Philips Hue is bringing back the Hue Box to give your TV that good glow

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Philips Hue is bringing Ambilight back, kinda. The $230 Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box (whoo that’s a mouthful) syncs your existing Philips Hue bulbs to whatever you’re watching on the TV, bringing a more immersive watching experience.

It’s also a great way to decorate the house with spooky colors, just in time for Halloween.

Philips Hue is bringing the sexy back with the Hue Box

Image: Philips

Back before everyone was making mood lights to stick behind your TV, Philips had a TV with inbuilt LEDs to project light on your wall while watching movies. They called this Ambilight, and it worked well enough that an entire industry of copycats and add-ons was created. Now, you can recreate that feeling without replacing your TV, by plugging the Sync Box into your TV and having it control your existing Hue bulbs and lights. Nifty.

• Support for any HDMI device, from DVD players to game consoles to streaming devices and more
• Connect up to 4 HDMI devices
• Sync up to 10 color-capable Philips Hue lights
• Dedicated app for controlling the sync effects

If you want to wash your room in color while binging Netflix, the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box has pre-orders up at meethue.com and BestBuy.com. The sync box will ship and be available for purchase at Best Buy stores nationwide starting October 15.

What do you think? Interested in this new Philips Hue gadget? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.