At CES 2024 this week, Govee is showing off an updated version of the light-syncing HDMI box that it first unveiled at last year’s CES, with the AI-powered device now capable of 8K video passthrough.
Besides its AI Sync Box Kit 2, Govee also unveiled its revamped and Matter-enabled Neon Rope Light, which is now more flexible (literally) while allowing for fine-tuned lighting effects with help from your phone’s camera.
Govee AI Sync Box Kit 2
A gaming-focused competitor to the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, the Govee AI Sync Box Kit 2 creates eye-popping lights shows synchronized with the action on your TV or PC screen.
Powered by a system-on-a-chip that features Govee’s AI-enabled CogniGlow algorithm, the AI Sync Box 2 is equipped with four HDMI inputs and a single HDMI output. The box takes the images from your video source, analyses them with Govee’s CogniGlow tech, and then creates synchronized lighting effects that it sends to your Govee lights via Bluetooth.
The AI Sync Box can also deliver more than 30 “customized” lighting effects for specific games, including League of Legends, Apex Legends, Valorant, Overwatch 2, Fornite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Call of Duty: Warzone.
Last year, the Govee AI Sync Box was limited to a 60Hz refresh rate when passing through 4K video, but the updated HDMI 2.1-enabled box can handle 4K video at up to 120Hz, ideal for gamers looking for silky-smooth visuals. At lower resolutions, the AI Sync Box can achieve video passthrough refresh rates up to 240Hz.
The latest AI Sync Box can also pass through 8K video, but almost certainly at a lower refresh rate.
Besides the actual HDMI sync box, the AI Sync Box Kit 2 includes a light strip and two light bars that can flank your PC screen. The light strip comes with 75 LEDs per meter and offers a “significant increase in brightness and smoothness” compared to its predecessor, and the light bars have also been updated, Govee says.
The sync box works with Alexa and Google Assistant, and a Matter update for the device is due later this year.
Govee Neon Rope Light 2
Also at CES, Govee is unveiling a new version of its Neon Rope Light. (We reviewed the original Neon Rope Light back in 2022.)
The flexible five-meter Neon Rope Light 2 can glow in multiple colors at once using more than 64 preset lighting effects, and the updated rope light will now let you create “personalized” light effects by scanning the rope’s shape using your phone’s camera.
The Govee Neon Rope Light 2 is 14-percent more flexible than the previous version.
Govee
The Neon Rope Light 2 is made of “softer material” that makes it 14-percent more flexible than the original, and it’s also 14-percent lighter and smaller, Govee says. You’ll also get “upgraded” bend clips to ease the installation process.
The revamped Rope Light will be compatible with Matter out of the box, and it now comes in two colors: white and black.
As with the AI Sync Box Kit 2, the Govee Neon Rope Light 2 is set to arrive in the first half of the year.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, TechHive
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he has covered everything from smart speakers and soundbars to smart lights and security cameras. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature.