Background
When sending a TTS, you can only define the message, but if you have a device with a screen, it would be nice if it could display additional information while the text is being played. Especially if there are other sounds, like screaming children, loud espresso machines or drilling neighbours.
Requirements
- A dummy media player to send the TTS to. As of 2022.4 this media_player needs to work with the TTS service, because otherwise it will throw an error and the script will not continue. I’ve installed the VLC add-on on my system, and use
media_player.vlc_telnetcreated by the VLC Telnet integration for the TTS.
Most recent changes
Version 2.0.0/2.0.1 - 8 April 2022
Improvements
- Really simplified this script, no need for a template sensor anymore.
Bug fixes
- (2.0.1) Some fixes
Version 1.1.0 - 1 April 2022
Improvements
- Simplified
wait_templateby removing conversion to timestamps - Home Assistant 2022.4 checks if an entity actually works with a service call, and throws an error if not, therefor I had to replace the Dummy Media Player with the VLC Media Player.
Version 1.0.0 - 14 March 2022
New feature
- Initial post of script on Github, posted on the forum here on 17th of March
Setup
Dummy media player
Install the VLC Add on from the Add on store in the Superviser. HA should automatically find a new integration and after adding that you should have media_player.vlc_telnet
In case you don’t have the Superviser, because you use core or docker you could probably use another VLC instance to do the same.
The script itself
google_home_tts_screen:
alias: "Google Home - Send TTS with picture and information"
description: Script to send a TTS with picture and text to a player with screen
icon: mdi:cast-audio
mode: parallel
max: 20
sequence:
- alias: "Version number"
variables:
version: 2.0.1
- wait_for_trigger:
- platform: event
event_type: call_service
event_data:
domain: media_player
service: play_media
service_data:
media_content_type: music
entity_id: "{{ [ dummy_player ] }}"
- alias: "Send TTS message with picture"
service: media_player.play_media
target:
entity_id: "{{ target }}"
data:
media_content_id: "{{ wait.trigger.event.data.service_data.media_content_id }}"
media_content_type: "music"
extra:
metadata:
metadataType: 3
title: "{{ large_text }}"
artist: "{{ small_text }}"
images:
- url: "{{ picture_url }}"
Place it in your scripts.yaml with a file editor (like Visual Studio Code Add-on or File Editor Add-on), not via the GUI.
How to use the script
Example
Let’s say you want to send a message to your Google Nest Hub in the office, to announce dinner is ready, and want to add some additional text and a picture
The script will then be something like this:
dinner_ready:
alias: "TTS with picture when dinner is ready"
icon: mdi:food
sequence:
- alias: "Call the script with the additional data as script variables"
service: script.turn_on
target:
entity_id: script.google_home_tts_screen
data:
variables:
dummy_player: media_player.vlc_telnet
target: media_player.office_hub
large_text: DINNER!
small_text: Quick, before it gets cold
picture_url: http://10.0.0.5/local/pictures/food.jpg
- alias: "Send the TTS service call to the dummy player"
service: tts.google_cloud_say
target:
entity_id: media_player.vlc_telnet
data:
message: Dinner is ready!
Variables in service call for the script:
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| dummy_player | yes | The dummy media_player set up for this script |
| target | yes | The target to which the TTS should be sent |
| message | yes | The TTS message |
| large_text | yes | The text to be displayed large |
| small_text | yes | The text to be displayed small |
| picture_url | yes | A full url to a picture (so no HA internal URL) |
Other scripts
For other related Google Home scripst, see my Github page
Buy me a coffee
If you like this script, please feel free to buy me a coffee (I might spend it on another beverage though).
In case you decide to do so, thanks a lot!
So playback is not reliable. Also sometimes the beginning of the TTS message is swallowed.