AnOutsider Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Amazon released 2 new devices today. The Echo Dot and Tap. The Tap is a portable bluetooth speaker with Alexa capabilities. My wife was just saying in her car she wished she had alexa, and well, now she does. More interesting for US is the Dot, which is a shorter Echo that has bluetooth and audio out! I see big possibilities here having the echo pipe audio out to in-home speakers (maybe via WMB, but almost certainly via direct cable). http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=ods_gw_ha_echo_pk_LR?tag=idleriot-20&ascsubtag=c198a0aae15511e59a4d4eb2241b2b500INT&_encoding=UTF8&node=14047587011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER and http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VXS8E8S/?ref_=pe_1840220_171119930_ods_em_ha_fx_pe_an_strp Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 5 minutes ago, AnOutsider said: Amazon released 2 new devices today. The Echo Dot and Tap. The Tap is a portable bluetooth speaker with Alexa capabilities. My wife was just saying in her car she wished she had alexa, and well, now she does. More interesting for US is the Dot, which is a shorter Echo that has bluetooth and audio out! I see big possibilities here having the echo pipe audio out to in-home speakers (maybe via WMB, but almost certainly via direct cable). http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=ods_gw_ha_echo_pk_LR?tag=idleriot-20&ascsubtag=c198a0aae15511e59a4d4eb2241b2b500INT&_encoding=UTF8&node=14047587011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER and http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VXS8E8S/?ref_=pe_1840220_171119930_ods_em_ha_fx_pe_an_strp Thoughts? Agreed. I just saw this and was about to post. @chopedogg88 I assume the Dot will work with your driver...? If so, and we can link the Dot to speakers via C4 then the one other thing that would be really nice would be to have a driver that allows us to use "Simon says" to get some good feedback from Alexa through the C4 speakers. A great move forward. I want a Dot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOutsider Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 Ditto! I'm trying to order one, but I'm at work and my wife isn't answering her phone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 1 minute ago, AnOutsider said: Ditto! I'm trying to order one, but I'm at work and my wife isn't answering her phone! So unfair! That's why I emailed my dealer ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 The dot looks really interesting. My alexa is about 1300 miles away from me so no ordering right now Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrobinson1327 Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Swipe right on the Dot item in the Amazon store. Add to cart, check out. I did it that way, don't have an echo yet but it worked. Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOutsider Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 My wife ordered from me, but I ordered a second with the above method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandiola Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Hah I'm watching a webinar on creating Alexa voice experiences (https://goto.webcasts.com/viewer/event.jsp?ei=1093853) and the first question is if native integration with Control4 is planned. He said its been asked a few times and that it wasn't on a road map but mentioned something about some team being there in their offices... My office was loud so I didn't hear what he said completely clear so hopefully they are recording the webinar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 I talked to the team at AWS reinvent in the fall about thst. Imho something is coming very soon Sent from my STV100-1 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brent87 Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 I have an echo and just ordered the dot to see how it would integrate to C4 and my house sound system. I have the echo driver for C4 and it works great for lighting and TV, but frustrating for music since everything you would want to say is already a "reserved" word for Alexa. I like the echo's native music discovery, but the limit of only playing music via the echo's speaker (and not via my house surround speakers) is frustrating. The dot has audio out so could be the fix to this issue, but not sure how (or if) it will work with C4. I really hope that there is some way to network the dot to the regular echo...probably too wishful, but since you have to already own an echo to buy a dot (in theory anyway) then it should be the second echo for anyone who orders one. If it work anything like a sonos and can play the same source from multiple echos, that might get it most of the way to a solution. I would tell my "regular" echo (sitting in my kitchen) to play music via spotify and it would play on the echo dot that is connected to my home audio system (in the cabinets far away from my kitchen). All speculation for now but I"m hopeful.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vstar Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 4 hours ago, Jeffrobinson1327 said: Swipe right on the Dot item in the Amazon store. Add to cart, check out. I did it that way, don't have an echo yet but it worked. Jeff not following you, can you please elaborate? is this in their app i assume on either android or IOS? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOutsider Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 2 hours ago, vstar said: not following you, can you please elaborate? is this in their app i assume on either android or IOS? thanks Yup, use their amazon app on iOS. Search for Echo Dot, then swipe to the right on the listing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Ordered one. I want to run the audio output to the C4 amp in my equipment room. I have an unused Cat6 cable near where I would like the Dot. Can a 3.5mm to RJ45 plug converter be fabricated that would allow me to use that path to connect the Dot to the amp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnyfarm299 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Ordered one. I want to run the audio output to the C4 amp in my equipment room. I have an unused Cat6 cable near where I would like the Dot. Can a 3.5mm to RJ45 plug converter be fabricated that would allow me to use that path to connect the Dot to the amp? 3.5mm to RCA cable. SnapAV baluns on each side. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Thinking ahead ... Assuming you hooked up a Dot to an amp in the C4 system and you want to be able to distribute the audio output to any existing zone, how would you define that to C4? How would/could C4 know when to send the audio to the desired zone(s)? (The above assumes that a two-way Dot driver that could signal audio is coming doesn't exist) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malelan Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Thinking ahead ... Assuming you hooked up a Dot to an amp in the C4 system and you want to be able to distribute the audio output to any existing zone, how would you define that to C4? How would/could C4 know when to send the audio to the desired zone(s)? (The above assumes that a two-way Dot driver that could signal audio is coming doesn't exist) Thinking dot per room wired to audio switch with sense audio for the zone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnyfarm299 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 1 hour ago, malelan said: Thinking dot per room wired to audio switch with sense audio for the zone. Correct. Both the matrix amp and matrix switch have audio sense capability. Then just trigger media scenes. The only issue is by the time the amp turned on, the announcement would be half over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 5 hours ago, funnyfarm299 said: The only issue is by the time the amp turned on, the announcement would be half over. Well, that would seem to be a pretty big issue Does an "always on" amp need to be in the equation? Or does someone need to invent a TiVo like device to buffer audio for 30 seconds or so that gets connected between the Dot and the C4 amp? (I presume there isn't anything like this that already exists) Reading a few articles on the Amazon device product line, it seems like Amazon is serious about improving Alexa. Although it's really a Trojan horse ordering mechanism for getting you to buy stuff, Amazon also wants Alexa to be the VR interface in your home. C4 needs to get serious about native support for the Alexa line. Imagine if 4Sight or Amazon servers handled the skills processing for two way support to be seemless to the end user. The success of Alexa, Siri, and Catana have shown that consumers are embracing VR. It's on C4 to turn Alexa into the killer ap for HA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Would using a Dot as an audio input to a C4 controller provide more options/control then running it directly to an amp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnyfarm299 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Would using a Dot as an audio input to a C4 controller provide more options/control then running it directly to an amp? It would allow you to digitize the stream, but with that comes even more lag. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vstar Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 13 hours ago, AnOutsider said: Yup, use their amazon app on iOS. Search for Echo Dot, then swipe to the right on the listing. thanks. i will give that a try tonight on one of my ipads, unfortunately i only an android device with me during the day and the amazon android app does not have the same functionality as you describe as in the IOS app. thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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