pylips

Pylips

Pylips is a Python tool to control Philips TVs (2015+) through their reverse-engineered API.

1. Supports both Android and non-Android TVs
2. 80+ built-in commands + support for custom “GET” and “POST” requests to the API
3. All commands work on TVs with API version 6, most of them also work for API version 5
4. Full control of Ambilight including color, brightness, mode and ‘Ambilight + Hue’
5. Allows sending TV status updates and receiving commands over MQTT

The current version of the API does not allow switching input sources anymore. For Android TVs with Google Assistant, Pylips can switch between any input sources that your TV has. For Android TVs without Google Assistant, see some options here.

Table of contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Setting up Pylips
   1. New users
   2. Migrating from older versions
3. Controlling the TV (manual mode)
   1. Built-in commands
   2. Custom commands
4. Controlling the TV (MQTT mode)
5. Switching input sources
6. API reference
7. Change log
8. TO-DO
9. Acknowledgements
10. Contact details

Prerequisites

Provided that you have python (version 3+) on your system, install all the dependencies first:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

You may have to use pip and python instead of pip3 and python3 depending on how these tools are installed on your system.

Setting up Pylips

New users

To begin using Pylips you first need to add the ip adress of your TV to the [TV] section in the settings.ini file. If you want to use MQTT, you will also need to fill in the [MQTT] section and set the required flags in the [DEFAULT] section:

[DEFAULT]
verbose = True          # show various debug output
MQTT_listen = False     # listen for MQTT commands. Requires correct [MQTT] settings
MQTT_update = False     # publish status updates over MQTT. Requires correct [MQTT] settings
num_retries = 3         # number of retries when sending requests. No need to change it unless your network sucks.
update_interval = 3     # interval between updates in seconds (used if MQTT_update = True). Your TV might not appreciate lower values.
[TV]
host =                  # TV's ip address
port =                  # will be discovered automatically, but you can override it here
apiv =                  # will be discovered automatically, but you can override it here
user =                  # will be discovered automatically (if required for your TV model), but you can override it here
pass =                  # will be discovered automatically (if required for your TV model), but you can override it here
protocol =              # will be discovered automatically, but you can override it here
ambihue_node =          # will be discovered automatically, but you can override it here
[MQTT]
host =                  # your MQTT broker's ip address
port =                  # your MQTT broker's port
user =                  # your MQTT username
pass =                  # your MQTT password
TLS = False             # use TLS  
cert_path =             # full path to your custom certificate if you are using one, otherwise leave it blank            
topic_pylips =          # Pylips will listen for commands to this topic
topic_status =          # Pylips will send status updates to this topic

Now turn your TV on and run Pylips without any arguments to complete setting it up (it will discover your TV’s API version, port and protocol, and will also pair and save the credentials if required):

python3 pylips.py

Once it’s done, you are ready to use Pylips!

Security note:

To pair with the Android TVs we need to create a HMAC signature using an 88-character (?) key. As far as I can tell the key is used for pairing only. With that in mind and to make this tool as user-friendly as possible, the key is hardcoded. I see no security issues with this but if you are extremely paranoid you can change it: look for a secret_key in the beginning of the code.

Custom config path:

You can load a custom config by specifying its absolute path with a --config parameter:

python pylips.py --config '/home/eslavnov/repos/Pylips/some_settings.ini'

Controlling the TV (manual mode)

You can take advantage of some of the built-in commands or send your own custom commands.

Built-in commands

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command %command%

Any passed arguments will override the settings in settings.ini without overwriting them. If you have already run the discovery for new users, you don’t have to specify --host, --user and -pass parameters. Also skip the --user and --pass parameters if your TV does not have Android. Add --verbose False to any command if you don’t want to see the feedback in your terminal (useful for command line sensors).

