Amazon Echo

[davek_964]

gadgetmac said:

Jinx said:

Shnozz said:

For those of us who are hopeless with tech but want to smart home up (gradually!) - can you explain what this does in layman's terms? Is it just a remote replacement for TV that means you can give voice instructions over Alexa? (as I am doing with firestick)

Not just TV. The harmony remote replaces all your remotes and groups them under activities (Watch TV = TV on, AV amp on, skybox on - controls volume on AV amp, channel change on sky box etc. Watch DVD, changes source to the DVD, turns on DVD, change AV amp input - controls DVD player and amp for volume)
The Alexa integration makes all of this voice controlled.

Sadly, from what I can see, it require one of the USB slots on your TV. For those of us with only 3 USB slots to start with its a problem.

Not sure where you've read that. It doesn't even connect to your TV. It's simply using IR etc to control your kit the same way your individual remotes do.

[gadgetmac]

davek_964 said:

gadgetmac said:

Jinx said:

Shnozz said:

For those of us who are hopeless with tech but want to smart home up (gradually!) - can you explain what this does in layman's terms? Is it just a remote replacement for TV that means you can give voice instructions over Alexa? (as I am doing with firestick)

Not just TV. The harmony remote replaces all your remotes and groups them under activities (Watch TV = TV on, AV amp on, skybox on - controls volume on AV amp, channel change on sky box etc. Watch DVD, changes source to the DVD, turns on DVD, change AV amp input - controls DVD player and amp for volume)
The Alexa integration makes all of this voice controlled.

Sadly, from what I can see, it require one of the USB slots on your TV. For those of us with only 3 USB slots to start with its a problem.

Not sure where you've read that. It doesn't even connect to your TV. It's simply using IR etc to control your kit the same way your individual remotes do.

Thought that I saw “hub requires usb” in the blurb on amazon.

[B17NNS]

gadgetmac said:

Thought that I saw “hub requires usb” in the blurb on amazon.

USB is for power. Comes with a mains cable.

[carreauchompeur]

B17NNS said:

Spot reduced to £99.99

Great. Really fancy one but it’s back to the 3.5mm jack flaw... I’ve got some Bose speakers in the bedroom and generally play my music through them. But unless I have the amp on 24/7 connected to the Spot I won’t hear my alarm. And if I don’t have it connected, not brilliant music...

[33q]

Just bought a spot.

I’ll put one of my Echos in the garage

[B17NNS]

carreauchompeur said:

Great. Really fancy one but it’s back to the 3.5mm jack flaw... I’ve got some Bose speakers in the bedroom and generally play my music through them. But unless I have the amp on 24/7 connected to the Spot I won’t hear my alarm. And if I don’t have it connected, not brilliant music...

Yeah it's a shame. I'd like to connect the dot in my lounge to my receiver but as you say, it's always got to be on and set to aux.

I've ordered a spot for the bedroom. Sound quality is supposed to be half decent compared to the dot.

[davek_964]

B17NNS said:

carreauchompeur said:

Great. Really fancy one but it’s back to the 3.5mm jack flaw... I’ve got some Bose speakers in the bedroom and generally play my music through them. But unless I have the amp on 24/7 connected to the Spot I won’t hear my alarm. And if I don’t have it connected, not brilliant music...

Yeah it's a shame. I'd like to connect the dot in my lounge to my receiver but as you say, it's always got to be on and set to aux.

I've ordered a spot for the bedroom. Sound quality is supposed to be half decent compared to the dot.

My lounge echo is paired with my receiver via bluetooth. When I want to listen to music properly, I tell my harmony I want to "Start amazon music" and it switches the tv off and switches the amp to bluetooth input. The echo automatically pairs. When I've finished, I tell it to go back to tv or switch everything off and the echo unpairs.

