Philips has been promoting its Ambilight technology for a while now, which is available on a wide range of its televisions. This system allows you to watch TV and that the LED lighting behind the TV is synchronized with what we are watching, allowing a greater degree of immersion and control.
This technology is not present in all televisions; but do not give up, since there are several alternatives to enjoy an Ambilight system on any television, some cheaper than others. In this article we review the most relevant and recommended ones.
Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, the official option
In addition to its offer of televisions with Ambilight technology, the manufacturer also offers solutions to enjoy LED lighting synchronized with the content we see on the screen. This is possible with the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box.
HDMI Synchronizer – Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, Smart Lights, Up to 4K, Bluetooth, WiFi, Black
This device allows us to connect the HDMI source from where we are going to see the content, and the Philips Hue LED lights that we have at home so that these can be synchronized on our television. In this way, the lights will change color depending on the scene we are seeing, a really striking effect when we put it into practice.
The main drawback is its price. And is that In addition to this device, it would be necessary to have Philips Hue smart lights, like the Gradient Lightstrip, being a significant financial outlay.
Philips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip LED Strip for 75 “TV
Govee immersion
An alternative that is already considerably cheaper than Philips is the one offered by Govee. In this case we find an LED strip that supports panels of up to 65 inches, accompanied by a camera It will detect the colors on the screen.
The complete kit is at a price of 79.99 euros on Amazon and It is also possible to control the lighting through our mobile device, Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant.
Govee Immersion LED TV Strip with 3.8m Camera, Alexa RGBIC WiFi LED Lights Works with Alexa and Google Assistant USB, Ambilight Light Supports 55-65 Inch TV for Movie, Christmas and LED Gaming
The main drawback of this system is the camera itself, which must always be at the top of our television and focused on the panel so you can detect colors. However, the system usually works quite well, and the lights can also be synchronized with the sound of the content we see, in case at some point we want to remove the camera, although logically the precision of the detection will be lower.
Govee also offers a more complete kit including two additional light bars to place them on the sides. This kit amounts to a price of 139.99 euros.
Govee Immersion Kit Alexa LED Strip with Light Bars, RGBIC Technology Works with Alexa and Google Assistant Modern Lamp with Scene and Music Mode for 55-65 Inch TV, Cinema and Gaming Room
Nanoleaf Shapes
It is a different alternative to those mentioned, mainly because this lighting system is mounted on the wall itself. We can distribute them the way we want, creating an environment for the occasion.
To use its synchronization functions, we can do it in two ways; either through the sound of the content that we are watching at that moment, or with the ‘Screen Mirror’ function. The only downside to this last feature is that we will need a PC with the software Nanoleaf installed to work, in this way, if what we want is to have this effect on our television, we have no alternative but to connect the PC to our television.
All the lighting that Nanoleaf offers is often expensive, although its great versatility allows its lights to be used in a wide range of environments. The starter kit with nine light triangles can be found at a price of 199 euros.
Nanoleaf Shapes Triangles Starter Kit – 9 Light Triangles
LED strips that sync to music
It is without a doubt the most economical option, and you only need to purchase a strip of LEDs that are compatible with sound synchronization. This way, the lights will change their pattern in time with the music. In addition, these strips can be personalized through any mobile device, and many of them are compatible with Alexa and Google Home.
Alexa USB 3M LED TV Strips, Smart Sync RGB LED Lights with Music, with App Control, 16 Million Colors and 8 Modes Compatible with Alexa and Google Home, 5V 1A-1.5A for 40-60in HDTV / PC
In this section we have found two products to match; one LED strip from Avatar Controls and one from Maxsure. In Amazon and other stores we can find many more. These in particular have a length of 3 and 2 meters respectively. and the price is usually around 10 to 20 euros approximately.
Its low cost is due to the fact that these lights cannot be synchronized with what we are seeing, but simply because of the music. Its interface is USB and they have a remote control to modify the color and pattern of the lights.
Maxsure 2M LED TV Strip, USB RGB LED TV Strips, with Adhesive Tape, 16 Million Colors, 21 Dynamic Modes, 8 Music Modes, Remote Control and Application Control, for TV and Computer
Build your own Ambilight with a Raspberry Pi
The last option, but not least, is the one for the most curious, the one that all of us who like to mess around prefer, and the one that can become a good hobby. We talk about the possibility of creating our own synchronized LED system with the help of a Raspberry Pi and other components.
This solution requires certain technical knowledge and can be somewhat tedious, but it will probably be the one that satisfies us the most when we have the entire system assembled. The idea is to send the content signal through an HDMI, which reaches a splitter which sends this signal to the system connected to the Raspberry Pi and sends it back to the television.
With the help of Hyperion, a software dedicated to lighting, we can capture the stream of the video in question and send the signal based on input received to LED lights. It requires certain components that we will have to buy, patience and a lot of time.
This project is simplified with Lightberry, which is the same, but making life easier for us with the components, since they sell a kit that we will only have to connect to the Raspberry Pi and follow the steps that we find in their guide.