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In the world of the smart home, integrating different devices to create a seamless experience is a must. One particularly exciting option is connecting Govee TV LED backlights like the DreamView T1 or T2 with Home Assistant to create an automated, immersive and colorful viewing experience. In this blog post, I'll show you how to connect your Govee TV Ambilight to Home Assistant and take your home entertainment system to the next level.
Unlike usual, the light will then switch on automatically when you switch on your TV and then switch off again automatically. This saves you the annoying manual switching on or even the power consumption caused by constantly switching on the LED strips.
What is Govee TV Ambilight?
Govee TV Ambilight is an LED lighting system that is mounted behind your TV. It synchronizes the colors and brightness of the LEDs with what is displayed on your screen, creating a more immersive viewing experience.
The following instructions have been tested with both the Govee DreamView T1 and the Govee DreamView T2. This allows you to retrofit Philips' own system at a reasonable price and without a SyncBox that restricts you.
What is Home Assistant?
Home Assistant is an open source platform for home automation that aims to connect and centrally control all devices in the home. It is designed to provide a unified user interface and simple, flexible control for a variety of smart home devices from different ecosystems. Here are some points in favor of Home Assistant:
- CompatibilityHome Assistant supports thousands of devices and services from various manufacturers, including lighting, air conditioning, heating, cameras, weather sensors, voice assistants and more.
- Local controlUnlike many commercial smart home platforms that rely on cloud services, Home Assistant runs locally on your network. This means increased privacy and reliability, as your smart home devices work even without an active internet connection.
- Automation and scenesOne of the main features of Home Assistant is the ability to create complex automations and scenarios. For example, you can have lights switch on automatically when it gets dark or turn on the heating when the temperature falls below a certain level.
- Simple user interfaceHome Assistant offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to monitor and control devices. This interface is fully customizable.
- Integration with voice assistantsHome Assistant can be integrated with voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to enable voice-controlled control of your smart home devices.
- Open source and community-drivenSince Home Assistant is open source, it is supported by an active community that is constantly developing new integrations and improving existing ones.
- Data protection and securityAs a locally running platform, Home Assistant has the advantage that the data remains within its own network. This protects privacy and increases security compared to cloud-based solutions.
In summary, Home Assistant is a powerful and flexible solution for those who want to design their own smart home and control their devices centrally, regardless of the manufacturer or ecosystem.
Requirements
- Govee TV Ambilight Kit (e.g. DreamView T1 or DreamView T2)
- Home Assistant (already set up)
- Optional:
- TV with HomeKit support -> TV integrated into HomeKit and Home Assistant
- Smart socket with consumption metering (another option would be the TV's active internet traffic)
Installation & integration of Govee in Home Assistant
Step 1: Set up the Govee Ambilight
Install the Govee TV Ambilight according to the manufacturer's instructions. Make sure it is correctly mounted behind your TV and can be controlled via the Govee app. Make sure that your Wi-Fi supports the 2.4 GHz band. You can also perform the calibration directly in the app. After this tutorial, you no longer need the app if you always want to use the lighting as Ambilight adapted to the video.
Step 2: Installing HACS in Home Assistant
Home Assistant Community Store (HACS) is a custom add-on for Home Assistant that provides access to a variety of custom integrations and plugins developed by the community. How to install HACS:
- Check requirements: Make sure that your Home Assistant is ideally up to date.
- Download Execute script: Open a terminal for the Docker container version or the core version.
- Docker: Dial into the container with:
docker exec -it homeassistant bashor (similar) - Core: Switch to the user who is running Home Assistant
- Execute the following command for both variants:
wget -O - https://get.hacs.xyz | bash -
- Docker: Dial into the container with:
- Restarting the Home Assistant: After the files have been copied, restart Home Assistant.
- Integrate HACS into Home Assistant: In the Home Assistant interface, go to "Configuration" > "Integrations" > "Add" and search for HACS. Add it and enter your GitHub token if prompted.
For the supervised version, please refer to the Documentation of HACS itself to read about the installation.
