Amazon Echo

[B17NNS]

Harmony hub/Elite remote and Amazon Echo. Like pulling teeth. Just saying

[Gary C]

RizzoTheRat said:

I can't remember what it's called but there is a skill that causes Alexa to comment on it if you're being rude

However in trying to check what I was called I just discovered the Meanie skill which will apparently tell you to fk off and similar things.

Try telling your iPad to fk off !

It gets all defensive

Anyway, I use a dot with my Sonos, works great and will get better once the default room update is sorted.

[davek_964]

B17NNS said:

Harmony hub/Elite remote and Amazon Echo. Like pulling teeth. Just saying

Why? Mine worked straight away with very little effort.

[mikeiow]

davek_964 said:

B17NNS said:

Harmony hub/Elite remote and Amazon Echo. Like pulling teeth. Just saying

Why? Mine worked straight away with very little effort.

Oh lawks.....got the harmony to configure sometime. One thing I hadn't realised was that the remote expects to communicate with the hub, and it with the devices....don't think two 'magic eye' things will cover our unit....may have to position the hub in front.....
Hints'n'tips gratefully received! It may be a week or more before we get round to this anyway....

[kingston12]

mikeiow said:

Oh lawks.....got the harmony to configure sometime. One thing I hadn't realised was that the remote expects to communicate with the hub, and it with the devices....don't think two 'magic eye' things will cover our unit....may have to position the hub in front.....
Hints'n'tips gratefully received! It may be a week or more before we get round to this anyway....

If your prefer, you can choose which devices are controlled directly from the remote and which are controlled by the hub.

Alexa only works with the hub though...

[LeadFarmer]

I can't decide if an Amazon Echo is the right device for me.

I want to listen to the radio, and stream music from my iTunes & Spotify. Would I need my iPhone in my hand to do this, or can I leave my iPhone connected to wifi and just tell Alexa what to play? Im guessing in need my iPhone in my hand to open a radio app and change radio channels?

Not entirely sure I want to have to get up and get my iPhone whenever i want to listen to radio/music, which is why I'm not sure if this is the right device for me, whether to get a bluetooth radio such as a Pure Evoke?

[ajprice]

LeadFarmer said:

I can't decide if an Amazon Echo is the right device for me.

I want to listen to the radio, and stream music from my iTunes & Spotify. Would I need my iPhone in my hand to do this, or can I leave my iPhone connected to wifi and just tell Alexa what to play? Im guessing in need my iPhone in my hand to open a radio app and change radio channels?

Not entirely sure I want to have to get up and get my iPhone whenever i want to listen to radio/music, which is why I'm not sure if this is the right device for me, whether to get a bluetooth radio such as a Pure Evoke?

For Spotify, you link your Echo to your Spotify account and you'll have voice control to your playlists etc https://support.spotify.com/us/article/alexa/

For iTunes, the simplest way would be to use the Echo as a Bluetooth speaker from your iPhone/PC/Mac. You'll have play/pause control via Alexa but you'll have to set what to play from the computer or phone.

Edited by ajprice on Sunday 3rd December 23:21

[PeetBee]

ajprice said:

LeadFarmer said:

I can't decide if an Amazon Echo is the right device for me.

I want to listen to the radio, and stream music from my iTunes & Spotify. Would I need my iPhone in my hand to do this, or can I leave my iPhone connected to wifi and just tell Alexa what to play? Im guessing in need my iPhone in my hand to open a radio app and change radio channels?

Not entirely sure I want to have to get up and get my iPhone whenever i want to listen to radio/music, which is why I'm not sure if this is the right device for me, whether to get a bluetooth radio such as a Pure Evoke?

For Spotify, you link your Echo to your Spotify account and you'll have voice control to your playlists etc https://support.spotify.com/us/article/alexa/

For iTunes, the simplest way would be to use the Echo as a Bluetooth speaker from your iPhone/PC/Mac. You'll have play/pause control via Alexa but you'll have to set what to play from the computer or phone.

Edited by ajprice on Sunday 3rd December 23:21

Or if you have a PC running with iTunes on it, then 'My Media for Alexa' will stream the music from the PC to the Echo without Bluetooth, so your phone is not required for that.
I noticed on the weekend that it had also included podcasts in the iTunes items available via Alexa.

[Crumpet]

sybaseian said:

Found another use for Alexa besides lights, music, heating, etc

Opening and closing my electric gates.

I can ask Alexa to open or close my electric gates - very handy because I have an echo dot in my car or when at home.

Alexa - trigger open gates

Alexa - trigger keep gates open

Alexa - trigger close gates

Which gate opener / controller are you using? I can’t find anything to work mine via an app or remotely!

