Lighting up your entertainment
One of my guilty pleasures in the tech world are immersion lights. I have always enjoyed enhancing the experience of watching TV and playing games with a barrage of LED lights. Over the years I have tried multiple different types including cameras and sync boxes, most of which I always have some sort of quirk with. One of my biggest issues since the introduction of the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles has been the passthrough of HDMI 2.1. Govee has now released their most ambitious sync box yet with the Govee AI. This includes four HDMI 2.1 passthrough ports that bring over all the features and functions one could ask for. The big question is, how does it stack up?
The kit we received for review was the TV specific one, there is also a PC version that has separate light bars. The kit works on 55-65 inch TVs and comes with the sync box, LED strip lights, alcohol wipes to clean the area, mounting clips, two HDMI 2.1 cables, and the power brick. Pretty much standard fare for these kits. The box itself is actually quite big compared to past ones I have used. It has an LED light on the front that can be customized. It can inform you which HDMI port is being used and even synced with the TV itself to the colors on the screen. It is a sleek design and works as intended.
MSRP: $239.99
Size: 55-65 in.
Price I’d Pay: $239.99
While immersion lights are not new, one of the biggest drawbacks to most of the ones available is having to have a camera mounted on top of your TV at all times. With these sync boxes that is entirely removed, but this also requires being able to support all of your high-end devices. I am happy to report that the Govee version worked flawlessly for me. I have a PS5, Xbox Series X, Apple TV, and the fourth slot was various devices running through another HDMI splitter including Switch, Steam Deck, and older consoles. They all worked great outside of a few quirks I will get to in a minute.
Everything you want is supported here. HDR, VRR, up to 144Hz refresh rates, and of course 4K resolution. Everything looked and sounded great. My sound bar is connected directly to the TV, but you can also run it into the sync box if you choose, but you would need to plug the box into the eARC port of the TV, which on mine is not HDMI 2.1, so I opted to just run it directly to the TV. It passed through the proper audio though, so I never had any issues.
Everything looked great in SDR. Color matching is fantastic, though I did have to turn down the sensitivity in the app as some content was moving so fast it was causing some flickering issues. When it comes to HDR though, things are not quite as vibrant. This signal had some weird color matching. I spoke to Govee about this, and they suggested turning up the saturation when using HDR. This helped a little, but it still wasn’t as vibrant as SDR, so you must decide which you prefer. Hopefully they can remedy this with future firmware updates.
Another quirk is that the box does not support auto switching of HDMI inputs. This means you must change them either via the button on the box, which is not ideal, or through the app. This is an inconvenience, but one I can get accustomed to instead of reaching for my remote or just letting the TV swap on its own.
Speaking of the app, it is similar to previous Govee layouts. I was able to add it without much effort since I already had the app. In here there are color correction options, plenty of scenes if you want to just have the lights dance, and of course standard color options. This is also where you can swap HDMI ports and adjust the saturation and sensitivity. It is pretty easy to use, but the Bluetooth connection kept disconnecting on me, which was annoying. The new feature of this box, and the reason for its namesake, is its AI functions for specific games. Things like getting a kill in something like Fortnite are here and have special functions. During my review they added new games, but I could never get it to work properly for everything. Still a neat feature that should evolve over time.
The lights themselves are outstanding. When they are matching the colors and working in tandem it is a glorious show. One of the secrets to immersion lights is to eventually not even notice they are running. Govee does this better than others. It matches so well it just becomes part of the experience. I find myself not watching TV or playing games often without them. The Sync Box does a fantastic job of keeping up making my games of Overwatch much more immersive. Watching movies is also enhanced with these lights.
The Govee Sync Box is a great option for those that don’t want to sacrifice anything for their immersion. The box itself works as intended outside of the few quirks, which I got used to. If they tweak the HDR and possibly add auto-switching of inputs, it would be perfect. As it stands this is by far the best set of immersion lights I have ever used. Definitely recommended and worth the price.
Review hardware provided by Govee.
