I have HAOS running in a VM under Proxmox. I installed the Homekit Bridge integration. I also installed the Denon receiver integration and used Homekit Bridge to bring it into Homekit.
Skipping to the end, my question is how to incorporate Homebridge (not Homekit Bridge) into HA given my setup because Homekit Bridge isn’t doing the job?
The problem is that the Denon integration in HA shows on/off, source and volume for the receiver whereas Homekit (via the Homekit Bridge integration) does not show the volume control (so, for example, I cannot tell Siri to turn down the volume). I don’t know why the Homekit Bridge integration does not port all the same controls through to Homekit as are shown in HA. Maybe I am doing something wrong.
I first thought Homekit Bridge was the same as Homebridge given the similar names but it clearly isn’t. Very confusing. I don’t know why HA doesn’t just create a Homebridge integration with all the same capabilities including plugins etc. because Homekit bridge doesn’t seem nearly as capable.
In any event, I am now trying to figure out how to incorporate Homebridge and the Denon receiver plugin so I have full control in Homekit.
I heard there was a Homebridge add on but when I search the add on store it does not show up. However, I found a Homebridge add on in Github.
I suppose an alternative to an add on is to put Homebridge in an LXC in Proxmox although I am not experienced enough to know how to get the new LXC to talk to the other components.
So, can someone tell me the best way to incorporate Homebridge with HA? Does anyone have experience with the Github add on? Am I better off putting Homebridge in an LXC? And If I do that how do I make it interact with HA in a separate VM? Thanks.
Homebridge is an entirely different thing from Home Assistant. I think you realize that, but just putting it down for context.
I would suggest starting a little smaller: perhaps there is something that can be adjusted in your HomeKit Bridge configuration that will expose the volume controls to HomeKit. I think it depends on what the Denon integration is exposing to Home Assistant.
Can you show us the attributes of the relevant Denon receiver entity and the HomeKit Bridge configuration you’re using?
Yes I know Homebridge is entirely different from Home Assistant. I have used Homebridge with Homeseer before. What I didn’t realize until recently is that the Homekit Bridge Integration was not a Homebridge integration; it is different from Homebridge too.
Could you locate your media player’s entity ID in Developer tools → States, and paste the value of the supported_features attribute?
To get the entity ID, click the gear icon on the top right of the dialog with the volume slider and look at the fields towards the top of the settings dialog. It should be of the form media_player.________.
This is way above my pay grade but when I go into developer tools and States (and turn the receiver on) I see this (the very top is cut off but it is just part of the source list):
I asked for that info because I thought maybe there is an issue with how the Denon integration was creating the Media Player, but as far as I can tell, the bridge should be exposing the volume controls to HomeKit.
The volume and play/pause controls will show up on the Remote app or Control Center. If your TV supports volume control through Home Assistant, you will be able to control the volume using the side volume buttons on the device while having the remote selected on screen.
I know it is talking about TVs, but after a quick look at the source code, receivers are basically exactly the same for purposes of presentation to HomeKit as TVs. Have you tried adjusting the volume via the Remote/Control Center? (I don’t know what it looks like when Homebridge exposes it, so I don’t know if the way that’s done somehow gives you a volume control inside of the Home app).
The only other thing I can think of is that the 7013 model isn’t explicitly listed in the "known supported devices" on the integration page, but… obviously it’s already working in Home Assistant, so I’d expect it to mesh with the HomeKit Bridge.
Alright, now this is bizarre. Maybe you have an explanation but I don’t. I took a screen shot of my phone to post here showing that there is no volume control and e-mailed it to myself to paste a snip here. The screen shot in the e-mail of course shows that there is no volume control except when I put my mouse cursor over the screen shot the volume control suddenly appears.
Its like the volume control is there but invisible unless I place my mouse cursor over it. I cannot make the volume control show up on my phone screen and nothing seems to happen when I put my finger over the “invisible” volume control.
