Through the pandemic, most of us have grow to be “trapped at house” and searching for methods to entertain ourselves and our households. Fortunately, there have nonetheless been loads of new films and TV exhibits to get pleasure from. Actually, this has lead many people to improve our house theater tools.
Whereas a brand new TV or a soundbar is likely to be one of the crucial apparent selections, one of many extra attention-grabbing issues to do is add a reactive bias lighting system to the combination. That is nothing new, Philips has been providing reactive bias lighting for a few years now, beginning with its Ambilight TVs, and later with the Philips Hue Play Bar and Philips Hue Play Sync HDMI Field.
Sadly, all of Philips options are far more costly than what I’m keen to pay for the expertise. Think about my delight once I came upon that Govee presents a reactive bias lighting system for practically half the worth.
Even higher, Govee was good sufficient to ship out its Flow Pro Light Bars for overview, and let me let you know, it’s a game-changer.
Design
The Govee Circulation Professional system consists of two mild bars able to displaying 16 million colours, a controller field, an influence adapter, and a fisheye digicam to detect the colours in your show.
The field additionally comprises two mild stands to carry the lights in your desk or TV stand, in addition to two stands that can be utilized to affix the lights to the again of your TV.
Arrange
Organising the Govee Circulation Professional Mild Bars was fast and easy. Whereas the sunshine bars themselves will be positioned in stands, I discovered that they appear their finest when connected to the again of the TV. Fortunately, Govee consists of two units of stands and it was simple to check this out and swap if I modify my thoughts.
The Govee Mild Bars have a cable popping out of every bar which converge into one singular USB-C connector that plugs into the controller field. The controller field can also be the place you’ll join the facility cable and the cable for the digicam.
After you’ve positioned the lights the place you’d like them, you’ll want to connect the digicam. Govee presents two completely different placements, both within the middle on prime of the TV or on the underside. In my case, I discovered putting it on the underside can be much less distracting, however it will additionally cowl up the distant sensor on the TV.
That’s why I made a decision to tape the digicam to the middle channel speaker beneath the TV. This can be a much less elegant answer than attaching it on to the TV with the 3M adhesive on the digicam mount–however I discovered it was the perfect for me–and it seems to be much less distracting than having a digicam connected to my TV.
Lastly, you’ll want to put in the Govee app and run by the setup to calibrate the digicam and end establishing the lights. Govee consists of some orange rectangles to connect to your display to calibrate the digicam, however I discovered this video on YouTube made it a lot simpler and with out having to measure the middle of my TV or stick something to the display.
Person expertise
As a lot as I’ve all the time needed a color-changing bias lighting system, I used to be involved that it will be too distracting. Nevertheless, after making an attempt it out for myself, I spotted that’s not the case in any respect. Plus, in case you do discover it distracting, you’ll be able to flip down the brightness or simply set it to a boring single coloration like white.
Watching films and TV with the Govee Circulation Professional Mild Bars was a brand new immersive expertise. It made the content material on the display appear extra interactive and introduced it to life. Scenes with explosions stuffed my partitions with dancing hues of orange and crimson, whereas dramatic moments the place the display goes darkish and all the things goes silent had extra impression because the Govee lights blacked out the room.
It made watching my favourite films really feel new once more; it’s not typically you get a bit of apparatus that makes such an impression. Actually, it enhances the expertise a lot that I can’t wait to look at all of my favourite films once more simply to see them with the Govee Circulation Professional Mild Bars.
Now, as a lot as I really like the Govee Circulation Professional Mild Bars, they aren’t excellent. Many films include scenes that use loads of black or white. Couple that with how the digicam samples colours, the truth that it makes use of purple hues for black and pink hues for white, and you find yourself seeing purple and pink behind the display for many films and TV exhibits. I additionally discovered it oftentimes misinterpreted mild yellow and pores and skin tones as white, which implies you find yourself seeing pink fairly a bit.
The Circulation Professional Mild Bars have been most spectacular for animation or films with vibrant colours. In any other case, you get a heavy dose of purple and pink hues, however actually, that’s nonetheless manner higher than no bias lighting or a strip of white LEDs behind the TV.
Lastly, we get to one of the crucial necessary components, the way you energy the sunshine bars on and off. Govee integrates with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant which makes it so handy to energy the lights on or off with voice instructions.
Since I additionally use the Logitech Harmony Companion with my TV, I used to be capable of flip each the TV and Circulation Professional Mild Bars on or off with a single voice command, and it labored seamlessly.
Moreover, you can even use Govee’s app to manage the lights or set timers.
App
I give Govee loads of credit score for its app, it’s so polished and packed filled with options with out being overwhelming. It made establishing the lights and managing them easy as will be.
There was even a firmware improve after I first opened the app which enabled a brand new cut up lighting mode permitting the sunshine bars to show completely different colours on the left and proper. This was a grievance early on with the Govee Circulation Professional Mild Bars and it was implausible to see the corporate add the function with a firmware improve.
Past that, you’ll be able to management the brightness, saturation, swap which mild shows the left or proper. It’s even simple to recalibrate the digicam in case you progress it or set up the sunshine bars on a distinct TV.
Then there are all of the completely different modes to select from resembling music, coloration, scene, and creating your individual DIY scenes.
Ultimate ideas
Going from having no backlight on my TV to at least one that reacts to what’s on the display was a game-changer. The Govee Circulation Professional Mild Bars carry content material on the display to life, and making an attempt to look at content material with out them now feels lifeless and lifeless.
Each time I placed on a film or TV present–whether or not it’s a model new launch or an outdated favourite–all I can suppose is, I can’t wait to see how the Govee lights look with this.
I all the time needed to check out bias lighting however I by no means realized how a lot of a distinction it will make, and with Govee you don’t must empty your pockets to get this transformative expertise. The Govee Circulation Professional Mild Bars promote for $80, and on the time of writing, there’s additionally a $10 off coupon. Both manner, that is far more inexpensive than the competing Philips merchandise.
