Amazon Echo FAQ

mrcheez

vanti wrote: »

I've now moved the echo to the .co.uk account (and have correct time) and notice the radio stations is accurate about 30% (with no luck playing 98fm or 2fm....without using the app). I'd consider myself a neutral accent....to the amusement of the OH.

Apart from RTE I like Radio X in London (usually listen via my Freesat setup) so I'm assuming no problems asking for Radio X on TuneIn ?

bk

vanti wrote: »

I'm thinking it's related to the amazon account the echo is registered to. But I may be wrong.

I agree it understood me much better when it was set to US English, then UK English, a little surprisingly!

Unfortunately the latest fimware update has borked my ability to use US English.

LiamG

Re Tunein - I am the same as Vanti - it used to recognise but now not anymore
On the Amazon echo help site it said you might have to reset it

Very frustrating as it works with the app!

paulbok

vanti wrote: »

I'm thinking it's related to the amazon account the echo is registered to. But I may be wrong.

Initially my echo was set to the US (as verified by the time). I noticed most radio stations i asked to listen to was around 90% right. (98fm, fm104, todayfm, 2fm and midlands radio 3).

I've now moved the echo to the .co.uk account (and have correct time) and notice the radio stations is accurate about 30% (with no luck playing 98fm or 2fm....without using the app). I'd consider myself a neutral accent....to the amusement of the OH.

I think mine is setup with. Com so have emailed Amazon to change to Co.uk to fix the time issue.
Might leave well enough alone if that's going to screw up the radio.

vanti

LiamG wrote: »

Re Tunein - I am the same as Vanti - it used to recognise but now not anymore
On the Amazon echo help site it said you might have to reset it

Very frustrating as it works with the app!

yes it's really frustrating.

I've reset it and reregistered it loads of times. But no major difference. I found changing the postcode can also affect how it interprets the station name. e.g. I had it set to o'connell street in Dublin with postcode of '1' and I found different results to having it set to northern ireland postcode. I can't find a postcode to cover my favorite stations but i suspect it's trial and error.

I am thinking of moving it back to the US account as I'd be interested to see how good/bad Pandora is.

yoshimitsu

bk wrote: »

Yes, these forums are for discussions between people and are a community of fellow users. What they aren't is your personal help desk!

You haven't been discussing anything, you've been asking a series of very basic questions, one after the other that could easily have been answered with a 10 second search!

Non of us are getting paid for this. One simple question is fine, but three in a row, you start pissing people off and people just replying RTFM.

What does RTFM mean?
Just kidding, just kidding... i looked it up, it took 2 seconds!

degsie

vanti wrote: »

yes it's really frustrating.

I've reset it and reregistered it loads of times. But no major difference. I found changing the postcode can also affect how it interprets the station name. e.g. I had it set to o'connell street in Dublin with postcode of '1' and I found different results to having it set to northern ireland postcode. I can't find a postcode to cover my favorite stations but i suspect it's trial and error.

I am thinking of moving it back to the US account as I'd be interested to see how good/bad Pandora is.

It would be good if we got an insight as to how these services work, but I guess this would be proprietary to Amazon. Might improve as I'm sure the sale of the Dot will push up the user base.

mrcheez

bk wrote: »

Yes, these forums are for discussions between people and are a community of fellow users. What they aren't is your personal help desk!

You haven't been discussing anything, you've been asking a series of very basic questions, one after the other that could easily have been answered with a 10 second search!

Non of us are getting paid for this. One simple question is fine, but three in a row, you start pissing people off and people just replying RTFM.

yoshimitsu wrote: »

What does RTFM mean?
Just kidding, just kidding... i looked it up, it took 2 seconds!

Any chance of taking this to PM pls and keep thread for Echo issues?

BobbyT28

bk wrote: »

Yes, these forums are for discussions between people and are a community of fellow users. What they aren't is your personal help desk!

You haven't been discussing anything, you've been asking a series of very basic questions, one after the other that could easily have been answered with a 10 second search!

Non of us are getting paid for this. One simple question is fine, but three in a row, you start pissing people off and people just replying RTFM.

I don't see anyone else getting pissed off, looks like your the only one getting pissed off. All the people on this thread have been very helpful and me like wise.

As I have said already "Back to topic" and you keep coming back to this! Get a life and get over this. Can you do that?!

Going forward just ignore my questions and get on with it, stop getting so annoyed at things I ask there are way worse things that can happen in life than this seriously.

Before you reply let's just get back to topic

BobbyT28

degsie

BobbyT28 wrote: »

I don't see anyone else getting pissed off, looks like your the only one getting pissed off. All the people on this thread have been very helpful and me like wise.

As I have said already "Back to topic" and you keep coming back to this! Get a life and get over this. Can you do that?!

Going forward just ignore my questions and get on with it, stop getting so annoyed at things I ask there are way worse things that can happen in life than this seriously.

Before you reply let's just get back to topic

BobbyT28

donegal.

can we add a poll ? I vote bk

BobbyT28

donegal. wrote: »

can we add a poll ? I vote bk

Ouch that hurt

BobbyT28

degsie wrote: »

:D:D

donegal.

i'd love there to be a way to control tablets with the echo like this app dinner time

"Alexa its dinner time" and all the kids devices turn off.

bk

donegal. wrote: »

i'd love there to be a way to control tablets with the echo like this app dinner time

"Alexa its dinner time" and all the kids devices turn off.

