homebridge-hisense-tv-remotenow v2.0.0

Homebridge-Hisense-TV

This is a plugin for Homebridge that allows you to control your RemoteNow-enabled HiSense TVs, using a custom version of the hisensetv tool. With this plugin, you can:

• See the status of the TV (on/off, current input).
• Turn on and off.
• List inputs (using the display name set on the TV) and switch between them.
• Control the TV volume.
• Remote control using the native iOS remote.

Requirements

• NodeJS 10 or later.
• Homebridge 1.3.0 or later.
• Python 3.8 with paho-mqtt and netifaces.
• A HiSense TV that supports the RemoteNow app (App Store or Play Store).
• Starting with version 2.0.0, macOS is also supported as host.

Compatibility

In theory, any RemoteNOW enabled TV should work with this plugin. However, some TVs have different behaviors, different SSL configurations and may not work completely or may require additional steps.

This plugin has been developed and tested running Homebridge on Ubuntu Linux 20.04 and macOS Monterey with a HiSense 50AE7010F. If your configuration differs, the steps below may not be a 100% accurate: even if the general idea is the same (pair the TV, add it to Home, use it), your mileage may vary.

If you find anything that is not correct, please open an issue (or even better: a PR changing this file) explaining what you're doing differently to make this plugin work with different TV models and/or on different operating systems.

Installation

Search for the plugin in Homebridge:

homebridge-hisense-tv-remotenow

You also need some additional dependencies, if you haven't installed them already. Follow the instructions below for your operating system and then proceed to "Setting up the TV".

Linux (including Hoobs)

# for Linux distros with APT
apt install python3-paho-mqtt python3-netifaces

# for any Linux distro, including Hoobs:
sudo su - homebridge
pip3 install netifaces
pip3 install paho-mqtt

This step is required if you're using Hoobs. Please note that additional issues may arise when running on Hoobs, as I unfortunately don't have access to one and cannot test on it. I am happy to provide help and support in fixing those issues: just open an issue on this repo and we'll try to figure it out together.

macOS

pip3 install netifaces
pip3 install paho-mqtt

Setting up the TV

First, you need to get the name of the network interface that your Homebridge machine will use to connect to the TV. To get the list of all the network interfaces on your machine, follow the instructions below for the operating system where you're running Homebridge. Once you have the network interface name, go to "Continue the Setup".

Generic Linux

ip a

The name of a network interface usually looks similar to this: ens33.

macOS

networksetup -listallhardwareports

The name of a network interface usually looks similar to this: en0.

Continue the Setup

For this plugin to work correctly, you need to configure your TV to use a static DHCP (or configure a static reservation on your router). You also need to find your TV's MAC Address: this is usually displayed under Settings > Network Information, but it might vary based on your model.

To connect to your TV, you need to pair the machine where you're running Homebridge with your TV. This is done in the command line, by manually running the bundled hisensetv.py script. To do this, find the node_modules folder in your system (on Linux, it is located in /usr/local/lib/node_modules) and move to homebridge-hisense-tv/bin, then run:

python3.8 hisensetv.py <TV_IP_ADDRESS> --authorize --ifname <NETWORK_INTERFACE_NAME>

Your TV, if compatible, will display a PIN code: insert it in the command line and confirm. Your device is now paired with your TV and they can communicate when the TV is on. Repeat this step for all the TVs you want to use via HomeKit.

If the command times-out after a while, make sure your TV is connected to the network and turned on. You can try to telnet <TV_IP_ADDRESS> 36669 to make sure your Homebridge instance can reach your TV. If telnet works but this command doesn't, try to run a different command, such as --get state (just replace authorize with this in the command above): if this command succeeds, it means your TV and your machine are already paired.

Configure the plugin

You can use the Homebridge UI to make changes to the plugin configuration. You must set the "Network interface name" to the name you found out previously and then configure your TVs. Then, just add all the TVs you have authorized earlier:

• as ID, you can input your TV's S/N or your own identifier, as long as it's unique in your Home. You can also leave the default value, if you have just one TV. Whatever you input, will be displayed as the accessory "Serial Number" in Home.
• as name, input the display name that the Home app will suggest when adding this TV to your Home.
• as IP address, input the IP that you have assigned to your TV.
• as MAC Address, input the MAC Address of your TV (if your TV is connected both via WiFi and Ethernet, make sure to configure the interface that your TV is using).

Repeat the configuration for each TV you want to use, then restart Homebridge.

SSL mode

Since version 1.1.0, this plugin also supports connecting to HiSense TVs that require different SSL modes than the default one. For example, some models have an unrecognized certificate and some other models need a specific encryption to be used.

To change how the plugin connects to your TV, use the sslmode config key. See below in the config example for more info.

If your TV needs a specific encryption key and certificate, you can find the most common ones here. Choose the appropriate one and download it onto the machine that executes Homebridge.

Config example

{
  "platform": "HiSenseTV",
  "ifname": "ens33",
  "devices": [
    {
      "id": "A unique identifier (such as your TV S/N)",
      "name": "A name to display in the Home app",
      "ipaddress": "Your TV IP address",
      "macaddress": "Your TV MAC Address",
      "sslmode": "default (most common)|disabled (no SSL)|custom (use cert and key below)",
      "sslcertificate": "/absolute/path/to/the/ssl/certificate.cer",
      "sslprivatekey": "/absolute/path/to/the/ssl/privateKey.pkcs8"
    }
  ]
}

Add the TV to Home

Once Homebridge is ready, look for a log line in the Homebridge log that looks like this one:

Please add [HiSense <SOME NUMBERS>] manually in Home app. Setup Code: XXX-XX-XXX.

Take a note of the Setup Code and open your Home app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Make sure you are connected to the same network as Homebridge and that your TV is turned on, then follow these steps:

• Tap the "+" button in the Home app and choose "Add Accessory".
• Tap "I Don't Have a Code or Cannot Scan".
• Your device should automatically detect the TV and show it. If it doesn't, make sure your network is up. You can also try and go ahead anyway by tapping "My Accessory Isn't Shown Here".
• Input the "Setup Code" you found in the Homebridge logs.

Done! As always, you can repeat the steps above if you have multiple TVs to add. Please note that each TV will have a different Setup Code logged in Homebridge.

Status

This plugin is under active development, but most of the features are ready to be used. There might edge cases that are not supported or not handled correctly, please see below.

Known issues

• The input list might not be fetched correctly if the TV is turned off while adding the accessory or after restarting Homebridge. To fix this, force close your Home app and open it again.
• Switching input to "TV" might not work properly. Home will not display any error, but the next TV state refresh will bring the input back to the previous one (which is also the one displayed on the TV).
• Making changes to the TV state (turning on/off, changing input) while the Home app is opened will not trigger a live update. This is theoretically supported by the plugin, but it seems to not work properly.. Just switching to another app and then going back to Home will trigger a refresh.
• Some newer TV models are always reported as turned on: this happens because they still respond to requests, even if they're "off". As I don't have a such a model to test, I am unfortunately unable to provide a fix: if you have some experience with Python, TypeScript and have some free time, take a look at this issue.

Contributions

All contributions to expand the library are welcome. Fork the repo, make the changes you want, and open a Pull Request.

If you make changes to the codebase, I am not enforcing a coding style, but I may ask you to make changes based on how the rest of the library is made.

Credits

This plugin makes use of a modified version of the hisensetv Python script, originally written by Alex and distributed as open-source software here.

The code structure and style is heavily inspired by the homebridge-smartglass plugin, written by UnknownSKL.

SSL Support has been implemented with a lot of help from chinedu40 and ryanshand.

License

This plugin is distributed under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.