For smart home TV integration nothing beats Harmony Hub. It is great from your phone, works in SmartThings and Alexa.
When adding Harmony Hub to SmartThings, make sure you HUB activities are descriptive to the room because you will see all your Hubs activities. If the bedroom hub has Watch TV and the living room has Watch TV, you will not be able to tell them apart in ST. When you add it to ST you can now create routines that change the AV systems and your lights. Then tell Alexa turn on Movie Time. The weird part is you have to tell her Turn On Routine Name. Routines don't really feel like on or off because in ST they are not on or off. They just execute the commands you setup like, Goodnight. Good night could turn everything in the house off but the fans, or what ever.
One you have the routine setup, now you can turn some devices off and some on through Alexa with one command. A ST routine called Movie Time can turn on your Blue Ray, Receiver and TV and turn off or dim the lights. Then, Alexa, turn on Movie Time. Now you really have control.
I think Alexa, Smart Things and Harmony Hub really make up the trifecta of home automation. They each have weakness but all together they cover almost anything you want to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment