Another great video, thanks for sharing! I use a Raspberry Pi Zero W in each room with a USB IR interface and a One For All remote. I hide the Pi behind the TV and just have the IR receiver at the front of the TV. The remote can then control the TV or other IR devices directly. The Pi is connected to my network & runs LIRC. IR commands can then be received by LIRC on the Pi, which can then trigger scripts to control HomeAssistant, issue WoL packets, turn lights on, control other IP devices etc as required. The Pi can also interact with the TV via IP or HDMI with the Pi's cec-client software. Total cost is less that £30 for the parts required. I use a Pi image I built with a read only file system, so I'm not worried about power outages etc. As there is Pi with each TV, CEC control works well as the Pi can tell the status of the TV before it issues any CEC command back to the TV, so power toggling isn't an issue. Complex macros are easy, and they can also retrieve any HomeAssistant sensor for macro input. My Pis all sync their configs, so I only have to change a single Pi to update them all. One For All remotes have a JP1 connector in the battery compartment, so with a £2 cable and the RemoteMaster software I can program one remote and copy to other remotes easily. My Pis are on a separate network to HomeAssistant and I've not had any issues with a firewall in-between them so far.
are you using the serial programming header on the One-For-All remote to unlock all of the extra functionality and customization? I only use this Sofabaton remote in one room (for now) but every other room in the house (8 zones on my 8x8 matrix) use basic OneforAll URC1210 remotes, which are intended to be no frills and just control a basic TV, but they actually support 10 devices and full macros. most OFA remotes have that port and you can use a program called RMIR to program them.
@@garytill I've played with adding extra features via the JP1 header but I don't really need them. I do most of the work on the local Pi, the One For All just triggers the Pi's action. I just use the JP1 header to duplicate the remotes. I have Samsung TVs in every room, which makes remote duplication work well. I program all of my remotes, from a LIRC perspective, the same, the Pi they are commanding then differs per room. My flip_power.sh script picks up which room the Pi is in, so the same flip_power script can be copied to all Pis but perform different actions depending on what room it is in.
I never realised that Pis can actually issue CEC commands! I might look into this in the future, been considering building a system to provide some sort of on screen display on various TVs to control the room. Looks like this could be a great option!
Now I am only waiting for some company to figure out dynamically changing POINT AND CONTROL remote. So if I point at TV, +/- buttons control volume, if I point at AC they control temp, if I point at a light they control brightness, etc maybe will need to have some antennas in room to figure out exact orientation of the remote thus can figure out exactly where it is pointing at. But that would be really helpful and ultimate smart home remote.
it might be because it's incomplete or broken in some way, the Post commands with body content are completely bugged, but you can get most things done with just HTTP GET, and even if some devices direct API required a JSON body POST command you could just hook that up in NodeRED and trigger it with the HTTP GET that already works. I'd love to be able to backup the config properly or save custom devices/activities to the (required) account.
@@garytill I got the POST JSON body working today. I found if you fill in the body field before setting the POST option it will work (ish). Buggy is the word.
I'm normally the same, unfortunately this device is the only real option that suited my needs so I made an exception. The issue isn't solved by using a disposable email address - my main concern is that for a device like this that is almost entirely configured over a local network, the user authentication forces the app to talk to Sofabaton's servers to authenticate my account, if in the future Sofabaton goes out of business or closes the servers down, the app will fail to work and make the hardware useless.
It reminds me one of my old project : use of a PS3 BD Remote with a raspberry and a bit of code to control everything including TV by CEC, an old Sony receiver from it's Control R port, computer connected to TV etc.. Worked very well for 20bucks and a bit of time. And infinite customisation
They added the login thing for no reason. The U1 I had didn't require me to login for years and all of the sudden I'm forced too. Kinda paved about that tbh
36:15 As you said, reasonable latency is to be expected considering what's happening here. It's fairly easy to adapt to latency. Within reason of course. But what's way, way more important is that the input is received and processed. Whatever the latency, as long as it eventually happens, that's fine. How does your system handle in that regard, through testing have you encountered any dropped input commands? Example pressed up four times but only three ends up happening.
I haven't noticed any dropped commands (except for the issue I mentioned at the end when I was running the network traffic between the device and the server through my firewall). The most I've seen is where I'd press a button multple times in quick succession and it'll pause for a second then perform the action several times after a slight delay. Always seems to trigger the correct number of actions though.
