Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box
Upgrade your Hue lighting system
The Sync Box monitors your video signal to control your Hue lights
£229.99 FROM Philips, www2.meethue.com FEATURES Wi-Fi, 4x HDMI input, 1x HDMI output
Philips was one of the very first companies to support Apple’s HomeKit software, with its Hue range of smart lights a few years ago. And if you’re already using some of the HomeKitcompatible Hue lights at home, you can jazz up your entertainment system even more with its new Play HDMI Sync Box.
The Sync Box is designed to work with devices, such as an Apple TV, set-top box or games console, that connect to your TV via an HDMI cable. Instead of plugging your devices directly into your TV, you can connect them to the Sync Box, then connect the Sync Box to your TV. The Sync Box has four HDMI input ports, so you’ve got plenty of room to plug in all your devices, along with the single HDMI output that connects the Sync Box to your TV.
The Sync Box can then monitor the video signal from your various devices, and uses that signal to control your Hue lights and give you a multicolour light show that is designed to enhance your viewing experience. Once everything is plugged in you can use the Hue Sync app to quickly switch between devices whenever you want, and adjust the lights as required.
Just remember, though, that you’ll need some Hue lights that can change colour, as plain white lights won’t work with the Sync Box. The Sync Box also needs that HDMI input passing through it from your external devices – it won’t work with smart TVs that have their own built-in apps for streaming services such as Netflix or the BBC iPlayer.
Easy switching
The Hue Sync app works very well, guiding you through the process of linking your Hue lights to the Sync Box (although the software updates needed for our set of lights did take a full hour to download). It also provides three separate viewing modes for video, music and gaming, so that you can quickly switch between gaming on an Xbox, watching a film on Netflix, or streaming a party playlist from Apple Music.
Our set-up included two coloured Hue light bulbs, which we placed on either side of our TV set, along with a coloured light strip on the wall just behind the TV, and this arrangement worked a treat. When watching video, the Sync Box seems to take its cue from the dominant colours on the screen, so the kaleidoscopic title sequence from Dr Who had our lights showing matching waves of purples and reds. However, the Sync Box can respond to sound too, with Madonna’s Frozen evoking some suitably cool blues and greens.
The only drawback is that you’re too reliant on the app on your mobile devices for controlling the Sync Box, so we’d like to see some sort of quick ‘neutral’ mode – maybe a button on the box itself – for when you just want to turn the TV on and watch the news without any fancy lighting effects. But, when the time is right, the Sync Box is a great addition to a Hue lighting system – and it will be great for parties too.