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New ambilight- like HDMI 2.1 sync-box (and lights) : Lytmi fantasy 3

nikos

Member
I do this sometimes with Philips Hue, but I have ambient lights above/behind me rather than behind the display. I also keep it subtle. I think I'd find lights around the display too distracting.
 

CamHostage

Member
I think the selling point of these ambilight setups is that it extends your TV immersion size at a relatively low cost. If you're going to have 3 short throw projectors behind a TV panel you might as well have a single 8K+ projector using your whole wall.

Oh, sorry, I edited some stuff out because I was getting long-winded, but I meant specifically a very low-resolution version of short-throw only for ambient projection purposes. Like sub-HD image quality (ideally from a dedicated feed, so a second stream of lighting data parallel to the normal 4K stream), just for room effects. This would be a projector meant specifically to do like the snowflake effects or gunshot hits of Illumiroom, maybe the wireframe area-extension effect to some degree, as well as general chroma/luma effects on the wall. (A projector would not be as bright as LED strips, but it would be more specific, and could be paired to work in tandem with direct lighting too.)

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I was just thinking short-throw conceptually because Illumiroom has the problem of needing expensive/complicated equipment to mount on the ceiling (which not everybody can do) and also must carve out from the projection image a black space for the screen (which is hard for a projector to not create glare.) Short-throw has problems of its own (and couldn't do all the Illumiroom effects,) but it avoids some of the issues that ultimately stopped MS or Razer from continuing the concept. In my own setup, I could stick something behind the screen and allow it to project all across the wall. For people with a TV mounted or near the wall, it wouldn't work the same, but that's still an easier box to try to find a place for than a full-scale rear-mounted projector, if it could ever work.

(BTW, when I say short-throw, I really mean the versions of ultra-short-throw that project an image vertical off a mirror from a set-top box. These types of projectors existed when MS was playing with Illumiroom, but they've really boomed since then with laser projectors and other advancements. Of course, UST and laser projection means an even more expensive device than the thing I flippantly mentioned could be cool, but and ambience could be a use case leading to affordable products in that device category. Philips has the PicoPix/GoPix portable projectors in the $100-150 range, which is sort of the res/lumen rating I was thinking as a consumer product, if they could make a vertical one and have it be worth owning. Ain't going to happen, most likely, but that's the tech I was thinking of.)

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I bought a Lifx LED strip and used a free tool that syncs it with your desktop:


Then bought a cheap hdmi usb capture device for the AV receivers' second output, works perfectly to when I use the consoles and devices.

It's honestly the most amazing thing I've added to the setup, way more impressive than the surround sound imo
 
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Well, here it is (almost) :
Philips Hue sync-box HDMI 2.1

...not that it matters since it'll cost an arm and a leg

See, this is what i don't get, Philips could make a killing by selling these at a lower price point, i mean, just take a look at Govee, their whole business is based around ambient lighting, can't they see that ? Are they that tone-deaf ?
Selling Ambilight kits (Hue sync-box, bridge etc) to their niche clientele at those exorbitant prices must not be doing them any favours, why not trying to eliminate the competition by offering their products at normal prices ? This shit is way, way, waaay overpriced as it is...
 
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K2D

Banned
I had ambilight on my TV for a couple of years, and I miss it now.

Have a 3.party light pack I payed around $50 for I might install.

Said before I would rather have another 10 inches than the back light, but these days, I would definetly go for back light. So much better/easier on the eyes.
 

Laieon

Member
Nope. Looks worse and causes increased eye strain, even with fancy little gimmicks like these "Ambilights".

It's not a gimmick though; reducing contrast between the screen and the background (the wall, etc...) works.

 
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Laieon

Member
Did you read this? It helps reduce eyestrain, but it still causes more eyestrain than in a well lit room during the day. Its literally proving my point correct.

Yes, but I was never arguing about eyestrain anyway. I agree that watching or reading something in a dark room causes eye strain, obviously, but I don't agree that watching something in a light room looks better than in a dark room and because of that, I understand the benefits of these kinds of lights; it's not going to be healthy for my eyes as watching something in a dark room, but it's going to be healthier than not having any contrast at all.

Watching something, even on an OLED, in a lightroom is not going to be as good as watching something in a dark room, but if you're choosing to do so for the betterment of your health than that's understandable.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Nope. Looks worse and causes increased eye strain, even with fancy little gimmicks like these "Ambilights".
Wrong. I bet you don't have this and never have, so you speak out of ignorance.
And I have it on an oled.

That said, depending on the content, I will watch sometimes with lights on, half on, 20%, or none. For instance basketball, lights on for the most part, but watching a dark show like the madelorian definately better lights out with the led behind which helps with eyestrain and enhances immersion.
 
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Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Wrong. I bet you don't have this and never have, so you speak out of ignorance.
And I have it on an oled.

