Not OP but it makes the whole setup easier to use.
For instance, when I turn on the PS4, HA turns on the receiver and the TV, switches to the correct inout, adjusts the lights in the room.
When I turn off the ps4, it switches off the tv and the avr, unless I switched the receiver to the music or media player input (in which case it turns the tv off or not)
It also lets me use these cheapo ikea zigbee volume buttons to adjust the sound on the receiver, pause and skip songs or video (via libreelec). And the “light switch” aqara button to turn off all lights at bedtime from my bed and keep the music running (if I double tap) or switch it off otherwise.
The above wouldn’t be possible otherwise: ikea’s volume switch only works with these ikea/Sonos lamp things otherwise.
Not OP, but various automations that fire off commands based on whatever your TV, receiver, Apple TV box, etc are doing are how I find it most useful.
Example: I have some cheap Govee LED strip lights behind my TV for ambient lighting. HomeAssistant can detect when my Apple TV (or Samsung smart TV) is on and automatically turn on the lights for me. I don't have to reach around the back of the TV to try and find the little button to turn the lights on (or remember to turn them off).
I can also control both my TV and Apple TV through HomeAssistant. It's not exactly the most polished/straightforward, but you could definitely string together some automations - something like a "movie night" button that dims the lights, turns on the TV, switches to the appropriate input, and cues up a file. For me that's more hassle than it's worth.
> I've got an msi desktop gaming PC, an LG CX OLED TV, and a Yamaha RX-A2A receiver and they never played well together. The kids always had a hard time getting them all on at once and set to the right inputs and launching steam.
> So I created a Home Assistant automation that does all that, bought a Zwave button that sits on the coffee table, and now they just turn it all on with one button like it's a video game console.
I also plan to add "scenes" where I can just tap the button and the lights dim, and the media center gets put into movie mode, as well as a "music" scene for when I have parties, which would join the two zones my receiver supports an then
start playing a playlist from spotify.
Love this. My TV setup is super straightforward these days, but I had a nice home theater setup in my previous house and used a rather disappointing Logitech Harmony remote.
If you want to get creative, you could create a custom dashboard and put an old iPod touch/Android device in kiosk mode and use it as a remote touch panel control for your home theater (or anything else in HomeAssistant).
I have two Lenovo M8 tablets ($100/each) that I'm using as home control panels - super convenient and rock solid. https://imgur.com/a/f0aNTRq
Yeah they're solid - come with a little dock so it looks like a high-end automation system panel. You can configure the power settings to hold the battery charge around 50% to prevent any issues with the battery swelling.
If you go this route, definitely buy the Android app FullyKiosk. It will let you lock the tablet to the HomeAssistant dashboard, automatically recover if something crashes, etc. I have it set up to use the built-in camera & motion sensor to automatically turn on the display if someone walks up to it or touches the tablet, and automatically turns the screen off after a few minutes of no motion.
