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    #16
    Can you elaborate on this a bit more for someone who doesn't own a Google home?

    Does Google allow you to programmatically send a TTS string to their smart speakers?

    Or are you doing this through the HS3 speaker client somehow?

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      #17
      Originally posted by Fellhahn View Post
      Can you elaborate on this a bit more for someone who doesn't own a Google home?

      Does Google allow you to programmatically send a TTS string to their smart speakers?

      Or are you doing this through the HS3 speaker client somehow?
      Not sure how others are doing it but I'm using the Chromecast plugin that can send Speak commands to a google home/mini or you can cast a local audio file.

      Comment


        #18
        Sorry for any confusion. I purchased an Alexa dot and it has been working great for home control, but I wanted the ability to announce HS3 messages on them. I bought a Google Home mini to test the Chromecast plugin to make announcements to Google Home. This DOES work and if gogole home mini works for you this plugin is a cleaner method to make HS3 announcements.

        I could not get the Google home mini to control many of my lights. It'd say something like there were multiple devices by that name (and there was only one). Google also babbled on forever saying it turned off floor, room, device name. Alexa was more reliable for me, so I stuck with Alexa.

        I had an "extra" google home mini that I wanted to be able to use somehow. So I disabled the mic and connected it to my HS3 PC via bluetooth. Now when HS# makes an announcement it comes over the google home mine, strictly as a bluetooth speaker.

        I put the Google home mini in the same box as an Amazon dot and my HS3 events to announce just go to the one speaker int he shoe box and they "tell" Alexa to announce (repeat to the other alexa devices" what I want to announce.

        It is a hack for sure, but cheap and does exactly what I want ... announce messages vie the same devices I use for voice control of the house. In my case Alexa.

        The shoebox is needed as the "alexa announce" command record the voice being spoken and plays back to all alexa devices. To avoid echos, background noise, etc. someone suggested putting in a box, and it worked very well.

        I could not find an "alexa voice" to run on a PC, but the Ivona voice, Sali, is close enough for me.

        The chromecast plugin has the ability to use the "google" voice. There is a bit of a delay, but sounds just like the google home mini.

        I assume I could have addressed the device naming issues of google home min with some work, but the babbling on when it did turn a light on/off was more than I could handle. It would get extremely old very quick. For those who do not have an Amazon device, Alexa acknowledges a command with a beep. Very clean. I do not have Amazon Prime, and I have an Android phone. I'd much prefer to use Google Home mini. It had too many shortcomings for me vs. Alexa.

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          #19
          Originally posted by cowsr4eating View Post
          Sorry for any confusion. I purchased an Alexa dot and it has been working great for home control, but I wanted the ability to announce HS3 messages on them. I bought a Google Home mini to test the Chromecast plugin to make announcements to Google Home. This DOES work and if gogole home mini works for you this plugin is a cleaner method to make HS3 announcements.

          I could not get the Google home mini to control many of my lights. It'd say something like there were multiple devices by that name (and there was only one). Google also babbled on forever saying it turned off floor, room, device name. Alexa was more reliable for me, so I stuck with Alexa.

          I had an "extra" google home mini that I wanted to be able to use somehow. So I disabled the mic and connected it to my HS3 PC via bluetooth. Now when HS# makes an announcement it comes over the google home mine, strictly as a bluetooth speaker.

          I put the Google home mini in the same box as an Amazon dot and my HS3 events to announce just go to the one speaker int he shoe box and they "tell" Alexa to announce (repeat to the other alexa devices" what I want to announce.

          It is a hack for sure, but cheap and does exactly what I want ... announce messages vie the same devices I use for voice control of the house. In my case Alexa.

          The shoebox is needed as the "alexa announce" command record the voice being spoken and plays back to all alexa devices. To avoid echos, background noise, etc. someone suggested putting in a box, and it worked very well.

          I could not find an "alexa voice" to run on a PC, but the Ivona voice, Sali, is close enough for me.

          The chromecast plugin has the ability to use the "google" voice. There is a bit of a delay, but sounds just like the google home mini.

          I assume I could have addressed the device naming issues of google home min with some work, but the babbling on when it did turn a light on/off was more than I could handle. It would get extremely old very quick. For those who do not have an Amazon device, Alexa acknowledges a command with a beep. Very clean. I do not have Amazon Prime, and I have an Android phone. I'd much prefer to use Google Home mini. It had too many shortcomings for me vs. Alexa.
          Great response, thanks for taking the time.

          So I could really use any Bluetooth speaker, pair it to the HS3 PC, and use it to the same effect.

          Thanks for the opinions on the GH as well, every time I see one in the stores I have the itch to buy one in order to test it out. Nice to know my choice to invest in Alexa instead (5 dots) was founded :P

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            #20
            It can be a hardwired speaker, USB speaker, Bluetooth, etc. The better quality the better it will sound as Alexa will record/replay what the speaker "says". Also why I use the Ivona voice. I purchased a few a while back for announcements to my HSTouch clients. That never really worked out for me as the HSTouch clients are located more around entry/exits where the dots are more where people congregate.

            Long-term would be great if Amazon allowed push messages to Alexa. For now this works for me.


            Edit: One additional tidbit for those looking to do this. Several things affect the quality of the final announcement coming from the alexa devices.
            1) size/volume of the box you use. I said shoe box, but technically it is a boot box. I found the larger volume of the box helped me

            2) The volume of the speaker attached to PC. In my case the Google Home mini. 70%-80% seems to be the sweet spot for me. Too low or too high and the announcement volume was too low on Alexa.

            3) orientation/placement of the Google home mini and Alexa in the box. I found there was a slight buzz when both devices were in direct contact with the cardboard. I put both on a large sponge and that took all vibrational buzz away.
            Last edited by cowsr4eating; July 19, 2018, 09:54 AM. Reason: Added info

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              #21
              Originally posted by Fellhahn View Post
              Great response, thanks for taking the time.

