It wouldn’t need to be that difficult for instance if I have an Apple TV and HomePod in one room a simple pause/turn on tv should be enough.
It’s unliekly I would be asking to turn on a tv in a different room.
Why would that be unlikely? Its the point of AirPlay 2, multiple device playback. I think that limits AirPlay 2 and shifts the focus of the HomePod away from music.
The issue is that its just buggy still (for me anyway).
"Hey Siri play my chill playlist in the basement and living room"
"Hey Siri play my electronic playlist in the master bedroom"
"Hey Siri play my radio station everywhere"
"Hey Siri increase the volume in the living room"
"Hey Siri decrease the volume in the office and guest bedroom"
"Hey Siri pause the music in the office" (not the guest bedroom)
These all should work however if I include the HomePod on any command it wont play anywhere else except the HomePod which is frustrating. So if I say... "Hey Siri play STS9 in the basement, guest bedroom and living room" it plays the artist STS9 on all of them, all in sync. However if I say "Play STS9 everywhere" which includes the HomePod obviously it just plays at the HomePod even though it confirms the command of playing "Playing STS9 everywhere".
Work around is to start music on the HomePod "Hey Siri play STS9" and then say "Hey Siri play this in the basement, guest bedroom and living room". This will also cause "Hey Siri pause" to pause all devices, you'll need to be specific if you just want to stop the music in a particular room/area.
And once other devices get AirPlay 2 functionality we'll be using commands like, "Hey Siri play my relax playlist on Sonos in the basement" (avoiding the AppleTV in the same room or the Sonos devices in the living room).
Another issue is trying to play different songs in different parts of the house via the HomePod. So if I walk by the HomePod and say "Hey Siri play my electronic station in the basement" and later my g/f walks by and says "Hey Siri play (whatever) in the master bedroom" it will stop the basement music entirely and play her request in the master bedroom.
Point is, there is a very high probability that someone will want to control a specific device that isn't the device nearest my HomePod. This is no different than other devices in the Home app. I can't expect Siri to guess I'm talking about the office lights if I say "Hey Siri turn on the lights".