paulbates Posted February 3 Posted February 3 I have an eisy, a portal account and a <1 year old Samsung smart tv. I also have an ecobee t stat that can serve as an Alexa. I have some basic things I want to do, looking for comments from those who have integrated a Samsung tv, Alex and the portal. Trying to keep it as simple as possible. What I want to do: Turn the tv on and off, navigate hdmi inputs I believe this all Alexa and Samsung; the portal and iox programming not required(?) I'd really like to avoid smart things, but doubt I'll get away with that. Is smart things necessary or can Alexa discover the tv on its own? For eisy and portal, I'd like to do the old school theater effects; dim room lights and lamps and bring them up based on on/off spokens to alexa Can Alexa routines be written that detect spokens from Alexa->samsung for on/off and update a variable, run a. Program, etc? My recollection of doing this a few years ago was the other way around.. having an ISY program command something on the Alexa side. If someone's done this and can comment I'd appreciate their experience before wandering through this.
oberkc Posted February 3 Posted February 3 I know that one can create an Alexa routine to run an IoX program (or turn off/on switches, etc). I have added TVs (unfortunately I do not have any compatible Samsung TVs) to Alexa and find that that Alexa can control them. To do this, IIRC, add an ISY program to Alexa. When Alexa tries to turn the device (program) on the program THEN path will run. Turning the device off will cause the ELSE path to run. Alexa routines can have multiple actions, including turning on/off TVs. 1
sjenkins Posted February 4 Posted February 4 I have Samsung tv’s and use the Alexa routines. Unfortunately if the SmartThings app falls off your phone (due to lack of memory or something) it will stop working. Have not invested the time to make this work with preferrred paths. My marantz behaves much better with my isy. Love to hear of someone who put the time into this one without killing power to the Samsung , I know how to do that but then you lose standby “features”. 1
paulbates Posted February 5 Author Posted February 5 Resources will not be a problem with my phone... it's more: "why oh why is my phone involved in a conversation between my tv and Alexa?? Not to mention the "privacy invasion" of their apps on the tv and phone. Thanks for the response, I'm going to see how far I get trying to meet simply defined functional requirements given how Samsung software works
sjenkins Posted February 5 Posted February 5 @paulbates Let me know & happy to test ; I'd love to shake that useless app as well. 1
Michel Kohanim Posted February 7 Posted February 7 Do all Samsung devices need to go through SmartThing? I want to do the same for other reasons. With kind regards, Michel
sjenkins Posted February 7 Posted February 7 as far as I know they do in order to get them as a device on Alexa/google through skills. At least I haven't heard of a way around it.
Michel Kohanim Posted February 7 Posted February 7 @sjenkins, https://pypi.org/project/samsungtvws/ ? With kind regards, Michel 1
paulbates Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 I bought a Samsung tv later last year. Just to set it up, I had to roll through a lot of terms boiler plate and accept. Then it was insistent that I use smart things to complete the setup; I didn't want to but went there anyway... to find the app had multiple pages of boilerplate to even install it. After getting frustrated with the amount of time it was taking and the amount of PII they wanted to collect.. I stopped and googled and found there was a way on the TV to setup without smartthings, which i then deleted from my device. In prior years it would be the TV listening advertising on SSDP and a compatible digital assistant or home automation controller discovering that. I'm going to try when I'm back in town end of next week... I don't really want to do this but there's a sizable pile of WAF lurking here 😉
Michel Kohanim Posted February 7 Posted February 7 I am very interested. If we can use SSDP to find it and the python library to communicate with it, it would be great. My use cases: Turn on/off Change channels/volume Connect/disconnect bluetooth Chromecast (albums and pictures) With kind regards, Michel 2
paulbates Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 @Michel Kohanim... yep, similar, On/Off, choose HDMI source. We have an MI Box which is also android tv I use google as my cloud/photo storage.. hadn't thought of that access to pictures on the tv, will see if that's possible... thanks!
