Topic: House Band -- Amazon Echo integration is available (Read 285713 times)

mmadd29 · « **Reply #500 on:** February 16, 2018, 10:20:25 am »

Quote from: sarkonovich on February 16, 2018, 09:47:03 am

@mmad29

Are you say, "Alexa, tell house band to play Rush?" Or just, "Alexa, play Rush."

HouseBand has nothing to do with your music library in the Alexa app. So, it sounds like you are actually invoking HouseBand to fulfill the request.

Steve

Yes...I am saying..."Alexa, play Rush."

I will try that when I get home this evening, as that is probably the issue.

Thanks for the quick response.......

sarkonovich · « **Reply #501 on:** February 16, 2018, 10:54:50 am »

And just be forewarned, the music will not come out of your Alexa device, but through a MediaCenter zone.

Steve

mmadd29 · « **Reply #502 on:** February 16, 2018, 11:00:13 am »

Quote from: sarkonovich on February 16, 2018, 10:54:50 am

And just be forewarned, the music will not come out of your Alexa device, but through a MediaCenter zone.

Steve

Ah...I had my kid try it and nothing came out of Alexa.......that explains that...thanks again

TXgary · « **Reply #503 on:** February 27, 2018, 09:30:56 am »

Alexa cannot launch houseband???
I ask alexa to "Alexa launch houseband"
Alexa says "sorry I am having trouble accessing the houseband skill right now"
Any thoughts?
It is linked to jriver although it appears it is in alexa?

sarkonovich · « **Reply #504 on:** February 27, 2018, 09:49:33 am »

I'll check it out, but I'm pretty sure that's an Amazon message and has nothing to do with HouseBand.
It's working fine for me. You could try to reboot your device....

Let me know if it keeps up.

Steve

TXgary · « **Reply #505 on:** February 27, 2018, 02:53:57 pm »

All working now, thanks for the help.

RonaldX2 · « **Reply #506 on:** March 15, 2018, 08:03:05 am »

Will there be a german version of House Band?
(I would like to help with translation as I already did with the localisation of the Calm Radio skill)

sarkonovich · « **Reply #507 on:** March 17, 2018, 06:14:32 pm »

Quote from: RonaldX2 on March 15, 2018, 08:03:05 am

Will there be a german version of House Band?
(I would like to help with translation as I already did with the localisation of the Calm Radio skill)

I used to say, "yes". But now I say: I will take a look at the code and figure out how much refactoring would be necessary to get it ready for localization. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised! But, unfortunately, there are other projects that might take precedence.

I appreciate the offer of help. And if I can get it in shape to be localized, I'll definitely need some help !
Steve

Hendrik · « **Reply #508 on:** March 17, 2018, 06:22:25 pm »

I would be plenty happy if the english skill could run on my german Echo devices, but I guess Amazon doesn't like that?
I might have asked that before and forgot the answer.

styxx10 · « **Reply #509 on:** March 17, 2018, 09:12:00 pm »

Still not available here in Australia....its been a month. Any chance of chasing this up?

rec head · « **Reply #510 on:** March 21, 2018, 10:41:22 am »

I am having trouble linking House Band to my server. I have turned off Authentication, entered the code as instructed and get sent to the page that informs that HB has been successfully linked.

Then I try and launch the skill and the Echo tells me that I need to link to the server and sends another card.

I have tried restarting MC and the computer. This is happening from multiple Echoes. I guess I'll try restarting them next but what else should I try?

Edit: restarting Echoes didn't work.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #511 on:** March 24, 2018, 03:17:40 pm »

Quote from: rec head on March 21, 2018, 10:41:22 am

I am having trouble linking House Band to my server. I have turned off Authentication, entered the code as instructed and get sent to the page that informs that HB has been successfully linked.

Then I try and launch the skill and the Echo tells me that I need to link to the server and sends another card.

I have tried restarting MC and the computer. This is happening from multiple Echoes. I guess I'll try restarting them next but what else should I try?

Edit: restarting Echoes didn't work.

@rec_head:

Do you have multiple profiles and/or amazon accounts associated with your alexa devices. This behavior sounds a lot like what would have if you a) link HouseBand via one profile and then b) try to invoke it using another.

