Play White and Colour Ambiance Smart Light Bar Double Pack Base Unit, Entertainment Lighting for TV and Gaming (Works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit), Black

Bought 6 light bars, three for the home theatre pc and three for my main gaming PC. Initially I had almost returned the whole order but later decided to keep them. The main reason was the price, I got the light bars on a sale and still they were very expensive, the light bars with hub cost almost £300. The Software: You have to install the app on your mobile and also an app on your PC. Confusingly you have to use both, the PC app controlling mostly sync related lighting and the mobile app for setup, light positioning, timers etc. Both apps work well, but there is some room for improvement. The good thing is that Philips hue have a large client base, so the software should continue to improve and mature. The latency: In my setup there is almost no discernable lag between what is happening on my monitor and when the lights react, I would estimate around 20-50ms. I am connected directly to my router via a lan cable and I am around 5m away from the hue hub. This can very quickly turn in to a different story if you are on slow wifi or worst yet, try to wirelessly cast/mirror your laptop display onto a TV. I think most complaints about latency online is with ppl doing exactly that. I did notice an option in the software to mitigate the issue, but did not need to use it. There is no substitute for a hard wired connection. It works like this. The app on your PC analyses the screen space and calculates average light values based on your lighting setup. This gets sent to the hue hub via your local network. The hue hub then sends the signals to the lights via the Bixby wireless protocol. The light bars: These are rather small but can produce a good amount of light. Rather than the amount of light, it is the quality of the light that surprised me. The warm and cool white light is amazing and it is obvious that some attention was given to colour reproduction. They must have RGB and two different kinds of white light LEDs inside. The diffuser is excellent quality too, I am not able to discern any individual spots of light inside the bar. There is nothing quite like starting up DOOM and having the whole room go a deep red colour! Quite nice indeed. There is one annoying aspect of the light bars, at full brightness they emit an electric buzzing sound. The buzzing sound is reduced in line with the brightness setting. This should not be an issue when seated a few meters from a TV or if there is any other noise in the room, but when sat at a desk close to the lights it is noticeable. To mitigate the issue I placed the light bars as far away from my seating position as possible and have them set to around 30% brightness when doing work or just browsing the net in a quiet room. If you are using headphones or have any other noise in the room then you can't hear any buzzing even at 100% brightness. To give you an idea, it is reminiscent of some older and cheaper type monitors that emit a buzzing sound because of PWM dimming. The hub: Nothing much to say here, find a decent spot for it and switch it on, have not had any issues with it. PC performance: There is overhead associated with analysing the screen space, calculating average colours and sending the data to the hue hub. I have a top spec PC with a 2080ti GPU, and using a gaming benchmark I noticed about a 5-8% performance decrease with hue sync enabled. For me this is not an issue, but it could be an issue on weaker hardware. Hue sync can be disabled or enabled on a game to game basis in the software as profiles. The competition: Asus Aura Halo works by adding LED strips to the back of the monitor. I like Asus but they have a way of not updating their software, and when they do it will usually only work on the newer hardware. I don't trust them to improve the software or even fix it if potentially a windows update breaks it. The RGB light will be harsh with no diffuser or dedicated white leds. NZXT Hue 2 V2 Ambient, they seem a bit more invested in the tech with a v2 released recently, but again this is all controlled with their CAM software which has a terrible reputation. The same RGB strips are used with no diffuser or dedicated white lights. Since these light strips are addressable they offer a higher resolution as only some leds can be triggered to onscreen events, but this to me just seem to make them even harsher on the eye. In both cases the competitions software and features are lacking as compared to the Philips implementation. The lighting is also harsh, which is why I decided to go with Philips hue sync. With philips you can also add lighting at a later point and you are free to place the lights where you want. The lighting should add to the ambience of a gaming session, not be a distraction. UPDATE: Some months have passed since my last review and thought this detailed review could do with an update. In my living room setup I have added another light bar to my rear top left on a bookcase behind a nice Alien statue, and a E27 colour ambiance bulb to my tall lamp on the rear right. This is now my primary way of lighting the living room. I also stuck a Hue dimmer switch close to the couch so we can control brightness easily. Gaming and movies is awesome, although Netflix still does not work with Hue play. Works best with movies that have lots of colour and action. My gaming setup also got another Hue play bar for a total of 4, and a dimmer switch. I missed some light under my shelf and that has now been remedied. My lights are set to switch on via a timer on weekdays to help me get up, and they also switch of automatically when I leave the house. It is not a cheap echo system, but I would miss the ambient light during gaming if you took it away right now. During the past few months there has been one update to the sync app, validating my theory that the ecosystem is larger than the competition, and Philips is actively developing for it.

