There are actually two units used here, one on the left and one on the right side of the TV. Need help picking out the best home security system for your home? The stadium shaped units are smaller than I expected, fronted by a diffusing panel and coming to a point on the back so they can be angled slightly towards a wall. The Hue Play Light Bars ($129.99 for a two pack) join the growing family of Philips Hue smart lighting accessories that you can control with your phone, voice, and … The first step is to decide where to place your light bars, and here’s where you get to be creative. Overall, the design is As with all Philips Hue lamps, you will need a Hue bridge ($60 or bundled with a starter kit) to connect the Play Light Bar to your home network. Additional light bars cost $60 (£65) each. Took several minutes to locate it, and now both work like a charm. As with other Hue lighting devices, the Play bars are easy to set up. Easy to install. We're here to help... Plus, a few helpful fish-grilling tips from chef Akira Back. I plan on adding the Hue Play HDMI next week when it comes out. I really liked the hue sync functionality with the play lights, if you put it on high response, they might get a … I hit the Search button and both bars were added as hue Play 1 and hue Play 2 within seconds. The kind of TV “bias” lighting that the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box enables isn’t for everyone. For the next five years, he was responsible for buying and configuring IBM PC, XT and AT desktops for many of New York's financial institutions. Bottom line: The Philips Hue Play Bar is a versatile lighting solution that offers bright, vivid colors in a compact and light form factor. We review the Philips Hue Play. I tapped the three dots in the upper right corner, then tapped Light Setup and Add Light. You can connect three to a single power supply to help cut down on cord clutter around your surge protector. They're a breeze to install, deliver excellent color, and work well with the Hue Sync app. CONTROL YOUR LIGHTS WITH EASE With the Philips Hue App, you can easily organize your individual lights into rooms. The Philips Hue App makes it easy for you to get the most out of your Hue lights and accessories. I then created a room (Living Room) and added both bars. According to the post, the new product, which is sort of a cross between longer Syncs well with movies and music. Once the light bars are installed, you can add them into your HomeKit setup using the Philips Hue iOS app. I synced the lights up to my laptop and used it to display The Avengers: Infinity Wars on my TV, and the Play Bars worked wonderfully, filling the wall area behind my TV with colors that were a very close match to what was being shown on the screen. The Bad The Play lights don't feature built-in batteries or any other unique extra features. You can dim room lights and turn them on and off, and if you tap a room you can change color and brightness properties for individual lights and turn them on and off without changing other lights in the room. Supports multiple voice command platforms. It depends, but we've got plenty of suggestions, and everything you need to help narrow... From beds and bowls to chew toys and harnesses, here's the gear that'll help your new... We like anything that makes cleaning less of a chore. Apple's Mac Mini is killing my Hackintosh hobby, 2020: The year in pictures, from lockdowns and protests to vaccines and hope, Discuss: Philips Hue Play Light Bar review: Great, but too expensive. The more accurate and precise the syncing is, the more immersive the experience. Despite a high price tag, the starter kit doesn't come with the mandatory Hue Bridge. The Hue Play Bar goes perfect with my Samsung Q70 65’ TV. 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. The Philips Hue Play light bar can be mounted to a wall or TV, laid flat on any surface, or stood upright. Hue Play Light bars in action The lights change quickly with little lag. While the lights aren't very bright, they're perfect for mood lighting and they respond quickly to color changes made using the app. As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. Each bar measures 10.0 inches long, 1.4 inches high, and 1.7 inches wide, and has a white translucent lens covering, a rubberized base with three mounting holes, and a 78-inch power cable. Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box and Gradient Review Turn pretty much any large TV into an Ambilight-style light show with the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box and Gradient lightstrip The bulbs are dimmable and rated to last up to 25,000 hours. That said, the lights are very easy to install and can be controlled with the user-friendly Hue mobile app and with multiple voice commands. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. They’ll dim in dark scenes and you can even have the intensity change based on the volume of the sound in a scene. 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. My IFTTT applet to have the Play Bars light up when a Nest Cam IQ camera detected motion worked perfectly, as did my Alexa voice commands to turn the bars on and off. Bottom Line: The Philips Hue Play Light Bars make it easy to bathe your walls in colorful lighting and add some pop to your movie, music, and gaming … This makes the Play Bar a fantastic choice for bias and accent lighting, especially if you have other Hue lights in your home. The cost: $130 (£120, which is about AU$215) for a two-light starter kit that comes with the power supply unit. © 1996-2020 Ziff Davis, LLC. Each bar is about ten inches long and just under two inches wide and is bright. Tap the Settings button to connect to your lights from anywhere using your phone, configure the Hue Bridge, add a new Bridge, and set up rooms. Updated on Jan 10, 2020 by Tuan Do. You can also assign one of the preset lighting scenes or create your scene own using the color palette tool. The different Philips Hue bulbs. The Hue Play lights look pretty good behind a PC gaming setup -- and they can sync up with games like Overwatch. What is a Philips Hue Play Light Bar? Of course, there’s a school of thought that says such “responsive” TV bias lighting is more … Adidas year-end sale: Get 50% off Ultraboost 20 running shoes and more, Watch Wonder Woman 1984 today with HBO Max -- and don't skip the end credits, How to watch Pixar's Soul with Disney Plus today. The Hue Play Bars delivered rich colors and a nice range of white color temperatures in my tests. You can also create IFTTT applets to have the bars interact with other IFTTT-enabled devices and view a list of third-party apps you can use to control them. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning. 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. They were now ready to control with the Hue app. Your subscription has been confirmed. When setting up a lighting system for my computer, my only solution was using a light strip attached to the back of my desk. And it bears repeating that the required Philips Hue Bridge is not included in the kit. PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. 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. Philips Hue has a number of different lighting solutions for your home. Mount behind your TV The Amazon Echo Show 5 combines the best parts of the full-sized Echo Show with a smart... Arlo's $150 Video Doorbell is still an excellent doorbell at a reasonable price. You can connect up to three bars on each power pack, and additional bars cost $59.99 each. Excellent color quality. It is a bar 253 x 36 x 44mm x 420g that has two mounting bases (vertical or horizontal) to add up to 530 lumens (office light). Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Next I downloaded and installed the Hue Sync app for Windows on my laptop and set up an entertainment area that included both of the Play Bars. At this point you can rename the bars or go back and do it later. You can connect three to a single power supply to help cut down on cord clutter around your surge protector. CNET may get a commission from these offers. Use the Explore button to find out about controlling the Play Bars with Amazon Alexa, Microsoft Cortana, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant voice commands, and how to make them work with other smart home platforms including SmartThings, Vivint, Logitech Harmony, and Nest. Philips Hue Play Smart LED Bar Light Review. There are four buttons at the bottom of the screen. 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