What you need to know about Philips Hue

What a huege product library.

If it doesn’t last over a decade then it’s not reliable.

why is he waving his hands around like a bad magician,?

My Philips Hue Bridge is not working with my Cox panoramic modem / router combo. The third light just keeps blinking. Have you heard of a lot of people having this issue? And is there a fix for this? Thanks

Only downside to Hue is you cannot backup your bridge. So if you have an extensive Hue setup and the bridge dies… you are into a days work to re-set up everything. I’m shocked after all this time there still isn’t a way to back everything up.

And sometimes they don’t work. I’ve had motion detectors die after just a year. Support was awful.

The bridge suck balls.... i attached it to the router and powered it up and the third just keeps blinking and never goes solid and thus cant config the bride and the bulbs!?

I’ll give you an example of why you may want Bluetooth……out of range of your WiFi. I have that problem with my outdoor kitchen, I have a hue strip light and it’s the only strip light that operates via Bluetooth…hence you can operate with your phone.

Lots of third party products work unofficially with Philips Hue. Such as the much more affordable Ikea smart bulbs.

A fellow Cortexan I see...

Hmm. Good info, but I was looking for operational info. What colors does it support? How do you change the color? How does the phone app work remotely? etc.

philips hue fan here, thanks for the advices
also, you're so handsome, awesome skin lol

Don't need to know anything

How important is your home lighting? Too many options drives me crazy, I want the best with the overprice!

Do not get the tp link plugs. I got 2 and within 2 months they fully stopped working

bought a 1600 lumen light bulb and I set the default to 4000k but it won't stick. I even bought the bridge but they still turn on at a different color temperature... over priced garbage can't even set color temperature in the app smh I'm so mad 😡

It’s ridiculously overpriced, there you go boys I saved you the money

The benefit of Hue plugs is Zigbee - they just have such a great range. I’ve a TP-Link smart plug in the garden and it’s got such weak range.

Can you make us an updated video for this year on the product that you tested or know about that work with Apple HomeKit? I have seen you’ve had one 2 years and it’s amazing. I think that would be great to be done again!

If i need to connect my extra Hue lights only to Phillips Ambilight TV, do i still need the "Hue Bridge?" Or Do I need "Phillips HUE HDMI TV SYNC BOX?" Or do I need the both? 🤔 thank you.

In my opinion the real problem with Phillips Hue is that it’s just too expensive when stacked side by side with those generic Chinese product. You can claim that the Phillips products are high quality and that you’re paying for reliability, but I also think it’s possible to find the same quality with Chinese and taiwanese products, it’s just a little bit trickier to isolate which brands are high quality. Basically I stay away from all the brands that apple puts in their store because they’re all overpriced simply because they got Apple’s blessing, which is ridiculous.

The surround lighting (hdmi sync) is the best part of Philips hue. Why would you get all those lights if you don’t unlock their best feature?

Philips Hue noob here. Just moved into a new place and would like to get started with some home automation.
Some people in the family never turn off lights so need to mitigate that to save energy. I know there are tonnes of eco systems out there but hue seems like I won't encounter a roadblock later on.

Innovelli makes switches that can pair directly with Hue bulbs, and can be set to not cut power to the bulb… but you need to have Hubitat, SmartThings or HomeAssistant.

I love the Hue buttons, so much cuter than Aqara’s :)

I'm a long time user and here's what you truly need to understand about Philips Hue. I invested hundreds of dollars on Hue products and to thank me, Philips discontinued the Hub Hub I purchased by releasing a Hue Hub 2 and discontinuing the Hue App I was using. If I wanted to keep using my lights, I had to upgrade to the Hue Hub 2 or else, screw you, you'll have to use the old app that was never updated to modern phones and that is full of bugs that they never bothered to fix. That being said, I had to spend over a hundred more to get a new hub that doesn't do anything more than the perfectly capable one I had purchased 2 years prior. The newer app isn't less buggy. So let me paint you a picture here. If you purchase a Hub 2 system right now, know that within the next few years, they'll release version 3 and the V2 apps will not be working on the next iPhones or newer Android releases. You'll be stuck using your old phone or upgrading to the new hub. They did it once, no reason to not do it again. To summarize, when it works, it works, I appreciate the lights but Philips is shady company that sells overpriced product with minimal support.

you dont need the hdmi sync box to use hue sync on a pc, you only need a hue bridge, hue sync compatible lights and an entertainment zone set up in the hue app
I'd assume you only need the sync box for a TV or similar

Sorry but no. Don't even consider putting an internet router into the lighting equation. Orders via a smartphone are almost useless if not to show off. Moreover, the internet is becoming less and less secure, and your system will crash once a month. It is much safer and more efficient to use lighting controls via radio controlled switches. In addition, will Philips Hue exist in 3 years? Surely not and you would have done all this s..t for nothing.
In addition, Phillips lightning was sold in 2016. What will its buyers do? An incompatible system most likely. This is the way to proceed at the moment in all areas.😢

thank you for video!

