This blueprint creates an automation allowing a Lutron Caseta 5 button Pico remote to contextually
control music or an Xbox. It assumes Sonos speakers are being used, and the same speakers are used for both music and the Xbox. In my configuration I have an Xbox attached to a TV that has Sonos speakers attached via an HDMI Arc/eArc channel.
When the Xbox is on, the remote’s on (top) and off (bottom) buttons map to the Xbox A and B
buttons respectively. This is great, particularly in media apps, since A is used to select, play or
pause while B is used to stop or go back.
When the Xbox is not powered, on (top) is mapped to playing / pausing music and off (bottom) is mapped to going to the next music track.
For both Xbox and music playback the raise (up arrow) button increases speaker volume and lower
(down arrow) button decreases speaker volume. While favourite / stop (round middle) button is
configurable.
The blueprint tries to handle oddities and conveniences for an optimal experience, including:
- If the Xbox is on but the source isn’t
TVthen it ungroups speakers and sets the source toTV - Re-groups speakers when re-starting music playback (groups are commonly broken after TV playback)
- When re-grouping speakers, sets the volume on all speakers to the lead speaker’s volume
- When re-setting the volume during re-grouping the order of operations changes so you don’t get odd volume spikes
- When you press the
raise/lowerbuttons the volume changes for all speakers
Script Inputs
- [required] Pico remote
- [required] Xbox console
- [required] Primary Sonos speaker
- [optional] List of additional Sonos speakers (to group together for a multi-room setup)
- [optional] List of music content IDs (typically URLs) where one will randomly be chosen to play
- [required] Volume (for music playback)
- [required] Shuffle (for music playback)
- [required] Repeat (for music playback)
-
[optional] Action to run when you press the
favouritebutton
Note: the volume, shuffle and repeat values are only used when music is set to play the first time.
How to Install
This automation blueprint relies on another blueprint I previously created. Since Home Assistant blueprints don’t support dependencies the dependencies have to be installed manually. I recommend the following order:
- Install the
Play Random Mediascript blueprint (details here) and create a script with anEntity IDofplay_random_media
- Install the actual
Contextual Pico Media Remoteautomation blueprint and create the automation
Additional Notes
- This is another of my favourite automations since I commonly switch between music and Xbox. While you still need an Xbox controller or media remote to browse content, I find the infrared on the Xbox can be finicky, media remotes aren’t physically stable for quick button presses so you have to pick them up (unlike a Pico remote on a stand), and powering up Xbox controllers takes time. So this script is very convenient for quickly selecting, playing, pausing and going back.
- This only requires Sonos speakers because I’m uncertain if other speakers can change their
sourcetoTVand I only have Sonos speakers to test with - I recommend setting the mode to
singlesince this creates a script bound to fixed speakers, Xbox and remote
# ***************************************************************************
# * Copyright 2022 Joseph Molnar
# *
# * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# * You may obtain a copy of the License at
# *
# * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
# *
# * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# * limitations under the License.
# ***************************************************************************
# Automation blueprint that contextual controls music on speakers or context on an Xbox.
blueprint:
name: Contextual Pico Media Remote
description:
This blueprint creates an automation allowing a **Lutron Caseta** 5 button Pico remote to contextually
control music or an **Xbox**. It assumes **Sonos** speakers are being used, and the same speakers are used
for both music and the Xbox. In my configuration I have an Xbox attached to a TV that has Sonos
speakers attached via an HDMI Arc/eArc channel.
<br>
<br>
When the Xbox is on, the remote's `on` (top) and `off` (bottom) buttons map to the Xbox `A` and `B`
buttons respectively. This is great, particularly in media apps, since `A` is used to select, play or
pause while `B` is used to stop or go back.
<br>
<br>
When the Xbox is not powered, `on` (top) is mapped to playing / pausing music and `off` (bottom) is mapped
to going to the next music track.
