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New Josh Partnership and Driver


Dueport

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Big news today - looks like new improved deeper driver; better integration to Sirius and Tidal, and access to SnapOne distribution. Nice to see a deeper relationship here and hope the relationship continues to yield improvements and further integrations. 
 

https://joshdotai.medium.com/control4-extends-josh-ai-partnership-with-strategic-development-exclusive-distribution-19525e5c2811

 

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This is good news.  I tried to get my dealer to organise some Josh.ai hardware for me a couple of years ago as I was keen to try this out.  But I was not even able to get to quote stage - the problem with living in a remote corner of the world.

Can someone advise what hardware I would need if I want to test a one room setup with the intention of expanding this to a 7 or 8 room set up assuming that I was happy with the C4 integration?  

Based on my limited understanding of what Josh.ai offers, I would only use this for voice integration into Control4.  I currently use Alexa for this (and nothing else) but Alexa has a few significant pain points which I believe Josh.as overcomes.

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14 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said:

This is good news.  I tried to get my dealer to organise some Josh.ai hardware for me a couple of years ago as I was keen to try this out.  But I was not even able to get to quote stage - the problem with living in a remote corner of the world.

Can someone advise what hardware I would need if I want to test a one room setup with the intention of expanding this to a 7 or 8 room set up assuming that I was happy with the C4 integration?  

Based on my limited understanding of what Josh.ai offers, I would only use this for voice integration into Control4.  I currently use Alexa for this (and nothing else) but Alexa has a few significant pain points which I believe Josh.as overcomes.

I'm certainly not a dealer (just an enthusiastic homeowner) but I believe you would just need the Josh Micro plus license to test the service and integration.  If you wanted to go all in on the test you could get the Josh Micro plus Core and the license - more costly and involves install but then you'd get a good demo of the mics if that's the ultimate form factor you'd want to install in the home.  But again, I'm no expert and defer to actual dealers - I think @chopedogg88 is a dealer and could confirm and provide additional info.  If you decide to test it would love to hear your thoughts on it!

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21 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said:

This is good news.  I tried to get my dealer to organise some Josh.ai hardware for me a couple of years ago as I was keen to try this out.  But I was not even able to get to quote stage - the problem with living in a remote corner of the world.

Can someone advise what hardware I would need if I want to test a one room setup with the intention of expanding this to a 7 or 8 room set up assuming that I was happy with the C4 integration?  

Based on my limited understanding of what Josh.ai offers, I would only use this for voice integration into Control4.  I currently use Alexa for this (and nothing else) but Alexa has a few significant pain points which I believe Josh.as overcomes.

Out of curiosity, what are the pain points you are thinking of?  Like you, we use Alexa for voice control.  I looked into Josh, and my dealer met with them in person, because they are just down the street.  However, the discussion with Josh was somewhat slow-moving and cumbersome, and I ended up losing interest, because I didn't see a ton of compelling reasons to switch.  

This may be context-specific; we are primarily a Sonos/Roku household, and Alexa does a pretty good job integrating those particular devices, as well as C4 lighting and our Yale/C4 locks. And, we've all gotten used to Alexa commands to the point where the Josh natural language advantages are mitigated.  Nonetheless, I'm curious if you know of other functionality advantages that Josh possesses?  It is definitely cool technology, and I'm almost looking for reasons to want it.  😀

Thanks!

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22 hours ago, South Africa C4 user said:

This is good news.  I tried to get my dealer to organise some Josh.ai hardware for me a couple of years ago as I was keen to try this out.  But I was not even able to get to quote stage - the problem with living in a remote corner of the world.

Can someone advise what hardware I would need if I want to test a one room setup with the intention of expanding this to a 7 or 8 room set up assuming that I was happy with the C4 integration?  

Based on my limited understanding of what Josh.ai offers, I would only use this for voice integration into Control4.  I currently use Alexa for this (and nothing else) but Alexa has a few significant pain points which I believe Josh.as overcomes.

As far as I know, Josh.ai is *only* available in the US and Canada for now.

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7 hours ago, DLite said:

Out of curiosity, what are the pain points you are thinking of?  Like you, we use Alexa for voice control.  I looked into Josh, and my dealer met with them in person, because they are just down the street.  However, the discussion with Josh was somewhat slow-moving and cumbersome, and I ended up losing interest, because I didn't see a ton of compelling reasons to switch.  

This may be context-specific; we are primarily a Sonos/Roku household, and Alexa does a pretty good job integrating those particular devices, as well as C4 lighting and our Yale/C4 locks. And, we've all gotten used to Alexa commands to the point where the Josh natural language advantages are mitigated.  Nonetheless, I'm curious if you know of other functionality advantages that Josh possesses?  It is definitely cool technology, and I'm almost looking for reasons to want it.  😀

Thanks!

My main pain points on Alexa are:

1. Length of time it takes to respond to a command (she is quick for the second command if one gives a few in quick succession). I am not sure how much of the speed issue is a South Africa issue but I have seen others complain about this.

