Customer Ratings & Reviews

I was hoping Philips hue would introduce something that Sync with the HDMI sources and finally we have it. This worked right away out of the box and no sync issues with phone application or the bridge. I did some updates and ready to go. Overall its been working great. Not sure on the negative reviews seems like people are not taking the time to troubleshoot where needed. It kind of does stink you have to use a separate app but I feel like the Philips hue team can fix that in the future. The app alone has alot of settings to customize. Once synced with the entertainment area you can still use the original hue app to change lights and stop sync with no hassle. Overall great product, price point on the higher end but feels solid and not cheap.

My wife got me the Hue Sync Box as an early Christmas gift and we love it; if your home theater is already outfitted with Hue lighting products, this product is an absolute must if you want to get the most enjoyment out of your Hue lighting as well as your home theater investment. The Hue Sync app allows you to program the exact placement and height of each Hue fixture in your entertainment space, so installing the sync box instantly brings an immersive 4D element to your home theater with what is essentially a surround sound effect for your lighting! I was initially skeptical about this product at launch, especially considering that it didn’t support HDR 10 or Dolbly Vision at the time (Philips has since released a software update that allows it to fully support both HDR formats, and they also added voice control through Alexa, Siri, and Google), but after experiencing it first-hand I can officially confirm that it legitimately enhances your viewing experience exponentially, and isn’t gimmicky by any stretch of the imagination. Though the price may seem hefty, the value for money is absolutely spot on if you enjoy immersive 4D theater experiences. The only potential drawbacks to this device that I can possibly think of are: - It only allows a maximum of ten Hue devices to be synced to each box. (We had thirteen in our theater) -Since all of the devices connected to the sync box must pass through the box’s four HDMI inputs that output directly to a single source on your TV, you must use the Hue Sync app or voice control in order to alternate between the synced devices on that particular TV source; however, the Hue Box will detect when another synced device is powered on and adjust to that device automatically. -Considering that all of the synced devices have to pass though the box, apps and features installed directly onto your smart tv cannot be synced. Apps you wish to sync must be enjoyed through external multimedia devices such an Amazon Fire TV Stick or game console. -The box will only support a maximum frame rate of 60fps; though most movies are encoded at 24fps and will most likely continue to be 24fps due to the low frame rate having a more “theatrical” quality that directors prefer, though, it will not run the full 120fps of the next generation gaming consoles. -Not so much a drawback as it is a lack of communication from Hue, but there is a minimum lighting feature in the settings that prevents the brightness from dropping below ten to twenty percent while syncing; so if you want the lights to turn off completely in the areas corresponding to the black/dark areas of your tv screen, this option needs to be turned off and it will only sync in that manner on the top two intensity settings on the app. I had to learn from trial and error that the two lowest intensity settings will always maintain a minimum brightness even when the minimum brightness option is not selected. Overall we have been completely enamored with our Hue Sync Box, and have yet to experience any issues regarding the responsiveness, connection, or any other factor that has been reported by others who were having difficulties with its performance (though we have a solid internet connection, we are running premium quality AudioQuest HDMI cables, and we have not connected an Apple TV device). We can’t wait to get the Hue gradient light strip for behind the TV to elevate the viewing experience even further; now Philips just needs to release synced fog machines and water/scent spritzers for the ultimate 4D home theater! -

Exactly what I wanted to make the Hue lights behind my TV reflect what is appearing on screen. However, the app has horrible functionality bringing my review down to 4 stars. Thankfully I was able to program buttons on my regular TV remote to replace using the app to turn on the lights and apply specific settings to the lights.

awesome box to sync movies but overpriced but awesome if you use it alot

This is a great product but the comes at high price The synch was great with hue play lights, The different levels of the intensity works awesome, the Hue Sync app needs upgrades, it stops responding sometimes, not sure if is possible to turn on & off the sync with smart devices like Alexa, Google Home But, if so that will be a great feature. You can use multiple HDMI Apple tv, cube tv, xbox up to 4.

When it works it works great and it brings a new experience to watch movies. But I did run into problems. The first problem is that despite saying it supports Dolby Vision for me it doesn’t sync the color to the picture do I have to set my Apple TV to HDR in order for it to work. Also every now and then the picture will go black and lose signal for a few seconds, sometimes occurring back to back. It might be the way my tv is interpreting the sync box because I do have a Vizio which dose a lot of weird things and the software can be improved on Vizio’s end. But the problem with Dolby Vision is definitely on Philips’ end. I fallowed their customer support’s advice and when everything in their book didn’t work they just repeated themselves. So if you want Dolby Vision I would not recommend. But other then that I would recommend it.

Used it for almost 4 years. I got no problems/issues encountered. It can sync 4K 60fps. I hope this can be updated to sync 4K 120fps. So far, it is awesome.

After looking for any app that would spice up my Home theater, the hue sync box comes long and makes it all so easy. Just plug and play. This box is expensive, but lets face it, so are hue lights. If you want to do it right. This little gadget is a must!

This is a must have if you want to use the sync play. However, I do think this is quite expensive. I wish they could have integrated this with the bridge. In any case I still like Phillips, and they’re like. I recommend this if you are buying other Phillips products.

