DIY Ambilight: step-by-step instructions, tips and tricks

Ambilight is the world of color. The backlight can be made in the same shade as on the screen, or have a static white, red, blue or green color. No matter which setting is selected, watching such a TV will be ambitious. Ambilight is great for starting a party and can not only follow what is happening on the screen, but also respond to music.

It automatically and intellectually adjusts the intensity and colors displayed depending on the tempo, intensity and volume of the music. Despite the fact that the system comes with modern TVs, you can do Ambilight t yourself. The main advantage of creating your own DIY home lighting solution is that you can add a lot more LEDs for a low price, which allows you to use 100-200 elements or even more.

Light show for Apple TV

Ambient TV lighting is a design enhancement for watching any movie. And if the screen does not support this function, you can easily do it yourself.

DIY hardware for doing Ambilight:

1. Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
2. USB charger or power supply.
3. Micro USB
4. Three HDMI cables.
5. SD card for Raspberry Pi.
6. LED Strip Light.
7. HDMI splitter AC / DC.
8. Software.

Before you begin, download the latest version of the Raspbian operating system and install it on the SD card. You can download the program on the manufacturer’s website, there you can also find installation instructions.

DIY Ambilight implementation algorithm:

1. Connect an audio device. At this point, connect an HDMI multimedia device, such as an Apple TV, to an HDMI splitter, and then to the TV. Start by connecting one of the HDMI cables from the output of the multimedia device to the input of the splitter. Then connect the second HDMI cable from the output of the first splitter to the desired port on the TV.
2. From the second output of the splitter, connect the third and last HDMI cable to the input port of the HDMI / AV converter. When this is done, connect the RCA cable to the yellow video output on the splitter and to the video input on the capture board.
3. Then continue to do the Ambilight do-it-yourself lighting. Connect the LED strip to the mains and Raspberry Pi. Connect the positive (5 V) and negative (ground) pole to the 5 V power supply and turn it on. Check the correct polarity. How to do it? The first indicator on the strip should light up in blue.
4. To make Ambilight your own, connect the light source to the contacts of the Raspberry Pi GPIO by connecting the following contacts: 9 (GND), 21 (DATA) and 23 (Clock). Colors may vary depending on the LED strip. The best way to connect the strip is to use connecting cables, but, in principle, you can use anything that creates a solid electrical connection — soldering and connectors.
5. The software used to create the Ambilight effect is Hyperion, a free, open source software. It is fairly easy to set up and even comes with a Java application for easy installation.
6. When the program opens, go directly to the SSH tab and connect the Raspberry.
7. Before making Ambilight for the TV yourself, enter the correct IP address, username and password, then connect to the Raspberry Pi.
8. After entering the system, click "show traffic" to see the full log of what is happening. Then click Inst./Upd. Hyperion for installing software and prerequisites on the Pi. If the process is successful, then the colors appear on the LED strip when starting Hyperion.
9. A detailed step-by-step guide on setting up the software can be found on the developer's website.
10. Create a frame for Ambilight, for example, several aluminum L-shaped profiles, and cut them to the size for the TV. Drill holes in the right places and process corners for durability and aesthetics.
11. They complete the Ambilight lighting with their own hands, attaching the frame to the back of the panel and removing the wires.

Amblone Software

Amblone, of course, is not the first system that creates the Ambilight effect. The network also offers other solutions that more or less realize the same effect as Amblone. Some of them are finished commercial products, some are DIY projects such as Amblone.

In order to do DIY Ambilight for a TV, you will need the following:

1. Amblone software.
2. Microcontroller, for example, Arduino Mega.
3. USB cable
4. RGB LED strip that can be controlled manually. First you need to make sure that the strip does not color the LEDs automatically.
5. 12V adapter
6. Electric wires.
7. Double-sided tape or other equipment for mounting LED strips.

Arduino microcontrollers are ideal for beginners because they are affordable, easy to program and offer many options for a variety of input and output devices. Most often they are used by radio amateurs when doing the installation of Ambilight-illumination of the TV with their own hands. Amblone for PC currently supports up to 4 channels, so the Arduino Mega is a very good choice because it has 14 PWM.

