Govee Immersion review: Bringing colour to your TV installation

(Pocket-lint) - One of the large things that stands Philips isolated from different tv manufacturers is Ambilight, the built-in strategy of lighting connected the rear of the TV which tin task colour crossed the walls.

The purpose is to summation the consciousness of immersion, portion bringing a consciousness of juncture to TV watching, and giving ambience choices wrong the room.

The Govee Immersion  smart lighting kit aims to bring immoderate of that effect to your TV - immoderate its marque - successful a self-install system. But is it arsenic bully arsenic the existent thing?

What's successful the box?

The strategy is comprised of a fig of parts. The captious portion of this strategy is the RGBIC LED airy portion (RBGIC meaning it tin amusement aggregate colours simultaneously, alternatively than conscionable 1 colour astatine a time).

This portion works successful concern with a camera which looks astatine your TV surface to coordinate the colours.

Both elements link done a controller container and there's a powerpack to thrust the full thing. Beyond that, there's immoderate adhesive clips to assistance installation, instructions, and immoderate calibration blobs - which we'll explicate successful a minute.

Setup and calibration

• Designed for 55-65in TVs
• Everything you request successful the box
• Govee Home app

There's a just magnitude of setup needed to get running, but it's not a hard process. All the supplied parts person adhesive stickers connected the back, arsenic astir of the kit needs to beryllium stuck to your TV successful immoderate form.

For us, this meant removing the TV from the wall, due to the fact that we needed entree to instrumentality everything on. The kit is designed for 55-to-65-inch televisions and the magnitude of the airy portion corresponds to this size, with each broadside getting its ain length, connected by a abbreviated ribbon cablegram conception to marque it casual to crook the corner.

Finding a determination for the controller container is key, arsenic this needs to beryllium stuck to the backmost of the TV without getting successful the mode of mounts, and acold capable successful truthful that the connected cables are retired of sight.

Fitting the airy portion is really precise casual arsenic you simply person to peel disconnected the backing portion and instrumentality it on, but instrumentality attraction to guarantee that it's not going to beryllium excessively disposable from the front. If the portion is somewhat excessively agelong for your TV, you tin treble it backmost oregon tally it into the centre of the rear a small to usage up immoderate of that slack.

There are further adhesive clips supplied which are utile to reenforce the corners oregon unafraid the airy portion - we utilized it to support immoderate of the ribbon cablegram tidy.

You'll past person to unafraid the camera. There's the enactment to equine the camera astatine the apical oregon the bottommost of the TV and this wide-angle lens looks astatine the screen, detects the colours, and passes this accusation done to the airy strips truthful the colour is coordinated. It besides uses adhesive backing to instrumentality it successful place.

Where you tract the camera volition beryllium idiosyncratic preference, but this is the astir intrusive portion of the kit, due to the fact that it's disposable each the clip - particularly if you enactment it astatine the top. If your TV is connected a stand, possibly with a soundbar, you mightiness beryllium capable to fell the camera down the soundbar, but it projects guardant astir 100mm and you'll person to deliberation astir what's going to look champion successful your setup.

Once the camera is successful place, it connects to the controller container via USB and you're acceptable to link and calibrate, for which you'll request the app.

Once plugged in, you'll usage the app to link the airy portion to your Wi-Fi web and you tin past get the calibration started. The app walks done each step, truthful it's casual to complete.

Calibration involves sticking orangish foam blocks to the beforehand of your TV, which you'll past place utilizing the representation from the camera that appears successful the app. You tin set things somewhat by dragging the points successful the app around, but fundamentally you're telling the camera wherever the corners of the TV are, truthful it tin coordinate the lighting.

Don't interest - we recovered that the orangish blocks didn't permission immoderate sticky residue down erstwhile calibration is done. Then you're acceptable to ticker TV with coloured backlighting!

Can you usage Govee Immersion connected smaller TVs?

The kit is designed for 55-to-65-inch televisions and there's nary smaller kit - it's designed to acceptable the astir fashionable sizes.

We really installed it connected a 50-inch exemplary without issue. In this lawsuit we had to instrumentality much attraction successful moving connected the corners - arsenic there's much airy portion than you need. By drafting diagonally towards the centre of the TV astatine the corners, and securing it with the clips, we recovered it was casual capable to get a bully finish.

It's a small messy to look astatine from the rear, but this is simply a kit that's designed to beryllium hidden, backmost against the wall.

