Linkplay devices and group management buttons

[Daybreak9696]

Hi,
I recently switched from the now unsupported HACS Linkplay integration to the official Home Assistant one. I have 3 Arylic devices that I control with the HACS Mini Media Player card. I saw there was another thread on the Linkplay integration moving to core HA, but it didn't seem to address this specific issue.

Before the switch, they were all working fine - I could group and ungroup them with the slider switch that shows up when I clicked the group icon in the top right of the card. I previously had the "platform" configuration set to platform: linkplay (now it is platform: media_player).

After the switch, I updated the entities to the correct new names and changed the group platform. Now when I group one speaker with another, it works, but the group selection area of the card becomes grayed out and unusable. I need to navigate to the other mini media player card that I grouped and select "Leave" instead of simply clicking the slider from the first card.

Thanks in advance for your help!

type: custom:mini-media-player
entity: media_player.kitchen
hide:
  power: true
shortcuts:
  columns: 2
  buttons:
    - icon: mdi:spotify
      name: Alt Now (Stu)
      type: script
      id: script.spotify_cast_kitchen_alt_now_stuart
    - icon: mdi:spotify
      name: Chill Mix (Stu)
      type: script
      id: script.spotify_cast_kitchen_chill_mix_stuart
    - icon: mdi:spotify
      name: Alt Now (Abbi)
      type: script
      id: script.spotify_cast_kitchen_alt_now_abbi
    - icon: mdi:spotify
      name: Elli's Alt (Abbi)
      type: script
      id: script.spotify_cast_kitchen_elli_s_alternative_abbi
artwork: material
speaker_group:
  platform: media_player
  show_group_count: true
  entities:
    - entity_id: media_player.kitchen
      name: Kitchen
    - entity_id: media_player.living_room
      name: Living Room
    - entity_id: media_player.backyard
      name: Backyard
  sync_volume: false
visibility:
  - condition: numeric_state
    entity: input_number.statusword_kitchen_arylic
    above: -1

In this picture, I clicked the slider for Living Room and the grouping was successful, but now the Group Management sliders are grayed out and I'm unable to use them.

[DaveCBr]

I have bounced between the old version, which will no longer receive updates and the included version. It's well documented that many features got left in the dust. The best configuration that I have found is to use Music assistant; let it import the players from HA and then play them out as a MA player via your favourite card. Not perfect, but you can then join zones once more and the metadata works well.

[mk13139]

I have bounced between the old version, which will no longer receive updates and the included version. It's well documented that many features got left in the dust. The best configuration that I have found is to use Music assistant; let it import the players from HA and then play them out as a MA player via your favourite card. Not perfect, but you can then join zones once more and the metadata works well.

Does it sync the players well? Last time I tried it the players were out of sync when grouped.

Btw, I have the same issue as OP with the players greyed out in the card.

[Daybreak9696]

I ended up switching back to the HACS Linkplay integration (I had to manually install it since it's archived now HACS Linkplay). I restored the devices in my yaml config and reverted the Mini Media Player config to use the HACS integration and everything is working as it was before. With this setup, the linking is spot on to my ear.

[DaveCBr]

@mk13139 - It does synch well and you also gain the added benefit of a supported platform. The legacy system via HACS works for now and until some framework changes. I prefer to use supported systems at this point.

[mk13139]

@DaveCBr

I tried it, but unfortunately the group/ungroup feature does not work here either. When two players are grouped, they completely disappear from the player list. This makes it impossible to ungroup the players again and the 4stream app has to be used to ungroup them and make them appear in Music Assistant again.

[DaveCBr]

That is not how it works when using Music Assistant. There is no group/ungroup when using LinkPlay amps.

If you set up your LinkPlay players in HA and and then import them to MA and create Player Groups in MA, the system will work.

You cannot dynamically group and ungroup players in either the HA or MA GUI when using LinkPlay players. You select an MA player (individual zone) or an MA player group (pre defined zone groups) to stream into from either the HA or MA GUI.

I have four LinkPlay Acylic amps and four zones. I have also created 3 playgroups. All works well including metadata.

[mk13139]

@DaveCBr

Well, you can dynamically group and ungroup the players in MA, but apparently it just tries to evoke the LinkPlay (no mediaplayer) join/unjoin commands.

I tried your method by creating a player group in MA, but the players are not in sync (I have mixed wired and wireless LinkPlay devices, latency issue probably).

So I guess I have to wait for someone to fix the LinkPlay integration...

[DaveCBr]

If it is a mixed environment, I would expect the synch issues. I have all hard wired speakers and centralized amps in an AV rack. The Arylic Up2Stream amps are directly connected to a network switch. Also, I should mention that I have two sets of groups established in MA. I have zone groups using DNLA zones and also Linkplay zones. I find that the DNLA zone groups work the best.

[MahrWe]

@mk13139 i have send a pull request that should enable mini-media-player to call the correct actions for the core-integration.
@DaveCBr If you are able to try it, also update HA-Core to at least 2025.05.0

[DaveCBr]

I don’t use MMP any longer but do have a GUI hanging around for it. I will give it a go and let you know. Best Regards, David Bruner

…

On Sat, May 31, 2025 at 3:13 PM MahrWe ***@***.***> wrote: *MahrWe* left a comment (kalkih/mini-media-player#892) <#892 (comment)> @mk13139 <https://github.com/mk13139> i have send a pull request that should enable mini-media-player to call the correct actions for the core-integration. @DaveCBr <https://github.com/DaveCBr> If you are able to try it, also update HA-Core to at least 2025.05.0 — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#892 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ALAAEZVJ4QK3R2ORNSSMLQ33BH5NDAVCNFSM6AAAAABX22N2ASVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDSMRVGYYDIMZTHE> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[DaveCBr]

@mk13139 i have send a pull request that should enable mini-media-player to call the correct actions for the core-integration. @DaveCBr If you are able to try it, also update HA-Core to at least 2025.05.0

OK so with more testing outside of MA and using the MA players in HA, I get the better results than originally posted above. I can join players without issue with the mini-media player card, however can not unjoin players. see the screenshots. This tells me that the unlink issue is with the Linkplay module. Currently to unlink the players, I need to use the 4stream app outside of HA. If I call the unlink action when using DevTools, unlinking works great. So maybe this is truly an issue with the MMP card.