I would point out that an NVIDIA Shield with the Extend, Google assistant, and access to other Android apps would have all the antenna and potential ability to do all of this but homekit:
If you have a main hub that connects to zwave, zigbee, HomeKit, nest, google, amazon, WeMo, wifi and Bluetooth you have it all covered and your interface is the one everyone will use.
@fightingmajor…sorry I couldn’t figure out how to quote you.
Somebody one day will get it and will become the main hub. Everyone can continue to build their own devices, but when they see how everyone benefits from working together, everyone profits from it. Smartthings is the closest right now. That’s what they should build off of. Want Homekit to work with ST, buy our new hub. Don’t need it then stick with our current one. All it takes if for people to work together. You are still going to need an ios device to Homekit to work so Apple still makes money. companies are still going to make devices that work with HomeKit. There will still be zigbee and zwave devices. They just need to learn to all get along and have someone create a great user interface for them to all work together. Again, Smartthings is the closest right now, they just don’t have homekit integration.
SmartThings has one of the best zigbee home automation implementations for users who want to go outside of a limited preset group of devices, but it doesn’t have the most protocols now. Wink has WiFi, Z wave, zigbee (again a limited set of devices), Lutron, Kidde, and Bluetooth (currently limited to Switchmate, but it’s real).
Personally, and I know a lot of people don’t agree with this, i’m not looking for a universal platform. Or a single standard. The world works fine with both android and iOS ecosystems, and it could certainly be argued that consumers have benefited from the competition. I don’t need every device to plug into my home automation system as long as it solves the use cases I need within my budget. 
Ya but it would be nice if the option was there.
On a side note, this is off topic but we were talking about Kuna implementing Homekit awhile back and you mentioned with IOS they should be able to pull up the video feed on your Apple Watch or ios device if someone was there. Nest just updated their app to when they send you notifications of someone in the view you can now see a preview of it on the Apple Watch or if you click on the alert on the ios device it will play you a clip of the recording. Would be great if Kuna would just add this function. Does Blink or any of the other cameras do that?
I wish I could see my Nest cams on my Chromecast, instead of needing an Android TV or Apple TV.
Was thinking exactly this.
I wonder if anyone is considering this seriously. Should we start a group ? I feel like even owners of the lower class 5/6 series are missing out on at least having the TVs be a “thing”. It sure seems like the 7/8/9 series people really got misled, unless ST/Sammy has something surprising like full hub support in the works.
I feel like we could all legitimately argue for whatever the going retail rate is on a ST hub as a cost for replacement at the very least ?
Was thinking exactly this.
I wonder if anyone is considering this seriously. Should we start a group ? I feel like even owners of the lower class 5/6 series are missing out on at least having the TVs be a “thing”. It sure seems like the 7/8/9 series people really got misled, unless ST/Sammy has something surprising like full hub support in the works.
I feel like we could all legitimately argue for whatever the going retail rate is on a ST hub as a cost for replacement at the very least ?
I’m with you cyberpunk.
Something needs to be done. We have been misled.
Some guy coming on this forum pratling on about an Nvidia Shield!! who cares about an Nvidia shield.
Samsung and ST have said that there would be an usb extend for the 2016 KS tv’s, but they have not delivered. This is surprising as the profits rose even after the Note 7 fiasco.They have enough nohow and finance to deliver the extend.
They owe and need to support people who buy their items regularly. It’s us people who make them what they are, market leaders and wealthy. Maybe they don’t give a stuff about the small guys like me and others who purchased there 2016 KS tv’s.
All I want is to connect my 2016 KS series 8 with ST and control it. Now we have to wait until summer to get this update and the EXTEND USB? Is it a free option still?
Where’d you get summer from? I mean, I don’t doubt it that it may not be out until summer, just wondering if you have a source.
Is Tyler or anyone from SmartThings going to actually provide an update here? We really should be compensated for the complete misrepresentation of what we were getting. I definitely was swayed to a 65KS8000 based on the SmartHome integration. Even without the extend device, your website, as late as November, was saying the TV could act as a Hub for LAN devices. I notice it doesn’t say that anymore.
By the way , got an nVidia shield and it doesn’t do smartthings integration yet , my guess is it will need an update later. But at least nVidia delivers on their promises , unlike Samsung here . I’d love to know if we really need to wait until summer 2017 to get this functionality … at that point we will have bought tvs on a promise a year and a half old, and we could have waited for this years models. If Samsung can’t get it out the door before they ship their 2017 models they should offer all customers with affected units free upgrades to the 2017 models or something. That would feel like the right solution .
Umm you are going to need the extend to make that work.
Yea , that too. Or I can hopefully use the google assistant with the smartthings hub I had to buy because I got sick of waiting for the extend. At this point I just wish Samsung would give everyone a smartthings hub and admit the extend idea was oversold and underdelivered .
so how do we get onto samsung to pursue their false claims?
if anyone on here feels the the same please contact me.
Funny how ST/Samsung have not replied to any of our posts!!
I wrote to Smartthings asking about the extend about 6 days ago.
They told me that they are currently running a limited beta and are not allowing new testers. They also said that they are creating a mailing list in the extend site with a form form to fill out before ordering the extend. Finally they said that they don’t have an exact release date and have not considered giving free hubs to costumers.
Hope this helps.
At least we know that the project is still alive. I just thing that, at this point, it would be best to give free hubs instead of having angry costumers. I also think they are losing people in the smart house segment. I for one, have not installed any smartthings equipment waiting for the extend.
hopefully it will be soon because Nvidia’s new shield is supposed to be able to become a ST hub with the extend as well so it definitely sounds like they are working on it
Thanks for the update !
I bought the 8000 series TV over Christmas and now thinking to return the TV and buy something different only because Extend is not available. Havent opened the box yet 
I would rather buy a comparable LG TV and not pay premium for samsung if I am not getting what I paid for.
Last time (about 2 weeks back) I had spoke to the customer care department, they did say they will provide the extend for free…
The way I understand it, you only need the extend to control zwave/zigby stuff. Personally, I could care less about the extend because I already have a ST hub. What I want is for them to just finish the app already, and let the TV control the hub I already have. My phone has an app that can do that without an extend, why cant the tv do it too?
Samsung has really screwed the pooch on this one. Unfortunately, I think its a small segment of people who a) bought this TV, and b) care about the SmartThings integration.
I know I was tipped in favor of buying a KS8000 because of this feature. To be sitting here 6+ months later with absolutely ZERO smartthings capability is not acceptable. We were promised SmartThings integration.
When exactly is Samsung going to start sending out free ST Hubs to make up for there extremely egregious over-promise/under-deliver?
I’d be happy with just a ST hub at this point. I just don’t want to buy another one because you can’t use two when (I should say if) the TV actually gets the ST hub capability.
From what I can gather from seeing how it’s going to interact with the gaming device, it does act as a hub. With that said, not sure I would want my hub ran from a tv. I have a KS8000 and every now and then, the app screen messes up. If this happens, your extend hub is going to disconnect and nothing is going to work. I don’t think the usb ports get constant power when the tv is off like it’s set up to so that’s another issue as well. Unfortunately the hype around this for us users is greater than the device itself. I did buy my KS8000 a little because of the potential with smartthings. I bought it mainly because I liked how the tv perfromed. Plenty of quirks are still in the tv that by now should have already been fixed, but they are not.