That’s an interesting request! I designed it that way and called it the “app launcher” because many people were asking for more and more app buttons to be allowed on one Firemote. I guess I never thought that someone might want to use it without any of those buttons. That should be an easy fix for me. Can I ask you to open a feature request over on the project’s GitHub page? It just helps me stay organized, and helps me to not forget about requests from other forums like this one.
There are a couple of things that could be happening here. First, I’m curious about how you configured your Firemote card. Did you have to change the compatability mode to “strong (slower)”? If not, then you might be at the fastest response time that Firemote is capable of doing right now. One experiment you could try would be to use Firemote’s button overrides to map the Firemote buttons to the harmony integration’s commands. I’m very interested to know how this turns out for you. I haven’t worked with Harmony before.
I did try “strong” to get it working, but was able to eventually get it on “event5”, which was slightly faster. I’ll try the button-override, now that I’m looking at it and seeing it does include the arrows, I have no reason to think it won’t work; I’ll post back with what I find.
THANK YOU for the video @1aranzant! That’s very helpful.
The Android Remote integration is relatively new. When the Firemote project started, the only way to control any navigation buttons was through ADB commands, which are a lot slower. (In fact, Amazon Fire devices are still under this limitation)
On May 12th 2023, firemote version v2.2.0 was published which added the feature of being able to use the new Android Remote integration alongside the Android ADB integration to get the most functionality at the fastest speeds possible. This is a documented feature you can read about in the README.md file:
Is there a reason hulu isn’t in the list of apps?
After not seeing it i just typed it in on the yaml page and got a nice looking button for it, but it doesn’t seem to work.
Says failed to call service…required key not provided.
Are you using a Xiaomi Mi device? If you take a look at the App Launch Button Customization chart in the README.md file, you will see that I haven’t yet been able to provide support for the Hulu app under that platform.
If you ARE using a Xiaomi Mi device, and you DO have the Hulu app installed, I’d love your help so please let me know! In the meantime, I’ll try to see if I can get it going again on my end. (It’s been a while)
EDIT: I found an APK to sideload the Hulu app on Xiaomi mi. I will work on getting that added to Firemote for the next release.
Sorry I didn’t see that listed.
I have a mibox3 and mibox S with hulu installed.
It was available on the miboxen in times past, but recently I think I got it from apkmirror or similar.
Gets updates from the play store once installed.
I’d be happy to try and help if i can.
I just published Firemote version v3.0.6 and it includes a working hulu launch button for the Xiaomi family of devices. Thanks @danbutter for letting me know / reminding me that this was missing.
Hi Doug,
Great integration that you have created - I like allot
Hey, silly newbie question if that’s ok?
Could you please advise the YAML code or steps within the creating an Automation that l could use to trigger one of the custom app butons?
What l am trying to acheive is when Home Assistant detects that my Samsung TV has switched on it then triggers an action to execute the custom app1 button that l have configured (within your integration) to open Plex i.e. When TV switches on Plex is then automatically opened on the TV screen.
Thank you for your kind words! I’m glad that you like my Firemote card!
A little background information first: Firemote isn’t actually an integration, rather it’s a card that can send commands to existing integrations such as the Android Debug Bridge Integration, the Android TV Remote Integration, and the Apple TV Integration. What this means for you is that you don’t need Firemote at all if you are just wanting to write a script or automation that does something similar to what Firemote can do.
I wrote this quick automation and tested it on my TV (media_player.fire_tv_192_168_107_88) and it works! It should work for you too, as long as you put your media_player entity names in the two places where you see mine.
The first one in the trigger section will refer to your Samsung TV. The second one in the action section should be the entity id that needs to switch to the Plex app. In my case, since my TV is actually a FireTV, I use the same entity ID for both.
alias: Open Plex When TV Turns On
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- media_player.fire_tv_192_168_107_88
from: "off"
to: null
condition: []
action:
- service: media_player.select_source
data:
source: com.plexapp.android
target:
entity_id: media_player.fire_tv_192_168_107_88
mode: single
I wrote the trigger to watch the TV’s state change from “off” to null because my TV actually doesn’t always register the “on” state as “on”. In most cases, it will change from “off” to “idle”. Using null is the same as saying “If the TV goes from off to anything else”
Let me know if you’d like any more information about this. I’m happy to help!
I followed your suggestion using your YAML action, as I’m using a Samsung Frame TV with a connected Firestick. Unfortunately, the automation code did not work for me. I even tried running the action separately away the state of TV, but nothing happened.
Interestingly, using your card works when I press the Home button and the custom app button (Plex), but the automation itself, outside of your card, doesn’t work.
I would appreciate any insights or assistance getting this work - I am happy if you provide an action that mimics clicking on the Card’s Home and Customer App1 button.
Below is my YAMl automation -
alias: Open Plex When Samsung TV Frame Turn On
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- media_player.samsung_the_frame_75
to: "on"
condition: []
action:
- service: media_player.select_source
data:
source: com.plexapp.andriod
target:
entity_id: media_player.fire_tv_192_168_0_135
mode: single
I wonder if plex isn’t launching as it should because your Fire TV device isn’t ready to receive the command. Perhaps it is in a “sleep” state, which is why pressing the home button would wake it up and make it ready.
If your TV is on, AND your Fire TV is already running (on the home screen or any other screen), does this launch Plex?
# Script
alias: Launch Plex Test Script
sequence:
- service: media_player.select_source
data:
source: com.plexapp.android
target:
entity_id: media_player.fire_tv_192_168_0_135
mode: single
If that doesn’t work, try this script instead:
# Script
alias: Launch Plex Test Script
sequence:
- service: media_player.select_source
data:
source: Plex
target:
entity_id: media_player.fire_tv_192_168_0_135
mode: single
One of those will work. You’ll need to test them to figure out which one works, and then we can work out how to structure the automation sequence. I’m thinking something like this:
Listen for the TV to turn on
Check if the Firestick is on, turn it on if it is off
Wait until the Firestick is ready (on) then send the Plex command
