Hey,
Does anyone know if there’s a simple IR to bluetooth converter out there? I will use the remote mainly to control hometheater/HiFi equipment, and many of the devices are bluetooth controlled. I hear bluetooth commands are in the works, but who knows when that will arrive!
I’ve read where I can make a converter using a raspberry pie, but i don’t want to get into all that if i don’t have too. I have an old Harmony hub - is using that doable w/out making things overly cumbersome?
Thanks!
What you’re describing sounds pretty convoluted! What devices are you trying to control? There may be a more straightforward method (ex. HDMI CEC) or an IP-based workaround (ex. relaying a command via the Home Assistant integration) until BT control is ready.
I’m used to the Harmony remote, which is great, but is no longer supported. So, I wanted to switch to something new. However, I don’t know much at all about Home Assistant and IP control.
I’m currently using HDMI CEC, which is great for the basics - on/off, volume control, etc. (except when it decides not to work and you have to reset everything by undoing cables, reattaching, powering up in sequence, etc.) However, I have to use 4 different remotes to do everything I want, e.g. changing cinema settings on the TV, changing inputs and controlling center speaker volume control on the AV receiver, controlling the fireTV stick, controlling IP TV, CD player, Xbox, etc. Most of this was easy in Harmony. It seems it will be simple too w/the R2 once bluetooth is available.
I’ve started looking at videos on Home Assistant, but it seems very complicated for what I’m trying to do. Is there a simple way to use Home assistant for what I want? Maybe in combo with the Harmony Hub? I watched a YT video on setting up Harmony Hub in HA, but it goes through a lot script and config file creating/editing, which makes me think it will take me months to learn to do all that.
I realize the R2 has a lot of capabilities, but for now I just want to start off using it to control my home theater.
Coming from a Harmony myself, I can empathize with some of the “clunkiness” of being an early adopter of the RC2.
The TV you should absolutely be able to change inputs over IR. What kind of TV do you have? If you find the built-in library is lacking, you can try learning from your existing remote, or downloading codes from the Global Cache IR Database.
You are absolutely correct that the RC2 is not yet able to emulate Bluetooth devices, but that feature is on the roadmap as you pointed out.
IR has some known issues around signal strength and flip bit commands, but I am able to fire any of the linked and supported IR commands on my Marantz AVR after importing them. As you can see, they are not ‘basic’ commands, they give me complete control over the AVR. Same deal with my LG OLED and Panasonic Blu-Ray player.
IP-based integrations are rolling out for devices - I use the IP-based Denon-Marantz integration in tandem with the IR codes (the devices can take in IR codes over Telnet, but the integration doesn’t yet support “custom” commands, so I use IR for the complex commands).
I believe that you should be able to use HDMI CEC to navigate through menus on a Fire TV and Xbox.
So, unless I’m missing something fundamental about your equipment, I think this is coming down to a gap in RC2 setup rather than missing functionality.
Happy to help, it’s a quiet day for me, but I need a little more info first!
Hi,
I use the Neeo at the moment. With my home automation, the Neeo and 5 Logitech hubs I can control everything. The Neeo itself controls nothing she only sends recipes and buttons to my home automation (IP symcon) and with the help of Harmony2MQTT docker it controls my 5 hubs and all ZigBee devices and more. If i get a remote two I will go a similar way.
Concerning Bluetooth with my hubs I often use Computer as a general solution because it uses a standard HID protocol which is supported by a lot devices.
Ralf
For my Swisscom TV STP (Arcadyan) I use an external IR-receiver connected via USB. For that box there’s yet no possibility to access via HASS and the CEC functionality is poor.
Works like charm. It’s placed next to the dock.