Available built-in commands:

        TV status:

1. powerstate - Returns current power state of the TV (‘On’ or ‘Off’)

2. volume - Returns current volume and mute status

3. current_channel - Returns current channel (if in TV mode)

4. current_app - Returns current app (Android TVs only)

   TV input (only for TVs with Google Assistant):

5. input_hdmi_1 - Switches TV’s input to HDMI 1

6. input_hdmi_2 - Switches TV’s input to HDMI 2

7. input_hdmi_3 - Switches TV’s input to HDMI 3

8. input_hdmi_4 - Switches TV’s input to HDMI 4

   TV remote keys:

9. standby - Sends Standby key

10. mute - Sends Mute key

11. volume_up - Sends VolumeUp key

12. volume_down - Sends VolumeDown key

13. channel_up - Sends ChannelStepUp key

14. channel_down - Sends ChannelStepDown key

15. play - Sends Play key

16. pause - Sends Pause key

17. play_pause - Sends PlayPause key

18. stop - Sends Stop key

19. fast_forward - Sends FastForward key

20. rewind - Sends Rewind key

21. next - Sends Next key

22. previous - Sends Previous key

23. cursor_up - Sends CursorUp key

24. cursor_down - Sends CursorDown key

25. cursor_left - Sends CursorLeft key

26. cursor_right - Sends CursorRight key

27. confirm - Sends Confirm key

28. back - Sends Back key

29. home - Sends Home key

30. options - Sends Options key

31. info - Sends Info key

32. find - Sends Find key

33. adjust - Sends Adjust key

34. watch_tv - Sends WatchTV key

35. viewmode - Sends Viewmode key

36. teletext - Sends Teletext key

37. subtitle - Sends Subtitle key

38. record - Sends Record key

39. online - Sends Online key

40. source - Sends Source key

41. ambilight_onoff - Sends AmbilightOnOff key

42. red - Sends RedColour key

43. green - Sends GreenColour key

44. yellow - Sends YellowColour key

45. blue - Sends BlueColour key

46. dot - Sends Dot key

47. digit_0 - Sends Digit0 key

48. digit_1 - Sends Digit1 key

49. digit_2 - Sends Digit2 key

50. digit_3 - Sends Digit3 key

51. digit_4 - Sends Digit4 key

52. digit_5 - Sends Digit5 key

53. digit_6 - Sends Digit6 key

54. digit_7 - Sends Digit7 key

55. digit_8 - Sends Digit8 key

56. digit_9 - Sends Digit9 key

    TV channels:

57. set_channel - Turns a specified channel on. Requires a valid --body argument, see the API reference to get it.

58. list_channels - Returns channel list

59. list_favorite - Returns favorite list

    Ambilight:

60. ambilight_on - Turns ambilight on

61. ambilight_off - Turns ambilight off

62. ambihue_status - Returns the current status of ‘Ambilight + Hue’

63. ambihue_on - Turns ‘Ambilight + Hue’ on

64. ambihue_off - Turns ‘Ambilight + Hue’ off

65. ambilight_color - Sets ambilight color (in HSB format). Requires a valid --body argument: {"hue": 360, "saturation": 100, "brightness": 255}

66. ambilight_brightness - Sets ambilight brightness. Requires a valid --body argument: {"value": 10}

67. ambilight_video_immersive - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow video’ (Immersive)

68. ambilight_video_standard - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow video’ (Standard)

69. ambilight_video_natural - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow video’ (Natural)

70. ambilight_video_vivid - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow video’ (Vivid)

71. ambilight_video_game - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow video’ (Game)

72. ambilight_video_comfort - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow video’ (Comfort)

73. ambilight_video_relax - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow video’ (Relax)

74. ambilight_color_hot_lava - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow color’ (Hot lava)

75. ambilight_color_warm_white - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow color’ (Warm white)

76. ambilight_color_cool_white - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow color’ (Cool white)

77. ambilight_color_fresh_nature - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow color’ (Fresh nature)

78. ambilight_deep_water - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow color’ (Deep water)

79. ambilight_audio_adapt_brightness - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Energy Adaptive Brightness)

80. ambilight_audio_adapt_colors - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Energy Adaptive Colors)

81. ambilight_audio_vu_meter - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (VU Meter)

82. ambilight_audio_spectrum - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Spectrum Analyzer)

83. ambilight_audio_knight_rider_1 - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Knight Rider Clockwise)

84. ambilight_audio_knight_rider_2 - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Knight Rider Alternating)

85. ambilight_audio_flash - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Random Pixel Flash)

86. ambilight_audio_strobo - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Stroboscope)

87. ambilight_audio_party - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Party)

88. ambilight_audio_random - Sets Ambilight to ‘Follow audio’ (Random Mode)

    Other:

89. launch_app - Launches an app (Android TVs only). Requires a valid --body argument. See the API reference to get a list of installed apps, find your app in this list and use it as a --body argument.