I agree - this remote is the best I have seen. I also agree that the YIO kickstarter solution is better but, I also don’t have the time and interest in trying to purchase those devices. Hopefully they can ramp up soon so customers don’t have to wait months while they are manually built by hand. I used the remote’s HTTP requests to build a remote solution to Roon (including commands for playlists), control lights, and having a goodnight command. All of these are Home Assistant automations. I keep most of those commands in the LCD scroll wheel area when I am in an activity. You can also make headers of a set of commands by using a custom command with only a delay. Then in the commands under the header you can use dashes to have a list of sub items.
Once again the power of Node-Red is astonishing. I’ve been on the hunt for this since Logitech all but killed the Harmony ecosystem. I even have the Harmony Keyboard. A full sized qwerty wirelessly linked to the hub for text entry on just about any screen. My Sofa baton is being delivered tomorrow.
I was lucky to get one of these off amazons vine program, it's been a really nice remote system, but is annoying that the remotes are not just a standard 18650 removable like most of my tools and prosumer kit nowadays.
Hello, I haven't had a universal remote since the 'Philips Pronto'..when it died I went back to multiple remotes. I'm now revisiting the universal remote idea. Noticed this Sofabaton X1S and the Switchbot w/ Mini Matter Hub. The latter is basically half the price. Are they similar capability? My main use case is simply replacing 5 or 6 home theater device remotes...other automation control maybe down the line.
I'm guessing that doing the DNS lookup while adding the URL lowers the latency when performing the action. Needing to wait for an unresponsive DNS server might be a nuisance. If you need to use a "virtual host" you should be able to add the HTTP/1.1 Host header in the Additional Headers field. Compared to the Logitech Harmony Companion its a shame there is no direct button for lightning control.
in each activity you can map buttons directly to the IP devices for lighting or climate control, for example I never need the colour buttons, so I have them set up for lights up/down 10% with long press being full on/full off, another colour button is AC on/Off toggle. I just set that up for every activity and I don't need a separate device or activity for lighting.
I have a radio receiver with HTTP API. Can it use the HTTP reply to display options on the screen. Would be cool if it is able to request the list of channels, to pick a channel to play.
Yep, waiting on a Remote 3, looks great but really hoping they can scale up production to be able to sell them retail rather than as rounds on Kickstarter!
I've loved the home assistant integration too so far. It's been super super quick for me because it doesn't have the overhead of http api request processing that the x1s looks to have
I bought one of each of these for the local emulated Roku support, they have worked great for my needs (I have buttons to turn off lights in my theater, or set modes in Home Assistant). They are very slick remotes for the money. Coming from a Logitech Harmony remote, these work a ton better, but the software needs some improvement.
Another option for people with Home Assistant would be to get a Broadlink RM wifi remote and integrate that. You can then send IR and RF commands using your home automation.
I got around the Power on/off issue by removing all power on/off commands from the activities and only using my existing Node-Red power management logic for that, I have a set of functions that track the state of the TV/Audio/Source and power commands are sent only as required, so switching activities only sends the HTTP GET command to node-red to select that source and set up the room for that mode if a device is off, it will turn it on, but it wont turn anything off when switching activities in my case. then the main off button on the remote only sends a master power off command to Node-Red that shuts off the room. all of my matrix sources stay on (and get power cycled occasionally by smart outlets) only the local sources in that room get turned on and off regularly. I also previously had a Hisense Vidaa TV and when the MQTT hacked integration was broken by a software update I was still able to get full on/off logic control with a power meter to detect if the TV was on, so with only a basic power toggle IR command I still had full power state tracking and it never got out of sync.
Great review! I spotted the find my remote option in the settings, do you think there's any way to access this command from home assistant? Or would it be possible to ask google or alexa where the remote is, so it starts making noise?
Not officially, the API for communicating with the hub isn't publicised so you'd need to reverse engineer it. That said, you should also be able to trigger the find remote feature with a button on the hub, although I haven't tried this yet.
Unfortunately not, for an X1 you may want to look into "Emulated Roku" which will emulated one or more Roku devices on your network which the X1 can discover and send commands to. Not quite as nice as native HTTP commands but combined with Activities, Emulated Roku can get you quite far.
