Community Question of the Week: Ambilight TV as a backlight

Unfortunately, last week’s Community Question had to be cancelled – I had a little rest in the Netherlands. This week, however, it continues again – and this time I would like to clarify a question from Sandra that reached me by email a few days ago:

As far as I know, the Philips Hue Play Gradient Light Strip can also be controlled as a separate light via the Hue App when the TV is off (not as a colour gradient, but at least as a single-colour lamp). Is that also possible with an Ambilight TV or can the LEDs of the Ambilight TV only be controlled when you are watching something on the TV?

First of all, let’s look at the Play Gradient Lightstrip, if it is mounted behind the TV. Here, unfortunately, Sandra is not quite up to date with the latest developments, because for a few months now it has been very much possible to access colour gradients outside of Sync activities. Here is some more information about it:

If you have an Ambilight TV, you don’t have to worry about the lighting when the TV is on: It just works, no matter what sources you use. But what about when the TV is off?

In this case, you can press the Ambilight button on the TV’s remote control to switch on the LEDs on the back of the TV. By pressing it several times, you can switch through different colours. Unfortunately, that’s about it. There is no real manual control, no colour gradients and no connection to the Hue system.

Why and why? Unfortunately, I don’t understand that either. Unfortunately, Philips Hue (Signify) and the Philips TVs (TP Vision) come from two different companies that seem to have no interest in getting such a great feature up and running together.