90. power_on - Turns on the TV even if it’s in a deep sleep mode. You might need to run allow_power_on first, although it was not needed for me.

91. allow_power_on - Allows to remotely power on the TV via chromecast requests.

92. google_assistant - Allows to pass requests to Google Assistant if your model supports it. Requires a --body argument containing a query with the command that you want to pass to Google Assistant. See example below.

Examples of using the built-in commands:

Send Stop key:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command stop

Turn Ambilight on:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command ambilight_on

Launch YouTube:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command launch_app --body '{"id":"com.google.android.apps.youtube.tv.activity.ShellActivity-com.google.android.youtube.tv","order":0,"intent":{"action":"Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 pkg=com.google.android.youtube.tv cmp=com.google.android.youtube.tv/com.google.android.apps.youtube.tv.activity.ShellActivity }","component":{"packageName":"com.google.android.youtube.tv","className":"com.google.android.apps.youtube.tv.activity.ShellActivity"}},"label":"YouTube"}'

Launch Netflix:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command launch_app --body '{"label":"Netflix","intent":{"component":{"packageName":"com.netflix.ninja","className":"com.netflix.ninja.MainActivity"},"action":"Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 pkg=com.netflix.ninja cmp=com.netflix.ninja/.MainActivity }"},"order":0,"id":"com.netflix.ninja.MainActivity-com.netflix.ninja","type":"app"}'

Launch Amazon Prime Video:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command launch_app --body '{"id":"com.amazon.amazonvideo.livingroom","order":0,"intent":{"action":"Intent{act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 pkg=com.amazon.amazonvideo.livingroom }","component":{"packageName":"com.amazon.amazonvideo.livingroom","className":"com.amazon.ignition.IgnitionActivity"}},"label":"Prime Video"}'

Launch Kodi:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command launch_app --body '{"id":"org.xbmc.kodi","order":0,"intent":{"action":"Intent{act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10000000 pkg=org.xbmc.kodi }","component":{"packageName":"org.xbmc.kodi","className":"org.xbmc.kodi.Splash"}},"label":"Kodi"}'

Switch input to HDMI 1 using a built-in command (requires Google Assistant):

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command input_hdmi_1

Switch input to any source (for example, SCART) using Google Assistant directly:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command google_assistant --body '{"query":"SCART"}'

Control connected lights in your house using Google Assistant:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command google_assistant --body '{"query":"Turn on lights"}'

Custom commands

The tools exposes two general commands to talk to the TV’s API: get (sends GET request and gets back some data like ambilight mode) and post (sends POST request that posts some data and changes something in the TV - like turning the ambilight off). You can also add custom commands to available_commands.json.

Read the API reference first to understand available endpoints and how to use them. There are some unexpected things like:

• Pairing process returns objects like ‘{“error_id”:“SUCCESS”}’ (why, Philips?!)
• Using strings like ‘On’/‘Off’ for boolean variables (really, Philips?!)
• API returns ‘Nodeid’ for some GET requests, while expecting ‘nodeid’ for POST requests (come on, Philips has to do it all on purpose, right? Right?)

Get method:

To use the get method you need to provide a path to the required endpoint with a --path argument. For example, this will send a get request to the system endpoint (https://yourIP:1926/6/system):

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command get --path system

Post method:

To use the post method you need to provide a path to the required endpoint with a --path argument and the body of your POST request with a --body argument. For example, this will send a post request to the menuitems/settings/current endpoint with a body that will get back the status of ‘Ambilight + Hue’ (notice that the --body argument needs to come inside the quotes for UNIX systems):

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command post --path menuitems/settings/current --body '{"nodes":[{"nodeid":2131230774}]}'

For Windows systems:

python3 pylips.py --host %TV's_ip_address% --user %username% --pass %password% --command post --path menuitems/settings/current --body ^"{^"^"nodes^"^":[{^"^"nodeid^"^":2131230774}]}^"

Controlling the TV (MQTT mode)

Pylips can connect to your MQTT broker to listen for commands and to publish TV status updates.

Edit the settings.ini according to your config and simply run python3 pylips.py without any arguments to run in MQTT mode.

