- November 12, 2010
- 11
- 4
- Home Country
- United States of America
So a few years ago, I helped a friend research and complete an Ambilight system for his theater. Unfortunately, at that time there was no support for the project via Media Portal (he had to use Media Player Classic) for his lights to work. Due to this, I really never pursued this for my system.
However, now that I see that Media Portal somewhat has support for this (via AtmoWin and AtmoLight), I am going to jump into this and try to do a project for my system.
Unfortunately, I have some confusion on what I can buy that will work and what will not work.
First, let me state what my setup will be
Stand Alone HTPC running Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit and Media Portal 1.11 (maybe 1.12 Pre.. will have to check when I get home). I only use Media Portal for Movies and I store the Blu-Rays in mkv format that I run right from Media Portal with Moving Pictures. (no calling out PowerDVD or anything like that)
So, that being said, here are my questions
1. Should I have any problems with MP + AtmoWin + AtmoLight on Win7 if I am pushing 100-150 Lights? I read on here about Windows 8 being better, but I really really do not want to install that piece of garbage on my HTPC. However, obviously the quality of the movie playback is most important
2. The reason I am not sure of how many lights I will be using is because at the moment I am not sure if I am going to use a String of lights or Strips of lights. Also in the future I may be moving this setup from my 60" tv up to the 80" tv. That being said, here are the lights that I am looking at. (Will all of these work? I question because I know that WS2801 is mentioned a lot and not all of these are WS2801... I am not sure how important that is)
I would buy 2 of these
http://www.ledlightinghut.com/12mm-ws2801-led-pixels-dc5v-input-ip68-50pcs-a-string.html
or 5 Meters of these
http://www.ledlightinghut.com/lpd8806-digital-led-strip.html
or 5 Meters of these
http://www.ledlightinghut.com/ws2801ic-digital-rgb-led-strip.html
Another thing to think about is if I move up to the bigger TV later, I would have to add another meter of LED strip, but I could just spread out the string a bit more without having to buy more. The only thing I do not like about the strings is how much harder it is to mount them compared to the strips.
3. Arduino or Sedu controller - I know he used an Arduino controller, but I read that a Sedu controller is made specifically for this type of project. Any cons to using a Sedu?
I apologize for the newbie questions but the last thing I want to do is to spend $100+ on LEDs only to find out that I bought the wrong thing or that this will not work well on my system as I plan to run it. I also know that a lot of you have gone through the ups and downs of a project and may have some good advice from your own experience.
Thank you very much in advance
However, now that I see that Media Portal somewhat has support for this (via AtmoWin and AtmoLight), I am going to jump into this and try to do a project for my system.
Unfortunately, I have some confusion on what I can buy that will work and what will not work.
First, let me state what my setup will be
Stand Alone HTPC running Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit and Media Portal 1.11 (maybe 1.12 Pre.. will have to check when I get home). I only use Media Portal for Movies and I store the Blu-Rays in mkv format that I run right from Media Portal with Moving Pictures. (no calling out PowerDVD or anything like that)
So, that being said, here are my questions
1. Should I have any problems with MP + AtmoWin + AtmoLight on Win7 if I am pushing 100-150 Lights? I read on here about Windows 8 being better, but I really really do not want to install that piece of garbage on my HTPC. However, obviously the quality of the movie playback is most important
2. The reason I am not sure of how many lights I will be using is because at the moment I am not sure if I am going to use a String of lights or Strips of lights. Also in the future I may be moving this setup from my 60" tv up to the 80" tv. That being said, here are the lights that I am looking at. (Will all of these work? I question because I know that WS2801 is mentioned a lot and not all of these are WS2801... I am not sure how important that is)
I would buy 2 of these
http://www.ledlightinghut.com/12mm-ws2801-led-pixels-dc5v-input-ip68-50pcs-a-string.html
or 5 Meters of these
http://www.ledlightinghut.com/lpd8806-digital-led-strip.html
or 5 Meters of these
http://www.ledlightinghut.com/ws2801ic-digital-rgb-led-strip.html
Another thing to think about is if I move up to the bigger TV later, I would have to add another meter of LED strip, but I could just spread out the string a bit more without having to buy more. The only thing I do not like about the strings is how much harder it is to mount them compared to the strips.
3. Arduino or Sedu controller - I know he used an Arduino controller, but I read that a Sedu controller is made specifically for this type of project. Any cons to using a Sedu?
I apologize for the newbie questions but the last thing I want to do is to spend $100+ on LEDs only to find out that I bought the wrong thing or that this will not work well on my system as I plan to run it. I also know that a lot of you have gone through the ups and downs of a project and may have some good advice from your own experience.
Thank you very much in advance
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