GoWatchIt

Building on the INCREDIBLE work by iloveicedgreentea on GoWatchIt, I have updated it for how _my_ Plex server is behaving in January 2026 - I was getting no matches due to a subtle capitalization change in Movie and Episode for type, and the TMDB IDs for shows were not matching literally anything in TMDB - they were completely invalid IDs - so for shows I instead now use the IMDB ID which is correct, to do a TMDB lookup to get a valid series ID from TMDB, which can then be used to query the ezBEQ database. I have tested this against a few different shows with success, and validated movies still work. This works for _my_ usecases, and I hope it works for someone else too while iloveicedgreentea works on his re-write. I do not use Jellyfin or Emby, so the support from those is what comes from stock GoWatchIt, unless I've accidentially broken it. Anyone using those and interested in this is welcome to fork this and apply my logic to those as well.

Focus on watching your content, not babysitting it.
Automate Your Theater

---

Table of Contents

• Features
• Setup
• Usage
• Home Assistant Quickstart
• How BEQ Support Works
• Help

Features

Players Supported:

• Plex
• Jellyfin (no support given, but tested)
• Emby (may work due to jellyfin support, no support given and not tested)

Main features:

• Load/unload BEQ profiles automatically, without user action and the correct codec detected
• Set volume based on media type (Movie, Show, etc)
• Trigger lights when playing, pausing, or stopping automatically (e.g turn off lights on play, turn on when paused)
• HDMI Sync detection and automation (pause while HDMI is syncing so you don't sit embarrassed with a audio playing to a black screen)
• Web based UI for configuration

Other cool stuff:

• Mute/Unmute Minidsp automation for things like turning off subs at night
• Various MQTT sensors for playing status, volume control, lights, mute status, and current BEQ profile
• Mobile notifications to notify for events like loading/unloading BEQ was successful or failed
• Dry run and notification modes to verify BEQ profiles without actually loading them
• Built in support for Home Assistant and Minidsp

Setup

⚠️ ⚠️ Warning: You should really set a compressor on your minidsp for safety as outlined in the BEQ forum post. I am not responsible for any damage ⚠️ ⚠️

Prerequisites

ℹ It is assumed you have the following tools working. Refer to their respective guides for installation help.

• MQTT Broker (Optional)
• Home Assistant (Optional)
• Plex or Jellyfin
• ezBEQ
• Minidsp (other DSPs may work but I have not tested them. If ezBEQ supports it, it should be work)

You can configure this to only load BEQ profiles, or do everything else besides BEQ. It is up to you.

Docker Setup

ℹ If you need help deploying with Docker, refer to the Docker documentation. ℹ If you are using Jellyfin, read the Jellyfin specific instructions below

1. Deploy the latest version ghcr.io/hyacin75/gowatchit:latest to your preferred Docker environment
   • a docker-compose example is provided in the repo
2. You must mount a volume to /data
3. Configure the application via web ui -> http://(your-server-ip):9999
4. Set up your player with the instructions below

Kubernetes Setup

ℹ If you need help deploying with Kubernetes, stop, and seriously consider using Docker instead

Sample deployment with direct NFS storage, service and Istio virtualservice manifests are provided for k8s to save having to create them from scratch if you are using a k8s cluster. If you're using a different ingress method, you presumably already know how to configure it. If you want to use different storage, you presumably already know how to set that up too!

Plex Specifics

1. get your player UUID(s) from https://plex.tv/devices.xml while logged in
2. Set up Plex to send webhooks to your server IP, port 9999, and the handler endpoint of /plexwebhook
   • e.g (your-server-ip):9999/plexwebhook
3. Whitelist your server IP in Plex so it can call the API without authentication. Docs
4. Add UUID(s) and user filters to the application config
5. Play a movie and check server logs. It should say what it loaded and you should see whatever options you enabled work

Plex/TMDB Specifics

1. Create an account with TMDB.
2. To generate an API key for TMDB, create an account on their website, log in, navigate to your account settings, and apply for an API key in the API section. After your application is approved, you will find your API key listed there.

Jellyfin Specifics

You must use the official Jellyfin Webhooks plugin to send webhooks to this application.

