[mythtv-users] MythTV box setting its input source on a Samsung TV over IP

Stephen Worthington stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz
Wed May 19 18:20:03 UTC 2021


On Thu, 20 May 2021 06:04:06 +1200, you wrote:

>On Wed, 19 May 2021 18:45:44 +0100, you wrote:
>
>>On 19/05/2021 18:23, Stephen Worthington wrote:
>>> On Wed, 19 May 2021 17:41:56 +0100, you wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Has anyone here tried using the Samsung IP interface to control their
>>>> Samsung TV over the network?
>>>>
>>>> My MythTV hardware doesn't support CEC but I'd quite like to be able to
>>>> turn the TV on and set it to the correct input for MythTV using my MythTV
>>>> remote - I don't want to have to pick up two remotes.
>>>>
>>>> I know I could use a programmable or a 4-in-1 universal remote.  I have an
>>>> old Harmony (525) but I don't really get on with it. It chews through
>>>> batteries and uses soft-keys on a small LCD screen which I can't read very
>>>> well.  So I use an old Media Centre Edition remote which I've got to quite
>>>> like and I'd rather not buy another for what is really just a 'nice to
>>>> have' feature.
>>>>
>>>> I've learned how to bind remote key presses to scripts on my MythTV box and
>>>> I can turn the Television on by pressing a button which triggers a script
>>>> to send the TV a Wake-on-LAN packet.
>>>>
>>>> The problem comes in setting the TV to the HDMI1 input.  It can't be done
>>>> directly using the original Samsung remote.  You have to press the 'Source'
>>>> key and then use the arrow keys to navigate around an array of buttons
>>>> representing the various input sources. Samsung make this harder by
>>>> re-arranging the buttons each time depending on history.
>>>>
>>>> However it can be done directly using my Harmony remote.  There are HDMI1,
>>>> HDMI2 etc soft keys on the little LCD which take the TV directly to the
>>>> specified input source.  So I was hopeful that I'd be able to do the same
>>>> thing using the IP interface.  I've installed the python based samsungctl
>>>> application on my MythTV box and got it working.  I can send KEY_VOLUP to
>>>> turn the volume up, and KEY_SOURCE to bring up the array of source buttons
>>>> on the TV and lots of other fun stuff.
>>>>
>>>> Sadly though, the key commands KEY_HDMI1, KEY_HDMI2 which are listed in the
>>>> documentation don't seem to do anything.  I can send KEY_HDMI, which steps
>>>> around the available HDMI ports and I guess I should be happy with that,
>>>> but I just believe Samsung must have provided an HDMIn command, if only I
>>>> knew what it was.
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas?
>>> 
>>> If the Harmony can do it, it may be that the code it sends via IR will
>>> also work over the IP interface.  So is it possible to get the source
>>> code of the table the Harmony uses for your TV?
>>> 
>>As I recall, programming the Harmony remotes (I have a 525, no longer in use) involves replicating 
>>keystrokes as though you are using the TV's remote; and everything being in known states.
>>
>>For your source, have you tried just hitting 'source' more than once? For my use that also stepped 
>>through the different sources just as your HDMI button does. Of course that relies on your source 
>>list being static and being in a known position at the start. Harmony knows that as it did the 
>>previous source selection and so on.
>>
>>For your setup I think that, unless you can find the HDMIn codes, you are SOL.
>
>This looks to be the table of IR codes for Samsung TVs:
>
>http://www.awe-europe.com/documents/Control%20Docs/Samsung/Samsung_Discrete_IR_Commands_tested.doc

And this looks like it is the official Samsung TV API reference:

https://developer.samsung.com/smarttv/develop/legacy-platform-library/api00004/appcommon_175.html


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