Govee AI Gaming Sync Box: A Revolution in Ambient Desktop Lighting
Govee AI Gaming Sync Box
The Govee AI Gaming Sync Box is an innovative ambient lighting system that adds a layer of AI-supported visual effects to gaming. Although it has a limited list of supported games at launch and a high price tag, it offers compatibility with other Govee Wi-Fi lighting products, seamless integration, and impressive low-latency immersive visuals.
The Govee AI Gaming Sync Box combines three of the best things in life: lights, gaming, and Artificial Intelligence. It’s an Ambilight on steroids, not only reflecting your on-screen content to some behind-the-screen LED strips and lighting bars, but also adding a layer of Artificial Intelligence in supported games to recognize actions, events, and achievements, to display unique visual effects.
The Govee AI Gaming Sync Box comes with one LED strip suitable for monitors from 27 to 34 inches and two light bars, and is available from today for $300. But with only three games supported for added AI effects, is it worth it?
What’s So Special About This Ambilight?
You might be thinking, “I don’t care about the AI bit given it’s only a few supported games right now”, and that’s fair, though, of course, we expect the list to grow.
An HDMI backlight is hardly new technology, either.
But the Govee system links up with any other DreamView-compatible Govee lighting you own, such as the Govee Glide wall decoration or any number of LED strips. The Sync Box then allows you to extend the synced lighting effects to those, with individual segment control where available.
This last feature of extending the lighting effects to beyond your TV isn’t new to Govee; some of you will already be familiar with their existing DreamView product line (such as theG1 Pro, which we reviewed here). However, Govee’s previous efforts used a webcam to analyze the content on your TV screen or monitor. The AI Gaming Sync Box is the first time they’ve used HDMI signal analysis, which solves many of the problems associated with slow, often inaccurate webcam-based visual tracking.
What’s in the Box?
In the box, you’ll find the AI Sync Box, featuring two USB-C output ports that power the included lighting components, an HDMI output to connect to your monitor, and three HDMI inputs, one of which can be used for ARC.
The Govee AI Sync Box can also function as a basic HDMI input switcher. Since my monitor requires awkward button presses to switch sources, this is quite handy. The sync box itself features a small frame of RGB LEDs around the edge, which also reflect on-screen content. While it’s useful for input switching because it displays a left, middle, or right segment in different colors, it feels quite tacky when it duplicates the entire screen content.
Next up, you have a small reel of RGB pixel LEDs for your monitor. This is presoldered with joints for the corners, which is why the kit can only fit monitors from 27 to 34 inches. If anything, 27 inches is slightly too small, with the corner cabling jutting out a bit. On the other hand, 34-inch monitors may find it slightly too short, leading to a lack of LEDs in the extreme corners. In the future, I hope Govee releases a generic pack of a certain length that you could cut to size.
Also in the box are two LED light bars for the corner of your desktop. These connect via a single USB-C cable to the back of the sync box.
While there are no additional USB-C ports for expanding your lights directly (nor can you currently purchase a box-only kit to upgrade your existing setup), the beauty of the Govee AI sync system is that it works seamlessly with nearly any other Govee Wi-Fi-enabled lighting product, just as their existing DreamView TV options do.
One small point: I wish Govee would sort out their packaging to be more eco-friendly. There’s a lot of plastic here that doesn’t need to exist, and some large chunks of unrecyclable solid foam that will now power my local waste incinerator for a brief second.
On the software side of things, simply open up the Govee Home app and add a new device. Search for “sync,” and you’ll find the right item. Then, double-check that each corner of the monitor matches up with the light outputs (in case you’ve installed it backward—but not a problem; this can be corrected in the app).
Operation and DreamView
I’m going to gloss over some of the more basic features of the Sync Box, because if you’re familiar with any Govee products, then you’ll find the standard scene modes, solid colors, music reactive modes all present and accounted for.
The user interface to control those has gotten rather bloated over the years, but you get used to it, and there are hundreds of scenes. Music mode is great for parties, but other than that, I doubt you’ll use many of the more vibrant ones.
The real magic comes in the DreamView mode. As soon as you power on the box, the RGB pixel LEDs on the back of the TV will begin to reflect the content. The bars on the side also duplicate the side of the screen with smooth transitions, extending your desktop to the edges.
You can add additional devices by going to “Manage Devices” at the bottom of the DreamView screen and choosing from the list of other compatible Govee devices already on your account.
Some lights will support individual segment matching, while others will other support displaying one color. The process is seamless, so whenever DreamView mode is activated (assuming your other lights are already on or left in standby mode), the Sync Box will automatically take control of all the linked devices and extend the light display.
AI Mode and Gaming Integration
From within the DreamView screen, it’s possible to activate the AI-enhanced mode, which uses Govee’s own “CogniGlow” algorithm. Recognizing the game will take about thirty seconds, so make sure you’ve already booted it up. If you’re only playing the same game, you don’t need to tell it to recognize each time. That said, a simple drop-down box to select the game might have been quicker than having it work automatically.
