Philips Hue Play Light Bar review: a fun and flexible addition to your home theater setup
Philips Hue Play light strip: Two-minute review
this Philips Hue The Play Light Bar (sold individually, in packs, or as two or three) is a diamond-shaped smart light that creates Philips Ambilight TVextending color from the edges of the screen and washing the area behind with matching light, making your movies, TV shows, and games more immersive. They’re flexible, easy to use, and fun.
The overall impact is similar, but the Philips Hue Play light strip has some key advantages over Ambilight TVs and Ambilight TVs Best Ambilight Alternatives For example Nanoleaf 4D. First, you’re not limited to placing them directly behind your TV, although you can do that if you want. You can also place them above, below, or to the side, and if you have enough space, you can place them quite far away.
This means you have greater flexibility when designing your lighting system. You can even use them with the Hue Play Gradient Light Strip if you want to create a truly dramatic home theater experience with synchronized lighting that fills the entire room.
Hue Play Bars connect wirelessly to Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Boxmeaning they don’t suffer from the same issues as lighting systems like Nanolead 4D, which use cameras to monitor and reproduce colors on the screen. Camera-based systems don’t experience any lag, and they aren’t affected by reflections.
In fact, the color reproduction is quite impressive – as you can see in the image below, the bar on the left reproduces the exact shades of the tablecloth, while the bar on the right is more of a gray-in-mind Average presenter sleeve color.
They also reproduce natural tones and skin tones well, with smooth color changes that avoid distractions.
Each light has a plastic bracket that you can use to position it vertically or horizontally using a hex screwdriver or allen wrench. You can also mount them on the wall using adhesive pads; however, if you do this, you may need to use raceways or run through the wall to hide the cables. These lights connect wirelessly to the sync box, but they are not battery powered.
The light strips are available in black and white, so you can choose the color that best suits your decor. The review unit I borrowed was black, but if I were buying them for my own home, white would be a better choice.
The main drawback of the Philips Hue Play Bar is that they require Philips Hue Bridge Control them via a mobile app, plus a Philips Hue Play HDMI sync box for syncing the lights to your TV, which adds significantly to the price if you don’t already own them. If purchased separately, the bridge costs around $60 / £60 / AU$75, with sync boxes starting at $250 / $230 / AU$500. 4K Version. this Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K A 2024 release will cost more.
Without these, you’ll be able to use the Play Bar just like any regular light through the Philips Hue Bluetooth app. This will allow you to turn them on and off and change their color manually, but that’s about it.
If you have a Bridge and Sync Box, setting up the bar in the Philips Hue app is a piece of cake. Just plug them in (up to three Play Bar lights are supported), set the Hue app to search for them, and they’ll be automatically recognized, ready to be added to your room.
When you’re not using your TV, you can use the Play Bar like any other Hue lights, setting their colors individually or merging them into a scene. When it’s time to enjoy a movie or game, just tap the sync button in the app.
For those who already have a Hue setup, the Play Bar is a versatile and fun addition that can make your home theater setup even more immersive. They’re not the best entry point into a Hue system, as you only get the full experience of the Hue Bridge and Sync Box, but they’re a good option if you want to expand your existing system.
Philips Hue Play light strip: specs
| Wattage | 13.2W |
| maximum brightness | 500 lumens |
| color | 2000-6500K tone white atmosphere |
| Control options | Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant (via Philips Hue app) |
| Maximum number of lights per power supply | 3 |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi/Bluetooth |
| Dimensions (length x width x depth, excluding mount) | ‎10 x 1.7 x 1.4 inches/25.3 x 4.4 x 3.6 cm |
Philips Hue Play light strip: price and availability
Philips Hue Play light strips can be purchased individually or in sets of two or three. As with most Philips Hue products, you can also find them bundled with other lights and accessories like the Hue Bridge, which can be much cheaper than buying each component individually.
A single Philips Hue Play light strip costs $89.99 / £64.99 / AU$129.95 when purchased Buy directly from the Philips Hue store.
Should you buy the Philips Hue Play light strip?
buy it if
If you don’t buy it
Philips Hue Play light strip: Also consider
Not sure about the Philips Hue Play light strip? Here are two more ambient lighting options worth considering.
How I tested the Philips Hue Play light strip
I tested a pair of Philips Hue Play light strips as part of a larger Hue lighting system that includes ceiling-mounted bulbs, an HDMI sync box, and a Hue bridge. I use them to sync content on my TV and as standalone smart lights via Google Home Apps.
I use lights with a variety of media, but to avoid copyright infringement, all images in this review are shown from TechRadar’s own videos Youtube channel.
For more details, see How we test, review and rate products on TechRadar.
