Ambilight (Hyperion) broken after LibreELEC Updates

wolve · July 13, 2023 at 3:12 PM

Hello @all!

I had two perfect LibreELEC rasperries for the last years running with Hyperion to mimic a ambient lighting system with LED strips attached.

Silly me didn't make a backup of the sd card (I think LibreELEC V9) before writing the newest LibreELEC V11.

Maybe I broke some wiring while removing and inserting the sd card so I followed the instructions on the wiki and rebuild all wiring for my two setups but it still doesn't work!!!

https://wiki.libreelec.tv/configuration/hyperion

For now I just wasted hours and struck with a broken system! Please help me to get my ambilight working again! Thank you @all!

wolve · July 13, 2023 at 5:16 PM

Now I found this line here in the release notes of LibreELEC V10 (I skipped this version and only read V11 notes when I did upgrade)

"Hyperion no longer works due to changes in the video pipeline. Consider hardare/external grabbers."

So it's officially broken and doesn't work without investing in new hardware? Still the wiki doesn't tell us? Fairly up to date, about ~5 month ago was the last edit, but the information I followed is completely obsolete and I just wasted hours with it.

Now - after the update - I know about the lost function and that I need to make new hardware purchase to fix the software regression

**HiassofT** · July 13, 2023 at 5:19 PM

If you came from LE9 you probably missed the LE10 release notes

LibreELEC (Matrix) 10.0.4 - LibreELEC

Quote

Hyperion no longer works due to changes in the video pipeline. Consider hardare/external grabbers.

This hasn't changed since then.

so long,

Hias

wolve · July 13, 2023 at 7:06 PM

Quote from HiassofT

If you came from LE9 you probably missed the LE10 release notes

Yes, I wrote exactly this in the very first sentence in my last post - just before you posted:

Quote from wolve

Now I found this line here in the release notes of LibreELEC V10 (I skipped this version and only read V11 notes when I did upgrade)

Quote from HiassofT

This hasn't changed since then.

Sad and bad (for me).

Worst thing about it is that the documentation/wiki doesn't say a word about it and that implies for me that it should work. Also could have been nice copy'n'pasted the sentence over to the LibreELEC V11 release notes as it is still broken. Would have saved me a half a day of work for my now half broken setup... grrrrr..

Any suggestion on "hardare/external grabbers" that guaranteed work together with LibreELEC V11

**JohnWayne111** · July 13, 2023 at 10:13 PM

Hi wolve

i was in a similar situation. My setup is via external grabber and Splitter.

Forget cheap grabbers etc. This is crap an going to be broken after few weeks.

Here my grabber and Splitter - works good without any issues more tha 1 year - with LibreElec 10 and 11.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07G84G7VF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B083JVPXDY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

wolve · July 14, 2023 at 12:24 PM

Thank you John for you reply!

The two device you posted cost $100 together and I need a set for each of my $35 raspberry?

I think that this is worst software regression I came across in my lifetime so far.

What I don't quite understand is the hyperion function broken for every device that can run LibreELEC or is it only about the raspberries?

**JohnWayne111** · July 14, 2023 at 5:41 PM

Quote from wolve

The two device you posted cost $100 together and I need a set for each of my $35 raspberry?

Yes, it seems so if you have more than 1 TV.

Quote from wolve

I think that this is worst software regression I came across in my lifetime so far.

Uff, hold on und be aware, that this a open source project (like LibreElec) ! Support and development

is continued by volunteers at no cost. It would be more appropriate to make a donation to Hyperion NG or Libreelec and hope someone will sit down and develop this in their spare time.

Quote from wolve

What I don't quite understand is the hyperion function broken for every device that can run LibreELEC or is it only about the raspberries?

You can install Hyperion NG on a Raspberry Pi 4. Since LE 10 and 11 the graphic driver has been changed. In setup of Hyperion you can choose external grabber to grab the screen.

**CvH** · July 18, 2023 at 8:05 PM

Quote from wolve

What I don't quite understand is the hyperion function broken for every device that can run LibreELEC or is it only about the raspberries?

Hyperion does only support the "old way" of rendering (X11, old RPi graphic pipeline).

With the change to Wayland and or GBM Hyperion is generally not working anywhere anymore for grabbing stuff. This needs to get supported at Hyperion otherwise you need to stay at >2 year old setups.
And to be honest, it does not look too promising
https://github.com/hyperion-project/hyperion.ng/pull/1422

therealwolve · July 20, 2023 at 12:40 PM

I'm back with a new account because two days ago the drive from my computer (samsung pro ssd) gave up and my recent backup was over two weeks old

"Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship."

