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Philips Hue Play Light Bar: two-minute evaluation
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.
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.
In fact, the color reproduction is remarkably impressive – as illustrated in the image below, where the bar on the left has captured the exact hue of the tablecloth, and the one on the right has averaged the shade incorporating the gray of the presenter’s sleeve.
They also capture natural tones and skin shades quite effectively, and colors transition smoothly, which helps to prevent distractions.
Each light includes a plastic base that enables you to orient it vertically or horizontally with a hex screwdriver or Allen key. You may also mount them on the wall using adhesive pads; however, if you opt for this method, you will likely want to conceal the cables using trunking or by routing them through the wall. The lights connect wirelessly to the Sync Box, although they are not powered by batteries.
The Light Bars are available in black and white, allowing you to select whichever best harmonizes with your decor. The review units I tested were black, but if purchasing for my own space, white would have been a more suitable choice.
The primary drawback of the Philips Hue Play Bars is that they require a Philips Hue Bridge to manage them via the mobile application, in addition to a Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box to synchronize lighting with your television, which significantly increases the overall cost if you don’t own them already. The Bridge costs approximately $60 / £60 / AU$75 when purchased separately, and Sync Boxes begin at $250 / $230 / AU$500 for the 4K edition. The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K, set to release in 2024, comes at an even higher price.
Without these components, you’ll only be able to utilize the Play Bars like typical lights through the Philips Hue Bluetooth app. This allows you to turn them on and off, as well as change their color manually, but no further features are accessible.
If you possess both the Bridge and Sync Box, integrating the bars into the Philips Hue app is straightforward. Simply connect the power supply (which accommodates up to three Play Bar lights), instruct the Hue app to search for them, and they will be recognized automatically, ready to be incorporated into your room.
When not in use with your television, you can operate the Play Bars like any other Hue lamp, adjusting their colors individually or incorporating them into Scenes. When it’s time to enjoy a film or game, just tap the Sync button within the app.
For existing Hue users, the Play Bars represent a versatile and enjoyable enhancement that can elevate your home cinema experience. They are not the optimal starting point into the Hue ecosystem, as you’ll only experience their full potential when coupled with the Hue Bridge and Sync Box, but they make a splendid addition to an established system.
Philips Hue Play Light Bar: specifications
| Wattage | 13.2W |
| Maximum brightness | 500 lumens |
| Colors | 2000-6500K Hue White Colour Ambiance |
| Control options | Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant (via Philips Hue app) |
| Max lights per power supply | 3 |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth |
| Size (L x W x D not including mount) | 10 x 1.7 x 1.4in / 25.3 x 4.4 x 3.6cm |
Philips Hue Play Light Bar: price and availability
The Philips Hue Play Light Bar is obtainable individually, or in sets of two or three. Similar to most Philips Hue merchandise, you may also discover them packaged with other lights and accessories, including the Hue Bridge, which may prove to be considerably less expensive when compared to purchasing each part separately.
A single Philips Hue Play Light Bar is priced at $89.99 / £64.99 / AU$129.95 when acquired directly from the Philips Hue store.
Should you acquire the Philips Hue Play Light Bar
Acquire it if
Don’t acquire it if
Philips Hue Play Light Bar: additionally consider
Unsure about the Philips Hue Play Light Bar? Here are two additional ambient lighting alternatives that are worth considering.
How I assessed the Philips Hue Play Light Bar
I evaluated a pair of Philips Hue Play Light Bars, incorporating them as a component of a more extensive Hue lighting system including ceiling-mounted bulbs, an HDMI Sync Box, and Hue Bridge. I utilized them to synchronize content from my TV, and as independent smart lights managed via the Google Home app.
I employed the lights with a diverse range of media, but to evade copyright violations, all images in this review depict videos from TechRadar’s own YouTube channel.
For further information, refer to how we evaluate, review, and rate products on TechRadar.
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