              So I could really use any Bluetooth speaker, pair it to the HS3 PC, and use it to the same effect.

              Thanks for the opinions on the GH as well, every time I see one in the stores I have the itch to buy one in order to test it out. Nice to know my choice to invest in Alexa instead (5 dots) was founded :P
              Use any speaker you want either wired or blutooth. You can use anything running the speaker client and an external speaker...

              Comment


                #22
                Originally posted by cowsr4eating View Post
                Long-term would be great if Amazon allowed push messages to Alexa. For now this works for me.
                I feel confident it will come. Given the tit-for-tat war-for-the-market that's going on, I doubt Amazon would allow Google to laud a feature over them for very long.

                Comment


                  #23
                  Originally posted by cowsr4eating View Post
                  It can be a hardwired speaker, USB speaker, Bluetooth, etc. The better quality the better it will sound as Alexa will record/replay what the speaker "says". Also why I use the Ivona voice. I purchased a few a while back for announcements to my HSTouch clients. That never really worked out for me as the HSTouch clients are located more around entry/exits where the dots are more where people congregate.

                  Long-term would be great if Amazon allowed push messages to Alexa. For now this works for me.
                  You know that you can just prefix a message with "Alexa Simon says..." that way you get the Alexa voice.

                  Robert
                  HS3PRO 3.0.0.500 as a Fire Daemon service, Windows 2016 Server Std Intel Core i5 PC HTPC Slim SFF 4GB, 120GB SSD drive, WLG800, RFXCom, TI103,NetCam, UltraNetcam3, BLBackup, CurrentCost 3P Rain8Net, MCsSprinker, HSTouch, Ademco Security plugin/AD2USB, JowiHue, various Oregon Scientific temp/humidity sensors, Z-Net, Zsmoke, Aeron Labs micro switches, Amazon Echo Dots, WS+, WD+ ... on and on.

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Originally posted by langenet View Post
                    You know that you can just prefix a message with "Alexa Simon says..." that way you get the Alexa voice.

                    Robert
                    This would only cause the message to repeat back on the echo device that originally heard it, no?

                    It wouldn't announce across a collection of several echos.

                    Comment


                      #25
                      hum... you might have a point there. I have not tested this.

                      Robert
                      HS3PRO 3.0.0.500 as a Fire Daemon service, Windows 2016 Server Std Intel Core i5 PC HTPC Slim SFF 4GB, 120GB SSD drive, WLG800, RFXCom, TI103,NetCam, UltraNetcam3, BLBackup, CurrentCost 3P Rain8Net, MCsSprinker, HSTouch, Ademco Security plugin/AD2USB, JowiHue, various Oregon Scientific temp/humidity sensors, Z-Net, Zsmoke, Aeron Labs micro switches, Amazon Echo Dots, WS+, WD+ ... on and on.

                      Comment


                        #26
                        How to Enable Announcement through Alexa

                        So I have followed this discussion topic and I was trying to understand "HOW" you can enable HS3 to play status response back through "Via the Announcement" capability in Amazon Alexa.


                        Any help is greatly appreciated.

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Originally posted by supergolfstick View Post
                          So I have followed this discussion topic and I was trying to understand "HOW" you can enable HS3 to play status response back through "Via the Announcement" capability in Amazon Alexa.


                          Any help is greatly appreciated.
                          HS3 speaker client speaks the words to an echo as an announcement and all echos repeat the words.

                          I've not tried it yet but this is my understanding of how it works:

                          Example HS3 event: (HS3 speaker client in closet "Closet Speaker" with an echo dot next to it, and other echos around the house)

                          IF GarageDoor changes and becomes Open
                          THEN Speak Something
                          --Text to be spoken: "Alexa announce that the garage door is open"
                          ----Edit Speaker Client List: select only Closet Speaker

                          When trigger and conditions are met, all echos will announce "The garage door is open".
                          -Wade

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                            #28
                            ... in your speaker client voice I believe.

                            Robert
                            HS3PRO 3.0.0.500 as a Fire Daemon service, Windows 2016 Server Std Intel Core i5 PC HTPC Slim SFF 4GB, 120GB SSD drive, WLG800, RFXCom, TI103,NetCam, UltraNetcam3, BLBackup, CurrentCost 3P Rain8Net, MCsSprinker, HSTouch, Ademco Security plugin/AD2USB, JowiHue, various Oregon Scientific temp/humidity sensors, Z-Net, Zsmoke, Aeron Labs micro switches, Amazon Echo Dots, WS+, WD+ ... on and on.

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Simon says is only the one echo/Alexa that "hears" the command. I did test that.

                              cc4005's description is accurate

                              langenet is also correct in that the voice will be broadcast in the speaker client voice (TTS voice). The default Windows TTS voices sound like a male or female robot. I had previously purchased the "Sali" voice from Ivona. "Sali" is close to "Alexa", but not the same.

                              Again, this is all a hack. Ideally Amazon will allow push notifications in the future for a cleaner implementation. Options I see are:
                              1) Use Google Home Mini for announcements
                              2) Use HSTouch clients for announcements
                              3) Record the commands in the "Alexa" voice via ""Alexa, Simon says echo announce back door was unlocked". Then "play an audio file" vs. "speak something" in the HS3 even

                              RE: option 3 ... I changed the wake up name to "echo" for the dot in the closet. It is a little quicker to say "echo" vs. "Alexa" (reduces delay in announcing), and eliminates the possibility another Alexa might hear the "announce" command. Option 3 would then sound just like "Alexa" as it is a recording of Alexa. Downside is you have to record any new announcements you might want. That was too much work for me.

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