This Govee TV Backlight Brings a Bit of the Movie Theater Experience to My Living Room
There are a couple of different kinds of TV backlights out there. Some keep a single color all around your TV, usually a warmer shade of white, which allows the colors on the screen to stand out more. Govee's TV Backlight system is more interactive than that, but it works best when the lights in your room are low or off. It uses a special fish-eye lens camera pointed straight at your TV to see which colors are currently showing on the edges of your screen. The software relays that information to the LED strips on the back of the television, which then extend that color onto the wall behind your screen. The result, as you can see in the image below, is incredible.
Right now you can get a 7.8-foot light strip, which is good for 40- to 50-inch TVs, for $53 (24% off). Or opt for the longer, 16.4-foot version for $85 (23% off).
I've set up several of these over the last couple of years, and it has never taken more than 30 minutes to complete. These lights can also be turned on and off by an app on your phone or by connecting the app to Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. It's extremely satisfying to call Alexa and see your TV suddenly pop with color. The settings are very easy to adjust to fit whatever living room situation you have, as long as your TV is near a wall. And if you really want a great experience, make sure your TV has a good soundbar to go with this backlight setup.
Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.
Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite specs
Power source : Corded electric, 12 volts (DC)
: Corded electric, 12 volts (DC) Connection types : Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Controller types : Govee app or voice (requires Alexa or Google Assistant)
: Govee app or voice (requires Alexa or Google Assistant) LED array : RGBICW
: RGBICW Cameras : One, Fisheye
: One, Fisheye LED strip length: 7.8 feet (for TVs 40-50 inches), 11.8 feet (for TVs 55-65 inches), 16.4 feet (for TVs 75-85 inches)
Does this backlight work with your TV?
If you're concerned about whether this backlight setup would work for you, there are a couple of easy things you can check before you try it. All you really need to know is your TV's size, its position in your room and how much control you have over lighting.
TV size : Govee's TV backlight has three different products based on your TV size. This includes screens that are 40 to 50 inches, 55 to 65 inches and 75 to 85 inches. The larger and smaller sizes are different prices than the one I use, but the difference in price is usually fairly minor unless there's a big sale happening on only one size. If your TV is outside of these sizes, you won't have the same overall experience.
: Govee's TV backlight has three different products based on your TV size. This includes screens that are 40 to 50 inches, 55 to 65 inches and 75 to 85 inches. The larger and smaller sizes are different prices than the one I use, but the difference in price is usually fairly minor unless there's a big sale happening on only one size. If your TV is outside of these sizes, you won't have the same overall experience. TV position : Backlights work best when your TV is close to a wall, and that wall should be free of interruptions for at least 5 inches in every direction. If you have pictures or art hanging behind your television, these will interrupt the light coming from the back of the TV and might deliver a poor overall experience. This is especially true if the surface behind the television is reflective.
: Backlights work best when your TV is close to a wall, and that wall should be free of interruptions for at least 5 inches in every direction. If you have pictures or art hanging behind your television, these will interrupt the light coming from the back of the TV and might deliver a poor overall experience. This is especially true if the surface behind the television is reflective. Room lighting: Your room does not need to be completely dark in order to enjoy this backlight, but it should generally be dimmer than what would normally be considered good light to read by. If you are hoping to use this backlight during the day, be sure any windows in the room are covered. At night, I recommend dimming your room lights for the best experience.
There aren't a lot of traditional room layouts where you can't enjoy a backlight like this one, but with the tips above you can quickly go from having a good experience to a great one.
Yes, there are other TV backlights out there
Govee is not the only company making multicolor adaptive backlights for televisions, and on a purely technical level, the TV Backlight 3 Lite is not the best you could possibly have.
Govee itself offers a more capable Envisual TV Backlight, which uses a pair of cameras to ensure the colors at the corners of your screen are precisely sent to the LED strip on the back. The Hue Play system from Philips reads the color information directly from the HDMI cable so there's the smallest possible delay between what you see on the screen and what you see in the backlights. Those LEDs also cover a wider color spectrum, so the colors behind the TV line up amazingly well.
The TV Backlight 3 Lite from Govee is a fantastic setup for its price, which is why I love it. You can regularly get this kit for around half the price of Govee's more capable system -- and for a fraction of the price of the Philips Hue system. But neither is better enough, in my opinion, to justify the added costs. This is something you can do on your own for relatively cheap, and the end result is loads of fun. And at the end of the day, that's why I'm in front of my TV in the first place.