Not sure how old this video is. But can you use one dimmer switch as a master switch that will turn off all the lights in the house by the door for example? While still allowing room by room function?

Great video with good info,
I think the switch module is amazing in a rental home It was the perfect fit for my bedroom and also my TV room where there is only 1 old style wall switch and 1 ceiling outlet

I like the sync box but it is expensive. I think it’s far better with a gradient light strip than the bars. Then the colours are far more enjoyable. I used it to play Horizon: Forbidden West and that’s probably the most worthwhile the sync box was for. I’d agree to skip it though. It’s fun but not for £230/$230.

Hands dude! Too much hand movement in my face. Good info and video though.

No, thanks to Apple and Philips is just too much money, so I am out

I’m a little confused on the router requirement for the Hub. With a conventional router set-up, the router would broadcast the WiFi signal throughout the house. This also would provide for remote access.

What if you don’t have WiFi, but you do have a router? Does the Hub coupled to a router broadcast the signal throughout the house?

Of course then remote control usage away from the house would not be available.

The outdoor range is great. Sure not cheap but when you buy a few items at a time and add on, it transforms the outdoor space beautifully and works easily with a switch you can use to control (as well as your phone).

Hue just works with everything, every time. Automatically discovered in the home assistant, works with all the assistants: Alexa, Google, and Siri before Matter started to be a thing.
I replaced all my lights with Hue and I have 0 reasons to choose another brand. Also, I have Philips The One and some light strips synced to it and it works perfectly.

Love all my hue lights, switches, light strips, and motion sensors. We just bought a brand new Samsung 65” QN90B 4K TV. I was surprised to find it had the Philips Hue Sync built in. Pretty sweet to just download an app on the tv and sync lights. No extra box to plug into tv.

Anything that has voice command has the ability to spy or listen to what's going on in range. Why people willingly put these spying and eavesdropping devices in their home is crazy to me.

Do you think that people will regret buying into this right now as thread becomes more of the standard? Or do you think it will be fine regardless?

Will hue be able to update to thread with an over the air update? Or is it a hardware issue?

Will Hue continue to work seamlessly in my home even when my Wifi is down?

Hey, I have been facing a lot of connectivity issue. Could that be because I do not have a bridge?

He doesn’t say why you shouldn’t use the bulbs with Bluetooth

Too expensive

Eric, I couldn’t agree with you more about the Sync. Last year, I had Best Buy install Hue lights throughout my home which I’ve used with Home Kit. But I also had sync boxes attached to my TVs i the family room and master bedroom with the Hue Lightstrips. The sync boxes were a disaster. There were so many problems. They constantly lost connection to the internet. The TVs took forever to turn on because of them and in the case of the one in my master, took more than 2-3 minutes at times. I got rid of them a couple of weeks ago and everything works well with the TVs again.

Something you're telling is not right : the Philips hue Botton ( the round rubbery one K ) does have multiple options . I've been using it for years , the button in the hallway before I leave the house turns off all lights when I long press it :)

Garbage doesn’t work

HUE makes great products, but the main drawback is that it's TOO D*MN EXPENSIVE. I just looked on Amazon and a standard 60w color smart bulb is selling for $46.34. Competing brands (CYNC, Govee, Cree, Sengled, Ikea, Kasa, etc.) are selling them for around $15. The generic off brands are cheaper still - but I would steer clear of those because they likely won't be around 5 or 10 years from now if you need to replace something.

In their favor, HUE has a huge assortment of products. So if you're going all in, and price isn't a concern, it's a good choice. All the name brand companies have the basics - bulbs, smart plugs, light strips, maybe a wall switch - but HUE has alot more 'specialty' products. Personally, I went with GE CYNC. It's a trusted name and has a good assortment, and also doesn't require a hub. It's a solid option for those who want to spend less and still get good functionality. I figure I spent about a third of what I would have with HUE... maybe less.

I like your skin