Video tutorial - getting started with Kaleidescape & Home Assistant

[thrillcat]

Hey everyone....thanks to @Mr. Big for volunteering, I was finally able to put together this easy step-by-step video to help you with the basics of automating your smart home devices with your Kaleidescape and Home Assistant!

***please note this video requires a membership to my channel at any level for access.

Automate your Home Theater with Home Assistant

 

[gerald.d]

Oh wow - really looking forward to watching this!

/edit

OK so this was so useful - finally I got to understand how everything fits together. Thank you so much!

Just a couple of things. I'm not sure if it's due to a recent update (I'm running the latest version of HA), but for me in Automations the Activate Scene bit was different.

I wasn't able to simply select the scene after adding the action "Activate Scene" in the "Then do" section of the automation (19'00" into the video). Instead, I was presented with this:



Had me stumped for a while, but Googling I discovered that you have to hit the "Choose Entity" button, and then you get a dropdown to select your desired scene -



The other (very welcome) difference that you may notice from the above screenshots is that the Transition option was in there by default - no need to go to edit the YAML to get it to appear!

 

[giri]

Thanks Travis. Nice video. I see that for each Lumagen command, you created a script. I guess it is needed when I get the unfolded circle 3 remote as the Lumagen remote is not supported from unfolded circle 3.

I did learn now, scenes are useful to define once and use in scripts/automations. It is a nice background for the dashboard. Are you using themes? Need to figure this out.

 

[thrillcat]

Thanks Travis. Nice video. I see that for each Lumagen command, you created a script. I guess it is needed when I get the unfolded circle 3 remote as the Lumagen remote is not supported from unfolded circle 3.

I did learn now, scenes are useful to define once and use in scripts/automations. It is a nice background for the dashboard. Are you using themes? Need to figure this out.

Yes, the scripts for Lumagen are required to get those desired commands into the Unfolded Circle Remote, though there may be a shortcut coming, since the Remote 3 and Dock 3 will directly support RS232, it's possible it could control your Lumagen directly vs having to use a serial to IP adapter and Home Assistant. That will be a wait and see, but creating the scripts was pretty simple and has been rock solid.

The background is a theme, yes, using this repository.

 

[giri]

Yes, the scripts for Lumagen are required to get those desired commands into the Unfolded Circle Remote, though there may be a shortcut coming, since the Remote 3 and Dock 3 will directly support RS232, it's possible it could control your Lumagen directly vs having to use a serial to IP adapter and Home Assistant. That will be a wait and see, but creating the scripts was pretty simple and has been rock solid.

The background is a theme, yes, using this repository.

Thanks. I will check the theme. Glad to know that Remote 3 might support RS232. But, I really liked Lumagen control through HA. I am not sure if both (RS 232 and serial to IP) could simultaneously work.

 

[thrillcat]

Thanks. I will check the theme. Glad to know that Remote 3 might support RS232. But, I really liked Lumagen control through HA. I am not sure if both (RS 232 and serial to IP) could simultaneously work.

I believe they should be able to work simultaneously, as long as your programming doesn't end up duplicating commands.

 

[Mr. Big]

A big thank you to @thrillcat for hosting this training session - I now have a basic understanding of hew HA works and it's really quite simple (as long as you stay away from YAML) once you grasp its basic concept. From here I think I can figure out how to add more automations as I add more components to my system.

 

[Mr. Big]

And I'd like to add that my response time in that video was actually a lot faster than what's shown - there must've been a lag in the screen share. My reflexes are actually quite good.

 

[thrillcat]

And I'd like to add that my response time in that video was actually a lot faster than what's shown - there must've been a lag in the screen share. My reflexes are actually quite good.

My AOL was acting up that day. I think I was almost out of hours and needed to track down another floppy.

 

[cwalter]

My AOL was acting up that day. I think I was almost out of hours and needed to track down another floppy.

Unfortunately I’m actually old enough to understand that reference…and I still have an AOL email account.

 

[Mr. Big]

Hey Travis, what happened to the video? I have a friend who wants to get started and that video would be the perfect tutorial. Any way to repost it? Thanks!

 

[thrillcat]

It’s still there on my channel but it’s set to members only at this point. It can be accessed by joining my channel at any level.

 

[Mr. Big]

It’s still there on my channel but it’s set to members only at this point. It can be accessed by joining my channel at any level.

I actually need to refer to it myself because I’ve forgotten some of the steps. Not familiar either your channel can you send me a link?

 

[thrillcat]

I actually need to refer to it myself because I’ve forgotten some of the steps. Not familiar either your channel can you send me a link?

I updated the first post in this thread with the updated video link.