@camerongray1515 Gotcha. I think I'll return the X1 and get the X1S. I used to override our extra Google TV buttons with tasker to fire off Node-RED commands and loved it. Just a major pain to set up. This seems like a great solution to get it back and more. Thanks a lot for the video!
28:00 That's super cool if you're able to launch certain apps on an CCwGTV for example and combine that with other commands? My use case for that would be to also change the receiver volume to something sensible. I've set up my receiver to default to -45dB on power on as that's a reasonably quiet volume for my most used input source which is an HTPC. But it is not too loud for the receivers own internet radio thing. Then when I watch something through the HTPC I often end up somewhere between -35dB and -27.5dB for example. But streaming (thru Chromecast), different platforms have different volumes. MAX is a good example, I have to crank the volume to somewhere in the neighbourhood of -20dB to -10dB. Prime Video, Netflix etc all have slightly different full scale volume I think is the correct term. Sure, the receiver has source volume adjustment but as the Chromecast is the single source I do my streaming through, it's not that useful.
I'm actually working on that volume problem right now. different audio formats have different mastering levels they conform to in their guidelines so there is a lot of adjustment when switching from Dolby TrueHD Atmos to PCM 5.1 for example requires me to drop the volume from -16DB to -28DB or so to avoid being too loud. so in my Nodered control flow I have the ability to get the current format the receiver is working with, and set a volume offset for it. it's not perfect at the moment but when I am on my HTPC input (which I mostly use for music playback and management/room correction work) AND it detects a Dolby Atmos stream AND the volume is currently below -30db, it adds +12DB which sets the volume to be audibly similar to a normally mastered PCM stream. but sometimes you come across something that is mastered louder than expected for that format and its uncomfortable.. I probably wont keep that automation, because there are too many edge cases or situations where the volume might get too high unexpectedly, but its possible to do if you just want to add a safe offset based on the format or current app.
I use a HDAnywhere MHub S 8x8 matrix and the API is very extensive and open, for example you can actually get NodeRed or HomeAssistant to send custom IR Pronto codes to any port, source side or TV side by hitting the right HTTP endpoint. I was able to get rid of several separate IR emitters and do it all through the integrated IR functionality of the matrix. that's in addition to the same extensive CEC control, but I mostly use IR as it's reliable.. CEC is.. Fickle. Ucontrol has a lot of the same API functions and a reasonably nice remote, but i haven't played with it to know how well it can integrate into other automation rigs. but I assume you could make it do pretty much anything with the API.
All that nice software, but they still do something stupid with the hardware like putting the back button 5cm away from any other input for no reason at all. The whole point of having a physical remote is having buttons in the right places. Otherwise you could do this all on your phone. How did it get all the way to manufacturing with nobody thinking maybe they should move those buttons below the screen?!
Looks great, but way to expensive for me and a lot of the setup seems to be restricted to "Pro installers" which is a common issue with a lot of high end AV integration stuff. There's lots of remotes available in that space, but they aren't really available for DIY users.
@ I install them. I’ve also used the sofabattons. Both good. Ava is nicer is budget allows and if you know someone to aid with installation but the sofabaton is nice too. Still not found a 3-400 harmony elite replacement though so that what I stick with at home
I was super excited when I saw this in my feed as I'm really worried that when my Harmony Elite dies I wouldn't have anything to replace it... sadly this has the play/pause button at the bottom like the Logitech touch - why???? The play/pause placement on the Elite is absolutely perfect and having it at the bottom is terrible for ergonomics 😢
I haven't tested this extensively but the HTTP commands *should* work offline, not sure about the app in general but unfortunately it does require a user login and downloads IR codes from Sofabaton's servers so it's not a completely "offline" app sadly. Pretty unfortunate but still the only real option out there with local HTTP control at all! I've performed some packet captures between the app and the hub and it looks just like plaintext TCP (but without a nice interface such as HTTP which would have made it easier to interpret!) so at some point I'll need to dig through those and see if I can reverse engineer the protocol to allow local configuration of the hub without the app.
I'm curious about how it could work with the RUclips app in Chromecast With Google TV. I would love an easy way to change playback speed. There are a few channels where I like to increase to 2x speed, but want 1x as soon as they say something. Fast: change to 2x Normal: change to 1x; skip 10 seconds back.
