Whole House Audio Cast Control

===========================

This script will automatically turn on IFTTT and infrared remote controlled devices, such as audio amplifiers or televisions, whenever content is streamed to a Google Cast-enabled device, such as Google's Chromecast Audio devices. The purpose of this script is to automate the process of turning on audio for a whole house audio system without needing to leave amplifiers turned on all the time, wasting electricity and unnecessarily wearing down your equipment, while making the system as convenient as possible.

Requirements

---

whacast is developed for Linux installations, but it should run on most network-connected devices running Python 3.6+, including the Raspberry Pi. whacast uses PyChromecast to track the status of your Cast devices, and turns equipment on or off depending on whether content is currently being streamed. A Python virtual environment (venv) is recommended.

Installation

---

Docker (recommended)

whacast can now be run in a Dockerized environment, but due to the network requirements of ZeroConf, it can only be run in Linux Docker environments.

Build

Build your Docker image with the following command:

$ docker build -t stealthdave/whacast:latest .

Create settings

Copy settings.example.json to settings.json and update according to your devices.

Run

Run whacast with the following command:

$ docker run --network=host --name stealthdave/whacast:latest --rm --restart unless-stopped

Virtual Environment

You can still run whacast without Docker using a Virtual Environment. Create your virtual environment with the following command:

$ ./install.sh

This creates a Python virtual environment named castenv. You can now start whacast with the following command:

$ cd src && ../castenv/bin/python -m whacast settings.json

If you wish to create a startup service for systemd, you can use the included whacast.service file as a template.

Settings

Configuration of whacast is done through a json formatted settings file that is passed as an argument at the time of execution. (See the example above in Installation.) The settings file consists of (3) sections:

• global - Settings for timing and logging
• chromecasts - Chromecast devices to watch and how to turn on/off devices attached to them
• control_services - Shared settings for external services, currently IFTTT and lirc

GLOBAL

These settings determine wait times for the various functions involved in tracking the status of various Chromecast devices.

"global": {
  "log_file": "/var/log/whacast.log"  // location of the log file
  "control_services": {               // see the CONTROL SERVICES section below
    ...
  }
}

CONTROL SERVICES

Common data needed for control services IFTTT and LIRC that are not specific to the Chromecast devices. These commands

"control_services": {
  "ifttt": {
    "key": "__super_secret_ifttt_key_goes_here__"
  },
  "lirc": {
    "cmd": "/usr/bin/irsend"    // send IR commands to LIRC device; requires
                                // hardware setup
  }
}

CHROMECASTS

The list of Cast-enabled devices that you wish to monitor identified by their "friendly names". e.g., the text name that you set that shows up in the Cast button in your apps. See the sample settings.json file for examples of an lirc and ifttt device.