Syncing Music Across Multiple Rooms with Google Home Hub and Nest Mini

General
1

Hey everyone! I thought I’d share my experience setting up a multi-room music system using Google Home Hub and Nest Mini speakers. It’s been a fun project, and I’ve learned a few tricks along the way that might be helpful for others.

The Setup

I have a mix of devices: 2 Google Home Hubs and 3 Nest Minis spread throughout my house. I use Plex for my music library and wanted to cast playlists in shuffle mode to all these speakers simultaneously. Here’s how I got it working:

Step 1: Syncing Playback

I created an automation that casts a playlist from my Plex library to all my speakers at once. The key was ensuring the volume was set equally before playback started. Here’s the service call I used:

yaml
service: media_player.volume_set
metadata: {}
data:
volume_level: 0.2
target:
device_id:
- 64f07714a06102daba07ec465aa96c36
mode: single

This ensures all devices start at the same volume level.

Step 2: Handling Interruptions

One thing I wanted was for the music to pause in one room if the TV turned on, without affecting other rooms. I set up an automation that mutes the Google Home Hub in the living room when the TV is turned on:

yaml
alias: RADIO - turn off living hub if living tv is turned on
description: “”
trigger:

  • platform: device
    device_id: 87ef18832beb69315c9ed35df0138dac
    domain: media_player
    entity_id: 5ab8bcfe4965ab030b5068df34c5027e
    type: turned_on
    condition:
  • condition: device
    device_id: 4eaafaeaab12b4823a26ec9ce0bad92b
    domain: media_player
    entity_id: 97a7e48aa28991518d351a5f199e683b
    type: is_playing
    action:
  • service: media_player.volume_set
    target:
    device_id:
    • 4eaafaeaab12b4823a26ec9ce0bad92b
      data:
      volume_level: 0
      mode: single

This works perfectly without interrupting the music in other rooms!

Challenges and Solutions

One thing I struggled with was ensuring that the media player app didn’t load and interrupt the Plex cast. After some research, I realized that using the volume_set service instead of muting or turning off the device was the key to avoiding interruptions.

Tips for Others

  • Volume Control: Always set the volume before starting playback to ensure all devices are in sync.
  • Automation Logic: Use conditions to ensure your automations only trigger when needed.
  • Testing: Don’t hesitate to test your automations thoroughly. It’s better to catch issues early!

Final Thoughts

Setting up a multi-room music system was a great project, and it’s amazing how smoothly everything works together. I love how I can now enjoy my favorite playlists throughout the house without any hassle. If anyone has questions or tips, I’d love to hear them!

Cheers,
Riz