The backs and walls of many Twitch and YouTube streamers are decorated with the unmistakable Nanoleaf panelsbut the manufacturer wanted to go one step further in its desire to illuminate as much as possible in color, and now it has decided to bet on the contextual lighting of Smart TVs with its New Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror Camera Kit.
Lights to match your screen
That game of lights invented by Philips with which to accompany the television image caught on very well among users. The company’s Ambilight system has been very successful among the brand’s Smart TV models and as a smart complement to the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, and Ambilight’s competitors were not long in coming.
During all this time we have seen many solutions (including some created with Raspberry Pi), but the one that has come closest to the Philips solution is that of goveewhich with an external camera is responsible for seeing what is appearing on the screen to send the corresponding color code to an LED strip.
Well, that’s just what it presents Nanoleaf, a camera that you can place on or under the TV and that will recognize the image on the screen to send specific color commands to an LED strip of the brand itself. The peculiarity is that the system is also compatible with the light panels that the brand has in its catalogue, so instead of offering a rear light, we could also create decorations on the wall that light up to match the image of the screen.
Why do you need a camera?
Capturing the image from the TV is not easy, since it is not enough to connect an HDMI port and capture what is happening. At the hardware level, specific chips are needed that are compatible with the HDCP standard, and that makes the products more expensive, which is why an external camera is used to avoid having to intercept the HDMI signal.
On the other hand, if we want to enjoy this play of lights while watching TV, the camera solution will be the only way to achieve it, since through HDMI we will not be able to have a copy of the image that arrives through the antenna cable. .
two sizes available
The Nanoleaf 4D kit comes in two available sizes, one with an LED strip for Smart TVs between 55 and 65 inches, and another with an LED strip for TVs between 65 and 85 inches. They will arrive in the second quarter of 2023, but unfortunately for now there are no final prices for the packs, so we will have to keep waiting until we find out how much we will have to pay to give our TV a touch of color.
