The best part is that it’s easy to deploy and works on all kinds of TV and monitors without affecting the picture quality or changing how you consume your media.
Things You Need to Make DIY Philips Ambilight
A Raspberry Pi 3 or 4. You may also use Raspberry Pi Zero W. SD card (8GB or more) WS2812B ARGB or NeoPixel LED 5-meter roll A 5V 5A power supply An HDMI capture card with 4K pass-through and HDCP support. You may also use an HDMI splitter if you can’t find an HDCP-compliant pass-through device. The splitter may strip the HDCP. You can look at these best capture cards for PC for this project. Two HDMI cables
You may also build a sound-reactive WS2812B Ambilight that reacts to the sound or the music coming out from your TV and displays the color around your TV. You can use a WS2812B strip and a D1 Mini or NodeMCU module for this purpose.
Steps to Build DIY Ambilight for Your TV
Follow these simple instructions to make your own DIY Ambilight and install it on any TV or monitor. Let’s start with preparing your storage device.
Step 1: Prepare the SD Card
You may install Hyperion on the top of Raspbian OS or use HyperBian OS that comes with Hyperion installed. We will follow the latter method to install and set up Hyperion as it’s easier and straightforward. Here are the step by step instructions:
Download the HyperBian OS from GitHub and install the Raspberry Pi Imager tool on your system. Connect the micro SD card to the system and launch the Raspberry Pi Imager tool. Click Choose OS to select the HyperBian OS file, click Choose Storage to select the SD card, and then click Write. Make sure the card is empty and doesn’t have anything important. Click Yes to confirm. After flashing, disconnect the card and connect it again. Launch File Explorer and open the boot partition. Right-click on the empty space and choose New > Text Document. Rename the file as ssh and remove the . txt extension.
If you want to connect the Raspberry to the network via Wi-Fi, create a new text file and rename it as wpa_supplicant.conf.
Then, paste the following code into the wpa_supplicant.conf file. Make sure to replace YOUR_SSID and YOUR_PASSWORD with your Wi-Fi SSID and password.
Now, save and close the wpa_supplicant.conf file. Remove the SD card from the system and connect it to the Raspberry Pi. Connect the power supply to Raspberry Pi to turn it on. The first boot may take a while, depending on the model.
Step 2: Connect the NeoPixel or WS2812 LED Strip to Raspberry Pi
You can refer to the following diagram to connect all the parts and components together.
Remove the masking on the NeoPixel or WS2812 from the back and paste the strip on the back panel of your TV around all four corners. Also, count the number of LEDs at all corners and note them down. Connect the GND, +5V, and Data pins of the WS2812B strip to the GND, +5V, and GPIO18 pin headers on the Raspberry Pi respectively. Connect the USB capture card to Raspberry Pi using a USB cable provided with the card. Connect the Xbox, Fire TV, PlayStation, or any multimedia streaming device’s HDMI out to the HDMI input of the capture card. Connect another HDMI cable to the HDMI output of the capture card and connect it to the TV or monitor.
Finally, connect the 5V 5A supply to power both Raspberry Pi and the LED strip. However, we highly recommend that you use the original power supply to power the Raspberry Pi via Micro USB or USB Type-C based on the device model.
Step 3: Configure the Hyperion
Open the web browser on your system and log in to your router. Check the DHCP client list to find the HyperBian IP address. You may also use the Fing app for Android and iOS devices to find the IP address of HyperBian.
In the browser window, enter the IP address of your HyperBian with the 8090 port. For instance, 192.168.0.136:8090 and press the Enter key. You will see a page similar to the one shown below.
Click on LED Interfaces > LED Output and enter the total number of LEDs in the Hardware LED Count field. We are using a 5-meter long WS2812B strip with 300 LEDs (60LEDs/meter).
After entering the value, click Save Settings.
Click LED Layout and then enter the number of LEDs at the top, bottom, left, and right sides. Make sure to recount and enter the correct values in the respective fields. Click Save Layout.
Click on Capturing Hardware and then click the Activate checkbox under USB Capture. At this stage, make sure the USB capture card is connected to Raspberry Pi.
Next, click on the Devices discovered drop-down and choose the USB capture card. This will open additional settings.
Choose the Device Resolution and Frames per second. Do not select anything more than 720p and 10FPS, as Hyperion doesn’t need a high-quality capture to display colors via LED strip. It just needs to detect colors accurately, and thus, a lower resolution will also work, which will also help lower the latency and prevent performance issues.
Once everything is connected, switch on your TV and the streaming device. You can then click on the monitor icon at the top right to view live video and colors displayed on the LEDs around your TV or monitor.
At this stage, you have completed the Hyperion setup. Now you can use double side tape to fix the Raspberry Pi and the capture card at the back of your TV or monitor.
We used double-sided tape with Velcro that will allow us to detach the Raspberry Pi and the capture card without leaving a mess. For this, you paste the double side tape on Raspberry Pi and the TV unit and then stick the Velcro strip over the double side tape.
Customize Hyperion
You can further customize Hyperion and change a few more settings, such as boot animation, load effects, etc. You may also calibrate the LED colors if the colors displayed on the LED are different from what’s shown in the live video. If there’s a noticeable latency in displaying the colors, lower the resolution.
Best Philips Ambilight Alternative
Hyperion is the best alternative to Philips Ambilight, designed for the company’s high-end television sets. Of course, you can buy and install some other readily available solutions to achieve similar Ambilight effects. However, Hyperion is open-source and doesn’t require an internet connection or app to work. Besides, you don’t need to calibrate colors as it works with WS2812B or NeoPixel LED strip out of the box. It’s also easier to set up and configure.
