I tried the Govee Gaming Light Kit (DreamView G1 Pro).

Govee has launched a lighting for monitors with the Gaming Light Kit, also known as the DreamView G1 Pro. The purpose of this set is to evoke a pleasant background lighting for you while you play, almost a retrofittable Ambilight / Ambiglow, if you want to compare it with Philips. Unlike the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, for example, Govee takes a different approach, which has significant pros and cons.

While Philips’ competitor product intercepts the video signal in the middle and analyzes it, which brings its own hurdles, Govee relies on a camera. Advantage: You don’t risk introducing additional input lag or disturbing the handshake. Nothing needs to be repeated, which also rules out compatibility issues with HDR and the like. The Gaming Light Kit uses a camera for this.

The scope of delivery of the Govee gaming light kit.

You don’t have to think twice to see the downsides: if you’re using a webcam, you should now have a second camera that’s permanently active while you play. Paranoid natures will probably stop reading here. However, Govee’s camera is not supposed to record you, but the screen. This is to recognize the colors that can be seen there and adjust the backlight based on them, with 16 million colors. If you want, you can also direct the game through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

To get everything working, you have to do some tinkering first.

The Structure of Govee Gaming Light Kit

If you own an expensive monitor and you are one of those people who immediately remove any dirt particles and keep your panel in top condition – don’t use Govee gaming light kit urgently. Because setting up this rig even made my pulse race, and I’m one of those people who aren’t too squeamish about my monitor. For example, the camera setup process requires you to glue several orange foam blocks directly to the front of your panel. This is needed later to calibrate the camera.

According to Govee, they can be removed without leaving any residue. In fact, after a gentle wipe, I couldn’t find any lasting marks. But somehow it seems suboptimal to me to stick it directly on my screen sticker. But actually this is not the first step.

It can also happily stay on the back of the monitor – templates are included for connecting the RGB tube, which you can also glue on to make the procedure easier. The templates are suitable for 16:9 and 21:9 monitors. But you don’t have to use it if you think it will work that way. Precision work is also not important due to the flexible illuminant. However, you can only fit the tube once: once the retaining clips are glued on, it will be difficult to remove them again. If you knock them down, you will hardly be able to put them back on another screen.

Once the brackets are in place, the RGB tube should be groped without removing the clips from the monitor again. In plain language, you should wait a while after placing the brackets. Either way, it’s all very messy and once you’ve finally tightened the tube into a bracket on one side, you jump straight to the other side. In any case, this whole affair did not bring me any joy. Especially since the mounts are now attached to the back of my monitor, even if I decide to mothball the Govee gaming light kit again. Then it would just be scrap and would have to go straight into the trash, it would no longer be usable by third parties due to the disposable sticker.

The back of my monitor corresponds to the last image on the bottom right, so it is not formally recommended for the kit.

A new: Actually my monitor is a bit too big for Govee gaming light kit. The manufacturer recommends it for screens with a diagonal of 24 to 30 inches. My monitor, the Eizo FlexScan EV3285-WT, is 31.5 inches. However, the joint could be achieved by maintaining a certain distance from the edges. A bigger problem was that my monitor did not have a smooth, even surface on the back, as you can see in the pictures.

Unfortunately, before the test I did not know that this was necessary. In the instructions, Govee at least makes it clear. Due to the uneven backing, the mounts were difficult to glue down significantly and I doubt they would hold up well long-term; for this test it worked. So make sure the back of your monitor is even and smooth. Otherwise, you (like me) have to improvise.

practice test

Once you’ve attached the RGB tube, attached the camera to the top of the monitor, and used the eight foam stickers for color calibration, you’re almost ready to go. Not only the LED tube is connected to the camera via USB-C, but also two stand lights, which you set up on the left and right of the screen as a stand.

Calibration is performed through the Govee Home app for mobile devices. Unfortunately, as is often the case, you have to set up your own user account there. The kit is recognized via location sharing and Bluetooth and can be added. Now just enter the Wi-Fi details and you can set the lighting to your heart’s content.

In the app, you can configure different effects, and also configure whether individual sections of the bar can display different colors when playing games or watching videos, hits should light up evenly and identically, or whether all sections should display the same color. What’s useful: If you’ve swapped left and right with the footlights or something doesn’t quite match the RGB tube, then you don’t have to move, but you can change the settings in the app to swap left and right. , for example.

You don’t necessarily have to use one of the RGB bling-bling effects, but you can set slow, steady patterns or static lighting in the colors of your choice. So it can possibly also simply serve as a nice backlight, especially since there is a white balance. If you use the music mode, e.g. For example, the lighting pulse occurs in time: for this the 3.5mm audio cable is used, which is interposed. You can still connect a headset.

Color accuracy is one thing: your room needs to be dark for calibration, your monitor needs to be set up correctly, and in everyday use a lot will depend on your settings. For example, I use my screen at a very low brightness because I am quite sensitive to light. This should make it difficult for the camera to accurately identify colors and fluctuations in brightness. However, the lighting was more or less correct for the most part. In the image above, the edges look quite pink, but that was more due to my camera.

The content also has a great impact: in games or videos with washed out colors, like one of my favorite videos on YouTube, “Kung Fury”, the Gaming Light Kit tends to create very bright tones. Even in games, people sometimes make mistakes, e.g. B. Very fast color changes, I mean they dominate the particle storms in “Guardians of the Galaxy” battles. As you can see on my desktop, you also need enough space to set it up; it was getting a bit tight for me. The side lights must have a certain distance, otherwise they may irritate the camera and spoil the lighting.

Annoying: According to the manufacturer, the Govee Gaming Light Kit’s camera only needs the Wi-Fi connection for calibration, but it always has to be pointed at the screen if colors are to be adjusted. If you use a webcam, moving around happily is usually the order of the day.

conclusion

The Govee Gaming Light Kit, also known as the DreamView G1 Pro, is very complicated to set up and is really only perfect for the back of a flat panel monitor. The fact that a camera has to constantly point at the screen and compete with your webcam for center stage is sub-optimal. Backlighting also works best if your desktop surface is non-reflective, you use a matte panel, and your viewing angles and brightness are above average. You should also allow enough space around your monitor, which should be no larger than 30 inches.

If these requirements are met, then Govee Gaming Light Kit is a great way to create dynamic and atmospheric backlighting when playing games or watching videos, which you can adjust very freely. However, I cannot make a general recommendation without hesitation due to the very specific requirements. Also, since you can basically only attach the kit to a display once, after that the mounts can no longer be glued back on.

Govee Gaming Light Kit aka DreamView G1 Pro currently it costs 149.90 euros.