Review | Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror + Lightstrip Kit

When playing video games there are obvious essentials: a gaming console, TV, and controller. Then there are the not-so-essential-but-really-really-nice things to have, such as good quality headphones and, of course, tasty snacks.

Over the past few years, there’s been a new kid in town, throwing their hand up to be part of the not-so-essential-but-really-really-nice crew: RGB lighting.

More commonly, our favourite content creators have been showcasing their rainbow glow-ups across social media. If, like me, you’ve been feeling like a bit of a black sheep; read on to hear about my first foray in the colourful world of TV backlighting.

Nanoleaf rolled out the red carpet for me, sending out the Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror + Lightstrip Kit for the purpose of this review, which I’ve had for a little over a month now.

What is the Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror + Lightstrip Kit?

It’s essentially a strip of RGB lighting, stuck to the back of your TV, that backlights the wall with various colours and effects.

A small mountable camera collects colour information from your display and, almost instantly, mirrors the same hues on the light strip. The result is a parade of pigments on your wall, extending the action beyond the screen.

With a range of display modes available, you have control over how intense you want the backlighting to be.

1D – An ambient white light that adjusts to the luminosity of your screen.
2D – Reflects only the most dominant colour on screen.
3D – Multiple colours are reflected, creating a thematic colour palette.
4D – The most dynamic and immersive mode, more accurately extending the action on screen.

‘Rhythm mode’ turns your lighting into a sound-reactive experience, with the LEDs pulsating to the sound of music — at-home karaoke just hit the next level.

The lightstrip can also be synced to other RGB Nanoleaf lights to extend the screen mirroring even further.

What’s in the box?

Adhesive backed LED lightstrip
Camera, camera mount & magnetic privacy cover
Controller & power supply
Corner brackets

After a flick through the quick start guide, I was able to confidently install the lighting to the back of my TV with relative ease. Using the brackets to navigate the corners, I curved the sticky-backed strips around the perimeter of my TV.

Once I had the strips installed and spent some time calibrating using the companion app, I had the green light to sit back and bask in the rainbow glow of success – that was after I finished calibrating the thing.

My Experience

There’s an instant ‘wow’ factor when the lights turn on for the first time, that same feeling of looking up into the sky to watch a fireworks display. Even after having the lighting for over a month now, I still get that moment of joy every time I turn them on.

Not that I have them on all of the time, however. Daylight is an obvious issue for any piece of lighting tech, so I usually just pop them on for evening movies, TV shows, and late-night gaming.

Most recently, we had rhythm mode on while my daughter watched the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert on Disney Plus. With the lights pulsating to the music, it made it just that little bit more like the show she missed out on seeing live.

This might be obvious, but the best results come when there are big bold colours on-screen that shift and change. Arriving at the Gold Saucer for the first time in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was an awe-inspiring experience. The vibrant scene, enhanced by the dancing hues on my wall, as holograms of Shiva, Ifrit, and various coloured chocobo flew by, had me more excited than Yuffie in that moment!

(This video doesn’t do nearly enough justice).

The Nanoleaf tech shines in scenes like these.

Of course, it all depends on what you’re watching. A dark and brooding movie, for example, isn’t going to get much out of the tech, but a Pixar flick with a bright and cheery colour palette will shine.

Often I’ll be watching a film, with the lights so subtle I forget they’re there, when suddenly a burst of oranges and reds lights up my wall during an explosion giving me a delightful surprise.

Like surround sound, the lightstrips are another tool to increase your immersion.

I do question how much of the screen is being sampled for colour information, though. In the example above, from the camera’s POV during calibration, we can see the field of view isn’t getting much further than halfway down the screen. So I can only assume that any colour along the bottom of the screen won’t be reflected at all.

I’ll freely admit I’m not a savant when it comes to this tech, this was the best I could manage to get out of the cameras FOV, after an hour of fiddling, adjusting, and re-calibrating.

It’s not just an aesthetic change, though. Backlighting can provide benefits to eye health too. Trying to keep up with rapid changes in light and darkness can be rough on the eyes, leaving them tired or worse. Backlighting (or bias lighting) can minimise eye strain by providing a consistent source of light within the room. It can also improve the perceived contrast of your display.

Problems and Troubleshooting

There were a couple of minor issues that had me seeing red. After a few weeks of having the strips on the back of my TV, I found they were starting to come unstuck. Both the light strips and the curved corner brackets.

My 65” Samsung Q80T has a curved, textured back, which might have contributed to the adhesive troubles.

Feeling blue, I whacked on a few extra 3M strips that I had lying around, and I was back in action. Weeks later with the extra 3M strips, I haven’t had any unsticking issues, so I’m guessing the supplied adhesive strips just weren’t strong enough for my TV.

My gaming room is an open-plan area, meaning the hallway light shines into the room. The glare from this light, hitting the corner of my TV, threw off the camera in that area, causing the LED strips to display the wrong colours.

This isn’t me throwing shade at the Nanoleaf tech, as obviously another light source is going to affect a camera lens, but TV placement is something to be aware of.

It’s also important to note that to control your lights through the app and over your home WiFi, you will need a 2.4GHz connection. If your WiFi is outputting at 5GHz, then you’ll need to change the wavelength via your router (an easy fix).

Should you buy one?

Installation and set-up was a breeze, and the end result had me tickled pink. But because of the issues with calibration and the light strip adhesives, I can’t give the Nanoleaf 4D a pass with flying colours. However, other than those small issues, my experience was shiny.

When it comes to price, well, that’s a bit of a grey area — it all depends on your TV size. To buy from Nanoleaf directly, you’re looking at $189.99 AUD for the 65-inch kit, or $229.99 AUD for the 85-inch kit. Of course, other retailers may have it cheaper, or you might luck out with a red hot sale.

If you’re looking to give your TV a quick and easy glow-up that will make your friends green with envy, then you should definitely consider the Nanoleaf 4D Screen Mirror + Lightstrip Kit as an option.