This year’s Philips TVs lose Ambilight+Hue functionality and therefore compatibility with the Philips Hue ecosystem. This feature extended the Ambilight system to the whole room, with Philips Hue lights changing color depending on the video content displayed by the TV. This feature was very popular with users, especially in video games where it allows you to gain even more immersion. This information from the Toengel blog specializing in Philips products has been confirmed by the company on Hueblog.com.
Philips TVs and Philips Hue bulbs are sold under the Philips brand, but in fact these products are produced by two different companies under license from Philips. Televisions are thus manufactured by TP Vision, a subsidiary of Chinese TPV, while Hue bulbs and lighting are managed by the German company Signify. The reason for the lack of Hue compatibility on the new Philips 2023 televisions is not communicated, but Signify may want to promote its Philipe Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, an HDMI box that analyzes the incoming signal to adapt the color from Philips Hue lighting to video content. The equivalent of Ambilight, but completely outsourced. At CES 2023, Philips Hue also announced the arrival of the Philips Hue Sync TV application for Samsung televisions, which again allows Hue lights to be synchronized with the content displayed on the screen, but this time on televisions. Samsung. This application is sold for around 130 €. It’s still cheaper than the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync box that retails for €250, but you have to buy one app per TV, it can’t be shared.
We understand better why Signify takes a dim view of the support for the Hue ecosystem on Philips televisions when it is paid for by Samsung. By speculating, we could say that the Philips Hue Sync TV application could land on Android TV televisions and therefore return to Philips models through the back door.
In the meantime, users who wish to take advantage of the Ambilight+Hue system can turn to the excellent Philips 65OLED907 television still on sale (the 55OLED907 no longer seems to be available) for around €2,300.