<br>
<br>
For both Xbox and music playback the `raise` (up arrow) button increases speaker volume and `lower`
(down arrow) button decreases speaker volume. While `favourite` / `stop` (round middle) button is
configurable.
domain: automation
input:
# general inputs
remote_id:
name: Pico Remote
description: The entity id of the pico remote to enable.
selector:
device:
model: PJ2-3BRL-GXX-X01 (Pico3ButtonRaiseLower)
xbox_id:
name: Xbox Console
description: The entity id of the Xbox console.
selector:
entity:
domain: media_player
integration: xbox
speaker_id:
name: Speaker
description: The entity id of the primary speaker.
selector:
entity:
domain: media_player
integration: sonos
speaker_group_members:
name: "Speaker Group Members"
description:
The entity ids of the additional entities to group together in a multi-room system. This ignores
all types but entity ids. These speakers are only used when playing music, not when playing on
the Xbox. Defaults to blank.
default: {}
selector:
target:
entity:
domain: media_player
integration: sonos
# music related inputs
music_content_ids:
name: "Music Content IDs"
description:
The list of music IDs and one will be randomly chosen to play. Examples include Spotify playlists or albums,
Tune-In radio stations, etc. Defaults to blank.
default: {}
selector:
object:
music_volume_level:
name: "Music Volume Level"
description: Float for volume level. Range 0..1. Defaults to 0.2.
default: 0.2
selector:
number:
min: 0
max: 1
step: 0.01
mode: slider
music_shuffle:
name: "Music Shuffle"
description: True/false for enabling/disabling shuffle. Defaults to `true`.
default: true
selector:
boolean: null
music_repeat:
name: "Music Repeat Mode"
description: Repeat mode set to off, all, one. Defaults to `all`.
default: "all"
selector:
select:
options:
- "off"
- "all"
- "one"
# favourite as an input
favourite_action:
name: Favourite Action
description: An action to run when the Pico remote's favourite button is pressed.
default: []
selector:
action:
variables:
# oddly you can't get blueprint inputs directly into jina so putting the
# input into a variable so I can verify after
speaker_entity_id: !input speaker_id
speaker_group_members_hack: !input speaker_group_members
speaker_group_members: >-
{# can't modify a list or reset a variable, so using a replaceable array in a mutable container as work around#}
{# we only uses entity_id, and there will only be one given it is a dictionary #}
{# but in the future we can look at converting areas and devices into entities #}
{%- set workaround = namespace(members = []) -%}
{%- for key in speaker_group_members_hack if key == 'entity_id'-%}
{%- set workaround.members = speaker_group_members_hack[key] -%}
{%- endfor -%}
{{ workaround.members }}
current_group_members: >-
{{ state_attr( speaker_entity_id, 'group_members') }}
xbox_entity_id: !input xbox_id
xbox_device_id: >-
{{ device_id( xbox_entity_id ) }}
music_content_ids: !input music_content_ids
music_shuffle: !input music_shuffle
music_repeat: !input music_repeat
music_volume_level: !input music_volume_level
speaker_volume_level: >-
{%- set volume = state_attr(speaker_entity_id, 'volume_level') -%}
{%- if volume == None or volume <= 0 -%}
{{ music_volume_level }}
{%- else -%}
{{ volume }}
{%- endif -%}
# to make it easier and have less jinja code, and repeated state
# checks we create some variables
is_speaker_source_tv: >-
{{ is_state_attr( speaker_entity_id, 'source', 'TV') }}
is_speaker_media_set: >-
{%- set duration = state_attr(speaker_entity_id, 'media_duration') -%}
{%- if duration == None or duration <= -1 -%}
{{ false }}
{%- else -%}
{{ true }}
{%- endif -%}
is_speaker_playing: >-
{{ is_state(speaker_entity_id, 'playing') }}
is_speaker_lonely: >-
{{ current_group_members == None or current_group_members|length == 0 or ( current_group_members|length == 1 and speaker_entity_id in current_group_members ) }}
is_xbox_on: >-
{{ is_state(xbox_entity_id, 'on') }}
trigger:
- platform: device
device_id: !input remote_id
domain: lutron_caseta
type: press
subtype: "on"
id: on_pressed
- platform: device
device_id: !input remote_id
domain: lutron_caseta
type: press
subtype: "off"
id: off_pressed
- platform: device
device_id: !input remote_id
domain: lutron_caseta
type: press
subtype: raise
id: raise_pressed
- platform: device
device_id: !input remote_id
domain: lutron_caseta
type: press
subtype: lower
id: lower_pressed
- platform: device
device_id: !input remote_id
domain: lutron_caseta
type: press
subtype: stop
id: stop_pressed
condition: []
action:
- choose:
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: on_pressed
sequence:
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ not is_xbox_on }}
sequence:
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ is_speaker_media_set }}
sequence:
# if xbox is not on and the speaker is set to play music
# we see if we should group and if so, we set the volume
# for all speakers to be the same as the leader and then
# play/pause, otherwise we just play/pause
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ is_speaker_lonely and speaker_group_members|length > 0 }}
sequence:
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ is_speaker_playing }}
