MAY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE387
PHILIPSHASESTABLISHEDHue asthe
world’s leadingsmart lightingsystem;theone
withthe bestline-up ofbulbs, lights and
accessories,andthestrongestrangeof
automation, lifestyle and entertainment
features. On that last count, however,Hue
had onepersistent weakness.
The system has long featuredthe ability to
sync coloured lights in the room to videoon
your TV,replicating the experience of its
Ambilight TVs. Sadly, this only worked when
streaming video from aconnectedPCor
laptop,meaning you couldn’t use thesources
that would actually work bestwith lighting:
Blu-rayplayers, games consoles, streaming
sticks and set-top-boxes.
The HuePlayHDMISync BoxisPhilips’
attempttofixthis.Hookituptoyour TV,plug
in yoursources and it transforms the content
of the HDMI signalintoastream of instructions
foryour Hue lightingsothat the colours sync
up with what you’re seeing on thescreen.
HEAVY LIGHT
Thebox itself costs £230,soitisn’t cheap,and
you’ll also need aminimum of two Hue Play
Smart Light Bars (£62 each or £110 fortwo) or
two Hue Bloom lamps(£60 each)tohave
much impact. What’s more,ifyou haven’t
already boughtintothe Hueecosystem,you’ll
need afurther £45 to £65 foreitheraHue
Bridge V2 or aHue starterkit. Notethat
third-party bulbs aren’t supportedeither.
Forsome,£300-£400 won’tseem like
much outlaytoenhance theirviewing and
gaming experience.That’s peanuts compared
to the cost of an OLED TV or 7.1surround
system. Forothers, it’s goingtobehalfthe
cost of their new4KHDR TV and morethan
they’ll have spent on asoundbar,bothof
hih i t tt thh i
PHILIPS HuePlay
HDMISyncBox
★★★★★
£230•www.meethue.com
VERDICT
This gadget adds anew immersive layer to films,
games and TV programmes, but it will cost you
SMARTLIGHTINGCONTROLBOX
Theplainblackboxcouldn’tbemuch
simpler,withthe front blank exceptfor a
single power/control button, andthe rear
dominated by five HDMI2.0bports. Four of
these are usedtoconnect yoursource
devices, and as the speccovers 4K video
at 60fps with HDRand HDCP2.2 copy
protection, you’re good foranything from
streamingdevices to 4K Blu-rayplayersto
the Xbox One X. The final HDMIportisfor
connecting to your TV.
Thesetupprocess involvesdownloading
Philips’ Hue Sync app–anextra on topofthe
normalHue app–and then waiting whileit
uses atemporary Bluetooth connection to
find and connect the Sync Box over Wi-Fi.
Your phoneneeds to be connected to the
same networkasyourHue Bridge hub,and
from there it’s just aquestion of pairingthe
appwiththe box, getting it connectedtothe
network and pairing the box with your Hue
hub. Theapp takesyou throughstepbystep,
so getting it up and running is relatively easy.
Theotherthing you’ll need to do is setup
an Entertainment Zone within your TV room.
This time,you work within the Hueapp and
add up to amaximum of 10 colour-capable
lights to the zonebymoving the iconsof
different lights and bulbs around avirtualTV
screentoreflecttheir position in theroom.
Again, it’s asimple process,and there’sa
helpful video tutorial within the Sync app to
helpyou getthrough it.
nthe box itself,the
role,both switching
utsand turning the
ndoff. Youcan also
brightness levels
ally,ortakeyour pick
variouspresets for
c,video andgames,
htune the lighting
tsand intensity to
htheactivity.
appiseasytouse and
enough customisation
without overwhelming you with options.
However, switchingHDMIsources feels
unnecessarily slow andclunky, causing a
four-orfive-second pause every time,and
you need to have your smartphone close to
hand whether you’re using Sync or not.
To balance this, there arecomprehensive
optionstoconfigure automaticswitchingover
HDMI-CEC, so you can setthe syncbox to
switch automatically when it detects asignal
from aspecific source or sources. This is hit
andmiss in practice –unsurprising, given the
mess many manufacturersmake of HDMI-CEC
–and we found thatitworks best if youonly
select onedevice forauto-switch priority.
Youcan also rename the four HDMI inputs to
make it easier to track your sources.
NARROWSPECTRUM
There’sone limitation that maywellkill the
HDMI Sync Boxfor some users: lackofsupport
forDolbyVision and HDR10+.Standard
HDR10works, butifyou have anew TV that
supports DolbyVision, you’llprobably want
that overactivelighting. Similarly, Hue Sync is
of no usewhatsoever if you want to watch
Netflix or Amazon Prime Video from your
TV’s built-in apps, as there’s no waytoroute
the signal throughthe Hue box.
Limitations such as this,and the added
faffwhen switching inputs, ultimately make it
hard to feel like the experience is worth the
investment.That’sevenif–as we didwhen
testing–you’ve already gotaHue lighting
setup readytogo.
It’sgreat to seePhilips making its
technology work with the sources we
actuallyuse forTV, films and gaming, andthe
effectsare frequently stupendous. We just
wish theprice of entry was alittle lower.
StuartAndrews
PORTS4x HDMI,1xMicro USB•WIRELESS802.11n
Wi-Fi,Bluetooth•MAXVIDEO SUPPORT4K 60Hz•
DIMENSIONS23x182x99mm•WARRANTYTwoyears
RTB•DETAILSwww.meethue.com•PART CODE
8718699704803
SPECIFICATIONS
34
whicharemoreimportanttothehomecinema
experience than some ambientlighting. KEEP HANDY
With no real controls on
Sync app plays acrucial
between your HDMI inp
sync functiononan
adjustthe
manua
fromv
music
which
effect
match
The
offers juste
It’sgreattosee Philips making its technology work with
the sourcesweactually use for TV, films and gaming
