Philips Hue Sync Reviews

by Stephen.Traé

I just received my hue sync box today and I was pretty excited to finally get it! Especially with the next gen consoles coming out in less than a week. However, I was having a lot of issues trying to get the box to connect. After holding the power button on until it flashed green, I would consistently get a red light. When I clicked on the I need help option, it just took me to settings (which was not very helpful at all). I scoured through Reddit,Youtube and Google and I couldn’t find anything. I kept trying to connect the sync box for about an hour or so until I called customer service. I got a hold of them and they told me they would call me back whenever they could figure it out why this issue happening but something told me factory reset the sync box (for the 100th time) and delete/re-install PhilipsHueSync . Once I did that. Everything went well!
Hopefully this helps anyone else who is having issues similar to this. As for the developers of PhilipsHueSync, I hope you guys look further into this issue and I hope I gave you guys a sufficient amount of information regarding the issue.

*Update* It stopped working again. Don’t bother purchasing this device. Return it while you can. Total waste of money.

by Nelly Pop

Set up my new Hue sync box 5 days ago. It has worked about 40% of the time. Like everyone else I’m stuck were PhilipsHueSync is trying to connect and it keeps telling me to make sure it is on the same network as my bridge. Customer support said it was a firewall setting. I worked with my provider, and tried everything possible to no avail. Like everyone says it’s a great product if only it worked properly. I also noticed that people in the same situation as me get no feed back from Philips support. It surprising how at $230 Phillip’s is very aware of the issue for years, and nothing has been done to help the hundreds of people who are having connectivity issues. At this point I don't know if it’s a faulty bridge, sync box, or app. I will be returning everything I purchased for my set up. The most expensive paper weight purchased. Very disappointed

by Lens•Sei

I’ve had the sync box for about 4-5 days now and it’s great when it actually works and is consistent. I usually have issues where the sync box will connect and I’ll be playing video games or watching a movie for about 15-20 minutes then I notice that the lights behind my TV are not changing when the colors and the picture change on the screen. When I go into the Sync app it’s says connecting and stays like that for a while. Sooner or later it will tell you to turn on Bluetooth in your settings under the application which is always on and I would have to toggle it off and back on and close PhilipsHueSync and reopen it until PhilipsHueSync is able to connect back. I usually have to do this maybe twice a day and then it works fine. WTH this shouldn’t be doing this at all especially after all the money you’re spending on each bulb, light bar, light strip plus the sync box. The sync box alone is almost $300. Something like this shouldn’t be disconnecting on its own like that and then you have to wait 2 years and try 115 times for it to reconnect. It’s a great idea and has so much potential but the connection is so bad it makes me want to return it.

by Reaper 0118

I love the hue lights. Despite the price I love them and put them everywhere around my house. So when I heard about the hue play I thought it would be an awesome addition. I bought it, set up was easy and simple, started playing the Xbox and the light sync was great! But that’s the end of the good news....

In the era of smart TV’s and Bluetooth this device requires that you plug in an HDMI to be able to sync your lights to your various media. Which means that if your smart tv is what you use for all your streaming services, your lights WILL NOT sync. So if you want your lights to sync to movies and music, everything has to be done through your gaming platform, PC, firestick, or other device. Seems like a major design flaw. Even after switching my sound bar to play music from my phone, and plugging the HDMI into the play box it told me that there was “No HDMI input detected” so I couldn’t even sync music from a sound bar which was beyond infuriating.

For the price, I would also expect this device to control Multiple devices from two or three different TV’s in a house but that’s not the case. Instead you have to buy a box for each TV or move the box from one tv or PC to the next.

