I’ve done heaps of searching, but am getting very overwhelmed with all the information out there and then getting lost. I’m hoping I can get some help from others who know what they are doing; in a very new user with a Vera 3, and have never done home automation before.
What I want is this-
Firstly I want to play music through my Sonos speakers which I bought only yesterday.
I want notifications to be announced over the speakers.
If music is playing, it needs to pause for the announcement.
At the moment, I have this:
Vera 3
A Raspberry Pi with xbmc which is currently connected to my amp for my home theater which can’t be controlled by Vera (it’s a Pioneer, but has no Ethernet port)
Android tablets which I want to use for input.
I want to use Google Now on the tablets, for the automation, using Tasker and Autovera. When I do a voice search, I want the reply to go through the Sonos.
I’m happy to buy me equipment to make this happen, so if you think I need something, please let me know.
I’ll tell you what… I thought Tasker was a lot of work to get my head around, but it’s nothing compared to this lol!
First, you should install the Sonos plugin and be able to click Play and pause in Vera and other stuffs.
Then, with the current plugin, you can write sentences directly in the device corresponding to your sonos and they will Play thru your sonos.
You can also, write a scene and make custom answer sur with variable from Vera.
For exemple, I use Voxcommando for voice command. If I say : what is the temp?rature inside? The scene related to inside temperature starts and it create a sentence with the current temperature and Play it thru sonos. Then if music was playing, it resume.
When you send a voice playback, the music is automatically pause and resume after it. No need to worry about it.
Welcome to nostalgic world. There is a seperate Sonos group here. On main page of forums search for “sonos” and you’ll all you need to work with Sonos.
As others have mentioned, the sonos plugin for the vera already does everything you want. just enter the IP of your zone and you’re off.
Just a heads up with respect to tasker and autovera. Autovera works like a champ, but I did run into one issue that I haven’t taken the time to run to ground yet. if you tell autovera to send a say command to vera, spaces get mangled. “this is a test” gets spoken out the sonos as “thisPLUSisPLUSaPLUStest”–which is of course completely useless and impossible to understand. the sonos sounds like it’s having a word seizure while screaming “plus” a lot.
As I said I’m not entirely sure what the root cause of that is, but it appears to be introduced by the way that autovera passes parameters over http.
[quote=“SM2k, post:5, topic:183219”]As others have mentioned, the sonos plugin for the vera already does everything you want. just enter the IP of your zone and you’re off.
Just a heads up with respect to tasker and autovera. Autovera works like a champ, but I did run into one issue that I haven’t taken the time to run to ground yet. if you tell autovera to send a say command to vera, spaces get mangled. “this is a test” gets spoken out the sonos as “thisPLUSisPLUSaPLUStest”–which is of course completely useless and impossible to understand. the sonos sounds like it’s having a word seizure while screaming “plus” a lot.
As I said I’m not entirely sure what the root cause of that is, but it appears to be introduced by the way that autovera passes parameters over http.[/quote]
The text has to be encoded/escaped, meaning for example replacing blank by %20. If not done by the application, you have to do yourself before invoking the command.
[quote=“lolodomo, post:6, topic:183219”][quote=“SM2k, post:5, topic:183219”]As others have mentioned, the sonos plugin for the vera already does everything you want. just enter the IP of your zone and you’re off.
Just a heads up with respect to tasker and autovera. Autovera works like a champ, but I did run into one issue that I haven’t taken the time to run to ground yet. if you tell autovera to send a say command to vera, spaces get mangled. “this is a test” gets spoken out the sonos as “thisPLUSisPLUSaPLUStest”–which is of course completely useless and impossible to understand. the sonos sounds like it’s having a word seizure while screaming “plus” a lot.
As I said I’m not entirely sure what the root cause of that is, but it appears to be introduced by the way that autovera passes parameters over http.[/quote]
The text has to be encoded/escaped, meaning for example replacing blank by %20. If not done by the application, you have to do yourself before invoking the command.[/quote]
Nope, I instinctively knew to try that. guess what the sonos says? “thisPERCENT TWENTYisPERCENT TWENTYaPERCENT TWENTYtest”.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to derail the thread. After all, I’m pretty sure the issue is more related to autovera or tasker than sonos. I only mentioned this issue because @Homer indicated he was new-ish to vera–and I know he’s going to run headlong into this once he gets his sonos plugin working and moves back to working with his droid.
In UI7 can you setup a scene to have the Sonos say something?
When I make a scene and pick the Sonos as the device, it says I can’t do anything with it.
[quote=“mrv777, post:10, topic:183219”]In UI7 can you setup a scene to have the Sonos say something?
When I make a scene and pick the Sonos as the device, it says I can’t do anything with it.
Thanks!![/quote]
I don’t remember exactly how to do it but it was possible with the UI7 version I tested in the past. You have even two choices like in UI5, either using luup script or using another page to select the action.
I totally get where you are with this. UI7 baffled me at first but I’ve got it down for TTS alerts and actions.
Here’s the process:
Go in to “Scenes”
“Add Scene”
Select your trigger
Select “Next Step”
Then select “Next Step”. Don’t define any action just yet.
You should now be at Step 3: Finish the Scene
Select “Advanced Editor”
“Add First Action”
Select the Sonos from the drop down
Then select what you want to do, in this case try “Say”
Add some text to the “Text” box
Set the volume, I usually pick a number over 60 so it’s loud enough for me to hear it
Then, and this is critical, click “Add”
Then “Done”
Give your scene a name and then click “Finish”
I totally get where you are with this. UI7 baffled me at first but I’ve got it down for TTS alerts and actions.
Here’s the process:
Go in to “Scenes”
“Add Scene”
Select your trigger
Select “Next Step”
Then select “Next Step”. Don’t define any action just yet.
You should now be at Step 3: Finish the Scene
Select “Advanced Editor”
“Add First Action”
Select the Sonos from the drop down
Then select what you want to do, in this case try “Say”
Add some text to the “Text” box
Set the volume, I usually pick a number over 60 so it’s loud enough for me to hear it
Then, and this is critical, click “Add”
Then “Done”
Give your scene a name and then click “Finish”
Try testing it out and see how you go.
Good luck![/quote]
I won’t be able to test that until I get home, but I was able to find all the options. Thank you!! That’s just what I was looking for
I totally get where you are with this. UI7 baffled me at first but I’ve got it down for TTS alerts and actions.
Here’s the process:
Go in to “Scenes”
“Add Scene”
Select your trigger
Select “Next Step”
Then select “Next Step”. Don’t define any action just yet.
You should now be at Step 3: Finish the Scene
Select “Advanced Editor”
“Add First Action”
Select the Sonos from the drop down
Then select what you want to do, in this case try “Say”
Add some text to the “Text” box
Set the volume, I usually pick a number over 60 so it’s loud enough for me to hear it
Then, and this is critical, click “Add”
Then “Done”
Give your scene a name and then click “Finish”
Try testing it out and see how you go.
Good luck![/quote]
Thanks for posting this (Yes, I realize this is 2 years old)…
When I build this scene, my sonos will “say” to me what I want the first time the scene runs, after that, it no longer works. This seems to be the case with all TTS for me. If I just go in and manually type in some TTS, it works, but then it will never work again until I reboot my VeraLite
What TTS service did you configure? from what you describe it sounds like you are using Google. If so, try the Microsoft TTS as it seems to be far more reliable.
Thanks heaps everyone for your tips!! Time to start playing around ;D