Ambient lighting -LED strips for TV

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Dial111

978 posts

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#242147 13-Oct-2018 09:15

Howdy GZ

So we recently completed a new build and for the past 2 weeks we have been settling in and unpacking and now that’s out of the way it’s time to put some personal touches on the house.
First thing I did was add a recessed box behind the tv for power, Ethernet, hdmi, coaxial etc, mounted the tv with a swivel bracket and cable management to hide all the wires, so far so good.

But it’s not enough, I want to add some ambient lighting behind the tv to really make it pop, I’m not talking about color adjustable LED strips via an app or whatever I’m wanting to use something like a Dreamscreen 4K kit from https://www.dreamscreentv.com/

Has anyone had any experience with these kits and can give some feedback on them? Any cons or compatibility issues I may run into. These kits are not cheap I’m looking at the $249 USD kit and I’d rather have my i’s and T’s dotted and crossed before diving in.

Thoughts?
TIA

timmmay

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#2107163 13-Oct-2018 09:44

Light behind the TV would reduce contrast and make it harder on the eyes wouldn't it?

Dingbatt

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#2107171 13-Oct-2018 10:01

It's interesting that the video you linked is for an OLED TV. And that the surround lighting adds ambience when listening to music. But I get the most satisfaction from sitting in a completely dark room watching Dolby Vision video on my OLED. I guess in your usage case you would just turn the lighting off to achieve that effect.
Philips Hue do have a party mode on their lighting, but that is synched to the audio not the video. Dreamscreen seems more akin to the Philips Ambi-light system on their LCDs from 10 years ago (approx). Most of the stuff I read from owners of Ambi-light is it was a novelty for a start, but they eventually just turned it off.
I would be interested to know how the processor on a third party controller gets its information to be able to match the screen colours.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

everettpsycho

614 posts

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#2107448 13-Oct-2018 21:18

I always like the idea but never actually followed through with it. Now I have a smart TV it seems a pain to go back to using another device for streaming.

However I'm considering some bog standard bias lighting to improve our TV watching. Sure it won't be matching the TV but o did used to really like it when I did have a basic set up a few years back. This is a fairly interesting read about it:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/bias-lighting-for-tv/

neb

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#2107477 13-Oct-2018 22:37

Dial111: Has anyone had any experience with these kits and can give some feedback on them? Any cons or compatibility issues I may run into. These kits are not cheap I’m looking at the $249 USD kit and I’d rather have my i’s and T’s dotted and crossed before diving in.

No direct experience, but a few years ago during the brief fad where manufacturers were adding these to TVs a gadget-freak friend of mine got one of the TVs that did it. After a week he returned it, seems it was one of those things that looked like a good idea in theory and in demos but fell down in practice. You may want to see if you can borrow one to try out for awhile...

chimera

506 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2109150 16-Oct-2018 22:14

Dial111: Howdy GZ

So we recently completed a new build and for the past 2 weeks we have been settling in and unpacking and now that’s out of the way it’s time to put some personal touches on the house.
First thing I did was add a recessed box behind the tv for power, Ethernet, hdmi, coaxial etc, mounted the tv with a swivel bracket and cable management to hide all the wires, so far so good.

But it’s not enough, I want to add some ambient lighting behind the tv to really make it pop, I’m not talking about color adjustable LED strips via an app or whatever I’m wanting to use something like a Dreamscreen 4K kit from https://www.dreamscreentv.com/

Has anyone had any experience with these kits and can give some feedback on them? Any cons or compatibility issues I may run into. These kits are not cheap I’m looking at the $249 USD kit and I’d rather have my i’s and T’s dotted and crossed before diving in.

Thoughts?
TIA

I have a Dreamscreen, bought when they were on kickstarter. They certainly make the movie watching experience completely different!

We used to have the TV mounted on a 45 degree angle to the corner and recently moved to being mounted to the wall. The difference to the effectiveness of the Dreamscreen, quite clearly, is significant. I've owned it for so long, and now am only coming to using it to its full potential. Understand they are expensive, but they are well cool.

There are plenty of DIY types on the Internet, as I almost built one until I saw the Dreamscreen selling cheap when it was on kickstarter (well, cheaper than I could build it)

If you can fork out the cost, I'd highly recommend! All I need to do now is get a newer TV without the massive black border around it.

Just did a ~1 minute video for you with an RGB test pattern... coz the one they did above sux :-) Don't mind the techno... sounded better than me breathing into the iPhone lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBFXxPD9Nrw

Blanch

254 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2109161 16-Oct-2018 22:36

I was going to suggest Hue Entertainment https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=GzgwqVHuZ44

but your DreamScreen demo was better than expected

chimera

506 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2109163 16-Oct-2018 22:44

Blanch:

I was going to suggest Hue Entertainment https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=GzgwqVHuZ44

but your DreamScreen demo was better than expected

I started making another video exactly the same as above but with Dreamscreen off, to show the difference.

But it was so s**t I gave up :-)

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Dial111

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#2109164 16-Oct-2018 22:49

My worry initially was that it would end up being a gimmick but the more I watch the demos and thanks @chimera btw, the more I think it would enhance my experience.

I’ve set my lounge up in such a way I’m sitting at the optimal distance for a 65” 4K tv to get the full field of view with a decent HT system setup for atmos and the Dreamscreen would be the icing on the cake.

Have you encountered any setbacks or cons with it?

gehenna

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#2109165 16-Oct-2018 22:55

My concern would be hdcp thinking this is trying to rip the source video.

Blanch

254 posts

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#2109167 16-Oct-2018 22:59

I still need to have a play with the Hue Entertainment, the kids are always keen for flashing leds with Fortnite

we normally watch movies with a projector so already have heaps of light spill ;)

chimera

506 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2109170 16-Oct-2018 23:09

Dial111: Have you encountered any setbacks or cons with it?

Initial set back was powering it. I wanted it to power on when the TV powered on and it has the USB option to do this, but I couldn't get it going for months and gave up. In the end, I stumbled across the problem by accident - and it was not a fault of the Dreamscreen (DS), but a setting on the TV - enabling game mode or something from memory, so sorting that the DS powers on with the TV now. The other downside was the bluetooth didn't have the greatest range (not that they do anyway) so the app on my iPhone to control it, had to move closer to the TV to change settings. However I just leave the DS in Video mode now. You can get an HDMI hub if you have multiple HDMI devices that you want them all to utilise the Dreamscreen, haven't bothered myself though as most stuff we watch is through Android box (Netflix, Youtube etc) Finally, some originally complained about the 3M strips that hold the LED strips to the TV, only one corner of all mine has come off, new 3M strip and problem sorted. So no major issues as such, just a couple minor annoyances.

From the app, you can turn left, right, up, down edges on or off, you can adjust brightness, set mode to video, music or ambient etc. As mentioned though, I just leave it in Video mode and never touch it now (which I prefer). Overall exceptionally happy with it! It is a lot of money, but then so are Ferrari's and people still buy those... I'd doubt you'd regret your purchase - after all, I'm guessing you spent well over $2k on your TV in the first place and likely even more on amps, set top boxes and similar appliances, so proportionally it's not moon beams for the added experience.

Dial111

978 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2109209 17-Oct-2018 07:06

I think my mind is made up, no issues to worry about by the look of it and Bluetooth has been replaced with a wifi version I believe.

Now off to see the Minister of Finance.