Soldering and assembly of the lighting circuit

Arduino Mega has multiple pulse width modulated (PWM) outputs. For each LED strip, you need to connect a red, green and blue wire to one of these outputs. In order to do Ambilight for a TV with your own hands, use pins 2-4, where pin 2 is red, pin 3 is green, and pin 4 is blue. The second line uses pins 5 to 7, where pin 5 is red, 6 is green, 7 is blue and then similar.

Arduino cannot independently supply voltage to the LED lines. For this reason, an additional power source is needed. A 12 V, 1 A adapter will suffice. You will also need a resistor and a transistor for the red, green, and blue wires. Installation requires three 2200 Ohm resistors and three NPN transistors that can switch 200 mA at 12 V for each channel.

In order to do Ambilight ws2812b with your own hands, connect the Arduino output to a resistor, and the resistor to the base of the transistor. Connect the emitter to the Arduino ground, and the collector to the corresponding color of the LED strip for all RGB wires. Connect the common positive indicator of the LED strips to the positive value of the 12 V adapter, and the negative positive element of the 12 V adapter to the Arduino ground.

The execution of the circuit is drawn up on a small fragment of the board with the designations of the contacts in order to be able to disconnect the defective parts if necessary. You can use the old network modem enclosure to house the Arduino and electronic components. Then, Ethernet cables are used as power cables for LED strips. The result is a very beautiful and professional looking case with good attachment of parts and wires.

Arduino Connection Instructions

In order to do DIY Ambilight Arduino for the TV, download the appropriate software. To download, you will need the Arduino environment, which can be found on the developer's site, here you can also find instructions for connecting.

Open the pde file in the environment and select the correct model by going to "Tools> Panel" and Arduino Mega. Also select the correct port in "Tools>" (serial). Then click the "Download" button. After downloading the code, the Arduino should automatically start and will open every time it receives power, either through a USB cable or through a power adapter.

Do-it-yourself software for installing Ambilight-backlight on a TV can be run on Windows OS. To do this, download Amblone for Windows. You can either download binary files or source codes and compile them yourself. After starting Amblone, the system tray icon will appear. Right-click the icon and select "Configure Amblone."

Next, you need to set important parameters. First of all, they select the monitor from which the average color is obtained, and indicate the RGB channels and the part of the screen that they represent. For example, if there is an RGB LED strip located at the top of the TV screen that is selected as the second monitor, and the LED strip is connected to output pins 2–4, you need to select “Auxiliary monitor” in the “Source monitor” section and the part of the screen that the bar will represent in channel 1. It will probably be the “upper half” or “full screen”. Strips may emit a non-standard static color. To do this, choose the "static" option.

The next important setting is the COM port. Select the Arduino COM port on the PC. Once the correct one is selected, Ambione should automatically start communicating with the Arduino. The small LED will blink, receiving data. When you connect an adapter for LED strips, you can make sure that they emit the right colors.

Performance tuning tips

Once the Arduino is operational, tune the software for maximum performance. Several options are available.

The first is color accuracy. This option determines how many pixels will be used to calculate the average color of the screen. If the slider is turned to the right, the algorithm will work faster, but the color will be determined less accurately, which may cause flickering. Setting it to the left will give the best results, but this can slow down the process, which is why LED strips will change colors more slowly or interfere with other processes running on the PC.

The second option is the threshold of darkness of color. This option sets a threshold for pixels that exceeds the average. It is very useful if the video that is playing does not occupy the entire screen, but leaves part of the monitor black. It partially brightens the colors. However, setting the threshold too high may cause some flickering.

Next comes the color highlight option. This function makes the LEDs go away from gray and white in the direction of a more attractive shade. Setting the slider to the off position speed up the algorithm a bit. If the colors that are radiated suit you, then the next option is not used.

If they seem completely different than the colors on the screen, you can try checking the box for changing the red and blue values. On some systems, methods for processing bitmaps are different because they are stored in RGB format instead of BGR. Setting this option will fix this and the correct colors will be sent to Arduino.

Next is the calibration. On most RGB LED strips and other light sources, red, green, and blue light do not have the same light intensity at the same currents. Because of this, mixed colors will not display correctly and will become, for example, a little blue. If so, you will have to move the slider of this color back to reduce its dominance.