The device is cool, but basically a cash grab when you consider its many flaws. The one star reviews on here should speak for itself. Apparently my quick and easy set up is a rarity. Don’t buy. Get it together Phillips.

by Jdouglas04

So I have 4 regular bulbs behind my tv with hue sync. 2 up top. One on left and another on right side. And the entertainment zone area setup is not that great. Instead of a top view, it should be a front view of the tv. That would eliminate a floor, tv, and ceiling height function. A front view I can place my bulbs directly where they are on PhilipsHueSync as in real life. PhilipsHueSync in my experience lumps my bulbs either into left side and right side. Or top and bottom. So for instance if a blue color is in the bottom left hand corner, but not top left corner on the tv. But it’s grouped for left and right, the bottom left will correctly be lite, but the top left be will incorrectly be lite blue. Ok so I adjust the bulbs around on PhilipsHueSync . Now the top left and top right mirror each other. Bottom left is correct according to color on tv. Top left say is correct. But the top 2 mirror each other regardless. So say it’s blue on top left on tv and nothing in top right, both top left and right bulbs will be blue.

by Robbie Dobby

I owned one of the original Philip tv’s with ambient light when it first came out and loved it. I’ve upgraded tv’s, and wanted to add this feature to my new Samsung 55”. I bought everything, the color light bulbs, bridge, gradient light strip, play bars, and sync box. Everything was easy enough to set up, except the sync box doesn’t want to work. I have a straightforward connection wall to sync box->sync box to tv. I’ve tried uninstalling/reinstalling. Added a Nintendo switch to one of the ports and the sync doesn’t recognize it. It shows the sync box has been installed and grouped with my entertainment area, but it doesn’t do anything. This is my first ever review, and will stay at a 1 star until customer service gets back to me.

by Phil_H_

It is just unacceptable for something to work this poorly and be sold. the high price tag and nickel and diming is one thing- you need to buy a bridge ($60) and a sync box ($230) just to get the lightbulbs or $300 light strip to work! I was happy to pay that because of the promise of the cool reactive light set up.

But then you get it all in the mail. None of it works properly. I have already wasted 3-4 hours connecting and reconnecting the bridge to my WiFi network, syncing the sync box, resetting the sync box, retrying everything to get my lights to work. No end in sight. Is there any respect by this company for the time the average user will have to waste to try to get their faulty product to work? 4 hours of time is valuable beyond the large asking time.

And to make it worse. I still don’t know if the Lightstrip works or not. When it comes on, only the first 4-5 inches of the strip actually displays lights.

And there are 2 apps for some reason? This is a big company. Why is it acceptable to charge 1k for an entry level light set up, have hours of built in troubleshooting, and then have 2 separate apps to control it? (Philips hue app and Philips hue sync app - why aren’t these one app?)

Really really really disappointed. Just spend your money on a new tv instead.

by Blueskew

Just purchased when the restock came out in the past week or two. Someone needs to debug the combination of the hardware and software in the sync and PhilipsHueSync . PhilipsHueSync runs then suddenly disconnects when it decides it isn’t on the same network. However, it wasn’t on the same network from the beginning. Next, rebooting PhilipsHueSync completely doesn’t help and gives “busy cycles” as it can’t connect for about a minute before it times out. Over a few minutes, the light synchronization goes off and on sporadically. Normal full bright lights come back on, then dark colors for synch, then back to lights seemingly randomly.

If this box and app functioned ad they should this would be a 4-5 star app and hardware combo.

by A Little Know-It-All

PhilipsHueSync and the associated equipment is extremely frustrating. PhilipsHueSync itself is thoughtfully designed and laid out but is extremely unreliable.

Expect that at least 25% of the time PhilipsHueSync will be unable to connect to the Sync box. The dialogue box that pops up to inform you of this directs you to PhilipsHueSync ’s settings which are, I have to say, useless. You can toggle WiFi and Bluetooth on and off. That’s pretty much it. If it’s not working you pretty much just have to hope it does at some point.

