The right lighting can often make all the difference, which is why the best TVs now feature OLED panels and mini-LED backlighting. However, adding a lightstrip behind your TV can take things up a notch, especially when you’re able to sync it with the content being displayed on your screen.
Even if you can’t sync your lightstrip with your TV, bias lighting — where a light source illuminates the wall behind your TV or monitor — adds a number of benefits such as reducing eye strain. By raising the surrounding light levels without introducing glare, bias lighting increases the contrast of whatever you’re watching which makes the picture look better. Another great thing is that it works on any TV, even one of the best budget TVs.
If you have the resources for a more expensive lightstrip and a few of the best smart light bulbs though, you can bathe your entire room in colorful light. With a Philips Hue Sync Box, one of the best mini PCs or even a Mac Mini set up in your living room, you can sync your lights with whatever content you’re watching for an even more immersive experience. This also works for PC or Mac games but for consoles like the Nintendo Switch, PS5 or Xbox Series X, you will need a Philips Hue Sync Box to pull off this feat of magic.
Regardless of what TV you have, this is everything you need to know about mounting a lightstrip behind your TV and syncing it with your favorite TV shows, movies and games.
Although I would recommend mounting any lightstrip this way, I’ll be focusing on doing so with a Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus ($90(opens in new tab), Amazon(opens in new tab)) since we’ll be using the company’s software on PC or its Play HDMI Sync Box to sync content. In order to get this to work though, you will also need a Hue Bridge which can be purchased separately for $59.99 or with several Philips Hue starter kits.
Although I would recommend mounting any lightstrip this way, I’ll be focusing on doing so with a Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus ($90(opens in new tab), Amazon(opens in new tab)) since we’ll be using the company’s software on PC or its Play HDMI Sync Box to sync content. In order to get this to work though, you will also need a Hue Bridge which can be purchased separately for $59.99 or with several Philips Hue starter kits.