Cloud connected and hast many other flaws. For instance, what kind of *psychopath* puts the back button *in the top right corner* ? What you want is an Unfolded Circle Remote 3. That plays nice with Home Assistant and is extremely powerful in its own right and has zero cloud dependencies. Techies are the preferred clientele, it's a complex device. It's also quite expensive. Currently on the tail end of a kickstarter, not sure if you can late pledge or not, but it will be available one way or the other.
I'm actually waiting on a Remote 3 after backing it ages ago. Looks absolutely great but really hoping they can scale up production to sell it retail, only being available through rounds on Kickstarter aren't ideal for people who need multiple remotes
I actually have a Switchbot remote which I was planning on using before I found this. The Switchbot remote looks nice and is a much more affordable option, but doesn't currently have any sort of decent local network control capability. It does technically support Matter, but last time I checked this just gave you 4 on screen buttons that could work over Matter but nothing more than that. Until I found the Sofabaton, my plan would have been to use the switchbot and program in random IR codes for my own actions and use some sort of IR to MQTT device to bridge those IR commands to Home Assistant.
It looks like they've finally surpassed Harmony in that they have the exact same setup experience (equally as clunky), but now also HTTP. If my Harmony remote ever conks out, I finally have a solid replacement path. If only you could set wallpapers on the remote, then it would be perfect.
Very cool, but what happens when you’re watching the Apple TV and someone else wants to watch a different app on it in another room?! 😂. Maybe a different use case, but we either have Apple TV’s for each TV or the newer TVs come with Apple TV+ as an app, which is the most common use in our house.
The idea for this system is for sharing devices between rooms so that multiple rooms can watch the same thing at once or to allow devices such as a paid TV set top box to be shared across several rooms. All of the TVs are also smart TVs so those are still the primary option for watching something in a single room. The Chromecasts are really the primary devices that will be used (the Apple TV is just there because I already had it and I can use it to Airplay macs to TVs) so generally, I'll use one of the Chromecasts and my partner will use the other which makes it easy enough to coordinate.
Just to see if I am getting this correct - you can do these things with a smart device like a phone or a tablet, right? You just wanted a remote control instead? Honestly I have no idea if I am correct and if it even works with the setup you have in mind. I am really just asking. Personally I am a guy that would find 1 remote that can do it all and hide all 5 remotes in a cabinet and never touch them. Any automation would be accessible on a tablet on the table for everyone and personal access for every phone. But I can't handle fumbling with different remotes wondering which one I need to press and in what order. It's one less thing I need in my life.
Yeah, everything on this can realistically be done on a phone through the Home Assistant app. I just prefer using a physical remote for some things - can just pick it up and control the TV or lights rather than need to find my phone, unlock it, open the relevant app and make the relevant adjustments. My ideal plan is that the Sofabaton remotes will also control all AV devices such as TVs and set top boxes meaning I don't really need the separate remotes (unless I possibly need to access a special function.etc)
@camerongray1515 yeah, ideally programmable illuminated buttons with replaceable caps - you can make custom remotes. Too bad companies don't like to make products that would please customers.
Buy the Sofabaton X1S on Amazon (Affiliate): geni.us/AD7sY
Another great video, thanks for sharing!
I use a Raspberry Pi Zero W in each room with a USB IR interface and a One For All remote. I hide the Pi behind the TV and just have the IR receiver at the front of the TV. The remote can then control the TV or other IR devices directly. The Pi is connected to my network & runs LIRC. IR commands can then be received by LIRC on the Pi, which can then trigger scripts to control HomeAssistant, issue WoL packets, turn lights on, control other IP devices etc as required. The Pi can also interact with the TV via IP or HDMI with the Pi's cec-client software. Total cost is less that £30 for the parts required. I use a Pi image I built with a read only file system, so I'm not worried about power outages etc.
As there is Pi with each TV, CEC control works well as the Pi can tell the status of the TV before it issues any CEC command back to the TV, so power toggling isn't an issue. Complex macros are easy, and they can also retrieve any HomeAssistant sensor for macro input. My Pis all sync their configs, so I only have to change a single Pi to update them all.
One For All remotes have a JP1 connector in the battery compartment, so with a £2 cable and the RemoteMaster software I can program one remote and copy to other remotes easily.
My Pis are on a separate network to HomeAssistant and I've not had any issues with a firewall in-between them so far.
