The Philips Hue 8K sync box arrives — for $350

The rumored Philips Hue Play HDMI sync container 8K has been officially announced and is present disposable to buy. It’ll outgo you $350, though — a $50 bump from the first-gen model. Hue promises this mentation volition bring adjacent much awesome music, movie, and gaming amusement immersion with nary latency and ultra-fast refresh rates.

According to Philips Hue, the caller sync container adds enactment for the HDMI 2.1 video standard, tin grip resolutions up to 8K, and refresh rates up to 120Hz. It supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 Plus contented astatine up to 8K astatine 60Hz for video contented and 4K astatine 120Hz for console gaming. 

The sync container uses HDMI inputs to sync your Philips Hue lights successful clip with the contented connected your screen, flashing and splashing colorful lighting crossed your surviving room. The container works with each of Hue’s color-changing astute lights, and you tin set the brightness and strength successful the Hue app.

It's a pricey upgrade, but it’s 1 of the simplest, slightest intrusive solutions to syncing your astute lights with your TV. Options from companies similar Govee and Nanoleaf that execute akin results usage cameras pointed astatine your TV, whereas Hue’s sync container takes the information straight from the source.

The downside to the HDMI-dependent input is that the container can’t enactment with contented that comes straight done your TV, lone done devices connected to it via HDMI — specified arsenic streaming boxes and crippled consoles. Hue does person an app mentation of the sync box that works exclusively with newer Samsung TVs. That costs a whopping $130, oregon a marginally much palatable $3 a month.

The Hue app is besides getting the enactment to adhd aggregate bridges without making you make separate accounts for each bridge. This diagnostic could beryllium utile if you privation to adhd up a batch of lights successful your surviving country to enactment with the Sync container — arsenic each Hue span tin lone enactment astir 50 lights.

This caller enactment volition let you to make aggregate homes successful the Hue app and adhd aggregate bridges to them — up to 10. The app tin past show each the rooms, devices, and sensors associated with each span successful a azygous view, allowing you to power and signifier them without switching accounts. You’ll besides beryllium capable to adhd aggregate homes to the Hue app.

Devices connected abstracted bridges can’t cross-communicate — truthful a sensor connected 1 can’t trigger lights connected the other. However, immoderate functions, specified arsenic Hue’s information cameras triggering each your lights to flash, tin enactment crossed bridges, arsenic the commands are routed done the cloud. The aggregate span diagnostic is presently successful interior beta investigating but should motorboat aboriginal this year.

Philips Hue Secure cameras volition soon enactment with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. This volition fto you watercourse your camera provender to a astute show specified arsenic an Echo Show oregon Google Nest Hub. The company’s lighting and camera-based information strategy is besides getting immoderate bundle upgrades, including the enactment to acceptable routines for arming and disarming the system.