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Emby Not accessing music by artist name with alexa


Styxywyx

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Styxywyx

Hi Guys

Just updated my emby server.

Have now got a few problems with Emby/ ALexa/ Synology418

Problem 1 - Emby no longer recognises any of my artists -( all music named and tagged correctly and previously no problems) For example I ask play music by the Eagles the answer is "I could not find Eagles" - same for all artists.

Problem 2 - Emby is given a command and then asks is there anything else and does not follow command. For example Emby play some music - silence for a few seconds then Emby asks "is there anything else" .Then shuts down. If you say yes - just repeats the question "is there anything else" in a loop

Problem 3 - When asked to play an album - states the album and the artist( despite not being able to access by artist request) plays the first song and then stops.

Problem 4 - Wont recognise a speaker until skill disabled and then re enabled

Problem 5 - Reinstalled Emby server - Library very slow to access or search.....takes up to 10 mins to load library sometimes and then a search command can take just as long......(Good wifi, high speed internet, computer using windows 10 upto date and functioning normally) All software updated to latest versions. It was very difficult to find the Library path on reinstall as the old path would not connect.

 

Other problems with connectivity - ie getting "cannot access your emby skill" or "server timed out try again' responses much more often........ has led me to cancel my Premiere subscription for the moment as Emby/ Alexa combination not useable. I cant seem to find the glitch /problem.

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Hi there, we're sorry to hear about this. We're happy to help you resolve these.

 

 

 

Problem 1 - Emby no longer recognises any of my artists -( all music named and tagged correctly and previously no problems) For example I ask play music by the Eagles the answer is "I could not find Eagles" - same for all artists.

 

Regarding this, do you still see the artists in the Emby web app?

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Angelblue05

@@Styxywyx

 

Thanks for reporting your issues. I will have a look at what you reported.

 

Where are you located, US (I just want to make sure the relay between the skill and your server is not too slow)? What is your language set to in Alexa.

Which player (type?) are you sending these requests to?

 

1. As Luke requested, if you open your webclient and search "the Eagles" does it return a result? I have tested here using your example and it does proceed further when a result is returned by the server.

 

2. Yes is not a valid reply. No or another emby skill command is. I will adjust this to make it more friendly. Although, I thought I had disabled that reply after playback initiates.

 

3. That's odd, the skill does not do anything special. It sends a play command with the album id to your server, which translates it into a playlist which is sent to your selected player.

 

4. The skill pulls the same list of play to players. To compare, can you check in the web client (connected remotely), then select play to (rectangle icon at the top right), does the player always show up? Is speaker your default player?

 

5. The skill mostly depends on the search feature on your server. It can only complete requests within 8 seconds or less before the session terminates. That is why you are getting all those timed out errors.

Edited by Angelblue05
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Styxywyx

Hi Luke  and Angel

Thanks for getting on to it so quickly

Yes Luke I can see the Artists listed.

Hi Angel - Australia , English, Players are Sonos Play One, sonos 3 , Echo Dot. Alexa. My wiFi connectivity is good 4+mB/s and my internet is high speed broadband(40mB/s)

Emby was working moderately well with only a few Server time outs up until a few weeks ago.

Re 2 - i know angel - Yes was my frustration response Im afraid.If I said No alexa would close. It didnt matter what I said after the anything else request - Id repeat the request, change the phrasing etc it still looped.

Re 3 - Yes - a new issue for emby (but previously when I used Plex that was the standard behaviour - It would play one song then stop, then developed a glitch that repeated that song ad nauseum - so switched to Emby .....could be a problem at my end???)

Re 4 - The player issue seems to have sorted itself - my default is the Sonos one  - Emby would ask me to choose from the list - I would respond with the number requested and got the Ïs there anything else " request and the speaker wouldnt set. After a few Skill connect/disconnect cycles it seems to have sorted. Could access the speaker on the web app at all times but Alexa/Emby couldnt.

