Easiest route to IR control?

Hardware
1

I have a reasonably complex home entertainment set up, and although I’m perfectly happy with the (now discontinued) Logitech Harmony and the HA integration, I’m starting to look towards when Logitech inevitably pulls the plug and/or it becomes impossible to keep adding new devices

Is there a reasonably easy route to IR/Wirelss control of multiple devices that in themsleves might not have an HA integration? In particular I’m looking to use HA to replace the “Activities” functionality of Harmony - turn on source and tv devices to correct inputs, change channels on an IR-controlled HDMI switch, change inputs on Sonos to suit etc.

I’d like to use off the shelf devices and something relatively easy to configure. Broadcom seem to be an option, are there still concerns about it needing an internet connection? Is there another better option now?

2

I have the Broadlink RM Mini3 which works very well for me, I mainly use it with my Lounge TV/PVR and Alexa but also other things like some battery powered candles we get out over Christmas.

You need to learn commands using Developer Tools - Services but once you have done that then it is very easy to re-use these in automations. As an example the following automation turns the volume on the TV up/down depending on whether the fan is switched on/off (this is because the sound from the fan can make it hard to hear the TV properly):

  mode: single
- id: '1600677311334'
  alias: Lounge TV Volume Adjust
  description: ''
  trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id: switch.sonoff04
  condition:
  - condition: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.samsung_smart_tv
    state: 'on'
  action:
  - choose:
    - conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: switch.sonoff04
        state: 'on'
      sequence:
      - service: remote.send_command
        data:
          device: lounge_tv
          command: volume_up
          num_repeats: 10
        entity_id: remote.broadlink01
    default: []
  - choose:
    - conditions:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: switch.sonoff04
        state: 'off'
      sequence:
      - service: remote.send_command
        data:
          device: lounge_tv
          command: volume_down
          num_repeats: 10
        entity_id: remote.broadlink01
    default: []
3

Broadlink RM devices seems to be a favorite for many HA users, so you will easily find help wih it here and there are also lots of videos on youtube with it.

4

I created a topic to share Broadlink IR/RF codes, and put the codes I learned from my own remotes on it.
It would be interesting if others also share their codes.