sequence:
# we set volume second so you don't hear a
# change in volume before it pauses
- service: media_player.media_pause
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
data: {}
- service: media_player.volume_set
target:
entity_id:
- "{{ speaker_entity_id }}"
data:
volume_level: "{{ speaker_volume_level }}"
- service: media_player.volume_set
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_group_members }}
data:
volume_level: "{{ speaker_volume_level }}"
default:
# we set volume first so you don't hear a
# change in volume after it starts to play
- service: media_player.volume_set
target:
entity_id:
- "{{ speaker_entity_id }}"
data:
volume_level: "{{ speaker_volume_level }}"
- service: media_player.volume_set
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_group_members }}
data:
volume_level: "{{ speaker_volume_level }}"
# we aren't playing so we play after volume
# changes so it doesn't sound odd
- service: media_player.media_play
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
data: {}
# we do the join after the above play/pause
# and volume changes, since there can be a
# delay when calling join, but we want people
# to know the button was pressed
- service: media_player.join
data:
group_members: >-
{{ speaker_group_members }}
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
default:
- service: media_player.media_play_pause
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
data: {}
default:
# if xbox is not on and the speaker is not set to play
# music then we start playing what was passed in
- service: script.play_random_media
data:
media_content_type: music
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
group_members:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_group_members }}
repeat: >-
{{ music_repeat }}
volume_level: >-
{{ music_volume_level }}
shuffle: >-
{{ music_shuffle }}
media_content_ids: >
{{ music_content_ids }}
default:
# if the xbox is on, we make sure the source is set to the TV
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ not is_speaker_source_tv }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.media_pause
data: {}
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
- service: media_player.unjoin
data: {}
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
- service: media_player.select_source
data:
source: TV
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
default: []
# and then send the remote command
- service: remote.send_command
data:
command: A
device_id: >-
{{ xbox_device_id }}
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: off_pressed
sequence:
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ not is_xbox_on }}
sequence:
# if the xbox isn't on, then we to go the next track
- service: media_player.media_next_track
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
data: {}
default:
# if the xbox is on then we make sure the source is set to the TV
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ not is_speaker_source_tv }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.media_pause
data: {}
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
- service: media_player.unjoin
data: {}
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
- service: media_player.select_source
data:
source: TV
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ speaker_entity_id }}
default: []
# and then send the command
- service: remote.send_command
data:
command: B
device_id: >-
{{ xbox_device_id }}
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: raise_pressed
sequence:
# raises volume, including grouped speakers as appropriate
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ is_speaker_lonely }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.volume_up
target:
entity_id:
- "{{ speaker_entity_id }}"
data: {}
default:
- service: media_player.volume_up
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ current_group_members }}
data: {}
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: lower_pressed
sequence:
# lowers volume, including grouped speakers as appropriate
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ is_speaker_lonely }}
sequence:
- service: media_player.volume_down
target:
entity_id:
- "{{ speaker_entity_id }}"
data: {}
default:
- service: media_player.volume_down
target:
entity_id: >-
{{ current_group_members }}
data: {}
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: stop_pressed
sequence:
- choose:
- conditions: >
{{ false }}
sequence: []
default: !input favourite_action
default: []
mode: single
max_exceeded: silent
Revisions
- 2022-11-05: Initial release
Available Blueprints
- Script: Automation for Sonos + Lutron Picos to Magically Manage Sleep Alarms and Music
- Script: Script for Sonos Speakers to do Text-to-Speech and Handle Typical Oddities
- Script: Script for Sonos Speakers to Announce Upcoming Alarm
- Script: Script for Sonos Speakers to Stop Current Alarm or Temporarily Disable Upcoming Alarm
- Script: Play Random Media w/ Shuffle, Repeat, Multi-room, Volume support
- Script: Play Media w/ Shuffle, Repeat, Multi-room, Volume support
- Others in my GitHub repository