Learning Bluetooth Remote/Hub

I know this is a little more than what you are thinking originally in this thread but if you are willing to set up a Home Assistant instance on RPi or something you can bring your Apple TV into Home Assistant through their Homekit Devices integration. It makes Homekit devices all local control. Then bring your TV from HA into Hubitat via the Home Assistant Device Bridge app in HPM. That will allow you to use a custom attribute in your rules. The "raw Status" state will give you the ability to use states such as idle, paused, and playing to trigger different events. I don't have an apple TV but I have a cheap ONN and use this method and it works great for automating lights, plugs, and all kinds of things.

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Thanks a lot! I am trying to keep my system as simple as possible. It's easy enough to set up multiple systems...It just sucks when you go back 2 years later to troubleshoot it. If I was in my 30's I would just for the fun of it :upside_down_face:. At 66 I like simple.

The opposite can also be true.... admittedly I'm not in my 30's anymore, but I can still say I don't have the same amount of time as someone presumably retired.... I crave the time to devote to some of this stuff and other interests.... :slight_smile:

The only thing that sucks about being forced to use BT by Apple...is that when everything was IR I could use IR extenders and a SINGLE Harmony Hub to control multiple rooms.

I will say what I just don't understand is that if my IR/RF Harmony remote could turn on and off an Apple device...why I can find no way to do so. I'm not saying I spent a 1000 hours looking...but if there is an answer out there I can't find it.

My guess is that they had some access to an API that was not IR/RF/BT-based, presumably an API that was paid-access

I agree with what you are saying on keeping track of it. It can be a bit of a pain. There may be other solutions for running automations off "status" but I wasn't able to find it. I am not good at it so it may very well exist. I just wanted to let you know that this is an option if none of your other solutions pan out.

Apple TVs can be controlled by IR. Also, you need to keep in mind that the Apple TV never really gets powered off unless you unplug it. Rather, it goes to sleep.

From Apple:

To use a universal infrared (IR) remote, you need to let Apple TV learn the signals that the remote generates. (THIS IS KEY. WHATEVER IR DEVICE YOU USE, NEEDS ITS COMMANDS TO BE LEARNED BY THE APPLE TV)

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Go to Remotes and Devices, then choose Learn Remote, and follow the onscreen instructions.

Note:* Another option for programming some universal remotes is to enter a configuration code for Apple TV. Check the documentation that comes with your device.

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Do you ever really need to turn the Apple TV on and off? Or wake/sleep? Whatever nomenclature you prefer to use.

As long as the remote you are using turns the TV (and any other home theater equipment) your Apple TV is connected to on and off, what do you gain by (attempting to) turn the Apple TV itself on or off (or wake/sleep)?

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The goal here is to use the simple/clean/easy Apple remotes power button to launch the entire AV setup. That way EVERY room in the house with a TV works exactly the same. I've used Harmony Hubs etc in the past. While I'm getting a SofaBaton to solve this problem...all I really want is the hub. Not the remote.

This is a little misleading. It has nothing to do with the power button. It has to do with the Apple REMOTE learning codes of OTHER devices.

An IR / RF learning remote sees NO signal when you press the power button on an Apple remote...because it's BT.

In my searches anyway...I've found zero IR codes that actually work for the Apple on/off function.

Probably a great guess!

That's directly from Apple.

The Apple TV remote learns nothing. It is the Apple TV itself that learns the codes. That is how it learns to use the IR codes sent by an IR device. You use this method to learn the IR code of the button/device that sends its own on/off command, and subsequently that button/device can be used to put the Apple TV to sleep.

It is 100% possible to control your Apple TV4K using an IR remote like the Broadlink RM4 Pro. I mentioned that earlier in this thread. You may have missed that message.

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You want to use a single SofaBaton hub to turn multiple TVs throughout your house on or off? Simultaneously?

How many of the TVs have additional home theater equipment attached (not including the Apple TVs, I mean).

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I am NOT talking about apple tv... I said Formovie Theater PROJECTOR.
I have contacted sofabaton and they were of NO help, so it went back.
I will stick with my screen mods/HE and my harmony 650.. still works... still can program... has everything else in their database that I need... AND still learns IR codes.

OK but so far the whole thread has been about OP and his goal to control an Apple TV.

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Yes, I see that.
BUT the title of the thread was "learning bluetooth remote/hub" not appletv.

Thanks for sharing your experience :v:.

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It seems this thread is still very active, so I might as well throw in a comment that I was avoiding making earlier.

I'd make another attempt at HDMI ARC or eARC since that does exactly what you are trying to do. It works well for me (connected to a Denon amp and LG OLED TV). Everything comes on when I turn on any one of them. I recognize that one person's success data point doesn't mean it works perfectly for everyone.

But I'd be sure that avenue was exhausted (e.g., new HDMI cable, checking settings on all the devices, etc.).

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I haven’t noticed any specific issues with HDMI CEC and Apple TVs either.

But it’s hard to generalize with HDMI CEC since all the major brands seem to implement it a little differently, despite it being a “standard.”

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