Best TV system for home automation (LG vs Samsung vs)

[dakipro]

Hi,
I am considering a new tv after... 8 years or so. I usually like Samsung products because they usually work fine together (phones and tablets etc), but I've read a bit that their TVs are quite closed systems, whilst LG has much more open API.
Anyone who has some advice or experience?
Budget is sort of not important at the moment, if the features can be justified.

[John245]

Hi,
I am considering a new tv after... 8 years or so. I usually like Samsung products because they usually work fine together (phones and tablets etc), but I've read a bit that their TVs are quite closed systems, whilst LG has much more open API.
Anyone who has some advice or experience?
Budget is sort of not important at the moment, if the features can be justified.

I just purchased a Samsung Smart TV and it seems that node all Node-RED nodes are functional. Although there is a workaround in Node-RED.

---
John

[Dweber85rc]

Depends on what you want to accomplish exactly

[dakipro]

that is a good question. I use tv to watch movies from plex and youtube (from xiaomi box s). I also listen to music from xiaomi to amp, which I control by looking at tv.
And my wife watches TV trough coax box.

I do have logitech harmony which can pretty much do a lot with regular integrations I guess.
I was more thinking on some "various" features, like controlling the volume directly, or changing the input, or maybe opening youtube app with some video, or... I do not know, as said I have a 8 years old smart samsung which is... well, not quite willing to cooperate with any automation other then logitech (it worked to a point, but not it wont).
I've seen logitech integrating trough mqtt, which is quite appealing for me because it is not HA system related.
How is integration with Samsung? Or with some other Android TVs? Or...?

[Krumpy]

I will tell you that both Samsung and LG can be difficult to control remotely. I personally like the Sony platform as their control protocol is awesome. Second, with Android TV one has a lot of options. And that is a huge statement from me as I really don’t care for Android.

[dakipro]

thanks, do you have one? Android TV i mean. I have xiaomi box s on android, and I've installed tasker (not perfect) and plugins and things, and suddenly a lot options are open on it.
I guess Android tv can even replace xiaomi box, so that I can use plex directly from the TV as well?
Do you have some first hand experience on some cool functionality? Because you know, I probably do not even know I need it

[Guest]

I find that using the Harmony Homeseer plugin along with a Harmony hub to be a good solution. It also would allow control of all of your television devices in one spot (assuming that Harmony can control it). For example, I have a "Watch Blue Ray" event that will cause the Harmony to switch the input of the TV, turn on the Blue Ray player, and switch the Audio receiver to the proper inputs. And that event can be initiated from an HS Touch tablet or through Alexa. I have another event that will undo those changes back to normal TV settings.

[TC1]

I'm biased, Sony

[Bigstevep]

Harmony Hub +1

[John245]

that is a good question. I use tv to watch movies from plex and youtube (from xiaomi box s). I also listen to music from xiaomi to amp, which I control by looking at tv.
And my wife watches TV trough coax box.

I do have logitech harmony which can pretty much do a lot with regular integrations I guess.
I was more thinking on some "various" features, like controlling the volume directly, or changing the input, or maybe opening youtube app with some video, or... I do not know, as said I have a 8 years old smart samsung which is... well, not quite willing to cooperate with any automation other then logitech (it worked to a point, but not it wont).
I've seen logitech integrating trough mqtt, which is quite appealing for me because it is not HA system related.
How is integration with Samsung? Or with some other Android TVs? Or...?

Samsung can be integrated using Node-RED. You can establish full control. However with my model the launch app function is not working. So I need to keep the apps in the right order to assure that my workaround will launch the correct app.

---
John

[dakipro]

Samsung can be integrated using Node-RED. You can establish full control. However with my model the launch app function is not working. So I need to keep the apps in the right order to assure that my workaround will launch the correct app.

---
John

I assume you are using the "macro" of button presses to simulate manual input. That would work fine for me, as mentioned, I use only two aps basically.
Can you query the TV on its status, if something is playing, or current volume etc? Or you need to get that from logitech.
My samsung was working, but quite iffy to be honest. Everytime something would change, or integration would stop working, or... something.
I would like Samsung though, as I have and like their other products like mobile and tablets, and they pretty much work fine together. I would buy the frame TV, but.. afraid that it will suddenly become dumber than the cheapest tv out there.

[TC1]

Can you query the TV on its status, if something is playing, or current volume etc? Or you need to get that from logitech.

Any IR based system like Harmony can only send commands to a target device. To receive the status of a device it would have to be queried via its RS-232, Ethernet or WiFi interface.

[Bigstevep]

The Harmony Hub will give you status of the device (TV). I don't know about the free Harmony plugin but the meiHarmony plugin does if when you set up the plugin you select devices.

[dakipro]

Yeah I use Harmony, I am mostly interested in which TV allows such functionality reliably (Samsung, LG, Android TV...)

[TC1]

I can't speak about the other brands, but I do know the protocol used by Sony TVs allows both commands and queries of current TV status. Plus it appears that Spud's Sony TV plugin does support polling the TV for status updates so you know what state the TV is in, even if Homeseer didn't initiate the change.

https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/au...guide?t=194594