Here are some shots of my "studio"/childhood bedroom using Philips Hue personal wireless lighting.
Forgive me my somewhat messy and childish room, but it's where I record and produce everything. I'm renovating another room that will be a far more professional, and suitable studio with a desk and everything!
That's where these lights are actually intended to be used.
If you are unfamiliar with Philips Hue it is a large and growing product line of LED lighting that connects to your home computer network.
Easily described as "Smart Lights" because each one is Wi-Fi connected to your home/office router, and then controllable via a number of means like your computer, smartphone, or even personal assistants like Alex or Google Assistant.
The lights can be set manually or to themes with a palette of colors, and the lights will gradient-fade between these colors. They can also be set to sync with audio/video playing on devices that you connect.
You can define rooms or entire areas of rooms to sync as well. Each light can also adjust in brightness.
IF you are a Linux user like myself, software options for Hue lights are limited. There was a stand-alone app that could be compiled, but it's been broken for several years since Philips changed their website's API. And that would have required routing the commands through Philips which isn't great for privacy either. That app has been abandoned for some time now though.
There is a Hue extension for the Gnome desktop environment that ships with Ubuntu 20.04, but I'm using 18.04 so I've not tried it yet.
I will be testing it out in a Ubuntu 20.04 virtual-machine for my video about Philips Hue lights. There are over 16 million possible colors, shades, and brightness combinations.
These screenshots are from the official Hue application running on my Android phone:
The basic products are the Hue Bulbs that can simply be installed in place of your regular light bulbs in lamps, ceiling fans, or any other light fixture. I have two of the Bulbs installed in lamps, and two Hue Play lights installed in two corners of the room to the left and right of the window. Lastly I have the Hue Strip-Lights run along the length of the room as well.
In order to use these lights you also need the Hue Bridge which connects to your network-router, and there are also mountable controls such as the Hue Dimmer switch that can be purchased to control them manually.
Each Hue Bridge can connect up to 50 wireless lights so most people will only ever need one.
Overall I really like them, but they aren't cheap by any means either. You can expect to pay around $120-$150 USD for the Hue Bridge and a pair of bulbs. There are other large lamps that go up to $350.
I can see these being an awesome choice for people who want a stylish home for entertaining guests at parties, and they're right at home with a modern gaming computer that's also covered in multi-color LED lights.
I'm about 70% finished recording and editing my upcoming video on Hue, and I'll be covering just about everything important in that video.
When it's done it will be available on my Youtube, Rumble, Odysee, Dtube, 3Speak, and BitChute video accounts.
Any questions or thoughts? I'd love to hear from you and help in any way I can! Have a great week.
---- Jay, DS-Tech Media.