Echo Devices (Alexa) as Media Player - Testers Needed

Leandro_Freitas · September 21, 2018, 7:34am

Solution!
Hey i had the same problem it can be fixed if you echo device settings, change to US location and American english and dont put any time zone.

keithh666 · September 21, 2018, 9:40pm

Hmm I can’t not set a time zone and now it says unavailable

sodaclub112 · September 23, 2018, 10:59am

Did you mange to get this working? i have thesame problem! I would like to have an text input somwhere on my HA dash so i can send that text via tts via Alexa. Any ideas on that?

martokk · September 23, 2018, 4:23pm

You could do exactly as you’ve stated:

Create an input_text to use on your front end. This is where you will enter your text.
Create an automation that uses your input_text state as a trigger, with the automation action calling media_player.alexa_tts

I’ve done something similar with telegram. I type ‘/s’ or ‘/say’ followed by the text that I would like to speak. (ie. ‘/s testing alexa tts’)

Nilskilz · September 23, 2018, 9:57pm

Anyone managed to get TTS working in the UK? Or I guess any other non-US region?
As others have said, I don’t get any errors in the log, it just doesn’t work…

automateit · September 24, 2018, 2:12am

My config for that is here:
https://github.com/rrubin0/homeassistant-config/blob/master/packages/alexa_tts.yaml

Look at LoveLace UI config for the front end; looks like this:

Dixey · September 24, 2018, 2:14am

I use this puppy daily and found it extremely reliable. Now, if requests are being taken… I’d love to be able to use this as a “whole house broadcast” for; dinner’s ready, tornado warning, etc… little stuff. Kinda like the Alexa Multi-room Music Group.

keatontaylor · September 24, 2018, 2:31am

Add all Alexa devices into a group and set the TTS entity_id to the group entity_id and it should work

Dixey · September 24, 2018, 2:50am

This is SO KOOL! It worked! I can now, from the comfort of my desk, tell the clan dinner is ready! Thank you sir.
(Now, on to working with the folks for whole house broadcasting Emergency Weather Warnings… ya know, something useful.

pembo · September 24, 2018, 8:24pm

Have you tried restarting HA?

I’ve noticed sometimes it stops working for me, but a quick restart of HA and it’s back up and working. Not sure why it stops - I’ll do some investigation at some point when it fails and I get some time, but it’s certainly not to do with the cookie as on the restart, it comes straight backup without a prompt using the previous cookie.

Leandro_Freitas · September 25, 2018, 8:47am

Hey is it possible to choose language for the TTS?
This would be really nice feature!!
With “”,“locale”:“en-US”, \ ?

def send_tts(self, message):
    """Send message for TTS at speaker."""
    data = {
        "behaviorId": "PREVIEW",
        "sequenceJson": "{\"@type\": \
        \"com.amazon.alexa.behaviors.model.Sequence\", \
        \"startNode\":{\"@type\": \
        \"com.amazon.alexa.behaviors.model.OpaquePayloadOperationNode\", \
        \"type\":\"Alexa.Speak\",\"operationPayload\": \
        {\"deviceType\":\"" + self._device._device_type + "\", \
        \"deviceSerialNumber\":\"" + self._device.unique_id +
        "\",\"locale\":\"en-US\", \
        \"customerId\":\"" + self._device._device_owner_customer_id +
        "\", \"textToSpeak\": \"" + message + "\"}}}",
        "status": "ENABLED"
    }
    self._post_request('/api/behaviors/preview',
                       data=data)

phillprice · September 25, 2018, 8:56am

Seconded. Still having the same problem.

Leandro_Freitas · September 25, 2018, 9:10am

I had the same problem before. had to change settings for my Echodot device from
UK to US language and remove time zone then it work. I was using before https://alexa.amazon.co.uk i had to change to You've received an Alexa Link

media_player:

platform: alexa
email: !secret alexa_email
password: !secret alexa_password
url: amazon.com

Nilskilz · September 25, 2018, 10:01am

Removing the timezone doesn’t work for me. It appears - like your screenshot - but there’s no “save” button so when I navigate away and then back to the settings the timezone is set again (currently to US EDT).

I’ve entered a NY zip code for device location - is this what you’ve done too?

Leandro_Freitas · September 25, 2018, 11:30am

No, i have only what you see. I

Nilskilz · September 25, 2018, 11:50am

It’s odd. I don’t see the “Follow-Up Mode” that you have either… Are you on alexa.amazon.co.uk when entering this?
What do you have for the device location? Again, I can’t keep it blank.

Nilskilz · September 25, 2018, 11:51am

also, is this on the web (via browser) on on the Alexa app on a device?

Leandro_Freitas · September 25, 2018, 11:59am

Dont forget to remove your alexa_media.pickle =cookie file so you get a new cookie from
hass config dir after changing settings

Nilskilz · September 25, 2018, 12:05pm

So after clearing browser cache, whenever I log in to alexa.amazon.com I get redirected to .co.uk, which seems like a slightly different site (based on the lack of “Follow-Up Mode”.

Leandro_Freitas · September 25, 2018, 12:17pm

You also need to remove /homeassistant/.homeassistant/alexa_media.pickle then restart hass
You will get a new captha to fill in for Alexa in home assistant page.
media_player:

platform: alexa
email: !secret alexa_email
password: !secret alexa_password
url: amazon.com