Michel Kohanim Posted February 7 Posted February 7 Hi Paul, thank you. I'll help as much as I can. With kind regards, Michel
sjenkins Posted February 7 Posted February 7 3 hours ago, Michel Kohanim said: @sjenkins, https://pypi.org/project/samsungtvws/ ? With kind regards, Michel Not fair, you asked google. 😜 in my Defense it had not bubbled up in my project/give-a-sh*t list. might be a good node server, eh? I was looking for my next one; I’ll take a peek as well. 1
paulbates Posted February 7 Author Posted February 7 (edited) I would certainly pay for that capability and test on my tv if needed. In my last house, before I had an ISY I had homeseer and there was a Samsung plugin for it that worked well. I'm guessing Alexa spokens -> iox program -> plugin -> TV .... would work as well as Alexa splokens -> (smartthings?) -> TV. .. except the first would avoid smart things, if it proves to be problematic, tbd I did go through the plugin store and the AV capabilities are there, but not for Samsung. Edited February 7 by paulbates 2
lilyoyo1 Posted February 8 Posted February 8 21 hours ago, Michel Kohanim said: I am very interested. If we can use SSDP to find it and the python library to communicate with it, it would be great. My use cases: Turn on/off Change channels/volume Connect/disconnect bluetooth Chromecast (albums and pictures) With kind regards, Michel Shouldve bought LG. Less hurdles to jump through. 😀
Javi Posted February 8 Posted February 8 18 hours ago, paulbates said: I would certainly pay for that capability and test on my tv if needed. In my last house, before I had an ISY I had homeseer and there was a Samsung plugin for it that worked well. I'm guessing Alexa spokens -> iox program -> plugin -> TV .... would work as well as Alexa splokens -> (smartthings?) -> TV. .. except the first would avoid smart things, if it proves to be problematic, tbd I did go through the plugin store and the AV capabilities are there, but not for Samsung. Another option is IR codes with iTach. I have a single iTach and xantach IR distribution to all A/V Electronics in every room. This makes it easy to add/replace AV devices as the iTach Node Server controls all A/V equipment in the entire home. iTach has 3 outputs so if 2 devices have the same codes the output can be changed. We have 2 Samsung TVs with the same or similar code sets so both rooms use a different output. Most devices have code sets in the Global cache Control Tower Database, but if they do not exist you can learn or find codes online. We also have an old smart TV in the bedroom which I did control via IP for a while as it had no discrete (on, off, input) ir codes. This is the only AV device I have owned without these discrete codes. The TV would fall off the Wifi network sometimes and it was a pain to troubleshoot, so I added an energy monitor to determine if the TV was on or off to simulate discrete codes with power toggle from iTach. This also makes debugging an automation easy as you will see the ir blaster blink when an ir command is sent. 1
paulbates Posted February 8 Author Posted February 8 (edited) 1 hour ago, Javi said: Another option is IR codes with iTach. I have a single iTach and xantach IR distribution to all A/V Electronics in every room. This makes it easy to add/replace AV devices as the iTach Node Server controls all A/V equipment in the entire home. iTach has 3 outputs so if 2 devices have the same codes the output can be changed. We have 2 Samsung TVs with the same or similar code sets so both rooms use a different output. Most devices have code sets in the Global cache Control Tower Database, but if they do not exist you can learn or find codes online. We also have an old smart TV in the bedroom which I did control via IP for a while as it had no discrete (on, off, input) ir codes. This is the only AV device I have owned without these discrete codes. The TV would fall off the Wifi network sometimes and it was a pain to troubleshoot, so I added an energy monitor to determine if the TV was on or off to simulate discrete codes with power toggle from iTach. This also makes debugging an automation easy as you will see the ir blaster blink when an ir command is sent. Thanks Javi, I will think about that. I went through the progression of Harmony IR remotes and ended up with the hub at my last house, but never integrated it, it allowed me to have "1 remote to rule them all". Today it's one Samsung TV in the living room... with a MI Box (androidTV).. which needs to be manually switched on with its google IR remote. (I did something to the TV's settings to cause the MI box to switch off when switching away from it as input). I also have a palm sized keyboard remote to enter searches into one of the apps that won't accept voice input (Cinema 2) Your solution would resolve having an Alexa spoken Turn on MI Box Turn on TV Select HDMI2 select the desired app and launch it Irtach is a good alternative to consider, thanks Edited February 8 by paulbates
paulbates Posted February 8 Author Posted February 8 2 hours ago, lilyoyo1 said: Shouldve bought LG. Less hurdles to jump through. 😀 It was a close competition. We wanted to go up one screen size from the prior TV. Costco had 2 competitive TVs in that screen dimension, one Samsung and one LG. The TV I sold with my house was an LG and I told my wife that LG was a better UI, including that pointing cursor remote. But side by side, the picture of the Samsung was better and I would have regretted that.. the picture is really good. While LG also had pages of boiler plate to accept, they didn't have an HA solution being pressed on me.. setup was on the TV and much more simple 1
lilyoyo1 Posted February 8 Posted February 8 2 hours ago, paulbates said: It was a close competition. We wanted to go up one screen size from the prior TV. Costco had 2 competitive TVs in that screen dimension, one Samsung and one LG. The TV I sold with my house was an LG and I told my wife that LG was a better UI, including that pointing cursor remote. But side by side, the picture of the Samsung was better and I would have regretted that.. the picture is really good. While LG also had pages of boiler plate to accept, they didn't have an HA solution being pressed on me.. setup was on the TV and much more simple I don't blame you there. Samsung has a better picture quality (though I love LG's oleds). I just can't get past the hoops you have to deal with when it comes to them with Smartthings. 1
sjenkins Posted February 13 Posted February 13 On 2/7/2024 at 12:51 PM, Michel Kohanim said: I am very interested. If we can use SSDP to find it and the python library to communicate with it, it would be great. My use cases: Turn on/off Change channels/volume Connect/disconnect bluetooth Chromecast (albums and pictures) With kind regards, Michel Played around a bit with the api. /venting Certainly can get on/off, channels, volume, remote buttons , but I must say the whole token permission thing is a bit off. Getting the tv to not want permission on the first contact each time is an issue (solutions online are not working). As well because there is about 8 billion models/versions of tv's out there, each of them the settings are different. So any plugin would mean settings help/hell. I'll keep knocking away at it because I'm interested for my own uses. Of course will share the results. Right now though as a plugin for a population I predict this as support hell. venting/ 1 1
paulbates Posted February 17 Author Posted February 17 (edited) I set up Alexa through ecobee. All went as expected/remembered in getting amazon/ecobee/isy connected When I looked for Samsung, it needs a smarthings account as a proxy. I stopped there. @sjenkins .. I'm willing to test what you have: On 2/13/2024 at 2:49 PM, sjenkins said: on/off, channels, volume, remote buttons 👆 those are all I'm looking for, if HDMI source is part of it (assuming its part of remote). I've carried remotes from older Samsungs forward, and the generic remotes from Walmart always doing the basics.. if that translates to the API, I'd be good with a "that's all this plugin does, nothing else" Appreciate you giving it try to see what's possible. Edited February 17 by paulbates
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