Anyone successfully automated a Samsung TV?

🎬 Get Started
1

New to HE here. I have a ~2017 Samsung 32" and am using a Roku stick to stream shows.

Scenario: I am trying to use a motion sensor to turn on the TV when motion is detected without using IR blasters and line of sight will be difficult as the TV is on an articulating arm.

I tried a ST plug to turn it on. It worked if the TV was previously on within the last few minutes. Otherwise if the TV had been off for a while, the plug wasn't able to wake it up and turn it on.

Has anyone been successful doing this without IR blasters and would be willing to explain how you got it to work?

2

The only way I know is using the Logitech harmony hub

4

Yes, that would be a prefect solution if only IP Control worked. I don't have LoS and I am trying to avoid IR blasters.

5

You dont need line of sight with the harmony. The ir blaster actually reflects off the walls for my bedroom hub. And the one in my living room the blaster is actually on a shelf under the TV and on top of my receiver. It works perfect

6

Not ideal but if your Roku Stick works with IFTTT, perhaps you can simply tell it to turn off. Most monitors and TV’s will go into standby after a short period of no HDMI signal.

7

So you don't use the IR blaster with wires? You are able to turn on your TV through an indirect IR beam from the Harmony Hub?

8

The ir blaster that hooks up to the hub is on a low shelf. it reflects to the the tv that is straight above the shelf by about 6 feet (tv mounted on wall)

9

The reason your TV doesn't turn on after a few minutes is it enters a deep sleep. You can turn in back on from this state by using a WakeOnLan app. I found a couple for Hubitat and they all work well. Install the app, enter your TV's IP and Mac address, and then map it to your TV's plug switch you created.

If your TV can be controlled using SmartThings, you can also get rid of the plug entirely. This solution does use the cloud to turn it off, so if you prefer local control, keep the plug.

Step 1... Connect your TV to SmartThings
Step 2... Install HubConnect in SmartThings IDE and on Hubitat, and connect the two.
Step 3... Share your TV in SmartThings. This will create a switch in Hubitat automatically.
HubConnect will only see it as a switch, and so you can only share power controls. No volume or input control I'm afraid.
Step 4... Install WOL as above and connect it to your TV's switch.

And now you can turn your TV on anytime

Update. HubConnect now supports connecting to AVRs, and SmartThings will accept the Samsung TV as an AVR. This will allow hubitat to control more functions including changing volume and input. I have not been able to get SmartThings to report current input back to hubitat to use for my automations, but this is progress

2 Likes
10

I do have one of those. I guess I have to figure out that integration now that I got the Yamaha AVR working through Hubitat. The hub really need an ACR device type. I have to set up a tile for EVERYTHING I want to control.

11

Phooey! Now I have to figure out how to get to the ST. I already set up HubConnect on the Hubitat side.

12

If I add the HubConnect AVR code SmartThings complain about the telnet line.
I do not know what you mean about adding a TV as an AVR.

13

You add the AVR driver to Hubitat. Then you go into the HubConnect app in SmartThings and share the TV with Hubitat. SmartThings already has the drivers for Samsung TVs. Just need to link your TV to your SmartThings account

14

You may want to checkout Node-Red, I think there are some drivers for a 2016/2017+ Samsung TV. I was searching for a driver for mine (2014) but it's not available for my year but I think your year was available. The integration between NR and HE is pretty seamless so this would possibly provide you another solution that does not require any IR.
I have this setup (without motion) to control a Sony TV and Home Theater and it works pretty slick. Just couldn't get a link to my year Samsung.

15

I struggled with this and tried everything but was always unreliable for one reason or another; but the very simple solution for me, was to let the Roku control things, I forget the name of the hdmi Control standard but I can turn my Samsung tv on/off via the Roku using the community Roku driver. I have a dashboard that has icons for quick shortcuts to eg Netflix too

16

Found the documentation to install Hubconnect 1.6 which also had the links, however when I tried to do the pre-installation steps, they wouldn't save to app code. I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. I don't have a SmartThings hub and it sounded from your steps like I don't need one (just want to integrate a TV and fridge), so maybe the pre-installation steps are what are messing me up since the diagram seems to indicate needing multiple hubs, which I don't have. But then I get stuck as I'm not figuring out where the files are for the actual Hubconnect application. Any help is greatly appreciated!

18

Wouldn't Chromecast integration work for this as well? Buy the cheapest ChromeCast, make sure its always powered, and have it wake up your TV through Hubitat.

19

Actually it’s called CEC that handles communication across HDMI links and Samsung’s version is often called Anynet.

21

Don't see why not... I spent a long time faffing around with hackish solutions on Pis and SmartThings etc..at one point I had the TV on a smart switch but not great to just kill the power and there was always such a lag when starting up.... controlling via CEC works well..

22

If you have a raspberry pi connected to hdmi, there’s a way to control the tv on/off using cec.

I can share the code if needed

23

Thanks, will let you know on code. I discovered the issue with the HubConnect code, apparently what looks like intact code is actually copying and pasting with a space/line break inserted. You have to look carefully for it as it's easy to miss, but it's there. If you delete the space the code imports perfectly. It's the same for the driver as well as the apps code. Once I caught on to that, everything ported in just fine but what a mess. I also found another thread with explanations about adding your TV to the SmartThings app as a device and using WiFi, which will then allow HubConnect to pick it up so will try that next.