The Situation

In our living room we use a Panasonic TV, a Yamaha Receiver and an AppleTV. In addition there are a Pioneer DVD player and a DUAL record player, but I will concentrate on the TV and receiver here.

To watch TV we have to use the IR remote controllers of the TV and the receiver to switch them on and select the right configuration for watching TV.

To use the AppleTV we have to use those two and in addition the Siri Remote to control the AppleTV.

it’s a little bit easier to listen to the radio, here we only need the IR remote controller of the receiver.

The Challenge

Implement a solution, where we are able to control the system with a single IR remote controller and where the complexity of the system is hidden from the user.

The first Approach to a Solution

This is the prototype of my solution for the challenge:

An IR remote controller built around an ESP32 SoC.

It is an M5 Atom Lite with an M5 Tailbat Battery. In addition I use an external IR emitter, because the internal IR emitter in the M5 Atom Lite is so weak, that it does not work from my sofa.

Now we have the following situation:

• To watch TV we have to do a single click on the button of the M5 Atom Lite. To switch the TV channels we still have to use the IR remote controller of the TV.
• To watch Apple TV we have to do a double click on the button of the M5 Atom Lite. To switch the AppleTV input we still have to use the Siri Remote.
• To listen to the radio we have to do a long press on the button of the M5 Atom Lite. To select the radio station we still have to use the IR remote controller of the receiver.

The next Steps

• Put the ESP32 SoC, the battery and the IR emitter in a box.
• Add several buttons to control the different scenarios. Having different buttons for TV, AppleTV, Radio and Off will simplify the operation and make the system even useable for the grandparents.
• Add + and – buttons to adjust the volume level of the receiver.
• Add Up and Down buttons to switch between the predefined TV channels and radio stations.

Under the Hood

You can find the sources on GitHub at https://github.com/elrebo-de/esp_av_rmt.

Contact me, if you want to discuss or need more info.