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Control4 announces Amazon Echo integration


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Starving kid steal an apple from a fruit stand. Punishment by law for stealing is to cut off a hand. You'd be following the law to bring this kid to the police and watch him have his hand cut off.

'Right'?

Seems like an extreme example? What exactly is C4's 'crime' against the UK standards here? They aren't selling anything. Make no direct monetary advancement on it. Yet, following the lettering of the law, they may (or may not - I'd still be surprised if they get more than a warning - even if it gets that far) have been in error.

Following 'law' by the very letter, not it's intend. Very 'American' of our dear Brit.

My 'grief' is more with the whole attitude behind it - not with the exact right or wrong to the letter.

And no. It can't be written off as 'British humour'.

I'm guessing that in all cultures that chop off a minors hand for theft there are lax advertising rules, but Bengazi.

The UK regulatory regimes are very principal driven and looking at this, I think the difference is the principal is that control4 or any other company need to be aware of the what they say and not recycle out an us press release with some spellings changed. Rules based regimes like the US work differently.

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1 hour ago, SMHarman said:

I'm guessing that in all cultures that chop off a minors hand for theft there are lax advertising rules, but Bengazi.

You'd be surprised where that's still the law - and how strict there advertisement rules are.

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The UK regulatory regimes are very principal driven and looking at this, I think the difference is the principal is that control4 or any other company need to be aware of the what they say and not recycle out an us press release with some spellings changed. Rules based regimes like the US work differently.

Yet that is not the reasoning behind the reporting, based on the wording used.

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1 hour ago, Gary Leeds UK said:

As we say at work, let's step away from vehicle.

lets see what the people who get paid for sorting these thing out say. 

HAH! That's a lot like saying, let's let lawyers figure out a court-case, because THEY aren't biased.

They'd be the ONLY true winners in this scenario - as you just provided them with a job :lol:

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I am looking forward to using my new Gen 2 Echo Dots that are in my mailbox at home.  But I must say, this thread is the most depressing train wreck I have ever tried to read.  If I was an alien I might destroy this planet based on how you all treat each other here.  Geez.  I thought we were a community.

 

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Hi,

So I got this set up and love it so far.  

I'm going to try and set up a music playlist next.  I have a keypad in my kitchen where i hit the button once it plays a playlist from Napster and if I hit it twice it plays a playlist from Apple Music, and if I hit it 3 times it plays a play list from Amazon Music.  

What do I create in Home Edition (or can I) where something like Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Napstar would be discovered by Alexa? It seems like I could then just program off those to hit that key pad button 1, 2, or 3 times (I've done this programming for my Apple Watch and it works great).  These were Custom Buttons for the Apple Watch, will Alexia discover those also?

Also, it would seem awesome if at some point Alexa would always know to play music through my control4 (or maybe my Airplay that are set up on Control4), so I could just use Alexa to play Amazon Music on Control4, and I could ask her to play anything and she would as she does without control4.  Anyway something like this might be coming?

Thanks :)

Dave

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To do custom voice scenes, a dealer must add the voice scene driver and create the scene names.

Once those are created, you can do the programming with HE.

Best practices for creating the scene names are to avoid media-related names. Saying "Alexa, turn on Apple Music" will probably not get sent to the C4 skill. Saying "Alexa, turn on Kitchen Music" is much better.

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Hmm, probably depends on driver integration- i.e, which smart lock are you using?  Some allow locking- but not unlocking- by voice command (which I think just makes sense from a security aspect).  One has to be careful or end up with unintended consequences:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2016/09/17/neighbor-unlocks-front-door-without-permission-with-the-help-of-apples-siri/#1270f6675b99

 

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On ‎2016‎-‎10‎-‎21 at 6:22 PM, thegreatheed said:

To do custom voice scenes, a dealer must add the voice scene driver and create the scene names.

Once those are created, you can do the programming with HE.

Best practices for creating the scene names are to avoid media-related names. Saying "Alexa, turn on Apple Music" will probably not get sent to the C4 skill. Saying "Alexa, turn on Kitchen Music" is much better.

Hi,

I bought Epic driver and my dealer installed, after I created some triggers same as your scene name with programming and Alexa found well. So when I call Alexa, turn on Kitchen Music she said OK so nothing no sound... can you help me?

I work with Compose HE 2.9 same as my HC800

Thanks

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If she says OK, and your desired outcome didn't happen, then it is a matter of your programming being incorrect.  Test your programming on its own using the Execute button.  Also you can try setting debug mode to PRINT in the Epic Echo driver, and watch the LUA output when you give the command, to make sure that she heard the correct command (for example, sometimes Echo hears OFF instead of UP, and so the wrong event gets executed.

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58 minutes ago, chopedogg88 said:

by the way...has anyone tested our (Epic Systems) driver with the new generation of Dots?  I assume they will work just fine but was curious if anyone has tried yet.  I just got mine today and need to test this week.

Excited to try... I have 6 arriving later this week... sadly, not yet!

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12 hours ago, chopedogg88 said:

by the way...has anyone tested our (Epic Systems) driver with the new generation of Dots?  I assume they will work just fine but was curious if anyone has tried yet.  I just got mine today and need to test this week.

2nd gen work the same as the previous.   One nice thing is their ability for only one to respond when close to each other.   We don't have to call one 'echo' and the other 'alexa' when the are close.

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5 hours ago, chopedogg88 said:

Great, thank you for the update on that. Other than that, do the new Dots do anything different than the old ones?  Does a firmware update enable the old ones to work the same way as the new ones?

Yes, and the firmware update for the Echos and original Dots is automatic and should be done by now.

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On 10/15/2016 at 3:53 PM, AP-123 said:

I used the: LINESO 3.5mm Stereo To RCA Red White Audio Balun Extender Over Cat5 Anyone else doing this?  

I connected the dot to my C4 8 channel AMP (input 4).  Haven't setup programming yet until I fix the volume. 

The audio is barely audible.  Am I missing something?  I checked the amp and there doesn't seem to be any help from adjusting the gain.

Thought I'd bump this to see if anyone has any suggestions.  Thanks

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Does the Control4 driver put any element of the Amazon Alexa companion app on the touchscreens? I realise the rationale may not be obvious given the purpose is voice control but the companion apps allows you to browse and play audible books which would be a great way of getting audible into Control4

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1 hour ago, bdo21 said:

Does the Control4 driver put any element of the Amazon Alexa companion app on the touchscreens? I realise the rationale may not be obvious given the purpose is voice control but the companion apps allows you to browse and play audible books which would be a great way of getting audible into Control4

no, there is no way today to do that (with any app or driver)

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6 hours ago, AP-123 said:

Thought I'd bump this to see if anyone has any suggestions.  Thanks

I don't have Cat6 to my location, would something like this work as an alternative:

Hi,

I have my Alexa set up and love the light and voice controls, but I really want to use Alexa feature with Amazon prime to talk to her and play anything I want and have it come over control4 speakers.

Is this possible with something like:

Hook something like the Belkin SongStream Bluetooth HD Music Reciever up to an input on my Control4 Matrix switch.  Pair my Amazon puck with that Bluetooth receiver.

Program Control4 so whenever it senses a single on that position on the Control4 Matrix to turn on my speakers on the first floor.

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Hi, I had the Epic Systems driver installed last night and when I check it in Composer HE, in the License Status it says "Activating license...".

 

Anything I can do on my end, or do I need to get things resolved on the dealer side?

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