Re 5 - not sure whats changed then - as above used to get them occasionally but now about 50- 60% of times i get Time out or simply "cant access your server". As I said when I set up the server again on my NAS I had to connect via a new path (Network/smb.synology/music    where as before it was volume1/music)

I hope that helps. I am not very computer savvy and so I cant pinpoint problems

Cheers

Edited by Styxywyx
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Angelblue05

2. Isn't it the point? Is there anything else? No, then it terminates the session. Otherwise you should be able to send it another command. But again, it should not even ask that. I'm trying to find the occurence in code. Does it ask this just for music playback, not video?

 

3. It's unrelated to the skill. If you play an album to the same player, using the play to option in the webclienr rhe same will happen. You can test to confirm. The only time it matters for the skill is when it playbacks on the echo device.

 

5. The most important thing is to fix the slowness in the search. 8 seconds is not much time to complete a request and if the search is too slow, the skill fails to complete the task, ending with an error. @@Luke this one will need your assistance. Thank you.

Edited by Angelblue05
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Styxywyx

Hi Angel

Re 2 - It would be the point as you say but Emby/alexa doesnt do the intial request.... to illustrate..... I say Emby play Music by the eagles...there is a few seconds of silence then the reply is" ïs there anything else" if I say no then Emby closes but the music isnt played. If I say yes play music by X then a few seconds silence then I get asked is there anything else ....I can keep adding requests  and get asked that question ad infinitum until I say No. However none of the requests are actioned.....bit like a request black hole. Im pretty sure thats not how you meant it to work.

Re 3 - The Sonos play one is a defacto echo device is it not? I may be missing something there. I played the music from the webclient to my PC but it wouldnt play to the sonosplay even though it was visible and selected on the webclient. Anyway its connected now. With the Alexa/Emby /Sonos mix I really am not sure which bit is responsible for what

RE 5 Yes - thats why I am wondering if the new pathway is the issue - it looks like a samba communication or is it Synology Emby (smb} The Synology418Play has a fast(ish) chip for a NAS so I am thinking network. Will await Lukes input but manual search is very slow on the webclient too....

 

Thanks again for your help

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Styxywyx

Sorry missed the question re video - I dont play movies or video yet - havent worked out how to so just music at this point

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Angelblue05

2. The silence is the skill sending the play request to the server. Due to the time restriction for active sessions, the skill does not validate if playback succeeded or not. It uses the server api to send remote control commands to your Emby client.

 

I will make sure to correct that loop.

Edit: I can't seem to replicate this at all. Every time, the session is terminated after a play command is sent. Audio, video behaves the same. It never asks me is there anything else. I'd have to see the request in log to confirm it's being detected correctly as a play command.

 

3. You can send play commands to any player that supports remote control commands from your server. The echo device is what you use to communicate with Alexa. This uses an internal api to Alexa, it does not use the emby remote control feature 

 

When you ask to play something, the skill sends the play command to your server which sends it to the selected player.

 

@@Luke can you confirm it is possible to send play commands to the sonos device? Please also share what can be done to troubleshoot the slowness of the search feature.

 

To play videos, play {title} or play {media} {title}. You can test it by sending it to your webclient session.

Edited by Angelblue05
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Styxywyx

Hi Angel,

Still getting the loop on the "is there anything else request."  Saw your edit - How do I find the logs and then get the logs to you?

Emby is now listing my speakers without names - just calling them "DLNA- DLNA" - I cant identify them and it shows the same on the web client. Is there any way of accessing the speaker names and giving them friendly names - doesnt seem to be any way I can find. (previously emby was calling them "dining room dlna", "bedroom dlna")

Still having a slightly higher percentage of time outs

Tried a visual assistant - looks like my speaker requests that weren't actioned was because emby was seeing To instead of two and For instead of Four. When I say "Number two" it registers!

 

New Glitch - when I ask emby to "play music by artist xxx" - I get a list to choose from that contains all song/albums with music in the name (40 or so choices!) Can get around it by saying "play the artist xxxx"

Seem to have fixed the artist access glitch. Reinstalled the library and server and was able to install on path /volume1/music that wasnt accepting previously - now Emby is seeing my artists, metadata and new additions to library.

 

interesting aside - trying a google Home - accesses Emby and then Emby plays my music on the Sonos One ( the selected speaker). However when I want to stop the music Google home says nothing is playing and I have to open Alexa to stop the music......not an issue but interesting and allows me to use the sonos speaker with Google home!

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