I was able to install everything, and when I use the TTS line in the card on the UI, it does create the mp3s. I cannot, however, get any of the Echo dots to actually broadcast the mp3 that has been created. I’ve tried reading the documentation and searched several forums, but the fixes I’ve employed haven’t yet worked.
Am I missing something? Is that not the entire point of this component?
No…but TTS (which was mentioned in the documentation) as well as control of the devices from the HomeAssistant platform.
Maybe we need to start over? I specifically started this thread because TTS is not working. TTS works by creating mp3s in the TTS folder, then pushing those mp3s to the relevant Echo device. The mp3s are being created, but they aren’t being played by the Echo device as intended through this app (indicated as possible in the documentation).
I’m pretty sure that’s not correct.
Google Home works that way but not this component.
This component uses the built-in “simon says” skill to speak what you tell it to say in text.
It can also use the media player to play any media files that you can also tell Alexa to play from the app. If you can’t play it in the app you can’t play it in the component and vice versa.
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Thanks for clarifying what he was talking about. I thought he was trying to use TTS to play mp3 music files.
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I just typed “Goober smooch” in the TTS line on my Alexa card, and I have a nifty mp3 in the TTS folder that says “Goober smooch” when I play it.
1.2.4 is out.
We’ve made the Notify component automatically load. You may need to remove any manual Notify configuration to avoid a _2 issue. Websockets should now handle everything so polling should no longer be necessary. We may deprecate polling in a future release. For those using custom_updater, we are experimenting by add a dev release to the updater so there will be two potential updates. Let us know if you’d prefer we go back to the older behavior of only listing stable.
Features:
- Add automatic target generation for notify component service
Fixes:
- Fix bug where existing media players would be added again on reconnect (resolves #136)
- Fix bug where routines would not be found when many routines exist (resolves #145)
As always, please use the the Wiki and FAQ if you need instructions or have questions. Also, please help in documenting features in the wiki since this thread is basically unsearchable now. We also use GitHub for bug reports/feature requests .
As @finity pointed out, this media player cannot play local mp3 files, which is how HA components handle TTS. It is an Amazon limitation. Originally we exposed a tts service that would replicate TTS using Simon says, but it will not process TTS like other HA components. The fact the media player UI exposes a TTS box is because the HA UI assumes any media player that supports media playback allows local playback. The TTS service will be deprecated at 1.5.x and only the notify component will remain (however, that will not fix the media player UI). As a note, the limitation is documented in the Wiki, but I agree it could be more clear about the underlying technical limitation. Hopefully someone will update the Wiki.
@alandtse looks like there is an issue with custom updater because it shows me that there is a new version 1.2.4 and 1.2.4 (dev). But I don’t have the dev link in my configuration.
Sry, should have read your post before.
Let us know if you’d prefer we go back to the older behavior of only listing stable.
In my opinion only showing the stable version is fine. People who want to see the dev version too can always add the link to custom updater, right?
Edit:
@alandste So if there is a new dev version and we click “update all” will it update to the dev version or is it only a note and it stays at master?
Because this could cause issues. For instance if you want to update another component but not the alexa_media (dev) component. There is only the “Update All” Button. So as far as I so you can’t pick in custom updater.
It will actually update both (which ultimately overwrites the same set of files). I just realized that’s a problem since the custom_updater UI doesn’t allow any partial updates. The service does but for most people, they’ll rely on the UI. The reason we implemented this fix was because people were saying the DEV link wasn’t working (which unfortunately adds too much administrative burden because of the way custom_updater requires the json file) I think ultimately we’re going to tell people custom_updater will only allow stable updates.
2 Likes
Yes. It’s been sitting in a review queue for a few days.
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Short question: Can you tell which alexa device called for a service?
Edit: Ok solved half hour after posting by setting up the “last alexa called” sensor in hass and then calling that in nodered
Long version:
I am currently using NodeRed to set up a function where I can ask Alexa where a particular family member is.
Using a routine I trigger an input boolean which gets the current state from life360, I then use the join node to make a complete message which I finally pass into a function node to make the message.data required to pass to the Alexa_media call service node.
This all works well accept at the moment I have the alexa device to be called hard coded into my function meaning you have to use the same alexa device all the time. I would like to be able to find out which device called for the routine so I can use the info in my function to call the TTS service on that device.
I have tried using the alexa_media:update_last_called service but this doesn’t seem to give me any info.
Mark
2 Likes
Look for “last alexa sensor”
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I have a little problem with custom_updater:
here you are my config:
custom_updater:
component_urls:
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keatontaylor/custom_components/master/custom_components.json
track:
- cards
- components
I should see the stable “master” version only but today the cards show:
What am I doing wrong?
Sorry I realised that URL changed in
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/keatontaylor/alexa_media_player/master/custom_components.json
anyway I restarted the container but same result in the card…
We made a change where both the dev and stable show now to address a bug where the dev link wasn’t working. At this point both are the same release so if you update all you’ll get the same version. We’ll revert it since the custom_updater GUI doesn’t allow you to select individual items to update and probably will cause more questions than it fixes.
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Is it in the meantime possible to send a custom written command to an echo device?
i.e.:
{
“entity_id”: “media_player.spot_2”,
“media_content_id”: “what time is it?”,
“media_content_type”: “command”
}
And getting the answer from the referred echo as if speaking to it?
No. However, you can trigger a routine that you’ve created in the Alexa app which doesn’t really help with “What time is it?”.
Is “what time is it?” just an example? If not, you can send a tts to an echo that says for example, “The time is now 2:35”.
Hi everyone… I’m having trouble getting past the Captcha… It gives me a message to reenter my password, then enter the Captcha information; however, there is not a place to enter my password. I’m not sure where to start troubleshooting…
Here is a screenshot:
