Lightpack help! (2 Viewers)

[maiky]

Ok, noticed that gamma settings is different in desktop and media portal. While watching a movie with vlc the lightpack behaves much better than mediaportal. Any suggestions?

 

[EvanWasHere]

Where did you get the download of Amibox? Any particular settings you are using with Lightpack?

 

[RoChess]

After finally soldering a US power adapter to my Polish Lightpack clone that I purchased on e-Bay and forgot to specify US power adapter (it had been gathering dust for a full year when I got sidetracked) it has been an amazing experience for a few days now. The suggested PrismaTik software barely got 10fps and made playback stutter (on a fast i7-4770S workstation mind you), so I quickly tried the AmbiBox v2.1.5 alternative. Worked perfect and the default 25fps cap for Windows 8 capturing did not impact playback at all, so felt there was no need to adjust it or try the PlayClaw method. Moved everything over to TV in livingroom and added AmbiBox to HTPC.

@EvanWasHere, install AmbiBox v2.1.5 from: http://www.ambibox.ru/en/index.php/Download_AmbiBox

Once installed open settings. Under "Program Settings" I enabled the "Start Program with Windows". On the "Inteligent backlight display" section I selected "Lightpack" for 'Device' and made sure "Use Backlight" is checked to make the LEDs kick on. To allow 2.35:1 movies to activate the lights I modified the default zones. Was easy to do, "Show areas of capture" button -> "Wizard Capture Zone" -> the zones immediatly become larger and in fact those are the sizes I am still using. Then while there modify the settings to match the way you mounted the LED zones to the back of your TV. For me that equaled adjusting "Offset of the first zone" to '3' (zone 1 is on bottom left corner for me and the zones then go clock wise when looking at the front of the TV). Saved settings and that was it.

PS: Via the "Additional configuring of zones" I do still need to 'calibrate' the LEDs to see if an exact color match gives a better viewing experience, but via different profiles I can easy switch back and forth and try different things. Want to give the default settings a good try first.

Upon actual usage I realized that there will be times I do not want the ambient lights to be on, so found a free button on my remote that sends a keyboard emulated keypress to Windows via HID, which I was able to configure inside AmbiBox as hotkey. This works perfect now, and made me forget the time I wasted trying to achieve this goal via MediaPortal remote mapping, until I realized MediaPortal keeps all these emulated keys internal, and they never 'reached' AmbiBox software.

Of course that takes care of the manual on/off, but next step is about automating things; Lightpack shutting off LEDs when MediaPortal goes idle, etc. Now there is the AtmoLight plugin that can 'communicate' with the AtmoWin software, but that software does not support Lightpack hardware. The AmbiBox software supports a wide range of hardware, but I have not been able to locate info on a MediaPortal plugin for it, but did end up on this thread.

I know it is possible as per: http://www.ambibox.ru/en/index.php/API_server

Is there a MediaPortal plugin I overlooked?

Having seen @HomeY's Arduino ambient light solution with 173 zones versus the 10 zones I got on mine (9 LEDs per zone), it might be a mute point as I will look into upgrading soon, but considering it took me a full year to get this one ready, it never hurts to keep both options open

 

[Lightning303]

Is there a MediaPortal plugin I overlooked?

No, there is currently no plugin for AmbiBox.

I know it is possible as per: http://www.ambibox.ru/en/index.php/API_server

Yeah it would be possible to automate stuff like disabled leds at certain points, change profile and so on, but thats it. Because AtmoWin gives us the option to send the actuall image to it we can do some nice stuff in AtmoLight like delay, blackbar detection/removal, custom effects and so on.

Having seen @HomeY's Arduino ambient light solution with 173 zones versus the 10 zones I got on mine (9 LEDs per zone), it might be a mute point as I will look into upgrading soon, but considering it took me a full year to get this one ready, it never hurts to keep both options open

If you have the money and like the effect you got now, i would highly recommend to upgrade to something better, like @HomeYs system. You then can still decide which software to use.

 

[RoChess]

If you have the money and like the effect you got now, i would highly recommend to upgrade to something better, like @HomeYs system. You then can still decide which software to use.

I am still impressed and good to go with the current system. A system alike to @HomeY's is already added to my wishlist though, but like to get at least some value out of the one I got now, and decide what to do with it after it gets replaced.

I noticed they now have LED strips with a higher density as well then 60 LEDs/meter, such as: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121321469158 with 144 LEDs/meter. Is there a limit on those Arduinos? My 55" Samsung is 125 x 72cm, so 394cm total, allowing for 4x 1meter strips to work out perfect. That would mean 576 individual zones then. Do you know of any limits at hardware or software level?

 

[Lightning303]

Atmowin supports up to 256 channels. No idea about AmbiBox. I'm also not sure about how many leds are supported by the hardware. Have a look at the fastled library for arduino.
I however wrote a bit in another thread about the question if that many leds make sense. Keep in mind this ist based on current AtmoWin numbers.
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/index.php?posts/1084581

 

[RoChess]

60 LEDs per meter will add up to 240 LEDs then. This BlackFriday I will be on the lookout for a Samsung 65" or larger TVs if they come down below or near $1k, so will just be patient till then. Five months will be over in no time, and gives me time to tweak around with the 10 zone LightPack.

 

[HomeY]

Do you know of any limits at hardware or software level?

The more LEDs you have, the better the PSU should be. Keep in mind that a single LED will consume about 20mAh PER color, so a 1 meter strip with 144 LEDs RGB, can consume up to 8 Amps. And for sure you'll have to power every strip individually.

I think 144 LEDs/meter is overkill to be honest. You don't need that many LEDs/meter for a good effect, so better save out on the money.

 

[RoChess]

Do you know of any limits at hardware or software level?

The more LEDs you have, the better the PSU should be. Keep in mind that a single LED will consume about 20mAh PER color, so a 1 meter strip with 144 LEDs RGB, can consume up to 8 Amps. And for sure you'll have to power every strip individually.

I think 144 LEDs/meter is overkill to be honest. You don't need that many LEDs/meter for a good effect, so better save out on the money.

Your math is a little bit off, but yes I was going to use something like: http://www.dx.com/p/y-5-20-5v-20a-100w-led-switch-power-supply-adapter-silver-272594 and run additional bypass leads as the voltage driver on the LED strip will probably start giving light itself if you push 3 Amps through it The specs on the 5050 SMD LEDs are 3x 100mA, but they are all driven via an IC, so consumption limitation effects could be done on the entire strip. The LEDs could be running at say 100Hz, so that only a fraction of the current is required to make entire strip light up. Sometimes practical tests are still the best for that, so you would have to run an Amp meter in series with yours and run a max-usage test with entire strip light up on white color (all 3 RGB colors are active then).

 

[azzuro]

3cm between leds, is already an good result ( 30leds/meter), but like Homey setup 1.6cm between (60leds/m) is really very good. depend on the depth between you and your screen.