So, for example, if you are logged into the your Alexa App (where you do the linking) as Bob, but then your echo device is set to Sally's profile, you'll get this sort of loop.

Make sure that you are using the same profile/account all through the linking chain: in the alexa app, and on the alexa devices.

rec head · « **Reply #512 on:** March 24, 2018, 03:55:11 pm »

You really know what you're talking about! It was so easy once I used my wife's phone to link it up.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #513 on:** March 24, 2018, 05:47:12 pm »

Quote from: rec head on March 24, 2018, 03:55:11 pm

You really know what you're talking about! It was so easy once I used my wife's phone to link it up.

Glad that fixed it!

sarkonovich · « **Reply #514 on:** March 24, 2018, 06:45:10 pm »

HTTPS Support:

HouseBand should now support HTTPS if you have it selected for your MediaServer.
You shouldn't have to do anything. It will default to HTTPS if you have it selected, otherwise use HTTP.

Please, let me know if I broke something!

I believe support of HTTPS will allow streaming your own music through an Alexa device. I'll have to look into it, but if MCWS allows HouseBand access the file like it was sitting on a file server, it should be pretty straightforward....

KevinP · « **Reply #515 on:** March 27, 2018, 02:03:16 pm »

So I'm new to JRiver and am having account linking woes. I've used the webgizmo page and can't connect from outside (can from inside), so as I understand it, that indicates port forwarding issues.

I looked at the router's company's webpage, and it says that port forwarding is an extra cost. My issue is that I'm living abroad for a year and internet service isn't something I have any control over. (Abroad = New Zealand, where I bought my Echoes and House Band is enabled).

Does this mean I can't use House Band while I live in this house?

Am running Linux Mint if that makes any difference.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #516 on:** March 27, 2018, 02:35:50 pm »

I'm certainly no expert, but it sounds like unless you get a different router, or pay for port forwarding, then you can't use HouseBand. It needs to be able to communicate with the media server....

Steve

KevinP · « **Reply #517 on:** March 28, 2018, 05:59:09 am »

Wait. I did some digging and found how to do it.

Just one problem, and it must be a very basic one, probably with an easy fix. I tell it to play such-and-such album and it plays, but the sound comes out the laptop rather than the Echo speakers.

I just got something set incorrectly, right? Any help?

KevinP · « **Reply #518 on:** March 28, 2018, 07:17:33 am »

Guess I got it. The music streams via blue tooth. I just bought a new Echo and it wasn't paired so it didn't automatically connect.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #519 on:** March 28, 2018, 02:00:29 pm »

Kevin,

Yes, HouseBand will only stream to a Zone, and most alexa devices can't be zones. So, connecting via bluetooth is the only way to go.

I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to get MediaCenter to stream to an Alexa device, but it doesn't look plausible right now.

Steve

sarkonovich · « **Reply #520 on:** March 31, 2018, 10:15:50 am »

If anyone is out there, could someone do me a favor and just check that you can launch the HouseBand skill?

Thanks,
Steve

rec head · « **Reply #521 on:** March 31, 2018, 10:55:48 am »

Me: Alexa launch House Band.

Echo: What should I play?

Me: Taylor Swift.

..... that's all I get.

I haven't used HB much since first linking it up but I know that sequence worked in the past.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #522 on:** March 31, 2018, 11:32:49 am »

Quote from: rec head on March 31, 2018, 10:55:48 am

Me: Alexa launch House Band.

Echo: What should I play?

Me: Taylor Swift.

..... that's all I get.

Thanks. I figured out the issue. I changed the skill to use HTTPS when available, but the changes caused problems with earlier versions of the skill.

So, that sequence above doesn't work. Can't remember if it ever did. You need to say "play" or "add"

- Play songs by taylor swift
- Play taylor swift
- Add songs by taylor swift, etc

TXgary · « **Reply #523 on:** April 19, 2018, 03:31:11 pm »

KevinP
you can export playlists from JRiver and play through the Amazon Dot (so I assume the Echo works the same way) with MyMedia for Alexa.
https://www.mymediaalexa.com/
Then just say "Alexa, ask MyMedia to play Gary's Favorites Playlist". You can shuffle, etc.
My media has 7 day trial and a yearly fee, but it does work. I have a bluetooth connect to my Dot and Alexa plays my playlists through to the Bluetooth speaker.
Hope this helps. MyMedia requires some exporting, etc, while House Band plays to zones. Great products.