The lighting effect itself is very enjoyable but I regret buying this in the first place.

by Wayuso

I was super exited when I got the Hue sync box for christmas since all my lights are hue, I have around 35 around the house. For my entertainment area I’m using only 6 of them including a hue light strip. Setup with PhilipsHueSync was easy but the disappointment comes because once it starts the sync it keeps disconnecting every 30 secs to 1 min telling me to pair with my bridge again. My network has 500mps+ of downloads speeds and upload, got a wifi6 router and the box is connected to the 2.4ghz band and the box is about 3feet from the router. I have connected to the box an Apple Tv 4k, PS4 and a Nintendo Switch. Tried a lot of things to solve the problem but nothing works. Don’t know if its PhilipsHueSync or the box it self. So disappointed that I’m planing on returning the box even though was a gift.

by BaroqueCycle

Edit: thanks to the developer for a quick response on how to make lights power down automatically - I’ll give it a try, and update this review based on results (my initial reaction is that the need to use two different apps to get things working correctly feels rather convoluted, and was definitely non obvious)

I’m thrilled to have my entertainment area automatically controlled by simply splicing in the sync box in the HDMI between my receiver and my TV. The previous solution of running sync software on a PC was only good for gaming - this is much more broadly applicable and seamless.

But, there are some growing pains. The sync box fails to ever turn off the entertainment area lights when it stops receiving a signal. It automatically powers up and syncs fine when a signal initiates, why can’t it likewise power off the lights?

Another issue is the responsiveness - at anything other than the “Extreme” setting, there is a pretty noticeable lag in the lights adjusting to what is on the screen. Extreme appears to be more responsive, but I also had to dial back the brightness in this mode.

by Pocketjay

Just bought my sync box about a month ago and it works as designed. I love how I know get to sync my lights with my music and TV.

My issue is with the Sync App itself. There should be a “music video” option where the lights sync up with the colors of what’s on the TV screen, but also react and pulse to the music at the same time. And PhilipsHueSync should have the same functionality (if not more) than what you offer on the desktop app. We should be able to choose the light colors that go along with the Music sync option. Hue, please add these features!!

With all the things the lights and sync box are capable of, PhilipsHueSync extremely limits what we can do. With all the money spent on the lights and sync box, we should be able to do more things with it.

by Jake3847426

Hue box doesnt support any hdmi 2.1 features. Horrible for a product this late in the game. Ten times more horrible than that is it doesnt support the 5g wifi band forcing me on a band that is susceptible to interference and causes video to buffer a lot. It has forced me to thrn on all “smart”. (Dumb) connecting features on my router to resolve. It did that but causes some undesirable effects with my other devices. Wish I could leave my router alone and let everythibg on the 5g band. The Hue box leeps me from being able to do that.

Other than that, the Hue box does everything it is supposed to do pretty well but lags occasionally causing the gradient on my play strip to be a bit choppy. Its pretty good, but its quality does not justify its price at all.

by Spikesteruk

Just recently got a Hue Sync box, which with recent firmware updates, seems to have fixed bugs that other people have reported.
One of my biggest disappointments is when using the music feature, between songs all of the lights go out, which make the whole house go completely dark. There should be an option that turns on low lighting between the sound. I also like to use the music feature for karaoke songs, but again between people singing all of the lights go out, which means I have to keep grabbing my phone to turn the lights on.

by Dr. Mordin

It’s a simple app that does what it needs to but it’s missing functionality that the PC app has and I’m confused as to why isn’t present on the IOS app.

The thing that sticks out to me the most is the inability to create custom color palettes for the music function. Music is the function the mode I probably used the most previously. I just luchases a Sync Box and I LOVE that I don’t have to bring my PC into the equation and can joy my streaming devices without all the extra steps. However being able to choose what colors are displaying for your music, is important for mood, type of music and what the decor and colors in your room are. It was a very highly requested function on the PC app, as it was an addition after the fact due to community feedback.

That being said I love the product and I like PhilipsHueSync a lot, it’s easy to use and looks good. I just hope that at the very least there’s a standard to app functionality across all the platforms.

by Cooknpunk

In its current state PhilipsHueSync will not allow you to set up your sync box, you get a couple screens in to where you need to connect via Bluetooth to the unit and it will not connect. Keeps saying connection is not secure. I can’t get through to any tech support from the company either. Hopefully they address this issue quickly and get a new version released that actually works. $230 for a worthless box has me a little frustrated.

