Mood lighting for your TV: Govee Flow Pro light bars

Ever since I saw the Philips Hue HDMI sync demo 6 months ago, I've been wanting to buy them for my TV. However, at $150 for the light bars (which I actually have) and $250 for the HMDI Sync kit, they're a bit much.

Since then a few alternatives came to market but none are good enough, until Govee released the Flow Pro Light bar kit. However, it was unavailable for a while and still a bit expensive so I waited.

Well, yesterday I came across an awesome deal where these can be had for $34! I couldn't pass up such a deal so I bought one.

Here's the link to them on Amazon.

Thanks to the magic of Prime shipping, I got it today. Yay!

Quick review

Pros:

• No HDMI pass-through so you don't lose any function between your source and display. With pass-through solutions, you can lose advanced functions such as HDR and HDMI 2.1. Without those, you might as well stick to a 2018 TV. No lighting effect system is worth losing those features.
• Much cheaper price. At around $64, this kit is about 1/6th the price of a comparable Hue Play + HDMI Sync box.
• Amazing customizations. There are 6 individually controlled segments per bar for a total of 12. You can also control brightness for each section independently.
• Music modes are awesome. The best I've seen in any LED products thus far.

Cons:

• Slight input lag (i.e. display shows blue half a second before light shows blue). Although the latest firmware update greatly improves this area, it's still there. Best mode is to use game + split screen.
• Some inaccurate color detection. That camera gets it right most of the times but sometimes, it misses. Not too bad though. Accuracy improves alot after I calibrated the set using the included 8 orange squares.
• This is a nitpick but, 2 bars aren't enough to properly light a 65" TV. I'd like to see them add an extension kit for 2 more bars via a USB Y-cable. I'm sure it can be done.
• I wish the lights auto turn off after 3 mins of detecting only black screen (i.e. screen off). As is, I have to manually turn it off after use. Annoying.

Overall rating: 9/10

This kit gave me exactly what I wanted ever since I bought my OLED TV: a dynamic background lighting system to match its beautiful pictures. The more I use this system, the more I appreciate how it subtly extends and complements the picture shown. It's a definite improvement on an already amazing home theater experience. 

Kit includes:

• 2 light bars w/ USB C connector
• 1 camera w/ USB A connector
• 1 power adapter w/ typical power plug
• 2 vertical stand adapters
• 2 behind-TV stick-on brackets
• 8 little orange squares with adhesive back (for calibration)
• Manual and a little paper about Govee

Here's what they look like (stock photos):

How they work:

1. The webcam (mounted on the top or bottom of your screen) "sees" colors on your display then send signal to the LED light bars to reproduce them.
2. In between, there is a Bluetooth-enabled controller which controls the lights.
3. This controller pairs with the Govee app on your phone to give you customize and control the lights, as well as work with Google or Alexa. You can tie them to your smart home setup if you wish.

Here's a demo video as well as a few pictures I took to showcase this lighting system:

Here's a fast action video to show the input lag of this system. It's there but not too bad. This is with the latest firmware update on gaming & splitscreen mode. 

Not shown here but these also have multiple modes including music sync modes, scene modes, as well as timer and voice controls. 

No true white LED so you see a typical purple-tinged approximation of white

Color display is a bit inaccurate here. It's supposed to pick up orange, not purple

Apparently it only reproduced the center color

Installed without adhesive

I don't want anything sticking to my OLED TV so I didn't use the 3M backed mounts. For now, they are resting on the TV's sub. Not ideal but decent enough. 

I'll decide if I want to use the rear mounts later.

Who cares about cable mess behind TV right? 😁