PanasonicTV plugin (Control over Ethernet)

[Luciver]

Hi everyone,

i have been using my plug-in for quite a while now and thought it would be cool to share it with you!

This plug-in will allow you to control your Panasonic TV over ethernet with EventGhost.

You can:
- emulate remote control buttons
- query basic information from your TV
- set absolute volume levels or mute state

You can get it at: https://github.com/EssKaa/PanasonicTV
Just follow the instructions in the ReadMe.txt

First of all: this is my first python project!
A friend of mine wrote a module for FHEM to control the TV, which inspired me to try to port it to EventGhost, since i was not using FHEM.
My first implementation was using PowerShell, but that was a lot of work to use within EventGhost.
After a while i decided to port it to python, so don't freak out if the code is dirty!

Have fun! If you have any comments please feel free to leave them.

Version history

1.3:

fixed Set Mute on / off actions
added Smart Mute functionality

1.2:
Added direct input keys for:
HDMI1
HDMI2
HDMI3
HDMI4
AV1
AV2

1.1:
Fixed settings dialog

1.0:
Initial release

[Pliind]

This is what i get when trying to connect to my television

Code: Select all

00:21:22   Traceback (most recent call last) (1640):
00:21:22     File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\TaskletDialog.py", line 59, in ProcessingTask
00:21:22       self.Configure(*args, **kwargs)
00:21:22     File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\ConfigDialog.py", line 165, in Configure
00:21:22       treeItem.Configure(*args)
00:21:22     File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\eg\Classes\ActionItem.py", line 101, in Configure
00:21:22       return self.executable.Configure(*args)
00:21:22     File "C:\Program Files (x86)\EventGhost\plugins\PanasonicTV-master\__init__.py", line 111, in Configure
00:21:22       panel.SetResult(textControlIpAddress.GetValue(), textControlPort.GetValue())
00:21:22   NameError: global name 'textControlPort' is not defined

I've only used my IP, don't exactly know the FQDN but in my router it appears as "COM-MID1" but that gave the same error.

I have turned on all functions in the television so i should be set to go.

[Luciver]

Oh, That's my bad. Gonna fix it in the morning.

*** Edit ***
It is fixed now.

[Pliind]

It works! only thing is that i cannot turn the television on. But that's not biggie for me since im using USB-UIRT.

My TV model is: Panasonic Viera TX-P55ST50Y

[Luciver]

There are Panasonic TVs that support turning on the TV via Wake-On-LAN, but those do not shutdown the network interface completely. But you would need to use the Wake-On-LAN function anyway. Due to the fact that i can't test it, i left it out. Even the official smart phone apps can't do it.

My TV can not be turned on over LAN either
I am using a LAN connected power socket to turn the TV on/off. It remembers the last state it was in, if it was on and it looses power it will turn on again after the power is restored.
My IR beam seems to be broken, so i had to figure out something different.

[Luciver]

I updated the plugin to support direct input switching to:
HDMI 1-4
AV 1-2

[Pliind]

Yeah i connected my TV with LAN instead of Wi-Fi hoping that i might have WoL but nope

Is it possible to get feedback from the TV? as an event? I've got a Chromecast connected to my reciever and my Chromecast has randomly woken up my TV in the middle of the night.
My Onkyo's plugin has this possibility and it's quite nice for having other stuff happen automatically based on events sent from the device.

[Luciver]

Yes, it is generally possible to receive events from the TV.

The problem is that those events are pushed after a subscription. I have not had the time to deep dive into UPnP Subscriptions to implement the subscription itself or the event receiver.
It is not completely off the table, but for now i can not give you a time frame when this is gonna happen.

Anyway, there is a simple way to detect if your TV is on.
I use the PING plugin to detect if the TV is on. Once the PING get a reply an event is fired in EventGhost.

[Pliind]

Yes, it is generally possible to receive events from the TV.

The problem is that those events are pushed after a subscription. I have not had the time to deep dive into UPnP Subscriptions to implement the subscription itself or the event receiver.
It is not completely off the table, but for now i can not give you a time frame when this is gonna happen.

Anyway, there is a simple way to detect if your TV is on.
I use the PING plugin to detect if the TV is on. Once the PING get a reply an event is fired in EventGhost.

Oh yeah that's true but i think i managed to get a solution running, if my Onkyo is off and the system recognized a new plugged in device (a.k.a TV) it will just go ahead and send an off singal to the TV to kill it off.

[Phileh]

I dont suppose anyone has written a similar thing for Samsung TV yet have they? If not, then i think its time to start learning!

[Pliind]

I dont suppose anyone has written a similar thing for Samsung TV yet have they? If not, then i think its time to start learning!

Well you do, I even think it's bundled with EG.

[PanteraGSTK]

Great plugin. Works very well with my VT60. The only thing I wish could be added was the ability to launch specific apps (netflix, amazon, etc). Any possibility of this being added in the future?

[Luciver]

@PanteraGSTK:

I am glad that you like the plugin. Sadly it will not natively be able to launch Apps. There is no way to control the integrated App components, not even Panasonic offers that in their smartphone remote apps.

[Luciver]

A new version is avaiable - V 1.3

[wacind]

Thanks Luciver. What is Smart Mute?

Also this works great on my TC-L55ET5