1. Create a Generic webhook (NOT GenericForm)
2. Add http://(your-server-ip):9999/jellyfinwebhook as the url
3. Types:

• PlaybackStart
• PlaybackStopped

4. You can optionally add a user filter
5. Item types: Movies, Episodes

note: playbackProgress is not supported because it is way too buggy and unreliable

Configure the webhook in whatever way you want but it must include the following and in this order:

{
  "DeviceId": "{{DeviceId}}",
  "DeviceName": "{{DeviceName}}",
  "ClientName": "{{ClientName}}",
  "UserId": "{{UserId}}",
  "ItemId": "{{ItemId}}",
  "ItemType": "{{ItemType}}",
  "NotificationType": "{{NotificationType}}",
{{#if_equals NotificationType 'PlaybackStop'}}
    "PlayedToCompletion": "{{PlayedToCompletion}}",
{{/if_equals}}
{{#if_equals NotificationType 'PlaybackProgress'}}
    "IsPaused": "{{IsPaused}}",
{{/if_equals}}
  "Year": "{{Year}}"
}

Generate API Key

1. Navigate to the dashboard
2. Click on“API Keys” under “Advanced”
3. Click “Create”
4. Add API Key to the application config

Emby

Emby support is added by coincidence due to Jellyfin support (its the same API codebase). I have not tested it and do not plan to. Configure it the same way as Jellyfin and it might work but I cannot guarantee it.

Non-Docker Setup

I don't recommend this as it is more work and you will need to set up systemd or something to keep it running. I don't provide support for this method but if you know what you are doing, it is very easy to build the binary and run it.

TLDR: make build

Usage

Web UI

The web UI is the primary way to configure this application. It is available at http://(your-server-ip):9999

It will automatically restart the application when you save.

Each section has an enable/disable toggle. If you disable a section, it will not be used. For example, if you disable BEQ, it will not load BEQ profiles. If you disable MQTT, it will not send MQTT messages.

General Usage

This application will load BEQ profiles automatically when you play something in Plex. It will also set volume, lights, and mute/unmute minidsp if you enable those options. The application itself is not controlling things like lights but relies on Home Assistant to perform the action via MQTT. In theory, you could use any home automation system but Home Assistant is the only one officially supported but anything that can receive MQTT messages should work.

Home Assistant Quickstart

MQTT

MQTT is used so this application could theoretically be used with any home automation system. Only Home Assistant is officially supported. You will need to set MQTT up first. Detailed instructions here https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/mqtt/

1. Install mosquito mqtt add on
2. Install mqtt integration
3. Set up your topics in HA and the application's config
4. Set up Automations in HA based on the payloads of MQTT

Features that will write to Topics of your choosing:

• Current BEQ Profile
• Lights
• Minidsp mute status
• Item type (Movie, Show, etc)
• Playing status

These Topics allow you to trigger automations in HA based on sensor values such as:

• Triggering HVAC when playing status is true for X minutes (e.g circulate stale air)
• Toggling lights when playing status changes
• Displaying current BEQ profile on a dashboard
• Modulating volume based on item type (e.g a lower volume for shows, higher for movies)
• Muting/unmuting minidsp(s) and showing the status

Here are some sensor examples

mqtt:
  binary_sensor:
    - name: "subs_muted"
      state_topic: "theater/subs/status"
      payload_on: "false"
      payload_off: "true"
    - name: "plex_playing"
      state_topic: "theater/plex/playing"
      payload_on: "true"
      payload_off: "false"
  sensor:
    - name: "lights"
      state_topic: "theater/lights/front"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.state }}"
    - name: "volume"
      state_topic: "theater/denon/volume"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.type }}"
    - name: "beq_current_profile"
      state_topic: "theater/beq/currentprofile"

Automation Example

Here is an example of an automation to change lights based on MQTT.

Assuming you have the following sensor:

mqtt:
  sensor:
    - name: "lights"
      state_topic: "theater/lights/front"
      value_template: "{{ value_json.state }}"

This will turn the light(s) on/off depending on the state of the sensor, state is changed by a message sent to the topic

alias: MQTT - Theater Lights
description: Trigger lights when mqtt received, depending on state
trigger:
  - platform: mqtt
    topic: theater/lights/front
condition: []
action:
  - if:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: sensor.lights
        state: "on"
    then:
      - service: light.turn_on
        data: {}
        target:
          entity_id: light.caseta_r_wireless_in_wall_dimmer
  - if:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: sensor.lights
        state: "off"
    then:
      - service: light.turn_off
        data: {}
        target:
          entity_id: light.caseta_r_wireless_in_wall_dimmer
mode: queued
max: 10

Handlers

/plexwebhook

/jellyfin

/minidspwebhook This endpoint accepts commands used by minidsp-rs which are performed by EZbeq. Here is how to trigger it with Home Assistant

rest_command:
  minidsp:
    url: "http://192.168.88.56:9999/minidspwebhook"
    method: POST
    payload: '{"command": "{{ command }}" }'
    content_type:  'application/json'
    verify_ssl: false

And then inside an automation, you make an action

  # unmute subs
  - service: rest_command.minidsp
    data:
      command: "off" (or "on")

Using the above you can automate the mute and unmute of your minidsp with any automation source.