KevinP · « **Reply #524 on:** April 28, 2018, 05:05:57 am »

Here's an issue I've been having, possibly more lately. Bear in mind that I'm still new to JRiver in general (but have the full version now).

I tell the Echo to ask House Band to play, for example, 'A Whole New Thing' by Sly and the Family Stone. It responds that it's playing it, but what actually's coming out the speaker is the last thing I listened to.

Sometimes going to the computer, pressing stop, or closing and reopening JRiver and trying again helps, but not always.

Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

sarkonovich · « **Reply #525 on:** April 30, 2018, 08:32:10 am »

KevinP

That sounds like a bug to me. I'll send you a PM, since I might need your help to reproduce it / track it down.
Thanks,
Steve

KevinP · « **Reply #526 on:** May 01, 2018, 11:13:00 pm »

Sure. Anything I can do to help.

Sourabhkum · « **Reply #527 on:** June 03, 2018, 11:48:44 am »

Please can someone help me. I have been trying to integrate Alexa on Echo dot with JRiver but still had no positive result. I have done port forwarding in the router (JRiver seems to be fine while testing the connection to the server says you can load this server on any client by ......). I have also linked accounts on Alexa app successfully by entering Access key and it is showing account linked. However when I give command to alexa to launch houseband, it says, "I am not sure what went wrong".

I am soup trying to figure this out. If someone has a solution please email me dircetly on sourabhkum@gmail.com. I am part of a AV consultant compnay and would like to be able to provide Alexa integration to one of my Clients who needs it.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #528 on:** June 03, 2018, 12:10:37 pm »

@Sourabhkum

This is a generic Amazon error. Why don't you send me a message and we can figure it out.

Steve

Sourabhkum · « **Reply #529 on:** June 07, 2018, 01:21:08 pm »

Hi Steve,

Thanks for ur post. I did send u a message few days back from my inbox but there has been no reply since. I sent it to user I'd sarkonovich. Please try to respond soon I need to complete this integration ASAP.

KevinP · « **Reply #530 on:** June 16, 2018, 06:55:29 pm »

Feature Request: Skip to Track number

Let's say I'm listening to an album but I get interrupted. Later in the day, I want to resume where I left off. What I want to is to be able to say, 'Computer (Alexa), jump to track 9,' whereupon it starts playing track 9 AND continues playing track 10, track 11, etc. until the album is over.

The only way I can do this now is to say, 'Computer, tell House Band to skip' eight times.

This is especially useful when albums are part of a box set where every track has the same tag, or even just large box sets of rarities, etc. I recently listened to the first disc of one such set, and it would take telling my Echo to skip 23 times to resume via House Band to continue. The Isley Brothers' Complete RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters is a 23-disc set preserving the original albums. If I wanted to listen to the album 'Harvest for the World,' well that's on CD #13. I'd like a way to be able to skip to there and play the whole album. (I'm pretty easygoing. If it didn't stop but kept playing the whole rest of the box, I'd still be happy.)

I know I could probably retag it, but there are many. many such tracks.

If this feature is already available, please let me know.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #531 on:** June 16, 2018, 07:56:26 pm »

That's a good suggestion. Development of HouseBand is definitely on the back burner these days, but at some point it'll shift to being more active.

Right now, yeah, if you tagged the albums with some unique identifier, you could just say, "Alexa play [tag value]", and that will work for any tag name. So, you wouldn't exactly have to re-tag. But you'd have to add some additional tags.

But you're right, there's no way to pick up from a certain track right now.

PapaJohn · « **Reply #532 on:** July 03, 2018, 07:00:42 pm »

Help needed!
I don't know what I am doing (wrong). I think I have everything setup properly, but I can't get Alexa to recognize House Band. When I ask Alexa to launch House Band the response I get back is "Sorry something went wrong". I am new to all of this, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

JimH · « **Reply #533 on:** July 03, 2018, 07:04:53 pm »

Welcome to the forum.

