Moviebuff
Prominent Member
Just did a quick search and couldn't find a dedicated thread for the Philips Hue lighting system, so thought I'd create one.
I bought the starter system from the Apple store, plus three additional bulbs. After picking myself up off the floor with the hole that was left in my bank account, I set off home in anticipation of great lighting things to come.
After unpacking the starter kit, I fitted bulbs to two lamps behind my plasma and then the third in one of the two pendants hanging from the ceiling.
Unboxing the individual bulbs went well, until it came to the last one, which upon opening, I found to be smashed into a thousand pieces. After I muttered a few expletives, I grabbed my car keys and back to the Apple store to get it exchanged. I would advise anyone buying the single individual bulbs to check them for damage before leaving the store. The packaging is fine on the starter kit, but not so good on the single bulbs.
Once back and the replacement bulb fitted, I plugged in the dedicated hub to both my router and the mains. I simple process of pairing the bulbs to the hub involved ensuring all the lights were on, installing the app on my iPad, and with the app running, a single press of the centre button on the hub.
With all lights paired up, I took a look at some of the preset scenes within the dedicated app. At first, only the three bulbs that came with the hub are active and compose part of the scene. The bulbs that are additional to those in the starter pack need to be ticked within the depths of the scenes settings to ensure they are part of it. This was not a one off procedure, but had to be carried out with every preset scene, which is a bit of a pain. Once they are saved however, they are remembered, so after the first setup, it's done.
The effects and ambience the system adds to a rooms mood is superb. I have created my own schemes for use when using the projector, as well as ones for listening to music, and general watching TV.
A great aspect of the system is not only that each individual bulbs "colour" be adjusted (not black or brown!), but so can their brightness. You can almost paint your room with colour and it has brought out my creative side!
If you turn the power off from the light switch, and then turn it back on, it will go to it's native "white", and looks pretty much like any normal power saving light bulb. I intend to leave all light switches on, and turn them off via the app - that way they go into standby, and can all be brought back into life via one swipe with in the app.
There are plenty of videos on You Tube demonstrating the system, so I haven't posted any photos here at the moment. But I think in conclusion that it is a great system, even if it is very expensive at £179 for the starter kit, plus £49 for each additional bulb. The hub can address 50 bulbs, but you can also add additional hubs, and they will all control as one system, as long as you they connected to the same network.
Just to add, all my lamp holders were BC bayonet fitting. A trip to Maplins and I found that they sell the relevant BC to E27 screw thread fitting that the Hue systems bulbs utilise.
It would be great to hear opinions and suggestions from others.
Jerry.
I bought the starter system from the Apple store, plus three additional bulbs. After picking myself up off the floor with the hole that was left in my bank account, I set off home in anticipation of great lighting things to come.
After unpacking the starter kit, I fitted bulbs to two lamps behind my plasma and then the third in one of the two pendants hanging from the ceiling.
Unboxing the individual bulbs went well, until it came to the last one, which upon opening, I found to be smashed into a thousand pieces. After I muttered a few expletives, I grabbed my car keys and back to the Apple store to get it exchanged. I would advise anyone buying the single individual bulbs to check them for damage before leaving the store. The packaging is fine on the starter kit, but not so good on the single bulbs.
Once back and the replacement bulb fitted, I plugged in the dedicated hub to both my router and the mains. I simple process of pairing the bulbs to the hub involved ensuring all the lights were on, installing the app on my iPad, and with the app running, a single press of the centre button on the hub.
With all lights paired up, I took a look at some of the preset scenes within the dedicated app. At first, only the three bulbs that came with the hub are active and compose part of the scene. The bulbs that are additional to those in the starter pack need to be ticked within the depths of the scenes settings to ensure they are part of it. This was not a one off procedure, but had to be carried out with every preset scene, which is a bit of a pain. Once they are saved however, they are remembered, so after the first setup, it's done.
The effects and ambience the system adds to a rooms mood is superb. I have created my own schemes for use when using the projector, as well as ones for listening to music, and general watching TV.
A great aspect of the system is not only that each individual bulbs "colour" be adjusted (not black or brown!), but so can their brightness. You can almost paint your room with colour and it has brought out my creative side!
If you turn the power off from the light switch, and then turn it back on, it will go to it's native "white", and looks pretty much like any normal power saving light bulb. I intend to leave all light switches on, and turn them off via the app - that way they go into standby, and can all be brought back into life via one swipe with in the app.
There are plenty of videos on You Tube demonstrating the system, so I haven't posted any photos here at the moment. But I think in conclusion that it is a great system, even if it is very expensive at £179 for the starter kit, plus £49 for each additional bulb. The hub can address 50 bulbs, but you can also add additional hubs, and they will all control as one system, as long as you they connected to the same network.
Just to add, all my lamp holders were BC bayonet fitting. A trip to Maplins and I found that they sell the relevant BC to E27 screw thread fitting that the Hue systems bulbs utilise.
It would be great to hear opinions and suggestions from others.
Jerry.
Last edited: