Echo W/ Harmony tips?

[stevepius]

Just upgraded from Harmony 800 to Harmony Smart Control w/ Hub.  I installed the Harmony skill in my Alexa app.  After discovery, it found my Watch Fire TV and Watch TV activities.  However, when I say "alexa, watch fire tv" or "alexa, watch fire tv" it just makes that noise like it has no clue what I'm asking for.

Does anyone have experience with how to say the activity to get alexa to work properly?  If I say, "alexa, turn tv off" it does that fine.

Thanks!

[inconnu_homme]

You have to say, "Alexa, turn on Watch Fire TV."  You are better off renaming the activities (delete "Watch") with the Harmony app to more Alexa friendly names like "Fire TV" and "TV".  After that, have Alexa rediscover the renamed Harmony activities.  Then all you would have to say is "Alexa, turn on Fire TV"

[stevepius]

Thanks for the reply.  I will try and rename to see if that helps.  I gave the "turn on watch fire tv" a go and it said that it couldn't find a device or activity named watch fire tv...which is super odd...since that's exactly what it shows as in the Alexa app.

[Clemdog]

I'm watching this thread closely as I'm having the exact same problem...

[inconnu_homme]

Thanks for the reply.  I will try and rename to see if that helps.  I gave the "turn on watch fire tv" a go and it said that it couldn't find a device or activity named watch fire tv...which is super odd...since that's exactly what it shows as in the Alexa app.

This is how I get around problematic names.  Create a group in Alexa and give it any name like "Test".  Add only your Watch Fire TV activity to it.  If it works, then you can play around with the group name until you find one that works for you.  Start with "Fire TV" and so on.

[stevepius]

Ah that was going to by my next try!  So I actually first just tried the rename and it worked!  I just have "TV" and "Fire TV"  on my harmony now.  I did another discovery with alexa.  The super weird part is that it still shows the old name "watch fire tv" but if  i just say "alexa, turn on fire tv"  it  works perfect.  Mad world!

[inconnu_homme]

The super weird part is that it still shows the old name "watch fire tv" but if  i just say "alexa, turn on fire tv"  it  works perfect. 

Use the Alexa app to "forget" those old Harmony activities.

[rafar]

In my setup, when I tried "Alexa, turn-on TV" nothing happened. But when I tried "Alexa, turn of THE TV" then everything worked as expected. I wished Alexa was a little smarter and if it did not understand "TV", would just ask if I meant "The TV". On Apple devices, Siri does that.

[digisam]

Alexa does have trouble with letters as all she hears is the sounds "tee vee".

When you use the full "grammatically correct" command "turn on the TV" Alexa recognises "turn on the" and immediately knows that you are using a Smart Home Skill.

It is built in, this is from the docs:

Interacting with the Smart Home Skill API

Note this phrase a user can speak:
User: Alexa, turn on the living room lights
“turn on the…” is a phrase recognized by Alexa’s built-in interaction model. Alexa recognizes that this is a request to turn on a light.

Here are some other observations I have picked up when looking into naming devices:

Use the brand name i.e. "turn on the Samsung TV"

Use full stops (aka periods). I know that when making custom skills you have to define acronyms in a particular way. Here is an extract from the docs:

Note that acronyms and initialisms are indicated using all caps. Alternatively, periods may be used to separate the letters. Using lowercase without periods (such as “fire hd”) may lead to unreliable recognition since the spoken form may not be correctly detected.

This means the spoken letters in the name in Harmony/Alexa should at least be in caps (TV) but you might find you have better results with "t. v.".

You will definitely get better results by extending the name somehow e.g. "television", "main TV", "Sony TV", "Flatscreen TV".

Or... try phonetic variations e.g. "tee vee" or "tea vee"

 

[rafar]

Thank you Gigisam. Those are great tips. Will try them.