Mastodawn

I setup an automation in #HomeAssistant yesterday that when you pause or turn off the TV, and the lights in the room are off, it'll turn one on so you can see in the dark room.

My wife, upon seeing it run (I didn't tell her I'd set it up), looked at me and said "I knew I was marrying a geek, but you're trying to outdo yourself".

I'm taking this as a challenge.

DannyVFilms Dec 21, 2022

@slace I think your wife and mind would get along 😏

Gus Dec 21, 2022

@slace great idea! Mine is to turn on a warmed colored mood light if the TV is playing.

chris Dec 21, 2022

@slace that’s a good one. How? I use Apple TV almost exclusively and I think that limits me somewhat. Have good light scenes when the TV goes on/off but mid-show interactivity is low.

@Chris Don't have an AppleTV so I don't know what it's HA integration is like, but for mine I get a variety of states for the TV depending on what you press.

chris Dec 21, 2022

@slace oh nice, from the telly itself? My TV is not very smart so I use an IR blaster and third party remote that talks to it via HA instead of letting the TV think it’s in charge of anything. Might be SOL on this one.

@Chris Yeah, it's a new TV with Google TV built in, so that's what's reporting it.

Apple TV reports being a media player (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/apple_tv/#media_player) so you might get more state options.

I need to tweak it a bit though, as when I accidentally changed inputs, it thought it went off, when really it was just the "Google TV" part that was off, but my Xbox would be where I'm now at.

Apple TV

Instructions on how to integrate Apple TV devices into Home Assistant.

Home Assistant

chris Dec 21, 2022

@slace every time HASS goes a bit nuts (because I mis configured something) all I can think of is the old IT Crowd scene with the lie detector or whatever it was “the needle’s flipping out!!”

@Chris hah yeah I have some of that with the lights in the kids bedrooms. Sometimes the reported state is not matching the visual state

Kelly Griffin Dec 21, 2022

@slace @homeassistant add @[email protected] to any toot and everyone subscribed will see your message.

Dan Tucker Dec 21, 2022

@slace
My brother! 😂

I have been requested to find a way to automate TURNING OFF some motion-based lighting automations when my daughter is the only one home 😆

Aaand I think I just figured it out as I typed that... just a simple condition in the automation

aquarius Dec 21, 2022

@slace Automations that react on the state of the TV are fun. My kids usually wake up earlier during the weekend so I have set an automation to turn on the heating when the TV turns on and the workday sensor is off.

Next on my list is lowering the temperature with increasing distance from home with manual override in case we have visitors.

Jelte Dec 21, 2022

@slace ah the old haunted house ;)

Martin Pugh Dec 21, 2022

@slace we use the TV going off after 9pm a signal we're likely heading to bed and so it starts a shutdown routine for the lights around the house. Figuring out the rules is often the hardest part to any automation.

@pugmiester I need to get the staircase wired up so I can have it turn that on as we head up to bed

lunz Dec 21, 2022

@slace did you use a blueprint for this automation? Or mind making one? 😁

@lunz nah, it's a pretty basic automation

Jaime Visser Dec 21, 2022

@slace Nice! I've had a similar setup where I dim the living room lights and turn off the kitchen/dining lights when something starts playing on the TV. It turns them all on again when I pause to get something from the fridge.

I also have a helper switch set up called "Theatre mode" that enabled/disables this behaviour for the times we don't want it. This is linked to the google minis/assistant so you can just tell it to turn on/off.

Ruben Dec 21, 2022

@slace Motion sensors for the lights in the bathroom also became a hit in our home. I did not have to remind my SO to turn of the lights (which she constantly forgot), and now we do not have to think about the lights at all.

@slace amazing, I get this reaction also.