Philips Ambilight – Why does everyone love it ?

Philips Ambilight

What is Philips Ambilight

Ambilight uses Intelligent LED lights around the edges of the TV which cast the on-screen colors onto the walls and into the room – in real-time.

What if you didn’t just watch TV, but felt it? With a Philips Ambilight TV, intelligent LEDs cast on-screen colours onto the walls, and into the room, in real time. Your screen will seem bigger, every moment will feel closer, and music gets a light show.

What are the advantages of having Ambilight ?

Ambilight is proven to reduce eye fatigue and improve the immersive experience, creating a more enjoyable viewing experience.

Features such as Lounge mode and Philips Hue help set the lighting mood in your home, making Ambilight Philips TVs even more popular with interior designers aiming to create a contemporary, stylish home.

When did Philips invent Ambilight ?

The idea was first born in 2002 with the first TV launched in 2004. Philips has since then developed Ambilight further, making it more affordable, increased the quality of the Ambilight effect and implemented more features with every generation. Ambilight developed from the small halo effect on the first TV in 2004 to 3 or 4 sided ambilight with a much larger, more dynamic and more involving effect with increased control and features. Following is a more detailed timeline..

Ambilight development timeline
2002 The idea was first born at Philips Research and Lighting
2003 Philips unveiled the first Ambilight Demo on a Philips TV
2004 First commercial two-sided Ambilight TV. It used CCFL (cold-cathode fluorescent) lamps at the TV’s rear to produce the same colour on the left and right side, which adapts to the on screen content
2005 First commercial two-sided Ambilight TV with stereo Ambilight effect displaying different colours at left and right
2006 Philips sold the 1,000,000th Ambilight TV
2007 First commercial four-sided Philips Aurea TV. Ambilight Spectrauses LEDs as Ambilight light source. It is the first Ambilight system featuring pixelation (multi-colour/intensity on each side of TV set). More two-and three-sided LED Ambilight TVs hit the market
2008 All LED-based Ambilight TVs now feature pixelation
2010 Introduction of wall adaptive Ambilight
2011 Ambilight Spectra XL creates an extra-large halo around the TV
2013 Relaunch of four-sided Ambilight.
2015 Philips Launches Ambilux as a true real time extension of the screen
2017 Philips Launches the first OLED with Ambilight – the 55POD901F
2018 Philips integrates Philips HUE with ambilight – a match made in heaven
Good to know about Ambilight

Ambilight can be used on any wall, whether the TV is installed on base or on wall, however, following are some tips to make sure you get the most our of your ambilight TV…

Ambilight works best when the wall behind is flat, not reflecting and white.

If the wall is uneven, or has a different colour, it does not mean that you may not enjoy ambilight, however, ideally, YES, the wall should be smooth white and non reflective (matte). Should you however, have a feature wall, you can adjust the settings of the TV to “teach” ambilight the colour of the wall and the ambilight effect will adapt to your wall.

Do not place the TV too close to the wall.

We recommend 10-20 cm between the set and the wall to get the most out of Ambilight.

Closer than this and the Ambilight effect will be smaller and more intense, further than 20 cm and the effect will be larger.

Still, please do try for yourself.. its your TV in your house and you may disagree with our preference ?