Enhance your gaming & movie watching experience with these light bars – Philips…
Enhance your gaming movie watching experience with these light bars – Philips Hue Play Review
Philips Hue Play Review – Philips Hue Play offers the ultimate entertaiment experience from Philips Hue range, at a good price range. The Hue White Colour Ambiance Light Bar is designed specifically to enhance your TV or movie viewing experience.
Like the other Hue range, you can also select from a number of millions different colours, change the colour themes, and integrate them into your Smart home setup.
The one I have here is the Philips Hue Play light bar double pack, containing 2 Hue Play light bars. You can just get a single light bar if you want, but trust me, just grab both.
Philips Hue Play Review – Packaging
Note that the Hue bridge is required so if you have not had any Hue setup at home, you need to purchase this separately. I only have one bridge but it can connect and handle numerous amounts of Philips Hue lights around my home (1st Gen light bulbs, 2nd Gen light bulbs, Lily Outdoor Spotlights, Lightstrips, and Hue Lamps.
Philips Hue Play Review – Installation
You can place the Hue Play in a variety of positions and locations. You can stick them at the back of your TV or PC monitor if you like, or lie them flat on the table, or vertically using the stand. All the necessary components (table stands, mounting supports) are included in the packaging so you can pick and choose.
I kind of like having the light bars to lie flat on the table, projecting lights onto the walls. The bar unit itself is slightly slanted to a nice angle that you can project the lights perfectly along the wall.
Philips Hue Play Review – Design Features
The light bars are quite compact, flat, and don’t take a lot of space. I set these up on my gaming/work area to be synced to my gaming monitor through Hue Sync. Even if you are not planning to use Hue Play on your TV or monitor, you can still use it like other Hue bulbs and lamps to create great room ambiance.
Once the Hue Play light bars are connected to the Hue Bridge, you’ll have limitless potentials to create an aesthetically pleasing ambiance around the room they are in. You can set the colour and brightness with the Hue app, and more.
For example, you can set these light bars to turn on at a specific time every day (say, after Sunset), or as you are coming home. These lights can be set to deter thieves by turning them off and on with random intervals, and work great with your other Smart devices through IFTTT, Razer Chroma, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri.
Using Alexa on the Amazon Echo Show 5, or Google Assistant on the Google Nest Hub, or Siri from my iPhone XS Max, I can simply say “Turn Study On/Off” to turn these Hue Play light bars on and off. It only takes a second.
You don’t buy the Philips Hue Play for the Smart light features alone. They can serve as a dynamic backlight for your television or monitor, matching what’s on screen. This does not just enhance the viewing experience, but also better for your eyes – especially if you like to turn your lights off to watch movies or play games.
Hue Play will sync with movies, games, and music if you set it up correctly. The easiest way is to set it up next to your PC monitor and then install Hue Sync on Windows. The app will automatically detect what’s on screen and sync the colour automatically to the Hue Play light bars. If you want these on the TV, unfortunately there is no plug and play method. You need to hook the TV up with a Windows laptop or desktop.
I’ve enjoyed the Hue Play in a variety of different ways: as an amazing room ambiance and also for a better entertainment experience while playing games and watching movies on the PC. You can also use Vivaldi browser and let the light bars sync to the colour of the site’s theme you are on with its direct support to Philips Hue.
But a video speaks a thousand words, so here is a short video from YouTube, syncing with Hue Play:
Philips Hue Play is one of the most interesting Hue products I’ve encountered. The Hue Lamp is fairly similar, but Hue Play design is more specific and tailored to be the perfect light projectors. Stick it at the back of the TV or monitor, use the stand, or just lie them flat on the table – the choice is yours.
The light bar has a nice, compact design that doesn’t take much space. The light projections are bright and they sync fast with the Hue Sync Windows app.
Note that the screen synchronisation can only happen in a PC/Mac with Hue App installed. For the television, it can only be done if you connect your TV to a PC/Mac – which might turn some people off.
If you manage to set these up to sync with your screen, you’ll get the ultimate viewing experience with Hue Play. But even if you don’t, you can still get a great ambience for the room and these lights make it easier on the eyes when you switch your overhead lights off. But it might be worth going for other types of spotlights if you just want to get static backlighting at the back of your TV, unless you really like the Hue Play design and its Smart home integrations.
Philips Hue Play has certainly enhanced the gaming experience around my desktop PC. Not only that, it has also enhanced the mood surrounding the study area, thanks to its integration with other Hue lights Smart devices around the house.
