Philips Hue, a perfect and indispensable add-on for those who want to beautify their television and living room duo, has been renewed with IFA 2024. Let’s take a closer look at the Hue Sync Box 8K, which now comes with HDMI 2.1 and 8K support.
The Philips Hue Play 8K has been officially announced. But it’ll cost you $350 — about $50 more than the first-generation model. Hue promises that this version will deliver even more immersive music, movies, and gaming entertainment with lag-free, ultra-fast refresh rates.
According to Philips, the new sync box adds support for the HDMI 2.1 display standard and supports resolutions up to 8K and refresh rates up to 120Hz. For display content, it supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 Plus content up to 8K at 60Hz, and 4K at 120Hz for console gaming.
The sync box uses the HDMI inputs to synchronise your Philips Hue lights with the content on your screen, pulsing and emitting colourful lights across your living room. The box works with all of Hue’s colour-changing smart lights, and you can adjust the brightness and intensity in the Hue app.
It might seem like an expensive upgrade, but it’s one of the easiest solutions to sync your smart lights with your TV. While options from companies like Govee and Nanoleaf, which have achieved similar results, use sensors pointed at your TV, Hue’s sync box pulls information directly from the source.
The only downside to HDMI-enabled boxes is that they can’t be connected directly to a TV, they only work with devices that connect to them via HDMI, such as Android boxes like the Mi Box and games consoles. Hue also has a sync box that only works with newer Samsung TVs.
The Hue app also gets the option to add multiple automations without having to create separate accounts for each scenario. This feature can be handy if you want to control more than 50 lights at once.
This new option allows you to create multiple homes in the Hue app and add up to 10 multiple scenes to them. The app can view all rooms, devices, and sensors in the home in a single view, allowing you to control and edit them without switching between accounts. You can also add multiple homes to the Hue app.
On the other hand, the current first generation Hue Box is sold for around 9500₺ in our country, and if the product is sold in Turkey, the price increase we mentioned at the beginning will definitely have an impact.
