LG Smart TV Remote Control - NodeJS

Remote control for 1st-gen LG Smart TV (2013-2014 models). Based on https://github.com/migueljteixeira/nodejs-lgtvRemoteControl

Installation

npm i lgsmarttvremote

Usage

Require the module

var LgRemote = require('lgsmarttvremote');

Connect to a known IP address or hostname:

var lgremote = new LgRemote('ip_address');

Discover the TV over SSDP:

var lgremote = new LgRemote();
lgremote.discover();

Or, in case you have multiple TVs, discover it by the device name (you can view and set it in TV settings under Network -> My TV Name)

lgremote.discover("[My TV Name]")

Obtain a pairing code code from your TV on first use:

lgremote.requestPairingKey();

Pairing code should be displayed on screen now. Use it to pair:

lgremote.pair('123456');

The pairing code is persisted in a JSON file and has to be entered once.

Send remote button press:

lgremote.commandKey(lgremote.keyCodes.Ok);

Limitations and todos

IP change detection

Ideally a network controller like this one should implement both an event listener to handle a possible change of TV's IP address, and notify the TV of the controller's address changes. This is not implemented right now. The client will lose connectivity in case of TV's address change and you'll have to rediscover it. Refer to official documentation here.

Consume other API methods

The TV API also supports some other methods, like sending mouse pointer events, changing channels, querying the channel list and capturing screenshots. Implementing them in the client will be very straightforward, use the commandKey method as reference and adjust the UDAP request type and body according to the API documentation.

Turning the TV on

You can not turn the TV on using the API or any other method of access over the network such as Wake On Lan.

As far as I can tell, the only ways of turning it on are

• IR - either using a TV remote or any other IR-enabled device (an IR blaster dongle, a smartphone, a smart home hub, etc.)
• HDMI CEC - you can send wake and shutdown commands over HDMI using any compatible hardware, such as Raspberry PI or a USB CEC adapter

LG API documentation

http://developer.lgappstv.com/TV_HELP/index.jsp?topic=%2Flge.tvsdk.references.book%2Fhtml%2FUDAP%2FUDAP%2FLG+UDAP+2+0+Protocol+Specifications.htm