Katarzyna Petru
Hisense has a new plan for its VIDAA TVs – and this time it's not about another app or a slight refresh of the interface. The company announced a collaboration with Australian Chowmainsoft, and together they are releasing the VIDAA Control4 Driver, which allows you to connect Hisense TVs to advanced home automation systems.
If you're not familiar with Control4 – it's one of the strongest smart home platforms on the market. It unifies various systems including lighting, sound, alarms, and air conditioning. Everything is controlled from one app or a touch panel on the wall. But this is a premium solution – it's set up by certified installers who configure everything from scratch for a specific apartment or home.
Hisense + Control4 = TV control like lighting
The new controller allows you to control the television from the Control4 level as if it were another element of a smart home. In practice: you can turn the television on and off, change sources, channels, launch apps (like Netflix or Disney+), adjust volume, or control playback – and all of this from one place. Plus, you always have a view of what is currently happening on the screen.
There's one catch
The solution only works with Hisense televisions that have the VIDAA system – and these are mainly popular in Europe. In the USA or Asia, many models run on Roku or Google TV, so there the new controller will likely not be useful.
According to Robert Andrews from Hisense UK, this is just the start of a larger push in the custom installation market:
– “We want our TVs to be the obvious choice for smart home designers. We have big screens, a stable system, and now full integration with Control4 as well” – he says.
And it's hard to disagree. Hisense dominates in the category of televisions over 100 inches, so if someone is designing a home theatre with automation – this controller is a natural addition.
ChooseTV also hasn’t said its last word
Alan Chow, the head of the company, reveals that this is just the first step.
– “There is an increasing demand for integrating televisions with smart home systems. We are already working with Hisense on further solutions for other platforms” – he announces.
