Ambilight

The ambilight project was based around the idea of the Philips Ambilight TV. There have been tons of user created versions using arduinos and raspberry pis. I built my own using a variety of guides as well as factoring my own background in user experience to try to improve upon the process. I’ll walk through which guides I used as bases. Unfortuntaley it works best when it is in a dark room, which my phone can’t capture super well. The colors ended up a little distorted in the video, but you get the idea.
Setting up SSH to talk with RPI
LED Guide
Software Guides
Building an Ambilight System
Building an Ambilight System for every HDMI Input
Brendan's Final Suggestions/Thoughts
  • If you have more than one HDMI input to connect, pick up a HDMI switch. This is different than the splitter. The splitter sends the signal to both the TV and the RPI, but the switch determines which HDMI signal to send. Works great if you have more than one HDMI source you use frequently, like a game console and Apple TV. This one works great for me. If it doesn’t automatically detect which signal you want, just hit the black button.
  • Make sure you make a RPI image of your setup. For whatever reason, my operating system became corrupted twice. The first time it took me forever to troubleshoot what the issue was. Second time it was much faster, but I didn’t have an image handy. I now have an image saved incase it ever happens again.
  • The connectors I used do not have nearly as good of a connection as when I soldered it the first time. I would recommend if possible, to follow one of the guides that solders it. If the connectors do seem to not be working, try wiggling them or pinching them together. Occasionally half the lights will stop working, and I need to get up and pinch one of the connectors. This has been happening more frequently, so I will probably solder them in the near future.
  • https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Easycap
    • I can’t stress enough how key the right usb grabber is. Here’s additional information to make sure you know you’ve gotten the right one. The one that worked fro me is the EasyCAP UT007=Fushicai.