Apple TV IP Remote Control (pyatv)

Features

• Virtually no latency for remote commands
• Show Now Playing within Touch Panels, EA/Core Navigators or C4 app
• Show current app playing content
• Programming variables for content type and play state (good for lighting scenes!)
  • Play States:
    • playing
    • paused
    • loading
    • idle
  • Media Types:
    • music
    • video
    • unknown
• Create presets using supported deep links
  • Fully customizable name, URL, and icon
  • Created presets are expected to be added as favorites or executed via Programming
  • To create a preset:
    1. TESTING: For quicker testing, URLs can be launched in the Lua console in Composer with the following command: PYATV.LaunchApp("URL here")
    2. Gather necessary info (name, launch URL, icon URL)
    3. Launch the Apple TV from C4 (watch or listen)
       1. Navigate to the Presets tab
       2. Press the create entry
    4. OR: if the Apple TV is already active:
       1. Open the Now Playing page on a C4 app/navigator
       2. Press Queue
       3. Press Create Preset
    5. Enter information
       1. Media type: automatically choose Watch or Listen
       2. Simulate button press: This will fire the Select button after desired amount of time. Apple Music for example does not automatically play, but will always land on a screen with the Play button ready to be selected
    6. Save
    7. Press the newly created preset
    8. Press Favorite to Room
  • For more info: pyatv apps page
• Typical remote control functions over IP
  • Buttons can be customized in Composer
• User switching & app launching from remotes or C4 apps
• Universal MiniApp support
  • Launch apps on Apple TV programmatically or via MiniApps

Known Issues

• iOS app: inconsistent behavior when trying to start from "Watch"
  • When selecting the device from the "Watch" menu, it will trigger a "Listen" action instead
  • A hot fix has been applied to sidestep this issue, forcing "Watch" after an app is launched or user selected

Preparing the Linux Environment

• Ensure Python3 is installed with pip (virtual environment is recommended)
• Install requirements.txt file
  • pip install -r requirements.txt
• Copy the pyatv-webserver.py to your Linux environment
• Run the Webserver Python script in a screen or background process of your choice:
  • python3 pyatv-webserver.py
• Server is now running on port 8080

Pairing Apple TV

• From Composer
  • Run the Scan Devices action
  • The Latest Status property will state when scan is complete
  • The Device Selector property will populate with available devices
  • Select the desired device, the Protocols property will populate
  • Select Companion or AirPlay (you will need to pair with both protocols)
  • After setting the protocol, the device will display a PIN on screen
  • Enter the PIN in Composer (perform the pairing again with the other protocol)
  • Run the Refresh Connection action to start connection to the server
• From C4 UI
  • Launch Apple TV from Watch or Listen
  • Browse to the Settings tab
  • Press Scan Devices
  • Wait ~5 seconds, a notification should appear prompting to show the device list
    • If nothing appears, press Show Devices
  • Select the desired device, the protocol list should appear
  • Select Companion or AirPlay (you will need to pair with both protocols)
  • Enter the PIN as prompted, then pair the other protocol
  • Press Connect after pairing both protocols

ToDos

• Nothing currently, open to suggestions :)