Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite Review

As a major force in the smart lighting world, Govee releasing a new TV backlighting kit has become a regular occurrence. The manufacturer continues improving its reactive lighting effects, which maximizes cinema and gaming experiences. The Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite may confuse some prospective buyers who think it’s a downscaled version of more expensive alternatives. In fact, Govee is using the Backlight 3 Lite to showcase its latest advancements, including improved Envisual technology to mirror content more accurately.

Govee has not been afraid to revamp the cameras used in its screen mirroring products. The Backlight 3 Lite employs yet another camera with fish-eye correction to recognize color variations in the far corners of screens. With the ability to ignore black bars in movies and automatically turn off its light strip when idle, the Backlight 3 Lite is as feature-packed as the most pricey competitors.

The Backlight 3 Lite was initially available for TVs from 55 to 65 inches, but Game Rant recently got its hands on a version appropriate for up to 85-inch displays. Since many variables can affect how well a camera-based mirroring solution works, the Backlight 3 Lite was put through its paces to see if it’s as strong a value as it looks on paper.

Contents of Package

The Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite ships to buyers in a compact box that matches the rest of the manufacturer’s product line.

Inside the packaging are manuals, an LED light strip, a camera, a controller box, and a power adapter. Govee also includes the cables to connect the camera to the controller and their trademark orange blocks to aid with calibration.

Installation

Despite the new technology included with the Backlight 3 Lite, installing the kit isn’t dramatically different from other Govee reactive lighting products like the Envisual TV Backlight T2. The important consideration when using backlighting solutions with larger TVs like this Sony Bravia 85-inch set is ensuring cables coming from to and from the controller box reach the light strip, camera, and power outlet. Typically, placing the small black box toward the center of the TV’s backside will suffice, and then it’s a matter of routing wires in a way that doesn’t interfere with the lighting.

Govee recommends first cleaning the back of TVs with alcohol wipes so that the light strip stays on more securely. Then, it’s time to run the lights along each side of the TV, which is much easier if the display isn’t wall-mounted like in this case. From past experiences with Govee reactive lighting kits for larger screens, placing the lights too close to the edges will leave a large gap at the end of the strip. The cords connecting each segment of the light strip allow for some flexibility, but they don’t eliminate gaps in coverage. This likely wouldn’t be as much of an issue with 75-inch TVs, but here, it proved wise to place the lights several inches away from the edges. Fortunately, the brightness of the lights is more than enough to compensate for any less visible illumination.

For the Backlight 3 Lite, Govee is introducing an updated camera that relies on gravity to rest securely on the top bezels of TVs. Even so, affixing the camera to this 85-inch display without it wobbling wasn’t possible, but it stays in place enough not to worry about the camera falling. Govee also supplies an adhesive pad so that the stand on the back of the camera will better cling to a TV. The USB cable attached to the camera can also cause it to tilt left and right, so installers will want to try to reduce cable drag.

Some owners of previous Govee Backlight kits prefer to use bottom-mounted cameras, which can make capturing an entire screen easier in some setups. Sadly, that is not an option with the Backlight 3 Lite, and the way the camera is constructed makes it difficult to flip it around and use tape to affix it to a stand below. However, the fish-eye corrective abilities of the camera, in theory, allow it to capture distant corners accurately.

After connecting the camera and light strip to the control box, the rest of the setup is guided in the Govee Home mobile app. As usual, with Govee smart lights, a phone will scan the area and hopefully find the Backlight 3 Lite for pairing. Connecting the lights to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network is highly recommended to control them outside Govee’s app.

The calibration process with the latest Govee backlighting solution still involves placing orange blocks on several points of a screen and teaching the camera where to look. The new fish-eye corrective camera throws a little wrinkle into the mix, so users will want to drag the corners of the blue grid to the areas suggested in the app.