That said, depending on the content, I will watch sometimes with lights on, half on, 20%, or none. For instance basketball, lights on for the most part, but watching a dark show like the madelorian definately better lights out with the led behind which helps with eyestrain and enhances immersion.

I had Hue lighting before I sold it. No one has this product though as it hasn't been released yet (or only just released). So please, spare me your sanctimonious "ignorant" babble.
 

dorkimoe

Member
Well, here it is (almost) :
Philips Hue sync-box HDMI 2.1

...not that it matters since it'll cost an arm and a leg

See, this is what i don't get, Philips could make a killing by selling these at a lower price point, i mean, just take a look at Govee, their whole business is based around ambient lighting, can't they see that ? Are they that tone-deaf ?
Selling Ambilight kits (Hue sync-box, bridge etc) to their niche clientele at those exorbitant prices must not be doing them any favours, why not trying to eliminate the competition by offering their products at normal prices ? This shit is way, way, waaay overpriced as it is...
Oh very cool. Ill be waiting for this most likely then. Question though. Where would I put this in my setup? I have all my devices going into receiver, then receiver into tv (earc) .
 

cblan1224

Neo Member
Nope. Looks worse and causes increased eye strain, even with fancy little gimmicks like these "Ambilights".
This is funny. Viewing at night is 100% a better picture. This is not subjective, so its not worth arguing. It does increase eye strain, because the perceived brightness, and contrast, are both higher(hence...why videophiles watch oleds in the dark..).

I have a medialight mk2 which has a d65 white point and significantly reduces(removes) eye strain. I can see why people like the ambilight, and I could likely get it working with my pc software. Aquasuite can match what's on my screen to the lights in my pc, so I'm sure I could extend it to the wall. But until there is a simple solution that will pass 444 and vrr, I will just keep my d65

Also, I wish hdmi forum would stop letting people call things hdmi 2.1. If it doesn't pass VRR, then there is absolutely no point.
 

Gaelyon

Gold Member
I have an Ambilight Philips Oled TV since '19 and it's fantastic due to the dynamic lighting that expand the screen colors on your back wall in real time. I can't consider not using Ambilight now.
And yes, watching in darkness does increase eyestrain but the image quality is so much better. I usually play with either no light or a dim one for long session.
 

cblan1224

Neo Member
So it‘s without VRR support and ALLM doesn‘t work properly too. Guess I‘ll pass.
Right. Allm is huge. This way I can have hdr10 set to my calibrated cinema mode for everything plugged into my processor, but then when my pc turns on it switches to hdr10-game. To do this manually every time would be the most annoying thing. Idk if anyone has tried gaming on cinema mode, but its like..you move the stick and the character moves a couple seconds later
 
Right. Allm is huge. This way I can have hdr10 set to my calibrated cinema mode for everything plugged into my processor, but then when my pc turns on it switches to hdr10-game. To do this manually every time would be the most annoying thing. Idk if anyone has tried gaming on cinema mode, but its like..you move the stick and the character moves a couple seconds later
You could however buy a 2.1 splitter, one goes in the lytmi box, one goes directly to the TV, but that seems like a horrible solution with all the cable management, multiple consoles in use and waste of money for a feature that‘s supposed to be there if the box were just a little bit better. I‘d rather just wait a year or two before buying in the ambilight aftermarket solutions.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Is there any alternatives that doesn't require pass-throughs or sticking an ugly camera on your TV.

Because my smart TV is used 99% of the time to stream the onboard apps netflix/plex/Disney etc.
 
Is there any alternatives that doesn't require pass-throughs or sticking an ugly camera on your TV.

Because my smart TV is used 99% of the time to stream the onboard apps netflix/plex/Disney etc.

Buying a Philips TV friend - and I'm not trying to be sarcastic either, it's the only "plug and play" solution that...just works with zero hassle.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Buying a Philips TV friend - and I'm not trying to be sarcastic either, it's the only "plug and play" solution that...just works with zero hassle.
It's rather unfortunate but here's to hoping it's tech that gets more regularly adopted.

All these brands were quick to jump on 3D back in the day and that was hot shit.

I see it happening eventually though
 


Man, (native) Ambilight is really something else...the colour representation and accuracy is just...chef's kiss.

In other news : I really needed/wanted some lights behind my 55'' C2 and since the Lytmi fntasy 3 won't do VRR, and since most led strips solutions are a hassle to put on I just decided to get the Govee flow pro lightbars + camera.
Now, the bars are pretty short for a 55 inch so I already knew what I was getting but...yeah the whole system being dependent on a camera is just limiting.
I recalibrated about 10 times , fiddled with the saturation, white balance , brightness etc and still some colours don't/won't match, light pink /orange hues get picked up us "purple" and the colour sync isn't (obviously) the best even when you put it in game mode.
For 60 euros I can't really complain since at the time i bought these from Amazon they were pretty much the same price as some generic Chinese RGB IC lamps/bars with no screen sync but at the same time, these really aren't a (good) substitute for proper Ambilight.