I've got an old receiver which I plan to use in the bedroom. I'm pretty sure that doesn't have bluetooth - but I'm pretty sure you can buy bluetooth receivers which I can plug into the amp. When the amp is off, my bedroom echo won't be paired with the receiver - when it's on it will.
Only catch is that if I'm using the receiver with a different source it would mean the echo pairs with it but I won't hear anything. However - I'll simply get an echo controlled wi-fi plug (already got a couple) and plug the bluetooth receiver into that - so I can switch it on / off when I want with voice control and only have it on when I intend to play music through the receiver / proper speakers.

[B17NNS]

Spot arrived today. Bit bigger than I thought. Quite weighty and seems well made. Speaker is a massive upgrade on the dot. Nice thing.

[MintyScot]

B17NNS said:

Spot arrived today. Bit bigger than I thought. Quite weighty and seems well made. Speaker is a massive upgrade on the dot. Nice thing.

Yeh I got mine yesterday. I like how you can watch amazon prime tv through it! Although realistically I'm just using it as an alarm clock and voice control for the lights.

[PixelpeepS3]

my dot has decided not to connect to the internet any more.... i've tried resetting, running set up again - it sees the wireless networks, connects to them and then drops and won't reconnect.

sad times..

[Shnozz]

I don't really understand the variables in the dot performance.

Mine started great, then I had trouble with the radio cut outs, then that got resolved but I find it less responsive to my Alexa requests etc. All a bit odd. I was going to "echo up" the entire place with ones in various rooms but have elected to hold fire for now.

[tankplanker]

Possible that Amazon have updated the WiFi drivers on the dot recently? I remember the early Fire sticks being awful on WiFi for a lot of people.

I'm also convinced that Amazon use cheaper components for WiFi in the Alexa devices and compromise the aerial size/position. This leads to you needing more reliable and stable WiFi than you would for a decent laptop or mobile phone.

[furtive]

Money off all Echo devices at Amazon at the moment for Mothers Day

[davek_964]

furtive said:

Money off all Echo devices at Amazon at the moment for Mothers Day

Yep - I keep thinking I "need" a Show, and at £139.99 it's tempting. But having bought 4 Echo's a few weeks back I really have no need for one - I already have an unused Dot shoved in a cupboard.

Although - I am becoming increasingly convinced that the Echo I've put in the lounge may have a problem with it's microphones. It seems a tad deaf - enough so that it's actually the dot I stuck in the hall which hears me more often. Considering the Echo is about 18 inches from where I sit, that seems wrong.

[33q]

Set my spot up last evening. Please forgive the pun but I think it is the sweet spot of the echo range.

It is weighty and the sound is pretty good

[WolfieBot]

furtive said:

Money off all Echo devices at Amazon at the moment for Mothers Day

Thanks for the heads-up, just asked and got refunded the difference on the one I bought on Monday.

[JimbobVFR]

Zeek said:

Alexa will call any number in my contacts, regardless of type, although I’m in the US. Not sure if that makes a difference. Have used it a lot, works well.

Is that on your phone with Alexa installed or on an Echo device?

[eybic]

Is anyone else having issues with repeatedly disconnecting from the wifi? It must do it twice a week and I have to go into the app and set it up again where it reconnects straight away. It started about 3 weeks ago and all other wifi devices seem fine.

[sybaseian]

eybic said:

Is anyone else having issues with repeatedly disconnecting from the wifi? It must do it twice a week and I have to go into the app and set it up again where it reconnects straight away. It started about 3 weeks ago and all other wifi devices seem fine.

How many devices are connecting to your router? It could be that your have more devices than the router allows concurrently. Some only allow 32 connections but others can have a lot more. Consider getting a second access point for load balancing the connections.

I run two wifi networks at home - one for smart light bulbs and home automation and one for phones, tablets, PCs. All access points are run over CAT 6 backbone.

I have also set up static IP addresses for anything that stays in the house in my on my DHCP server.

[eybic]

Thanks for your suggestion, we have a Sky Q Hub and don't have anywhere near the 64 devices connected to it so it's not that.