Hdmi hue sync box tv#

There’s an option to enable constant background lighting for the video and game modes.

Hdmi hue sync box tv#

For those of you that don’t have a TV that supports this, you can plug a USB cable between your TV and the Sync Box that will also provide this feature. The Sync box supports CEC via HDMI, so it will turn off when it detects that the TV has been turned off. This is all user configurable at the input level, meaning you have control of which input triggers what response. There is also a setting where you can enable it to automatically sync the lights as soon as an input is detected. When the Sync Box detects a new signal, it will automatically switch to that input, even from standby mode. You can also dictate how the device reacts to different inputs. I personally have an Apple TV 4K, Xbox 1, and a Nintendo Switch plugged into my Sync Box. Here you can rename your HDMI ports, so you know which port is attached to which device. In the next tab of the app are the settings. This also means that you don’t need to have your lights syncing with your TV all the time, because during the daytime it’s pretty useless, unless you have a purposefully dark room. Gaming is set to extreme intensity by default, and that works well if you’re playing a game with lots of shifting colors, otherwise high intensity is fine if you’re playing something a little more casual.įinally, at the bottom you can select between the HDMI inputs, and enable/disable the syncing. I personally found that for TV and more chill movies, 70% brightness with moderate intensity was nice, whereas more action-packed movies were better with high intensity. This is where each person will want to play around with the settings to find what they like the most. There are three sync modes video, music, and game.Įach have their own preset for the intensity of the color synchronization and brightness, however they are all able to overridden, thankfully.

There are several things you can configure in the Hue Sync app.Īt the top right you can turn the box on and off. Let’s explore the Hue Sync app a bit more, since everything is controlled through there. All that’s left is the fine tuning of location and figuring out your preferences for the brightness and responsiveness.

Once you’ve completed that, and assigned your Sync Box to that entertainment zone, the setup is pretty much over. You add and place your color lights into the entertainment zone in a top down view, so that Hue knows which lights should be synced with whatever is on the screen. Essentially the entertainment zone tells Hue where your lights are placed in relation to the screen. Chances are you haven’t created one of these before. Once that is done, you’ll assign it to an entertainment zone. The setup process is very straight forward you’ll pair the Sync Box with your Hue Bridge (yes, you’ll need that as well, it is not a standalone device. The Sync Box uses its own app called Hue Sync, which is separate from the standard Hue application, and is exclusively controlled from there. So how do you change your inputs on your tv? Pretty easily, but we’ll get to that in just a little. But you can also get a Fire Strick or Roku stick for pretty cheap and plug that into the Sync Box. For all of you that use your smart TV’s built in apps, this box is useless to you. This box is set up in a way that all of your devices will plug into the Sync box, and then the Sync box will connect to a single HDMI port on your TV, much like a HDMI switcher. In the box you’ll find the Hue Sync Box, the power adapter, and an HDMI cable. On the back you’ll find 4 HDMI input’s, a single HDMI output, a power supply input and a microUSB port. On the front there’s a single button to turn it on, and a LED next to it to display its status. It’s a pretty non-descript black box, with a soft touch matte black finish throughout. More details are in the disclaimers page. So now that it is finally here, can it live up to the hype, or will the Hue Sync Box just be another tech gimmick?ĭisclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links these do not cost you anything, they just help fund the site. Philips has been slow to roll out these accessory features to their colored smart light universe, even though they were technically supported in their API for years now.

Other companies have tried this before, namely Dreamscreen which was a led frame you could put on the back of your TV that sync’d your content. It synchronizes the picture on your tv screen with your Hue lights, essentially providing color matched backlighting and immersion. The Hue Play HDMI Sync Box may have an awful name, but it has awesome functionality.