[colordrops]

I described it in another comment:

> 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.

[dervjd]

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

[colordrops]

Nice tip on the tablets

[dervjd]

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.

[colordrops]

Just bought a tablet, will try out FullyKiosk when it arrives. Thanks!