Please try the instructions:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=15326.msg717359#msg717359

Maybe you missed a step.

PapaJohn · « **Reply #534 on:** July 03, 2018, 10:53:19 pm »

@JimH

Sorry but that link doesn't have any instructions. Mainly just commands. Am I missing something?

sarkonovich · « **Reply #535 on:** July 05, 2018, 03:49:45 pm »

@PapaJohn,

I'm pretty sure that 99% of all HouseBand errors have been issues with account linking.

So, the first (and usually last) trouble-shooting tip is to make sure that you can access your server from *outside* your home network. Check here:

https://jriver.com/webgizmo.html

enter your 6 letter access key and make sure that the location is "Outside my Network."

If you can connect, and you still have trouble with HouseBand, try disabling and re-enabling the skill. You should get land on a page that says: "Account successfully linked" (or words to that effect.)

If you get that far, and HouseBand still doesn't work, please PM me. But I'm betting that will fix it.

Steve

thouchin · « **Reply #536 on:** August 31, 2018, 02:35:03 pm »

Possible bug:

Im running JR Media 23. Randomly asking house band to continue does not work.

The most recent scenario... Ask Houseband to play all songs by Billy Joel.... she says 'too many to list'... I tell her to play all and she starts playing them like normal. I ask her to pause and continue many times and it usually works fine. But I just came inside anf asked her to continue and it didnt. She said she did, but nothing happened. I ask her what was playing and she says XXXX by Billy Joel. I turn on the monitor that is connected to the embeded computer running WIN10 and JR media...go to <now Playing> and, in fact, XXX is the song at the top, but JR is not playing it. I watch the window and ask her again to play, she says OK. Nothing happens. I manual click the play triangle in JR and XXXX starts playing through my stereo. I manually pause it.... it stops. I ask Alexa to continue, she says OK... and now JR starts playing it as it should.

This has happened a few times but in the past I have fixed it buy telling house band to play a new list of music rather than connecting a monitor and manually playing what was already in the queue.

If there is a better place to post this please let me know. Otherwise I look forward to helping fix this if needed.

T

sarkonovich · « **Reply #537 on:** September 01, 2018, 12:41:55 pm »

@thouchin

Thanks for reporting this. This has been mentioned before (and, indeed, it has happened to me.) So, I'm going to call this a known bug.

I'll try to track it down.

Steve

robbnj · « **Reply #538 on:** September 27, 2018, 08:36:44 pm »

Hi all,
I tried searching this topic in this thread, but I keep getting a "too many searches" response (even after the first search I do after logging in).

'Working with HB on a Dot and MC Version 22.0.7 on a PC. It (HB) can handle a number of requests successfully (play song by name, play all songs by a band, play songs containing a word), but cannot seem to find my playlists.
I'm wondering if I have to somehow "teach" the HB skill the names of my playlists so it can later find them? Or, do I have to create new playlists after setting up HB? Or maybe save them in a different location (they're listed simply under the Playlist header).

I have one list simply named "All Rock Music". I figured this would be easiest to understand, but, no luck. It can't find other simple names like "Driving Tunes", "Car Radio", "Garage" (and it repeats the names properly when it states it can't find them).

What simple thing am I missing?

perry59 · « **Reply #539 on:** October 01, 2018, 03:07:55 pm »

I also want to extend kudo's to Steve, our new hero

very cool application!
And I see he is up in Portlandia, not terribly far from me. Maybe next time I'm up there he'll let me buy him a beer.
I tried houseband and first just using bluetooth and streaming music to my echo, but now I want the whole enchilada.
I have some pretty nice Klipsch speakers hooked up to my yamaha receiver, but unfortunately its "old school" hard wired.
So I am looking for recommendations for wireless speakers. This probably is not the best thread for the question, but I figure some of the people here have some experience with it.
I'd love to have the wireless Klipsch's but they are pretty spendy, on the other hand I hear Sono's mentioned a lot but I am not sure of the sound quality and they seem almost as expensive as the Klipsch's which I'm sure I'd love. Also concerned about limited range of bluetooth connections. Wifi would probably be better.
Does anyone have any recommendations for good wireless speakers that a financially challenged audiophile could afford?
Thanks!