Enabling MQTT_listen in settings.ini will allow you to send commands to a topic specified in topic_pylips by posting a JSON message. This works pretty much the same as sending manual commands: your arguments become keys and their values - values of these keys. You can send any commands (POST, GET and built-in), but you won’t get anything in return since you are just publishing a message over MQTT. Useful for POST commands that change the state of your TV, but for general GET requests you are better off using the manual mode.

See examples:

# Let's say we want to change the brightness of ambilight to max (10):

# BUILT-IN COMMANDS

# Manual mode: 
python3 pylips.py --command ambilight_brightness --body '{"value":10}'

# MQTT mode: 
{"command":"ambilight_brightness", "body":{"value":10}} 


# POST REQUESTS

# Manual mode: 
python3 pylips.py --command post --path 'menuitems/settings/update' --body '{"values":[{"value":{"Nodeid":2131230769,"Controllable":"true", "Available":"true", "string_id":"Brightness", "data":{"value":10}}}]}'

# MQTT mode: 
{"command":"post", "path": "menuitems/settings/update", "body": {"values":[{"value":{"Nodeid":2131230769,"Controllable":"true", "Available":"true","string_id":"Brightness", "data":{"value":10}}}]}}
 

Enabling MQTT_update in settings.ini will publish status updates to topic_status like these:

{"powerstate": "On", "volume": 28, "muted": false, "cur_app": "org.droidtv.settings", "ambilight": {"styleName": "FOLLOW_VIDEO", "isExpert": false, "menuSetting": "IMMERSIVE"}, "ambihue": false}

{"powerstate": "On", "volume": 28, "muted": false, "cur_app": {"app": "TV", "channel": {"channel": {"ccid": 644, "preset": "15", "name": "Comedy Central HD"}, "channelList": {"id": "allcab", "version": "19"}}}, "ambilight": {"styleName": "OFF", "isExpert": false}, "ambihue": false}

API reference

The TV’s API is roughly based on JointSpace with a current version of 6.2. The only available official documentation that I was able to find is for JointSpace version 1, which is incredibly outdated.

Since no official API documentation is available, I’ve decided to collect and document to the best of my knowledge all endpoints that are working in API version 6+ (Philips TVs 2016-2018). Most of them should also work for API version 5 (2015 TVs). This API reference is based on:

• Official JointSpace documentation
• Community endpoints (various endpoints discovered by the community over the years)
• Endpoints discovered by using a man-in-the-middle attack on an iPhone running an official Philips TV remote app (this finally allowed to discover an endpoint responsible for toggling ‘Ambilight + Hue’ mode among other things)

All endpoints in API reference are tested and fully working unless explicitly marked otherwise. Any comments, new endpoints and fixes to the API reference are incredibly welcome.

The API reference.

Switching input sources

The current version of the API does not allow switching input sources anymore. If your TV has Android, you have several options to switch sources:

1. If your TV supports Google Assistant, you can either use built-in commands in Pylips (input_hdmi_x) or use google_assistant. In both cases Pylips will send a local request to the Google Assistant running on the TV, which in turn will handle switching the input.
2. For some models sending keys like F1, F2, etc. allow to switch sources. You can use adb to send these key events to your TV or use this wrapper.
3. Using adb you can also switch the sources directly. See the example below, the last digit in HdmiService%2FHW9 indicates an input source (for me HdmiService%2FHW9 is HDMI 2 and HdmiService%2FHW10 is HDMI 1).

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d content://android.media.tv/passthrough/org.droidtv.hdmiService%2F.HdmiService%2FHW9 -n org.droidtv.zapster/.playtv.activity.PlayTvActivity -f 0x10000000

Change log

1.3.2 - 2021-01-30

Fixed

• Pylips now won’t crash on older models (API version 1; most of the commands will work but not all)

1.3.1 - 2021-01-17

Changed

• API documention moved from the wiki to the repo. Please feel free to send PRs with improvements!

Fixed

• Malformed JSON in MQTT commands is now properly handled
• Improved error handling in API version discovery process

1.3.0 - 2020-12-13

Added

• google_assistant command to send queries to Google Assistant running on the TV. Check updated examples to see how you can use it.
• input_hdmi_1, input_hdmi_2, input_hdmi_3, input_hdmi_4 commands to switch input sources (requires Google Assistant).

