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 (?), use this tool instead (Android TVs only).

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. API reference
6. Change log
7. TO-DO
8. Acknowledgements
9. Contact details

Prerequisites

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

pip install -r requirements.txt

You may have to use pip3 and python3 instead of pip and python 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
[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        
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 + pair and save the credentials if required):

python 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.

Migrating from older versions

The new version of Pylips is 100% backwards-compatible with the old arguments and commands, so you don't have to change anything to keep using it, but every call will take slightly longer to identify the API version. Follow the instructions for the new users to save your API version in settings.ini, then it will run faster. If you want to override the API version check you can also use the --apiv parameter (manual mode only). Finally, you still need to follow the instructions for the new users to take advantage of MQTT.

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

python 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 remote keys:

5. standby - Sends Standby key

6. mute - Sends Mute key

7. volume_up - Sends VolumeUp key

8. volume_down - Sends VolumeDown key

9. channel_up - Sends ChannelStepUp key

10. channel_down - Sends ChannelStepDown key

11. play - Sends Play key

12. pause - Sends Pause key

13. play_pause - Sends PlayPause key

14. stop - Sends Stop key

15. fast_forward - Sends FastForward key

16. rewind - Sends Rewind key

17. next - Sends Next key

18. previous - Sends Previous key

19. cursor_up - Sends CursorUp key

20. cursor_down - Sends CursorDown key

21. cursor_left - Sends CursorLeft key

22. cursor_right - Sends CursorRight key

23. confirm - Sends Confirm key

24. back - Sends Back key

25. home - Sends Home key

26. options - Sends Options key

27. info - Sends Info key

28. find - Sends Find key

29. adjust - Sends Adjust key

30. watch_tv - Sends WatchTV key

31. viewmode - Sends Viewmode key

32. teletext - Sends Teletext key

33. subtitle - Sends Subtitle key

34. record - Sends Record key

35. online - Sends Online key

36. source - Sends Source key

37. ambilight_onoff - Sends AmbilightOnOff key

38. red - Sends RedColour key

39. green - Sends GreenColour key

40. yellow - Sends YellowColour key

41. blue - Sends BlueColour key

42. dot - Sends Dot key

43. digit_0 - Sends Digit0 key

44. digit_1 - Sends Digit1 key

45. digit_2 - Sends Digit2 key

46. digit_3 - Sends Digit3 key

47. digit_4 - Sends Digit4 key

48. digit_5 - Sends Digit5 key

49. digit_6 - Sends Digit6 key

50. digit_7 - Sends Digit7 key

51. digit_8 - Sends Digit8 key

52. digit_9 - Sends Digit9 key

    TV channels:

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

54. list_channels - Returns channel list

55. list_favorite - Returns favorite list

    Ambilight:

56. ambilight_on - Turns ambilight on

57. ambilight_off - Turns ambilight off

58. ambihue_status - Returns the current status of 'Ambilight + Hue'

59. ambihue_on - Turns 'Ambilight + Hue' on

60. ambihue_off - Turns 'Ambilight + Hue' off

61. ambilight_color - Sets ambilight color. Requires a valid --body argument: {"hue": 360, "saturation": 100, "brightness": 255}

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

63. ambilight_video_immersive - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow video' (Immersive)

64. ambilight_video_standard - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow video' (Standard)

65. ambilight_video_natural - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow video' (Natural)

66. ambilight_video_vivid - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow video' (Vivid)

67. ambilight_video_game - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow video' (Game)

68. ambilight_video_comfort - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow video' (Comfort)

69. ambilight_video_relax - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow video' (Relax)

70. ambilight_audio_adapt_brightness - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Energy Adaptive Brightness)

71. ambilight_audio_adapt_colors - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Energy Adaptive Colors)

72. ambilight_audio_vu_meter - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (VU Meter)

73. ambilight_audio_spectrum - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Spectrum Analyzer)

74. ambilight_audio_knight_rider_1 - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Knight Rider Clockwise)

75. ambilight_audio_knight_rider_2 - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Knight Rider Alternating)

76. ambilight_audio_flash - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Random Pixel Flash)

77. ambilight_audio_strobo - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Stroboscope)

78. ambilight_audio_party - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Party)

79. ambilight_audio_random - Sets Ambilight to 'Follow audio' (Random Mode)

    Other:

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

Examples of using the built-in commands:

Send Stop key:

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

Turn Ambilight on:

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

Launch YouTube:

python 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:

python 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"}'

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):

python 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):

python 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 python 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: 
python pylips.py --command ambilight_brightness --body '{"value":10}'

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


# POST REQUESTS

# Manual mode: 
python 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.

Change log

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/