Build A Colour-Aware Backlight For Your HDTV Setup

If you're looking to add some polish to your home theatre setup, this guide to creating a DIY clone of the Philips Ambilight technology will give your videos a backlight that changes colours to match the on-screen action.

If you're unfamiliar with the Ambilight technology, it's a backlight system in some Philips televisions where the colour of the screen is transmitted to LEDs behind the television set, so that the background lighting matches the colour on the screen. Fans of the technology claim it reduces eyes strain and enhanced the theatre experience.

DIYer Fun3 wanted to recreate the effect on his television. His solution was to wire an Arduino to a series of LED strips and and control the colour by a USB cable hooked up to his HTPC. Check out the video below to see it in action.

Check out his site for schematics, code, and a ton of tips and tricks for calibrating your LEDs to your home theatre. If you've experimented with back lighting your home theatre — colour changing or otherwise — let's hear about it in the comments.

Build an AtmoLight Clone [via Hack a Day]