The Breaker Times

The rumored Philips Hue Play HDMI sync box 8K has been officially announced and is now available to buy. It’ll cost you $350, though — a $50 bump from the first-gen model. Hue promises this version will bring even more impressive music, movie, and gaming entertainment immersion with no latency and ultra-fast refresh rates.

According to Philips Hue, the new sync box adds support for the HDMI 2.1 video standard, can handle resolutions up to 8K, and refresh rates up to 120Hz. It supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 Plus content at up to 8K at 60Hz for video content and 4K at 120Hz for console gaming. 

The sync box uses HDMI inputs to sync your Philips Hue lights in time with the content on your screen, flashing and splashing colorful lighting across your living room. The box works with all of Hue’s color-changing smart lights, and you can adjust the brightness and intensity in the Hue app.

It’s a pricey upgrade, but it’s one of the simplest, least intrusive solutions to syncing your smart lights with your TV. Options from companies like Govee and Nanoleaf that achieve similar results use cameras pointed at your TV, whereas Hue’s sync box takes the data directly from the source.

The downside to the HDMI-dependent input is that the box can’t work with content that comes directly through your TV, only through devices connected to it via HDMI — such as streaming boxes and game consoles. Hue does have an app version of the sync box that works exclusively with newer Samsung TVs. That costs a whopping $130, or a marginally more palatable $3 a month.

The Hue app is also getting the option to add multiple bridges without making you create separate accounts for each bridge. This feature could be useful if you want to add up a lot of lights in your living room to work with the Sync box — as each Hue bridge can only support around 50 lights.

This new option will allow you to create multiple homes in the Hue app and add multiple bridges to them — up to 10. The app can then display all the rooms, devices, and sensors associated with each bridge in a single view, allowing you to control and organize them without switching accounts. You’ll also be able to add multiple homes to the Hue app.

Devices on separate bridges can’t cross-communicate — so a sensor on one can’t trigger lights on the other. However, some functions, such as Hue’s security cameras triggering all your lights to flash, can work across bridges, as the commands are routed through the cloud. The multiple bridge feature is currently in internal beta testing but should launch later this year.

Philips Hue Secure cameras will soon work with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. This will let you stream your camera feed to a smart display such as an Echo Show or Google Nest Hub. The company’s lighting and camera-based security system is also getting some software upgrades, including the option to set routines for arming and disarming the system.