Trying to keep the story short… I’ve recently bought a Sony KD-55XG8096 and I’d like to replace the infra-red remote with something that doesn’t require line-of-sight as the kids are complaing that it’s harder to control than the NVidia Shield I’ve got connected to another TV, not to mention the plethora of useless buttons.
Something with the form-factor and rough functionality similar to the nvidia remote would be awesome (up, down, left, right, select, back, volume up/down). As I already have a couple of z-wave devices already integrated with home assistant I assume that’s my best route, but open for other options with the desired functionality.
Anyone got any good recommendations? I see lots of remotes that seem geared towards lighting, I’ve not managed to find anything resembling a simple media remote yet.
I thought the Harmony stuff got killed off years ago, googling now I see that’s not the case. The Harmony Express seems to have the kind of form factor I’m looking for but can’t find it available through a quick search locally in Norway or via Amazon. Also seeing a few negative comments online about the ip control but could be worth a try if I can get my hands on one.
Unless your TV supports bluetooth, this will still need line of sight. The harmony hub has IR outputs, to which you can connect wires that place the IR emitter right in front of your tv.
It’s in the cupboard here, and reflects the IR via the wall to the TV. hasn’t missed a beat (using the Harmony companion with hub).
If your TV uses IP or RS232, you could create something with e.g. ESPHOME.
I’m definitely looking at IP control, happy to do the work myself if necessary I assume the android tv integration would work pretty much out of the box. My problem is finding a simple remote, something that looks similar to the remote on the NVidia Ahield TV or Apple remote or similar.
Maybe but that doesn’t solve my issue of looking for a recommendation for the physical remote control. Or have I misunderstood what you were trying to say?
Use the harmony remote. The remote talks to the hub, the hub can talk to HA for the ROKU simulation. I use a similar setup for my lights (with HUE emulation).
If using the hub I wouldn’t need HA and Roku simulation, it can talk directly to my tv, no problems there… the problem is the only harmony remote (Harmony Express) that isn’t too noisy with dozens of pointless buttons doesn’t appear to be available to purchase.