You will also need to perform such a calibration if the wall onto which the light projects is not completely white. In any case, a good way to calibrate Ambione is to choose a white static color for all channels (255, 255, 255) and move the sliders until white light is projected onto the wall.

There is also a brightness slider. Using this slider, you can reduce the overall lighting intensity of the Amblone. The last thing that can be changed is some performance settings, for example, a process priority. If you have problems starting Amblone next to a media player or video game, try changing this setting.

Technology lack lzh

Gorgeous DIY Ambilight Arduino LED backlighting can be done using software and Processing for any plasma device. Such an Ambilight system is cheap, easy to modify, does not have an end-to-end device and is suitable for TVs or monitors of different sizes. It provides diffused light around a flat panel, reflecting the colors visible on the screen. Specialists call this project Ozilight. He will certainly make any TV much more interesting. This is an option for DIY do-it-yourself Ambilight for PC.

The system works with a computer. Since a computer program will be used for capturing and analyzing colors, this means that the TV or monitor will only enter data from a PC, and not from any other media source, such as a DVD player or television channel.

Necessary equipment:

1. A computer.
2. Arduino Uno, Nano or Mega will also work with any microcontroller that supports SPI.
3. Digital led strip ws2812b.
4. DC power supply for LEDs with parameters 5 V / 2A, which depends on how much tape will be used.

When buying RGB stripes, it’s better to choose “digital” RGB stripes, such as WS2811 or WS2801. Some cheap tapes cannot change the color of each individual LED. You can also purchase single LEDs and connect them to the circuit. Although it will be very cumbersome because of the cables, since 4 cables, resistors and other elements go out to each LED.

Arduino Uno can only work with 4 RGB LEDs, in most cases it uses PWM without any other external devices. Using WS2811 LED strips, the Arduino will be able to control all LEDs with only one wired connection, excluding Vcc and GND.

WS2801 RGB LED strip provides advanced technology with a very short response time, so the user does not notice a visible delay between the TV screen and the light. When doing DIY Ambilight TV backlighting, Raspberry controls the LEDs. The cost of the tape is about 12 US dollars per meter. In order to determine how many meters are required, check the dimensions of the TV or monitor. For example, with a 47-inch TV you need about 3 meters.

The choice of power source will depend on the length. Recommended LEDs require 8.64 watts per meter. Therefore, the recommended power supply of 5 V, 6 A can provide up to 3.4 m. For more than 3.5 m, it is recommended to use a 10A power supply that can support up to 5.7 m of LEDs.

Screen capture color recommendations

It is very simple and effective to take screenshots and analyze colors using some JAVA libraries.

Benefits of processing as a programming environment:

1. Cross-platform software can run on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
2. Uses C ++ syntax.
3. It has the same IDE programming convention as Arduino. In fact, the Arduino IDE was founded for IDE processing.
4. Supports some very powerful and convenient Java libraries.
5. Free.

For high-quality color reproduction analyze the colors at the edges of the screen. After capture, the pixel frequency in one specific area is reduced to obtain an average color. Perform this simultaneously in several areas along the edge of the screen. Ultimately, you can use the color of each area to control the RGB LEDs. The LED marking system in the code matches the pattern. If, for example, there are 25 LEDs, the edges of the screen are divided into 25 small rectangles.

You can build a robotic remote control DIY Camera Gimbal. This is a very easy project.

The first part of the program code.

Prepare an RGB LED strip of 25 elements. RGB LEDs usually come in the form of a strip, but it is better that they are separated and soldered together. To do this, use hot glue to strengthen the soldering points.

The second part of the program code is as follows.

Next, install the tape on the TV. Select the exact positioning of the diodes. They should be directed outward at an angle so they will be visible brighter in front.

The third part of the program code is presented in the photo.

Connect Arduino, Power for data transfer. Use an external power source - 5V 2A power adapter. The GND power supply must be connected to the Arduino GND.

The fourth part of the program code is in the photo.

Next, I use the software on the computer, prescribe all parts of the program code.

A fifth of it is as follows.

LED strip control

With Arduino, you can interact with the Processing application to integrate the system. In this case, it is quite possible to do Ambilight with your own hands for a TV without a computer.