[kingston12]

Crumpet said:

Which gate opener / controller are you using? I can’t find anything to work mine via an app or remotely!

Can you hard-wire a controller to the opener?

If you can, you can use a Belkin Wemo Maker - wiret that to your controller and then control the Belkin via it's own app or Alexa.

It works really well on my garage door, so I can't see why it wouldn't work on a gate opener.

[sybaseian]

Crumpet said:

sybaseian said:

Found another use for Alexa besides lights, music, heating, etc

Opening and closing my electric gates.

I can ask Alexa to open or close my electric gates - very handy because I have an echo dot in my car or when at home.

Alexa - trigger open gates

Alexa - trigger keep gates open

Alexa - trigger close gates

Which gate opener / controller are you using? I can’t find anything to work mine via an app or remotely!

http://www.aesdistribution.co.uk/CellCOM%20Datashe...

The gates have an inbuilt GSM phone - this means that the gates call pre-programmed phone numbers rather than an intercom in the house. When you get a phone call from the gate (anywhere in the world), you can speak to the person at the gates and if genuine, buzz them through remotely from your phone key pad. One to open and then close automatically, Two to open and keep open, Three to close.

Because the controller has an inbuilt phone, you can send it coded text messages to open/close the gates (the codes do much more). This is how I control my gates with Alexa. I set up an IFTTT Alexa voice trigger that sends a coded SMS via ClickSend to action the gates. Three different voice triggers.

Edited by sybaseian on Monday 4th December 14:31

[Gary C]

sas62 said:

For anyone unaware, the Alexa included with the Sonos is not as fully featured at that on Amazon devices. Its a cut down version that for example does not support calling and messaging.

It's worth noting that the alexa release on the Sonos devices is currently at public beta and they have promised full functionality.

[sas62]

According to the SONOS forum, SONOS have promised full Alexa functionality but they see features such as drop in and calling as Echo features not Alexa features. I'm not sure what their full production release will contain, nor what the dates will be, as they don't seem to have been published. Given that you can get a Dot and a Play 1 for more or less the price of a SONOS One thats my preferred route for now. It may be that eventually SONOS do add all Echo features to SONOS but, personally, I wouldn't buy until I saw it implemented (or a least confirmation that it was on the roadmap)

[LeadFarmer]

How does the sound quality on the Echo compare with the Sonos 1?

[sas62]

I can only speak for the Echo Dot and its' abysmal. It cant really be called a music speaker. However as its not really marketed as such its not a problem for me. It does everything else I need really well.

[ecsrobin]

sas62 said:

I can only speak for the Echo Dot and its' abysmal. It cant really be called a music speaker. However as its not really marketed as such its not a problem for me. It does everything else I need really well.

That’s not really a fair comparison as the dot isn’t aimed as a music speaker however I am impressed for such a small device the audio is passable for the bedroom.

I also have the echo 2nd gen, I’m no audio geek but my anker soundcire I’m impressed with and the echo far exceeds the quality, I would prefer to knock the bass down slightly but no equaliser and I’m guessing that’s personal taste.

Sadly I’ve not used a sonos to compare however the Alexa on sonos is not the full setup some things missing include: drop in, Echo multi-room playback, flash briefing, shipment notification.

[bristolracer]

The sound from the echo isn’t too bad,but it won’t compare to a Sonos.
Think of it as a similar sound to a good radio and you won’t be disappointed.

The Sonos while itself is not the last word in high fidelity will blow the echo away.
The dot speaker is really just so that the dot can talk to you.

[LeadFarmer]

bristolracer said:

The sound from the echo isn’t too bad,but it won’t compare to a Sonos.
Think of it as a similar sound to a good radio and you won’t be disappointed.

The Sonos while itself is not the last word in high fidelity will blow the echo away.
The dot speaker is really just so that the dot can talk to you.

Thanks, so considering the Sonos over the Echo, can the Sonos play radio via internet without me having to use my iphone? Or does it need a music source such as my iPhone?

[sas62]

LeadFarmer said:

Thanks, so considering the Sonos over the Echo, can the Sonos play radio via internet without me having to use my iphone? Or does it need a music source such as my iPhone?

No iPhone required. I use TuenIn service to play radio on Sonos. So via Aexa if I say

Alexa play radio 4 - its says paying radio 4 using TunIn then plays it on the Echo Dot

If I say "Alexa play radio 4 in the living room (Living Room is my Sonos speaker) - then it uses TuneIn to play on the SONOS.

Obviously for SONOS without Alexa you just choose Radio 4 on the SONOS App under TuneIn service.

[V8 Animal]

I can only get one track played on the Sonos radio works ok but just one track really annoying. I'm having PM with sonos trying to solve it, using Amazon for music.