Fixed

• Improved handling of Ambilight + Hue feature, hopefully it should now work correctly for all models. Thank you all for the provided feedback and especially @Mr-Groch.
• Verbose option is now properly respected in all modes.

1.2.0 - 2020-02-28

Added

• ambilight_color_hot_lava, ambilight_color_warm_white, ambilight_color_cool_white, ambilight_color_fresh_nature, ambilight_color_deep_water commands

1.1.1 - 2020-02-20

Fixed

• MQTT payload encoded with utf8 is now correctly decoded. Thx @popy2k14!

1.1.0 - 2020-01-12

Added

• Remote power_on command that works even from sleep mode. Should work for all Android TVs, not sure about other models. Thx @neophob!

Fixed

• Paths issue when running outside Pylips folder on Windows systems

Changed

• SSL session is now being reused to help with API stoping to respond
• Pycryptodome instead of the outdated pycrypto dependency

1.0.11 - 2019-11-27

Added

• Custom settings file support

1.0.10 - 2019-10-27

Changed

• Improved response handling in MQTT

1.0.9 - 2019-07-30

Fixed

• Fixed a bug in MQTT loop

1.0.8 - 2019-06-11

Fixed

• Fixed an edge case when a combination of certain parameters broke the tool (MQTT_listen = True + MQTT_update = False)

Added

• Add support for custom certificates (MQTT mode)

1.0.7 - 2019-05-22

Fixed

• Got my hands on some non-android TVs, fixed some small bugs in pairing/sending commands

1.0.6 - 2019-05-12

Fixed

• Fixed ambilight_brightness command (manual mode)

1.0.5 - 2019-05-05

Fixed

• Fixed launch_app command

1.0.4 - 2019-04-29

Fixed

• Fixed a broken check for path and body arguments in MQTT mode

1.0.3 - 2019-04-28

Fixed

• Fixed a bug that broke some POST requests

1.0.2 - 2019-04-27

Changed

• Relative paths => absolute paths so it plays nice with tools like crontab

1.0.1 - 2019-04-25

Changed

• Fixed a bug in pairing (Android TVs)
• Changed power_on to powerstate in TV status, so now we support “Standby” and possibly other modes (MQTT-only)

1.0.0 - 2019-04-21

Changed

• Most of the app was rewritten, but it’s backward-compatible with previous versions.
• Pylips is now a Python class so you can potentially integrate it with your other projects

Added

• Config file so you don’t have to pass the same parameters every time
• Automatic discovery of your TV’s API version, port and protocol
• Automatic pairing for Android TVs
• Support for API version 5 + any newer versions should also work (unless Philips breaks something in the future versions of the API)
• MQTT listener: send commands to Pylips over MQTT
• MQTT updater: Pylips can listen for TV status updates and send them over MQTT
• Extend built-in commands (set ambilight color, set ambilight brightness, get current volume, get current app)
• Move built-in commands to a separate JSON file

0.4 - 2019-01-28

Added

• Expand built-in commands (set/get TV channel and launch apps)
• Add --verbose option

0.3 - 2018-12-31

Added

• Non-Android Philips TVs are now also supported

0.2 - 2018-12-30

Added

• All TV remote key commands are now built-in
• Add change log to README

0.1 - 2018-12-26

Initial release

TO-DO

~1. Finish documenting and testing all available API endpoints (January 2019)~ DONE

~2. Increase number of built-in commands~ DONE

~3. Improve error handling when sending requests~ DONE

~4. User-friendly way of changing Ambilight colors~ DONE

~5. Move settings to a config file~ DONE

~6. MQTT server support~ DONE

~7. Home assistant integration~ CANCELLED: not needed since you can now integrate it with MQTT sensors/switches.

At this point I consider the tool to be completed. No new functionality is planned, but I will fix any reported bugs and add any missing API endpoints/commands. Open an issue with your problem/suggestions.

Acknowledgements

1. TV pairing mechanism as well as the inspiration for this tool come from @suborb’s brilliant repo.
2. This tool was also inspired by @arzzen’s CLI tool.
3. @jomwells did a pretty good job of collecting various ambilight endpoints.
4. Some good info from @marcelrv.

Contact details

Email: [email protected]; LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evgeny-slavnov/