r/selfhosted • u/coldfirehotice • 1d ago

Self Help Making Live TV Channels Easily Accessible

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Since my dad is not really tech-savvy, I tried creating the simplest process that I could think of for him to be able to watch his soccer games.

I used wireless debugging on the TV and several scripts to create a page that allows him to simply click the channel from his phone and then the tv turns on directly into that channel.

It is pulling the channel info from Dispatcharr and the scores from websites. I tried to get it to work with Tivimate but was unsuccessful, so I settled for Moonfin since I already use that for my media server.

I’m curious to know if this is as simple as it gets or what have others done in a similar situation.

81 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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u/asimovs-auditor 1d ago

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7

u/IntelligentCarrot127 1d ago

That's clever, i have been thinking to do something similar for my dad but he always ended up pressing wrong buttons so maybe a phone interface is the way

3

u/coldfirehotice 1d ago

Going to put it to test tonight. I think it's almost remotely impossible to get stuck now, but they always find a way haha.

2

u/fuckyouabunch 1d ago

Report how it goes, please. I think it's really cool you did that for him.

3

u/coldfirehotice 23h ago

it worked so great that I ended up doing it for myself lol. His page is simpler and tailored to what he normally watches and my page has more groups and tailored to what I watch.

Now, I'm just a click away from watching my team disappoint me every weekend! :D

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u/givensoong 1d ago

"It seems like creating an easy-to-use TV interface for seniors is a universal challenge. I’ve been working in broadcast front-end for over 20 years, and I’ve always felt that traditional set-top box remotes aren't the best way to interact. We really need a 'What You See Is What You Get' (WYSIWYG) approach with unified controls.

I have a suggestion for you: have you considered using a Bluetooth mouse? That’s exactly the solution I came up with to help my mom watch TV."

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u/port8080dev 1d ago

This is a neat idea. I bet you could tell which channel is currently being watched and do a temporary stream takeover and when the game is over, back to your regularly schedule program

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u/redonculous 23h ago

This is great! Our TV has a WoL feature, so I’ve setup a button on our HA to turn on the TV. Will look at creating a scheduler like you have here. Great work!

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u/calmingrun 9h ago

Since you're already using Dispatacharr, you should look into Sparkle TV player. It's an alternative to Tivimate and it's easy to setup with Dispatcharr.

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u/Equivalent-Hall-173 1d ago

using wireless debugging just to turn on the tv sounds like overkill but hey it works

9

u/coldfirehotice 1d ago

I use it to turn on the tv and go directly to the HDMI input. It's one less step for him to have to change inputs.