Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Hue Play HDMI Sync Box makes Hue lights explode from behind your TV and shouldn't fail to pull you into most movies and shows. It comes at a steep price, but those looking to create a unique and truly impressive entertainment space won't be disappointed with the purchase.

Love the Hue HDMI Sync Box. Virtually no lag as your lights sync with whatever your watching on your television. Setup is as easy as adding any other accessory to your Hue ecosystem. I admit this is an expensive accessory to an already expensive lighting system, but if you are a home theater enthusiast, it is worth the price.

This piece is expensive. However, what it does is amazing and worth the money.

While a little pricey, this hue play hdmi sync box does exactly what it was designed to do. Interface between the hue play lights and hue play software. The promotional 50$ best buy gift card helped make the purchase easier. Also since this is currently the only solution on the market you are kind of stuck if you want to have proper lighting behind your tv or monitor.

I've been waiting for this for some time now. Hue certainly didn't disappoint. I'm not complaining about the price. Need to tweek location of lights on entertainment area but overall does a good job at picking up colors. Only wish the light strips were capable of more than one color at a time. Would've given it 5 stars if it worked with native apps of smart TV and if it was capable of keeping all my same HDMI assigned ports. Luckily I found a workaround so unit stays.

Works as advertised and enhances all TV watching and movies to a great theater experience. Sometimes the colors or brightness lag mildly on cable shows and the setup can be a pain with amplifiers or soundbar pass thru. Only real problem is the lights automatically kick on when you start watching anything on the TV but if you power everything off they do not turn off with the TV, you need to go into the Hue app and manually turn them all off which is annoying.

Though I do really enjoy the Sync Box, it is a bit pricey (even for Hue) and does not accept HDMI2.1, which is disappointing. Cool effect when playing PS4 and Xbox One or when watching a Bluray or 4K movie. I will be upset that it will not be compatible with the new gaming systems to run on 120 hz. Also, the mounting brackets keep popping off, even though I was very careful to mount them properly as described.

I would have loved to give this a 5-star, but the output from the Sync Box provides a scrambled feed more often than I would like. But when it does work, it is pretty nice. Setup is a two part process. First, you'll have to define an entertainment area using the main Hue App. Once you've done that, then you'll have to download another app called Hue Sync. Here is where you'll be able to control the functions specific to the Sync Box. It probably would've been nice to have it all in one app. Let's make things clear for anyone considering this product. You'll need an HDMI input to make this work (like an XBOX, PS4, blu-ray player, cable/satellite box). With the maturity of smart televisions on the rise, most apps such as YouTubeTV and Disney+ can be run directly on the TV, which means no HDMI input. My workaround is to use a Chromecast as an input to the Sync Box, which will allow my to cast most anything. Again, my biggest problem with this is the occasional scrambled feed. Even with the lights off (essentially becoming an HDMI switch), the picture will output as scrambled. I've tried troubleshooting using different HDMI cables and cable lengths, but I still saw the problem. I'm hoping a software update will fix this problem, because this can be a wonderful addition an entertainment zone in your home.

I love this thing. I’ve been waiting for this to come out for a while. Love the intensity when playing video games. I’ve been using Philips hue lights for sound forever. But the video sync is awesome. Took me a while to figure out how to wire my stuff since I go through a receiver. However, I use it with my Xbox one, switch, MacBook, etc. Depends on what I’m doing. 4 stars because it’s pricey and hard to get set up if not knowing what you’re doing.

Overall a good product and worth it in my opinion: really creates an immersive experience for most shows and videogames but I will admit I agree with my fiance that, for some dialogue-heavy shows/scenes it can be distracting. Also, has created some issues when using voice control with Alexa/Echo Cube (turning on/off, switching inputs, syncing). Although that probably just needs some fine tuning by user and/or software update.

The sync box is a fun addition to the home theatre. When paired with the various compatible hue lights, it adds and extra dimension to whatever’s on screen. Only complaint is that It occasionally disconnects and the lights turn off and on briefly. Sometimes the HTPC handshake doesn’t quite pair right but, I solved this by running a separate HDMI cable to the sync box on Monitor 2 from my receiver.

If you like an immersive experience, then this product is a must-have. I do not have lights behind the TV, because I feel that would be too distracting. However, I have four Hue recessed downlights that do the trick. To give a specific example of the benefit, I watched a movie last night that had eerie fog on the screen, and the lights extended that effect where I felt that the room was also foggy. But when the screen indicated being outside in daylight, the lights matched the scene to give me the feeling I was outside in the bright sun.

Hooked up to AppleTV and Xbox One. Both have great results. Using with both the Play gradient strip, a Play 1 light and two colored light strips, the room feels like you are a part of whatever you are watching.

Lighting does left to right or top to bottom but need expensive strip lighting to get complete lighting all the way around tv. This isn’t released yet. But says it starts @ $200 for the light strip. Cool effect, but for the complete lighting setup, with hue play, it’s extremely pricey. Not sure I would buy again at this total price point. I’m in for over $500 without getting the expensive light strip coming out.

If you already have Philips Hue lights in the room with your main tv, this is a really great addition. I was worried I’d have to start the “sync” via the app every time I wanted to use it, but that is not the case. You said set it up to automatically start the sync when the tv/inputs turn on. Plus it will turn off (or return to previous state, whatever you configure) after the tv is turned off. It’s all automatic and I love it.

This is a fantastic addition to any smart light home theater/gaming setup! It has passthrough for all formats including HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. It also works with eARC. Very easy setup and easy to change the input through the app. The only Con is the price. This shouldn’t be more than $150

very expensive but efffective... Has problems identifying some formats though

Works the best for accurately projecting colors but a little too pricey

I love the hue play sync box! It is very easy to install and I got the hue play light bar behind my tv and the light goes to whatever color is on the tv! I had a friend that came over thinking the light behind the tv came with the tv because the sync box sync it so good! It’s so cool!

I was so on the fence about this. for one its expensive. for two it didnt have the best reviews and the more complex your home theater set up is the worse the reviews. after getting a couple play bars, I couldn't resist and I am not disappointed at all. I love it. I've got 6 bars on a 75 and im considering going to 8. Im one of those people that multi tasks alot and when the lights are on and the movie is going, I'm hooked.