Philips Hue Smart Play Light Bar Base Kit, White – White & Color Ambiance LED Color-Changing Light – 2 Pack – Requires Bridge – Control with App – Works with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit

Got the HUE SYNC to sync with everything! (ROKU, PS4pro, AVR…etc)
I have 2 sets of HUE play, it’s great.For many of you wondering how to get the HUE SYNC (pc and mac) to work with things like ROKU (Netflix), gaming consoles (PS4, Xbox, Switch)…etc etc, let me walk you through this extensive process of making it happen along with the devices you’ll need:******5/2/2019 UPDATE******(If you get confused, grab a piece of paper and draw it out lol)1) HDCP2.2 HDMI Splitter with at least 2 Outputs(Look for splitter that has auto step down to 1080 from 4K for second output)If your TV is 4k, then make sure the Splitter you get is 4k and HDCP2.2 ready. It must say HDCP 2.2 and not just 4K or HDCP1.4 in the description of the splitter! As For input side, you only need the amount of devices that you have (no you shouldn’t run multiple splitters into one splitter). For me, I have all of my devices going into my AVR, so I just need 1 input with 2 outputs HDMI Splitter (1×2). If you have just a ROKU, then that’s what you need. If you have ROKU and a XBOX/PS4, then you’ll need a HDMI switch that has 2 inputs and 2 outputs (2×2). No matter how many input you need, you must have 2 outputs and the second output has the feature to convert 4K to 1080. This is not a feature you need if your TV is 1080p, but very important for the 4K people because it’ll save you a lot of headache in adjustments.2) HDMI to USB Video Capture DeviceMost HDMI video capture only captures 1080p, there’s absolutely no reason for 4K just for HUE Sync if you are simply trying to pick up the color from the video capture. Connect the video capture device to the Output 2 of the HDMI splitter on one side via HDMI cable, and the USB side connect it to your PC/Mac.3b) STOP!Before doing anything else, download the Philips Hue smartphone app, and connect the lights you want to sync with your TV to the Hue Bridge first. Update everything and make sure it’s ready BEFORE you setup with the HUE Sync software on the PC/MAC.3c) On your PC/MAC, download “OBS Studio”, install the driver/software. I’m running Windows 10 here, so I don’t know if it will work with Chromebook or any other OS. With the OBS Studio software, what I did in the setting is to make sure the canvas screen is set to 1080 so the screen ratio of the video capture is correct. You don’t need high frame rates and you don’t need high resolution here! Lower left side of the OBS Software you’ll see the sources box, select + and select OEM Video capture. Set the PREVIEW screen to full screen, and make sure there’s no black cutoff portions.4) HUE SYNCInstall HUE Sync, there’s plenty of YouTube video telling you how to setup the HUE Sync on your computer, so just go ahead and do that and you’re good to go. What I did do is turn off music sync, intensity to subtle. NOTE: Under Settings/General-Preference/Background-lightning: Turn off background lighting. It messes with the HUE Sync with this low white light when the same section of the display is showing black.Optional: I bought a mini windows PC to run as a dedicated TV PC. Please install a CCleaner and run it automatically at start up so you won’t ever see the infamous Windows “slowing down” issues. In the HUE SYNC PC software, you can set specific buttons on the keyboard to start Syncing. I have to say, that I did end up buying 3 different mini PC and returned two of them because they simply can’t power 4K without freezing. I ended up getting a MSI cube n with a 5000N processor with 8GB ddr4 ram. I changed resolution down from 4K to 2048×1152, and refresh rate to 60Hz. It runs very smoothly all day without issue.If you do all of this correctly, you now can watch or play everything on your TV and enjoy HUE Play, regardless of the source.Remember to check your 4k setting in your Xbox/PS4 pro/ROKU to make sure it’s able to output 4K on your 4K tv. If the splitter you use or any parts you use besides the video capture is NOT HDCP2.2, you will not be able to watch 4K. If you force 4K output on your ROKU, it may work but the video capture will show a black screen. Make sure your HDMI are at least 2.0, amazon’s cable works fine, there’s no benefit with more expensive HDMI cables.I’ll take my 2 cents, thanks.

Highly recommend
I set 4 of these Philips Hue Play Bars up on my racing simulator to mimic ambient lighting within the simulator. They create a huge amount of immersion and eliminate eye fatigue from my bright screens.

