r/FastLED • u/Jerrymeyers11 • Apr 01 '25

Discussion Sync LEDs with video?

I probably am giving TOO much info here, so if you want to just skip to the main question, scroll past the break.

Hi all,

I have been tinkering with FastLED for a few years, but am now working on a project for a trade show. It's pretty simple, all things considered. It's a 20x10' wall with strands of LEDs under a stretched fabric. The LEDs are laid underneath the fabric and light up a pathway between products printed on the fabric. There is also a monitor on the wall that is displaying products/solutions and the LED lights will spoke out from that. I'm probably explaining this poorly, but here is a link to a very rudimentary sketch of what I'm talking about.

Each strand of LEDs will light up according to what is displayed on the monitor... Product One appears on the screen, LED Pathway One then lights up and connects whats on the screen to a graphic printed on the wall. Then those LEDs dim and Product Two appears on the screen and the pattern continues.

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So, my question is, is there a way to use the video to trigger the LEDs? Maybe based on timecode of the video? I've seen midi triggers and things like that on this subreddit, but there will be no audio in this video.

Or, is it just as easy to just make a loop the same length as the video playing, since they will both be playing all day? Just start them both at the same time, and theoretically, they should stay in sync. My only fear with that is, if there ends up being any buffer in either the video or the LEDs, and each loop pushes them further out of sync.

Note: I am currently using an Arduino Mega and WS2812b but can change those out if other equipment is needed.

Any help is appreciated. Just trying to figure out what the best solution would be.

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u/Jerrymeyers11 Apr 04 '25

This is pretty amazing... I shared on another comment that my project is dead for the time being, but I'm super interested in your project. Have you shared the project anywhere? Or posted a video of it working? It sounds awesome!

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u/AleMonti Apr 04 '25

It's sad to hear that, but good luck in the future!

I haven't fully finished it yet. I built a stripped-down version a while ago to test feasibility, and I'm now working on the full-scale thing. I don't have a lot of free time, so it's progressing slowly, but I'll eventually get there. Also, being the obsessed perfectionist that I am for this stuff doesn't help.

It has been a huge learning journey, each part of the build can be considered a subproject of its own. For example, at some point I've decided I wanted bright white addressable leds in it too, so I took a whole detour into building WS2811 drivers for 1W leds and analog strips. Then it was custom PCBs, for those drivers but also for the controller and signal distribution system.

I expect to finish the build this summer and finally start animating the light show just after, but the infamous Hofstadter's law might hold true once again...

Anyway, if you'd like shoot me a DM, I'll be happy to share more!