The camera is besides good with a smaller surface and we had nary occupation calibrating to a 50-inch display.

Govee Home and astute connectivity

• Works with Alexa
• Works with Google Assistant

You tin run the Govee lights utilizing the app you request for setup. It allows for firmware updates, portion besides offering assorted modes. Those modes volition fto you power the effect it offers - changing to lucifer the video connected the screen, static colours, oregon moving with music.

It tin besides beryllium acceptable to respond to dependable alternatively of vision, if you want, which immoderate mightiness similar erstwhile listening to euphony arsenic a sort-of enactment effect.

You tin acceptable the brightness and saturation, arsenic good arsenic acceptable timers, truthful you tin power erstwhile the strategy is connected oregon off. There's besides an "effects lab" wherever you tin find a full scope of options to customise the effect the lights are giving out.

The Govee lights don't beryllium successful isolation, however, and you tin easy adhd them to Alexa oregon Google Assistant, truthful you tin power them oregon radical them with different devices. While you'll privation the TV lights to enactment with the TV, you tin arsenic usage them arsenic portion of a country group, with Alexa, for example, allowing brightness and colour controls too.

This means that those with existing systems volition beryllium capable to coordinate devices and erstwhile setup is complete, truthful there's precise small request to usage the Govee Home app, arsenic you tin conscionable usage Alexa dependable control, for example. You can't, however, brace with Philips Hue lights that you mightiness already have.

Performance

• Video and euphony options

The Govee strategy really works precise well, with camera speedy to observe changes connected the surface and bespeak that connected the airy astir the TV. One vantage implicit input systems is that it volition respond to thing connected the surface from immoderate input. 

The strategy works truly good erstwhile you person accordant colouration, truthful sports look truly bully due to the fact that often you person the constancy of the writer to acceptable the main colour to green, occasionally changing to pickup colours from highlighted sections.

The strategy tin beryllium a small little enjoyable erstwhile you person a country that's cutting from 1 changeable to different though. That's emblematic of scenes erstwhile radical are talking - wherever they person antithetic colour backgrounds, truthful you'll find the lights switching with each camera view, which immoderate mightiness find a small much. In movies we've recovered it to beryllium truly effective, picking up connected those explosions to bring those reddish and orangish hues crossed the room, truly adding to the immersion of a film.

There are options to power immoderate of this behaviour. You tin take to person the main colour from the show arsenic the surrounding hue (called "all"), oregon antithetic zonal sections of the surface tin beryllium reflected with antithetic colours (called "part"). The second means much colour and much colour changes, but tin amended dispersed the actions crossed your walls. The erstwhile is somewhat much sedate, with less colours, which makes for a bully inheritance ambience.

You tin spot the quality betwixt these settings successful the 2 images below.

In some cases you person the enactment of "movie" oregon "game", the erstwhile with slower transitions, the second with faster changes. Between these options, it's casual to find thing that suits your preference. Adjusting the brightness helps too, immoderate mightiness similar much intensity, immoderate mightiness privation thing much subtle - and this tin besides beryllium changed connected the alert successful the app oregon done dependable if you're connected to Alexa oregon Google. 

There's plentifulness of brightness available, truthful you tin spot these lights successful daylight, but the effect is going to beryllium connected your setup, partition colour and ambient light. Obviously, it's a batch much effectual successful little airy conditions.

There's the enactment to person "sound effects" reflected successful the lights too, which sticks with the video colours but tin past pulse with soundtrack. That tin suit immoderate settings, but mightiness besides beryllium a small distracting.

Govee Immersion rolling euphony mode is simply a spot lively. pic.twitter.com/SKY4sh7Rz3

— Chris Hall (@christhall) September 21, 2021

The euphony options are interesting, picking up things similar the bassline and pulsing successful clip with the music. There are options here, arsenic you tin besides acceptable these lights to instrumentality their cue from your phone, utilizing your phone's microphone, oregon the mic that's built into the camera.

Again, you tin person assorted types of euphony response, including a rolling colour option, if you truly privation to get the enactment going.

From a show constituent of view, we're blessed with the results, but the request to person the camera permanently positioned looking astatine your TV surface volition beryllium a crook disconnected for some. It is, however, overmuch cheaper than systems from Hue oregon buying a caller Philips TV, which mightiness marque it a compromise immoderate are blessed to accept.

Writing by Chris Hall. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 10 October 2021.