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chimera
506 posts

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  #2142910 11-Dec-2018 08:11
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gehenna:

 

So is that voice command going to an Echo device first and then it should open the request on the Fire TV?  Or does the voice command go direct to the Fire TV?

 

If the former do you have to tell Alexa which device to open that thing on?  E.G. "Alexa play The Man in the High Castle on the TV" where TV might be the device name of the Fire TV?  Using Plex as an example, I had to tell my Echo Dot to use the Plex app on my TV as the device that Alexa implements voice commands on.  I had to first tell Alexa which Plex server to use, then the Plex player (being the Apple TV Plex app).  Once done, it now does it by default to that device every time.  I wonder if Fire TV playback is similar?

 

Of course if it was the latter, that paragraph is redundant :)

 

 

You can set defaults for some things, like what your default music player is so you don't need to say, for example, "Alexa, player song XYZ on spotify" - you can just set Spotify as default then say "Alexa, play song XYZ"  I don't think there is capacity for entertainment system though, should you have multiple devices, so you would have to say "Alexa, play XYZ on the Fire TV" as per:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202174250

 

"Note: You may need to clarify that you'd like to stream on a Fire TV device by adding, "on Fire TV" to the end of your request."

 

 




trig42
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  #2142934 11-Dec-2018 08:46
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gehenna:

 

I had a bit of time last night while my wife was out so I finally got around to setting up a few things to work properly across Alexa, Logitech Harmony Hub, and other devices in my home.

 

Currently, with the Harmony in the middle of most scenarios, I can say something like "Alexa turn on the TV" or "Alexa let's play a game" (the temptation to say "Do you want to play a game" was strong...), and this kicks off a few things:  the TV turns on if it's off, or changes to the right HDMI if it's on.  The lights in the lounge go down to 50%, the dining goes to 75% (it's open plan for both).  The hue strip behind the TV for bias lighting goes to 100% crimson.  Pretty sweet really.

 

I managed to get my Fujitsu heat pump to work with Alexa and the Harmony Hub too, although I need to reposition one of the IR blasters to keep it consistent.  Because the heat pump isn't fully supported I had to teach the Harmony Hub some basic commands from the fujitsu remote - things like Cool, Heat, Fan, Temp Up/Down.  So now I can say "Alexa turn on the fan" and that will happen, or "Alexa change the aircon to Heat" etc.  All that without needing to get one of the Sensibo or other things.  

 

I'm quite chuffed with it all, but it's still not in the average consumer's reach.  Setting everything up on the Harmony Hub has its complexities, then getting that integrated with Alexa has it's own complexities, then getting it all to work with the right phrases takes setting up routines on Alexa and Activities on Harmony Hub that all happen concurrently.  But it works, and it's excellent.  

 

 

I have a harmony Hub, and an Echo Plus.

 

I set it up over the weekend, and Alexa for the most part does what she is told (Turn on TV, Turn off TV), but sometimes she just says she doesn't know what to do when I ask her to change channel.

 

eg. Alexa, change to Channel 2, most times OK, sometimes a message about needing video skills in the App. Weird.

 

I have the Harmony Skill.

 

 

 

I am still unsure how to get Alexa to perform a Scene (it imported all the Favourites from the Harmony App - eg. 'Prime' but if I say Alexa, change to Prime I get the same video skills message).

 

 


chimera
506 posts

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  #2142945 11-Dec-2018 08:59
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trig42:

 

gehenna:

 

I had a bit of time last night while my wife was out so I finally got around to setting up a few things to work properly across Alexa, Logitech Harmony Hub, and other devices in my home.

 

Currently, with the Harmony in the middle of most scenarios, I can say something like "Alexa turn on the TV" or "Alexa let's play a game" (the temptation to say "Do you want to play a game" was strong...), and this kicks off a few things:  the TV turns on if it's off, or changes to the right HDMI if it's on.  The lights in the lounge go down to 50%, the dining goes to 75% (it's open plan for both).  The hue strip behind the TV for bias lighting goes to 100% crimson.  Pretty sweet really.

 

I managed to get my Fujitsu heat pump to work with Alexa and the Harmony Hub too, although I need to reposition one of the IR blasters to keep it consistent.  Because the heat pump isn't fully supported I had to teach the Harmony Hub some basic commands from the fujitsu remote - things like Cool, Heat, Fan, Temp Up/Down.  So now I can say "Alexa turn on the fan" and that will happen, or "Alexa change the aircon to Heat" etc.  All that without needing to get one of the Sensibo or other things.  

 

I'm quite chuffed with it all, but it's still not in the average consumer's reach.  Setting everything up on the Harmony Hub has its complexities, then getting that integrated with Alexa has it's own complexities, then getting it all to work with the right phrases takes setting up routines on Alexa and Activities on Harmony Hub that all happen concurrently.  But it works, and it's excellent.  

 

 

I have a harmony Hub, and an Echo Plus.

 

I set it up over the weekend, and Alexa for the most part does what she is told (Turn on TV, Turn off TV), but sometimes she just says she doesn't know what to do when I ask her to change channel.

