That’s probably the smart move, but that’s no fun 
Lol. Well I have put my money where my mouth is and bought a spare harmony+hub just in case my current one dies! 
Make sure you program it before the logitech servers definitely don’t 
get taken down. No good as paperweights.
For reference: I already am a harmony ultimate user (so outside of the roku hack, AFAIK there is no way to integrate anyway), but it is at a household that is separate from my hubitat centered smart home setup.
1 Like
Not sure if this would help the OP, but it looks like an interesting Harmony replacement and perhaps it can be integrated into some home automation platform?
You mean fakeroku?
Another option may be to hook up an IR receiver module to an arduino/ESP and decode the TV remote power on/off signals and then use that to trigger a virtual device on HE via hubduino or MQTT.
1 Like
Yeah there is a thread over here. It definitely looks interesting, but there are also some red flags due to how they are presenting what it can do.
umm… hello… nobody knows about serial control for TV’s? This is how commercial and pro-installs are done (unless the vendor provides a nice IP interface).
The current limiting factor of what you can achieve is your control system aka “hub” that can’t connect to a serial device properly. You could go with a global cache and rudimentary interface of that with Hubitat or something.
I think I remember having this discussion about A/V systems, remotes, how this is what separates the DIY consumer hubs from the pro-systems… yeah… @markus I think I do remember this conversation…
Anywho… go with a Roku TV (TCL TV’s are pretty decent) if you’re only option is a DIY hub and IP control. If you want to step up from consumer have a look at RTI.
1 Like
Yes, absolutely, I do have this in my notes for CORE, but this slipped my mind completely when answering this thread. Thank you for the reminder 
There’s also the not-so-reliable CEC route which could actually work well for this use-case.
1 Like
What is the best method for controlling TCL’s? Controlling the TV isn’t necessarily what I am looking for, I am more looking for getting the current status of the TV. Now if the easiest way to do that is by controlling them and thereby knowing its state then so be it, but that seems like a much more expensive route to go.
1 Like
For just monitoring status CEC might work, not tried it, but with a Pi I think you can get the CEC data from the HDMI port.
1 Like
CEC 
I don’t think I have had a single good experience with CEC
2 Likes
Yeah, that’s why I’m saying, the not-so-reliable route… But, for just checking status it could very well be 100%.
1 Like
I just found this for Sony TV’s but it is unclear if this is only for their “Professional” line of BRAVIA TV’s or if it also applicable for their consumer models as well.
I am quickly finding out that this is a very deep rabbit hole 
. I am getting the impression that professional system integrator companies are going out of their way to make this complicated as a sort of job security.
Do you know which brands and model lines support either of these methods, preferably an IP interface?
Update: So I found these existing integrations, primarily with NR but also found a Hisense MQTT integration which sounds interesting especially if you can subscribe to power events. I am honestly leaning towards Hisense because they had the sense of using an existing IoT protocol and also has AndroidTV as their smart tv provider so push comes to shove I could mess with the ADB of that.
Also looking at Home Assistant, the best any of their TV integrations do are local polling, which is where my current Vizio integration is at. I have never messed with MQTT but if I understand it correctly, that would be the best chance for local pushing via subscriptions right?
Update 2: I think I am slowly coming to the conclusion that a better way to handle this is to handle it via the remote, or at least a combination of both. These smart TV’s are far too inconsistent YoY and the effort you put in now to get it working might be washed away with a single product release. Whereas a remote control setup would span multiple TV’s should it come to that. Does anyone know how much would a setup from RTI would be?
Can you be more specific on “status”. What status are you looking for? To control or even get status a TV must have power. TV’s that allow control use a “sleep” mode where the screen is off but the TV still has power. This is necessary to actually get status from the TV and to control it.
TCL Roku TV’s all have status and control through the Roku ECP IP interface. This can provide a lot of status of the TV, what channel (aka app) is running/playing and control of launching those channels and volume and TV functions. What you can’t do is control the App directly as those are their own thing.
No “we” don’t make this difficult, nor is it difficult when you use the right hardware to interface. A common DIY method is to use Global Cache devices to interface with the TV and whatever control system you’re using. Most TV makers all have a lineup of “commercial” or “pro” series of TV’s that include serial or IP interfaces. All of the major brands to and the interfaces are well documented.
This is the WHY every single professional control system offers remote controls. RTI, URC, Control4, Savant, Crestron… they all have remote controls to work in tandem with the control system for A/V device control. The system processor has a driver for the make/model for IP control or they will interface with serial or IR for devices without IP control.
Yes. However RTI is not a DIY system. You’re not going to buy it from someone and then be able to configure and manage it completely by yourself.
To start with, all I was hoping for was on/off status. Ideally I would also want play/pause status, but that would force me to use their smart TV stuff which introduces a whole other issue I rather not get into right now.
I hear what you are saying, but to me that sounds a lot like “It’s not difficult if you know the right people, have the right hardware, and know how to do it” which kinda makes it sound like it is difficult. And maybe the issue isn’t with the system integrators, maybe it is an unavoidable truth when you try to corral the multitude of disjoint and non-standardized brands and provide a nice interface on top. It seems logical that they would do everything in their power to make sure that the effort they put in isn’t just copied for free, hence the perceived barricades and hoops a consumer has to jump through.
I think this speaks to my point. There is absolutely no reason every system can’t be DIY if the buyer chooses to, they paid for it after all, at least that is my perspective. The fact that some systems like these intentionally create these barriers just feels extremely ‘gatekeepy’ to me.
