I am trying to convert some of my TTS announcements (eventually all) over to HomePod minis and away from Amazon Alexa. I am doing so by using the AirPlay integration and the text to speech action in Rule Machine.
One thing that is missed by some members of the household is before Alexa will make an announcement the speaker would give a chime/tone before it starts to speak. The HomePod mini via the AirPlay integration just simply starts speaking.
Does anyone know of a way or if it is even possible to get the HomePod mini to give a chime/tone before it starts to speak.
As you know I've switched over from Google speakers to Homepod minis for announcements, and I also miss the tone the Google/Nest speakers play at the start of announcements.
After getting several complaints, I actually did that. . Then there was complaints of that so I had it start the message with “imagine you hear the Alexa tone”. After a few looks from the wife we abandoned both those strategies.
I'm just the opposite. I didn't want the ding before the message.
I had several Homepod Mini's scattered thru the house. One in almost every room. They all worked fine for over a year. Then Response time kept getting worse. Sometimes a delay of 15 seconds or more to make the announcement. And it would not always say the complete message. After way too much time messing with them I went back to Google units which I still had. They have been working very well but do have the initial ding.
I hadn't removed the Homepod's yet. After I added some Thread devices I was experiencing some dropoff's with those. After a lot of research there was some suggestions that too many TBR's was an issue. I started removing the mini's. And my problems disappeared. I have one mini and an Apple TV 4K left and everything works great. I have experimented with announcements on the one mini and it appears the former problems have been resolved. Maybe I just had too many of them. If there was some way to turn off the TBR on those I probably would re-install them. My Google's are old enough they don't have the thread radios.
Did you make sure that all your minis were joining the same thread network? In theory all being Apple they should but I have read they don’t always. I have read the same thing about having multiple TBR’s but it was because they were creating multiple thread networks and then each network was trying to “talk” over each other. Also, the thread devices didn’t all join the same thread network so when that happened the networks that were getting trumped the devices didn’t respond. I have no idea if that is actually accurate or not.
For me the missing chime isn’t a big deal but the wife and kid both like it.
There are apps such as the Eve app that will tell you what thread networks you have. I also run HA so I have my HomePod Mini and my Aqara M3 joined to one network (via the Aqara App). HA will show you all your thread networks as well.
I have another HomePod Mini coming so I will get to see how they react when it gets here.
I remembered the EVE after I did the post. Also have the Discovery app that shows that. I might try adding some Mini's back in one at a time and see what happens. Not today tho. If they show a differenct thread network I don't see how to change it tho.
Setting or playing a track from Apple Music still does not yet work. I have an Apple Music subscription. Tried copying track URLs signed in, signed out, and even a couple free "radio" stations if you don't have a subscription.
I have also tried every part of the URL from sharing a song - complete url to successively removing the beginning parts until its just a song number. Each time, the loaded file reverts back to whatever was playing through a direct voice command.
Finally, tried a local file on the hub. Same behavior.
@velvetfoot @gopher.ny - let me know which thread I should use to follow through with whatever testing or information or logs that you need.
Hooked up one of my Mini's. It didn't seem to affect the thread network this time. The Discovery app showed it on the same thread network.
However, when comparing it to the Google Mini's, It came in a distant second. Testing voice control the Google was a couple seconds faster in responding. Testing announcements again Google was several seconds faster responding. The only advantage to the Apple Mini's appears to be the lack of the inital ding.
EDIT: Might point out something. If I say SIRI to my phone to turn on something it is very fast. Much faster than the MINI.
I will look more into that tonight when I return home. It’s good information. HA shows I have one network that I have marked as preferred which is the HomePod mini and the Aqara M3 together. As he stated in my short read the Amazon is a mess because they have their own network and will not join the other one. When I tried to use the Amazon network a long time ago devices dropped like crazy, slow response, you name it and I abandoned thread for a while. Since I got these others just to test thread devices (I really do need them) I have put a couple on the HomePod/Aqara network and they to this point seemed to be rock solid. To make sure they joined that one even though it was preferred in HA I unplugged the Echos for a couple minutes before.
Thank you for the feedback. What Discovery app are you referencing? Normally the HomePod mini I have is right with or one second or so behind the Alexa devices I have also announcing at this time. Not really enough difference to be an issue. That may change as I add another one. It’s a good experiment.
The announcement delay doesn't really bother me that much. It's the voice control response that is disconcerting. More to the better half than me. We could probably live with it but since 2 of the Google devices are clocks, which we use, doesn't make much sense to change at this time. As much as I prefer the Apple system sometimes one has to compromise...
