Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box 8K, 1-Pack

I was a little hesitant to upgrade at first because the original Hue Sync Box was already good, but after getting a new TV I decided to try this one — and the difference was immediate. Sync is noticeably faster, color accuracy is better, and everything feels smoother and more responsive. It integrates perfectly with my PlayStation, movies, and TV content, and it plays extremely well with my Sony TV. I use it constantly and honestly never turn it off anymore. In my setup I have eight lights connected: Play Bars, a Bloom, multiple A16 bulbs, and even an Ellipse Edison bulb. All of them respond instantly and stay perfectly in sync with no issues. Whether I’m watching something light and casual or diving into a dark movie or intense game, the lighting adapts beautifully to the mood. It even works as functional ambient lighting when I’m not actively paying attention to it. Setup was easy, features are well thought out, and gaming performance is surprisingly smooth and immersive. At first it takes a minute for your eyes to adjust when you start using synced lighting, but once you’re dialed in it becomes completely natural. It’s definitely expensive, but this is a true premium upgrade and absolutely worth it if you’re already invested in the Hue ecosystem.

Cost aside, this technology is really impressive. It works perfectly with all our Philips Hue lights (and Alexa), especially the gradient TV strip light, which I ordered before I realized I needed the Sync Box to sync it to my TV. So then we got the Sync Box, and I realized that it doesn’t support Smart TV apps - I almost gave up at this point. But then I tried using it with our Amazon Fire Stick, and it works PERFECTLY. It’s like magic. We have some pendant lighting in our kitchen that I added to the “entertainment scene” for movie nights, along with the tv gradient strip, a bloom lamp and another Hue lightbulb/lamp in our living room. The sync box has 4 hdmi ports, and can support computers, phones, soundbars, cable boxes, almost anything you can plug into hdmi. The fire stick is an incredibly cheap device compared to the $500+ I had invested in the TV lights and sync box, so it’s funny that was the solution. Worth it!

Why did you pick this product vs others?: It is unfortunate that this is the only out of the box solution to match your TV lights with the content on your TV without using an ugly camera. Pros: (alleged setup is easy and seamless) Cons: the "Pros" is a lie. Out of the box everything worked perfectly. DolbyVision support and image quality were not impeded upon. Colors matched perfectly in real time. About a week after setting up Phillips pushed out an update that interrupted the CEC signal setup on all of my devices. It sent fault EDID handshakes back to the TV and would change the TV input. I was unable to watch 30min of a show before the TV would change with no remote interaction and interrupt my viewing experience. Phillips Support has yet to provide me a solution, or an update on when they plan to deliver a stable new firmware to fix this. However if you got this far I have a solution for you: Receiver -> 4k @120Hz Splitter input 4k @120Hz Splitter output-> TV 4k @120Hz Splitter output-> Hue Sync Box -> 4K dummy HDMI sink (choose the same port # on the Sync box that the Splitter plugs into the TV [if your eARC on the TV is HDMI2 then plug the splitter out into HDMI2 on the Sync Box - This will negate any faulty handshake from the sync box, disregard what Phillips says about using HDMI4 if you are doing passthrough, none of their KB articles work.] Also it goes without saying make sure ALL your HDMI cables are at the very least HDMI 2.1 If you do not LOVE fighting with entertainment system troubleshooting, this device may not be for you, first because the setup may be easy, but the failure rate is HIGH and the support response time from Phillips is painfully slow. I ended up buying an additional $150 worth of product to fix/bypass their horrible firmware update. This resolution is fool proof of their firmware SNAFU, but it is an additional necessity if you have a setup that is more than a TV and a Sound Bar.

Been using this for a while now and it's been a pain connecting the thing right sometimes but once you do you're usually good. Thing is it recently started dropping the Dolby vision signal in the middle of gameplay ony series x. Only way to fix it was to unplug and replug the HDMI. I checked online and it said to try changing the HDMI cables so I did (Anker 8k) I also bought a router cooling pad from GSCOLER, a z-x3 and it stopped dropping the signal. Overall this ecosystem is expensive but it's worth every penny once it's setup. Pair this with the new bridge too. Lights are noticeably quicker to change color.

