I am considering mounting a galaxy tab 2 tablet on the wall by recessing it in to get a nice flush look and have a browser running to allow controls of smartthings. Has anyone used galaxy tab 2? also i am debating between white or black. I am thinking a white tablet with a white fascia to get the flush look. Anyone done anything similar? If i get a black tablet then and have a white fascia then not sure it will look as sleek.
Try searching the community for âwall mounted tabletâ and you will find many threads about the topic. One community memeber (@73roderick) has shared his very beautifully executed project here:
I would just caution you on one aspect⌠gear such as a tablet has a very limited life so the more the mounting is custom the more you might have to rework it when you want to upgrade it. This is the main reason I have not mounted anything yet. I am tempted to get a touch screen and use an Odroid, or some other SBC, to power it so that I can more easily upgrade the computing part while leaving the display the same. This should preserve my install for a longer period of time but the trouble is that the resolution of these screens tends to be quite lower than the tablets I would consider mounting. Resolution matters to me because I have many multi megapixel IP cameras around my house and would like to view the feeds at higher than 1080 resolutions.
@coedshowers uses a custom recessed mount for his Fire HD 10 tablets (Fire-Wall mount by Bob Strenger) and it looks great.
I use the surface mount version of the same mount with my SharpTools.io web dashboard:
Do you already have a Galaxy Tab 2 or is there any particular reason you want to go with that specific model?
1 Like
I already have a spare galaxy tab 2 laying around thatâs why. Is ShartpTools.io a web dashboard similar to actiontiles? is it free or is their a subscription price?
Ah, ok. The challenge is going to be finding a mount that fits that particular model - and since you are looking for recessed, itâs likely going to be something custom made.
The Fire HD 10 devices are already relatively cheap and go on sale occassionally.
Yes, SharpTools.io is a web dashboard with a tile interface enabling you to view, control, and automate your SmartThings setup. (Thereâs also an integrated Rule Engine) You can find more details at:
1 Like
Thanks, so do you just load the SharpTools App on the tablet or is it a website in full screen? How does SharpToolâs make itâs money if itâs free?
1 Like
For Android devices, I would recommend using Fully Kiosk Browser and then setting your âStart URLâ as your desired SharpTools.io dashboard URL. Itâs a great browser/app that enables you to keep a web app full screen and has awesome features around screen savers, dimming, waking on motion, etc.
Alternatively, you can use the âAdd to Homescreenâ feature found in the browser of Android and iOS devices if you prefer that. Hereâs an article with more details:
We expect to add a premium tier at some point in the future, but donât have any specific plans to announce at this time. 
2 Likes
Awesome thanks. So if premium tier is introduced the free users wont be effected? i assume it will be some more features? How does Smart Things locations work? If I have more than one location in my smartthings account?
Yes, there is support for multiple locations from a single SmartThings account. Since SmartThings only allows the selection of a single location at a time during the authorization flow, just go through the authorization process twice and select the different location the second time. 
We also support mixing and matching devices across platforms - for example, in my screenshots above, I have a mix of SmartThings and Hubitat devices.
Weâre constantly adding features. 
You can find some of the recent feature announcements here:
We donât have any specific plans to announce around a premium tier at this time as we are still internally discussing what the best approach would be. Ideally, Iâd like everyone to have access to all of the features in an unlimited capacity, but realistically there will have to be a difference somewhere - either premium only features or reasonable limits.
1 Like
Awesome thanks. How much customisation is possible with the UI elements? Other than where what tile goes and colour etc is there any customisation in terms of overall look etc?
Yes, SharpTools.io supports a number of customization features on individual tiles and at the dashboard level - and we are working on adding more features based on popular user requests! The goal is to provide a platform that is easy to use and easy to get started with⌠while still providing advanced customization features and power user features.
For example, with each individual tile, you can be customize a number of features including dimensions, label, icon and color:
And at the dashboard level you can customize things like the base tile size and overall color theme:
And there are things like âHero Attributeâ tiles which allow displaying user specified data:
2 Likes
Most people recommend the fire tablets but I wish I would have went with another brand. Maybe im missing something but I want the screen to turn off when not in use then turn on with motion. The fire tablet I can not disable the lock screen so I have to swipe up to get to action tiles every time. The only way I have found to disable the lock screen is to root the tablet and I have already spent the time to get google play and remove the adds, its a pain in the A$$. I wanted to take better pics so I have been waiting to post about my project.
4 Likes
That mount looks awesome! Nice work.
Yeah, thatâs one limitation with Fire tablets⌠Fully Kiosk Browser cannot unlock the screen after turning it back on if it goes all the way off. Youâre probably already aware of it, but for the benefit of others in the thread, one workaround is to have Fully Kiosk dim the tablet to its lowest setting (sometimes with a pure black screen or with something like Dakboard). For me, thatâs fine for a main living area or walkway, but it would be too bright for me if it was in a bedroom.
Also remember a great feature of the Fire Tablets is Alexa. If just running ActionTiles, then they are darn near ideal.
2 Likes
If I wanted a CCTV stream as a tile, is the only media tile options a snapshot that refreshes instead of an actual live stream?
ActionTiles Media Tiles support live streaming (without audio) of MJPEG sources only (also subject to the ability to authenticate either with no login/password, or via login & password as parameters, or sometimes via login in a separate tab). This is a limitation of browser embedding. We hope cameras and browsers agree on more universal modern stream formats someday⌠But the trend right now is cloud based cameras.
Some camera sources which do not offer MJPEG offer still image snapshots, which are a useful option.
Alternatively you can use a transcoding server (Blue Iris, VLC, tinyCam Monitor Pro, MotionOS, âŚ) to receive the unsupported stream and output MJPEG. This can work well, but not free of complexity and complications⌠Network traffic, slight delay, etcâŚ
An instructional demo video of tinyCam Pro integration has been produced by an ActionTiles fan & smart home blogger:
You can use MJPEG streams or image snapshots with SharpTools.io Media Tiles. For MJPEG streams, just leave the Refresh Interval at the default of 0 to disable the periodic refreshing.
You can find more details on how to use the Media Tiles in the following article:
What kind of camera/CCTV system is it?
Itâs a m3u8 stream. Itâs seems this format is a hls stream and there is hls.js that allows the video playback in chrome.
If I remember correctly, M3U8 is a playlist format and inside it would be a reference to an actual file/stream with a particular encoding. What kind of camera or CCTV system is it?
You are correct the m3u8 file has some references inside it but to some .ts files. But if i try and open that .ts file directly doesnât seem to work but the m3u8 file opens directly and with vlc media player. The camera is a Netatmo Presence camera