Does the Gradient Strip Light Need the Sync Box? Please help

I bought the Phillips Hue gradient strip light for my boyfriend’s 55” TV on Amazon. I’m new to these lights so I guess I should have done a bit more research and realized some accessories were needed. I’m used to LIFX and I’ve never had to buy accessories. We were both so excited setting everything up only to find we needed to buy the bridge to make the lights connect to the TV. We bought the bridge and come to realize we may also need the Sync Box which is $350?!

Is there a way to connect his lights to the TV without the wildly expensive sync box? We figured out how to music sync which is pretty neat but I’m sad I didn’t realize we were going to have to essentially pay over $600 for the advertised product (coordinated lights projecting off a movie or game) Trying to decide if I’m dumb or if I’ve been mislead

Adding the sync box also made his app more confusing and deleted all his presets. Not sure if we want to keep the bridge at this point

Please help