You can use the WS2811 RGB LED strip, it is controlled not by RGB PWM signals, but by another protocol that requires only one wired connection. This is quite difficult to do from scratch on your own. , Adafruit - NeoPixel.

For 25 LEDs, you need at least 75 data that needs to be sent every time a screen shot is taken. When sending, constant values ​​are added, such as the characters O and Z. This is an identifier for Arduino, so he knows that this is the beginning of new data. After receiving them, the application will receive the message "I'm ready, the next data packet, please." Then perform a small adjustment of the position of the LEDs.

Best Philips backlight experience

Philips Ambilight is an immersive lighting system built into some TV models. Around the latter there are LEDs that in real time display the colors of the screen on the walls behind it. This product is not available in all countries and can be quite expensive. But, fortunately, there is its DIY version, which you can install yourself. The Ambilight clone is made possible by the use of the Raspberry Pi, some LEDs and free software.

Equipment and materials:

1. Any HDMI source.
2. Double-sided tape for mounting parts to the TV, 3 m.
3. Raspberry Pi 2/3.
4. Micro SD card at least 8 GB in size and 2.5 A power supply.
5. LED strip (5 m for a 40-inch TV).
6. Power supply for LEDs 5 V 10 A.
7. HDMI splitter.
8. Adapter from HDMI to AV.
9. Video grabber.
10. HDMI cable.
11. Soldering iron.

First, measure the tape around the screen that you plan to use. After the ribbons are cut to size, gently solder the strips together, making sure that they are connected to each other in the right direction in the direction of the arrow, which is directed down the side.

When powering the LED strips without software, some LEDs may not light up. This does not mean that they do not work. You need to wait until the software is installed before concluding that they are faulty.

Set up raspberry pi and install the OpenELEC operating system. At this point, they launch the Hyperion application on the computer and ssh in the Raspberry Pi. The settings that you need to select for the Hyperion application will vary depending on the brand of the TV. Following someone else’s settings may not always give excellent results on a particular device.

There is a convenient application for the Hyperion Remote phone, which allows the user to easily connect to the system and fine-tune lighting effects to their liking, as well as use preset modes, for example, when doing the Embilight for a Samsung TV with one’s hands.

Lightberry HD Background Lighting Effect

In order to have the Philips Ambilight effect, it is not necessary to buy a new panel, you can get it on any plasma screen. The distribution network sells kits with programs that create much more exciting projects and are applicable to existing TVs. One of the best-known is Lightberry, a company that has expanded its viewing and gaming capabilities through the use of color LEDs similar to Philips Ambilight.

Theoretically, the system is quite simple - it uses the Raspberry Pi as a processor in the do-it-yourself Ambilight execution scheme for a TV via HDMI. The cable goes from the splitter to the Lightberry HD kit, which analyzes the outer edges of the image displayed on the TV. Then it recreates color and brightness with an almost instant effect. The lights displayed on the edges of the TV create the illusion of an image extending beyond the edges of the TV, and generally improve the overall perception of the picture.

Installing a system image on a Raspberry Pi when doing DIY Embedded for a TV:

1. Download the system image from the Lightberry HD website. This is a modified version of the popular KODI system for the Raspberry Pi, designed to work with Lightberry HD.
2. Download software to install the system image on a microSD card. Mac users can use ApplePi Baker, and Windows users can use Win32DiskImager, they are free and will do their job exactly.
3. Insert a microSD card into a PC or Mac. This can be done through the SD card slot or via a USB SD card reader.
4. Install the system image on the microSD card.
5. The section finds the downloaded system image by clicking the three dots in the IMG Recipe and Restore Backup sections for installation.
6. Windows users need to run Win32DiskImager as administrator, to do this, right-click the utility and select "Run as administrator".
7. Then look at the image of the system downloaded earlier, select the letter of the SD card driver on the computer.
8. Next, the program assistant will help you configure the software.

Ambilight is also an ideal accompaniment for games. When switching to game mode, the speed with which colors can change increases, which better simulates the action on the screen. If a gamer loves first-person shooters or racing games, Ambilight is guaranteed to make him feel more involved in the action, and the advantage is that you can do Ambilight with your own hands without a computer.