 

eg. Alexa, change to Channel 2, most times OK, sometimes a message about needing video skills in the App. Weird.

 

I have the Harmony Skill.

 

 

 

I am still unsure how to get Alexa to perform a Scene (it imported all the Favourites from the Harmony App - eg. 'Prime' but if I say Alexa, change to Prime I get the same video skills message).

 

 

 

 

It's all configured within the Harmony app (either their web site, or easier via the Harmony app on your phone).  The Harmony skill in Alexa is used to send the request, which matches to whatever activities you have setup in the Harmony app, eg: "Alexa, turn on Netflix" will run the "Netflix" activity from the Harmony app.  You can add other names to activities too, so if you want them to be named for example "Xbox" but have trouble with Alexa understanding you, then for example in my case, we also use "Gaming console".  In regards to scenes (running multiple things, like TV on, lights off) I used OpenHAB with an Alexa and Harmony binding, so do this slightly different than most (I find scenes in Alexa don't work all the time)  Ensure you ask Alexa to scan for new devices after adding a new scene though.

 

Changing channels should work straight away, does for us.  There is certain time setting (unsure of how long) where Alexa will send the same commands to the Harmony without invoking "on the TV", so if you ask to turn on the TV, then ask say 5 minutes later to change to Channel 2, it should work.  If you turn on the TV however, and an hour later ask to change to channel 2, then you will find you will likely need to add "...on the TV" to the end of that request.  Same with changing the volume.

 

I had issues with my Harmony initially, where turning on the TV it would set the input incorrectly.  I found setting up the delays in the Harmony app for the Activity resolved this, as it was sending the IR commands too quickly (before the TV had time to actually power on)

 

EDIT: Hmm, well that's different than I've seen before - the Scenes on mine ARE the Harmony Activity.  I was sure my scenes were working through OpenHAB but I can see some duplicate scenes that refer to both... WTF...!

 

 




chimera
506 posts

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  #2142952 11-Dec-2018 09:13
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Just deleted all my Scenes and rediscovered them.  Had some older scenes that shouldn't have been there.

 

I use OpenHAB with it's own Harmony binding to control multiple devices still, so I can say "Alexa, turn on movie night" and she will turn on Netflix, turn off all the living area lights, then turn on kitchen lights and dim them to 10%

 

 


Killerkiwi2005
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  #2142963 11-Dec-2018 09:39
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Anybody had any luck getting LG tv's to work with Alexa, it looks like its disabled by default in nz..


chimera
506 posts

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  #2142985 11-Dec-2018 09:58
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Killerkiwi2005:

 

Anybody had any luck getting LG tv's to work with Alexa, it looks like its disabled by default in nz..

 

 

Buy a Harmony hub mate, way easier, way better!

 

 


gehenna
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  #2143071 11-Dec-2018 11:21
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Yep Harmony Hub is how I've got my LG working with Alexa


Killerkiwi2005
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  #2143108 11-Dec-2018 11:56
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gehenna:

 

Yep Harmony Hub is how I've got my LG working with Alexa

 



Can you control a sky box as well as the tv, I have sky hooked up but it was a bit of a pain and dont want to lose that


geekiegeek
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  #2143118 11-Dec-2018 12:18
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Harmony can control pretty much anything.


chimera
506 posts

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  #2143218 11-Dec-2018 12:57
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geekiegeek:

 

Harmony can control pretty much anything.

 

 

It certainly can... except my wife and kids. Even I can't control my wife and kids.

 

 


rb99
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  #2143272 11-Dec-2018 13:21
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chimera:

 

geekiegeek:

 

Harmony can control pretty much anything.

 

 

It certainly can... except my wife and kids. Even I can't control my wife and kids.

 

 

 

 

I think you'll find its the other way round...

 

i.e. they are doing the controlling while letting you THINK you're doing the controlling.





“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

 

rb99


gehenna
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  #2143346 11-Dec-2018 13:58
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chimera:

 

Just deleted all my Scenes and rediscovered them.  Had some older scenes that shouldn't have been there.

 

 

This is a particular nuisance for me.  I have scenes that seem to be orphaned from previous attempts to set things up, so when I discover scenes I get old ones come through that clutter things, or duplicate ones etc.  I really need to go through all the Logi, Hue, and HomeKit settings and make sure there's no duplicates.  Otherwise I'm forever deleting old stuff.


gehenna
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  #2148701 21-Dec-2018 10:16
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Well this sucks.  I just tried to add the Apple Music skill, went all the way through verifying my account etc and then was presented with a message saying the Apple Music skill is not available in my region.  WTF.  This is the definition of pointless.  

 

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MSwitch
40 posts

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  #2149314 22-Dec-2018 15:16
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I want to get a second echo dot for around the house and they're so cheap on Google Express at the moment $24USD (including the current 20% coupon). Comes to about $55 NZD including shipping. 

 

I've already got an echo set up (purchased in NZ). Does anyone know if there would be any region conflict issues if I were to link up an Echo from US with my current one?


nurcopolics
144 posts

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  #2149323 22-Dec-2018 15:33
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No issue with different countries.

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