Would be great to see a video or read a post that goes into more detail and shows how it looks/works.
Ooh! That's interesting! Thanks for the inspiration!
are you using the serial programming header on the One-For-All remote to unlock all of the extra functionality and customization? I only use this Sofabaton remote in one room (for now) but every other room in the house (8 zones on my 8x8 matrix) use basic OneforAll URC1210 remotes, which are intended to be no frills and just control a basic TV, but they actually support 10 devices and full macros. most OFA remotes have that port and you can use a program called RMIR to program them.
@@garytill I've played with adding extra features via the JP1 header but I don't really need them. I do most of the work on the local Pi, the One For All just triggers the Pi's action. I just use the JP1 header to duplicate the remotes. I have Samsung TVs in every room, which makes remote duplication work well.
I program all of my remotes, from a LIRC perspective, the same, the Pi they are commanding then differs per room. My flip_power.sh script picks up which room the Pi is in, so the same flip_power script can be copied to all Pis but perform different actions depending on what room it is in.
I never realised that Pis can actually issue CEC commands! I might look into this in the future, been considering building a system to provide some sort of on screen display on various TVs to control the room. Looks like this could be a great option!
Now I am only waiting for some company to figure out dynamically changing POINT AND CONTROL remote.
So if I point at TV, +/- buttons control volume, if I point at AC they control temp, if I point at a light they control brightness, etc
maybe will need to have some antennas in room to figure out exact orientation of the remote thus can figure out exactly where it is pointing at.
But that would be really helpful and ultimate smart home remote.
I can't believe they're not publicizing this feature more -- it seems pretty decent despite the limitations in how long it takes to setup
it might be because it's incomplete or broken in some way, the Post commands with body content are completely bugged, but you can get most things done with just HTTP GET, and even if some devices direct API required a JSON body POST command you could just hook that up in NodeRED and trigger it with the HTTP GET that already works.
I'd love to be able to backup the config properly or save custom devices/activities to the (required) account.
@@garytill
I got the POST JSON body working today. I found if you fill in the body field before setting the POST option it will work (ish).
Buggy is the word.
I will no longer buy products that require an unnecessary logon account to function.
Yeah but why.. just have an email devoted to these kind of devices..
@@wmoule Why should I, this just encourages them to carry on.
I'm normally the same, unfortunately this device is the only real option that suited my needs so I made an exception. The issue isn't solved by using a disposable email address - my main concern is that for a device like this that is almost entirely configured over a local network, the user authentication forces the app to talk to Sofabaton's servers to authenticate my account, if in the future Sofabaton goes out of business or closes the servers down, the app will fail to work and make the hardware useless.
So this device requires internet?
It reminds me one of my old project : use of a PS3 BD Remote with a raspberry and a bit of code to control everything including TV by CEC, an old Sony receiver from it's Control R port, computer connected to TV etc.. Worked very well for 20bucks and a bit of time. And infinite customisation
Would enjoy a node red series 😊
They added the login thing for no reason. The U1 I had didn't require me to login for years and all of the sudden I'm forced too. Kinda paved about that tbh
36:15 As you said, reasonable latency is to be expected considering what's happening here. It's fairly easy to adapt to latency. Within reason of course. But what's way, way more important is that the input is received and processed. Whatever the latency, as long as it eventually happens, that's fine.
How does your system handle in that regard, through testing have you encountered any dropped input commands? Example pressed up four times but only three ends up happening.
I haven't noticed any dropped commands (except for the issue I mentioned at the end when I was running the network traffic between the device and the server through my firewall). The most I've seen is where I'd press a button multple times in quick succession and it'll pause for a second then perform the action several times after a slight delay. Always seems to trigger the correct number of actions though.
@@camerongray1515 That's great to hear. So many different pieces of software and hardware and it simply just works.
I agree - this remote is the best I have seen. I also agree that the YIO kickstarter solution is better but, I also don’t have the time and interest in trying to purchase those devices. Hopefully they can ramp up soon so customers don’t have to wait months while they are manually built by hand. I used the remote’s HTTP requests to build a remote solution to Roon (including commands for playlists), control lights, and having a goodnight command. All of these are Home Assistant automations. I keep most of those commands in the LCD scroll wheel area when I am in an activity. You can also make headers of a set of commands by using a custom command with only a delay. Then in the commands under the header you can use dashes to have a list of sub items.