I have only been using this for less than a week, but so far it is a fun add on to my Phillips hue system. I purchased this, along with the Philips - Hue Play White & Color Ambiance Smart LED Bar Light - Multicolor for my 55" Samsung QLED TV. I also recently purchased hue white and color ambiance gradient (not the play gradient for behind tv) lightstrips that I ran under a new metal bed frame's edges. I was only really expecting this to sync with those hue lights, but it syncs well with all my light bulbs in my bedroom which are hue white and color ambiance standard sized light bulbs. My biggest concern was if this play box would actually work with my chromecast, as I use that to stream basically everything I watch, and so far it is working very well. I will probably need a 2nd light bar, or a hue play gradient lightstrip 55" to achieve the full effect I'd like behind my tv. Hopefully this continues to work well and I don't run into problems others have mentioned.

The Sync Box and Gradient Light Strip function better than I hoped! There is virtually no lag and the color matching is spot on. After briefly being in awe of the screen color mirroring, it fades into your peripheral creating this unbelievably immersive experience. I'm glad that I took the chance and ordered. It's amazing! One piece of critical feedback: It does not support HDMI 2.1, which I think is bizarre. I believe gamers make up a big part of the demand for this product and feeding a next gen console through this limits the capability of the system. If you want the background lighting, you can't have 120hz at 4k, which is a bummer. That said, there are currently very few games running at those specs, so they still have time to catch up....and 60hz at 4k is still pretty darn phenomenal.

Plug up to four hdmi devices and then plug this box into your tv's hdmi port and simply pair with your hue bulbs or lightstrips and enjoy a really awesome color showcase!! It literally matches the colors on the screen. You wont be sorry!

you really need to have your TV and lights set up in an ideal spot for this. First I had it connected to the lights in the TV room and a Hue lightstrip behind the TV. This was way too distracting for me, no matter how low I had the settings. Totally distracting for movies but fun for video games I would guess. Then I just had lightstrip connected for backlighting. On TV in my den, there is a floating shelf above TV. This created a dramatic, distracting shadow while watching movies. So I tried it in bedroom which is mounted on wall near corner. This didn't work either as the light hitting the corner wall on right side of TV was much more intense the on left side of TV, which the light dispersed into rest of bedroom. I think ideally you'd want a completely blank, preferably white wall, with nothing on either side of TV or above to cast shadows, etc. White walls make the colors from lights more true... it you have color painted walls in doesn't work as well as it throws the color from lights off. It's also too bad the app isn't incorporated to Hue app.

OK I've had this box for a year now and it works fine once you finally get it set up correctly. There's a few issues with connectivity and inputs and what it will and will not do that I think Philips Hue should be much more responsive too. This box is not cheap and is definitely a niche product. That being said I'm glad I bought it and I enjoy using it.

I bought this for my son for Christmas. He has a X Box and tv. This simplified the hdmi’s clutter and it work with the Phillips hue hub and the colored leds wihich sync up to the sound track on his x box games. Simple and easy set up.

This box is not compatible with Dolby Vision, as described. I had to return it because it was creating a flicker on the tv and a sound interruption every few minutes when in 4K HDR 60Hz. It did not make it on 4K SDR, 4K HDR 30hz or any other resolution lower than that. My TV is a brand new LG C9 OLED 65 inch. I also purchased brand new HDMI 4K compatible cables for my Apple TV, TV, PS4 and Commcast box. I did not have the problem when I connected directly from my Apple TV to the TV. If they improve the box in the future I will try it again, it is a cool product when it works. Also, I noticed that it favors the reds and purples even with the image on the screen has none of those hues. I wish the app had a way for you to set a preference on colors or limit certain tones. No granular control of how it sycncs the colors.

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

After messing around with opensource software, custom products and almost going away from Hue lights for my entertainment areas this BOX was finally introduced and then I bought it!! While others will tell you the downfall with Dolby vision I can tell you using this box with all of my TV inputs (Apple TV and Xbox) I cannot tell any visual issues. The only problems we run into our with our surround sound system (Sonos); there are times that it doesn't read the sound input but we had this issue before the Sync box was installed. For light setup started with are 3 Hue PLay lights that are mounted to the TV and then 3 other color hue bulbs in a floor lamp and finally a single color bulb in a table lamp. 3 lights at the front of the room and the other 4 at the back of the room where we sit. While the color changing to match the screen content is awesome having so many lights interact was a bit annoying/intrusive. We opted to have only the front 3 lights color change for TV/movie use and then add in the back 4 during gaming.

I have two of these (living room and game room) and both work great, especially when paired with the Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip. I did initially have issues with Dolby Vision content/Apple TV, but when I checked the Dolby Vision compatibility setting in the Hue app, it was fixed. Although the Entertainment Area setting in the Hue App only allows 10 lights to be synced, the new App update allows three separate zones for the new ambiance Gradient strip (as well as the Play gradient strip) to be adjusted while still only counting as one light, so I will be replacing my traditional lightstrips with the gradient ones for even better syncing. New update also supports 120 mhz at 1440p on next gen counsels.

Love the way this makes you TV seem larger with the ambient light. Did have an issue with getting it to work one time (probably just a firmware update) but it is pretty easy to use. A little pricey in my opinion but it does work as expected.