Remote Control HDMI switch using PiZero, Infra Red, MQTT and Scratch

Instead of running 2 long HDMI leads to connect bedroom and kitchen TVs to my SkyQ box, I used one to a switch in an intermediate room

But having to manually changeover the switch was like going back to days when I was 5 and my dad used us children as remote controls to change channel on our cable fed 405 line TV 🙂

I’d already used  a pair of PiZero, one with IR receiver  in bedroom and one with IR transmitter in living room, signalling using MQTT,  to let us use old SkyHD remote to control SkyQ box so I thought – why not extend this to remote control the HDMI Switch.

So, I connected a servo to a PiZero

and mounted it on top of the switch and allocated the (unused for SkyQ) Interactive SkyHD remote button

to publish an MQTT msg to the switch PiZero which uses ScratchGPIO to listen out for it and move the servo to operate the switch.

My plan is to have Scratch auto changeover the switch during the night, so that its setup to feed kitchen tv in the morning and auto switch back at 7pm ready for night-time viewing 🙂