SmartTV Integration - LG?

[darrylb (Darryl)]

Has anyone played with integrating with the newer LG TV’s? Looking at buying a 55in 4K LG this weekend (possibly LG at least) and am curious to see what people have been able to make it do…

Thanks.

[Kooltaco]

There was some talk of a Samsung Smart TV App at CES. But I have heard nothing since.

[JDRoberts]

The issue with most smart TVs is that smart things does not support the use of websockets, so even though you’re on the same LAN, it’s hard to talk to the TV.

Different community members have done different “man in the middle” set ups to work around this, usually using a raspberry pi. All a lot of work. Here’s a topic on the Samsung TV which discusses some options:

Samsung Smart TV Support

There are discussions about integrating some kind of home AV equipment to ST. There’s a lot of discussion about IR blasters to control some devices (which, if I could find a good Zigbee/z-wave IR blaster that plays well with my setup, I’ll order it in a heartbeat). As a (free) alternative for those with smart TVs would be to see if they have an API to send commands to. I have Samsung SmartTVs and I know they do have some level of support, as they allow apps on the same network to control them. I thought I’d share (what little) I know to see if anyone would have any suggestions or be interested in moving this along. During today’s Office Hours, it was announced that they’ll soon enable limited support for the ST hub to control devices within the network, thereby removing most security …

Also note that some smart TVs, including, I believe, all Samsung models, don’t maintain Wi-Fi connection when they’re turned off. So you have to use an IR command to turn it on. I don’t know about LG, but it’s something to check into.

Some people have used the generic DNLA renderer smart app to control smart TV speakers, but I don’t know how useful that is.