As an unabashed Ambilight enthusiast, the full release of AmbiScape made me excited

I have made no secret of my love for Ambilight. Home cinema purists may not like the feel created by the LEDs built into the back of the Philips selection TVs, but for me, it enhances my immersion and creates the perfect ambience while enjoying my favorite shows and movies or hunting monsters on my PlayStation 5.

Therefore, I am glad that the brand is introducing its AmbiScape feature to all Ambilight TVs above the 8000 series this year. AmbiScape, first introduced to select test models late last year, allows the Ambilight technology inside your TV to control up to four outdoor lights in your room.

At launch, it will only work with E27 smart bulbs from Wiz, NanoLeaf, Hue and Ikea, but Philips has promised that compatible lighting options will be announced later. It is also said that anything Ambilight does on your TV will be displayed on external lights with a latency of less than 0.5s.

I got a demo of the technology at TP Vision’s Unboxed event in Berlin this week, and while I didn’t really enjoy being crammed into a small room with a bunch of other sweaty journos, the lighting experience was loaded. The demonstration showed how easily AmbiScape can be activated with a hot key on your TV’s remote control or activated within the TV’s settings menu. Setup is nice and easy too, with connecting your outdoor lights handled by an on-screen QR code and the AmbiScape options available in the Philips Smart TV app.

All this should hopefully enable you to create a trippy technicolor look at home within minutes; it certainly seemed so from what I saw. This is something I am very happy about. Obviously, not everyone is going to want to watch television with something like a psy-trance rave, but personally, I’m all for it.

Speaking about the decision to expand the range of Ambilight, Philips’s Head of Marketing Europe, Anette Van Dijk, said, “We have been receiving many responses from Philips Ambilight TV customers that they would like an easy way to add the immersive effect of the Ambilight system to their room.”

“The Ambilight feature provides that solution, but also allows the consumer the freedom to choose from a wide selection of compatible smart bulb brands,” he continued.

“It is a testament to how we continue to develop Ambilight to ensure that the system remains something different in the premium TV market, and even after 20 years, it continues to grow in popularity.”

If you’d like to read more about what’s on offer at TP Vision Unboxed, head on over to my article covering the entire 2026 Philips TV lineup. I will be writing about various new audio devices coming in 2026, including the It moves the distance of the sound of the sound I first saw it in Eindhoven last year, so keep checking the site for that.

Written by

Andy White

Andy was appointed Technical Editor in 2024 following four years spent putting a large range of products through their paces. A former sports reporter at Greenways Publishing, he cut his technical teeth testing laptops before taking over as the area’s TV and audio specialist. He’s laid his eye on more headphones and televisions than you can shake your hand at but has also reviewed football boots, portable gaming consoles and everything in between. As well as researching, writing and editing, Andy covers product launches and key industry events in the UK and overseas.

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