So I have my BI video system in my home office. It announces the events through the speaker, but it is hard to hear from the Livingroom. I have an Alexa Studio speaker in there. Has anyone figure out a way to make announcements using Alexa or the Google Home device?
I have an "audio sending" app that can send the audio from the BI Server to another PC, but this requires me to have my laptop in the LR always on and connected to the audio server.
I know Amazon is a closed ecosystem, but wasn't sure if anyone ran across any skills or something so we can use our Smart (stupid) speakers for more than weather and turning lights on and off.
Had a similar situation. I found an unused camera that was no longer being used because of lens issue. It had Mic & Speaker plugs.
I set it up as a normal camera (static IP), setting the video to the lowest resolution, then connecting to BI. I even covered the lens. Then took an inexpensive desktop speaker system powered by usb (to a usb wall adapter) and used that by plugging it into the speaker plug of the camera.
Now I can send sound alerts to anywhere I put this camera & speakers. And it's portable.
Push/SMS notifications to your phone is a better solution. But, Eh! It was interesting to do. I like finding ways to use older parts lying around.
Do you use Home Automation or know how to use Node Red ? I use Homeseer HS4, and I can send MQTT control messages from BI5 to Homeseer for various things. One use is to turn on outside lights when CPAI has identified a person, but there are many more.
Homeseer also has the ability to send tts messages to be spoken by Alexa speakers, but I think it takes one too many steps to get there - it uses "Voice Monkey" to trigger it which works most of the time, but seems to stop at odd times. I think the Google mini tts worked better but I don't have them anymore. They also have a Chromecast plugin that can do tts. I expect other HA software could do similar things. Node Red is for brainiacs but should be able to do this
So, low tech or high tech
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Yes, TimG, I was running HomeSeer back in the day when X-10 was still 'the big thing' lol - even before Z-Wave and all those other new protocols. I have since retired and repurposed my HomeSeer server as it became redundant in the scheme of things. Although I can see some great use cases reappearing.
For me - I want to keep things simple. One of the things I wanted to achieved as my automation grew was to eliminate multi-hop events and actions. My Home Lab is rather extensive and keeping things simplistic as far as network or server troubleshooting is high on my list. So being able to fire a script or command from my BI server direct would be ideal. For now, I will just keep using the methods I already employ until something better comes along. Sure would be awesome if someone wrote a skill for Alexa or Google Home that worked with BI. My coding days are behind me or I'd give it a go. Far too much to do these days and sadly, not enough time. Semi-retirement is a target phrase that better translates to: "He can do it"
Yup, I still have a CM11 and enough X10 gear to keep a museum happy I much preferred the Z-Wave mesh networking, but Zigbee has come on leaps and bounds recently and I can now buy Zigbee sockets (Appliance modules in X10 speak) for £6 from Ikea. I don't miss the CLACK of an appliance module, but then those relays never got stuck. Must have a good return spring.
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I much preferred the Z-Wave mesh networking, but Zigbee has come on leaps and bounds recently and I can now buy Zigbee sockets (Appliance modules in X10 speak) for £6 from Ikea. I don't miss the CLACK of an appliance module, but then those relays never got stuck. Must have a good return spring.