the screen.

But ofcourse never as good looking as this. Those examples are great!

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gcb0
all those projects are dead on the water thanks to DRM.

I look into them from time to time. If your source is a topbox or smarttv
itself, you can't get any signal because those things use drm protocols that
only allow one source. you can get around it with chinese hdmi splitters that
will have their own problems.

if your source is a computer, then all those hdmi solutions are overkill vs
doing it on software and then output to usb to a dumb and extremely cheap LED
controller.

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jabberwik
The author actually has a separate blog post where he talks about this, and
uses a modified HDMI splitter to allow the device to work with encrypted
content. It involves more soldering, of course.
[http://hacks.esar.org.uk/hdmi-splitter-hack/](http://hacks.esar.org.uk/hdmi-
splitter-hack/)

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gcb0
exactly. its yet another project to jump in :)

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dvno42
There's also Hyperion. You can do something similar (via screen capture).
Here's a Pi running Kodi with Hyperion in the background. There's an Arduino
connected over usb to the Pi collecting serial data and sending pixel data via
PWM.
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXGoJT2Xdk0](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXGoJT2Xdk0)
Not nearly as soon as OP but it's a really cheap way to get into it.

~~~
vbernat
Compared to solutions intercepting HDMI output, such solutions have the
advantage to only use the original video as input, without the subtitles or
the user interface.

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fastball
This is really cool! I've never seen an Ambilight in person, or even heard of
it, which I'm surprised by considering this is old (by today's standards)
tech.

I have some spare LEDs lying around, so I might even give it a go. I'd like to
see how it works for just a regular old movie.

~~~
gh02t
I made one for my computer monitor and it looks _really_ impressive,
particularly with games. Unfortunately it's much harder to do on a television
DIY nowadays because you have to decode the HDMI signal in realtime, which
isn't really feasible with a 4K picture on any remotely affordable FGPAs
(AFAIK... I'd really like to hear if someone knows a part or combination of
chips that would make this feasible at a hobbyist price, even hypothetically).

A computer monitor is easier, though, because you can run a program in the
background that does screen capture.

~~~
lozaning
The Hue software philips came out with for computers is a cheap way for people
to get into this if they already have a computer, bridge, and some colored
lights. [https://www2.meethue.com/en-us/entertainment/hue-
sync](https://www2.meethue.com/en-us/entertainment/hue-sync)

~~~
gh02t
I have a bunch of Hue devices myself, but I wouldn't exactly call it "cheap"
considering how much the colored bulbs cost. You can build your own with a
cheap Arduino clone and some addressable RGB LEDs for well under $20.

In addition, Hue Sync is kinda different. To me a proper ambilight goes around
the edge of a display to cast light on a wall with a decent resolution (20ish
or more LEDs), while Sync is more for a few bulbs and synchronizing the room
lights. You can get kind of a similar effect with Sync and a couple bulbs
behind the screen but it's just not as impressive.

~~~
epmaybe
Phillips sells hue led strips now, wouldn't that work with hue sync?

~~~
gh02t
The Hue strips aren't addressable so all the LEDs are set to the same color.

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homero
Is hdcp involved and how do you intercept the encrypted video?

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moontear
No HDCP but there is an update on how the poster got around HDCP:
[http://hacks.esar.org.uk/hdmi-splitter-
hack/#more-3279](http://hacks.esar.org.uk/hdmi-splitter-hack/#more-3279)

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gbraad
Have a look at [https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Ambilight-with-
Hyperion...](https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Ambilight-with-Hyperion-
Works-with-HDMIAV-Sour/) for a video by Scott doing this with a raspi and
Hyperion.

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daurnimator
Reminds me of this arcan blog/demo: [https://arcan-fe.com/2017/05/21/playing-
with-leds/](https://arcan-fe.com/2017/05/21/playing-with-leds/)

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jjrh
Boblightd
([https://github.com/bobo1on1/boblight](https://github.com/bobo1on1/boblight))
is great if your source is a computer. There is a plugin for Kodi - I
personally haven't tried and just start boblight-X11.

Since boblight can use a capture source, at one point I did get something
working with a HDMI spliter -> composite -> USB composite capture card so I
could use boblight with any hdmi source.

At some point I'd like to pickup one of those android boxes that include HDMI
input and try and get boblight built on android.

This is a really cool board however, i'd love to buy one.

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andrewshadura
I've done a similar project in 2008, only it was about the backlight of the
LCD itself. Also, we used a CPLD, not FPGA; there was an effort to improve it
(and it was supposed to run on a Spartan 3E) but then the customer's own
funding ended, and the project was halted.

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mosselman
The demo videos are super impressive, wow!

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brian_herman__
Wow this is amazing!

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mmjaa
You can do all this with the MagicShifter3000:

[http://magicshifter.net/](http://magicshifter.net/)

.. and more! It has WIFI, MIDI, OSC, Serial I/O, an onboard Webserver for the
UI, and more!

(DISCLAIMER: I'm a developer on the MS3000 project .. We'll be releasing a new
OS for this soon, which includes a lot of great features .. a MIDI sequencer
and arpeggiator, easy remote programming of light patterns..)