One use case is to mute the subs at night. You can use the time integration to trigger this at a certain time or with a button press.

Config

The only supported way to configure this is via the web UI. You can dump the current config via the /config endpoint.

Plex Authentication

You must whitelist your server IP in "List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth"

Why? Plex refuses to implement client to server authentication and you must go through their auth servers. I may eventually implement their auth flow but it is not a priority.

Logs

/logs It will return the current logs as of the last request. It will not stream logs. You can use this to get logs for debugging. Refresh the page to get the latest logs.

Debugging

These are environment variables you can set to get more info

LOG_LEVEL=debug to have it print out debug logs while running

SUPER_DEBUG=true for each line to also have a trace to its call site and line number

How BEQ Support Works

On play and resume, it will load the profile. On pause and stop, it will unload it (so you don't forget to). It has some logic to cache the profile so if you pause and unpause, the profile will get loaded much faster as it skips searching the DB and stuff.

If enabled, it will also send a notification to Home Assistant via Notify so you can send an alert to your phone for example.

For safety, the application tries to unload the profile when it loads up each time in case it crashed or was killed previously, and will unload before playing anything so it doesn't start playing something with the wrong profile.

Matching

The application will search the catalog and match based on codec (Atmos, DTS-X, etc), title, year, TMDB, and edition. I have tested with multiple titles and everything matched as expected. For TV shows it will further search for the specific episode, failing that, season, and failing that just the show ID.

Jellyfin may have some issues matching as I have found it will sometimes just not return a TMDB. This has nothing to do with me. Jellyfin is generally just quite buggy. There is a configuration option that you should probably enable in the Jellyfin section which lets you skip TMDB matching. It will instead use the title name which could be prone to false negatives.

Editions

This application will do its best to match editions. It will look for one of the following:

1. Plex edition metadata. Set this from your server in the Plex UI
2. Looking at the file name if it contains Unrated, Ultimate, Theatrical, Extended, Director, Criterion

There is no other reliable way to get the edition. If an edition is not matched, BEQ will fail to load for safety reasons (different editions have different masterings, etc). If a BEQCatalog entry has a blank edition, then edition will not matter and it will match based on the usual criteria.

If you find repeated match failures because of editions, open a github issue with debug logs of you triggering media.play

HDMI Sync Automation

Coming soon This application supports automatically waiting until HDMI sync is complete.

Have you ever started something in Plex only to hear audio but see a black screen for 10 seconds? Then everyone in your theater makes fun of you and you cry yourself to sleep? This application will prevent that.

It supports four ways to get this info: my JVC integration, my Envy integration, a generic binary_sensor, or you can pass in seconds to wait.

If using the first two methods, you just need to install the integration, then set remoteentityname to the name of the remote entity. Set signal.source to either jvc or envy.

If using a binary_sensor, you need to create an automation which will set the state to off when there is NO SIGNAL and on when there is. Getting that data is up to you. Set the signal config to the name of the binary sensor (e.g signal, if the entity is binary_sensor.signal).

If using seconds, provide the number of seconds to wait as a string such as "13" for 13 seconds. You can time how long your sync time is and add it here. It will pause for that amount of time then continue playing.