UPDATE: With the release of 1.6.2 I was able to get the box to connect and get working. Unfortunately the music mode still is not functional but the video and game settings work great. Color matching is great and flows well with what is happening on screen. Overall I’m pretty happy.

by Uhfjdijenssk

My first unit was defective but the replacement keeps loosing connection to the bridge. Or at least I think so since lights go dim until i go to settings in PhilipsHueSync and select “switch bridge” which restores the lights for some time until it happens again and i need to select switch bridge again. I hope this is fixable from software since there is no ethernet port on the device and is within arms reach from the wifi router.

When it works it’s great. There is some delay but it’s a lot faster than the hue windows app. Will update if the issue is fixed since many people seem to have the same problem

Edit: i reviewed the wifi setting to follow PhilipsHueSync publisher recommendation and my tri band router was already using 2.4ghz with the hdmi box.

Most of my connection issues have been solved after re arranging the box so it’s directly surrounded by 8 antennas from the router. While this takes care of the issue I can’t give more than 3 stars since if the device has no ethernet ports it should have good wifi connectivity

Edit: updates have made the setup/startup seamless with support for alexa and harmony hub, the device is able to recover if there is a connectivity issue so i am giving it another star give the improvements in reliability and automation

by Mjbee99

I’ve had this set up now for over six months and when it works it’s very impressive. But seemingly at random it will decide to stop working. Turning everything off and back on again seems to solve the problem most times. But sometimes you have to go into this sync app and it’s super frustrating when you’re sitting right in front of the box and it tells you it’s not found and maybe it’s on a different network. Argh!!! I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes maybe it’s because the hue hub is wired into a ethernet port and this thing is on Wi-Fi that it thinks it’s on a different network for some god-awful reason and maybe it’s using Bluetooth for some thing I don’t know. I don’t know why they didn’t include an ethernet port on this thing so it could be hardwired in. I’m sure that would solve a lot of these problems by not using Wi-Fi. But judging from the horrible reviews here I guess it’s not just me having this issue. I’ll stick with it and at the very least it’s a four port HDMI automatic switcher that seems to actually work OK.

by Hungrychinaman

I have been thinking movies need to add a new concept called The Light Track that goes along with the Video and Audio Tracks. This is the closest thing on the Market to what I have been putting together. Great work here. The device and PhilipsHueSync is the best start. Please keep going with this and adapting it.

One suggestion start focusing on speed changes for different movie genres!

If you have a hues system get PhilipsHueSync and the the hue sync device. It makes a complete video sound and light experience!

by Kangamini

I was hesitant to make this purchase after reading reviews on PhilipsHueSync Store and on retailers websites for the Play HDMI Sync Box. But I still bought it, and it was super easy to set up, works as advertised, and I honestly don’t know what the fuss is about. If you’re on the fence, just buy it and try setting it up - chances are it will work as designed and you’ll love it.

My setup: Apple TV, surround receiver, 1080p TV.

I put the Sync box between the Apple TV and the receiver, set up the entertainment zone, adjusted the lights and pushed the sync button. Ever thing just worked. Yes, it had to update, but so did the smart plugs and smart outlets I got as Christmas presents. If you use Apple products you know they update them frequently, so I don’t know why people complain about that. ✌️

by Torseous

Got the sync box Monday. Complete nightmare so far. Managed to get it connected to my network, but when PhilipsHueSync tries to download an update for the box it fails. If that wasn’t bad enough each time I’ve attempted to download the update it crashes my Wi-Fi network. Tried with two different routers, same problem. Called signify support and the representatives were not helpful. My ticket has been “escalated to a manager” whatever that means.

