How to add media player element?

Hey there,
I have HASSos running on a raspberry pi 4 with a pair of speakers hooked up to the 3.5mm headphone jack.

I need to play TTS notifications through them, but there’s no media player element showing up. How do I add one?

I tried installing VLC with the settings suggested in the docs, but while it lets me bring up a VLC window via the addon, there still doesn’t seem to be a selectable media player element anywhere, such as when I go to configure the TTS notification automation. The dropdown just shows “No media player element available.”

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Are you using that addon?

In that case you need the vlc telnet integration:

As installing and configuring the VLC add-on and a Telnet addon really the simplest way to let Home Assistant play a basic TTS sound through the headphone jack? I honestly don’t know, myself, but it seems like overkill.

Is there a simpler way to get TTS audio to play that my lack of knowledge here is causing me to miss?

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What docs are those then?

Ask, get an answer, say its too complex. I wonder why people do this?

Also VLC-telnet is not an addon. It is an integration.

I asked if there was a simpler way, which is different than a condescending, made up “too complex” strawman. I asked to be respectful of Dennis’ time, in case my use of VLC was was the wrong direction to begin with. I asked because adding extra connections such as telnet just to play a sound, increases the attack surface from a security POV, and I wanted to make sure it was necessary.

I asked because I am trying to learn. Does that answer your question?

Anyway, thank you @dennis84de for your help. It was and is appreciated.

My interpretation (as someone who has been lurking for a while, trying to keep my own configuation as simple as possible, hoping to learn one step at a time) is that HASS OS is intended as a server configuration with no directly connected hardware.

If you are intending to add Speech-To-Text (i.e. voice control) you should probably look at a separate RasPi Zero or similar to connect the microphone and speakers to.

Ok, good to know. Thanks!

I get it, but in a scenario where the network is down, nothing would work. I’m trying to limit the points of failure. If the device has the ports on them why not use them?

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I finally figured mine out after seeing this thread:

install local vlc then telnet