For other options, check out our roundup of the best smart home deals going on now.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rivian vs. Lucid: 1 Reason Jim Cramer Likes One Stock Over the Other
Key Points Lucid closed a deal with Uber to power its robotaxi division. Wall Street veteran Jim Cramer is doubting the deal's long-term potential. Rivian may be a better buy due to a deal with VW. 10 stocks we like better than Lucid Group › Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID) soared in value following the announcement of its partnership with Uber Technologies. According to the deal's terms, Uber will invest $300 million in the electric vehicle (EV) maker. Uber also committed to purchase 20,000 vehicles from Lucid to kick-start its robotaxi division. Wall Street veteran Jim Cramer recently weighted in on the deal, and his take was surprising to many. He compared Lucid's deal with Uber to a partnership Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ: RIVN), another EV stock, made earlier this year. If you're invested in either Lucid or Rivian, you'll want to give Cramer's comments some consideration. How big is the Uber and Lucid partnership in reality? The details of Lucid's partnership with Uber are fairly straightforward. The latter says it is expecting to launch a robotaxi service later next year in a major U.S. city. To power this launch, Uber plans to order 20,000 Lucid Gravity SUVs over the next six years. According to a press release, the vehicles will be owned and operated by Uber or its third-party fleet partners and made available to riders exclusively via the Uber platform. To help Lucid scale up enough to produce this many vehicles, Uber also agreed to invest $300 million into the business. Around the same time, Lucid announced a 1-for-10 reverse stock split, but it's not clear how connected these two events are. While all of this looks promising on paper, there are two obvious problems. First, Uber's robotaxi division remains in its infancy. Whether it can actually grow big enough to acquire 20,000 Lucid vehicles remains a huge open question. Second, $300 million won't do much to keep Lucid financially viable over the next six years. While it ended 2024 with more than $6 billion in liquidity, the company also posted a net loss of $2.7 billion, roughly the same net loss it posted in 2023. A $300 million cash infusion is helpful, but it will hardly cure its ongoing financial challenges. Jim Cramer thinks Rivian's deal with Volkswagen is superior When Jim Cramer was asked about Lucid's partnership with Uber last week, he called the deal a "dalliance." In other words, he views it more as a short-term arrangement than a bona fide long-term partnership. "I think that you need a commitment, like the Volkswagen commitment to Rivian is extraordinary," Cramer said. "That's an open-ended check from one of the biggest car companies." He is referring to a joint venture between Volkswagen and Rivian that was announced in November 2024. The German automaker will receive crucial access to Rivian's software operating platform and technological back end. In exchange, Rivian receives up to $5.8 billion in funding. It's not hard to see the difference in commitments here. Uber is investing just $300 million into Lucid, with the promise of buying vehicles over the next six years. Rivian, meanwhile, is receiving up to $5.8 billion in funding by the end of 2027, starting with an immediate $1 billion convertible note. To be clear, Lucid's deal with Uber is still very exciting. ARK Investment CEO Cathie Wood eventually sees the robotaxi market being worth up to $10 trillion by 2030. But Rivian's deal with Volkswagen gives more credence to Rivian's tech stack and differentiation. If you're excited about the Uber-Lucid tie-up, be sure to dive into Rivian's and Volkswagen's partnership, as Cramer correctly points out. Should you invest $1,000 in Lucid Group right now? Before you buy stock in Lucid Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Lucid Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Ryan Vanzo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Rivian vs. Lucid: 1 Reason Jim Cramer Likes One Stock Over the Other was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Gilded Age EPs Defend That Tragic Twist in Episode 6: ‘I Jumped Out of My Skin When I Watched It'
The Gilded Age Oscar van Rhijn will never cross the street without looking both ways ever again. More from TVLine IT: Welcome to Derry Trailer: A Missing Child and Evil Spirit Cause a Small Maine Town to Freak - Plus, Get Premiere Month Save the Dates: Solar Opposites Swan Song, E! News Shuts Down and More The Gilded Age Star Takes Us Inside Marian and Larry's Romantic Moment in Episode 5: 'I Think Both of Us Cried' Sunday's episode ended with the shocking death of John Adams (Claybourne Elder), who was struck by a speeding horse carriage after sharing one last affectionate moment with Oscar on the streets of New York City. 'You've defied the odds,' John told Oscar after leaving an important meeting that set him back on the path to financial stability. 'You are my savior,' Oscar replied, practically bursting to express his love for John, yet forced to settle for a firm handshake. 'I thank you with all my heart.' Even if it wasn't the L-bomb per se, at least Oscar can take some solace in knowing that his final words to John were of affection; poor John stepped off the sidewalk moments later, leaving Oscar gasping for air as he watched his lover's limp body hit the ground. It was a bold swing, one viewers aren't necessarily accustomed to seeing on The Gilded Age. Sure, Ada lost her husband last season, but at least Luke's illness provided some warning, both for Ada and for the audience. John's sudden death on the city streets was brutal, shocking and, as many viewers are likely to point out, somewhat problematic. We weren't realistically expecting Oscar and John to live happily ever after as out gay men, certainly not in the late 1880s, but did their heartbreaking story really need to take yet another tragic turn? Even a life of secret trysts and unspoken love would be better than *checks sidewalk* no life at all. For what it's worth, co-showrunners Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield have no regrets about this particularly grim turn of events, as it apparently serves to propel Oscar's storyline in a significant way moving forward. That much will become clear in the next episode, once the initial shock of John's death has subsided. None of those upcoming developments 'would have been achievable if John Adams had lived,' Fellowes teases to TVLine, adding that they were 'quite careful to kill him with a straight accident, not with anything with political overtones. He's just killed in an accident, like anyone could be at any time.' 