This year identified the sixth anniversary of the first products launched by Philips Hue in October 2012, a real system that came with three HUE bulbs and a bridge and was sold as an apple store exclusive. Over time, Philips HUE has added homekit support after launching apple software framework in 2014, and Lighting Philips in the last six years – now many new bulbs, lamps, lightstrips and more have come out of Signify.
The latest lamps are a collection of fixtures that highlights your entertainment area, a long set (Hue Signe) and a short set (Hue Play) that provides new and unique ways to achieve bias lighting around your television, favorite art and more. . Significify has sent me a pair of hook play lights for this review, and for the past few weeks I have come to enjoy them as the latest addition to my dozen-balb hue setup, though I have not yet found them as essential as my other homekit devices and lights.
Setup
Like any new Hugh bulb added to the existing ecosystem, the initial setup for the Hue Play was quite breaks. Out of the box, the Hue Play brings two lights bars that have one cord to connect to the main AC power adapter (which can power itself up to three Hue Play Light bars). If you are going to flat on HUE Play, you have to do nothing but plague in an outlet and place it on your entertainment center, floor, etc.
If you want to set them up, the Hue Play brings two black plastic stands that can be attached to the bottom edge of each light bar using an inclusive allen wrench and screws. After this quick installation, Hue Play can sit vertically next to your TV. The box also has two different plastic stands that are attached to the center of the center of each light bar, with a glue tape that connects the Hue Play to a smooth surface, such as the back of your TV.
Once the light bars are installed, you can add them to your homekit setup using the Philips Hue iOS app. In the HUE app I searched and added Hue Play to the setup of my apartment, changed their names and assigned the right room. Once the new lights in the HUE app are sync in the Home app of Apple, where I initially interact with my HUE Lightballs. Home’s scenes and the hook play set up in the automation were just as easy as it was for all the other Hugh bulbs I bought.
Put
The design of the Hue Play makes it a unique addition to the Hugh System, but my own special entertainment setup is not too happy with the introduction of Hue Play as a frosting fixture. I had to adjust a few placements to use the Hue Play in my main entertainment center (when it was not attached to my TV), which prevented the lights initially enjoy.
For the entertainment system with a little more space, Hue Play should be integrated very freely. The unit is quite thin, just 10 inches tall and measured at the bottom of the 2 inches width. Hue Play is also found in white and black, so it can be mixed in multiple design styles.
In my exam, I put a hue play light bar on each side of my living room TV in three configuration: vertical location, horizontal, and attached to the back of the TV. For biased light, I already have a full-length Hugh White and Color Ambience Lightstrip behind my living room TV, so I had something to be compared to the Hue Play, which you will see in the images throughout this review.
Attached to the back of a TV, the marketing of Philips Hue shows three Hue Play Unit that provides the full biased light, each on the right and left end of each and one on the back of a TV. To test just two units, I still could see that the Hugh Play Bias Light was as good as my six-foot hook lightstrip and was brighter in most situations.
The other two configuration also provided interesting biased lights and I preferred the Hook Play when it was flat in my entertainment center. With some adjusting, I was able to hide the hook play in the back of my PS4 Pro and book pile, emphasizing multiple objects near my TV and not just the set. When it was vertically free, the Hook Play had too much space hog for my personal setup, so it didn’t last long.
In all configurations I compared Hue Play to my existing lightstrip and every time I saw that the Hook Play was brighter than the lightstrip. Each Hue Play unit outputs 530 lumens against the 1600 Lumen strip on the lightstrip, but the focused spotlighting of the Lightstrip has a bright effect on the Hue Play focus on the play. It was even more clear in the afternoon, when the lightstrip’s effect was rarely seen in my bright living room, when the hoook play was unclear.
At night, the comparison between the two was a little less apparent. I don’t keep my lightstrip 100% bright at night, usually about 75%. When I am playing PS4 or watching a movie I found it as the level of light of perfect bias and at this level the lightstrip and hoook play were largely equal. Lightstrip is the brightest on my TV at night, while the Hue Play (standing vertically stands) to the right and left edges on top of my TV at night, pronounced the right and left edges and was soft on the wall on the wall.
