Amazon Echo

[johnxjsc1985]

bristolracer said:

Is it just me.
How come it doesn't react to its name when the amazon advert is on the TV?

Spooky

mine does and that is spooky.

[funinhounslow]

Baron Greenback said:

Struggling to think what I want to chimbo, this is ticking boxes but what functionality would you get without amazon prime account? Shame it doesnt have a microsd card or some sort of storage for music as hate standard alarm clock noise or random radio music! Reading couple threads up linking it with a Rasberry pie!! Thats tonight googling wondering what extra stuff you can do with it! :P

Is the dot speaker good enough for alarm clock to wake up by, was wondering dot upstairs and speaker version downstairs!

I think you need some music streaming service to get the most out of it.

It work very well with a Spotify premium account. In fact I would say they are made for each other - it is far more satisfying accessing Spotify through the Echo than my mobile or laptop. You wouldn't think so but it makes a huge difference just calling out the music you want rather than fiddling with an app.

Another option would be Amazon music for Echo for £4/month. More music than Amazon prime, but it's tied in to one Echo device only...

[Baron Greenback]

Ta all

[matrignano]

I'm having a hard time connecting my dot to my Samsung Soundbar H750 via Bluetooth. I'd like to control Spotify with Alexa and stream the music via the soundbar.
Has anyone managed to do this?

Also can I tell Alexa to do stuff with my Samsung Smart TV, like open Netflix and play Narcos episode 1 or something of the kind?

[MrOrange]

matrignano said:

Also can I tell Alexa to do stuff with my Samsung Smart TV, like open Netflix and play Narcos episode 1 or something of the kind?

^^^ this is what I'm waiting for. Proper voice control of the TV, Netflix etc...

I've had the Echo(es) for a month or two and they have had the biggest tech impact in my house since WiFi turned up nearly 20 years ago. And I expect we're just at the start of this revolution.

[prand]

Started to set up my google calendar. Seemed to get confused setting dates and times for items, voice recognition was a bit flaky, but it syncs quite well once you get things listed. Not quicker than writing it down though!

Then I enabled "national rail enquiries" and then it all started to go wrong for Alexa. The National Rail voice recognition interface must be awful, as I could not get it to recognise my home town to start my usual train commute. Came up with unrelated places like "Durham", "Hebden Bridge", "Totnes", and wouldn't even recognise a simple yes or no. 0 stars for that one then.

It's interesting to see how this all works, judging by the different quality of the core amazon skillz and the third party apps, which in some cases don't work as well. Its a bit annoying too having to remember the name of the skill you need to activate it. Hopefully this won't be an issue in the future when you could ask for "how are the trains today" instead of "check "national rail" for instance.

It is a very interesting glimpse into what we do in the future. Linking this to a screen will be pretty awesome...

[Ste1987]

johnxjsc1985 said:

bristolracer said:

Is it just me.
How come it doesn't react to its name when the amazon advert is on the TV?

Spooky

mine does and that is spooky.

Mine does as well, even when there's an advert on the radio station it is playing! Not spooky just very annoying, especially when mine even obeys the command on the TV

[Zoon]

Amazon have got a Dot and UE Boom 2 combo for £109 instead of £124.98

[Podie]

Ste1987 said:

johnxjsc1985 said:

bristolracer said:

Is it just me.
How come it doesn't react to its name when the amazon advert is on the TV?

Spooky

mine does and that is spooky.

Mine does as well, even when there's an advert on the radio station it is playing! Not spooky just very annoying, especially when mine even obeys the command on the TV

Mine does - added fking dog biscuits to the shopping list.

[s1962a]

Trying to play some tracks through spotify for the kids.. and i couldn't get the following to work.

"Alexa, play home movie soundtrack" - ends up playing some random 'home' song

"Alexa, play dancing in the dark by rihanna" - plays the correct song and says "playing dancing in the dark from the home movie soundtrack"


So how can I get it to play the whole movie soundtrack?

