Philips Hue - Ambient Play Light

The Hue Play light bar is a slim black bar that throws colour onto the wall behind it. 500 lumens and the full Hue colour range from one unit.

• Three ways to stand a Hue Play light bar
• Base pack or extension pack, and why it matters
• What it does without a Sync Box, and what it does not
• What it needs to work properly
• The numbers, and where it fits

Three ways to stand a Hue Play light bar

Upright beside a television, flat on a shelf, or stuck to the back of the screen itself. The mounts for all three are in the box.

Behind the screen is the arrangement most people end up with, because the bar throws colour onto the wall rather than into the room, and a lit wall behind a television is easier on the eyes in a dark room than a bright screen against a black wall.

Base pack or extension pack, and why it matters

This is the base pack, so the power supply is in the box. Hue also sell Play bars as extension packs with no supply, and those are cheaper for a reason.

One supply runs up to three bars. So the sensible path is this pack first, then extension bars as you want them, rather than three base packs and three plugs competing for the same socket.

What it does without a Sync Box, and what it does not

On its own it is a colour light bar: 500 lumens, 16 million colours, the full 2000K to 6500K white range, controlled from the app, scenes, schedules and voice.

It does not follow what is on the screen by itself. That is a separate job, done by the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box for a television, or the Hue Sync app for a computer. If screen sync is the reason you are buying, budget for both.

What it needs to work properly

A Philips Hue Bridge for full control. The bar carries both Bluetooth and Zigbee, so a phone can reach it in the room without one, but scenes across several lights, schedules and voice control all come through the Bridge.

No Wi-Fi is involved at any point, which keeps it off a congested home network.

The numbers, and where it fits

253mm long, 6.6W, 500 lumens at 4000K, rated for 25,000 hours, IP20 so strictly indoors.

It is a room-atmosphere light rather than a room light: bright enough to change how a wall looks, not bright enough to light a room on its own. For that you want bulbs. If you want colour on the wall behind a desk or a shelf instead of a television, the same bar does that job just as well. Specifications for the bar are on the Philips Hue site.