Samsung TVs will soon be able to sync with Philips Hue lighting without additional hardware, thanks to a new partnership announced at CES 2013.
The news ends a string of ongoing rumors about a collaboration between the two companies.
Rumors began circulating last year about integrating Philips Hue lighting with Samsung TVs without the need for the HDMI sync box, as the two companies would team up to create an integrated software alternative that would connect directly to your TV. could be downloaded. Now at CES 2023, these rumors have been confirmed, with the launch of the Philips Hue Sync TV app for Samsung TVs.
The Philips Hue Sync TV app really does what it says on the tin, syncing your Philips Hue lights depending on what’s happening on your screen. The aim is to create an immersive experience that extends beyond the TV’s frame, and until now this has only been available through Philips’ own Ambilight TVs or by using an expensive HDMI sync box, which also requires a HDMI port had to be sacrificed.
This new app for Samsung TVs lets you watch, game and even stream natively on the TV with added Ambilight effects, with support for several supported picture formats including 4K, 8K and HDR10+ according to Philips. This streamlined immersive lighting solution certainly sounds practical, but there’s a small catch.
The app to enable this feature costs a whopping £115 / $130 / AU$200. That’s without factoring in the cost of the Philips Hue bulbs, meaning this app isn’t exactly the cheaper alternative to the HDMI sync box we were hoping for. That said, it seems it achieves the goal of removing unnecessary clutter from your entertainment setup, and its extensive feature set makes it an upgrade from the sync box.
The Philips Hue Sync TV app is available to download on 2022 Samsung TV models, as well as a range of QLED models from the Q60 series onwards. It is available for download on the Samsung TV App Store.
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