'Those shocking things are true in life,' adds Warfield. 'I've certainly experienced those traumas. They change you, and we wanted to bring about that change in Oscar.' Putting emotions aside, purely from a technical standpoint, Fellowes believes the show pulled off John's death 'quite well,' saying, 'I jumped out of my skin when I watched it for the first time.' Elsewhere in Season 3, Episode 6… Bertha made good on her promise to George, traveling to Buckingham to remind Lady Sarah who's really in charge now that Gladys and the Duke are married; rather than raking Maud across the coals, Oscar chose a more graceful path, giving her enough money to leave town and start over; furious that Larry lied about visiting an establishment of ill repute, Marian considered ending their engagement; Jack was awkwardly fired once Agnes learned how much he earned from his invention ('It's hard to believe there's a God in heaven!'); after realizing that her so-called 'psychic' is a total fraud, Ada found unexpected comfort in her sister's arms; and Peggy began to tell William about her complicated past, but he assured her that the present is far more important to him. If only his dear, sweet mother felt the same way. OK, let's talk: On a scale from one to 'WTF,' how surprised were you by John's death, and do you the think the show went too far by killing him off? Did you also relish Bertha's scenes with Lady Sarah in England? (She really has been in need of a worthy female sparring partner this season.) And which relationship has you more concerned — Peggy and William's, or Marian and Larry's? Drop a comment with your thoughts on all things below. Gilded Age IRL: See the Cast Out of Costume View List Best of TVLine Mrs. Maisel Flash-Forward List: All of Season 5's Futuristic Easter Eggs Yellowjackets Recap: The Morning After Yellowjackets Recap: The First Supper
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Should You Buy XRP (Ripple) While It's Under $5?
Key Points XRP's value has surged nearly 480% in just 12 months. Deregulation, ETFs, and general crypto enthusiasm are driving the coin's value higher. XRP is priced for perfection, and it's looking increasingly like a speculative gamble. 10 stocks we like better than XRP › Cryptocurrency XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) has gained lots of attention from investors lately, resulting in a 480% increase over the past year. Whenever any type of investment rises that quickly, it's worth evaluating to see if it's worth owning. Unlike some cryptocurrencies, XRP (sometimes called Ripple) has real-world applications through its blockchain, which can act as a bridge currency in foreign transactions, saving both time and money compared to traditional financial transactions. But XRP's rapid value increase calls into question whether the crypto is overvalued right now, and if it's being driven higher simply because of investor sentiment. While XRP isn't necessarily a meme coin, here are three reasons why it may be best not to buy it right now. 1. It's very volatile If you're interested in owning cryptocurrencies, then it's likely that you're OK with some volatility. Any type of investment will have price swings, of course, but cryptocurrencies are more prone to make big movements on little to no news. While XRP isn't unique in its volatility, I think it's significant enough to dissuade some investors from owning it. Consider that back in February, XRP's value fell about 30% in just a five-week period. XRP regained its footing temporarily, but then fell 16% in just one week following the announcement of President Donald Trump's tariffs in early April. Those are just two examples of XRP's tendency toward volatility, both occurring within weeks of each other. Of course, the coin's value has subsequently rallied again, but if you're not used to investment value shifts to this degree and they might cause you undue stress or prompt you to take action without thinking, then it's probably best to stay away. 2. It's fairly speculative It's important to point out that some of the price movements XRP has experienced are tied to concrete reasons. For example, some of XRP's price gains over the past year have come from investors getting excited about crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on XRP and the Trump administration taking a more open approach toward cryptocurrencies. But while crypto ETFs can signal more legitimacy for digital coins and open them up to more investors, there's still a lot of speculating involved. Some analysts have estimated that XRP's price could surge to $25 because of the launch of the ETFs -- only to see the value then fall by 90%. While that's just a prediction, it's a good representation of how speculative the price of XRP can be. What's more, XRP's value jumped more than 70% in the past month after the House of Representatives passed the Genius Act and the Digital Markets Clarity Act in the House, both of which clarify regulations for crypto and stablecoins. While it's good news for the industry, a 70% surge in XRP's price is likely unwarranted. Huge value movements over a short period, whether for stocks or crypto, often signal that investors are pushing up an investment solely based on how they feel. 3. It's already richly valued XRP's massive run lately means this crypto is priced for perfection. Its price already includes optimism around crypto deregulation, the launch of XRP ETFs, real-world usage of its blockchain, and a general optimism that's fueling a surge in crypto prices. In short, XRP is already on a huge run based on a handful of tangible reasons, and any more gains from here are likely purely built on the whims of crypto investors. Unlike stocks, cryptocurrencies don't have cash flow or earnings to judge their value by, and based on XRP's 480% jump over the past year, it looks like the coin's price is now detached from the already speculative metrics used to judge crypto values. Could XRP still go higher? Of course. Many cryptocurrencies have shown that they can continue to climb even without being tied to any concrete metrics. But there's no getting around the fact that buying XRP means you're paying a premium. And with optimism for XRP sky-high, any unmet expectations from the crypto could cause a substantial sell-off. Should you invest $1,000 in XRP right now? Before you buy stock in XRP, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and XRP wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends XRP. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Should You Buy XRP (Ripple) While It's Under $5? was originally published by The Motley Fool
