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Help me purchase the right Google Home/Mini device.
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21-11-2017 5:27pm#1Hi all,
This is my first foray into voice activated home automation. I do have a Tado thermostat to control my heating and a I have some sort of non brand WiFi plug for a night light which I can turn on and off via an app on my Android phone, set a schedule for etc.
I've a family subscription to Spotify (4 family members in the house each with their own account) and I've a 10 year old Sony NAS E35HD Giga Hi Fi system in my main living room which has decent speakers but terrible connection options for playing Spotify other than an Audio In port a (Sony Proprietary?) Digital Media Port and a USB port.
If I could get a solution where a Google Home device could enable Spotify to be played on the Sony Hi-Fi system that would be great as the Sony system will be staying due to it's ability to play FM radio stations, old CD's etc.
I was thinking of just getting a cheap/old Android phone and permanently tether that to the Audio In jack (with power coming from either the USB port on the Hi-Fi or from a nearby socket) which would do the job but with the Google Mini now only £34 I was hoping I could use that via an Audio out but it doesn't have audio out so maybe the best solution is to get a Google Mini AND a Chromecast Audio and then the Google Mini's built in speaker can be used for day to day info requests but Spotify can be played to the Hi-Fi system via Chromecast Audio. Does that sound reasonable or is it too messy a solution? Would each person have to have different Google Home accounts in order for their individual playlists to be available to play? Would I be as well off forgetting about the Google Mini and just let people cast Spotify direct to the Chromecast Audio from their individual phones?
Would I be better off cutting out the Hi-Fi system all together and buy a Google Home to play Spotify from and if so is the speaker in the Google Home good enough to fill a fairly big open space which is a combined kitchen / living / dining room? I know it won't be a solid as a dual speaker Hi-Fi system but would it be good enough for ambient background music?
Apologies for the ramble
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Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,075 Mod ✭✭✭✭
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You are the right road. A GH Mini + CC connected to your Sony will work well. I've my Mini play music out of a nice pair of Audio Engine Bookshelf speakers, works very well in my setup.
What you need to figure out is how your Sony works. Will you leave it powered on all the time? Will it then use lots of power or will it just go into a sleep state? Or will you use the Sony's remote to turn it on and off and will that feel annoying once you get use to the convenience of GHome.
You could also just go for the full size GHome and use the Sony just for CD's (the ghome can also do radio via tunein). Also you need to ask yourself, what cd's are you playing and could you not find the same on spotify? If you go down this path you might find yourself rarely using the Sony's other features. As for the Ghome filling a room, it certainly can, it fills my open plan living room/kitchen nicely. Though obviously wouldn't be as good as large quality stereo hifi speakers.
I Actually have a GHome + CCA connected to an AV amp + 5.1 speakers in the living room. But in this room, despite the 5.1 sounding better, 90% of the time we just use the GHome, partly because of the trouble of having to switch on the AV, change inputs, etc. In fact we mostly just do it for parties. Day to day, the Ghome is perfectly adequate for nice background music.
Another option is the Google Home Max which is due to launch in two months, if you need to fill a really large space. It is expensive, but looks like it might have great sound.
Sorry I don't really answer your question, it is sort of a personal preference sort of thing. But hopefully it gives you a few thoughts. One thing, if you get a GH or mini now and decide to upgrade either of them later, I'm sure you would end up using them in anther room later, bedroom, etc. Specially with multiple family members, I predict they will all want their own eventually
As for you other questions, I wouldn't just use a CCA, the GH's are well worth it IMO, they make the CCA's really useful. I had a CCA long before getting the GH, but rarely used it. It is GH that make the CCA useful IMO.
Each family member will set their own Google account connected with their spotify family account and that will allow them to listen to their own playlist. You sound like you are already well wet up for that.
I'm not sure the smart plug will work with GHome, you would need the name to check. TP Link plugs work well with GHome if you want a replacement.0 -
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You are the right road. A GH Mini + CC connected to your Sony will work well. I've my Mini play music out of a nice pair of Audio Engine Bookshelf speakers, works very well in my setup.
What you need to figure out is how your Sony works. Will you leave it powered on all the time? Will it then use lots of power or will it just go into a sleep state? Or will you use the Sony's remote to turn it on and off and will that feel annoying once you get use to the convenience of GHome.
And that right there is why I just ordered a Google Home for £79 from the UK Google Store
You could also just go for the full size GHome and use the Sony just for CD's (the ghome can also do radio via tunein). Also you need to ask yourself, what cd's are you playing and could you not find the same on spotify? If you go down this path you might find yourself rarely using the Sony's other features. As for the Ghome filling a room, it certainly can, it fills my open plan living room/kitchen nicely. Though obviously wouldn't be as good as large quality stereo hifi speakers.
And that's EXACTLY how I envisage Google Home being used 90% of the time. In the living space we have a gaming PC which has a wicked set of speakers that are rarely used as the kids play their games using a 7.1 gaming headset, we have the old Sony Hi-Fi system which tends to be used for listening to the radio (I also have a Tunein A/C) or playing some old CD's so there's a very good chance Google Home will completely replace it and I can get rid of the Sony Hi-Fi all together or find a new home for it in one of the kids bedrooms. We also have a pretty good soundbar for the TV in that space which is hooked up to a Win 10 HTPC so if we really need a big sound we can play Spotify or Tunein via that.Another option is the Google Home Max which is due to launch in two months, if you need to fill a really large space. It is expensive, but looks like it might have great sound.
I think it's going to be circa €400 which is a lot. I'll pass on that for now that's for sure!!Sorry I don't really answer your question, it is sort of a personal preference sort of thing. But hopefully it gives you a few thoughts.
