I'm in the market for a new HDTV and need your expertise on features that I may, or may not need to control the HDTV.

HDTV's in question:
- Samsung UN55EH6000 (no WIFI, no ethernet)
- Samsung UN55ES6100 (yes WIFI, yes ethernet)

Background:
- AV equipment will be in a closet in another room from the HDTV
- The plan is to control all equipment from an iPad using a Global Cache device (maybe the IP2IR?)
- Receiver is a Pioneer VSX-1021k (yes ethernet and controllable Pioneer App)
- Blu-Ray is a Pioneer BDP-140 (yes ethernet and controllable Pioneer App)

Q-I don't care about a Smart TV for internet/facebook...BUT will I need that WIFI/Ethernet connectivity in any way for a remote control situation?

Q- What happens when you plug-in a TV onto the network? Does it show up and get an assigned IP?

Q- If it shows up on the network, does that mean that I can somehow give it commands (on/off...) directly? Or will the TV still need an IR sensor?

I don't plan on using the Pioneer App, the only reason I mentioned it was that both of those devices have an ethernet port and can be talked to, so my limited knowledge thinks that port on the TV may be important.

Could someone post a side-by-side review of the two Global Cache Plug-ins, as to features, pro's/con's.

Keep in mind that none of the equipment is installed yet, and the HDTV purchase decision needs to be made IMMEDIATELY.

Thanks

Cannot answer your questions but my tv i control via an iPhone App.
2011 tv
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lg-tv-re ... 13365?mt=8

2012 Tv
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lg-magic ... 79485?mt=8

works great

Samsung has this.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/samsung- ... 80639?mt=8

CraigM wrote:Q-I don't care about a Smart TV for internet/facebook...BUT will I need that WIFI/Ethernet connectivity in any way for a remote control situation?

I'm assuming that by "remote control situation" you mean remotely controlling it via Indigo? If so, WiFI/Ethernet aren't necessarily required, but would probably make integration a bit easier. On the other hand, I found that, while my Panasonic TC-P65VT30 has WiFi and Ethernet, developing a control interface between Indigo and the TV through the network was quite a bit more complex than using the TV's custom integration serial port interface. So, it really depends on the specific brand and model I guess.

CraigM wrote:Q- What happens when you plug-in a TV onto the network? Does it show up and get an assigned IP?

Yes, generally.

CraigM wrote:Q- If it shows up on the network, does that mean that I can somehow give it commands (on/off...) directly? Or will the TV still need an IR sensor?

That's another one that really depends on the specific brand and model. It's probably a safe bet that any TV that has an iPhone/Android app to control it over the network can be controlled by other devices over the network. You'd still have to do your own development to get that to work though.

As for the Global Cache comparisons, I have no experience with any of those, so I couldn't comment. For my serial connection to the TV, I just use a USB-serial interface, a small custom Python script I wrote, and numerous triggers in Indigo.

Yes, I plan on doing this all through Indigo via one of the plug-ins [as soon as I have a better understanding of the differences, pros/cons and how to configure it without having a computer science degree].

The EH6000 TV is better suited because it is ONLY a TV, and doesn't have all the other junk. But it doesn't any WIFI or Ethernet connectivity. Do/will I need that in order to do the Indigo>Plug-in >iTach>Control Page control?

Price is NOT a consideration between choosing from the two TV models. If I was just TV shopping I would most likely choose the 6000, I just need confirmation on whether I need the TV to have WIFI/Ethernet to make the Indigo scenario work, or if those features are valuable in some other way.

This has the potential of being a costly mistake if I choose wrong, and I don't want to choose the 6100 just to be safe. Please keep in mind that your replies should focus on WIFI/Ethernet, and not the brand, cost savings, picture quality...

- Samsung UN55EH6000
no WIFI
no ethernet)
better LED back light [direct lit]
HDMI 1.3

- Samsung UN55ES6100
yes WIFI
yes ethernet
inferior LED back light [edge lit]
HDMI 1.4

Thanks

Have you considered iRed/IRTrans? I and others use that and it works pretty well. IR can do the job pretty simply and will likely get >90% of what you want done accomplished.

In my experience, ethernet/serial is great but only if you can't do IR or really need feedback to your controller. For instance, music selection and feedback re track/artist etc can be controlled directly by Indigo via the iTunes plugin or other means. For whole house audio, where one needs to know what's going on in remote zones, feedback is important and it would be good to have a receiver or WHA matrix switch that can give status of the zones. But in an AV environment, one gets feedback directly from looking at the TV - one immediately knows what's happening with the cable box, volume, channel etc. I've not felt any need to change my IR based home theater controller in years.