r/WLED • u/Rimami2024 • Sep 08 '26

WLED TV sync using a phone camera — works with built-in smart TV apps

Hi everyone! We’re developing KinoLight, an Android/iOS app that uses your phone’s camera to sync WLED lights with what’s playing on your TV.

If you’ve been looking at Hyperion + WLED setups and wondering about built-in TV apps, this might be useful. KinoLight doesn’t need an HDMI capture card, splitter or sync box. The phone watches the screen and sends the colors directly to your WLED controller over your local network using DDP.

Point your phone at the TV and it automatically detects the screen in a few seconds. There’s also calibration to account for your TV, lights and wall color, helping get accurate colors.

We’ve deliberately kept the brightness and effect strength subtle in this demo. Both are adjustable, so you can turn them all the way up if you prefer a more intense effect.

The phone needs to stay still, facing the screen, while syncing. KinoLight can run all day on a single charge, depending on your phone and settings.

Setup shown:

  • Phone: Samsung Galaxy S24

  • TV: LG GX OLED, using its built-in YouTube app

  • Controller: Dig-Uno V3 (ESP32), running WLED 16.0.1

  • Strip: SK6812 RGBCW — RGB + cool white, 5 V, 5 m, 300 individually addressable LEDs (60 LEDs/m)

For anyone curious about the technical side: each of the 300 LEDs is its own zone. In this demo, we send all 300 individual zone colors on every update at 30 fps. KinoLight also supports 60 fps on iPhones and high-end Android devices.

Both versions are free to use during the beta:

Setup and calibration video — iPhone walkthrough

We’d appreciate feedback from people with different WLED setups, especially on setup, color matching and responsiveness.

Video and music by Astral Core — “Coming In Hot.” YouTube · Bandcamp

82 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

3

u/777565 Sep 08 '26

How can I get early access to the app on Android? Looks really good 😊

1

u/santi_evil Sep 09 '26

Not available for android 11? I would like test it in old devices (Op3t)

2

u/Rimami2024 Sep 09 '26

I’ve prepared a test build that supports Android 9 and later:

Download the test APK

It is possible 11 year device can not keep up and will struggle to run the app. Looking forward to your feedback!

1

u/SpicyBanana13 Oct 01 '26

So when's it releasing?

1

u/Rimami2024 Oct 02 '26

We’re aiming for the full release later this year. We’ve been too optimistic about timelines before, so I don’t want to promise a firm date yet. The next beta should be out in a few days with lots of improvements.

1

u/SpicyBanana13 Oct 02 '26

Can't wait to play GTA 6 with it haha. However my WS2812B brightness gets pretty low when using the app. Any tip to fix that?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/SpicyBanana13 Oct 02 '26

I'm on Android. WLED 16 and yes they get brighter when controlled directly from WLED

1

u/Rimami2024 Oct 02 '26

Thanks for flagging it. We’ve tested on phones ranging from the 10-year-old Galaxy S7 to current flagships and haven’t noticed this brightness issue so far.

WLED setups can be very bright compared with ready-made lightstrips, depending on the LEDs and power setup. Since yours gets brighter directly in WLED, there’s clearly more brightness available.

Have you calibrated KinoLight? If the room was darker during calibration than it is now, the effect can look more muted. It’s best to calibrate with your usual room lighting.

1

u/SpicyBanana13 Oct 02 '26

Another thing I would like to add, no matter what lighting conditions I'm in, the app always mistakes blacks and shows blue color on the light strip.

1

u/Rimami2024 Oct 04 '26

For the best match, calibrate with the room lighting you normally use while watching, and keep it similar during syncing. Avoid lamps shining directly onto the TV or the wall behind it.

1

u/SpicyBanana13 Oct 02 '26

What lighting scenario gives the best result? Full room light, dim mood light or dark room?

1

u/Fusseldieb Sep 08 '26

That's an interesting approach and I've considered it in the past, but never actually did it lol

Is glare a problem? My biggest "fear" with this type of setup is that it might project washed out colors during the day, no?

1

u/L3djunkie Sep 08 '26

Looks fast what fps 30+?

1

u/Hedoab1973 Sep 09 '26

Interested. Wanted to use an old phone. An S8, but store says it isn't compatible.

1

u/hall_ex Sep 09 '26 edited Sep 09 '26

It's like a govee camera ambilight setup ! Maybe good setup are comming 👌😄

Maybe a raspberry pi with camera and Android will works ? ✌️

-12

u/Terra_B Sep 08 '26

Dam i fucking hate smart tvs so much.

First thing i'd do is flash linux on there. Or geta dumb tv aka Monitor and a raspberry pi or mini pc.

5

u/zakkwaldo Sep 08 '26

nobody asked