Not exactly what you are looking for, but I'm finding the Yonomi app amazing.

I've created a sequence where I say:
"Alexa, turn on night time" which:
- Turns off the TV
- Turns on the bedside lamps
- Starts to turn off all the other lights in the house by fading out over 20 seconds

Very cool, I'm itching to get a smart home security system now too, but looking around, that seems to be still a very immature market and not there yet.

Stoner

Lads Myself and 2011 have been looking to get a home automation forum going for a number of years Anyway I've explained the reasonings on the forum request for it. We've a lot of this type discussion in the home security and electrical forum, but with IFTTT apps and new hardware from amazon, Google and Apple it might get more traction. This is the request if you'd like to vote for it. Boards.ie: Home Automation Forum Request - http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057658649

I ran this past the mods here first.

Some great content on this thread already.

jobless

bk wrote: »

Not exactly what you are looking for, but I'm finding the Yonomi app amazing.

I've created a sequence where I say:
"Alexa, turn on night time" which:
- Turns off the TV
- Turns on the bedside lamps
- Starts to turn off all the other lights in the house by fading out over 20 seconds

Very cool, I'm itching to get a smart home security system now too, but looking around, that seems to be still a very immature market and not there yet.

Now that sounds cool ... What controls the TV?

mrcheez

mrcheez wrote: »

Apart from RTE I like Radio X in London (usually listen via my Freesat setup) so I'm assuming no problems asking for Radio X on TuneIn ?

Could anyone do a quick test of the above pls?

Ask Alexa to "play Radio X London on TuneIn" ... if that works I'll forgo the RTE requirement till it's fixed.
(you might need to omit the London part)

"play Radio X" works for me.

mrcheez

Deleted User wrote: »

"play Radio X" works for me.

so no need to specify "TuneIn"? That's cool.

So just Spotify needs the app name mentioned?

well I've not needed to say "on Spotify" either. Alexa susses out between TuneIn and Spotify for me. Perhaps I'm not challenging her enough with my requests.

mrcheez

Deleted User wrote: »

well I've not needed to say "on Spotify" either. Alexa susses out between TuneIn and Spotify for me. Perhaps I'm not challenging her enough with my requests.

Do you have a US or UK account?

UK.

bk

jobless wrote: »

Now that sounds cool ... What controls the TV?

Logitech Harmony Hub

Support is pretty basic for now, just turn on and off different activities. TV On/Off, Play Playstation on/off, etc.

Seemingly full official Harmony support is in beta testing, that would be great as I assume it would allow you to change channels, change volume, etc.

BobbyT28

bk wrote: »

Logitech Harmony Hub

Support is pretty basic for now, just turn on and off different activities. TV On/Off, Play Playstation on/off, etc.

Seemingly full official Harmony support is in beta testing, that would be great as I assume it would allow you to change channels, change volume, etc.

Yeah, going to hold off on pulling the trigger on Logi Harmony for the time being.

Would be great to be able to change channel and volume.

BobbyT28

bk

BobbyT28 wrote: »

Yeah, going to hold off on pulling the trigger on Logi Harmony for the time being.

Would be great to be able to change channel and volume.

Yup, I can highly recommend Harmony, I've both a Harmony Elite and Harmony One with hubs, great devices.

You should keep an eye out for the upcoming Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, they normally drop in price significantly during those sales.

BTW Someone those in fact have full Harmony + Echo support working via a hack of running a server on a Raspberry Pi. But sounds a bit too complicated for regular people.

BobbyT28

bk wrote: »

Yup, I can highly recommend Harmony, I've both a Harmony Elite and Harmony One with hubs, great devices.

You should keep an eye out for the upcoming Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, they normally drop in price significantly during those sales.

BTW Someone those in fact have full Harmony + Echo support working via a hack of running a server on a Raspberry Pi. But sounds a bit too complicated for regular people.

yeah saving all my penny's for Black Friday. Any savings in this expensive hobby is welcomed!!

BobbyT28

bk

BobbyT28 wrote: »

yeah saving all my penny's for Black Friday. Any savings in this expensive hobby is welcomed!!

Big time, I've been basically building out my Home Automation tech bit by bit over the years with these sales. I'd say I'd buy at least one Hue bulb or lamp every sale. About 75% of my home is covered in these Hue lights by now!

jobless

bk wrote: »

Yup, I can highly recommend Harmony, I've both a Harmony Elite and Harmony One with hubs, great devices.

You should keep an eye out for the upcoming Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales, they normally drop in price significantly during those sales.

BTW Someone those in fact have full Harmony + Echo support working via a hack of running a server on a Raspberry Pi. But sounds a bit too complicated for regular people.

The harmony elite is something like 300 quid right?... A lot of money for a remote.. It would want to come down a lot

mrcheez

OK sod it, I'll go ahead with the two Dots as planned.

Note for those planning on connecting via 3.5mm, it doesn't come with one so you need to order a cable separately.

I'm ordering a long one plus a 3m usb power cable to place the Dot as far away from the speaker as possible so that it can hear me when music is playing.