My original intent with this thread was simply to find the best TV brands out there for smart home control and monitoring. Maybe I should have been more specific on the DIY front so that is my bad. But at the same time if we can’t have conversations like this in a community such as this, I am not really sure where else they would take place. That is what I love about this community so much, it is a crossroads of so many types of people.
1 Like
In a way it is very “gatekeepy”. The rational of it is that these companies such as RTI, URC, Control4, Savant, Crestron have been around for a long time (20+ years) for most of them and they have a reputation (brand image) to maintain. In today’s world of internet forums and reddit and places a brand name can get torn apart very quickly by only a handful of people spreading negative information. None of these systems are “easy” to deploy correctly. I will say they are not “hard” but they do require understanding and training to understand them.
In the past a couple of these companies did sell to DIY and it was a disaster for them. Not only in brand tarnishing from users but also in support costs. People really don’t consider the true cost of providing quality support and when trying to provide support to un-trained and often non-technical end-users that gets VERY expensive very quickly.
Lutron is the only “dealer system” that is still offering any form of DIY still. They were smart and made training mandatory for the consumer to get the programming software.
I read discussions and info from the pro systems on occasion where there are it’s discussed about providing DIY offerings or access and Control4 has moved in this direction with allowing consumers to program 90% of the system on their own. The main limitation is the inability to add new devices/drivers. However this DIY capability comes with a cost to the consumer in a subscription which pays for the support. Many people are complaining about this subscription but they want the ability to break the system. I say let them break the system and then charge double for the support call but that’s just me.
I do remote management and installs for RTI systems. As the dealer I work with the users and DIY installs. However if you break the system and call me for support you better believe I’m charging a lot more for the time to fix it again.
Long and probably just a rant.
Back to the TV. If you want status and control and not have to introduce a lot of other things into the mix I like Roku TV’s. The IP interface is nice because it works with any control processor and provides the TV status and “playing” status of the channels (roku app). You can also control most of the functions. With the interface being IP the control processor stays aware of any “manual” changes so if someone users the normal remote to do something that’s reflected in the Roku system and gets reflected to the control processor. Unlike with a Harmony remote if the TV or AV subsystem gets out of sync then Harmony is now broken. There are some “android” TV’s that work this way but they do require a driver integration using the ‘adb’ interface and it really is a hack.
2 Likes
Rant or not, I found it very insightful. I don’t know anyone in that field really so hearing the history and back and forth this industry has gone through was interesting. I do tend to agree with you however, consumers should be given all the rope they need should they request it, even if it will result in negative consequences. The moment that doesn’t happen, suddenly the conversation isn’t about the tech and is now more about the “moral obligation” of the company to “protect” the consumer, and in my eyes they suddenly take on the role a parent might to a child, which to me is just not healthy in this context. I also agree with you on giving the consumer the freedom to break their own devices, but at the exact same time, consumers shouldn’t get mad or expect free repairs if they do break it. Actions have consequences and all of that.
BTW, this is all under the assumption that there is not malice on the side of the company, e.g. intentionally creating traps for consumers to fall into to promote their official non-DIY setup.
This is exactly what I am looking for. Two-way syncing, especially if it is push and not poll, was really my one non-negotiable if it exists at all. That is what drew me to the MQTT of Hisense. I have reservations about Roku as I have never really liked their interface or how they try to be the cheap Apple TV, but if the display quality is good, price is good, and integration is good, I can always add my own sources like a Nvidia Shield TV or Xbox.
In regards to the TCL IP interface, how stable do you think it is, i.e. how long has it been around, has it seen many breaking revisions, is it documented well, etc?
I agree with this. Which is a reason why I work mostly with RTI and not with Control4 or others. Control4 is very strict in all regards of who has control. RTI is a little more open as they are the manufacturer and we are the dealers/installers and we are free to choose how we interact with our customers and what levels of access we provide to customers. Which is great for both parties involved.
It’s the same boat with integrations/plugins/apps/whatever if they are given free I’ve found the users are far more demanding about updates/fixes than those users who pay for integrations. The paid users tend to understand things take time and you can’t just hack out a fix for their single issue that may have unintended consequences and break things for others. It’s all a balancing act.
It’s not a TCL interface. It’s the Roku ECP. TCL is just one of the large TV makers for “Roku TV’s”. The interface is purely a Roku thing that is fully integrated to the TV’s.
The Roku ECP is a poll not a push.
The Roku interface has gotten a lot better. If you slap a Shield or Xbox or something else onto the TV then you lose a part of the functionality of knowing “what is playing” if you wanted to integrate that into a dashboard or interface. If the intention is to do this it’s much better to find a good TV with serial or direct IP interface for basic TV functions and then use a android integration or xbox integration to build up the multimedia status and controls.
2 Likes
Yeah this is my ideal setup. I hate smart-tv’s with a passion, but I rather not get into that right now. Any recommendations on that front? I wasn’t even aware those still existed.
Oh, that makes the decision more complicated. I have reservations about constant polling, especially if it is over a non-dedicated network, so that leaves me either having to find another way to intelligently poll or be fine with a latency of constant polling that is serviceable for the network.
I have found the same, but it always confounds me because if anything it should be the opposite no? 
I also think this speaks to a much larger “societal” problem that is well out of the scope of this forum.
1 Like
Most of the major brands still have dumb TV’s. They are marketed as part of their “commercial” line up and often used for signage displays.
I understand. I don’t particularly like polling but sometimes it’s appropriate. I have a TCL Roku TV setup and it’s polled quite frequently and it’s nothing to my network. Works just fine via Wifi or Wired connection.
I think that topic would require it’s own forum and babysitters
2 Likes