I’m a big fan of the hue lights; I have over 30 bulbs and switches in my home and was using a desktop to run the sync app before. Needless to say, the Sync Box/App has been a major disappointment so far.

by Person____1

For someone that paid nearly $300 for this system I think it is ridiculous that the software is this unreliable & inconsistent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve had this system for about 1 month now & the “software updates” actually seems to make it work even worse. PhilipsHueSync is constantly disconnecting & reconnecting. It’s constantly asking me to re-pair my Hue Bridge. I’m sick of it. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even bother using the light sync. I’m hoping they get their issues figured out soon. I normally don’t review but I had to get my thoughts out there. Philips Hue, please work hard to get these technical issues figured out. This is unacceptable.

by Brayton AK

As of April 2020 continues to be comically terrible. We have nicknamed it the Hue Stink.

The box has actually become worse over time. Whether that’s due to software updates or hardware I don’t know. It always asks me to push the button on the Hue controller. It will also say that a sync is in progress when really it’s not. (It apparently doesn’t know I can SEE that it’s not doing anything.)

My warning: Don’t waste your money or time with this. Unless you want to buy mine.

Original review 2019:
Constantly stops syncing with an Apple TV 4K.

PhilipsHueSync always has difficulty connecting to the box. It tries to trick you into pairing with the bridge over and over. (No, you just have to wait for it to figure itself out.)

Sometimes induces static into the video which causes the TV to freak out.

Sometimes sends signals that the TV isn’t compatible with.

Exchanged for replacement box which has worse syncing and bridge connections but less video issues than the first.

This product is not ready to be sold for use.

by MorganDM2123

My first box worked for about a week and then out of nowhere would not work. This was in March. Went back and forth with Philip’s support for months. In June they determined the box was faulty. I just got the replacement in today. The same problem happen! It won’t connect to my WiFi... I have tried a full reset of the box more than I can count. I’m thinking PhilipsHueSync and the box don’t communicate that well. Because if you have PhilipsHueSync for you computer (mine is a MacBook Pro 2016) it syncs with the lights no problem. Hopefully Philips can get this problem sorted out because $300 for a Sync Box is not worth the money especially if the boxes are faulty.

by NateUT

I’ve been waiting for the ability to use Hue Sync with my AppleTV and this product is so close... unfortunately my attempts to get this to work have been unsuccessful due to constant connection issues between the bridge and sync box. My guess is the sync box doesn’t play well with dual-band mesh networks like eero, but that’s not acceptable in 2019.

The potential is definitely there... I’ve painstakingly watched a few “showcase” clips (requiring a lot of pauses while waiting for the boxes to reconnect). Hopefully the support team is able to iron out the bugs so this can reach its full potential (before I have to return it).

by A. Meeks

Although I love the lighting effects that I’m able to create, the Philips Hue Sync Box is way overpriced for a device that doesn’t work each and every time you use it. I have to constantly troubleshoot it when I change between my cable box and game or uninstall then reinstall PhilipsHueSync . This is very frustrating and it waste of entertainment time. Was thinking about buying a second one, but at this time it not worth the money. I truly hope Philips re-evaluate this issue. Then this product would be great.

by Carrig

Love that this is finally a product from Hue and feel like I can finally get the most from my TV backlighting. A simple thing I would like to see a percentage added to the Brightness slider. Saving pre-sets would be nice and being able to select the colors for music playback is needed. I would also like an option for Start Light Sync at a specified time (automated at sunset would be ideal), an automation while leaving them off during the day. No need to run the lights around the clock with the tv when you can’t see them and having them turn on at a designated time would be ideal.

by BrandonGreal

I seen a couple of videos on the hue bulbs on you tube and decided to give hue a try. I end up getting the hue light bar starter pack for my 65’ curved tv though it did not give it enough light due to the size, I was really surprised on the way they responded with the images on display, so I decided to buy the light strip plus for the top part of the tv and the results were amazing! I paid About $500 for all this which is a bit steep but they’ll deliver a amazing light show for your tv.