Question

My mother is physically disabled so she can’t use remotes. I want he to be able to tell her Google Home to turn on her (Samsung)TV and to change the channel on her Directv or use the Amazon Fire stick. Can raspberry Pi or Arduino be a good solution? 

Answer 1

#Aliexpress US $5. 12 28%OFF | Tuya App Universal IR Smart Remote Controller WiFi+Infrared Home Control Hub 360 Degrees Google Assistant For Alexa IFTTT  maybe you can use this to create some automations?  
https://a.aliexpress.com/_sjbSDZ

Answer 2

A fire stick is going to work better with an echo device. A harmony hub will do what you want, though. Not sure what the budget is but they go on sale for 50 bucks all the time. It can connect to google home so voice commands can start activities, change channels, i think even control volume.  

Comments

Just to clarify, google home can control activities with the fire tv, meaning starting and stopping activities. but the alexa/fire tv integration is a lot deeper, you can tell alexa to start a show on netflix and it will play on the fire tv (whichever is set as the defailt video player for that alexa device). google home doesnt have that depth of integration.  

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@battleax North I have ghome and fire stick, I can turn on the TV with the Chromecast but not through the firestick. Is there a way?  

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The fire stick can turn the tv on and off if the tv supports CEC and that setting is enabled in the fire tv. i think most tvs support it, you might just need to find the setting on the tv and enable it. the fire tv should have it on by default. i do all of that through harmony, though. i control harmony, which controls my fire tvs, chromecasts and tvs

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@battleax North yep, cost aside, the quickest and perhaps easiest (I use that term loosely) way is to use a harmony hub, fire tv, and echo dot.  

Answer 3

Raspberry pi and Arduino can do almost anything if you have the skills / knowledge to make it work. Almost everything will be custom built and coded though, but you can find tutorials for most things. Most power switches are pretty easy to wire into it if you feel up to getting into the TV itself.  

Answer 4

Harmony is my vote. works great for us.  

Comments

@samalla yep, this is the way to go

Answer 5

I currently do that with harmony hub and Google home mini

Answer 6

Fire cube can navigate Netflix and tv settings vol power on off

Comments

Fire cube can navigate tv inputs, control tv volume and power, as well as anything the cube has to offer. All by voice.  

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@execution Agreed! Fire TV Cube.  

Answer 7

Harmony linked to Google home. I have it at home and with my voice turn on the projector, amp, receiver. And dim the lights. Just by saying "okay Google let's watch a movie"

Comments

@anastasius how long have you been using it and was there any bugs to work out?  

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@battleax I’ve been using this integration for years. Works fantastic. You can set favorite channels and tune to them by voice. Volume/Power/etc. all work with voice. Best thing would be to look at Chromecast as well then she could start a flick through Netflix/Hulu with voice as well!  

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Also been using it for a couple of years and no issues. Really solid. Works 100% of the time

Answer 8

All those options are great, but the easiest and most stable way is to subscribe to YouTube TV and use google voice to control your smart tv. if tv is outdated you can always get nvidia shield as long as tv supports cec.  

Comments

Can you turn the shield on and off with voice, then tune into channels via youtube tv that way? sounds like a cool option, but thats going to get expensive if youre adding a monthly subscription

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@battleax North you can turn on/off, adjust volume and change channeled. I believe it’s $39 flat and better than any tv service and package. You can get Sony TV for about $500 that’s built into android. Also if you don’t want monthly subscription it’s supports Netflix and bunch of other stuff.  

Answer 9

Logitech Harmony Hub integrates fantastic with Google

Answer 10

Not sure but select Google enabled Sony / Android TVs will let you with Google assistant or Alexa. We use echo dot for ours but since we use all smart functions of the TV and don’t have cable I never use it to change channels. But change inputs, volume On/off works. Recent updates allow it to launch apps from the home screen by voice. “Alexa, open Netflix on TV. ”

Answer 11

I use a harmony hub & alexa for this exact purpose Harmony hub is like $60 We literally never use the remote to turn the tv on/off or switch inputs. only use voice.  

Answer 12

You would need an IR capable device and the Logitech Harmony hub is the easiest device to configure and use.  

Answer 13

If you just want voice control you can do alexa, a raspberry pi and a broadlink rm3 mini. Total cost $100 maybe. You can probably do it with google home but I just didn’t write that up. I’m linking to a couple of posts I’ve written. Node-red is the key. I’ve listed how to control an android tv /box / shield via IP in node-red, how to control a dumb device (via IR) and how to link it together with custom alexa commands. Sure it’s not a simple solution but you could probably expand this to control more and more around the house.  
http://thesmarthomebook.com/blog/

Answer 14

Also depends if the TV supports HDMI-CEC which makes it a lot easier to turn on with a Chromecast or Firestick

Answer 15

I think I would help your mother with the TV. she looks quite young!  

Answer 16

Caavo is what we use. It is a very smart device and I highly recommend looking into this. We have 2 of them.  

Comments

@roque I have a Caavo system, too and its really cool. The thing I don't like is theres no android app, so if the remote disappears we have to hunt for it since the find my remote feature doesnt work well for some reason.  

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@roque is it a monthly subscription?  

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@battleax I think it can have a monthly subscription for advanced features but I paid like $30 more at the time of purchase and got a lifetime subscription. I believe I got it off of Amazon.  

Answer 17

If that’s your mother in the picture, I’ll stay over and work the tv for her.