Ambilight systems create light effects around your monitor that correspond to the video content you’re playing. [Sébastien] just build his (French translated to English, original here) and embedded all the elements in a 19 inch rack he bought from Farnell.
As most ambilight systems we’ve covered over the years the HDMI signal is first split in two, one being sent to his monitor while the other is converted into a S-Video signal. The latter is then captured with a STK1160 stick connected to a Raspberry Pi. A python script using the OpenCV library is in charge of extracting the frames pixels and figuring out what colors should be sent to the SPI connected LPD8806 LEDs. A nice web interface also allows to drive the LEDs from any platform connected to his local network. Finally, a standard HD44780 LCD and an infrared receiver are connected to the raspberry, allowing [Sébastien] to control and monitor his platform. Funny thing: he also had to use two relays to power cycle his HDMI splitter and converter as they often crash. You can check out a demonstration video from a previous revision after the break.
Yeah cheap HDMI splitters and HDMI to analogue converters often get really hot, I wonder if they’re overheating?
I don’t see a fan, two spinning very slowly (so they’re inaudible) might help.
The benefit with the cheap HDMI splitters that claim to be HDCP compatible is that they often completely strip HDCP, so theyre quite useful for recording HD content without DRM.
A friend had one it quit so I opened it. The big chip had a little finned piece of aluminum glued to it. Well sorta it was tipped up at quite an angle, the blob of epoxy never pressed down! Only 30 to 40% contact.
All this now when NTSC could just be tapped and ran to both devices.
That’s really slick, I kind of want to make one now xD
I was considering doing something similar to this with an Android stick PC modified with a larger heat sink or maybe a modified Ouya board and some USB peripherals inside of an old thin client case. Different application but it would look similar inside.
This project ended up having a really nice layout inside and is a bit more of an inspiration for me to pursue my own project, so hey…thanks! :)
And what if ambilight is combined with a projector ??
For full immersion.
You had me at 19″ rack…