SKY Q contol remotely for elderly

[CHR01]

We recently had to upgrade my mums sky + box to sky q. She's 89 and can't get to grips with using it ( and even I think that some of the changes are annoying, e.g. recording.)

Is ther anything now, or in the pipeline that would allow me to control her sky tv remotely. i.e. changing or finding channels, adjusting the volume etc.? If not I think it really should be considered as I'm sure I'm not the only one with these issues

[GD1]

@CHR01  Sky Q is years old and it's unlikely remote connection will ever be a thing, even on the newer stream platform there is no such option.

[CHR01]

Thanks. You'd think they could do something with the technology available these days.

[VillageYokel]

There is a - slightly complex and a few hundred quid - third party solution if your Mum has Internet along with her Sky Q box.

I use HomeAssistant to connect a Sky Q box in a number of ways:

* To a dashboard displayed on an android tablet touchscreen - I have populated this with a small selection of favourite channels like some of the Sky Sports. It is one-touch to change to a specified channel and perform other functions.

* To a dashboard that you can access remotely and achieve the same effect.

I have installed this for a dementia sufferer and with a bit of persistence to set up it works. If your mum has a lot of channels she watches then you can have subsections like the TV Guide "Films, Sports, News etc"

[CHR01]

Hi.
This sounds really interesting and a possible solution. Could you please give me more information on what I need to buy/access/download to get this working? Do you need to be tech savvy to get it set up?

My mum has sky broadband so that's one thing sorted. Any help you can give is really appreciated.

Thanks

[VillageYokel]

You do need to be a little tech savvy however there are lots of community resources out there to help. As your mum already has Sky broadband already, then you would need to access the router and set up static IPs for example.

Equipment wise (and I am trying to keep it as simplistic as I can) you would need:

For you Mum's:

• A small single board computer. I used a Raspbery Pi and if it was only to be used for this task not even a big one. About £80
• An ethernet cable to connect the Pi to your mum's router
• A good quality micro SD card. San Disk Ultra or Extreme cards are about £8 to £10
• IF the one touch remote for your mum, then a tablet or smartphone. Even a second-hand cheapish wi-fi tablet, I used a really old - 2016 I think - Samsung Tab that I had in my tech dump pile.

For your remote control:

• Anything really. If you have a smart phone or tablet then it can work on that, if you prefer a desktop then it works in a web browser.
• A computer or laptop (for one time use) so that you can load the Operating System onto the micro SD card.

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Software:

• HomeAssistant OS - free and open-source
• HomeAssistant the App - free for tablets and smartphones (or use a web browser)
• TailScale - Allows you to remote directly into the HomeAssistant from anywhere. Allows you to not need to open it up the the outside world via the Internet. It's a free account for the small use we make of it.

As a really basic guide to what you would need to do:

• Build the Raspberry Pi (basically put it in it's case and put the lid on - really simple if you get a kit including a case)
• Install HomeAssistant OS on the micro SD card - Raspberry Pi website has a dedicated installer you can install, it then walks you through it all and the hardest bit is finding the HomeAssistant OS option from the list!
• Put the microSD card into the Pi, connect to the router and turn on

This bits technical:

• Go into your mum's router and assign static IP's to the Sky Q box and Pi
• From a (probably easier at this point) web-browser; log into the Pi and go through the set-up process
• In HomeAssistant there are certain "integrations" you need to set up, like the connection to the Sky Q box
• For your remote access, on HomeAssistant and your device/computer (or mutiple of) install TailScale and set it up
• Configure dashboards for all and any devices you are going to connect.

If you are still interested let me know. All of the above is a very basic summary and the more I think about I should probably take a few days to build a microsite to go through the detail if people are interested.

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[CHR01]

Yes I am very interested in this and I suspect I am not the only one out there who desperately needs this.

I can't believe that a company like Sky hasn't introduced something like this already.

Any help you can give is gratefully received and a microsite sounds brilliant.

I live 20 miles away from my mum and I can't tell you the number of times I have had to jump in my car to sort the TV out.

Thank you.