Support NeoGAF

[Giallo Corsa]

I have had the Phillips Hue Sync Box for several years now, and it is awesome. How well it works though depends on the what you are watching and what settings you have it on:

• gaming - works great! It really adds a level of immersion to the game. I usually set the lights to max brightness and intensity to "Extreme". All games work well with this IMO. Explosions seem to go across your wall. Red flash notifications from from taking damage is more noticeable. Even subtle things like shadows from passing trees in racing games are cool due to the lights dimming for the shadows, making as if the lighting in the gaming world is impacting your world.
• concerts - during COVID some of my favorite bands were doing live concert streams, and the sync lights were great with them. Makes it feel like the light show from the concert is happening in your room. I would try to have the brightness match the level of my TV and set intensity to "Extreme".
• WWE events - similar to concerts, the intros and lighting of the matches work well with the sync lights. Makes you feel like you are there. During the matches however, it is not as immersive. I would set the lights to match the brightness of the TV and set the intensity to "High.
• SciFi/Animation/sFX movies - if a movie is full of special effects or is an animated film, it works really good as well. StarWars is great with the light of the lightsabers making the room glow and the red lasers form the spaceship battles make the room flash. Animated movies can glow as well. Lion King's intro is a good demo for people. Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse is also great. For these, I usually have the lights set to be either just below the brightness or matching the TV and set the intensity to "High"
• Normal TV watching/sports - for everyday TV watching, dramas, or watching live sports it can become distracting if the settings are not set up correctly. Especially if there are a lot of camera cuts, causing the lights to change real quick without any "action" for the lights to react to. Example, just cuts going back and forth between people talking. However, you can still make the sync lights work well in these situations, making them good bias lighting that matches the colors on the screen. For these, I make the lights brightness to be a little bit lower than the TV's and also the setting to be on "Moderate" or "Subtle".

For those who find it distracting, the key is to make the brightness match the TV's brightness or for it be slightly lower than the TV's. when you do this, the light is more of an extension of the light coming off of the TV. If the brightness is brighter than the TV, then everytime the light changes your eyes want to look at it. I do not have this issue when playing video games, so I leave it brighter when playing. This makes me notice the lights more for playing games. With watching movies and TV, I want the extra light to disappear more, so I set it to be at the brightness of the TV or under it. When set this way, I have found most people who thinks it would be distracting does not find it to be so and actually likes it.

As for HDMI 2.1, it is a bummer that it is not compatible. However, I have my setup in a way where I can optionally use it with games. This way sometimes I use the SyncBox with games and other times I am using HDMI 2.1 features with games. Not all games need VRR or do 120hz, so having the optional ways to hook it helps. Here is how I have it setup:

1. PS5, XSX, switch, 4k UHD Player, and 4K Chromecast are hooked up to my Onkyo HDMI 2.1 AV Receiver
2. HDMI Out A on the receiver is hooked up to my TV's eARC input that also supports HDMI 2.1
3. HDMI Out B on the receiver is hooked up to the Sync Box, and the Sync Box is hooked up another HDMI port on the TV
4. When wanting to use HDMI 2.1 features, I send the video through HDMI out A
5. When wanting to use the sync box, I send video through HDMI out B

Nice write-up friend

Here's the thing though : People interested in Ambilight (or Hue) already know that it works well, the problem lies in the fact that...it can cost up to 500+ Eurodollars (depending on the number of lamps that you want to add) for the privilege of being able to use it, this is why people are interested in cheaper, 3rd party alternatives.


Native Ambilight on Philips TVs is amazeballs, Hue is a close 2nd and everything else (Govee, Lytmi etc) come - obviously - last either because the light response is bad, color representation is off and/or many new HDMI 2.1 features aren't supported...
Ambilight is supported properly on new, HDMI 2.1 Philips TVs so i can't understand why many new 3rd party options are stil 4K60 only - i don't think that Philips has patented such a thing so the only reason i can come up with is said companies skimping on hardware trying to sell their products at a 9somewhat) reasonable cost.

Anyway, Philips has released its 2.1 syncbox and while it supports VRR and 120Hz, it has problems with HDR (colour accuracy).
Lytmi Fantasy 3 PRO supports 4K120 BUT, not VRR.

Apparently - and i can't vouch for the brand - but FANCYLEDS has released a fully operational HDMI 2.1 syncbox , meaning, it does 4K120, supports ALLM and VRR and HDR properly, here's a video in action if anyone's interested - it's 214 Eurodollars for the 55'' version btw :



EDIT : the CATCH is that...it only has 1 HDMI in port LMFAO ! man, fook these cheap-ass companies !

 

[Bond007]

Added to my Amazon "save for later pile" so i can monitor the price for sales over time.
This would be a great replacement to the lighting i already have.

 

[ahtlas7]

Nice write-up friend

Here's the thing though : People interested in Ambilight (or Hue) already know that it works well, the problem lies in the fact that...it can cost up to 500+ Eurodollars (depending on the number of lamps that you want to add) for the privilege of being able to use it, this is why people are interested in cheaper, 3rd party alternatives.