At launch, only four games are supported: Valorant, Apex Legends, League of Legends, and Overwatch 2. None of which I play. However, I downloaded Apex and League to have a go at the tutorial missions without embarrassing myself in a public match. It was more than enough to see the potential and added immersion that unique lighting effects can bring to a gaming session.
It’s like having your own live lighting operator watching your every move. Most of the time, it’s just matching the scene, but when something important happens, like you get a kill or capture a point, it goes off in a happy celebration mode; pulses red to show you’re taking damage; a green swirl if you’re healing someone; or a red warning light when your team is eliminated.
It’s ridiculously good fun—but with the caveat that I love flashy lights. I used to be a lighting operator for club nights and bands back in my university days at Sheffield. Identifying key moments in the songs and being able to pull up one of your saved sequences or blast the blinders was key to making a night magical. All eyes might be on the DJ, but you’ll soon notice the difference if the lighting is left on auto mode. Ignoring my fears that lighting operators will no doubt be out of a job with the coming AI revolution, having this kind of effect lighting for your own gaming sessions is superb.
The combination of lighting and AI is not something you would think has any practical use, but I can’t wait to see how this system expands beyond these three games.
Outside of the supported launch titles, it does, of course, still work as a great TV backlight, for which you can configure the brightness and saturation to suit your own preferences. I found some of the spell effects in Hogwarts Legacy provided quite a pleasing but subtle effect, for instance.
In Call of Duty, the lighting didn’t add much. The color palettes of urban warfare are not exactly exciting, but it’s a good candidate for the AI engine to add its own effects.
It really shines when watching movies too, but again, it’s going to depend on the type of movies you watch. Anything with predominantly bright daytime environments will be quite boring, while sci-fi and animated shows tend to be more stylized.
Supported Video Modes
The HDMI 2.0 ports limit the Sync Box somewhat in terms of what video modes are supported: 4K at 60Hz, 1080p at 120Hz, or some insanely low resolution at 240Hz. It also supports HDR and Dolby Vision.
However, the lack of support for 4K120Hz via HDMI 2.1 will frustrate some. Since I’m used to gaming on a laser projector at 4K60, the lack of super high refresh or VRR isn’t something that bothers me. If you have unlimited pockets, you should theoretically be able to bypass this limit by using an HDMI 2.1 splitter that can also downsample to HD (such as this one). Use the splitter box to send the full 4K120Hz signal to the monitor, with the secondary output downsampled to 1080p120Hz for the AI gaming sync box. I haven’t tested this.
Comparisons to Philips Hue and Lytmi
The concept of ambient TV backlighting isn’t new, with the first systems pioneered by Philips and manufactured directly into the back of TVs. Indeed, Philips now offers its own HDMI sync box that can extend the lighting to the range of Hue bulbs and lighting products. It lacks an AI game analysis mode, but if you’re just looking for ambient TV backlighting and already own a living room full of Hue bulbs, it’s a good choice and the Hue ecosystem is solid.
If you don’t already own Hue bulbs, the Govee system is superior in many ways (even ignoring the new AI features), and a significantly cheaper choice. An equivalent Hue setup costs two to three times as much as the Govee option.
The only other competition that allows some degree of extending the lighting effects beyond the included LED strip for the TV isLytmi. I tested theNeo sync boxearly last year, but wasn’t all that impressed with the intensity of the colors or the basic app, nor could it be expanded. Their newest model is compatible with additional LED strips or light bars, at a similar price to Govee. However, the range of additional fixtures is quite limited compared to Govee’s, and given the similar price point, it would be hard to recommend the Lytmi products instead. Again, that’s ignoring the new AI effects. The one area that Lytmi can claim victory on is support for HDMI 2.1. If 120Hz gaming is your priority, that might clinch it for you.
Take Your Gaming to the Next Level
The Govee AI Gaming Sync Box is the next generation of ambient lighting effects, and if your monitor is 27-34 inches and you have a selection of other Govee Wi-Fi lighting already in your gaming setup, then I highly recommend it as a glorious light show that incorporates all of your lighting.
At $300 retail, it’s not cheap by any means, but it’s certainly cheaper than the equivalent Philips Hue system would cost you. However, it’s also two to three times the cost of Govee’s own previous generation of G1 Pro gaming light system, which was essentially the same product minus the AI effects and using a camera instead of an HDMI box to analyze colors on screen. The camera-based system is inherently flawed, and any reflections can seriously affect colors. It’s hard to set up well. But for some people, the added cost might not be worth it. Maybe it’s possible to live with those shortcomings for the price difference.
The only other downside is the size; it won’t work with superwide monitors, nor will it work with anything above a 34-inch 16:9 ratio. I think it’s a given that Govee will produce a similar one for a larger screen in the near future, but this is what we have at launch.
But when it works—in supported games—the AI effects are incredible.
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