Here’s an interesting Kickstarter project I managed to back just before it finished: Lightpack is unique idea to add some extra immersion to your home theatre experience.
In recent years we’ve seen some digital flat-screen TVs featuring backlights that shine a coloured aura from the rear on the wall behind it and, while it may seem pointless, it’s a nice enough gimmick for those with money to spare. When I came across this project I thought it was just the same idea but created for any display; however, it’s actually designed to take what’s on the screen and extend it onto your wall with a dynamic pattern of ambient light. The video below explains it all in detail.
Lightpack is a device you attach to the back of your TV or display along with banks of LEDs positioned around the edges. It uses software on your computer via a USB cable to replicate the colours on the edge of the picture onto the wall behind the display. This changes dynamically along with the images on the screen, making the colours appear to splash out of the TV.
It’s compatible with both games and videos but requires a PC or Mac to do so and therefore can’t be used with a games console or DVD / Blu-ray player. For those of us with home theatre PCs, it’s a must-have product which will add a splash of immersion to our visual experience. However, there’s more to it than just a visual effect as there’s some science behind it too: as you watch TV in the dark, extreme changes from dark to bright light cause the pupils in your eyes to adjust more frequently. With the added light from Lightpack, this is reduced somewhat as your area of vision is more consistently lit.
The entire project is completely open-source for both the hardware and software, meaning it’s possible to be completely replicated and modified to provide more features, and the hardware is currently at pre-production stage. The Kickstarter project was asking for $261,962 to fund mass production of the device reducing the unit price for customers; at the close of the campaign, it had been backed by 5,812 people. A total of $500,784 had been raised allowing two stretch goals to be met: one provides an improvement to the cabling of the device and the other a software plugin that will allow the Lightpack to show incoming notifications for Facebook, Gmail, Skype, Twitter, etc.
I’ve pledged enough money to get myself a Lightpack and my name in the ‘About’ information of the bundle. It should arrive in August and can’t wait to try it out with some PC games – and of course I’ll let you know how it goes! Keep an eye out for the new website at getlightpack.com to purchase one for yourself if you missed the Kickstarter project.
