Not the lowest price but not bad.
Good time to expand your setup if you into Philips hue play. Enjoy :)
You need a Philips bridge to make it work, thanks 1r4n14n.
Bridge with 2-3 smart globes is around $100 when on special, or gumtree for less.
Note: Operation requires Philips Hue bridge
CamelCamelCamel.
What are either of these used for?
Ambience more than anything but also good for bias lightening if your TV has poor black uniformity.
I use two behind my computer monitors (two 27"s). Provides depth contrast between the monitors and the wall.
can these sync with the tv/monitor ?
Unfortunately not. You'll need the Dreamview T1.
Oooo these looks nice..
My liFX has stopped working, so rather cheaper alternative to lifx and hue
Remember this doesn’t give you the sync box
Yeah. If you stream your content via an amazon fire stick you can side load philips sync app to replace the sync box. Works for me.
Try this
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dwcSuJyTTgo&pp=ygUhcGhpbGlwcyB…
In short, get philips sync app apk from the google play store, side load to fire stick, connect to your bridge and that's it.
@jackwilk: Legend! Been looking for something like this for ages but didn't want to fork out for the sync box
I have 2 of these lights already and while it's not bad, for my 65 inch tv I need at least 4. Hence this post.
For a 65" TV, you're better off with the Hue gradient strip. That's much better value in the long run. Not forgetting to mention it involves less cabling, has a cleaner look and provides an all-round better lighting experience.
Had a search, looks like you’re staring down the barrel of $309 for the strip itself (assuming 65” TV) + $349 for the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box. Fun concept, but pretty lights ain’t worth $660
jackwilk is saying he needs at least 4 of these for his TV. So if someone's paying $280 for 4 of these lights for a 65" TV, $309 for a superior setup is a no brainer. Plus, BF is coming up in a few weeks. It'll most likely be cheaper then.
Side note: the Sync Box isn't actually required. It's entirely optional.
@KangaDrew: Perhaps JB worded their listing for the light strip poorly - without the price of that sync box, it’s a more attractive proposition. Just out of curiosity, without the sync box, is it fair to say the lighting effects might be a bit random? Or would it still be somewhat reflective of what’s happening on the TV?
@XxBargainHuntaxX: Ahh OK, yeah that's quite possible.
Without the sync box, the colours will be 100% whatever you choose (from within the app). So you can choose from one of the dozens of multicoloured scenes that can cycle through colour changes slowly (or fast) or you can just put up a cool or warm colour at whatever brightness and temperature you choose. But they will never be representative of what's being displayed on the TV without the sync box.
I personally only use warm coloured scenes for bias lighting with the gradient strip because it's better on the eyes. So a sync box (in my case) would only be used for something like YouTube streaming on the TV. But at the price point it's at, and as you've pointed out, it's no small investment. So I too can't justify one at the price it's currently retailing for. Would need to be sub $200 for me to consider it.
@KangaDrew: Neat - thanks for the info. I think if I was gonna make the investment, I’d have to go balls to the wall and go for the sync box - I’d be thinking around $200 as well. I suppose we’ll wait and see how low it goes
Sync box also doesn’t have HDMI 2.1, which for me, makes it pointless. Phillips need to hurry up and update it.
@Gregors510: Mmmmm yeah knowing that now, it’d be no bueno for me. Defeats half the purpose if I’m using it with a PS5
When on sale, these are some of the best ambient smart lights you can get for the money. Integrates perfectly with Home Assistant, via a Zigbee hub (I use the SONOFF ZBDongle-E Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus).
The use case is ambient lighting, i.e. bias lighting behind your TV or monitor, or on top of a cupboard pointing towards the walls/ceiling, for soft diffuse lighting.
A word of warning: these light bars are very small — watch some YouTube reviews if you want to get an idea of scale. They're also not particularly bright, but that's typical of ambient lights.
I’m still trying to work out why my Hue lights come on when I come home during the day when I only have it set to night
I have the same exact problem so I’ve turned that “coming home” feature off. Never been able to figure out what is the issue.
Teri love the idea of it for night use only but when I set it to night and it comes on during the day when I get home really bugs me
It's a long-standing issue. Mine does the same - day or night - despite the setting being turned off.
I have a theory that they are particularly sensitive to power fluctuations. If you get a drop in mains voltage the Hue light(s) interpret that as a 'power off' so that when the voltage comes back up to within a normal range they switch on, just as if you had flicked their power switch.
If they are anything like nanoleaf and are turned on by a touch sensor, it might just randomly "sense" a touch from dust etc and just come on. My nanos do that rarely. Luckily the ones in the bedroom have only done it once.
It has absolutely nothing to do with power fluctuations. I've tested this numerous times by walking with my phone outside the radius, only to come back into the radius and open my apartment door to find the lights on. It's a known bug that Philips simply hasn't resolved.
Why I had this theory is that on the odd occasion I get a power dip at home large enough to make the regular mains lights flicker - especially the downlights - but not long or deep enough to affect the TV, microwave or other appliances (which I assume have enough capacitance in their power circuitry to buffer a voltage drop that is only a fraction of a second). But when that happens, most of the Hue lights around the house come on. It is something I have observed a number of times.
This seems to be separate to the Hue switch-on function after a power interruption - I have that switched off for most of the lights.
It may well be that there is a separate bug around time-of-day scene settings, that's something I haven't experience myself. I'm just pointing out that I have definitely seen it happen due to a power fluctuation.
