HEOS as Player Provider

[bollewolle]

This is a feature request to add the HEOS platform as a Player Provider.

The Home Assistant HEOS integration itself is using following library: pyheos (Github & PyPi). Last update is from August 2022 on Github but November 2020 on PyPi.

There's other repo's as well, heospy for example (Github & PyPi). Both are last updated in 2022. Seems like it has a different approach though as it look more like a wrapper to use the CLI commands to control a HEOS device. So perhaps not usable.

In general not too many libraries to be honest (or at least no Python libraries). Hope it's possible to add to MA though, because it's one of the few platforms that also supports HiRes audio up to 24bits 192kHz.

Thanks in advance!

[MrHollowX]

Yes please. Id like to use my Denon AVR to stream music from Music Assistant

[bollewolle]

For those interested, there is now a poll to vote on which player support should be added: https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/1200. Feel free to vote foe Heos :)

[MrHollowX]

Done TY :D

[OzGav]

HEOS is the highest voted player provider in the poll. Now that HA players are exposed to MA there is interest to understand if this is a satisfactory solution or if a dedicated player is still desired.

[OzGav]

Can I somehow control to which receiver zone MA will play?

I have played with this to change to my second zone. Basically, the script turns on the HA player entity, sets the source to AirPlay, waits until everything is playing then turns off the main zone

script:
  play_in_alfresco:
    mode: queued
    alias: "Send Music to Alfresco"
    sequence:
      - action: media_player.turn_on
        target:
          entity_id: media_player.yamaha_receiver_alfresco
      - action: media_player.select_source
        target:
          entity_id: media_player.yamaha_receiver_alfresco
        data:
          source: AirPlay
      - wait_template: "{{ is_state('media_player.yamaha_receiver_alfresco', 'playing') }}"
        timeout: 10
      - repeat:
          sequence:
            # Run command that for some reason doesn't always work
            - action: media_player.turn_off
              target:
                entity_id: media_player.yamaha_receiver_rumpus
            # Give it time to complete
            - delay:
                milliseconds: 500
          until:
            # Did it work?
            - condition: state
              entity_id: media_player.yamaha_receiver_rumpus
              state: "off"

[yoavbrog]

Thanks @OzGav, I was able to get the script to work!
How do you tie this together with MA though? Do you have some automation in place that picks up when you start playing from MA?
Ideally I'd like to just be able to choose from MA directly the zone that I want to play to. Perhaps there's a way to set up some sort of "virtual player" per each zone that would show up in MA?

[OzGav]

No I just have a button in HA. You could also create a custom voice intent.

[yoavbrog]

Voice activation is indeed the plan.
You've got my +1 for adding HEOS as a player provider if it enables proper multi zone support :)
Many thanks for your help here and for maintaining this project!

[quizzical86]

@yoavbrog you need to put that +1 here https://github.com/orgs/music-assistant/discussions/1200 😉

[JDAbbeyiii]

I'd love to see this myself. The Denon Home devices have Heos built in and I have a Heos Amp on my desk I'd love to control through Music Assistant.

[OzGav]

Come and look at what has been done so far here https://discord.com/channels/753947050995089438/1341933555957104640

[kongsted]

Come and look at what has been done so far here https://discord.com/channels/753947050995089438/1341933555957104640

I'm trying to open the Discord link, but getting an empty page? :)

[OzGav]

Sorry those links expire and for that reason I’m not going to keep posting them. Just go to discord and search.There is also a link here https://www.music-assistant.io/support/

[ccoenen]

Discord really is not a great place for an open source community. Linking to a message or a relevant thread worked just fine 30 years ago in the worst PHP forums. Somehow, Discord just forgot that links are useful, I guess.

[bluearcher-bc]

it really is a shame how discord has obfuscated so many highly specialized and niche communities... knowledge that is know unsearchable on the general internet

[zolakt]

What is the best way to integrate a Denon AVR right now? Through the HA speaker provider?

I guess the only alternative is UPnP/DLNA, if it works. Although for me that provider is useless since all my avrs/speakers are on a different subnet from HA/MA. It only relies on auto discovery and doesn't pick up devices from other subnets. Would it al least be possible to add manual ip entries to UPnP/DLNA?

[OzGav]

Sorry we dont support running MA across subnets

[quizzical86]

@zolakt I never got it to work smoothly, so for the moment I'm just using the Spotifyplus integration in Home Assistant which works great with the Denon AVR. I'm monitoring Music Assistant though in case there might ever be a Denon/Heros integration. Fill understanding though that there are other priorities for Music Assistant to focus on.

[OzGav]

There have been a few nibbles at creating a provider but nothing substantial. Most recent comments on Discord were about using AirPlay which worked well.

[smoltron]

I compared HA HEOS and MA DLNA in my Denon x4800h receiver. DLNA sounds much better and I believe the HA HEOS implementation is not optimal for sound quality. The problem with MA DLNA is that it really works only in queue flow mode and in that mode Denon does not receive any information from the stream. In non-flow mode, tracks are skipped and playing is not reliable. A proper HEOS implementation to Music Assistant could make life easier.

[marcelveldt]

Why not just live with the flow mode? I guess having good sound is more important than displaying a title on some tiny display?