You totally answered my question, thanks!!Each family member will set their own Google account connected with their spotify family account and that will allow them to listen to their own playlist.
That's the bit I don't conceptually understand. How does Google Home know which family member is saying "Play my Spotify Favourites Playlist"?I'm not sure the smart plug will work with GHome, you would need the name to check. TP Link plugs work well with GHome if you want a replacement.
Yeah, the smart plug I have (which was just a bit of an experiment a couple of years ago) is a Urant WiFi Smart Plug which works well in that it connected to and stays connected to my Wifi but the app which gives you control over it is appalling and the timer function frequently doesn't work for no obvious reason.TP Link plugs work well with GHome if you want a replacement.
Are TP Link the best brand to invest in? I thought Belkin/Wemo had kind of established themselves as the plug of choice?
Thanks for such a comprehensive reply. You really clarified the questions I had.
I look forward to getting my Google Home via Parcel Wizard in the next few days and to getting it up and running. No doubt I'll be on the Home Automation thread frequently looking for help in the coming weeks and months!!0 -
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Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,075 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 22671
Je_suis_Jean wrote: »And that right there is why I just ordered a Google Home for £79 from the UK Google Store
Good choice, keep an eye out for the CCA's if you want, I got mine for €15 earlier this year.Je_suis_Jean wrote: »That's the bit I don't conceptually understand. How does Google Home know which family member is saying "Play my Spotify Favourites Playlist"?
Voice recognition. You train it to understand each persons different voice and it links it to their account then. Pretty cool stuff.Je_suis_Jean wrote: »Yeah, the smart plug I have (which was just a bit of an experiment a couple of years ago) is a Urant WiFi Smart Plug which works well in that it connected to and stays connected to my Wifi but the app which gives you control over it is appalling and the timer function frequently doesn't work for no obvious reason.
I don't see it on GHome or IFTTT, so I think you might want to replace it if you want to work with GH.Je_suis_Jean wrote: »Are TP Link the best brand to invest in? I thought Belkin/Wemo had kind of established themselves as the plug of choice?
They seem to be. I've the HS110 which is the energy monitoring one.
When the TP-Link plugs first launched Wemo were in the lead as the TP-Links worked just with apps and not with IFTTT, GH, Alexa, etc. While Wemo did. However the TP Links caught up with widespread support now.
But also the Wemo have a fatal flaw IMO. If your electricity goes off, then they default to off. Which if it was connected to something like a fridge/freezer would be extremely annoying, a 30 second power outage could leave you with a puddle of water in the morning.
The TP-Links don't have this issue, they default to the last state after the power comes back on, which is much more sensible IMO.
Also the TP-Links are cheaper, while having decent support now.0 -
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BTW Once set up, you will then need to link each persons individual Spotify Account to the Google Home app on their own phone. You also unfortunately have to set up Home Automation devices (like Hue lights, etc.), rooms, etc. for each individual user.
I'm probably wrong on this but I think the issue you've identified is actually related to the supported languages rather than geographic regions. I know on my phone (One Plus 5) that Google Assistant will only work if you have selected either English UK or English US as your specified language. If you select English Ireland Google Assistant is no longer available.
One other (probably silly) issue that popped into my head is that if you're in a room with 3-4 others and want to use Google Home you presumably say "OK Google" out loud to wake Google Home up? If that's the case won't all Android devices with Google Assistant / "OK google" set to listen when the screen is on also respond to the command? I can just imagine how annoying it would be to have 3-4 phones all trying to deliver the weather forecast at the same time along with Google Home or playing Highway to Hell from Spotify at the same time
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Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 23,075 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 22671
Je_suis_Jean wrote: »I'm probably wrong on this but I think the issue you've identified is actually related to the supported languages rather than geographic regions. I know on my phone (One Plus 5) that Google Assistant will only work if you have selected either English UK or English US as your specified language. If you select English Ireland Google Assistant is no longer available.
Doesn't seem to be the case for me, I've always had my Google Assistant set to English US. But when my iPhones region is set to Ireland (but the assistant set to US still), multi user support disappears. It might be a iPhone only issue.Je_suis_Jean wrote: »One other (probably silly) issue that popped into my head is that if you're in a room with 3-4 others and want to use Google Home you presumably say "OK Google" out loud to wake Google Home up? If that's the case won't all Android devices with Google Assistant / "OK google" set to listen when the screen is on also respond to the command? I can just imagine how annoying it would be to have 3-4 phones all trying to deliver the weather forecast at the same time along with Google Home or playing Highway to Hell from Spotify at the same time
Well originally only OK Google worked on phones, while "Hey Google" only worked on Google Home, so we just used Hey to avoid this issue. Plus Hey is easier to pronounce IMO.
Unfortunately now they are also rolling out Hey Google support to Android phones too, which is a pity.
However with multi-user support, at least it limits it a bit so only one persons phone might trigger, instead of 4. In practise, we haven't found the phones to actually trigger, their mics aren't as good as GHomes. It might be an easier for something like the Pixel Phone. But one solution might be to disable always listening on the phone.0 -
Alas I've not been able to see this.
Here's where Im at.
GHome set up already.
Android Smart Ultra with GHome linked.
Iphone no google footprint at all.
So changed region on iphone to US
Went to app store and d/led the GHome app
Logged in as my gmail.
I dont see any options for multi user anywhere..
Ive attached what I see. Im not worried about the CC pin
It makes me wonder if Im being penalised for starting off in Ireland region and now Im stung.0 -
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