Cheers
 
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Just found out that there is a HUE sync TV app that is exclusive to 2022+ Samsung TVs! It works with all content on screen and does not appear to have any drawbacks of camera systems.

I was thinking about buying a Samsung QN95C this year but now I know this app exists I'm getting it for sure.
 
Just found out that there is a HUE sync TV app that is exclusive to 2022+ Samsung TVs! It works with all content on screen and does not appear to have any drawbacks of camera systems.

I was thinking about buying a Samsung QN95C this year but now I know this app exists I'm getting it for sure.

The tv app costs...130 eurodollars - half the price of the hue sync box 😁

It's just Philips being Philips.
 

KaiserBecks

Member
If this doesn't support VRR then it's just misleading as hell. Who came up with this hdmi 2.1 "no need to certify features, just call it 2.1 it's fine" bullshit. What's the point of having a standard without a standard? Philips could just re-release their hue box and call it 2.1, same thing. What a disappointment.
 

YCoCg

Member
Who came up with this hdmi 2.1 "no need to certify features, just call it 2.1 it's fine" bullshit. What's the point of having a standard without a standard? Philips could just re-release their hue box and call it 2.1, same thing. What a disappointment.
The HDMI commission since MediaTek are lagging behind on their chipsets and can't keep up with standards, even now it's only the best of the best that get the actual 4x Full Bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, other TV's will barely have 2 with the rest dropping down to HDMI 2.0 (sorry, HDMI 2.1 with less features :messenger_unamused:)
 

Laieon

Member
Mine arrived a couple days ago and was able to get around to installing it today. I'm absolutely in love with it. A friend of mine has an older version of Phillips Hue and I think this is way more responsive. I was thinking about picking up the Govee light with the weird camera thing and I'm glad I waited.
 

mitchman

Gold Member
The HDMI commission since MediaTek are lagging behind on their chipsets and can't keep up with standards, even now it's only the best of the best that get the actual 4x Full Bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, other TV's will barely have 2 with the rest dropping down to HDMI 2.0 (sorry, HDMI 2.1 with less features :messenger_unamused:)
Hardly only the "best of the best" get full HDMI 2.1 on 4 ports. My old LG OLED B9 supports full bandwidth and all 2.1 features, and this is a TV from 2019/2020 or so. But I guess you mean pretty much all 4k Samsung and LG TVs from the last few years.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Hardly only the "best of the best" get full HDMI 2.1 on 4 ports. My old LG OLED B9 supports full bandwidth and all 2.1 features, and this is a TV from 2019/2020 or so. But I guess you mean pretty much all 4k Samsung and LG TVs from the last few years.
I think you can add most of sony's too.
 
Mine arrived a couple days ago and was able to get around to installing it today. I'm absolutely in love with it. A friend of mine has an older version of Phillips Hue and I think this is way more responsive. I was thinking about picking up the Govee light with the weird camera thing and I'm glad I waited.

Nice 👍
Could you post some impressions after you finish setting it up ?
Where did you get it from and for how much ? How much did you have to wait ?
Also, what about the no VRR restriction ?

Cheers
 
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mitchman

Gold Member
I think you can add most of sony's too.
The X90J has 2 HDMI 2.1 ports, of which one is an eARC port so useless if you want to run sound to a receiver or something. Sony uses the same mediatek SoC, so they have the same restrictions as other manufacturers (except for Samsung and LG which are using their own SoC). I didn't check other TVs as this one is their high end OLED tv.
 
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The only review that matters (Mr Tek) :



Unfortunately, for as good as it works/looks, the no VRR thing is a big bummer and judging by some comments in the video, it's not something that could be upgraded via FW update since it's apparently a hardware limitation, way to shoot themselves in the foot ffs, it's HDMI 2.1 but with no VRR ? Why ?

I'll be waiting on a hardware revision lads
 

AJUMP23

Gold Member
I have the one that uses the camera in the front. And it is pretty good with Zelda and other games I play. I think it adds some emersion when I use it. There is some color matching at times reds and blues and greens are great. But yellows and some other colors can be missed.
 

Not the best examples Rocco but native Philips Ambilight is sooooo good man.

If it wasn't for the absolutely stupid pricing of the Philips miniled TVs (PML series) I'd have gotten one, selling these though at OLED prices (scratch that, they're even more expensive than OLEDs) is just mind-blowingly stupid.

PS : the Philips PUS 8887 I had for 2 weeks back in December was actually nice (VA panel).
I really miss its Ambilight...
 
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