Volume changes during Sonos Announcements...Bug or Expected Behavior?

[teladog01]

This event does a few things whenever I change the TV volume. The main goal of the event is to change the volume of some other Sonos zones proportionally. It works great.

The only problem is that it also triggers when the Volume device changes during a Sonos Announcement. Is this a bug or the expected behavior?

If it's expected, how can I keep it from triggering during Sonos Announcements? Maybe we need a "IsNotPlayingAnnouncement" Sonos condition?

[dcorsus]

This event does a few things whenever I change the TV volume. The main goal of the event is to change the volume of some other Sonos zones proportionally. It works great.

The only problem is that it also triggers when the Volume device changes during a Sonos Announcement. Is this a bug or the expected behavior?

If it's expected, how can I keep it from triggering during Sonos Announcements? Maybe we need a "IsNotPlayingAnnouncement" Sonos condition?

Did you specify a specific volume setting when doing the announcement? If so, try to remove it. If not, it could be that the restore of all settings causes an event ...

[teladog01]

Yes, I specify volumes in the Link group used for announcements. I’d prefer to keep it that way if possible. I understand this is most likely what is causing the event to trigger. A “IsNotPlayingAnnouncement” condition would be very helpful 😉 😉

[teladog01]

I just edited the Link group to not specify a volume on the Living Room player and ran a quick test. It appears this prevents the event from running at the beginning of the Announcement, but it does still trigger after the Announcement.

EDIT:

I read the logs wrong, this *does* indeed prevent the event from running during an announcement. Only problem is I need to specify a volume in the TTS Link group because the Announcement volume would be too low at normal TV volumes.

[randy]

I use a virtual device “Announcement Active” controlled by Events. This device is used in Events, some will only run when an announcement is active and others when one is not.

[prsmith777]

I use a virtual device “Announcement Active” controlled by Events. This device is used in Events, some will only run when an announcement is active and others when one is not.

I do the same... which brings up the question how do you know when an announcement completes. I use a countdown timer based on how long the announcement message is and if there are two announcements close to one another and how many rooms are being used in the announcement. It's just guessing and not very accurate.

Maybe there could be a way the plugin could tell us when its fully completed the announcement, (including resetting all the players to their original state). Ideas?

[randy]

I use this Event. It triggers when either linkgroup ends and has a failsafe at 90 seconds.

[zwolfpack]

The 'Track' device string changes to 'HomeSeer Announcement' while an announcement is playing - perhaps that could be used as a condition?

[teladog01]

The 'Track' device string changes to 'HomeSeer Announcement' while an announcement is playing - perhaps that could be used as a condition?

I, too, thought this might be a solution, but after running some tests I found that it didn't work as expected, i.e. the Volume change event would still trigger. I think what happens is the Track device gets restored back to its previous value before the Volume is restored, so the Track isn't actually "HomeSeer Announcement" when the Volume changes, therefore my event still triggers.

[teladog01]

I use a virtual device “Announcement Active” controlled by Events. This device is used in Events, some will only run when an announcement is active and others when one is not.

Yes, I could go the virtual device route, but that would require editing all my existing Sonos Announcement events. And that is fine for me to do if it is the best solution. But I think the better solution would be to edit a single event (the volume change event in the screen shot in my first post) with a condition that would keep it from running when an announcement is playing.

I guess I just don't understand why there is a Sonos condition for "IsPlayingAnnouncement", but no corresponding "IsNotPlayingAnnouncement". This condition would provide the simplest and best solution.

dcorsus, please consider this a feature request

[teladog01]

For anyone who may have been following this...

I just realized that the plugin now has the previously missing "IsNotPlayingAnnouncement" condition now! According to the release notes it was added in v3.1.0.35 but I obviously missed that.

Thanks, dcorsus !