OK, it's a bit garish I know. But I'm sure it could be toned down a bit. Only works on special Philips TV's right now but they are about to bring out a box which will allow 4 hdmi inputs (for TV, games machines etc) and will link to the Hue hub. Out on the 15th October.
Cool!
And isn't that box like $$$$
230 bucks.
Take a look at this. Much cheaper. I just finished mine about a month ago and it is really amazing.
At the risk of getting spanked for being lazy (I didn't read the link in depth yet) - I have quick question:
Am I correct in assuming that Hyperion Ambilight (like the Philips Hue Play) requires an external HDMI source for the TV? Meaning that an external Roku box is fed via the RPi to an HDMI input, but it wouldn't work with a TV that has a built-in Roku?
Thanks
That is correct. My ambilight controller is the same RPi 3B+ that runs kodi which is the only thing i use to watch TV anymore. So, it works for me. I didn't go through the effort to create an HDMI capture device.
I take one look at that page and know its not for me 
The whole setup cost me less than $100. Can't get genuine Phillips Ambilight for anywhere near that. 
So true. Man, I really respect what you and others can do. I just know I will get sucked into a whole heap of trouble and time and frustration if I try that approach, as I did with Home Assistant when Stringify shut down. I just can't bear that all over again. Also, I'm trying to set up a lower maintenance system, because I want to put it into multiple properties over time and already my experience with Raspberry Pi vs Hue tells me they are worlds apart (of course, and so is the price, so trust me I do get it).
Thanks for the advice. It's really appreciated. I wasn't even aware of another approach so hopefully this thread will be of interest to others also. I will post my experiences once I have it set up. Right now the Hue device is on pre-order only and I live overseas so it'll probably be a while before I can get my sticky fingers on one 
Download the Hubitat app