I recently started adding Hue lights into parts of my smart home environment, starting with the family room. I have used Hue lights previously as well as smart lights from a few different vendors. By and large, they all worked fine. I was looking to enhance the movie watching experience and cannot backlight the tv as it is mounted directly on the wall inside of an inset - so the tv fits perfect but otherwise no room. The device has 4 different HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output. All of our video content, with the exception of a blue-ray player come from an Amazon FireTV cube. Both the FireTV cube and blue-ray player are plugged into a Denon AV Receiver and the receiver is connected to the TV. To make this work, all I needed to do was move the TV output into the HDMI input and plug the TV into the HDMI output. Note that it is always powered on so even if the lights are not on, the output signal is always delivered. I have a mesh network across the 2.4 and 5ghz bands - to get this set-up, I had to temporarily disable the 5g network. Once updated, installed and on the network, I re-enabled the 5g network and we were still connected! This is not an uncommon thing with a mesh network... most IoT devices only support the 2.4 bands. The Sync Box is not inexpensive - so I was curious if it was worth the money. I am not a gamer so that particular use case did not apply to me. With the lights installed I tried a few different phone based apps to make the lights dance to music. Those were super disappointing. Wiring this into my entertainment center blew everything else away! Lights dance to the music and they properly reflect the mood in a movie. There is an update available I have yet to try - so I will come back and update the review testing the new spatial map feature

I have the Hue sync app on my PC for my Hue gaming light's and decided to pull the trigger on this box to watch on my TV through my Apple TV 4K and wow, am I glad I did. I am surprised some people are having trouble with the set up. It only took me five minutes, but I am in the Hue ecosystem. All the lights and smart plugs in my house are Phillips Hue so I’m sure that’s why set up was very simple for me.

Setting up this device was a breeze! It responds much quicker, and the operates seamlessly. I'll buy it again and again!

Picked this up as the centerpiece of a home theater build and it completely delivers. Running two Hue gradient tubes and two light bars synced to the screen — the result is immersive in a way that's hard to describe until you see it. Response time is fast whether you're gaming in 8K or watching movies, with no noticeable lag between screen and lights. It genuinely makes the room feel like a theater. Worth every penny for anyone serious about their home entertainment setup.

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Es una muy buena actualización de la sync box. Si lee la Xbox x con mi pantalla en 4k a 120hz. Muy recomendable para gamers.

I can't speak fire the 4k sync box by Phillip hue but this 8k Phillip hue sync box blew me out of the water. Paired with the Phillip hue bridge pro my Phillip hue play tv lights synced up so quick and are responsive to anything playing on my TV it was phenomenal. You get get your Phillip hue lights synced up with your internal smart tv. You need to externally hook up something to make your Phillip hue lights work for you. I used my 4k fire stick max and my ps5 pro to use and sync up all of my lights to my visual design I have created within my emerssive entertainment echo system. I love this sync box because of how easy it was to sync up and the quick response rate of the lights is epic. Also if I may add the video clarity coming out of this thing when paired with my tv and ps5 pro was even better than a typical plug and play system. My fire tv even upscale in 144hrz and it still upscales when using this 8k sync box. I couldn't imagine life without it and now im definitely a Phillip hue fan boy indeed. 5 stars would recommend buying into this ech system if you can pull it off because every time you add a Phillip hue product the immersion just extends beyond comprehension. Just keep in mind that you can only have 10 Phillip hue lights or strips connected at once and that includes the box itself. So choose your magic wisely. The Phillip hue experience is just that, an excellent experience that will supersede the expectations of your perspectives.

Absolutely Fantastic !!!! It took a bit of work to set it up correctly with my 85 inch Samsung TV but the effects are stunning and well worth it!!!

ME ENCANTAAA! Todo lo Philips Hue es carito pero vale muchísimo la pena! Tengo ya 2 luces para iluminar cuando vemos peliculas o juegos de video y de verdad que es la mejor inversión! El sistema es super amigable de usar