Post by COMpulse on Sept 6, 2018 11:02:08 GMT -5
This is a dynamic ambient lighting system, similar to an Ambilight TV.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078M6M7NJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It uses a camera mounted on top of the TV on an arm to view the TV screen and adjust the LEDs.
So far, it's worth the $60.
The device is probably a Raspberry Pi Zero or similar. You can control/calibrate it with an app on your phone over BlueTooth. It's very light, and is meant to be mounted (stuck) to the back of the TV.
The camera is a tiny USB camera with what I assume is a wide-angle lens. The arm mounts to the top of the TV with an adhesive strip. All the adhesive seems strong to me. And using a camera means that the ambient lighting works with all of the TV inputs whether it's from a game console or a cable box or whatever.
The LEDs are RGB (obviously), and the kit I purchased is about the right size for my 55" TV. A larger TV would require longer strands of LEDs.
The first step of installation is cleaning the areas on the back of the TV where things will be mounted. Meaning, the perimeter, and also a flat area to stick the actual device.
After that, I did a test by taping the LEDs in place with masking tape, and setting up the device before permanently mounting anything. The device needs to be mounted to the back of the TV in a place where the cable from the camera will reach, and the cable from the LED strand. So, most likely 2/3 of the way down from the top of the TV, and on the right side when looking at the back of the TV.
The calibration process involves placing 4 orange squares (included) on the corners of the TV, turning the TV off and turning on the lights in the room, and the choosing to Calibrate through the app. I assume this calibration is used by the device to find the extent of the TV image and use that for observing the colors on the screen. The first time I connected, I had to figure out how. First, download the ihoment app. Then, pair your phone bluetooth with the device. Connect. Then open the app. Mine failed to connect a couple times before finally connecting. Mine found a firmware update, which I installed right away.
The device seems to sense when there's no change in the picture for a certain time and turn off the LEDs. Similarly, it turns them on automatically when you turn the TV on. So you shouldn't need to turn it on/off with the app or by unplugging it unless you want to reboot it. Unplugging it seems required after calibration for everything to take effect and start working again.
I've re-calibrated it a few times. I had it working really good on my first attempt, but I wanted to try to make it better. Naturally. So I bent the arm of the camera a bit and changed the angle to try to get a better focus on the TV and calibrated again. I keep trying to make it better, and probably made it worse. Fortunately, the calibration process only takes a minute or two.
The device seems good at picking up blues, purples, and whites. Yellows and reds less frequently, and green least of all. But that might just be because I don't watch anything with a ton of bright green images. I'm tempted to connect a laptop to the USB camera and see what it sees, and maybe that would give me more insight into adjusting it more. I also think it might be helpful to display some static colored images or a test-image on the TV for more calibration / testing. In theory, the camera could be swapped and the software *might* still work correctly.
There's almost no lag between screen changes and LED changes. Maybe a quarter of a second.
It also has a music option, where it uses a built-in mic and pulses to music. I haven't tested this.
Is it perfect? Nope. But is it $60 good? In my opinion, so far, hell yes.
It's hard to tell from the images, but it does display multiple different colors in different areas simultaneously.
I'll try to get a few other pics with other colors shown.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078M6M7NJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It uses a camera mounted on top of the TV on an arm to view the TV screen and adjust the LEDs.
So far, it's worth the $60.
The device is probably a Raspberry Pi Zero or similar. You can control/calibrate it with an app on your phone over BlueTooth. It's very light, and is meant to be mounted (stuck) to the back of the TV.
The camera is a tiny USB camera with what I assume is a wide-angle lens. The arm mounts to the top of the TV with an adhesive strip. All the adhesive seems strong to me. And using a camera means that the ambient lighting works with all of the TV inputs whether it's from a game console or a cable box or whatever.
The LEDs are RGB (obviously), and the kit I purchased is about the right size for my 55" TV. A larger TV would require longer strands of LEDs.
The first step of installation is cleaning the areas on the back of the TV where things will be mounted. Meaning, the perimeter, and also a flat area to stick the actual device.
After that, I did a test by taping the LEDs in place with masking tape, and setting up the device before permanently mounting anything. The device needs to be mounted to the back of the TV in a place where the cable from the camera will reach, and the cable from the LED strand. So, most likely 2/3 of the way down from the top of the TV, and on the right side when looking at the back of the TV.
The calibration process involves placing 4 orange squares (included) on the corners of the TV, turning the TV off and turning on the lights in the room, and the choosing to Calibrate through the app. I assume this calibration is used by the device to find the extent of the TV image and use that for observing the colors on the screen. The first time I connected, I had to figure out how. First, download the ihoment app. Then, pair your phone bluetooth with the device. Connect. Then open the app. Mine failed to connect a couple times before finally connecting. Mine found a firmware update, which I installed right away.
The device seems to sense when there's no change in the picture for a certain time and turn off the LEDs. Similarly, it turns them on automatically when you turn the TV on. So you shouldn't need to turn it on/off with the app or by unplugging it unless you want to reboot it. Unplugging it seems required after calibration for everything to take effect and start working again.
I've re-calibrated it a few times. I had it working really good on my first attempt, but I wanted to try to make it better. Naturally. So I bent the arm of the camera a bit and changed the angle to try to get a better focus on the TV and calibrated again. I keep trying to make it better, and probably made it worse. Fortunately, the calibration process only takes a minute or two.
The device seems good at picking up blues, purples, and whites. Yellows and reds less frequently, and green least of all. But that might just be because I don't watch anything with a ton of bright green images. I'm tempted to connect a laptop to the USB camera and see what it sees, and maybe that would give me more insight into adjusting it more. I also think it might be helpful to display some static colored images or a test-image on the TV for more calibration / testing. In theory, the camera could be swapped and the software *might* still work correctly.
There's almost no lag between screen changes and LED changes. Maybe a quarter of a second.
It also has a music option, where it uses a built-in mic and pulses to music. I haven't tested this.
Is it perfect? Nope. But is it $60 good? In my opinion, so far, hell yes.
It's hard to tell from the images, but it does display multiple different colors in different areas simultaneously.
I'll try to get a few other pics with other colors shown.