Getting started. Needed components
The following guide summarizes our recommended setups based on our experience and community feedback.
Because no one pays us for continuous hardware testing, and we have no connections with the manufacturers of this equipment and they can change the specifications of a given product at any time we do not provide any guarantee that this set will work without issues in your case. Although it may probably allow you to avoid many costly mistakes with sets that will definitely not work.
💻 Hosting device¶
| Platform | System |
|---|---|
| Any modern PC with x64 Intel/AMD | Windows/Linux |
| SoC x64: Intel N100 | Windows/Linux |
| SoC armv8: Raspberry Pi 5 | Linux |
The cheapest N100 models may be louder than the RPi 5 with active cooling, but HyperHDR itself won't push the system to that level of load. However, the N100 is significantly faster than the RPi5 in our video processing. Although HyperHDR can run even on the RPi Zero, we definitely recommend and focus exclusively on using at a minimum a Raspberry Pi 4 equipped with the crucial USB 3.0 port.
💡 LED Components¶
| Component | Recommendation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LED Strip | SK6812 |
RGBW Cold White version, 5V |
| LED Power Supply | MeanWell |
Avoid no-name or products from AliExpress⚠️ |
| supportive LEDs | Philips Hue lamps |
Use the genuine Hue Bridge in direct Entertainment mode and avoid ZigBee knock-offs or Home Assistant integrations for best experience. |
🛠️ LED Controller (USB)¶
| Type | Recommended Boards | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RP2040 With built-in level shifter | - Adafruit Feather RP2040 Scorpio - Adafruit ItsyBitsy RP2040 - Pimoroni Plasma 2040 - Pimoroni Plasma Stick 2040 W |
Easiest, best stability and integration |
| Generic RP2040 + external level shifter | Any RP2040-based board + external 3.3V to 5V level shifter (ex. Adafruit 6066) | More wiring required, avoid I2C slow level-shifters |
Tip
The Raspberry Pi 5 similar to RP2040 has a built-in a PIO co-processor and can used via GPIO.
Support will be officially added in HyperHDR v22 (already available for testing). Still it operates only at 3.3V.
🟢 Typical hardware setup: USB grabber + external HDMI splitter¶
You’ll need a reliable HDMI splitter or matrix. Based on our own experience, the only brand we can recommend is Ezcoo. Especially if you care about any Dolby Vision support (LLDV only).
| Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| EZ-SP12H2 | 4K60, HDCP, HDR, LLDV |
| EZ-SP12H21 | 4K120, HDCP, HDR, LLDV, VRR, CEC |
You should connect the TV to Ezcoo Output 1 and the grabber to Output 2. Disable the scaler for Output 1 and enable it for Output 2. Make sure the Ezcoo is set to EDID copy mode.
Compatible grabbers in this setup
| Category | Model | Specs / Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🏆 High-End | UGREEN 25173 |
P010 codec makes the difference. P010 works only in Windows and Linux with patched kernel. |
| ⚙️ Lower-End | MS2130 |
Flash our tested firmware. Factory firmware may be broken. |
For the Raspberry Pi, we provide a ready-to-use SD card image with a pre-patched kernel (based on Raspberry Pi OS) that supports the grabber’s P010 codec out of box.
🟡 Hardware all-in-one setup: USB Grabber with Built-In Splitter (no HDCP)¶
| Category | Model | Specs |
|---|---|---|
| 🏆 High-End | UGREEN 25173 |
SDR/HDR, 4K60, VRR, P010 codec |
| ⚙️ Lower-End | MS2131 |
SDR, max 4K30, HDMI 1.4b only |
Warning
Make sure that your source platform allows you to disable HDCP. Due to licensing restrictions, no modern grabber openly supports video capture if the HDMI signal is protected by HDCP. For HDCP support you need an external HDMI splitter/matrix.
🔴 Software only grabbers: if you don’t want to use a USB grabber¶
| Category | Platform | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 🏆 High-End | Windows | DirectX grabber with HDR support: HyperHDR custom implementation using Pixel & Vertex Shaders |
| ⚙️ Lower‑End | Linux | Supported but Wayland is much less reliable here than Windows10/11 Many performance and compatibility issues compared to Windows |
Warning
Software grabbers can interfere with video players or games, breaking hardware acceleration or reducing performance. HDCP-dependent streaming applications won’t work and will result in a black screen when capturing. Software grabbers are inferior to hardware solutions.