Once again the power of Node-Red is astonishing.
I’ve been on the hunt for this since Logitech all but killed the Harmony ecosystem. I even have the Harmony Keyboard. A full sized qwerty wirelessly linked to the hub for text entry on just about any screen.
My Sofa baton is being delivered tomorrow.
I was lucky to get one of these off amazons vine program, it's been a really nice remote system, but is annoying that the remotes are not just a standard 18650 removable like most of my tools and prosumer kit nowadays.
Hello, I haven't had a universal remote since the 'Philips Pronto'..when it died I went back to multiple remotes. I'm now revisiting the universal remote idea. Noticed this Sofabaton X1S and the Switchbot w/ Mini Matter Hub. The latter is basically half the price. Are they similar capability? My main use case is simply replacing 5 or 6 home theater device remotes...other automation control maybe down the line.
I'm guessing that doing the DNS lookup while adding the URL lowers the latency when performing the action. Needing to wait for an unresponsive DNS server might be a nuisance.
If you need to use a "virtual host" you should be able to add the HTTP/1.1 Host header in the Additional Headers field.
Compared to the Logitech Harmony Companion its a shame there is no direct button for lightning control.
in each activity you can map buttons directly to the IP devices for lighting or climate control, for example I never need the colour buttons, so I have them set up for lights up/down 10% with long press being full on/full off, another colour button is AC on/Off toggle. I just set that up for every activity and I don't need a separate device or activity for lighting.
I own this remote. It is very underrated
Does the Sofabatan need the userid and password associated with your apple account to be able to access your Apple TV
I have a radio receiver with HTTP API.
Can it use the HTTP reply to display options on the screen.
Would be cool if it is able to request the list of channels, to pick a channel to play.
Have you had a look at unfolded circle? I've been using their remote 2 for about 2 years and it's been great!
Remote 2 has been amazing for me!
Yep, waiting on a Remote 3, looks great but really hoping they can scale up production to be able to sell them retail rather than as rounds on Kickstarter!
I've loved the home assistant integration too so far. It's been super super quick for me because it doesn't have the overhead of http api request processing that the x1s looks to have
I bought one of each of these for the local emulated Roku support, they have worked great for my needs (I have buttons to turn off lights in my theater, or set modes in Home Assistant). They are very slick remotes for the money. Coming from a Logitech Harmony remote, these work a ton better, but the software needs some improvement.
Another option for people with Home Assistant would be to get a Broadlink RM wifi remote and integrate that. You can then send IR and RF commands using your home automation.
14:04 you called?
I got around the Power on/off issue by removing all power on/off commands from the activities and only using my existing Node-Red power management logic for that, I have a set of functions that track the state of the TV/Audio/Source and power commands are sent only as required, so switching activities only sends the HTTP GET command to node-red to select that source and set up the room for that mode if a device is off, it will turn it on, but it wont turn anything off when switching activities in my case. then the main off button on the remote only sends a master power off command to Node-Red that shuts off the room. all of my matrix sources stay on (and get power cycled occasionally by smart outlets) only the local sources in that room get turned on and off regularly.
I also previously had a Hisense Vidaa TV and when the MQTT hacked integration was broken by a software update I was still able to get full on/off logic control with a power meter to detect if the TV was on, so with only a basic power toggle IR command I still had full power state tracking and it never got out of sync.
Great review! I spotted the find my remote option in the settings, do you think there's any way to access this command from home assistant? Or would it be possible to ask google or alexa where the remote is, so it starts making noise?
Not officially, the API for communicating with the hub isn't publicised so you'd need to reverse engineer it. That said, you should also be able to trigger the find remote feature with a button on the hub, although I haven't tried this yet.
Know if its supported on the X1? Im not seeing it in the app.
Unfortunately not, for an X1 you may want to look into "Emulated Roku" which will emulated one or more Roku devices on your network which the X1 can discover and send commands to. Not quite as nice as native HTTP commands but combined with Activities, Emulated Roku can get you quite far.
@camerongray1515 Gotcha. I think I'll return the X1 and get the X1S. I used to override our extra Google TV buttons with tasker to fire off Node-RED commands and loved it. Just a major pain to set up. This seems like a great solution to get it back and more. Thanks a lot for the video!