When the Hue Play was attached to the back of my TV, two circular aras were seen on the back wall of the TV. Hooooing Hugh Play was probably closest to the light of the lightstrip of the Hugh Lightstrip, even the light that threw the entire wall instead of focusing on certain parts. Even though I could see why someone could like a light pattern more than the other, I personally did not find a positive or negative side of this aspect of Hue Play and Hugh Lightstrip that had a certain edge on the other.
For example, in the dark and night darkness of the night and hue lightstrip a few comparable pictures (all pictures show each fixture 100% brightness):
Hue Lightstrip (left) vs Hue Play (Right, Vertical Stand)
Hue Lightstrip (left) vs Hue Play (Right, horizontal)
Hue Lightstrip (left) vs Hue Play (Right, attached to the back of TV)
The difference between Hue Play and Lightstrip will really depend on your specific usage and of course the price. If you want to add biased lighting to a TV without a visual light fixture, Hue Lightstrip is $ 89.99 (and low in sale) cheap. For another $ 40, HUE Play is not really much benefit than Lightstrip in this particular section of HUE Play, unless you are looking for a bright and more focused light in your entertainment setup, looking for a bright and more focused light and you have room to add.
I placed the hue play and the book behind a photo frame on a table next to my couch and hidden behind a cubed bookshillof and I preferred these places for a light bar. The 10-inch fixture is the perfect length for the pronunciation light in unique situations, where a full-length lightstrip will be very long. The inclusive cord is about six feet long, so you also have some space for placement options.
There is a rubberized texture on the back of the Hue Play that has been raised slightly to a point in the middle, allowing the light bar to be fixed in a perfect corner position that puts light on its face face and somewhat upward. This setup is aimed at customers who choose a single Hue Play Kite, which is sold at $ 69.99, but it should be noted that buying only a light bar will not provide biased light for a complete entertainment system that two light bars or hook lightstrip The
Light and Homecut Control
The Hue Play supports the company’s white and color ambiance features, which means you can cycle with 16 million colors to output from a light bar. I usually settled on a light blue color and looked good from all corners of light from each fixture. Although the whole room itself is not bright enough to enlighten itself, I can see a trio of 530 Lumen Hue Play fixtures, especially providing amazing amounts of light for small areas.
From the control of things, the Hook Play Hugh’s homekit is controlled like light accessories. You can use the HUE or HOME iOS app or talk to Siri on any device that supports Apple’s digital assistant. In my home app I currently have eight scenes and 10 automation, which I usually interact using Siri on homepod.
I have added Hue Play in a few scenes, mostly that are automated at night. During my test, I edited my “Popcorn Time” scene instead of my lightstrip and I activated them for my “Book Time” scene. I use a completely different lamp for reading, but I liked the added light environment Hue Play. I combined the two Hue Play Lamp into a homekit accessory ingredient, making them easier to turn on and off, or at the same time control their brightness and color output.
In all cases, Hue Play was easy to introduce on my existing homekit setup, it has done well with other products and has done well for the last six weeks that I am testing it every day. Of course, like other Hugh Products, every time I have a few “no reactions” on Homet Hue Play. As usual, these problems were usually fixed on their own and the fixtures were not particularly extensive in my daily use.
Bottom line
Hue Play is a solid and unique addition to the rising stability of the Hugh Lite fixture, which offers three varied placement styles, colorful light recipes, bright lighting and a smooth body that will fit in most entertainment center areas without too much obstruction. If you do not have that much space, the Hue Play can still provide quality lighting while being connected to a TV set, the cost is relatively cheap and reliable Hue Lighttrip.
How to buy
Hue Play can be purchased in a single pack ($ 69.99) and double pack ($ 129.99) at meethue.com. Each of these kites has three-slot AC adapters so you can extend your setup. To do this, the signify sells the extension pack ($ 59.99), which is only an alternative to mount a Hue Play Light, cable and AC adapter.
Signify has provided macrumors with a Philips Hue Play Double Pack for this review. No other compensation was found
