Philips Hue Sync Box smart home integration, free and open source
Unofficial connector: Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, on the local network.
Published by LM1LC3N7
- Devices
- Version 0.1.1
- Requires Gladys >=5.1.0
- ★ 0
Unofficial connector, not affiliated with Signify (Philips Hue). It brings the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box (the original, 4K and 8K models) into Gladys, through the official local API of the box, on your network: no account, no cloud.
Testers wanted: this first version was written without a box at hand, from the Hue Sync Box API documentation, the library of the Home Assistant integration and the Homebridge plugin. It was tested against a simulated box. Tell us on the forum what works with yours, and what does not.
What you get
| Surface | Content |
|---|---|
| One device per box | power (on / power save), light sync (on / off), mode (power save, passthrough, video, music, game), intensity of each sync mode, brightness, HDMI input, entertainment area |
| Scene triggers | mode changed (the sync started or stopped, another mode, power save), HDMI input changed |
| Scene actions | start the light sync (mode, intensity, input, brightness, area), stop the light sync, switch the HDMI input, read the state |
| Buttons of the configuration | Register a Sync Box, Test the boxes |
The box has no way to tell Gladys that something changed: Gladys reads its state every 5 seconds (the Refresh interval of the configuration, 2 to 60 seconds) and right after each command, and only sends Gladys the values that changed. A change made in the Hue Sync app, with the TV remote or by the box itself (a console turning on) shows up within that time.
Getting started
- Install the integration and open its Configuration tab.
- Click Register a Sync Box, then, within a minute, hold the button on the front of the box for about 3 seconds, until its light blinks green, and release it. The answer under the button names the registered box. The box shows "Gladys Assistant" in the list of applications of the Hue Sync app.
- Open Discovery and add the box.
The box must already be set up in the Hue Sync app (Hue bridge and
entertainment areas). It is found on the network by mDNS (_huesync._tcp,
as the Hue Sync app finds it). Not found (multicast blocked, another
network)? Type its IP address in the Address field of the button, or in
Box addresses of the configuration (the Hue Sync app shows it in
Settings → Device). Give the box a fixed address in your router; if its
address changes anyway, Gladys looks for it again by mDNS.
The device
- Power: off puts the box in power save; on wakes it up in passthrough (the image goes through, the lights stay as they are). Turning it on while it syncs does nothing.
- Light sync: on starts the sync in the last mode used; off goes back to passthrough.
- Mode: power save, passthrough, video, music or game.
- Video / Music / Game intensity: subtle, moderate, high or intense, for each mode, also when another mode is active.
- Brightness: 0 to 100 %; 50 % is the brightness of the source, below dims the lights, above boosts them (the box's own scale is 0-200).
- HDMI input: input 1 to 4, shown with the names given in the Hue Sync app ("Gaming (HDMI 2)").
- Entertainment area: the Hue entertainment areas of the bridge the box is paired with.
The names of the inputs and areas follow the Hue Sync app a few seconds after you change them.
Scenes
- Mode changed: a box (or none for any), and optionally the new mode. Variables: the box name, the new and the previous mode, whether the lights sync, the name of the HDMI input. For example: "when the sync starts, close the blinds".
- HDMI input changed: optionally the new input (1-4). Variables: the box name, the new and the previous input (number and name), the mode. For example: "when the console input is selected, turn off the ceiling light".
- Start the light sync: the mode (empty: the last one), and optionally the intensity, the HDMI input, the brightness (%) and the name of an entertainment area. A box in power save is turned on. Outputs: the mode, the input and its name.
- Stop the light sync: then stay on (passthrough) or go to power save.
- Switch the HDMI input: input 1 to 4. Outputs: the input and its name.
- Read the state gives
online,power,syncing,mode,input,input_name,brightness,intensity,areafor a condition or a message. The following actions of the scene find them in their variable list.
Changes made through Gladys (a command, a scene) fire none of the integration's triggers for 15 seconds: a scene can never loop through the box. The generic Control a device action also drives power, sync and brightness.
Good to know
- When another application streams to the entertainment area (the Hue Sync app on a computer, another box), the box refuses to start syncing; Gladys then stops that stream and starts again, as Home Assistant does.
- Gladys sends one request at a time to a box. A box that stops answering is shown unreachable after three failed reads, and followed again as soon as it answers.
- Each registration is a new entry in the list of applications of the box; you can delete the old ones in the Hue Sync app.
Security
The box answers in HTTPS with a certificate issued by the Philips Hue Sync Box authority. The integration trusts that authority only, for these requests only, and checks that the certificate names the box it registered (its unique id, on its label): another device, or another box at the same address, is refused. The access token given by the box at the registration is kept in the configuration of the integration, never shown in the screens nor written in the logs.
Troubleshooting
- "No button press seen": click Register a Sync Box again and hold the button until the light blinks green (a short press does nothing). If the light sync is running, stop it first.
- "No Sync Box found": type the address of the box (see above). Check that Gladys and the box are on the same network.
- "Registration refused": the registration was deleted in the Hue Sync app or the box was reset; register again.
- Unreachable: the box is unplugged, out of Wi-Fi reach, or has a new address (Gladys looks for it again by mDNS every 5 minutes; a new Discovery scan does it at once).
- "Entertainment area is busy": the Hue bridge is not connected to the box, or another application holds the area; check in the Hue Sync app.
- Logs: the log level of the integration is set with the
LOG_LEVELvariable.
Privacy
The integration only talks to your Sync Boxes, on your local network, without any account.
Configuration settings
These are the settings Philips Hue Sync Box asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.
| Setting | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hue Sync Box in Gladys | section | No | Unofficial connector, not affiliated with Signify (Philips Hue). It drives the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box on the local network through its official local API, without any account: power, light sync, mode, intensity, brightness, HDMI input and entertainment area, with scene triggers and actions. 1. Click "Register a Sync Box" below, then hold the button on the front of the box for about 3 seconds, until its light blinks green. 2. Open Discovery and add the box. Boxes on another network: type their address below. |
| Box addresses (if not found automatically) | string | No | IP addresses or host names, separated by commas. Only needed for the boxes the network scan does not find (multicast blocked, another network). The Hue Sync app shows the address (Settings → Device). Give the box a fixed address in your router. |
| Refresh interval (seconds) | number | No | How often the state of each box is read (the API has no push). Changes made in the Hue Sync app, with the TV remote or by the box itself show up in Gladys within this time. |
How to install Philips Hue Sync Box in Gladys
- In Gladys, open Integrations: Philips Hue Sync Box appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
- Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (
ghcr.io/lm1lc3n7/gladys-hue-sync-box:0.1.1), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration). - Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
- You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/LM1LC3N7/gladys-hue-sync-box.
Philips Hue Sync Box requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.
Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.
About external integrations
Philips Hue Sync Box is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by LM1LC3N7, not by the Gladys core team.
- Browse all integrations, native and community
- Build and publish your own external integration
- Source code on GitHub — source of this documentation