Except you always have to be involved when someone wants to watch TV because you’re the only person with access to the app and no one else understands how the damn Sync Box works in the first place.
Take that scenario and apply it to everyone in your household. Now you can finally watch TV or play a game or whatever. You re-open the app to find out what’s going on and see that it, in fact, detects the source, but it didn’t change to that input. Or maybe it just sits on the last-used source, waiting for a signal. Once it’s awake, maybe it detects the signal from your source. You can’t wake it from the app, so you have to get up and press the button on the front of the box. So, you open the app to see what’s going on and realize the Sync Box is still in sleep mode. The TV says it can’t detect a signal because the Sync Box didn’t turn on. Now, here’s how it actually plays out: You turn on the TV and your streaming box, console, or whatever source you plan on using. The Sync Box detects the signal, kicks out of sleep mode, and pushes that content to the TV’s screen. Here’s how it’s supposed to play out: You turn on the TV and your streaming box, console, or whatever source you plan on using. The good news is that it doesn’t work any better once everything is set up and connected. I ended up using 3M picture hangers to mount the brackets to the back of my TV, which not only worked better but will make it easier to remove these from the TV. Except the double-sided tape that comes with the mounting brackets is pretty crappy, so it doesn’t really hold. The lights are easy enough to install, as you just stick them to the back of your TV. If I bought this for my parents, for example, there’s no possible way they would’ve been able to get it set up. It’s easy enough if you already know what you’re doing, but I can see how this incredible unintuitive experience could be a nightmare for someone who isn’t tech savvy. I have no idea why it has its own app, but I can tell you that I’m not a fan of installing two apps for the same product line.Īnd then there’s the setup process.
#PHILIPS HUE SYNC BOX INSTALL#
So you can imagine my surprise when I had to install a second app-the Hue Sync App ( Android/ iOS)-just for the Sync Box. Because of that, I’m pretty familiar with the Hue app. I have at last one Hue light in every room of my house, and my whole family loves them. I’ve been using Philips Hue bulbs for years. It also requires the Hue Bridge, which is an additional $60 if you don’t already have one from other Hue products. It’s a brilliant idea, but it doesn’t come cheap.
#PHILIPS HUE SYNC BOX HOW TO#
It pulls info from the source before it hits the TV screen and tells the lights how to react in real-time. The premise of the Sync Box is really smart: You connect all of your HDMI devices to the box, then the box into your TV. Philips Hue Sync Box: An Exercise in Frustration and Self Control Cameron Summerson But there are so many hoops to jump through to get to that point I can safely say that the Philips Hue Sync Box is the most frustrating product I’ve used in years. Sounds great, right? A beautiful, reactive, completely immersive experience that can take your entertainment setup to the next level? That’s exactly what you get when it works the way it should. It’s not unlike the Govee Immersion I reviewed a few months ago, but the colors are a lot more accurate, thanks to the Sync Box. But when you pair it with the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, the lights react to what’s on the screen.
On its own, it’s basically just a simple light strip. If you’re not familiar with the Hue Gradient, this is Philips Hue’s ambient TV light strip.
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