[E5tian]

An implementation of the HEOS specification in Music Assistant would be very useful in order to use the multiroom functions. I found the attached Heos CLI specification from Denon, so maybe someone feels like looking into it :)

HEOS_CLI_ProtocolSpecification-Version-1.17.pdf

[dmutsaers]

Another vote for HEOS support. 😉

[NinjArd]

And here's another vote ✓

[megapearl]

Here another vote,

Currently using Home Assistant to set ZONE2 and/or ZONE3 to source 'HEOS Music' first and let Music Assistant grab the playlist from Apple Music/Spotify and cast it to the AirPlay 2 Player of a Denon Amplifier, kind of works, but as soon as I set the source it start playing the last music I streamed before from any service, I can't turn off that 'feature' so must stop the generic HEOS Player first before using the Music Assistant call.

    # ============================================================
    # ACTION: PLAY
    # ============================================================
    - if:
        - condition: template
          value_template: "{{ _resolved_action == 'play' }}"
      then:
        - alias: "Set all zones to HEOS Music"
          service: media_player.select_source
          target:
            entity_id: "{{ _zones }}"
          data:
            source: "HEOS Music"

        - delay:
            seconds: 5

        - if:
            - condition: template
              value_template: "{{ not _ma_playing }}"
          then:
            - service: music_assistant.play_media
              target:
                entity_id: "{{ _ma_target }}"
              data:
                media_id: "{{ _playlist }}"
                enqueue: replace

            - delay:
                seconds: 2

        - service: media_player.volume_set
          target:
            entity_id: "{{ _zones }}"
          data:
            volume_level: "{{ _volume }}"

        - service: script.notify_people
          data:
            people: "user1,user2"
            message: |
              {% if _ma_playing %}
              🔗 <b>Zone Added</b>
              📍 {{ _zone_display }}
              🎵 {{ _playlist_name }}
              🔊 {{ _volume_pct }}%
              👤 {{ _person }}
              {% else %}
              ▶️ <b>Music Started</b>
              📍 {{ _zone_display }}
              🎵 {{ _playlist_name }}
              🔊 {{ _volume_pct }}%
              👤 {{ _person }}
              {% endif %}

        - stop: "Play completed"

[OzGav]

This will be available in 2.8.0 beta 8

[bluearcher-bc]

Today I am receiving the HEOS device I ordered, so this is great news!

[yoavbrog]

Sadly that is not supported by the HEOS API itself. I know the official app supports it, but they either are using another method to handle this, or have not documented how it works using the API. We could try asking support if they have any plans on adding it to the official API in the future.

Hi Tommatheussen,
Aren't they using Groups/Rooms to manage that? Which from what I saw are referenced in their API docs (though I haven't reviewed it thoroughly nor am I a developer..)
In the attached screenshot is my setup with 2 receivers with 2 zones each, so when choosing where to play something, what will be my options?
Thank you!

[Tommatheussen]

Hi @yoavbrog
I suspect under the hood they are using some kind of Room/Grouping system indeed, however, they don't expose that through the local API that is available to us (at least not documented).
I plan on getting in contact with their support to see if maybe newer version have added this (latest available documentation is from 2021, so it's possible), considering the functionality is also available in the app, it must go through somewhere...

[E5tian]

I just tried it, it works perfectly :) Thank you @Tommatheussen

[yoavbrog]

Hi @yoavbrog I suspect under the hood they are using some kind of Room/Grouping system indeed, however, they don't expose that through the local API that is available to us (at least not documented). I plan on getting in contact with their support to see if maybe newer version have added this (latest available documentation is from 2021, so it's possible), considering the functionality is also available in the app, it must go through somewhere...

Got it, that would be amazing if they expose it, highly sought after (at least by me :)
I fiddled with NotebookLM and their API docs, and came up with a potential workaround using the AVR's QuickSelect options which save the receiver's state, and are available through the CLI. So potentially quickselect 1 can be set to Zone 1 on only, quickselect 2 is Zone 2 on only, and quickselect 3 is both zones on. Just a thought...

Anyways, thank you so much much for pushing this!!

P.S. My receivers are Denon AVR-X2800H which don't support a different stream per zone (don't know if other AVRs allow that) but rather once a stream is playing, set which zones are on.

[Ehill05]

I've installed the beta to check this out. Can anyone confirm what the behavior should be? Are HEOS devices still DLNA or are they supposed to have their own dedicated provider? I see no HEOS option and all my devices are still listed as DLNA.

[bollewolle]

Best you check on Discord then in the beta channel. This thread is in fact not a support thread for Heos, it was the feature request to create it as a provider. Support is given on Discord.

PS: note that every post you do here might trigger emails/notifications to anyone that followed this feature request.

[bluearcher-bc]

This thread is in fact not a support thread for Heos

it seems pretty relevant to the PR if the PR isn't working for people, no?

[bollewolle]

Sure, if this was the PR, which it isn't. It's the feature request I raised several years ago.

[Ehill05]

Yeah, that's my bad. I didn't realize I was in the specific product request. Incidentally I figured out my issue, my main MA was still running...

[bollewolle]

There's a specific Heos thread in the beta channel on Discord: https://discord.com/channels/753947050995089438/1465668560452845578.Once the one 2.8 version drops I will close this feature request as it will have been fulfilled.

[OzGav]

The feature request has been implemented successfully. As such this feature request will be closed and locked. If there are enhancements desired then open a new feature request. If there is a question about how this works then check the documentation, or ask a question in the Q&A area or on Discord. If there are problems then ask a question in the Q&A area or on Discord or open an issue. Thanks for your interest in seeing this idea being brought to life.