Hello All,
I am assuming that I have too setup Google Assistant Relay separate from the Hubitat hub for voice notifications back through my google home speakers? They are available now for voice notifications from within RM4.
Thanks Again
Matt
I'm right there with you google home relay is awesome but google ruined it by adding broadcast from in the mix!
If you want your Google home devices to announce in the voice of the assistant then use cast web. Otherwise you can just do it with the chromecast integration (beta), and it will announce in the voices that Hubitat use
@SmartHomePrimer Damn! I wasn't fast enough on the draw!!! you beat me by two seconds. However, there are new drivers available that work a LOT better in HE.
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What would the advantage of the Google Assistant Relay be over the Chromecast Integration Beta? Chromecast seems to be the much simpler solution at first glance.
Thank You
People have had spotty results with the Chromecast Beta. Do a quick search here on the forum and you'll see a bunch of posts about the issues with it.
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My initial chromecast tests over 9 speakers are getting random speakers responding so far.
For TTS, there’s no advantage to Google Assistant Relay. Where Assistant Relay shines is its ability to control devices that HE cannot yet control, but Google Assistant can. If you add [CC] to the front of a Google Assistant Relay TTS message, it can control the device as if you had spoken to your Google home device, but the message will not be spoken out loud. If you use [CCC] in front of the TTS message, it does the same thing, but replies verbally to the written command.
It’s an invaluable tool. I use both Google Assistant Relay and Cast Web. Each has their strengths.
Also, both GAR and Cast-Web have the ability to issue "broadcasts" to Google Home devices instead of TTS. This allows you to send a voice notification to the device but not interrupt what is currently playing on the device. This is the primary reason that I use it. If I am preparing dinner and listening to a podcast, I don't want to have to restart that podcast just because HE wanted to tell me the washer was finished. If you use Google Home devices to listen to media of any kind with any regularity, that will become very annoying, very quickly.
I have been going through my logs in an attempt to rectify any warnings or error messages I get using custom apps. Below are two I get when I try to broadcast messages over my google homes. First set is on a home hub and the second is on the minis. Sometimes the devices playback sometimes they dont. What am I doing wrong? I basically am asking them to speak the command I want. Thanks for your assistance.
You're using Cast-Web? You have to turn down the logging level. That's why you're getting the logs you are. Also, where did you get those drivers? I pulled them all a long time ago.
I started using cast web maybe 3 to 4 months ago. Found the link from one of the threads here. Should I not be using them? I thought I turned down logging, but I will check it again.
If I'm allowed to use them:
- How do I resolve the errors and have it speak each time.
You are not getting an error with speech every time...you are getting a warning every time. You have to reduce the logging.
I am no longer supporting those drivers. So, you are welcome to use them but you're going to have to work through your issues on your own. That is why i pulled them. If you can find the link where they came from I will have it pulled so no one else uses them.
I have changed the logging level. I like the fact that I'm able to use GA's voice for TTS as opposed to Hubitat's. I tried the link again, but cant access. I may have installed it just before you pulled it.
Thanks for your replies !
You can also use Google Assistant Relay for the same thing. If you aren't using the volume control or the individual speakers for TTS and you're not playing music tracks for announcements, the GAR approach would be less overhead for the hub because you won't have to use all of those devices.
I'm sending TTS notifications to individual speakers. Garage speaker for departure, Kitchen for arrival announcements etc after running CC's over GAR. Together the two (GAR & CW) complement each other well.
If this isn't working for you then you can use the build in chromecast integration. You mentioned the native google voice....that might be part of your problem. That isn't supported on hubitat.
Yes, that is the downside. But since this Web-Cast is unsupported, I may (in the near future) move to the inbuilt integration.
Do you know if podcasts or songs continue playing after a notification through the built in Chromecast Integration?
I hate that you get the start of cast tone before the text plays using CC built in integration. I’m sure that’s a google thing. Would be awesome if there were a way to turn it off.
They don't continue playing with the Cast-Web when you send the notification to one speaker. But they do not with the native integration. They do with Google Assistant Relay.
And to clarify, when I say this isn't supported, I mean that no one is keeping up with issues with the driver. There also hasn't been a new release of this in 2 years so it's stable.
