Activate Harmony Activity from multiple sources (ActionTiles, Alexa, Harmony): Ideas needed

Wiki Projects & Stories
1

I need some help conceptualizing an automation I’d like to add. I’d simply like to add “Play Classic Rock”, but I’d like to have this available on SmartThings, Alexa voice command / Fire TV Cube, Harmony, and ActionTiles.

First - My setup: All of the above (ST, Alexa / FireTV, Harmony and ActionTiles) are part of my current setup. Everything works pretty good. The idea is to have options. I have Harmony activities that can be launched via ST, via Alexa voice, or via a button press on my wall-mounted tablet running ActionTiles. Those Harmony activities control the TV, sound bar, DVD player, and Fire TV Cube. Additionally, many of my ST devices are controlled by Alexa, Harmony, and/or ActionTiles.

With all these options, it’s getting hard to think about how I need to combine them to create a “Listen to Classic Rock” routine/activity/automation that would work on all the different methods. I think that Harmony needs to be the root of all of this since I want Harmony to know when I’ve switched from my “Watch TV” activity to my “Listen to Classic Rock” activity. (Otherwise, Harmony may get out-of-sync with the actual status of my devices). The problem is, I can use a Harmony activity to turn on the TV, FireTV and sound bar… but I can’t tell FireTV, “Play Classic Rock” from a Harmony activity since I can’t use a voice command there. Sure… I can use my “Watch TV” activity and then tell FireTV (with voice) to “Play Classic Rock”… but I’d ultimately like to click one button on my Harmony remote or ST app or ActionTiles panel and have Harmony re-align all my components and somehow start “Listen to Classic Rock”.

I’m not sure how to do this, combining the things that Harmony does well with the things that FireTV (with voice control) does well. Maybe - starting with an Alexa routine, and having that Alexa routine first stop my “Watch TV” Harmony activity, and then run a different Harmony activity to align my AV components, and then play classic rock would work. However, if that was possible, I would want to put my new Alexa activity on my Harmony remote… which may not work since Alexa was already doing something with Harmony (stopping the Watch TV activity). Help! What do you guys think?

2

I have all the devices you list, but I’m not sure what you mean by this specific sentence.

Also, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but fire TV actions were very recently added to Alexa routines, which may give you some additional options.

3

Also, I assume you do know that you can activate an Alexa routine from smartthings without having to speak to it, using a virtual sensor. It’s been somewhat glitchy for the last few months, but it’s worth looking at. (The topic title is a clickable link)

If that method works for you, it solves the actiontiles part of the equation: you just have a tile that turns on the virtual device which triggers either an Alexa routine, a SmartThings automation, or both. :sunglasses:

1 Like