Syncing lights with your TV - Philips Hue Sync Box

<Updated 23rd Oct 2023>

I no longer have this solution running. I have replaced it with Nanoleaf 4D and have removed my Philips Hue Bridge, even though I still have a few Hue lights left.

<end of Update>

When I first started into Philips Hue, one of the things I wanted to do was sync lights with the video on my TV. There was a solution out there, but they used their own lights and it wasn't HomeKit compatible. Meanwhile Philips themselves had Ambilight TV's, which are not available in the USA - where I currently live - and I already had a TV.

Initially Philips Hue came out with Bloom, which they advertised as being suitable for TV. These are nice lamps. I wouldn't say they were suitable for the TV effect I was looking for though. Not only that, the only way to get the sync I needed was to have an iPhone/iPad camera looking at the TV and that then synchronised with the Hue lights. Not really Practical, although I did do it for a few movies and I liked the effect.

When the Philips Hue Sync Box came out, I was ready for this capability and bought one.

It's not a cheap bit of kit, but very worth it, in my opinion.

It has 4 input HDMI ports on the back, and a single out and it essentially reads the HDMI signal going to your TV and the syncs with lights that you have designated into an "Entertainment Area".

This means that Hue Sync will NOT work with streaming apps on your TV. For me that's not a problem as I stream everything through my tv 4K or watch movies on my Blu-Ray player.

Personally, I don't need four inputs either. I wish there was a single port version, as I have one in, from my Denon AVR, and one out to the TV. My Blu-ray player also connects to the AVR.

You can get more detail of my media set up in an earlier post, but it looks like this:

You really need to make sure that HDMI-CEC is switched on in all of your components. I covered how I did that in the afore mentioned earlier post. Just to confuse things, different vendors call it different things so you nee dto check your device manuals if it isn't obvious.

Just in case you don't know, HDMI-CEC is a standard that enables control of devices. This means I can power on my tv and it turns on my Denon AVR, Hue Sync Box and the LG TV. Amazingly, it works quite well.

Having bought my sync box I then needed to set it up. I'm going to skip forward a little now because I loved the effect so much I then went out and bought 5 Hue Play Bars which you can either stick on the back of your TV or have them on a stand. In my case I stuck them on the back of my TV.

so, yes, I have 7 lights on the back of my TV.

Subsequently, Philips Hue have launched the Play Gradient Light Strip which comes in specific sizes for your TV, of 55", 65" and 75". Interestingly, it has 7 zones which, essentially, is what I have. When I moved to the UK, I brought my Hue setup with me, and I purchased the 65" Light Strip. The Lightship went around the 2 sides and across the top of the TV. I still had 2 Hue Play Bars for the bottom of the TV.

Set up

I wish I could say that this is a delight.... but it isn't. For a couple of lights, say one on each side, or even 3, with one in the middle, it's just fine. 7? It's rubbish!

First of all you have to add the lights to the Philips Hue Bridge.

Then you have to create an entertainment zone in the Hue App. In this example I've called my entertainment area "TV", and then placed the lights on the graphic of the TV. You can see it's a very crowded interface for 7 zones.

With the Light strip you set it up for the middle of the top, and it works it out from there automatically.

There is a "Test Area" capability. I heavily suggest using it just to make sure you have it all set up correctly.

Now, one advantage that the lights have over the Light strip is that you can use the lights through HomeKit when they are not being used by the Sync Box. Personally, I use the two Blooms like that, but I wouldn't really miss them if I had the Light strip, which you can still use - but only as a single colour, not 7 different ones.

<Updated 23/10/2023>

This next section was the original experience. Signify, who own Philips Hue, finally consolidated their apps and it was done in a single tab called "Sync".

<End of Update>

When you have set up the entertainment area in the Hue App, you then fire up the Hue Sync App... yep, a different app! You then select the Entertainment area you created in the Hue App.

The Next step is relatively easy. You can name the HDMI inputs if you have multiples.

As I have only one input, this set up was easy for me.

Now, we get into how do you automatically switch HDMI inputs.

I have "CEC power state detection" switched on and then under "HDMI device turns on" I have selected my renamed HDMI 2, which is now called "AV Receiver". I do not have to select "New input detected" as I only have one input.

If you don't have HDMI-CEC, there is another option which is to connect the USB on the back of the Sync Box to USB on your TV and so it will switch on when you switch on your TV. However, that will not necessarily switch your inputs. For that you'll have to use the app.

Hue Sync Box also has ShortCuts support, so you could build a shortcut. Disappointingly it has no HomeKit support right now, although I believe it has been promised. Having said that, I've found very little need for it except the very few times when syncing does not automatically happen.

Support for Dolby Vision.

My AVR has had support for Dolby Vision since I bought it, so has my TV and my tv 4K. However, Hue Sync Box only supported Dolby Vision from May of 2020, and you have to do a couple of things to make it work.

• Your HDMI in must use either port 2 or port 4, which is why my sync box uses port 2.
• You must make sure that your TV supports Dolby Vision @ 60Hz for the US/Canada and @50Hz for Europe. Philips provides a list of supported TV's, but for LG they only go back to 2017. I have a 2016 model and it works for me.
• You will probably have to go into advanced sync settings and switch on "Dolby Vision Enhanced Compatibility". It didn't work for me until I did.