Govee Immersion Kit Review: How to Make TV a More Colorful Experience
RRP $ 150.00
“The Govee Immersion Kit is a solid option for someone who wants to enhance their home theater experience without breaking the bank.”
benefits
-
Inexpensive
-
Easy to use and customize
-
Looks great when connected
-
Long enough to work with the biggest televisions
disadvantage
-
Tricky setup process
-
The camera is sensitive to light from other sources
I’ve always loved the idea of immersive lighting. There’s something about the way it plays the colors displayed on your TV that makes the content come to life, almost like it’s bleeding from the screen and on the walls around it. When Govee asked if I wanted to check out his Immersion Kit with Light Bars, I took the chance.
The results blew me away. While it’s not a perfect product, the lighting looks great and creates a cool effect on the wall. I don’t know if it improves the viewing experience or not, but it definitely improves the look of my living room TV setup – especially when I have content with strong color contrasts like the first home screen from. look at Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart or this awesome scene from the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
It definitely improves the look of my living room TV setup.
What’s in the box?
The Govee Immersion Kit contains a lot of the accessories you will all need. Take the time to set it up as it isn’t the easiest process in the world.
The box contains two light strips and one LED light strip. It also includes a camera, sync box and mounting hardware. I installed it on the back of a 65-inch TV and the LED strip was still almost too long. It went over the top, down both sides, and over the bottom, almost to the edges of the TV. So it’s not short.
The setup instructions give you the option to mount the camera either on top or on the bottom of your TV. I decided to mount it at the bottom, but the instructions and all of the graphics still showed it to be from the top – that’s a bit confusing, to say the least. The box also contains a set of orange adhesive squares that you attach to the four corners of your TV and then place a square across from the camera. These are used to ensure that the camera can capture the entire screen. They are useful because the way your phone looks at the camera is incredibly distorted due to the shape of the lens.
The instructions also warn against peeling the squares straight off to avoid damaging your TV. The question arises, if this requires temporary mounting of something on my screen that could damage it, is it necessary? I think the squares could be done without, but they actually came off easily. Just pull it sideways instead of straight back.
You place the light strips on either side of your TV. The light bars, LED strip, and camera cable all attach to a single hub that can be mounted to the back of your TV so that it is hidden from view. One cable supplies the entire setup with power.
All in all, it wasn’t a difficult process to set up, but it was fraught with minor annoyances.
Light, sound, action
The Govee Immersion Kit works by capturing the colors on the screen and reflecting those colors through the lights. This does it pretty well, although the color accuracy felt multiple times. What the lights projected and what was displayed on the screen weren’t perfect representations of each other.
The overall color also plays a role in how the lights are perceived. I tested it while watching Rosewood only to realize that the lights were always a yellow hue because the show itself is being displayed with a sepia filter on everything.
Fortunately, the Govee app allows the lights to be adjusted and tweaked. The app allows you to choose custom settings for the lights. You can choose to have the entire setup display the predominant color no matter what you see, or you can choose to display each light bar in a separate color. You can also choose whether the light bars are segmented (each one being able to display multiple colors at the same time) or that each light bar is one color while the LED strip displays different colors.
If I could add a feature it would be to turn off the lights when the TV is off.
You can also adjust the frequency of color changes. The Dynamic setting results in more frenetic shifts, while the Quiet setting is a slow, gradual transition that works well for movies. If you really want to step up the stakes, turn on sound effects. The lights change based not only on the color shown on the screen, but also based on the volume.
Of course, you can also choose a separate color for the entire setup, depending on your preferences and what isn’t on the screen. You don’t need to use the camera.
If I could add a feature it would be to turn off the lights when the TV is off. The Govee Immersion Kit camera is sensitive to light. When the TV is off, the lights will stay on, indicating any detected hue. Even in the middle of the night, when there is no other light on anywhere in the house, it glows pale blue. Since the lamps cannot be plugged into your TV’s power supply, you will have to turn them on and off yourself.
This is of course easier as Govee connects to intelligent assistants. It’s easy to use the Govee Immersion Kit. to link Alexa or Google Assistant and control it like that.
The Govee Immersion Kit is a fun, affordable option for an immersive lighting kit.
The sensitivity of the camera means that the brighter your TV, the better – especially when viewing content during the day or with the lights on in your home. Sitting down to see something while all the lights in your home are off (except for the Govee Immersion Kit, of course) is a pretty magical experience. The colors come from the screen and onto the wall around the television. I would recommend going for something particularly colorful, like a Pixar movie. It’s a great way to experience these smart lights.
Our opinion
The Govee Immersion Kit is a fun, affordable option for an immersive lighting kit. The main drawbacks are the camera’s sensitivity to outside light and the irritating set-up process. If the camera had a shield in the upper area that blocks all light radiation except that comes from the tv, it would improve the color accuracy.
Is there a better alternative?
the Hue Play HDMI sync box also matches the colors on the screen, and probably more accurately, since the input is routed through the box itself. However, it is a much more expensive alternative. The sync box alone is $ 230, and it doesn’t include the cost of the lights.
The Govee Immersion Kit does a good job for a much cheaper price of $ 150.
How long it will take?
All components make a solid and robust impression. I have several Govee lights in my house and they all still work fine after over a year. Should something happen, the Govee Immersion Kit includes a one-year warranty.
Should I buy it?
Yes. Despite my complaints about aspects of the kit, overall it’s great value for money that I look forward to every time I sit down to relax at the end of the day.
Editor’s recommendations
