A little upgrade never hurts, especially if you’re like a lot of movie lovers and TV bingers spending more time at home. Enhancing your home entertainment setup (regardless of whether it’s your living room, bedroom, or a separate home theater) doesn’t have to be an arduous process. In fact, lighting is just about the fastest, and probably most affordable, way to change the ambiance in your home theater or game room. It’s not just about the look. Ambient lighting reduces eye strain and helps to increase image depth so that pictures are clear and sharp. To help you make the right choice, we’ve rounded up a few LED lighting strips, backlights, and light bar options for your TV. And don’t worry about blowing your budget — the options that we’ve chosen start at less than $15. See our roundup below, and for more home-theater-enhancing items, check out our list of best soundbars, 4K TVs that movie lovers should buy, and Bluetooth speakers for every budget.
Bason Lighting LED TV Backlight
The Bason color-changing USB LED backlight is just $14, and features uniquely designed R/G/B mixed dimming. The 5V backlight max supports 4096 DIY colors, and includes eight brightness levels that can be manually increased with the touch of a button. There are also six different modes (including sleep mode, which turns to an orange light that will automatically shut off after 30 minutes). This 8’ adhesive backlight is designed for 32″-58” TVs.
Govee RGB TV LED Backlight
According to customer reviews and expert recommendations, the Govee TV LED Backlight is another great choice at a budget-friendly price. Similar to the model above, the Govee backlight helps reduce eye fatigue and enhance the lighting around your device, but it offers more power (12V), it’s longer (10’ as opposed to 8’), and designed for larger TVs (46″-60″). The backlight comes with four pieces of 2.46’ strips, and each side is connected via a flexible cable, making it easy for installation. The Govee backlight also has wifi and Bluetooth, and can be used to illuminate your TV, computer monitor, and more.
Govee Smart Light Bars
One alternative to light strips are light bars. The Govee Smart Lights Bars sync with your TV screen (images and sounds) to enhance your movie, gaming, movie, and musical experiences thanks to vibrant lighting, 16 million colors, and 12 preset modes. The kit includes a smart camera that captures colors on your TV screen and automatically applies them to the lights, and a built-in light that lets you sync music or ambient sounds from your TV. Users can choose between four sound modes (Vivid, Rhythm, Strike, Vibrate), which is great for everything from movie marathons to karaoke night. Govee Smart Light Bars are equipped with voice command and are compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant.
Phillips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip 65”
Stepping things up another notch, the Phillips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip takes surround lighting to new heights. The LED strip blends multiple colors of light at once and mimics content on the screen to provide an immersive, full-room entertainment experience. Phillips Hue Gradient Lightstrip is available in three different sizes (for 55” TVs and larger) and comes equipped with adhesive mounting clips on the back for quick and simple installation. To further expand your smart home-viewing experience, pair the Phillips Hue Play Gradient Lightstrip with the Phillips Hue Play Sync Box, which brings your movies and gaming to life with surround viewing and seamless integration. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
