I have a pretty basic implemenation of home automation.
Alexa rules the roost - I’m not getting multiple smart speakers. I have a gen 1 Echo, an Echo Show, and 3 echo dots around the house. I have lots of smart plugs and smart light switches, all this I can tune and configure just to my liking.
But my damn Apple TV which runs through a 7 year old Panasonic Viera TV is just giving me a fit. I want to set up an Alexa Routine that turns off the lights and TV when I’m going to bed. Simple enough.
So I have an old Harmony hub that is currently in storage, but I think I’m gong to hook this thing back up since I can’t find a solution that runs natively in Alexa. The Harmoney hub has an IR blaster that basically runs little macros that can be programmed using the Harmony app. The Harmony app does integrate with Alexa.
So the process is My voice --> Alexa —> Harmony Hub —(IR)—> Apple TV and Panasonic Viera TV.
Is there a way to accomplish the above in Alexa without this backdoor approach?
You don’t need to actually turn “off” the Apple TV(ATV), just the Panasonic Viera. Doubly so if the ATV-Viera connection is over an ARC HDMI link.