Matter TV Example (Media Player)

The tv-app is a reference Media Player device. By default it runs as a Casting Video Player (device type 0x0023), but it can also be exercised as any of the other three media player device types defined by the Matter Device Library and the Media Player Architecture.

For build, commissioning, casting, and App Platform instructions see linux/README.md.

Media player device types

There are four media player device types. They share the same “media playback” feature set and differ by whether they also do content launching and whether they act as a commissioner (the “casting” role) versus a plain commissionable node (the “basic”/“streaming” role):

The authoritative cluster requirements are in the spec Device Library (device_types/{BasicVideoPlayer,CastingVideoPlayer,StreamingAudioPlayer,CastingAudioPlayer}) and the Media Player Architecture chapter. Endpoint 1 of tv-app.zap already hosts a superset of clusters (On/Off, Media Playback, Keypad Input, Channel, Media Input, Low Power, Target Navigator, Audio Output, Content Launcher, Application Launcher, Content Control, Media File Management, ...), so it satisfies the mandatory cluster set of all four types.

Selecting the device type

The device type is expressed in two independent places:

1. The declared device type — endpoint 1's deviceType in tv-common/tv-app.matter / tv-app.zap, surfaced at runtime through the Descriptor cluster DeviceTypeList. This is what a controller reads to learn what the device is, and what certification checks.
2. The advertised device type — the compile-time CHIP_DEVICE_CONFIG_DEVICE_TYPE in tv-common/include/CHIPProjectAppConfig.h, which feeds only the DNS-SD _T<id> commissioning subtype used for discovery filtering.

Runtime: --device-type (Linux)

The Linux tv-app accepts a flag that presents endpoint 1 as a different media device type at boot, without a rebuild:

./out/debug/chip-tv-app --device-type basic-video
./out/debug/chip-tv-app --device-type casting-audio
./out/debug/chip-tv-app --device-type streaming-audio
./out/debug/chip-tv-app --device-type casting-video   # the default

Accepted values: casting-video (default), basic-video, casting-audio, streaming-audio.

What it changes:

• The Descriptor cluster DeviceTypeList on endpoint 1 (via emberAfSetDeviceTypeList, applied in ApplicationInit). This is what a commissioner reads to learn the device type.
• The DNS-SD _T<id> advertising subtype (via ConfigurationMgr().SetDeviceTypeId, applied during argument parsing so it is in place before the server starts advertising). Commissioners that filter discovery by device-type subtype see the selected type. The override is not persisted across reboots.

Together these are enough to have the device advertise as, declare itself as, and be tested as any of the four types, because endpoint 1 already exposes the superset of clusters described above.

What it does NOT change (by design):

• The commissioner vs. commissionable role. The Linux tv-app is built as a combined server + commissioner (it runs the UDC/CommissionerDiscovery machinery and the controller/app shell commands). Selecting basic-video or streaming-audio declares the commissionable-only type but does not disable the commissioner stack; the app still behaves as a commissioner.
• The cluster set. No clusters are added or removed; the endpoint keeps its superset.

So the runtime flag is intended for exercising controllers, discovery, and the advertised/declared device type against each type — not for producing a byte-faithful build of a shipping product of that type (the cluster set and commissioner role are still those of the compiled Casting Video Player).

Build time: a faithful variant

For a variant that is also faithful in cluster set and role, change the data model (and, optionally, the compile-time default device type) and rebuild:

1. Edit endpoint 1‘s device type and trim the endpoint’s clusters to the target type‘s requirements in tv-common/tv-app.zap (open it with ZAP), then regenerate tv-app.matter and the generated code. Note that the two audio player types (0x0020, 0x0021) are new spec additions and are not yet present in src/app/zap-templates/zcl/data-model/chip/matter-devices.xml, so ZAP’s device-type dropdown will need those device types added there first.
2. For a commissionable-only type (Basic Video Player, Streaming Audio Player), the commissioner-specific behavior would additionally need to be gated off (e.g. CHIP_DEVICE_CONFIG_ENABLE_BOTH_COMMISSIONER_AND_COMMISSIONEE).
3. Optionally set CHIP_DEVICE_CONFIG_DEVICE_TYPE in tv-common/include/CHIPProjectAppConfig.h to the target device type ID, so the build advertises that type by default without needing the --device-type flag.

A cleaner long-term approach would be a build (gn) argument that selects among per-type ZAP/data-model files and the matching compile constant, mirroring how other examples ship multiple variants. That is not implemented today; the runtime flag above is the supported way to switch the advertised/declared type.