Philips Hue recently revealed a new feature that's going to give you a truly immersive lighting experience. Called Philips Hue Entertainment, the new feature ties your entertainment system to the company's colorful, dynamic lighting. Philips is partnering up with content producers in gaming and entertainment to create the new experience. Razer Chroma is the first of several partnerships — Philips says an app is on its way that'll let you sync up your lighting with any content you're watching on your Mac or PC.
In the meantime, you might as well start collecting some bulbs and accessories to add to your Hue setup! These bulbs work best with the Philips Hue Entertainment system.
- Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance
- Philips Hue LightStrip Plus
- White and Color Ambiance Beyond Table Lamp
- White and Color Ambiance Bloom
- White and Color Ambiance Go
Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance (third generation)
Although earlier generations of Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance bulbs will work with Philips Hue Entertainment, your best bet is snagging the third-generation bulbs. These bulbs feature richer colors — particularly when it comes to blues and greens — and offer brighter, more responsive lighting. If you want to get the richest experience possible, you're going to want the best bulbs!
When you set up your Philips Hue Entertainment system for the first time, the app actually alerts you to the fact that it prefers third-generation bulbs. It'll also show you which bulbs in your setup are recommended for use.
Depending on the lighting fixtures in your house, you may want to go with the $50 A19 bulbs (standard), $50 E12 bulbs (candelabra), or $50 BR30 bulbs (flood light).
Philips Hue LightStrip Plus
As you might imagine, the $85 Philips Hue LightStrip Plus kit will provide you with colorful, dynamic bias lighting for your television or computer monitor. The 80-inch light strip is bendable and adjustable. A string of bright, colorful LEDs can paint light around an object or provide a more immersive glow to your entire room.
You can also purchase the 40-inch extension for $30 to add even more color to your room. Not only can you cut the lighstrip to size, the extension kit also comes with an extension wire that makes it easier to wrap your lighting around corners or position individual parts at a 90º angle (for placement behind your television, for example).
White and Color Ambiance Beyond Table Lamp
If you really want to go all out, you can snag the Philips Hue Beyond table lamp. This $200 lamp combines two light sources, providing you with the millions of colors you'd expect from the White and Color Ambiance line as well as the shades of white you find in the White Ambiance line.
Both lighting sources are independently controllable, so you're not required to paint your room with color when you're just trying to read a book. The lamp puts out upwards of 500 lumens of light.
If you don't have room on a side table, you can also purchase the White and Color Ambiance Beyond lamp in both a pendant and ceiling lamp style. They'll cost you $350 and $300, respectively.
White and Color Ambiance Bloom
The Philip Hue Bloom is the perfect ambient lighting for your Philips Hue Entertainment system. Not only can it pump out all the colors of the Philips Hue White and Color bulbs, it's also more versatile. You can plug it in and place it behind your television or on a shelf in your entertainment stand. It's meant to paint your walls and environment with color.
For $60 you get a 120-lumen lamp that can fill in the areas where your bulbs and light strips don't reach.
White and Color Ambiance Go
Believe it or not, the Philips Hue Go light is even more versatile than its Bloom counterpart. Fully portable and fully chargeable, you can take this light with you to a picnic, place it in your back yard, or — again — fill in the areas where your other bulbs don't reach.
If you don't have enough lamps or light strips to light the way — or you just have a particularly pesky area where you can't seem to put other lights or would rather do without wires — the $80 Philips Hue Go is the right choice for your Hue Entertainment setup.
That'll do!
After you gather the necessary lighting, you may want to check out my guide on getting your entertainment system set up for Philips Hue Entertainment:
How to prepare your TV room for Philips Hue Entertainment
Are you thinking about creating a decked-out Philips Hue Entertainment setup? Share your thoughts in the comments and photos of your setup over on Twitter!
