Does anyone know of have a way to have Vera events/notifications to be shown on a TV screen.
I’ve been looking into overlay solutions that exist but nothing seems to be easy to use and I was wondering if anyone on this forum has or knows of anything?
My goal would be to have a device and associated software that runs over your normal TV feed and will pop up with events (say bottom right of the screen) as an when they occur.(a sort of widget)
Now, going a step further the ultimate goal would be that this was not limited to Vera, but could ‘pop up’ other things too like Twitter feeds, email, notifications etc. but Vera is a good start
In this information hungry world, I’d like the viewing experience to occur as much as possible via a single interface …
I think you’ll need a smart TV that can run apps. Samsung Smart TV has an app that can display notifications (as an overlay) from your Android phone, so maybe it can be customized to receive Vera notifications and what not.
Maybe with a dvr, you could run your video feed through a dvr and use the rs-232 interface to overlay text on screen. It’s ment to overlay cash register info on a CCTV feed I’m sure you could make it work for this though the down side is I’m not sure you could do it in HD
Thanks for the feedback, it’s an interesting area and I thought simple, but it’s not turning out to be that way.
I have Apple TV, but that device is not opened up yet for other apps.
My idea is to find a device like that, which works likes pass through showing your broadcast/TV pictures but with an transparent/overlay on top of it ready to render/show you any information you want it to. Much like on a windows PC, has speech bubbles that pop up and go away.
I was dreaming of something more rich, but @Ruetech do you have experience in text via RS232?
There is a uPnP protocol to do CallerID to the Samsung TVs … I played with it a yr ago … Thought it might be worth a Transport protocol in Vera Alerts to send messages to the TV screen. There is not a lot of text space available. I think it was 3 lines … long enough for your name (If it is reasonably sized).
Whereas the NeTV really does look very customisable, I’ve also just found this post for Homeseer where people have been after the same thing…
Sadly I don’t have the skills to build an interface for it, but with IOS (due) and Android apps available, and http calls possible it seems, Vera info could move onto the living room TV…
As I am using Windows Media Center HTPC’s connected to my TV’s, I can easily send msgbox popup’s. So if my porch motion sensor detects motion it tells me on the TV screen. Or if my foscam camera detects motion in the back garden, I have a message popup on the TV.
I guess this is much harder to achieve without having a HTPC sat under the TV.
@parkerc sorry it’s taken so long to get back. I’ve never installed a dvr for text overlay but almost all of them are capable of doing it. Also I think there might be a module you can run the video through they say you can run an rs 232 connection to a cash register or pc like components and have the receipt data overlay the video
Whereas the NeTV really does look very customisable, I’ve also just found this post for Homeseer where people have been after the same thing…
Sadly I don’t have the skills to build an interface for it, but with IOS (due) and Android apps available, and http calls possible it seems, Vera info could move onto the living room TV…[/quote]
Hey!
Funny timing and small world in the HA community I suppose. I just got a Vera3 which I am going to start to use as my primary HA solution. Anyway, that’s me in the first post asking about NeTV and Homeseer.
Here’s what I know about the device:
It can definitely receive events and overlay them onto just about any HDMI source. This is available almost out of the box.
It’s a Busybox based Linux system.
Everything is JS and html – basically the overlays are rendered through a browser, without all the UI components of buttons and window frames and menus. Just the web content itself.
It would not be totally suitable for “production” without some amount of customization. The device is really a technology platform and not intended to be a finished product for any particular use, although the event system already built into it gets you at least 80% of the way there.
IMO it’s the ideal device for this sort of thing. The price is right and the fact that content is just js and html makes it really easy to do stuff with it. I’m a little ashamed mine’s just sitting here collecting dust and wish I had more time to work on it. The last major hurdle I ran into was that the event system seemed to skip events frequently, and that the Twitter feed display at the bottom was driving my wife crazy. I only had a couple days into messing around with the box so these problems are solvable.
It’s a small world ! (The HA community is select bunch )
Thanks for the update @thetonyg, from what I’ve seen and read it looks a great tool, (although your right it seems more a decelopment box) but it is one that would allow you to merge elements of the PC world onto to the TV one.
Do you think you will dust it off and play with it again soon?
I’d love to see some photo of it in action with Vera messages etc.
[quote=“parkerc, post:13, topic:173472”]It’s a small world ! (The HA community is select bunch )
Thanks for the update @thetonyg, from what I’ve seen and read it looks a great tool, (although your right it seems more a decelopment box) but it is one that would allow you to merge elements of the PC world onto to the TV one.
Do you think you will dust it off and play with it again soon?
I’d love to see some photo of it in action with Vera messages etc. ;)[/quote]
No problem. Yes, I’d love to spend more time with it. Maybe as the holidays get closer? I started a new job around the time I started migrating to Vera3 so timing is really tight at the moment.
12 months on I’m curious to hear how many others may have explored NeTV - it’s seems to still have a small development community and a wiki site that is being updated. (As recently as last month)
I do this with Google TV, the Tasker and AutoRemote apps. The Android tablet I use to coordinate my home automation can send voice or text notifications to the Google TV boxes. You could theoretically remove the Android tablet component and have Vera send the messages which will be picked up by AutoRemote directly.
Windows Media Center, with mControl will give you the TV overlay.
Allows me to have a front end for Vera on my TV to:
1 Start the Goodnight scene from the TV
2 Switch to Camera’s, display a popup message, or play audio files (WAV) when motion is detected outside.
3 Display Pop-up message when and play audio alert when armed window or door (like Garage) have been opened.
4 Weekday alarm is:
** 5 minutes soft music without TV on (my audio is whole home audio) in my bedroom
** Gradually turning the lights on using the Wakeup Alarm Plugin
** Turning TV On
** Start Live TV and tune to the Today Show
** TV stops at 8:25 and plays a 4 minute music video to get me out the door by 8:30. (current video selected by the Fiance, “Work Bitch” by Britney Spears).
** Master Bedroom TV/Lights switch to normal motion activated
I’l be honest, since my camera’s automatically display on the TV when motion is detected (times out after 16 seconds and then returns to full screen tv)…I only use the TV Vera interface passively (through auto macros for notifications and alarms)…except for maybe running the Goodnight Scene at bedtime.
I have Windows Media centre too but I’m personally not a fan of it, plus being a subscriber to satellite TV I need to use the provders own equipment so the overlay element would ideally sit inbetween the a third party set top box and the TV (unless MS Media Centre can do that nowadays )
Sadly. that means you would need to do the old analog video input and IR blasting if you stick with satellite.
However, with Cable, you can use InfiniTV to allow access Cablecard encrypted full HD. I use the Cable Company for TV only is $52/mo with all but premium channels (no rental of DVR boxes either), and AT&T Uverse 45MB for Internet only is $64.95 (also allows native IPv6).
Also, coupled with Media Center, check out these other pieces running on your HTPC central PC:
Media Browser - TV and Movies (even streams these to your tablets and phones) Player for Windows Media Center. New feature lets you stream unencrypted TV (ClearQAM basic TV) to your tablets/phones/web client too. http://www.mediabrowser3.com/
that is exactly how it is supposed to be in a Automated home!
i have a nice webinterface on my smart tv (LG) … but its just used very rarely, since all is automated anyway.
the only use i have is to re-enable the water-pump if my wife decides to take shower out of the blue (but this will be also history soon if i finally get the bathroom - lights z-waved as well.