It's for the kids obviously

[ascayman]

Mine arrives tomorrow. Actually looking forward to this.

[smn159]

Podie said:

Ste1987 said:

johnxjsc1985 said:

bristolracer said:

Is it just me.
How come it doesn't react to its name when the amazon advert is on the TV?

Spooky

mine does and that is spooky.

Mine does as well, even when there's an advert on the radio station it is playing! Not spooky just very annoying, especially when mine even obeys the command on the TV

Mine does - added fking dog biscuits to the shopping list.

Mine starts saying random st when that bloody Lexus ad comes on

[prand]

s1962a said:

Trying to play some tracks through spotify for the kids.. and i couldn't get the following to work.

"Alexa, play home movie soundtrack" - ends up playing some random 'home' song

"Alexa, play dancing in the dark by rihanna" - plays the correct song and says "playing dancing in the dark from the home movie soundtrack"


So how can I get it to play the whole movie soundtrack?

It's for the kids obviously

Its a bit annoying sometimes. I asked it to play about Mark Knopfler's "Local Hero album". Alexa could not find album.

Ask to play "Local Hero album", and I get "Playing "Going home, the theme from Local Hero" from the album Local Hero by Mark Knopfler".

Then you say "play the whole album" and it does.

You get there eventually....

[Zoon]

prand said:

s1962a said:

Trying to play some tracks through spotify for the kids.. and i couldn't get the following to work.

"Alexa, play home movie soundtrack" - ends up playing some random 'home' song

"Alexa, play dancing in the dark by rihanna" - plays the correct song and says "playing dancing in the dark from the home movie soundtrack"


So how can I get it to play the whole movie soundtrack?

It's for the kids obviously

Its a bit annoying sometimes. I asked it to play about Mark Knopfler's "Local Hero album". Alexa could not find album.

Ask to play "Local Hero album", and I get "Playing "Going home, the theme from Local Hero" from the album Local Hero by Mark Knopfler".

Then you say "play the whole album" and it does.

You get there eventually....

Thanks for that, I'd not figured out a way to do this.

[prand]

Zoon said:

Thanks for that, I'd not figured out a way to do this.

I'm not sure its that consistent, just that it worked in that case. There's a few rough edges but I'd imagine they will improve over time.

[johnxjsc1985]

try telling Alexa you feel "unwell".

[Ste1987]

Zoon said:

prand said:

s1962a said:

Trying to play some tracks through spotify for the kids.. and i couldn't get the following to work.

"Alexa, play home movie soundtrack" - ends up playing some random 'home' song

"Alexa, play dancing in the dark by rihanna" - plays the correct song and says "playing dancing in the dark from the home movie soundtrack"


So how can I get it to play the whole movie soundtrack?

It's for the kids obviously

Its a bit annoying sometimes. I asked it to play about Mark Knopfler's "Local Hero album". Alexa could not find album.

Ask to play "Local Hero album", and I get "Playing "Going home, the theme from Local Hero" from the album Local Hero by Mark Knopfler".

Then you say "play the whole album" and it does.

You get there eventually....

Thanks for that, I'd not figured out a way to do this.

I tend to just give up and select the music through the Alexa app.

[ajprice]

When you have an Amazon Echo, a Google Home, and nothing else to do https://youtu.be/ZfCfTYZJWtI

[Baron Greenback]

Been looking into Google Home, shame it isnt out till 2017 no idea when! It ticks more boxes for what I want as it can stream staight to chromecast so the ability to utilising Echo/Home product and all my music/movies easily via plex/kodi server.

[Russ35]

My Dot finally arrived yesterday after its days holiday.

I'm impressed with it. Has understood everything I've tried with it so far, which is mainly playing radio stations via Tune In. Tried a few music tracks and albums, with no problems and then a couple with only a small sample being played as its not available on Amazon Prime Music.

Only technical problem I've had is that it kept losing connection to the network when connected via 5ghz, so I've put it on the 2.4ghz and its been a rock solid connection.

Just need to connect it into the amp tomorrow.