Alexa voice scene editing in Composer HE?

[carvelln]

Hi all

My dealer has been helping me setup Alexa voice scenes/commands for my living room entertainment system.  Some work and some don't.  I'm able to turn on/off the TV and switch between some devices (like Plex, HTPC, cable).

However, we haven't been able to figure out how to turn to different cable channels using Alexa.  My dealer set up individual scenes for each channel (like HBO, CNN, ESPN) which I see in the Alexa app (after discovery) as well as the mycontrol4 website under Alexa device.  However, when I say "turn on HBO", nothing works.  Alex will say something along the lines of "that device cannot be found in my account".  My dealer then relabeled the channels by their number and I tried saying  "turn on channel 603", but that didn't work either. 

I have two general questions:

1) Does anyone have any insight for me or my dealer on why the channel switching via Alexa may not be working?

2) I have composer HE and I wanted to see if I could edit the voice scenes myself.  However, I cannot find them anywhere in the program.  Where am I able to find the voice scenes and how do I edit them?  Someone in another thread mentioned that I can add, delete, and edit scenes through the "voice scene" driver but where do I find the driver list in composer HE?

 

[msgreenf]

4 minutes ago, carvelln said:

Hi all

My dealer has been helping me setup Alexa voice scenes/commands for my living room entertainment system.  Some work and some don't.  I'm able to turn on/off the TV and switch between some devices (like Plex, HTPC, cable).

However, we haven't been able to figure out how to turn to different cable channels using Alexa.  My dealer set up individual scenes for each channel (like HBO, CNN, ESPN) which I see in the Alexa app (after discovery) as well as the mycontrol4 website under Alexa device.  However, when I say "turn on HBO", nothing works.  Alex will say something along the lines of "that device cannot be found in my account".  My dealer then relabeled the channels by their number and I tried saying  "turn on channel 603", but that didn't work either. 

I have two general questions:

1) Does anyone have any insight for me or my dealer on why the channel switching via Alexa may not be working?

2) I have composer HE and I wanted to see if I could edit the voice scenes myself.  However, I cannot find them anywhere in the program.  Where am I able to find the voice scenes and how do I edit them?  Someone in another thread mentioned that I can add, delete, and edit scenes through the "voice scene" driver but where do I find the driver list in composer HE?

 

you need to use the exact name of the scene as your alexa voice command, are you?

[carvelln]

Yes, I am.  All the scenes he added regarding devices work perfectly.  I can switch between Plex, Netflix, playstation 4, cable with no problem whatsoever.  But none of the cable channels work. 

I did notice one thing.  Initially, my dealer put spaces in between the letters of a channel.  For example, he labeled one scene N B C and saying "turn on NBC" yielded the device-could-not-be-found error but then I revised the name to NBC, without spaces.  Now, alexa will actually accept the command and say "OK" when I say "turn on NBC" but the channel won't actually change.

Do you know where I can edit the voice scenes within composer HE?

 

[msgreenf]

Did he do the right programming on the scene? In he go to programming tab then select the right voice scene and look at his progrsmming

[carvelln]

We're still troubleshooting and may be close to a fix.  However, I still am unable to find any of the voice scenes in the programming tab when I go into composer myself. 

[saluki2007]

It may be located in a different place in your system, but this is what you are looking for if your dealer installed the driver.

[carvelln]

Thanks very much!  This is what I needed.  I'll check it when I get home tonight.  If my dealer was able to create voice scenes, then the driver should have been installed already, correct?

[msgreenf]

4 minutes ago, carvelln said:

Thanks very much!  This is what I needed.  I'll check it when I get home tonight.  If my dealer was able to create voice scenes, then the driver should have been installed already, correct?

correct

[lippavisual]

I've had the best success with programming Alexa scenes by using the following:

alexa, turn on (room) (action).

for example, my scene is called 1st floor Pandora.

alrxa, turn on 1st floor pandora.  All zones on 1st floor turn on to my last channel selected. 

 

Dont forget to have alexa rediscover devices. Just ask her to. 

[carvelln]

Ok, we're making headway!  We finally got the channel switching to work and, thanks to everyone here, I finally found the voice scenes in composer HE!!  Hurrah!

I can access the existing scenes but I cannot see how to edit them?  Also, how do I create a new voice scene? 

[carvelln]

Ok, I found where I can create new scenes in Monitoring/System.  So I just assign a name here and then the programming happens in the programming tab? 

I also see where I can delete or rename existing scenes.  Is that the limit of editing that can be done to existing scenes?

Lastly, I was wondering why I could not get Alexa to unlock my front door smartlock ("turn off front door") and I see that there is a category called PROHIBITED SCENES and "turn off front door" is listed there. I'm assuming that command is disabled for security reasons?  So some random person can't just come to my front door and unlock it by screaming for alexa to turn off the lock?

 

[funnyfarm299]

33 minutes ago, carvelln said:

Lastly, I was wondering why I could not get Alexa to unlock my front door smartlock ("turn off front door") and I see that there is a category called PROHIBITED SCENES and "turn off front door" is listed there. I'm assuming that command is disabled for security reasons?  So some random person can't just come to my front door and unlock it by screaming for alexa to turn off the lock?

 

Exactly. There's certain functions that are prohibited, including (but not limited to) closing garage doors, unlocking doors, disarming security systems, turning on fireplaces.

35 minutes ago, carvelln said:

Ok, I found where I can create new scenes in Monitoring/System.  So I just assign a name here and then the programming happens in the programming tab? 

I also see where I can delete or rename existing scenes.  Is that the limit of editing that can be done to existing scenes?

Create a scene, then create relevant programming. That's all there is to it (apart from discovering again)

If you need to change what happens with an existing scene, go into programming, find the existing scene, then edit the actions.

[carvelln]

Thank you very much!  I am slowly getting used to navigating around the program. 

So I am currently just playing around with Alexa cable channel commands and would appreciate some guidance. 

I am trying to duplicate some of the voice scenes my dealer created for turning the cable to a certain channel (and turning the tv on if its off)

 His script for "Turn on NBC" looks like this:

--> Select the channel "4-WOIO-D1" in Living

When I click on the Living room itself, I see an option called "Select Media".  I click on that and see premade channels under Broadcast video.  Each of the channels comes with an official channel icon/artwork.  However, when I go into Media and add a channel myself, I don't seem to be able to pull down similar metadata for the channels I add. Is that something only a dealer can do through Composer Pro?

 

[FaraDayLight]

There is a way to work around the "Prohibited" actions.  Instead of using a relay and connecting it to your door lock, use a generic relay, connect it to a random unused relay on one of your controllers.  Make a new "Door Unlock" Voice command.  When you want to unlock the door, say "Door Unlock On", which activates the relay, which physically does nothing but switches to its open state.  You can then program off the relays events "when the relay opens" "unlock smartlock".  This breaks the traceable chain of commands the way the driver was built to detect prohibitions.  I've done it and it works.  Also, be sure to set programming to set the relay back to the opposing state when the smart lock is locked.  Otherwise, the voice command will function, but the lock won't unlock because the relay didn't change state.

*** This should only be used where security isn't an issue for things like pet gates or where a smartlock is used as an expensive remote latch.  If you enable the front door of your house with this technique, you're creating a massive security hole in your house and I do not recommend it.  However, I can see and understand many applications where having a voice command to open a latch would be useful in those situations where the lock is really just an automated holding pin and not meant to be a secure lock.