All I need: Power My TV ON/OFF using Raspberry Pi 3

[wagnercs]

Folks,

I'm a rookie on Raspberry Pi, and this is my first message to these forums.
Please excuse me if this is a too much of beginner's message.
Here's the scenario:

1) I need to be able, from a remote location, to turn my TV On/Off. This would be done by using a Raspberry Pi 3.
2) So far I found on the webs 2 possible ways:
a) Via LIRC (IR transmitter - and an IR receiver to configure the commands) - so I can IRSEND commands to it via ssh.
b) Via HDMI port, together with XBMC (it seems to be a media center OS), and some code on .bashrc, as long as the TV has CEC.
Also will send commands via ssh.

So far, all I tried the a) approach. I managed even to make both IR Transmitter and Receiver to work simultaneously on the Pi (with a protoboard), so when I IRSEND something to the Pi, the Pi IR receiver blinks, confirming that the transmitter is transmitting. But the TV? It ignores completely all the commands, no. matter. what.
What am I doing wrong?

TV: Samsung UN46F6400
Pi: Raspberry Pi 3B
Pi OS: Linux raspberrypi 4.19.66-v7+ #1253 SMP Thu Aug 15 11:49:46 BST 2019 armv7l GNU/Linux

Thanks for any assistance.
Wagner

[neilgl]

I am controlling my Samsung Tv via lirc on the pi using IRSend - all OK.
How did you record the Samsung remote IR codes to use with lirc?