Native Ambilight on Philips TVs is amazeballs, Hue is a close 2nd and everything else (Govee, Lytmi etc) come - obviously - last either because the light response is bad, color representation is off and/or many new HDMI 2.1 features aren't supported...
Ambilight is supported properly on new, HDMI 2.1 Philips TVs so i can't understand why many new 3rd party options are stil 4K60 only - i don't think that Philips has patented such a thing so the only reason i can come up with is said companies skimping on hardware trying to sell their products at a 9somewhat) reasonable cost.

Anyway, Philips has released its 2.1 syncbox and while it supports VRR and 120Hz, it has problems with HDR (colour accuracy).
Lytmi Fantasy 3 PRO supports 4K120 BUT, not VRR.

Apparently - and i can't vouch for the brand - but FANCYLEDS has released a fully operational HDMI 2.1 syncbox , meaning, it does 4K120, supports ALLM and VRR and HDR properly, here's a video in action if anyone's interested - it's 214 Eurodollars for the 55'' version btw :



EDIT : the CATCH is that...it only has 1 HDMI in port LMFAO ! man, fook these cheap-ass companies !

I’m interested in this but evidently it adds 10ms lag.

 

[knitoe]

Anyway, Philips has released its 2.1 syncbox and while it supports VRR and 120Hz, it has problems with HDR (colour accuracy).
Lytmi Fantasy 3 PRO supports 4K120 BUT, not VRR.

Apparently - and i can't vouch for the brand - but FANCYLEDS has released a fully operational HDMI 2.1 syncbox , meaning, it does 4K120, supports ALLM and VRR and HDR properly, here's a video in action if anyone's interested - it's 214 Eurodollars for the 55'' version btw :



EDIT : the CATCH is that...it only has 1 HDMI in port LMFAO ! man, fook these cheap-ass companies !

When, did Philips release their 2.1 syncbox? I been googling of current options. No mention, it was released.

Lytmi Fantasy Pro 3 does VRR, but it seems to have random black screen issue which requires rebooting by unplugging.

My Fancyleds in shipping. Only one heard works without any issue. Already running 4K@120Hz, HDR, VRR and Atmos so 1 HDMI shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[King Dazzar]

I've tried 2 x Philips Hue Sync boxes. Both of them would work fine a lot of the time and then another time they'd need the box rebooting. In the end I got rid of it due it being unreliable and a bit flaky. I got around the HDMI 2.1 issues by using a 2.1 splitter. The only really reliable active hue lighting solution I found was my Philips OLED with the onboard ambilight - it was flawless. All other solutions seem to be quirky or at the very least have some draw backs.

I do however continue to use lots of Philips hue lighting including the full TV mounted hue strip. But I just use it static as the box had issues I've covered... all works brilliantly with Alexa too if that helps.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

 

[Jimmy_liv]

I'd buy this in a second but no VRR effectively kills my interest.

 

[RhyDin]

With a Hue Sync, when I play with latency-sensitive games like Stepmania (DDR for PC) there is lag introduced that ruins the game (usually milliseconds not noticeable in other games). Will there be that lag with this? I imagine it's unavoidable since the box needs to process the video and it's not straight passthrough?

 

[Platinumstorm]

I liked ambient lighting a ton until I went oled.

 

[King Dazzar]

With a Hue Sync, when I play with latency-sensitive games like Stepmania (DDR for PC) there is lag introduced that ruins the game (usually milliseconds not noticeable in other games). Will there be that lag with this? I imagine it's unavoidable since the box needs to process the video and it's not straight passthrough?

You can avoid latency and VRR issues by using an HDMI 2.1 splitter. You'll need to look into it yourself though as its too much for me to go through in detail. But essentially you can have one stream go to the TV and another go to a Hue Sync box. Which means the stream going to the TV is unaltered.

 

[Giallo Corsa]

I liked ambient lighting a ton until I went oled.

I have an OLED and I still love ambilight.

I get that Ambilight on Philips LEDs could also help with the screen's perceived contrast by the viewer but they also put ambilight on their OLEDs , in fact, one of the their OLEDs from 2 years ago IIRC was considered to be one of the best in the market

Always IMO, I don't think that Ambilight detracts from the OLED "experience", besides, you can always turn the AL's brightness down so...

Cheers

 

[CGNoire]

Immersion is forgeting everything outside the screen exists. This is just making sure the lighting around your TV always matches the hue of the screen. Unless you just hate watching TV with the lights off this just seems like a Gimmick.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

I liked ambient lighting a ton until I went oled.

I have an OLED and I still love ambilight.

I get that Ambilight on Philips LEDs could also help with the screen's perceived contrast by the viewer but they also put ambilight on their OLEDs , in fact, one of the their OLEDs from 2 years ago IIRC was considered to be one of the best in the market

Always IMO, I don't think that Ambilight detracts from the OLED "experience", besides, you can always turn the AL's brightness down so...

Cheers

There are no issues with ambilight and OLED whatsoever.

Playing in game mode when you enter dark rooms ingame ambilight is turned off.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I want a killer hue syncbox 2.1 that supports vrr etc. I'd buy that in a heart beat

 

[King Dazzar]

I want a killer hue syncbox 2.1 that supports vrr etc. I'd buy that in a heart beat

Yeah, I think thats what many want. But even then, it does have to actually be reliable. The Samsung only Hue app seems like a great onboard TV option too, so would be great if that came to other TV brands.