28:00 That's super cool if you're able to launch certain apps on an CCwGTV for example and combine that with other commands? My use case for that would be to also change the receiver volume to something sensible.
I've set up my receiver to default to -45dB on power on as that's a reasonably quiet volume for my most used input source which is an HTPC. But it is not too loud for the receivers own internet radio thing.
Then when I watch something through the HTPC I often end up somewhere between -35dB and -27.5dB for example.
But streaming (thru Chromecast), different platforms have different volumes. MAX is a good example, I have to crank the volume to somewhere in the neighbourhood of -20dB to -10dB. Prime Video, Netflix etc all have slightly different full scale volume I think is the correct term.
Sure, the receiver has source volume adjustment but as the Chromecast is the single source I do my streaming through, it's not that useful.
I'm actually working on that volume problem right now. different audio formats have different mastering levels they conform to in their guidelines so there is a lot of adjustment when switching from Dolby TrueHD Atmos to PCM 5.1 for example requires me to drop the volume from -16DB to -28DB or so to avoid being too loud. so in my Nodered control flow I have the ability to get the current format the receiver is working with, and set a volume offset for it. it's not perfect at the moment but when I am on my HTPC input (which I mostly use for music playback and management/room correction work) AND it detects a Dolby Atmos stream AND the volume is currently below -30db, it adds +12DB which sets the volume to be audibly similar to a normally mastered PCM stream. but sometimes you come across something that is mastered louder than expected for that format and its uncomfortable..
I probably wont keep that automation, because there are too many edge cases or situations where the volume might get too high unexpectedly, but its possible to do if you just want to add a safe offset based on the format or current app.
The fact they haven't moved that back button after all the online whining about it, speaks volumns.
I am going to look at U Control from HDAnywhere at some point still got my 5 harmony elites going strong
I use a HDAnywhere MHub S 8x8 matrix and the API is very extensive and open, for example you can actually get NodeRed or HomeAssistant to send custom IR Pronto codes to any port, source side or TV side by hitting the right HTTP endpoint. I was able to get rid of several separate IR emitters and do it all through the integrated IR functionality of the matrix. that's in addition to the same extensive CEC control, but I mostly use IR as it's reliable.. CEC is.. Fickle.
Ucontrol has a lot of the same API functions and a reasonably nice remote, but i haven't played with it to know how well it can integrate into other automation rigs. but I assume you could make it do pretty much anything with the API.
All that nice software, but they still do something stupid with the hardware like putting the back button 5cm away from any other input for no reason at all. The whole point of having a physical remote is having buttons in the right places. Otherwise you could do this all on your phone. How did it get all the way to manufacturing with nobody thinking maybe they should move those buttons below the screen?!
Have you tried the AVA cinema remote?
Looks great, but way to expensive for me and a lot of the setup seems to be restricted to "Pro installers" which is a common issue with a lot of high end AV integration stuff. There's lots of remotes available in that space, but they aren't really available for DIY users.
@ I install them. I’ve also used the sofabattons. Both good. Ava is nicer is budget allows and if you know someone to aid with installation but the sofabaton is nice too. Still not found a 3-400 harmony elite replacement though so that what I stick with at home
I was super excited when I saw this in my feed as I'm really worried that when my Harmony Elite dies I wouldn't have anything to replace it... sadly this has the play/pause button at the bottom like the Logitech touch - why???? The play/pause placement on the Elite is absolutely perfect and having it at the bottom is terrible for ergonomics 😢
🤯mind blowing
Does this work without an internet connection? Is the app the only way to configure it? Does the app work without internet?
I haven't tested this extensively but the HTTP commands *should* work offline, not sure about the app in general but unfortunately it does require a user login and downloads IR codes from Sofabaton's servers so it's not a completely "offline" app sadly. Pretty unfortunate but still the only real option out there with local HTTP control at all! I've performed some packet captures between the app and the hub and it looks just like plaintext TCP (but without a nice interface such as HTTP which would have made it easier to interpret!) so at some point I'll need to dig through those and see if I can reverse engineer the protocol to allow local configuration of the hub without the app.
I'm curious about how it could work with the RUclips app in Chromecast With Google TV.
I would love an easy way to change playback speed.
There are a few channels where I like to increase to 2x speed, but want 1x as soon as they say something.
Fast: change to 2x
Normal: change to 1x; skip 10 seconds back.