Yes, its a screen shot of the IOS Homekit app but what is doubly strange about this is that it is just a jpg shot of the screen, it is not the actual app screen. I have never seen a jpg change just because a mouse cursor is placed over it. Its like placing the mouse cursor over the picture causes an invisible element to appear.
Yeah, and that even calls into doubt the iOS bug theory. It would be a much clearer situation if the screenshot had the volume control plainly visible and the app didn’t. What you’re describing really doesn’t make any sense.
For what it’s worth, I’m able to control my receiver volume via the HomeKit bridge integration. But this is not possible in the Home app, which only displays a power button. You have to open the Remote app and select your receiver from the dropdown as if it was a TV, then click the up/down buttons on the side of the phone which makes the volume controls briefly appear. Note this is using IR control, where 0-100% slider would be impossible; I wonder if native network volume slider works differently.
I also noticed that, like the home app, the volume slider at the bottom only shows when I hover my mouse over the jpg snip. You cannot see it on the iphone screen.
I think I have concluded that the Homekit Bridge integration is just wonky. HA needs to create a real Homebridge integration that actually uses Homebridge and has the same capabilities with plugins etc.
Yes, except I don’t have the -/+ slider at the bottom. When I click the volume buttons on the side of the phone, they show gray lines briefly beside the buttons (but cannot show up in screenshots which use those buttons). The volume slider that appears in the Home App for Apple TVs and HomePods appears to be for specific (Apple-only? AirPlay?) media players.
Out of curiosity, I took a look at the Denon plug-in for Homebridge, and the screenshots look the same as home assistant. There is a separate plug-in for Marantz volume which hacks the volume control slider to appear as a lightbulb(!) in the Home app. This suggests that Apple Home is the limitation, not the bridge?
I use the HomeKit Bridge integration extensively, every day, and wouldn’t characterize it as “wonky” — for free software that is part of a much larger home automation package, it’s quite remarkable and very reliable. Granted, it has issues — the config UI is catastrophic (I use YAML config instead) and some features do lag Homebridge — but that project has one focus, bridging HAP, whereas HA has dozens and dozens of areas to cover.
If there is a specific feature you need that only Homebridge provides, go for it! Unfortunately if you are using HAOS, then you have to find an add on or setup a new server. But if you run HA containerized, it should only take a few minutes to setup a new container and install the HA plugin for Homebridge to link them together.
Thanks. Would you mind trying an experiment? Take a screenshot of your phone like the one above, e-mail it to yourself, open a preview of the screenshot in your computer and run your mouse cursor over the jpg screenshot. Does the volume slider magically appear at the bottom?
I was not aware of the limitations on the Denon plugin for Homebridge. You may be right that it is an Apple limitation. I agree about the UI on the Homekit bridge. Unfortunately I am not YAML literate.
I also was not aware that there was an HA plugin for Homebridge although I probably should have assumed that there was. There is a plugin for almost everything.
Do you think I would be better off putting Homebridge in a separate container and using the HA plugin or using the Homebridge add on I linked in my original post. I’m not sure if there are advantages to one over the other.
scroll to bottom of the addon store and you’ll see troniko’s addons- one of which is Homebridge
install, run, access the web ui (for some reason Homebridge shortcut cant be added sidebar, no use trying, its a known issue)
=======================
So now to the issues which Im struggling with… Im in the same boat.
Homekit Bridge has major limitation, things like passing over groups, some devices lack a lot of the entities. So I’ve been trying to figure out how to integrate the benefits of Homebridge into Home Assistant. Im still stuck trying to get to the 2 to communicate directly without a convoluted setup with Homekit in the middle: meaning
I’ll have to make double helpers, one in HB and the other in HA
bring them into Homekit and hide them in a room or something it’ll be a huge mess
make Apple Home automations to link each one…
smash my head on the wall after each automation
Ive tried pairing HB’s child bridges into HA Homekit Devices. GREAT! Works and I can do all my automation in HA BUT then when I try to pass those devices through Homekit Bridge I’m hit with the same limitations.
Anyone has ideas Im all ears. Maybe Im missing something. Honestly I just want the ablity to pass groups to Homekit. That would solve a lot.