The Hue Play Bar is fantastic: bright, vibrant lighting with endless customisation. A clear 5-star product. The only drawback is the included VHB adhesive strips — they’re very strong, and if you stick them directly to a monitor or delicate surface, removing them could damage the finish or even void the warranty. Great lights, just mount them carefully - yet, returned because of the adhesive, too complex to stick without it

Great ambiance lighting not sure worth the normal price but when they're on offer grab them, they work perfectly with alexa and have many mood and scene settings

This is quite a neat little light that really aids in ambient lighting. It has its pros and cons and isn't perfect but it is certainly a worth while buy for any Philips Hue advocate. Firstly don't be fooled by the size. By the images, I actually thought it was going to be a little bigger. But it's actually just a little larger than a fully grown banana. It has a angled base to allow you to position the unit upwards at an angle. It came with a plug that has three ports to connect three Hue Plays. So I don't actually waste another plug socket which is nice. It also has a couple of stands you can attach the Play to which can let you position the unit in ways not previously possible. There was also a sticker you can place on the base of the stands so you can attach it to a TV or bit of furniture. It also goes very bright! Behind my TV two of these easily illuminate the entire portion behind the TV and the typical 16.7 million colour options is great for dynamic ambient light. Speaking of dynamic ambient light... Hue Sync! Hue Sync is an application you can download on your computer to create a live, dynamic scene on the fly as you watch movies. But... to say that there is flaws in this system is an understatement. Firstly, Hue Sync ONLY works on PC. That means you can't have dynamic lighting with an external Blu-Ray player, smart TV apps and even copyright-strict apps ON PC like Netflix. This is because it works by taking the colours sent to your monitor and also sending them to the Hue lights. One way I could cheat the system was by putting a webcam + laptop in front of my TV, opening up OBS to display the TV through the webcam on my screen and have the Hue Sync app send the colours to the lights. Except it looks a little clunky and webcam colours really DO NOT match that of the TV. Philips needs to start working with companies to have this be part of apps. Surely there's an easier way outside of the PC that allows you to have dynamic scenes? Other than that, the lights work pretty well and sit very nicely behind my TV!

J’ai acheté le pack de 2 barres lumineuses Philips Hue Play et je suis absolument ravi ! L’installation est super simple, la connexion à l’application se fait en quelques secondes, et les possibilités de personnalisation sont incroyables. Les couleurs sont vives, les effets lumineux très fluides, et l’ambiance qu’elles créent dans le salon est vraiment impressionnante — que ce soit pour regarder un film, jouer ou simplement se détendre. La qualité est au rendez-vous, comme toujours avec Philips Hue. Elles sont compactes, élégantes et se placent facilement derrière la TV ou sur un meuble. Depuis que je les ai, je ne pourrais plus m’en passer ! Je recommande à 100 % !

Taa İspanya'dan DHL ile gönderdiler yemin ediyorum 2. gün öğleden önce elime ulaştı çok şaşırdım, ışıklar zaten tam bir sanat eseri monitörüme neşe kattılar, herkese öneririm

Je suis ravi de mon achat ! Cette extension Philips Hue Play est de très bonne qualité et s'ajoute facilement à mon système d'éclairage connecté via l'application Philips. J'apprécie particulièrement la possibilité de commander la lumière via mon téléphone et de choisir parmi une large gamme de couleurs. J'avais déjà un Hue Play avec son bloc d'alimentation, et pour ajouter cette extension, il m'a suffi de la brancher sur le même bloc. J'ai ensuite pu l'ajouter sans soucis à mon installation, ce qui me permet d'augmenter l'éclairage autour de ma TV. Le design discret de cette extension la rend parfaite pour une utilisation dans mon salon, et son prix abordable pour du Philips Hue en fait un excellent rapport qualité-prix.

Die Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance Play Lightbar in Schwarz ist eine vielseitige und stilvolle Beleuchtungslösung für jeden Raum. Hier sind meine Eindrücke nach der Nutzung dieser Lampe. Design und Installation Die schlanke, schwarze Lightbar sieht modern und elegant aus, und fügt sich gut in jedes Wohnambiente ein. Die Installation war unkompliziert – einfach einstecken, mit der Philips Hue Bridge verbinden und schon ist die Lampe einsatzbereit. Funktionalität und Lichtqualität Mit 490 Lumen bietet die Lightbar ausreichend Helligkeit, um einen Raum angenehm zu beleuchten. Besonders beeindruckend ist die Möglichkeit, aus bis zu 16 Millionen Farben zu wählen und die Lampe nach Belieben zu dimmen. Egal ob für stimmungsvolle Beleuchtung, als Hintergrundlicht beim Fernsehen oder für eine Party – die Flexibilität ist enorm. Steuerung und Kompatibilität Die Steuerung erfolgt bequem via Philips Hue App, und die Kompatibilität mit Amazon Alexa (Echo, Echo Dot) ermöglicht eine komfortable Sprachsteuerung. Die Einrichtung in der App ist einfach und intuitiv, und die Lampe reagiert prompt auf Befehle. Nachteile Ein kleiner Nachteil ist der Preis, da die Lightbar nicht gerade günstig ist. Außerdem benötigt man die Philips Hue Bridge für die volle Funktionalität, was zusätzliche Kosten verursachen kann, wenn man diese noch nicht besitzt. Fazit Die Philips Hue White & Color Ambiance Play Lightbar ist eine hervorragende Wahl für alle, die flexible, hochwertige Beleuchtung suchen. Mit ihrer modernen Optik, der einfachen Steuerung und der breiten Farbpalette bietet sie viel Mehrwert. Trotz des höheren Preises und der Notwendigkeit einer Hue Bridge lohnt sich die Investition für ein individuell anpassbares Lichterlebnis.

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