The Philips Hue Play Light Bar (available for purchase individually, or in sets of two or three) is a capsule-shaped smart light that produces a comparable effect to a Philips Ambilight television, extending hues from the borders of your display and illuminating the area behind it with corresponding light to enhance your films, TV series, and gaming experience. They are adaptable, user-friendly, and incredibly entertaining.
The overall effect is alike, yet the Philips Hue Play Light Bars offer significant benefits over both Ambilight TVs and other top Ambilight alternatives like Nanoleaf 4D. To start, you’re not restricted to placing them directly behind your television, although that’s an option if you prefer. You can also position them above, below, or to the sides, and you can set them quite a distance away if you have sufficient room.
This opens up considerable flexibility in designing your lighting arrangement. You can even pair them with a Hue Play Gradient Light Strip if you’re aiming to create a truly spectacular home cinema ambiance with synchronized lighting that fills the whole room.
Color accuracy with the Philips Hue Play Bars is exceptional, even with nuanced shades (Image credit: Future)
The Hue Play Bars connect wirelessly to a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, meaning they avoid the issues faced by lighting systems such as Nanoleaf 4D that use a camera to detect and replicate colors from your display. There’s no lag you might experience with a camera-based setup, and they are not influenced by reflections.
