home-assistant.io/source/_integrations/universal.markdown

title	description	ha_category	ha_iot_class	ha_release	ha_quality_scale	ha_domain	ha_platforms	ha_integration_type
Universal Media Player	Instructions on how to create a universal media player in Home Assistant.	Media Player	Calculated	0.11	internal	universal	media_player	integration

A Universal Media Player can combine multiple existing entities in Home Assistant into a single media player entity. This is used to create a single media player entity that can control an entire media center.

Multiple media player entities may be controlled from a Universal Media Player. Additionally, the Universal Media Player can enable volume and power commands to be directed to other Home Assistant entities. This enables the media player power and volume commands to control devices like a television, amplifier or audio receiver, for example.

A Universal Media Player is created in configuration.yaml as follows.

# Example configuration.yaml entry
media_player:
  - platform: universal
    name: MEDIA_PLAYER_NAME
    children:
      - media_player.CHILD_1_ID
      - media_player.CHILD_2_ID
    commands:
      turn_on:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      turn_off:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      volume_up:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      volume_down:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      volume_mute:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      media_play:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      media_pause:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      media_previous_track:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA
      media_next_track:
        service: SERVICE
        data: SERVICE_DATA 
    attributes:
      is_volume_muted: ENTITY_ID|ATTRIBUTE
      state: ENTITY_ID|ATTRIBUTE
    browse_media_entity: media_player.CHILD_2_ID
    device_class: tv
    unique_id: a_unique_string

{% configuration %} name: description: The name to assign to the player. required: true type: string children: description: Ordered list of child media players that this entity will control. required: false type: list state_template: description: "A template can be specified to render the state of the media player. In this way, the state may depend on entities that are not themselves media players, like switches or input booleans." required: false type: template commands: description: "Media player commands to be overridden. Almost all media player service commands may be overridden. Example entries are turn_on, turn_off, select_source, volume_set, volume_up, volume_down, volume_mute, media_play, media_pause, media_stop, media_previous_track, media_next_track and play_media (refer to the media_player documentation to see the full list)." required: false type: string attributes: description: "Attributes that can be overridden. Most, if not all, media player attributes can be overridden. Example entries are is_volume_muted, state, source, source_list and volume_level. The values should be an entity ID and state attribute separated by a pipe character (|). If the entity ID's state should be used, then only the entity id needs to be provided." required: false type: string browse_media_entity: description: Allows override the browse media entity to desired media player. required: false type: string device_class: description: The device class that this entity represents. Can be tv, speaker, or receiver. required: false type: string unique_id: description: A unique identifier for this entity. Needs to be unique within the media_player platform. required: false type: string {% endconfiguration %}

The Universal Media Player will primarily imitate one of its children. The Universal Media Player will control the first child on the list that is active (not idle/off). The Universal Media Player will also inherit its state from the first active child if a state_template is not provided. Entities in the children: list must be media players, but the state template can contain any entity.

It is recommended that the command turn_on, the command turn_off, and the attribute state all be provided together. The state attribute indicates if the media player is on or off. If state indicates the media player is off, this status will take precedence over the states of the children. If all the children are idle/off and state is on, the Universal Media Player's state will be on. If not provided, the toggle command will delegate to turn_on or turn_off based on the state.

It is also recommended that the command volume_up, the command volume_down, the command volume_mute, and the attribute is_volume_muted all be provided together. The attribute is_volume_muted should return either True or the on state when the volume is muted. The volume_mute service should toggle the mute setting.

When providing select_source as a command, it is recommended to also provide the attributes source, and source_list. The source attribute is the currently select source, while the source_list attribute is a list of all available sources.

When using state_template, if you use a template that depends on the current time it is recommended to use now(). Using now() will cause templates to be refreshed at the start of every new minute. For more information see the time section in the template documentation.

The browse_media_entity parameter allows you to specify which media player will be used in media browser.

Usage examples

Chromecast & Kodi control with switches

In this example, a switch is available to control the power to the television. Switches are also available to turn the volume up, turn the volume down, and mute the audio. These could be command line switches or any other entity in Home Assistant. The turn_on and turn_off commands will be redirected to the television, and the volume commands will be redirected to an audio receiver. The select_source command will be passed directly to an A/V receiver.

The children are a Chromecast and a Kodi player. If the Chromecast is playing, the Universal Media Player will reflect its status. If the Chromecast is idle and Kodi is playing, the universal media player will change to reflect its status.

