DirectorLink · Android TV Notifications 1.0.0-beta.2

DirectorLink · Android TV Notifications 1.0.0-beta.2

Beta. The driver now works with one TV app, PiPup — TV Notifications by Alexander Savin (free on Google Play), set up as PiPup's own documentation describes it, and sends the picture inside the pop-up. Tested on a Sony XR-77A95L (Google TV) with PiPup 0.3.4.

Free, open-source Control4 driver for TVs with Google TV or Android TV. Part of DirectorLink Drivers. Free. No subscription, no license key, no account with us. Works on its own: DirectorLink is not required.

DirectorLink is an independent project, not affiliated with Control4 or Snap One. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Google, Amazon or the makers of the TV apps it works with. Android TV, Google TV and Fire TV are trademarks of their owners.

File

Driver in Composer	File
DirectorLink · Android TV Notifications	DirectorLink-Android-TV.c4z

Check the download against SHA256SUMS.txt. Keep the file name exactly as it is: a browser's (1).c4z copy installs as a separate driver.

Why beta.1 showed nothing

Beta.1 spoke to two other TV apps: "Notifications for Android TV" (its default, port 7676) and a different fork of PiPup. On a TV with Alexander Savin's PiPup nothing answered on port 7676, so the test notification failed. Beta.2 speaks to that PiPup only, the way it documents: /status before each pop-up, then /notify.

Tested on

A Sony XR-77A95L (Google TV) with PiPup 0.3.4, from a computer on the TV's network running the driver's own code: Test Notification, a DirectorLink doorbell notification in Hebrew, Show Notification, a picture carried inline and a picture by address, all shown. Not yet confirmed from a Control4 controller.

What changed

• One app: PiPup — TV Notifications (Google Play: nyc.savin.pipup). The TV App property is gone. Other apps called PiPup take other requests and do not work with the driver.
• PiPup's API as it documents it: GET /status before each pop-up (a screen that is off gets nothing), POST /notify with JSON, GET /ping for Find TVs.
• New properties: PiPup Port (7979) and PiPup Token (only when a token is set in PiPup; sent as Authorization: Bearer, never logged). Status says when PiPup wants a token, or when its IP allowlist leaves the controller out.
• The picture inside the pop-up: the driver fetches the notification's picture itself (on the controller, so 127.0.0.1 works, and a login in a camera's address is sent as a login) and sends it inline. The TV never has to reach the picture's address. A picture not fetched within 2 seconds, or larger than 1.5 MB, goes as its address.
• Find TVs marks the TVs where PiPup answers.
• No more binary data in requests: the icon the other app needed is gone.

Installing

1. On the TV, install PiPup — TV Notifications from Google Play, open it once, select Grant display permission, and press its test button.
2. Upload the driver with Driver → Add or Update Driver or Agent.
3. Search DirectorLink, add DirectorLink · Android TV Notifications to the TV's room, and pick the TV in TVs Found (marked PiPup answers) or type its IP address.
4. Run Test Notification.

Requirements: Control4 OS 3.3.0 or newer, Composer Pro, a TV with Google TV or Android TV (Android 7 or newer). Full steps and the list of TVs: the README.

Updating

• From 1.0.0-beta.1: Driver → Add or Update Driver or Agent with this file, then install PiPup on the TV (above). The TV App property is gone; the other settings and the programming stay.

Known issues

• Not yet confirmed from a Control4 controller (the reason it is still a beta).
• Find TVs, from a Control4 driver, is not yet confirmed on a real controller: type the IP address when it finds nothing (PiPup's screen shows it).
• Fire TV has no Google Play: PiPup's APK can be installed by hand there, not tested.

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DirectorLink is an independent project, not affiliated with Control4 or Snap One. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Google, Amazon or the makers of the TV apps it works with. Android TV, Google TV and Fire TV are trademarks of their owners.