I have a Sony Bravia smart TV, a satellite set top box and an AV receiver in my living room, and I have been looking for ways to automate them. I have the Android TV integration set up for the smart TV, and I can turn it on and off. My set top box and AV receiver have no smart capabilities, so I am using an Broadlink IR blaster to try and control them.
I have taught the Broadlink the commands from my TV, set top box and AV receiver remotes. I can trigger them from a script, automation or a custom switch entity, as per the Broadlink docs. But I would also like to use the HomeKit integration to allow Siri to control my TV system, and I am unsure of the best way to do this.
I first tried setting up a HomeKit bridge to expose some scripts that would trigger the IR commands, called “Turn On TV System” etc. They appear as switches in the Home app and work there. But this seems to confuse Siri - it doesn’t seem to like having actions like “turn on” in switch names.
I also tried a HomeKit bridge with custom switch entities called “Bravia TV”, “Satellite Box” etc with the power on and off codes, which worked better with Siri. However, if I want to expand that functionality I’m going to have create lots of switches for volume control, channel changes etc.
Lastly, I tried another HomeKit bridge using the media player from the Android TV integration. This shows as a TV in Apple Home and can turn on and off. But I have no media players in Home Assistant for the AV receiver and set top box, and I can’t see any way to create a custom media_player entity.
What’s the best way to do this? It seems like I’m missing or misunderstanding something here.