If you are already a fan of Hue lights and have some set up at home, it’s a no brainer to recommend the Hue Play. The two-pack is priced at AU179.95 at Amazon AU | Amazon U.S.
Disclosure: Philips Hue Play review samples were supplied for reviewing but all opinions are mine and not paid
Create a vibrant ambience with Hue Play light bars. Choose from 16 million colours to experience different light effects. Lay them on the floor, let them stand on a cabinet or mount them on the back of the TV and paint your wall with light.
Level up your gaming Reflect in-game actions — beating a boss or regaining health — with the lights around your gaming setup.
Display Hue Play your way
Thanks to Philips Hue’s versatile mounting options, you can install it either on to wall or TV, laid flat on any surface or stood upright. It is the perfect lighting solution for any living room, entertainment area or media room.
Amp your entertainment with Smart lighting
With the Philips hue play bar, immerse yourself in your movie, game or music with the magic of hue light. With millions of colours and countless lighting options to choose from, you can turn any living room into a private cinema.
Mount behind your TV
The Philips Hue Play Smart light bar can be installed behind your TV screen by using the included clips and double-sided tape to instantly create beautiful backlighting in the colour of your choice. Even though the play bar does not follow the colour of your screen, it would be a very good solution to create the famous ambilight effect.
Requires a Philips Hue bridge
For this product to work, it requires a connection to the Philips Hue bridge
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Philips Hue Play Bar Review: Raising the bar
Bottom line: The Philips Hue Play Bar is a versatile lighting solution that offers bright, vivid colors in a compact and light form factor. This makes the Play Bar a fantastic choice for bias and accent lighting, especially if you have other Hue lights in your home.
Pros
- Sleek design
- Bright, colorful lighting
- Mount options
- Works with Alexa, Google, HomeKit
- Hue ecosystem integration
Cons
- – Requires Hue Hub
- – No on-device controls
- – Shared power supply
- – Non-removable cord
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Despite my affinity for adding Smart home accessories whenever I can in my home, there is one area, or rather one company, that I haven’t had in my life for quite a few years now. Back when Philips Hue first burst onto the scene, I was right there along for the ride, adding the company’s light bulbs, light strips, and dimmers, everywhere I could.
However, as my Smart home needs evolved, I ended up leaving the Hue ecosystem, not because of any issues or troubles, but rather, because I wanted Smart light switches to be the end all lighting solution for my home. So needless to say, I lost a little color in my life when making the transition.
I recently began thinking about adding some accent lighting or bias lighting to my desk setup, and despite a plethora of options now available on the market, I just couldn’t resist the allure of going back to Philips Hue. I ended up picking a Hue Play Bar Starter Kit, which also included the most important piece of the puzzle, the Hue Hub. While I expected great performance and reliability from the lights, I didn’t expect just how much I would enjoy the simple pleasure of having colorful lighting and effects back in the home again.
Versatility in a bar
Philips Hue Play Bar: The features
The Philips Hue Play Bar comes in quite a few different configurations, including starter kit bundles, standalone light bars, and extension packs, all in addition to white and color variants. The Play Bar itself sports a sleek, slim, profile that is composed of a solid lightweight plastic frame with an opaque diffuser on the side that covers the internal LED. At its longest, the Play Bar comes in around 10 inches in length, and sits at about 1.7 inches wide, which makes it easy to fit into most spaces without a stand.
Included in the box are several mounting options, including: a stand for placement on a table and a TV mount for attaching them directly to the back of a TV. For tabletops, the Play Bar can work both vertically and horizontally, using the included stands, or just by laying them down. Attaching the table stand to the light does require the use of an allen wrench, which is included.
If you want to go the bias lighting route for your TV or PC monitor, you can attach the Play Bar around the back using the provided mounting clips which utilize double-sided tape. You can also attach the Play Bar directly to a wall using the same mount, but it should be noted that they are only rated for indoor usage. Wiring for the Play Bar comes in the form of a single (per light) 80-inch, pre-attached cable that attaches to a power supply.
Each Play Bar is capable of producing up to 530 lumens of brightness, which is plenty for accent and bias installations, but not quite enough to light up an entire room. Of course, being a Philips Hue product, the Play Bar supports the company’s gold standard of up to 16 million shades of colors and whites along with dimming capabilities.
Color for days
Philips Hue Play Bar: What I like
As I have already alluded to, I absolutely enjoyed seeing the area around my desk lighting up with bright and vivid colors throughout the day. At first, I paired the Play Bars with a HomeKit remote and had it set to simply change it to a single color. Eventually I came around to trying some of the scenes available through the Philips Hue app, and settled on using the Colorloop formula under the Hue Labs section.
Speaking of pairing, the whole set up process with the hub and app was quick and rather painless. The hub was found instantly by the Hue app, and after a quick update, the Play Bars were also found in a matter of seconds. After everything was ready to go, I immediately added it to HomeKit, which is my Smart home platform of choice, and again, the process was quite simple. I will also note that the Play Bar, like everything else Philips Hue, works with all three of the major voice assistants, Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit.
Even though the Play Bar comes with a rather generous cable length with room for expansion, I did not like that only one power supply was included in the box. This means that both of the lights included with the kit I purchased plugged into the same outlet, which was ok for my setup, but it could potentially limit placement depending on the situation. Also, the cords that attach to the Play Bar cannot be removed, although they can be removed from the power supply.
Just like with all of the Philips Hue line, along with all color lighting in general, the Play Bar struggles to represent one color in particular, which is green. Sure the lights are capable of displaying bright lime greens on demand, however a darker shade just seems to be the one color that manages to miss out on the fun, which is sad to see even after all of the advancements in the area over the years.
Perhaps the biggest downside to the Play Bar is that it does require the Philips Hue Hub for just about everything. The hub requirement applies to not just the Smart side of things, but also for simply turning the lights on and off without pulling the plug. There are no physical switches or buttons to be found on-device, which is understandable for bias lighting, but it still would have been nice to be able to manually toggle colors or power if needed.
Raising the bar
Philips Hue Play Bar The Bottom Line
If you are looking for a clean and simple way to add bias or accent lighting around your home, then the Philips Hue Play Bar is one of the best options around. The compact and versatile design allows it to fit in just about everywhere, including on a tabletop, mounted on a wall, or neatly tucked behind your TV. Yes, there are light strips available that can work for many applications, however, the lamp-esque nature of the Play Bar just makes things easier to manage, and it can be re-used for other purposes in the future.
The Philips Hue Play Bar offers some of the best color reproduction around (minus that pesky dark green), and is bright enough for most scenarios. Response times and reliability are top notch, and the Hue lineup plays nicely with all of the Smart home platforms, keeping things lit up even if you decide to change things up in the future. Of course, the Play Bar does require the Philips Hue Hub for things such as turning them on and off, dimming, and changing colors, but if you are in the market for colorful lighting, then you should already be looking in the direction of Hue.
Philips Hue Play Light Bar review: Great, but too expensive
The new Hue Play fixtures are some of the most likable new accent lights in the Philips lineup.- but do they really need to cost this much?
Originally hailing from Troy, Ohio, Ry Crist is a writer, a text-based adventure connoisseur, a lover of terrible movies and an enthusiastic yet mediocre cook. A CNET editor since 2013, Ry’s beats include Smart home tech, lighting, appliances, broadband and home networking.
There are tons of new additions to Philips Hue’s lineup of Smart lights this year, including a couple that want to serve as color-changing accent lights for your living room or bedroom. Chief among them: new Philips Hue Play “light bars” that splash color across whatever you’ve got them aimed at. The cost: 130 (£120, which is about AU215) for a two-light starter kit that comes with the power supply unit. Additional light bars cost 60 (£65) each.
Philips Hue Play Light Bar
The Good
The Philips Hue Play light bars are well designed and easy to mount in a variety of ways, making them a good fit for spots where bulbs aren’t an option. You can connect three to a single power supply to help cut down on cord clutter around your surge protector.
The Bad
The Play lights don’t feature built-in batteries or any other unique extra features. Despite a high price tag, the starter kit doesn’t come with the mandatory Hue Bridge.
The Bottom Line
These are some of the most appealing new Hue lights of the year, but they’re too pricey to recommend just yet.
Philips Hue announced a ton of new Smart lights this summer
That ain’t cheap, but Philips has always priced its color-changing Smart bulbs and fixtures at a premium. For the money, you get the traditional Hue pitch : A full range of RGB and white-light tones that you can control or automate from an app on your phone, or by using Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands. With a directional design that draws attention to the pool of light that these fixtures cast instead of drawing it to the fixtures themselves, the Play light bars offer an interesting change from the usual bulb-based Philips Hue approach.
Of course, all of that requires that you have a Philips Hue Bridge plugged into your router.- and the Bridge isn’t included in the starter kit. And, while you can connect up to three Plays to a single power supply to help cut down on clutter around your surge protector, you’ll need to buy an additional power supply if you ever decide to expand your setup to four Plays or more. The only way to get that power supply at retail is to purchase the two-Play starter kit, which might be more than you need.
Still, the lights work well as standalone, directional accent lights. Our team’s photo and video producer Chris Monroe has even taken to using the things to help his product shots pop. so there might be some sneaky appeal for Instagram addicts here. I also like the variety of mounting options you get thanks to the easy-to-use screw-in base, and the fact that the underside of each light is double-angled to let you aim it up at your walls if you want to lay one on the floor.
All of that that makes the Play light bars a reasonable splurge for existing Hue users who want to add a Smart touch of color to a spot where bulbs just won’t do. That includes behind your TV or computer, where they’d be a decent fit for Hue Sync, the free software that links your lights with whatever’s playing on your screen.
That said, I wonder if Philips missed an opportunity to do more with these lights. A built-in battery that let you unplug the things and try them out in different spots like you can with the Hue Go fixture would have been a good start. An even better addition would have been the ability to put out multiple colors at once. You still can’t do that with any Philips Hue products, though you can with TV-friendly competitors like the Lifx Z Light Strip and DreamScreen.
All of that would have made the high cost of buying in easier to swallow, but the Play light bars are still pretty decent additions to the Hue lineup, which is increasingly looking beyond bulbs to offer greater versatility for Smart home lighting. I can think of a couple of spots in my own home where they’d be a good fit, but at 130 and with no Hue Bridge in the box, I’ll be waiting for a significant sale before I consider pulling the trigger.
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Philips Hue White And Color Ambiance Play Light Bar Double Pack White, Cool White, Warm White
Decorate with ambient Smart lightsTransform the atmosphere of your home with just the touch of a button. Use over 16 million colors and 50,000 shades of cool to warm white light to create special moments, set the mood for a party, or simply wind down for the evening.
Amplify your entertainment with Smart lightingImmerse yourself in your movie, game, or music with the magic of light. With millions of colors from which to choose and countless lighting options, you can turn any living room into a private cinema; all you need to bring is the popcorn!
Display Hue Play your wayThe Philips Hue Play light bar can be mounted to a wall or TV, laid flat on any surface, or stood upright. A versatile Smart light, it makes the perfect accent piece for any living room, entertainment space, or media room.
Mount behind your TVMount the Philips Hue Play Smart light bar behind your screen using the included clips and double-sided tape to instantly create beautiful backlighting in the color of your choice.
Connect 3 Hue Play light bars with 1 plugHue Play won’t add to a jumble of wires behind your TV or hog too many outlets; you can connect three Hue Play Smart light bars to the same power supply unit, leaving you more than enough room for all your other devices.
Connect to your Hue Bridge for full Smart lighting controlThis product requires a connection to the Hue Bridge (sold separately) to unlock full Smart control and features. Control your lights using the Philips Hue app, set timers, routines, add or remove lights, and more.
BENEFITS
- LED integrated
- White and color light
- Smart control with Hue Bridge (sold separately)
- Control with your voice
Philips Hue Play Starter Kit Light Bar Unboxing Review Hands On First Impression Setup Best Buy 4K
WARRANTY
2-year limited manufacturer warranty.
Product Description
Decorate with ambient Smart lightsTransform the atmosphere of your home with just the touch of a button. Use over 16 million colors and 50,000 shades of cool to warm white light to create special moments, set the mood for a party, or simply wind down for the evening.
Amplify your entertainment with Smart lightingImmerse yourself in your movie, game, or music with the magic of light. With millions of colors from which to choose and countless lighting options, you can turn any living room into a private cinema; all you need to bring is the popcorn!
Display Hue Play your wayThe Philips Hue Play light bar can be mounted to a wall or TV, laid flat on any surface, or stood upright. A versatile Smart light, it makes the perfect accent piece for any living room, entertainment space, or media room.
Mount behind your TVMount the Philips Hue Play Smart light bar behind your screen using the included clips and double-sided tape to instantly create beautiful backlighting in the color of your choice.
Connect 3 Hue Play light bars with 1 plugHue Play won’t add to a jumble of wires behind your TV or hog too many outlets; you can connect three Hue Play Smart light bars to the same power supply unit, leaving you more than enough room for all your other devices.
Connect to your Hue Bridge for full Smart lighting controlThis product requires a connection to the Hue Bridge (sold separately) to unlock full Smart control and features. Control your lights using the Philips Hue app, set timers, routines, add or remove lights, and more.