{% raw %}

media_player:
  platform: universal
  name: Test Universal
  children:
    - media_player.living_room_cast
    - media_player.living_room_kodi
  commands:
    turn_on:
      service: switch.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: switch.living_room_tv
    turn_off:
      service: switch.turn_off
      target:
        entity_id: switch.living_room_tv
    volume_up:
      service: switch.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: switch.living_room_volume_up
    volume_down:
      service: switch.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: switch.living_room_volume_down
    volume_mute:
      service: switch.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: switch.living_room_mute
    select_source:
      service: media_player.select_source
      target:
        entity_id: media_player.receiver
      data:
        source: "{{ source }}"
    volume_set:
      service: media_player.volume_set
      target:
        entity_id: media_player.receiver
      data:
        volume_level: "{{ volume_level }}"

  attributes:
    state: switch.living_room_tv
    is_volume_muted: switch.living_room_mute
    volume_level: media_player.receiver|volume_level
    source: media_player.receiver|source
    source_list: media_player.receiver|source_list

{% endraw %}

Kodi CEC-TV control

In this example, a Kodi Media Player runs in a CEC capable device (OSMC/OpenElec running in a Raspberry Pi 24/7, for example), and, with the JSON-CEC Kodi add-on installed, it can turn on and off the attached TV.

We store the state of the attached TV in an input boolean, so we can differentiate the TV being on or off, while Kodi is always 'idle', and use the universal media player to render its state with a template. We now can differentiate between the 'idle' and the 'off' state (being the second when it is idle and the TV is off).

Because the input boolean used to store the TV state is only changing when using the Home Assistant turn_on and turn_off actions, and Kodi could be controlled by so many ways, we also define some automations to update this Input Boolean when needed.

The complete configuration is:

{% raw %}

homeassistant:
  customize:
    media_player.kodi_tv:
      friendly_name: Kodi

input_boolean:
  kodi_tv_state:

media_player:
- platform: universal
  name: Kodi TV
  state_template: >
    {% if is_state('media_player.kodi', 'idle') and is_state('input_boolean.kodi_tv_state', 'off') %}
    off
    {% else %}
    {{ states('media_player.kodi') }}
    {% endif %}
  children:
    - media_player.kodi
  commands:
    turn_on:
      service: media_player.turn_on
      target:
        entity_id: media_player.kodi
    turn_off:
      service: media_player.turn_off
      target:
        entity_id: media_player.kodi
  attributes:
    is_volume_muted: media_player.kodi|is_volume_muted
    volume_level: media_player.kodi|volume_level

- platform: kodi
  name: Kodi
  host: 192.168.1.10
  turn_on_action:
  - service: input_boolean.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: input_boolean.kodi_tv_state
  - service: media_player.kodi_call_method
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.kodi
    data:
      method: Addons.ExecuteAddon
      addonid: script.json-cec
      params:
        command: activate
  turn_off_action:
  - service: input_boolean.turn_off
    target:
      entity_id: input_boolean.kodi_tv_state
  - service: media_player.media_stop
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.kodi
  - service: media_player.kodi_call_method
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.kodi
    data:
      method: Addons.ExecuteAddon
      addonid: script.json-cec
      params:
        command: standby

automation:
- alias: "Turn on the TV when Kodi is activated"
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: media_player.kodi_tv
    from: "off"
    to: "playing"
  action:
  - service: media_player.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.kodi_tv

- alias: "Turn off the TV when Kodi is in idle > 15 min"
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: media_player.kodi_tv
    to: "idle"
    for:
      minutes: 15
  action:
  - service: media_player.turn_off
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.kodi_tv

{% endraw %}

Harmony Remote Example

The complete configuration is:

{% raw %}

media_player:
  - platform: universal
    name: Media Room TV
    attributes:
      state: remote.harmony_hub
      source_list: remote.harmony_hub|activity_list
      source: remote.harmony_hub|current_activity
    commands:
      turn_on:
        service: remote.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: remote.harmony_hub
      turn_off:
        service: remote.turn_off
        target:
          entity_id: remote.harmony_hub
      volume_up:
        service: remote.send_command
        target:
          entity_id: remote.harmony_hub
        data:
          device: Receiver
          command: VolumeUp
      volume_down:
        service: remote.send_command
        target:
          entity_id: remote.harmony_hub
        data:
          device: Receiver
          command: VolumeDown
      select_source:
        service: remote.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: remote.harmony_hub
        data:
          activity: "{{ source }}"
    device_class: tv
    unique_id: media_room_harmony_hub

{% endraw %}