@Astronaut Joe: In your case, it could be based on power fluctuations then. But, yeah, the home/away bug has been happening for way too long - they really need to resolve it.
got 6 of these, been running 24\7 since 3 years with no issues, I use it with my computer when playing games and watching movies for light sync feature
How much has it cost you to run this for 3 years straight, on all the time?
Anyone know what the power consumption is like on these?
According to the official specs, for each light bar it's 6.6W of power consumption for a max of 500 lumen at 4000K — and yes, these lights are not very bright:
https://www.philips-hue.com/en-au/p/hue-white-and-color-ambi…
This lines up with what my Tapo P110 smart plug reports.
So not the most energy efficient, but not too bad either. And on standby (i.e. with the light "off") it sips hardly any power, 0.2W or less.
Looks like Amazon pricematching JBs
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/philips-hue-play-smart-li…
So if you have JB GC, probably cheaper getting it from JBs.
You canput a couple behind the tv. Acts as a nice backlight boost
Bought and then refunded when I realised it needs another $100 or so part
You do not need the bridge, can connect via bluetooth - confirmed by me
Can you please submit a report so everyone knows about this?
You do not need the phillips bridge to use it. I bought this and successfully connected it via bluetooth without the bridge
For those that got in to the Hue ecosystem due to being able to use and control the lights locally, and not have to hand over your info/data that's about to change. https://www.androidpolice.com/the-philips-hue-app-require-lo…
This is exactly why I use Home Assistant instead of whichever one of dozens of proprietary apps/hubs which are severely crippled in their functionality anyway, and more importantly, don't talk to other devices from other manufacturers.
Home Assistant's Zigbee controllers (I use Zigbee2MQTT, but there's other choices out there) work wonderfully with my Hue lights. I also have Kasa smart bulbs and they integrate perfectly as well. If anyone is even remotely interested in home automation, I strongly suggest setting up Home Assistant, it is absolutely fantastic.
Does HA provide all of the same scenes and functionality you get with the Hue app?
I've never used the Hue app, what kind of functionality are you looking for specifically? Having said that, I'd be extremely surprised if it couldn't do everything that the Hue Bridge can do, since it's basically the whole point of Home Assistant.
And in the very unlikely case that HA can't do it, you can always write your own plugin/addon to do it too.
@deadpoet: To name a few:
Sunrise simulation - gradually increases light brightness over a period of of time (up to 60 mins) gradually increasing over time
Location based Home/Away - lights turn on when it's dark and it sense you are home (within a couple of hundred metres radius of home) or turn off when leaving home
Scenes - the Hue app has dozens of very colour-rich themes
@KangaDrew: Sunrise simulation should be possible via some blueprints, there's heaps of them out there:
https://everythingsmarthome.co.uk/creating-wake-up-sunrise-l…
Location based triggers and scenes come as standard with HA:
https://www.home-assistant.io/getting-started/presence-detec…
https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/scene/
You do need to be willing to tinker with automation blueprints and scripts though, as every person's automation requirements will be slightly different. It's rare that you'll find someone else's blueprints do exactly 100% of what you need. The upside is that there's practically no limits, just about everything is possible.
@KangaDrew: You're welcome, good luck with your journey — HA is a fascinating rabbithole to delve into!
I think these new ones actually can work off bluetooth. Philips mentioned a while ago that they've implemented it so you wouldnt need a bridge but its just not labelled as such on the box.
Have you got a source for that? Everywhere I've looked it says that the Hue Play requires a Hue Bridge to control the lights. No mention of Bluetooth anywhere on the box or manual (I bought my Hue Play off Amazon about two months ago — it's the same model as this deal, it's the 2021 edition according to the box).
There are certain newer Hue accessories that also feature Bluetooth now, but the Hue Play doesn't seem to be one of them as far as I can see.
Update: I think this article from Philips clarifies it: only the Hue lights with the Bluetooth logo on the box support Bluetooth. The Hue Play does NOT have a Bluetooth logo on its box, it only has the Zigbee logo.
https://www.philips-hue.com/en-us/products/smart-light-acces…
That article needs updating. Philips sent out an update to Hue Play lights sometime in the early part of 2021 (it could have been latter part of 2020 actually 🤔). So all stock now supports Bluetooth and Zigbee.
It literally says it on their product page even.
Looks like you're right. Philips does their best to make it confusing as hell, and they obviously want to push people to buy the Hue Bridge. They're too lazy to even update their packaging and manuals…
@deadpoet: I just bought this yesterday, arrived today and can confirm you do NOT need a phillips hue bridge to use it. Successfully connected via bluetooth yay
@anoykw: Thanks for confirming that!
@jackwilk Worth updating the deal description to say that the Hue Bridge is optional and not required if using Bluetooth.
Oh I'm into Philips Hue Play baby ;) ;) ;)
Gah. I have 3….I don't need more but so tempted at this price.
Philips Hue Sync Box is at 349$ at JB Hi-fi… good price these days ?
Any reason to use these over the hue light strips "lighting plus"? Is it that only these and the expensive light strips will work with hue sync?
They have different use cases. The play bars can be put anywhere and operate independently. The light strip is, well, it is an led light strip that displays a single colour along its length (unless you get the more expensive gradient light strips, or the even more expensive play gradient strips that are specifically designed to be mounted behind your TV).
Any hue light, up to a maximum of 10 lights, can be used with the sync box.
Not trying to hijack the deal but Goovee have something similar with a 20% coupon: https://www.amazon.com.au/Govee-Backlight-Multiple-Placement…
I understand this has its own ecosystem.