TV with WOL feature

Cheetah Designs · 20 Jan 2013 at 20:55

Does such a thing exist yet? Looking for this feature so I can control my TV from elsewhere.

d_brennen · 20 Jan 2013 at 21:01

When you're not home? Useful

andy_mk3 · 20 Jan 2013 at 21:05

The only think I know of that might enable you to do it is USB-CEC I guess..

Cheetah Designs · 20 Jan 2013 at 21:06

No I am creating a custom media centre, with a customised remote (which will be a tablet). So I need to be able to switch the PC on and off over LAN.

Most smart TVs these days have the ability to use smartphone apps to control the TV, and you can switch it off, but because there isn't WOL ability, you can't switch them on

Cheetah Designs · 20 Jan 2013 at 21:12

andy_mk3 said:
The only think I know of that might enable you to do it is USB-CEC I guess..

This is very interesting...not seen something like this before!

Hamish · 22 Jan 2013 at 06:41

sounds like you want something like this: http://www.griffintechnology.com/beacon or http://www.gear4.com/product/_/29/unityremote/

This thread seems like a great example of The XY problem!

BlizzardX · 22 Jan 2013 at 07:44

Cheetah Designs said:
No I am creating a custom media centre, with a customised remote (which will be a tablet). So I need to be able to switch the PC on and off over LAN.

Most smart TVs these days have the ability to use smartphone apps to control the TV, and you can switch it off, but because there isn't WOL ability, you can't switch them on

With a CEC-USB adaptor and the right software (there is a MediaPortal plugin for example), you could wake the PC via WOL and then the CEC commands could turn on the TV (but only if it was new enough).

Question is I can understand remote start of PC, but why remote start of TV? What is TV doing that requires a remote start when you're not around to watch it.

Cheetah Designs · 22 Jan 2013 at 12:10

BlizzardX said:
Question is I can understand remote start of PC, but why remote start of TV? What is TV doing that requires a remote start when you're not around to watch it.

I want to use one remote (which is my tablet) to control everything. I am creating a custom remote tablet app so that I don't have to switch between applications and I just have the one to control everything.

Are there any 37"+ TVs under £500 that support the CEC-USB module?

cokecan · 22 Jan 2013 at 12:47

Isn't it also possible to control a TV over HDMI using CEC?

I seem to recall it working in reverse with a Raspberry PI (XBMC) so you can control the PI using the TV's remote control

Cheetah Designs · 22 Jan 2013 at 14:34

Hamish said:
sounds like you want something like this: http://www.griffintechnology.com/beacon or http://www.gear4.com/product/_/29/unityremote/

This thread seems like a great example of The XY problem!

Essentially what I am going to recreate, only much, much, much cooler and customized.

I'm definitely not confused as to what I want, or how to achieve it.

Engram · 22 Jan 2013 at 15:30

I turn my TV on and off via my HTPC with EventGhost and a Windows Media Center IR blaster.

No WOL required!

Cheetah Designs · 22 Jan 2013 at 16:02

Engram said:
I turn my TV on and off via my HTPC with EventGhost and a Windows Media Center IR blaster.

No WOL required!

But you have to have the fugly ir blaster. Prefer a no wires, no line of sight required option

Engram · 23 Jan 2013 at 08:31

Cheetah Designs said:
But you have to have the fugly ir blaster. Prefer a no wires, no line of sight required option

Well, you need the IR blaster emitter to be visible. The large plastic box is the receiver and if you're not using it as a receiver you can hide it (I do).

Line of sight is still an issue though. My wife loves to put foot stools and tables in front of the emitter and then complain that the TV didn't turn on!

Cheetah Designs · 23 Jan 2013 at 10:29

Engram said:
Well, you need the IR blaster emitter to be visible.

Yeah that's what I meant....I want my solution to be aesthetically pleasing also.

Subliminal Aura · 23 Jan 2013 at 11:11

I use a redrat which is powerful enough to reflect an IR signal off the wall and back to my rack / TV

div0 · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:41

It must be possible to turn a TV on/off via the LAN connection - as I recently had a problem where my Plex media centre was doing just that. Well it was actually stuck in a permanent on/off reboot loop, while Plex was running. But I'd imagine that if you can 'send' a reboot command, then On/Off should also be possible.

Cheetah Designs · 24 Jan 2013 at 07:10

div0 said:
It must be possible to turn a TV on/off via the LAN connection - as I recently had a problem where my Plex media centre was doing just that. Well it was actually stuck in a permanent on/off reboot loop, while Plex was running. But I'd imagine that if you can 'send' a reboot command, then On/Off should also be possible.

I expect you have a TV that will automatically put it in standby when there is no signal...not every TV has this feature.

Bare in mind that I would also like to control the volume of the TV.

rG-tom · 26 Jan 2013 at 07:46

Why would you want to do that? Surely if you're going through all this effort you will also have speakers an a proper receiver etc? Tv will be set to zero volume and never move from that?

Cheetah Designs · 26 Jan 2013 at 08:53

rG-tom said:
Why would you want to do that? Surely if you're going through all this effort you will also have speakers an a proper receiver etc? Tv will be set to zero volume and never move from that?

I'm no audiophile so prefer the "cleanness" of not having extra equipment...the extra sound quality would be a waste for me.

Bare in mind that I am also streaming media so video quality doesn't have to be great either!