Properly calibrating the 85-inch TV used for this review took trial and error to make the camera recognize the bottom corners of the display. Most likely, the camera would deal with a smaller screen better since, regardless of how it is positioned, the corners on larger TVs are on the outer reaches of its viewpoint. In this instance, the orange blocks were superior to some YouTube test patterns since they are raised just enough to see in the calibration preview.

Software

The Govee Home app has a reputation for being overcomplicated and difficult to navigate. As the company adds more smart lights to its lineup and enhances existing products with more features, this only exacerbates the problem. Even so, most Backlight 3 Lite users will spend time on the same few app screens.

Users will again find familiar modes: Music, Video, Color, and Scene. Music will instruct the lights to react to songs, and Scene allows buyers to choose from some preset lighting patterns. This is similar to what is available with other Govee smart lights. Still, only the Video mode activates the Backlight 3 Lite’s screen mirroring mode, its main selling point.

Without adjustments, installers may find that the colors mirroring movies and games over-emphasize red or blue or that white backgrounds aren’t exactly white. Usually, dialing down the overall and relative brightness and reducing saturation levels will give more accurate images.

Toward the bottom of the main screen, after connecting to the Govee Backlight 3 Lite, users will notice some more recent Govee features. Black Bar Elimination will instruct the camera to ignore the black borders around many movies. Also, it’s an option to have the Backlight 3 Lite turned off after a preset time if no changes in imagery or brightness are detected. It’s possible to experiment with Govee DreamView, which enables screen lighting kits to act as a brain to program reactive lighting effects on nearby Govee panel lights, bulbs, and light strips. This functionality takes place in one section of the Govee home app. Buyers who are brave enough can venture to the other tabs, allowing for adding the Backlight 3 Lite to rooms with other Govee smart devices.

Even at a lower price, the Backlight 3 Lite again supports Razer Chroma for syncing with RGB gaming keyboards and mice. Gamers will have to utilize Govee’s desktop software for this feature, which is still rather barebones but continues to improve by the month.

Shortly, Govee will also add Matter compatibility to the Backlight 3 Lite. Although it’s still a developing smart home protocol, buyers will be able to pair the Backlight 3 Lite with other Matter-compatible smart devices for increased response time to commands.

Performance

Considering the Backlight 3 Lite is one of Govee’s most inexpensive screen-mirroring solutions, buyers might have lower expectations for how flawlessly it reacts to changing scenery. However, Govee has packed some of its latest advancements into the Backlight 3 Lite. Envisual technology has found its way into this screen mirroring kit, dividing screens into more constantly monitored sectors and increasing color accuracy. Just as significantly, the Backlight 3 Lite features an upgraded processor and RGBIC+W bulbs, which gives deserved attention to white hues.

At first, the Backlight 3 Lite’s camera failed to respond to changes in the lower right quadrant of the screen as quickly as other areas. After several recalibrations, the situation improved, and no noticeable lag was detected.

Animated features maximize the potential of reactive lighting because of their exaggerated color palettes. Sure enough, the Backlight 3 Lite did not disappoint in representing the firey glow of characters in Elemental.

Purplish hues are just as impressive, and Govee’s latest camera handled fast-moving scenes with relative ease. The speed of the lighting changes still can’t match the performance of HDMI sync box alternatives, but few viewers will notice any issues unless they are looking for them.

The trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom not only tested how well the Backlight 3 Lite handles ocean scenes but also put its Black Bar detection into use. This feature minimizes any loss in vibrancy and turns all movies into full-screen experiences.

Govee recently debuted several integrations with the Aquaman sequel, including some preset lighting effects and app themes. Even without these effects, it’s obvious that the Backlight 3 Lite can accurately track the surprisingly wide-ranging colors of the movie.

The Backlight 3 Lite includes a dedicated mode for gaming where the colors are less subtle, and the responsiveness of the light strip is the priority. Racing games are even more thrilling when the action extends beyond the borders of screens. What’s most impressive about the Govee Backlight 3 Lite is that it performs as well with games as the much more expensive Envisual TV Backlight T2 and its dual-lens camera.