Syncs with TV with Additional Product
I bought this for my husband for Christmas 2020. He didn’t even bother setting it up until we bought the additional Hue Sync Box: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Hue-Splitter-Colored-Required/dp/B086ZJLCTW/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=hue+sync+box&qid=1622821185&sr=8-3 Don’t ask me how he set it up but it didn’t take too incredibly long. Maybe an hour or 2 but we also have a lot of gaming systems which may have factored in.We ended up just buying our Sync Box directly from the Philips website since it was a couple of bucks cheaper and Amazon was out of stock at the time. After paying the additional 200 bucks for the Sync Box, these worked GREAT! They are so fun and definitely do enhance your TV watching experience. It syncs well with PS4, PS5, Switch, and the Xbox Series X. The lights are very good at keeping up with our TV. We play a lot of video games and watch a lot of movies and I haven’t noticed any issues. Our living area has quite a few windows and, although the lights can be seen during the day, they are not nearly as dramatic. We often wait until it gets dark to watch our movies just because we want our light experience to be 100%.I think it was like a week later that we added to our light experience with light strips that run along our entertainment center and even under our kitchen cabinets since our kitchen is right off our living room. Our entire living room/kitchen area lights up dramatically with super bright LEDs that match our TV! I definitely recommend this set up 😛 It is something else to watch bright things like fire blasts move from the left side of the room to the other.After having experience with the light strips and these behind the TV lights, I recommend just going with the light strips. If you just want two lights on either side of your TV, go with these. But the light strips would allow you to go all the way around the TV for less cost. Also, we have had our cat go behind our TV and knock these down a few times which hasn’t happened with our light strips at all. They don’t fall off otherwise so if you don’t have a cat you will probably be fine. They stick right back on fairly securely without any issue. We are also running out of outlets which is more on us I guess.All in all, these are obviously a luxury item. You don’t need any lights to watch your TV. BUT, if you frequent the movie theater, play a lot of video games, watch a lot of movies or TV, you might want to think about investing in some entertainment lights. These combined with our sound system made me never want to go to the movie theater again. They definitely made the pandemic a little easier! It’s been fun to experiment with different movies and games to see what looks good with the lights. I recommend: Color out of Space (2019), Mario games on the Switch, Mortal Kombat (2021), Disney movies (Tangled & Moana look great), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire… Avoid any really dark movies/games. For instance, Resident Evil was pretty pointless (light wise).EDIT: I forgot to add that you need the bridge for this to work also which is another 60 bucks or so. We just already had one so it slipped my mind. I added photos so you can see how the light strip below compares to the sides of the TV. Excuse our mess.

I loved it . You only have to remember that both the lights connect with the same adapter . So if you are thinking to place the light far from each other then it’s going to be a problem . Syncing with tv will need hdmi sync box .

When creating a review for this, there’s a metric offered of “value for money” I am inclined to just avoid that metric, because you’re buying a philips hue product: you know that this isn’t cheap. By no means is it a Nanoleaf product, but Philips Hue isn’t cheap. What you get in turn though is a highly integrated ecosystem that utilizes a Zigbee backhaul to make sure that it can communicate to the devices even absent a WiFi network (assuming you can send the commands, like from other Zigbee devices), solid quality control, and HomeKit integrations.Its not to say that they’re necessarily a perfect product for you: Until the Ambient they didn’t offer individually addressable LED’s, and even that I’m pretty sure is zone based.As for the Playbar’s specifically? I love them: They’re great, but they still have a few downsides. This kit isn’t cheap (at time of writing, around $70-80 per bar), but doesn’t give you the Bridge (which is mandatory for these; no bluetooth mode). You likely have a bridge already if you’re looking at investing, so that does help. The lights do not have a built in battery, and personally what I found most disappointing is the lack of adjustability for their physical stands. You have a few mounting options, but they’re all fixed mounts: they don’t allow you to tilt or adjust them. You decide a particular orientation and you’re stuck with it unless you disassemble their mounts, which considering you’re using 3M pads isn’t really ideal. If you’re wanting to do a set-and-forget layout it is fine, but be aware it’s not like you can tilt them or anything.The plug that comes with these lights supports up to three lights being plugged into it: so if you get a third play bar, you can just plug it into the same plug. Alternatively (and what is neat to me): If you get the Philips Hue Sync, you can also plug it into this 3rd port: it utilizes the same style. I think that’s a relatively clever idea to minimize socket use, especially because its quite likely that you are going to be utilizing play bars with the Sync. The trade off, of course, is that a lot of people run three or more playbars for a sync – one to the left, one to the right, and one on top. If you have an orientation like that, the third plug point is going to be taken up by default.All in all though, I recommend these: They’re bright. They’re easily controlled via all major assistants, and there is some absolutely *great* Zigbee accessories that can be utilized. Outside of Philips Hue range itself, I really love the Lutreon Caseta control, and recommend people look into something like that to make your space more accessible to the folk in your life who are less tech-y.