JimH · « **Reply #540 on:** October 01, 2018, 03:49:36 pm »

Quote from: perry59 on November 16, 1974, 08:00:47 am

I'd love to have the wireless Klipsch's but they are pretty spendy, on the other hand I hear Sono's mentioned a lot but I am not sure of the sound quality and they seem almost as expensive as the Klipsch's which I'm sure I'd love. Also concerned about limited range of bluetooth connections. Wifi would probably be better.
Does anyone have any recommendations for good wireless speakers that a financially challenged audiophile could afford?
Thanks!

I'll split this to a new thread.

perry59 · « **Reply #541 on:** October 01, 2018, 09:12:34 pm »

Quote from: JimH on October 01, 2018, 03:49:36 pm

I'll split this to a new thread.

Ok!
where will I find it?

sarkonovich · « **Reply #542 on:** October 01, 2018, 09:16:43 pm »

@perry59

Hmm. How do you request the playlist? Basically, as long as you have 'playlist' in the command it should work: "Ask house band to play my Pink Martini playlist"

I believe that if it doesn't find anything, it sends a card to the Alexa app showing you what how it searched.

Steve

perry59 · « **Reply #543 on:** October 01, 2018, 09:26:08 pm »

Quote from: sarkonovich on October 01, 2018, 09:16:43 pm

@perry59

Hmm. How do you request the playlist? Basically, as long as you have 'playlist' in the command it should work: "Ask house band to play my Pink Martini playlist"

I believe that if it doesn't find anything, it sends a card to the Alexa app showing you what how it searched.

Steve

Sorry, but I have not asked a question about playlists, at least not yet

JimH · « **Reply #544 on:** October 01, 2018, 09:37:28 pm »

Quote from: perry59 on October 01, 2018, 09:12:34 pm

Ok!
where will I find it?

Now it would be better if you could copy your text on speakers and use it to start a new thread on this board:

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/board,9.0.html

perry59 · « **Reply #545 on:** October 01, 2018, 10:00:04 pm »

Quote from: JimH on October 01, 2018, 09:37:28 pm

Now it would be better if you could copy your text on speakers and use it to start a new thread on this board:

https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/board,9.0.html

Ok, thanks, I'll do that

robbnj · « **Reply #546 on:** October 03, 2018, 11:12:59 am »

I say "Computer, launch houseband".
The dot then asks me what I want to do and gives suggestions. Before the light goes out, I say this: "play the playlist all rock music".
I've also used the commands "launch", "run", "listen to" in place of "play".
I always state "playlist" or "the playlist" before stating the playlist name. I always get the response that it cannot find the playlist.
It CAN find songs by group name, songs that contain a word, etc., and can pause, skip, play by verbal command.

Playlists seems to be a sticking point.

sarkonovich · « **Reply #547 on:** October 03, 2018, 11:19:43 am »

@robbnj

Hmm. Do you have other playlists? Does it fail to find any of the them?

perry59 · « **Reply #548 on:** October 08, 2018, 02:58:18 pm »

Having some trouble getting houseband to work.
I have tried a couple different methods to get houseband to play.
1. me: "alexa, launch houseband", alexa: "what shall I play", me: "play enya", alexa: "resuming".....then nothing
2. me: "alexa tell houseband to play enya", alexa: "resuming"....then nothing

I did forward the port and port utilities says it is forwarded. The alexa app says it is linked. However the web gizmo thingy times out when I try to connect.
I did NOT make a static IP and maybe that is a problem. there is also a bluetooth connection between my computer and the echo.
suggestions?
Thanks!

sarkonovich · « **Reply #549 on:** October 08, 2018, 03:03:17 pm »

@perry59

If it's linked and it is saying 'resuming' then I don't think it's a port forwarding issue.
Try, "play *songs* by enya"

Also, try other artists/commands: "play the album the very best of enya"

Do all of these result in the same behavior?

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Author Topic: House Band -- Amazon Echo integration is available (Read 285713 times)