As far as reliable connectivity, the Govee Home app would often take a few extra seconds to connect to the Backlight 3 Lite. Otherwise, there were no issues. Adding the device to Google Home, along with other smart devices, allowed for toggling its power with voice commands, which is helpful when it’s mistakenly left on. Most users will want to take advantage of the new Black Screen setting to avoid wasting power.

Conclusion

The Backlight 3 Lite is another excellent addition to Govee’s extensive reactive lighting lineup. Having “Lite” in its name doesn’t do the product justice as it introduces several innovations and more than holds its own against the priciest kits. The fish-eye corrective camera is still noticeable but more streamlined than the dual-lense model used in the Envisual TV Backlight T2. More importantly, the Backlight 3 Lite adds a white component to its RGBIC configuration, resulting in an even more accurate representation of movie and game scenery.

Many of the Backlight 3 Lite’s most practical improvements appear in the Govee Home app. As the software continues to evolve, users can now implement features to deal with black bars in movies or have the light strip turned off after a period of inactivity.

Unfortunately, the setup process with Govee’s most recent backlighting kit is no quicker. The fish-eye corrective camera sees the edges of screens more clearly, but especially with larger screens, calibration can still be tricky. More disappointing to some is that the camera is designed so that even DIY bottom mounting is challenging.

Even though the Backlight 3 Lite hasn’t solved all of the native problems of camera-based backlighting, its price is hard to resist. Joining some of Govee’s more budget-friendly smart lights, gaming, and movies will undoubtedly be enhanced in more households. Considering that it’s chock-full of Govee’s latest technology, it will be exciting to see how the company transforms its higher-end solutions in the future.

Buyers are not short of options to enhance entertainment with screen-reactive lighting. The Govee Envisual TV Backlight T2 is enjoying some of its steepest discounts yet and includes a powerful dual-lens camera. This configuration makes the camera excel at keeping track of color shifts on the largest flat panel screens. Its included light strip also boasts an especially dense configuration of bulbs that will turn any wall they are facing into a vivid light show. On the other hand, the Envisual TV Backlight T2 lacks some of the functionality of the Backlight 3 Lite, such as its RGBCIW lights for more accurate white hues.

Nanoleaf surprised many buyers by releasing an affordable screen mirroring kit for up to 85-inch TVs. The Nanoleaf 4D has some advantages over its Govee competitors, including an easily bottom-mounted camera and a light strip that can be shortened to custom lengths. Still, the 4D lacks some sophisticated functionality Govee has been adding to its product line, such as its black bar detection.

Finally, if gamers want to go in a different direction for backlighting, the Govee AI Sync Box is a likely target. Instead of relying on a camera to capture imagery on screens, the AI Sync Box reads HDMI signals directly. An additional benefit of this technology is the system can react to in-game events and trigger effects celebrating victories and other achievements. Unfortunately, the AI Sync Box has several limitations at higher resolutions since it only supports HDMI 2.0.

MORE: Govee vs. Nanoleaf: Which Game Lighting is Better?

FAQ

Q: Are Govee backlights worth it?

Govee TV backlighting kits can dramatically enhance watching movies or playing games. However, they work best with TVs positioned in front of blank walls and excel in darker rooms where LED light strips can shine their brightest.

Q: Do all RGB lights in a gaming or media room need to be made by the same brand to work together?

Although it’s usually simpler if all the RGB lights in a gaming room are made by the same manufacturer, there are smart home platforms and software solutions that can integrate many different types of devices into one ecosystem.

Q: What are the disadvantages of smart lights?

While smart lights are almost identical to regular lights, their ability to connect wirelessly to devices like Amazon Alexa, Google, and various apps often makes them prohibitively expensive. Budget options exist, but they have far fewer features than the average smart light.