Back 2 topic: Had a talk recently with a friend and he is using the latest kodi nexus on a amlogic tv box together with the hyperion software grabber. While he is not using LibreELEC but CoreELEC but the device/SOC he is using (s905x3) should have a informal support for LibreELEC too:

Quote from LibreELEC (Nexus) 11.0.1 Release Notes

No formal support for newer S905X2/D2/Y2, S905X3, S922X, A311D devices (read below)

As such a s905x3 is much cheaper than hardware grabber parts for my raspberry setup (and also doubles ram+more powerful soc) I guess I rather invest in a newer device than in the extra grabber hardware.

Quote from CvH

With the change to Wayland and or GBM Hyperion is generally not working anywhere anymore for grabbing stuff.

Can/will hyperion work with amlogic s905x3 platform with libreelec (it does on coreelc) or will that also be broken?

**CvH** · July 20, 2023 at 7:35 PM

Quote from therealwolve

As such a s905x3 is much cheaper than hardware grabber parts for my raspberry setup (and also doubles ram+more powerful soc) I guess I rather invest in a newer device than in the extra grabber hardware.

CE still uses the old drivers and afaik its already EOL there, LE uses there also GBM -> no Hyperion support till someone adds it at Hyperion.

Just saying, the driver support for AML is MUCH worse compared to RPi. So you can't directly compare it.

therealwolve · July 21, 2023 at 1:25 PM

Quote from CvH

CE still uses the old drivers

I see. Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.

**chewitt** · July 21, 2023 at 10:28 PM

The "use an external grabber" does mean some extra $$, but it's also the method that works the same on any past/present/future device; freeing you to use whatever works for your needs and not worry about it again.

therealwolve · July 23, 2023 at 11:13 AM

Quote from chewitt

The "use an external grabber" does mean some extra $$

My pain is that this extra $$$ is actually more I paid years ago for my whole setup (based on RPI3) which did work for years with the software grabber without any downsides.

When I'm investing I would hope to also get a boost in snappiness (kodi gui is a little slow/sluggish with RPI3 nowadays) so something with a more powerful SOC and maybe more RAM eventually.

The other thing why I'm not into the hardware grabber thing is the extra cabling and power draw. Right now my RPI3 are powered directly from the TV USB and it works a treat (never had any power issues) - hardware grabbers need extra power and it might be opening the box of Pandora regarding my setup (hiding the RPI behind the TV was already pain and it's quite dense with cabling already). Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.

Bub4 · July 23, 2023 at 2:41 PM

I think the only way to get yourself ambilight again is to go ahead writing the new platform grabber paulchen-panter began.

Or go back to LE9

Or buy a philips ambilight TV

Or buy a rootable LG TV

….

Don’t get me wrong!! But looking at these two or three guys maintaining this wonderful project and putting LOTS of effort into it…., it is a rather small invest to get a cheap external grabber with a little more cabling…

Cheers

therealwolve · July 23, 2023 at 3:34 PM

Quote from Bub4

writing the new platform grabber paulchen-panter began

When I would start this now (including learning basic programming and all the bits & bytes connected to this project) it might be already completely obsolete ones I "finished" as this would probably take me years....

Quote from Bub4

go back to LE9

Was thinking about this already - but I actually upgraded because some of my add-on's started requiring a more recent kodi version. So this isn't a real option anymore...

Quote from Bub4

buy a philips ambilight TV
Or buy a rootable LG TV

Both are far over our budget. Our old TV is fine (even full HD) beside leaking a bit and the plastic starts to degrade/desolve. This TV has over 10 years and while the electronics go strong the plastic is the real problem (probably wasn't designed to last that long in the beginning). Not long ago the TV stopped working completely and when I open the thing up I was greeted with an AC-switch that degraded like a cookie in my hand (brittle and broke into 100 pieces). This was fixed easily (didn't bothered with a new switch but just connected the wires) and now I hope the thing will last another decade

Quote from Bub4

rather small invest to get a cheap external grabber with a little more cabling…

Another user told to avoid cheap external grabber and use (known) working (more premium?) solutions which cost around $100.

On the other hand this investment would be just to get my lost function (hyperion) back. If I invest it would be nice to also get a boost as my RPI3 system works but it is a little sluggish and slow when navigating the menu.

Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.

So somewhat I have in my head to just invest in a sub $50 tv box which does allow software grabbing with hyperion and coreelec