Assistants on SmartTVs

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Adrian Lazaro Garcia
Android developer at Tyris Software

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We are living in a time of constant changes in the every-day technology we use, with the sole intention of facilitating any task that we must carry out, whether domestic or professional.

There are many small home appliances that have undergone a great change, and some of them were unthinkable just a few years ago.

FROM TELEVISION TO SMART TV

The home entertainment world is going through a digital revolution constantly and, although we could list many advances, there is one that is particularly striking: television.

Assistants on SmartTVs

Television has dramatically changed not only because of the movement from analogue to digital signal, but also in the way they are built. Now they are not only extremely thin, elegant, light and with a much larger screen size, but they are also smarter: they are called “Smart TVs”. Little by little, this field has gained ground as we can see how the market for Smart TV applications is gaining strength and we can navigate on them, not only with the rudimentary remote controller but also with personal assistants.

Many homes already use Google Home or Alexa, the two most popular personal assistants nowadays. We use them to listen to music, ask for recipes or get up to date in the coronavirus outbreak news. Nevertheless, this goes far beyond. We can also domotize our entire houses, and of course, this includes operating the TV through a purely verbal interface, without any buttons.

Google Home or Alexa

FEATURES

More and more are the brands that have launched new television ranges which are fully compatible with this sort of assistants, supporting orders of these types:

In a very simple way, the television can be synchronized so that it follows all your instructions. Also, we have good news for you: 

It is not necessary to buy a TV compatible with this type of assistant!

The remote controllers that we have in our televisions work through infrared signals, so what would happen if we had a little device that knew the infrared impulses that it should send to the TV? And what if they could be emitted through a voice assistant? Indeed, we could do exactly the same thing as if we had a television with native compatibility with the assistants.

broadlink

ALTERNATIVES

There are several alternatives (one of the most popular is marketed under the brand “Broadlink“), but all of them are based on the same idea: they store the different infrared signals for the different actions and, later, at the user’s request, they are activated. They usually have a 360º field to make the emissions, so you don’t have to worry much about where you place this repeater (beyond that making it look nice on your shelf).

As you can see, you really have several options to make the most of your television, because this last option is also very cheap (you can buy them from € 15) and are very easy to configure. Your TV will level up 🙂

Bonus track: I imagine you are wondering, but effectively with this type of control stations you can read all kinds of infrared signals, so you could also control, for example, your air conditioning system (although this would take for another post!).

Authoring
Adrian Lazaro Garcia
Android developer at Tyris Software

Comparte esta página: