DIY questions...

[GollyJer]

I'm generally a DIY'r unless there's an off-the-shelf solution that is as good and significantly cheaper.
I rabbit-holed for the last 3 days straight on HyperHDR based Ambilight. Here's the culmination of my research and a comparison to what seems to the best off-the-shelf, Fancyleds Sync Box.

I read almost every recent Discussion and Issues here on discord. I really keyed in on what @awawa-dev has mentioned he is currently using in his setup. Although it seems he changes often. 😀

I also deep-dived on the FancyLEDs tech. Specifically the light strip.
Here's a video that shows the light strip up close and personal.
END GAME Sync Box: They FINALLY Gave us EVERYTHING!!!
And here's a video with another glowing review.
The HDMI 2.1 Sync Box that DESTROYED Govee and PHILIPS HUE Sync Box!

After getting what I think is a good undstanding of the tech required to create a DIY equivalent, here's what I have.

Questions

• Does my DIY route look correct? Am I missing anything?
• What are the possible benefits of DIY over Fancy?
  With the comparison as is, the best thing I can think of is the ability to choose the light strip. With that in mind, the only upgrades I can think of are higher density RGBW strip for more fine grained display (I've found 114/meter), or a RGBWW (both cool and white light for more color coverage) which are pretty hard to find.

Thanks for your thoughts and feedback!!
I want to be pushed towards DIY!! 😀

[AstaRom]

• I can think of are higher density RGBW strip for more fine grained display (I've found 114/meter)

There is no particular point in using a tape with a large number of diodes; 60/m is enough for everything. Anything more is an extra overpayment, especially with a large screen diagonal.

• Does my DIY route look correct?

In general, everything is correct.
Just don’t necessarily buy an RPi with 4Gb of memory; the option with 2Gb is enough with a margin.

In this case, it is up to you to decide whether to overpay or not. Perhaps in the future you will want to use it for other purposes (install the Home Assistant server) 🙂

[leon61ukr]

In my opinion, you can safely go for the cheapest option for your primary source. I have a PC and a PS4, but I'll only use it for watching movies and mirroring my PC to the TV via HDMI. And with 96 pixels per meter, I don’t see the point in overpaying.
The price is $145, with a $5 discount using the promo code "GEEKSTREET".