Step 3: Home Assistant integration through HACS
- Add integration: Click on HACS in Home Assistant and search for Govee LAN Control. Do not download the "govee" integration, as it recently had problems working with other integrations. It worked before, but with Govee LAN Control you are on the safe side. This allows Home Assistant to communicate with your Govee Ambilight.
- Restart: Don't forget to restart Home Assistant so that the integration is also loaded.
For more detailed information, you can go directly to the GitHub page from Govee LAN Control.
Step 4: Set up Govee integration
- Open the account page of the Govee Home app on your smartphone (the person icon at the bottom right)
- Click on the "cogwheel" symbol in the top right-hand corner for the settings
- Click on Request API key and fill out the form.
- The API key will be sent to you by e-mail.
It is recommended to wait until the API key is available before configuring the integration, as the HTTP API is used to retrieve the names of the devices from your account. These names affect the entity IDs that are set up for the devices.
You don't need an HTTP API key for this integration if all the devices you want to control are supported by the LAN API, but it's nice to be able to set up your names from the app, so I recommend setting that up anyway.
- Navigate to Integrations in Home Assistant and click on "+ Add integration" at the bottom right
- Search for Govee LAN Control and click on it
- Now enter your API key when prompted
Step 5: Create automations
With Home Assistant, you can create various scenes and automations. For example, you can set the Ambilight to switch on automatically when you turn on your TV or adjust the colors to the current weather. However, we will now go into the case when you have set the mode in the Govee app to video and want to have Ambilight based on the camera images.
We can also implement this in an automation, but for the sake of simplicity I'll give you two separate automations for switching on and off.
- Go to "Configuration" in the sidebar and select "Automations".
- Click on "Add automation" or the "+" symbol to create a new automation.
- Now click on the three dots at the top right and click on "Edit as YAML" to be able to insert the code
- After you have inserted the code, you can click on the three dots again and return to the visual editor, which will now show you errors
- Now exchange the entities with your devices, for example
light.dreamview_t1tolight.tvandmedia_player.lg_webos_tv_0009tomedia_player.samsung_tv - Then all you have to do is save and the automation is ready!
Switch off:
alias: LG C1 - Turn off Govee backlight
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- media_player.lg_webos_tv_0009
to: "off"
condition: []
action:
- service: light.turn_off
data: {}
target:
entity_id: light.dreamview_t1
mode: singleThe system checks and waits for the TV player to set the status to off which is the case when the TV is switched off. The Govee Lightstrip is then also switched off.
Switch on:
alias: LG C1 - Switch on Govee Backlight
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id:
- media_player.lg_webos_tv_0009
from: unavailable
- platform: state
entity_id:
- media_player.lg_webos_tv_0009
attribute: source
to: Live TV
condition: []
action:
- service: light.turn_on
data: {}
target:
entity_id: light.dreamview_t1
mode: singleThe system checks and waits for the TV player to switch from the unavailable which it is in when the TV is switched off, as logically there can no longer be a connection. For the option that the TV is switched off and switched on again immediately and the unavailable status is not even reached, the system checks whether the source on Live TV is set. For example, this could be HDMI1 or something else if you are using a TV box. The Govee Lightstrip is then also switched on.
Additional information for use with a smart socket
If your TV is not HomeKit-capable, you can also use a smart socket with consumption measurement and create an automation based on the standby values that switches off the light strip when it is in standby mode and only switches it back on again when it is in standby mode. It would also work semi-automatically with a smart socket without consumption measurement. However, you would always have to switch on the socket where the TV is plugged in manually via app or voice.
I therefore recommend using a smart socket with consumption measurement for older devices. Another alternative would be if you have an integration for your router, such as a FRITZ! Then you could also track whether the TV has network traffic and switch it on and off accordingly.
YouTube video implementation
Conclusion
The integration of Govee TV Ambilight with Home Assistant offers an exciting way to personalize and enhance your viewing experience. With a little tinkering, you can create an immersive atmosphere that takes your movie nights or gaming sessions to a whole new level. The whole process is now fully automated, so you don't have to worry about a thing!
This blog post only provides a starting point. The possibilities for home automation and lighting design are almost limitless, so feel free to experiment and create your own unique scenarios! If you need help, don't hesitate to contact me.
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