Ambilight Clone

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I am attempting to fit an Ambilight clone to my TV. I came into possession of a quantity of WS2812B LED strips - the high density variety: 144LEDs per metre!

The Ambilight effect is achieved by running the video on a PC; running XXXX, which in turn talks to an Arduino Uno which controls the string of 366 LEDs. The program divides the screen edge up into the number of LEDs, as arranged, and samples the colour in that area, before sending the colour data to the Uno. For decent frame rates at such high LED counts, the PC needs to be fairly decent. I am building a suitable PC into an old Sony DVD player case; details of which can be found HERE.

The LEDs and Arduino are powered from a small 5v PSU, which will be mounted to the back of the TV. In testing, the string of LEDs was only powered from the one end, causing a significant drop in brightness over the string, and also nearly melting the wires due to the excessive current draw. When the project resumes, the task will be to remount the LEDs in a better, more permanent fashion, and spread the power cables to a number of points on the string to avoid these issues.

The alternative to a PC / Arduino setup would be a DreamScreen DIY kit. this has the advantage of accepting HDMI in, allowing it to be used with almost every video source, rather than being limited to the PC only.