You also must set plex.playerMachineIdentifier and plex.playerIP. To get this:

1. Play something on your desired player (like a shield)
2. curl "http://(player IP):32500/resources"
   • Note this is NOT THE SERVER IP! and only works while something is actively playing
3. Copy the machineIdentifier value
4. Add this to that config field exactly as presented

Audio stuff

Here are some examples of what kind of codec tags Plex will have based on file metadata

TrueHD 7.1 Unknown (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Surround 7.1 (TRUEHD) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- TrueHD 7.1 (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Surround 7.1 (English TRUEHD) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- English (TRUEHD 7.1)

Atmos English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- TrueHD Atmos 7.1 Remixed (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- TrueHD Atmos 7.1 (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- TrueHD 7.1. Atmos (English 7.1) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- TrueHD 7.1 Atmos (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio / 7.1+13 objects / 48 kHz / 4691 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio / 7.1+11 objects / 48 kHz / 4309 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio / 7.1 / 48 kHz / 5026 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio / 7.1 / 48 kHz / 4396 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio / 7.1 / 48 kHz / 4353 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio / 7.1 / 48 kHz / 3258 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby TrueHD/Atmos Audio / 7.1 / 48 kHz / 3041 kbps / 16-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby Atmos/TrueHD Audio / 7.1-Atmos / 48 kHz / 5826 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 7.1) --- Dolby Atmos/TrueHD Audio / 7.1-Atmos / 48 kHz / 4535 kbps / 24-bit (English)

TrueHD 5.1 English (TRUEHD 5.1) --- English Dolby TrueHD (5.1) English (TRUEHD 5.1) --- English (TRUEHD 5.1) English (TRUEHD 5.1) --- Dolby TrueHD Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4130 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 5.1) --- Dolby TrueHD Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1522 kbps / 16-bit (English) English (TRUEHD 5.1) --- TrueHD 5.1 (English) English (TRUEHD 5.1) --- Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English)

DTS:X English (DTS-HD MA 7.1) --- DTS:X/DTS-HD Master Audio / 7.1-X / 48 kHz / 4458 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 7.1) --- DTS:X/DTS-HD Master Audio / 7.1-X / 48 kHz / 4255 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 7.1) --- DTS:X 7.1 (English DTS-HD MA)

DTS-HD MA 7.1 English (DTS-HD MA 7.1) --- Surround 7.1 (English DTS-HD MA) English (DTS-HD MA 7.1) --- DTS-HD MA 7.1 (English)

DTS-MA 6.1 中文 (DTS-HD MA 6.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 6.1 / 48 kHz / 4667 kbps / 24-bit (中文)

DTS-HD MA 5.1 中文 (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1 (中文) 中文 (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2360 kbps / 16-bit (中文) Indonesia (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / Indonesian / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3531 kbps / 24-bit (Indonesia) Indonesia (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3576 kbps / 24-bit (Indonesia) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- Surround 5.1 (English DTS-HD MA) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4104 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2688 kbps / 24-bit English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio English 2877 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2877 kbps / 24-bit English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / English / 3336 kbps / 5.1 Channels / 48 kHz / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 Channels / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48kHz / 5128 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4189 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4107 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3900 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3746 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3600 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3596 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3233 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD MA 5.1 (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS-HD MA @ 1509 kbps (English 5.1) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS HD MA 5.1 (English) English (DTS-HD MA 5.1) --- DTS (MA) / 2181 kbps / 48 KHz / 24-Bit / 5.1 (English)

DTS HD HRA 7.1 English (DTS-HD HRA 7.1) --- Surround 7.1 (English DTS-HD HRA)

DTS 5.1 English (DTS 5.1) --- English (DTS 5.1) English (DTS 5.1) --- DTS 5.1 (English)

Unknown (AAC Stereo) --- Unknown (AAC Stereo)

AC3 stereo English (AC3 Stereo) --- English (AC3 Stereo)

AC3 English (AC3 5.1) --- Surround (English AC3 5.1) English (AC3 5.1) --- English (AC3 5.1) English (AC3 5.1) --- AC3 5.1 @ 640 Kbps (English)

Misc English (PCM Mono) --- Mono (English PCM) English (FLAC Stereo) --- Original Dolby Stereo (Laserdisc USA LD68993) (English FLAC) English (FLAC Stereo) --- FLAC Audio / 1266 kbps / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 24-bit (English)

English (FLAC 5.1) --- Main Audio (English FLAC 5.1) English (FLAC 5.1) --- FLAC 5.1 @ 2954 kbps / 24-bit (English) English (FLAC 5.1) --- English (FLAC 5.1)

English (EAC3 Stereo) --- English (EAC3 Stereo) English (EAC3 5.1) --- Main Audio (English EAC3 5.1) English (EAC3 5.1) --- English (EAC3 5.1)

Help

First check your logs to see whats happening via the /logs endpoint.

If you need help or support due to an error or bug, you must file an issue. If you have a general question, you can ask in the Discussions tab or the AVS Forum post (linked as website above)