The topic really says it all…
Is it possible to have a system that will turn on my TV, then my roku, then hulu live, then open a specific channel on that device?
I can think of nothing cooler than saying "Hey google Open ESPN"
thoughts?
thanks
The topic really says it all…
Is it possible to have a system that will turn on my TV, then my roku, then hulu live, then open a specific channel on that device?
I can think of nothing cooler than saying "Hey google Open ESPN"
thoughts?
thanks
Yes with ST, Alexa and androidtv
Have you tried Harmony?
Unfortunately, the topic title didn’t really say it all, because you are playing Hulu on Roku. That does make a difference here. And you want to do it by voice, which is different yet again.
(I myself am quadriparetic, so I follow all the voice actions pretty closely. My main TV has both a fire TV and Roku on it.)
Right now, there are four main streaming options That you can control by voice:
google home plus google chrome-cast.
Amazon echo plus Logitech Harmony home plus Roku
Amazon echo plus Amazon fire TV
an android TV, which I don’t know anything about, but several people have posted about lower in the thread.
Each of those offers a different set of features.
If we look at just option two, Amazon echo plus Logitech Harmony home plus Roku, then you can very easily get “echo, watch Hulu.” But you don’t get simple granular control of the channels within Hulu. Once you have the right program playing, you do have granular voice controls for pause, play, rewind, etc.
If we just look at option three, Amazon echo plus fire TV, then you can say “echo, watch ESPN on Hulu on fire TV.“ it Will go straight there. And then you get a pretty nice set of granular voice controls.
My expectation is that eventually harmony will catch up with fire TV in this area, as the two have been leapfrogging each other for about a year now in terms of features. But we will just have to wait and see.
So… If you also have a Logitech Harmony hub plus roku, you can go straight to Hulu, but not straight to ESPN on Hulu.
If instead of the Roku you use a fire TV, then you can go in one jump. For right now, with the Roku you also need the Logitech Harmony and then you can only launch Hulu.
And for those interested, here are the instructions for doing this with an Amazon echo and a fire TV stick:
The fire TV stick is usually $39.99, but often goes on sale for $29.99 around the holidays. That’s when I got mine last year.
And for those who don’t have a hands-free voice device yet and want one, it’s often packaged with an Amazon Dot, again with more sales expected around the holidays.
Or if you don’t mind pushing a button on the remote and then using voice, the fire stick comes with its own voice enabled remote.
Like I said, I ended up having both the Roku and a fire TV stick on my TV, and I use different ones for different options. Choice is good.
Something like this is possible, using webcore and a bit of ingenuity.
I don’t know if exactly what you wish is possible, but something ‘like’ it is.
Not meant to be facetious.
I set up the following. The components:
Dot/Alexa
Android tablet
Tasker
AutoCast
IFTTT
Sony Bravia Android TV
Denon AVR
cable box
One of my recipes is “Alexa, trigger fireplace”. The process is:
Alexa sends “trigger fireplace” to IFTTT.
IFTTT, via its Webhooks service, sends a command string I created to the android tablet.
That tablet pulls up my fave YouTube 4K fireplace vid.
The tablet then auto casts that vid to the tv.
The tv, upon receiving the cast, powers up and engages its YouTube app and plays it.
Another is “Alexa, trigger hockey”. Same general process as above, except this time the tv goes on and chooses its hdmi4 input. It then sends the power command to the cable box, followed a few moments later by the NBCSN channel choice.
In each case, the tv sends a power-on command to the Denon.
The above, as well as a slew of similar commands, also function if the gear is already on.
Sounds like a Rube Goldberg machine.
jd and glen… thank you for the very well thought out responses.
Sounds like I may be a bit away from doing what I want yet.
I dont have, nor do I really want to add android tv to the mix.
I am in this to simplify for my wife, who isnt all together thrilled with the entire house being taken over by smart devices haha.
If i could get to the point of powering on the tv, powering up roku and launching hulu, which I think may be possible with just harmony, im just not that familiar with harmony.
Assuming you also have an echo Device, which you still haven’t said, this would be very easy.
Roku exposes its own “channels” to the Harmony, so anything which looks like a channel on Roku can be started by voice with echo once you have the Harmony. You just say the name of the Harmony “activity.” Like “echo, Turn on Netflix.” We use this all the time at our house. This will turn on the TV, turn on the Roku, switch to Roku, and start Netflix.
It’s just that so far with Harmony it just takes you to the start up menu for Netflix. It doesn’t select programs within Netflix yet.
I have echo, but getting rid of them all for google home… however i checked harmony page and they work with google home now… so I should be ok i think. although im thinking if i cant launch a specific channel, whats the point… it isnt hard to just hit 1 button and then a second to launch hulu… its more getting around the terrible UI of hulu haha
Then you should look at the fire TV stick.
haha i just ditched 6 of the old gen 1 fire sticks in favor of roku sticks (new ones) and ill never go back… i think they are vastly superior, if for nothing else but no ads haha
If you think the few ads that Amazon pushes to the fire sticks are bad now just wait. Amazon is looking into pushing more ads as a money generator for them and they won’t allow them to be blocked.
There should not be any ads on a service that you pay for (ie Prime) but that’s just my opinion.
I just switched to all Google home devices, my favorite is the JBL link 300 by far, Amazon should rethink the route they are headed in
Does the JBL Link connect to Smartthings as easily as the Google Home speakers? I’m looking for an outdoor WiFi Google Assistant and the JBL Link is the only choice so far.
Ads are inevitable. Google inundates you with ads on their search engine… it’s unthinkable that they will not follow amazon’s path in putting those ads on their in-home devices. Roku will eventually go that way too. They have to.
The reason: stockholders.
Any corporation is obligated to provide return on investment. And in fact, investors will not invest - and if they are invested, they will pull out - if a revenue stream is left on the table.
So for me, Amazon being first to put ads on these devices does not mean its time to leave Amazon in favor of some other provider. Especially since I would then have to contend with the wife’s aversion to saying “hey Google” lol
Yes, it connects in exactly the same way
Thanks; I figured it should but saw a few posts that sowed some doubt.