What it is

Smart Home Cinema began as a Windows voice-control system for local movie playback in VLC and PotPlayer. We have now extended the same product family to Jellyfin, bringing voice control to compatible Jellyfin TV clients through a separate package built specifically for that environment.

The original VLC/PotPlayer editions remain fully supported. Smart Home Cinema for Jellyfin is the next chapter of the same project, designed for people who already use Jellyfin Server and watch their libraries through a TV or streaming device.

Three Jellyfin editions

The three editions differ in both how commands are received and how TV targets are controlled:

• Local Voice — receives commands through a microphone connected to the Windows PC and local speech recognition. Up to four TVs or streaming devices can be configured, with one selected target controlled at a time.

• Voice Assistant — receives commands through Alexa or Google Assistant via TRIGGERcmd. Up to four TVs or streaming devices can be configured, with one selected target controlled at a time.

• Multi-Zone — receives commands through Alexa or Google Assistant via TRIGGERcmd and controls up to four independent zones. Each zone has its own Jellyfin user, TV or streaming device, and Movie List playlist, allowing commands to be routed directly to the intended zone.

Deterministic movie selection

Smart Home Cinema uses a numbered Movie List with up to 20 positions. Instead of trying to interpret similar titles, remakes, sequels, or episode names, users can issue direct commands such as “Play Movie Five.”

The system also supports playback control, pause and resume, seeking, next and previous movie, restart, stop, progress display, playlist access, and additional client-dependent navigation and audio commands.

TV platform support

The Jellyfin package has been validated with compatible clients on:

• LG webOS

• Samsung Tizen

• Android TV / Google TV

• Amazon Fire TV / Fire OS

Available commands vary according to the capabilities exposed by each Jellyfin client. Roku is not supported because the Jellyfin Roku client does not expose the control capabilities required by the current Smart Home Cinema architecture. Without those capabilities, SHC cannot reliably execute commands on Roku devices.

How it fits into Jellyfin

Smart Home Cinema does not replace Jellyfin Server, provide movies, or operate as a streaming service. It adds a voice-control and deterministic routing layer to an existing Jellyfin setup.

The Windows PC runs the Smart Home Cinema components, while playback takes place through the user’s Jellyfin client on the selected TV or streaming device.

Privacy and local-first operation

Smart Home Cinema follows a local-first approach. It does not collect usage analytics, playback history, media-library data, microphone audio, recognized speech, or command history.

Licensing communication occurs only when required for trial initialization, license activation, or a license rebind. After activation, Smart Home Cinema does not perform continuous online license checks or periodic background verification.

For the Jellyfin package, commands are exchanged between Smart Home Cinema on the user’s Windows PC, the user’s own Jellyfin Server, and the configured Jellyfin clients. Smart Home Cinema does not host, monitor, or receive that Jellyfin traffic.

Voice Assistant and Multi-Zone editions use Alexa or Google Assistant together with TRIGGERcmd for command input. Those third-party services operate under their own privacy policies and technical conditions.

License and trial

A single Smart Home Cinema license covers both the VLC/PotPlayer and Jellyfin packages on one Windows PC.

The license is a one-time purchase, with no subscription or recurring fees.

A full 14-day free trial is available. No credit card is required to download or use the packages, and the trial provides full functionality throughout the 14-day period.