Andrew O'Hara
Signify announced Monday the addition of two new ambient lighting solutions to the Philips Hue lineup, intended for the living room and fully compatible with the recently released Hue Sync app.
Of the pair of new lights, the first is Philips Hue Play — a compact light bar designed to placed horizontally or vertically next to a television or computer monitor, casting an indirect light on the wall behind. Mounting it behind a monitor/TV is also possible, creating a soft backlight.
Up to three Hue Play bars can be connected together, requiring only a single power outlet. Signify also touts these as being capable of changing to any one of 16 million colors, similar to other lights in the Hue ecosystem.
The second new new products are the Philips Hue Signe floor and table lamps. These are again designed to create indirect accent lighting in any room.
Both products could be placed in any room, but have clear benefits when positioned near or behind a TV or computer monitor. Using the Hue Sync app, you can synchronize your lights to the content playing on the screen, creating a much more immersive experience.
"Our latest products provide new ways for people to create personalized lighting experiences in their homes. Whether its ambiance creation or making gaming and music truly immersive, our new Philips Hue Play and Philips Hue Signe collection are designed to transform your living space," says Jasper Vervoort, Head of Marketing and Product Management, Home Systems and Luminaires at Signify.
All Philips Hue lights work with Apple's HomeKit, adding additional functionality for those embracing Apple's smart home platform. That includes scheduling them, using them with other HomeKit accessories, or controlled via Siri.
Both lights will be available in October. Hue Signe will be available first in October, with preorders opening up in early September. The table lamp will run $159.99 and the floor jumps up to $249.99.
Hue Play will be available not long after with a mid-October launch, with no preorder period. A single base kit will run $69.99 or a double base kit will run $129.99. Extensions for the base kits will be available too for $59.99 apeice.
Signify has released quite a few new products recently including the Hue Sync app for Mac, a new outdoor light strip, and much more.
Recently, AppleInsider went hands on with one of the new Philips Hue outdoor lights, the Lily spotlights.
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6 Comments
This article says it works with my TV, and then says the Hue Sync app can synchronize the light to what's playing on the TV. How does an app know what's on my TV? There could be several explanations, like the TV must be a computer monitor, or it might have to be an Apple TV monitor, or it might have an optical sensor that you place in front of the TV. Lots of possibilities, but which one is the right one?
Hope apple provides a Apple TV api/Home Kit api that allows apps to get the over all color/gradients of whats on screen (of course user opt in). That would allow apps/games to change lights like this. You'd be surprised by how much ambient lighting effects content on the TV screen.