SMART HOME SURGERY

Your connected-home queries answered by T3’ s experts

Got 99 smart home problems? Then we’ll fix, eh, some of them

QIs it possible to control my smart home from my TV?

ASteve May replies: We’re getting there, albeit in a haphazard way. The potential for seamless smart home TV control via Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa is considerable. Both AI platforms (to flip your question on its head) support a level of TV interaction. Sony’s 2018 connected Android sets will offer voice control of basics like channel selection and volume via a connected assistant. LG is upping the smarts of its connected sets this year by including ThinQ AI , which will enable users to control their TV using Amazon Alexa. More intriguingly, ThinQ AI TV s promise to support wider device control (think lighting, heating and smart lighting).

Smart home control via the telly isn’t new. Philips first teased home automation through its Android TV platform back in 2015, using middleware developed by MyLiveGuard. Applications included smart doorbells, Nest thermostat control and security camera monitoring. Having smart control over security camera feeds through a TV screen makes sense.

Perhaps your best solution is the

NVI DIA Shield TV media streamer (from £189.99, nvidia.co.uk), used with a Samsung SmartThing Link dongle ($39.99/£ 29, shop.smartthings.com). This combo will enable you to manage connected SmartThings compliant devices via the NVI DIA Shield TV box. More TV s are getting Alexa and Google Assistant voice control, however.

Ultimately, home device control may be getting smarter, but that doesn’t mean the scene is any less confusing.