2. Even using routines, she has reserved words which cause problems at times.  For instance I have a routine “Alexa, open Jacuzzi cover” which used to work perfectly but is now a disaster because she tries to convince me to install some sauna and jacuzzi skill.

3. Lack of awareness of what room one is in (not a big issue as I have programmed around this but every time I add new things, this takes quite a bit of programming.

4. Lack of decent music integration (I use Tidal, so the fact that Josh.ai plays nicely with C4 and Tidal is exciting).  I understand that Alexa has improved over time, but is still not great and I have programmed a lot of music integration anyway.  E.g. “turn on WhiteHeart in the bedroom” or “turn on DeGarmo and Key Outside” will play random tracks from the relevant artist in the relevant area.  What I would really like (and am definitely not programming!) is the ability to be in the bedroom and say “Josh, play Prayer by Petra” or “play Unseen Power by Petra” and have Tidal play the song “Prayer” or the album “Unseen Power” in the bedroom.

 

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12 hours ago, DLite said:

Out of curiosity, what are the pain points you are thinking of?  Like you, we use Alexa for voice control.  I looked into Josh, and my dealer met with them in person, because they are just down the street.  However, the discussion with Josh was somewhat slow-moving and cumbersome, and I ended up losing interest, because I didn't see a ton of compelling reasons to switch.  

This may be context-specific; we are primarily a Sonos/Roku household, and Alexa does a pretty good job integrating those particular devices, as well as C4 lighting and our Yale/C4 locks. And, we've all gotten used to Alexa commands to the point where the Josh natural language advantages are mitigated.  Nonetheless, I'm curious if you know of other functionality advantages that Josh possesses?  It is definitely cool technology, and I'm almost looking for reasons to want it.  😀

Thanks!

They dont sell your information

it has better language response and you can speak more naturally with the devices

is that worth the price tag?  That is up to the user.

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12 hours ago, eggzlot said:

They dont sell your information

it has better language response and you can speak more naturally with the devices

is that worth the price tag?  That is up to the user.

100% agree here.

Note that the price tag is not just the hardware though, for many users (not so much many on here, but i general) the setup may require a lot more dealer involvement on the programming end, which of course adds cost as well.

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The more we play with Josh the more the difference between this and voice assistants becomes clear. It's really an automation platform driven by voice. We frankly see more utility (at least as things stand now) in selling it as an alternative to Control4 rather than a voice layer. If you stick with their sandbox of products it's a pretty remarkable platform. 

That being said, the hunger for voice doesn't seem to be materializing beyond the set of skills that Amazon does well - asking for some music, asking about the weather, etc. so it remains to be seen what the trajectory will be for voice. I personally have not been able to get used to it despite years of trying. 

An interesting space to watch and experiment in for sure. 

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I find voice very useful for a few (very few) repeat commands in very specific locations.  
 

1. Lieing in bed and opening / closing blinds

2. Sitting in the jacuzzi and turning in jets / the blower / music

3. Sitting in front of the TV and turning on the aircon or the fireplace 

And that is pretty much it for me.  My wife will  use it for 1 above and that is as far as it goes.

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  • 1 month later...

I find very voice useful in a bunch of instances:

  • Setting a timer while you are cooking or doing something else where your hands are occupied or gooey "Alexa, set times for 10 minutes"
  • Walking into a new room that is dark with your hands full "Alexa, turn on basement lights"

To name two.

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On 11/10/2021 at 5:38 PM, RyanE said:

I've always asserted that there are people who will never want to talk to their home.  I'm in that category.

I'm sure there are also a good number who do want to talk to their home.

My question has always been how big that group is.

:)

RyanE

Just seen this - We are over 59 years old and use Alexa for command mentioned above

However my nephews when they come over (Teenagers') go crazy on it and can spend a couple hours programming new

ones which I will never use - But them - They love it 

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I always thought voice assistants were a bit of a gimmick but having used it with C4 for around a yr I really like it. Use it all the time for lights as mentioned but also use it to open blinds, activate voice scenes like party which set light scenes and chooses playlist etc. one we use all the time is one for going to bed which activates a macro for tights off/ on av off etc.

 the bit with Josh Ai that really appeals ( apart from the privacy of course) is the  better music integration( I believe you do need a Sonos port if not using Pandora) but it knows what room your in and plays accordingly. Also the compound commands meaning you can give it a list of commands in one go. Just wish the price was more attractive especially the subscription part. 
 
would be cool if it could be integrated into touchscreens👍

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/10/2021 at 12:08 PM, South Africa C4 user said:

I find voice very useful for a few (very few) repeat commands in very specific locations.  
 

1. Lieing in bed and opening / closing blinds

2. Sitting in the jacuzzi and turning in jets / the blower / music

3. Sitting in front of the TV and turning on the aircon or the fireplace 

And that is pretty much it for me.  My wife will  use it for 1 above and that is as far as it goes.

What Jacuzzi interface do you use for this? 

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  • 11 months later...
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