Hey Jd this is a completely different topic but do you know anything about smart ir/rf controllers? I have a Samsung cu7000 tv and unfortunately I was led to believe it had a built in Alexa voice control but it in fact does not and even with integration through ST the only options for automation are on/off, change input, mute, and picture and sound mode and it’s not very useful. I read a comment on her that someone use an ir/rf controller to automate their tv to pay their kids favorite YouTube video when the kid cried. Is that possible? Would I be able to use a controller like that to give me more automation options?
Might be doable. An IR blaster is basically the same as a universal remote, they do work with most TVs. You can find several threads in the forum about them.
- The switchbot Hubs which you need for integration between switchbot and Devices and Smartthings are themselves IR blasters. It’s not a perfect integration, but you can definitely create scenes in the SwitchBot app that will be exposed to smart things so you can turn those on and off. I use this myself. Here’s a project report I posted:
Switchbot - Simple “power on” for some TVs (IR blaster)
- There are also a number of IR blasters that can be flashed with the Tasmota firmware, and then used with the following edge driver. That takes a few more steps, but you may get a more complete integration.
- I personally also use an Amazon fire TV cube on my main TV, and then you can get very good integration through Alexa routines (not SmartThings routines).
It’s also one of the only IR blasters which can give you voice navigation around the screen, like move down, move right, etc. Since I need a completely hands-free system, it’s been great for me. Note that only the cube model gives you the full hands-free navigation. not the sticks. But you need to confirm that it works with your TV model. (Or, of course, return it if it doesn’t.)
https://www.amazon.com/All-new-fire-tv-cube-4k-streaming-device/dp/B09BZZ3MM7/
- specifically for YouTube, there may also be some options through Chromecast, but I’m not familiar with those.
p.s. for the sake of everyone reading this forum in the future, when you start a completely new topic, start a new thread. Also, you’ll get better answers that way. I’ve moved this for you. 
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The Amazon cube would be cool but it’s kinda the same as the fire stick right like it needs to be plugged into an hdmi and it runs the fire streaming service? Like I wouldn’t be able to use it for voice commands on the Samsung tv platform unless I switch to the hdmi that it’s connected to and use the fire platform? (Sorry if my terminology isn’t correct).
And on the subject of IR blasters I’m also interested in maybe setting one up to automate an air purifier. I can find a decently priced air purifier that works with ST directly (only one I found was Meross but I’m not sure about it because I bought a Meross smart power strip and it just feels kinda cheap and I don’t know if that’s how all their products are) so anyways without finding a purifier that works with ST I’m trying to decide between an Alexa compatible purifier or going for a dumb purifier and setting up an IR blaster to automate through ST. The benefit of the blaster is if I had it in the same room as my old dumb tv I could also potentially set up automations or voice commands for that as well. Do you have any insight on this topic. (I know it’s not the exact same topic but I was hoping it was similar enough to not have to start a new thread)