Philips Hue offers home cinema fans another option of using smart light sources to paint the wall in matrix green or minion yellow to match the TV picture. After software for the detour via the PC and an adapter box for HDMI playback devices, the brand is presenting an app at CES 2023 that enables direct comparison with the computing hardware of a Smart TV. The application will initially appear exclusively for Samsung televisions and will cost around 130 euros. This is only half the price of the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which remains available.
HDMI signal or TV channel? It doesn’t matter!
The Philips Hue Sync TV app lets the manufacturer’s smart lamps light up in the colors that show the image content on the edges of the TV display. The app supports all common image formats including 8K, 4K and HDR 10+. The interaction is suitable, for example, for heavily colored video games or films and series. According to Philips Hue, it doesn’t matter whether the corresponding image signal comes from a streaming app on the Smart TV or from a set-top box or games console connected via HDMI.
In both cases, the Philips Hue sync app installed on the Smart TV accesses the image signal and derives control commands from it. The home network takes you to the Philips Hue ZigBee gateway. This sends them to Hue lamps positioned around the TV set and lets them shine with the appropriate brightness and color. In order for the bulbs to light up in the right place, their relative position to the TV must first be set in the standard Philips Hue smartphone app.
Ambilight-like effects can also be used on current Samsung televisions without an HDMI box.
Again in the Philips Hue Sync TV app, the light balance can be personalized using various specifications. There, home cinema enthusiasts determine the intensity, i.e. the reaction speed, in which the adjustment should take place. You can also switch between video and gaming profiles, vary the brightness of the lamps and set triggers for the automatic start of the light calibration.
Cheaper than an HDMI box
The configuration is thus similar to the HDMI Sync Box, which is significantly more expensive at a price of 250 euros. Hue Sync’s free PC app is also similar, but requires a wired computer as a play partner. External hardware has so far been a common requirement for image matching. At CES 2023, Nanoleaf presented a TV adapter for smart light sync. At the show, Govee announced an HDMI adapter specifically designed for video games called the AI Gaming Sync Box Kit for the end of March, priced at 300 euros.
Hue’s new TV app eliminates the need for additional signal matching hardware. Playback devices for image content are also no longer absolutely necessary. The software offer thus also closes an application gap. Because it was previously not possible to use the image signal of the TV set directly as a source of adjustment for Hue lamps. Now it works – at least if you have a current Samsung device. Compatibility is initially limited to QLED TVs built in 2022 from the Q60 model series. On these devices, the Hue Sync TV app will be available in the TV menu’s App Store from January 5, 2023.
New Hue lighting accessories for indoors and outdoors
In addition to the TV app, Philips Hue is expanding its own range with additional ZigBee accessories. The new additions include the downward-facing outdoor wall spotlight Philips Hue Resonate Downward (from January 24 for 120 euros) and a new variant of the Hue Tap Dial dimmer switch, which will be available from March 14 with a round instead of square mounting plate (50 euros). In addition, a launch date has now been set for the battery-operated and portable outdoor table lamp Hue Go Portable, which was announced last summer. It will be available from February 21st at a price of 160 euros.
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