Me when I buy a physical remote to control my *arr suite
Really useful remote. Thanks for a video demonstrating it.
PS. They spelled "creat" correctly: they're obviously C programmers 😂
Cloud connected and hast many other flaws. For instance, what kind of *psychopath* puts the back button *in the top right corner* ? What you want is an Unfolded Circle Remote 3. That plays nice with Home Assistant and is extremely powerful in its own right and has zero cloud dependencies. Techies are the preferred clientele, it's a complex device. It's also quite expensive. Currently on the tail end of a kickstarter, not sure if you can late pledge or not, but it will be available one way or the other.
I'm actually waiting on a Remote 3 after backing it ages ago. Looks absolutely great but really hoping they can scale up production to sell it retail, only being available through rounds on Kickstarter aren't ideal for people who need multiple remotes
This looks like the Switchbot Universal Remote. A comparison of between this and that would be interesting.
I actually have a Switchbot remote which I was planning on using before I found this. The Switchbot remote looks nice and is a much more affordable option, but doesn't currently have any sort of decent local network control capability. It does technically support Matter, but last time I checked this just gave you 4 on screen buttons that could work over Matter but nothing more than that. Until I found the Sofabaton, my plan would have been to use the switchbot and program in random IR codes for my own actions and use some sort of IR to MQTT device to bridge those IR commands to Home Assistant.
It looks like they've finally surpassed Harmony in that they have the exact same setup experience (equally as clunky), but now also HTTP.
If my Harmony remote ever conks out, I finally have a solid replacement path. If only you could set wallpapers on the remote, then it would be perfect.
so disappointing this doesn't come with a dock. looks like I will be sticking with my harmony for the foreseeable future, despite its downsides.
Nice vid thanks defo same as other not a fan of having to setup an account
Very cool, but what happens when you’re watching the Apple TV and someone else wants to watch a different app on it in another room?! 😂. Maybe a different use case, but we either have Apple TV’s for each TV or the newer TVs come with Apple TV+ as an app, which is the most common use in our house.
The idea for this system is for sharing devices between rooms so that multiple rooms can watch the same thing at once or to allow devices such as a paid TV set top box to be shared across several rooms. All of the TVs are also smart TVs so those are still the primary option for watching something in a single room. The Chromecasts are really the primary devices that will be used (the Apple TV is just there because I already had it and I can use it to Airplay macs to TVs) so generally, I'll use one of the Chromecasts and my partner will use the other which makes it easy enough to coordinate.
No touch screen with no number pad on a remote is an instant hard no for me
I’m wondering if it’s possible to control a Virgin media 360, wondering if anyone has done this? I think it uses Bluetooth 😅
If you use a USB C to a adapter and an A to C adapter together it bypasses the charger not working on these devices.
Why does the first 10sec of this video look like hes playing a piano
Also stop using GET as it more susceptible to CSRF
Just to see if I am getting this correct - you can do these things with a smart device like a phone or a tablet, right? You just wanted a remote control instead? Honestly I have no idea if I am correct and if it even works with the setup you have in mind. I am really just asking. Personally I am a guy that would find 1 remote that can do it all and hide all 5 remotes in a cabinet and never touch them. Any automation would be accessible on a tablet on the table for everyone and personal access for every phone. But I can't handle fumbling with different remotes wondering which one I need to press and in what order. It's one less thing I need in my life.
Yeah, everything on this can realistically be done on a phone through the Home Assistant app. I just prefer using a physical remote for some things - can just pick it up and control the TV or lights rather than need to find my phone, unlock it, open the relevant app and make the relevant adjustments. My ideal plan is that the Sofabaton remotes will also control all AV devices such as TVs and set top boxes meaning I don't really need the separate remotes (unless I possibly need to access a special function.etc)
@camerongray1515 yeah, ideally programmable illuminated buttons with replaceable caps - you can make custom remotes. Too bad companies don't like to make products that would please customers.
Can you please talk a bit quicker even? There are still random bits of gibberish I managed to understand at the current speed.
That's what RUclips 2x is for.
Set speed to 0.75, and turn on subtitles if your listening comprehension is shaky.
@@cr0ft-2k my listening comprehension ironically only is shaky on this channel. Sure, must be my fault.
@@JordanReese 2x even? You did not really get the intended irony, did ya?
@@erazorCTF I was just playing along