Google Home voice commands to control music are unreliable

[xitan 0]

Hi, I'm using emby premiere on my Synology NAS. I'm testing for voice commands to play music with my multiple Google Home devices, but I am encountering erratic behavior. For example, I can ask

"Hey Google, use Emby Home to play songs by Taylor Swift," and it will reply "Ok Check out this YouTube Music station based on Taylor Swift..."

"Hey Google, use Emby Home to play the song Welcome to New York, and it will reply "Choosing songs is only available on YouTube Music premium..."

When I use the webapp, I can search by artist or song name and bring up the correct songs. The metadata is all correct.

For other albums, this seems to work but not when specifying an artist if I have multiple versions by different artists, for example Stormy Weather by Billie Holiday and another version by Charles Mingus.

"Hey Google, use Emby Home to play the song Stormy Weather," and it will reply "Sure, here's the song Stormy Weather playing from your Youtube Music library," and it will be one version of the song by Billie Holiday.

"Hey Google, use Emby Home to play the song Stormy Weather by Charles Mingus" and it will reply "Choosing songs is only available on YouTube Music premium.."

"Hey Google, use Emby Home to play the song Stormy Weather by the artist Charles Mingus" and it will reply "Sure, here's the song Stormy Weather playing from your Youtube Music library," but this will be the incorrect version by Billie Holiday.

There are also several other random songs that Emby refuses to play despite their being searchable and playable by name on the web app.

 

Thanks. 

 

[Abobader 3464]

Hello xiaotan,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

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Emby Team

[ebr 16185]

Hi.  Have you tried "play songs by Taylor Swift on Emby Home"?

[xitan 0]

Saying "play songs by Taylor Swift on Emby Home" results in a reply of "Got it. Check out this Exile Station on YouTube Music." Trying it again gives a different station on YouTube Music. 

[ebr 16185]

How about "tell Emby Home to ...".  It seems that the device simply isn't recognizing the target properly...

[xitan 0]

No that doesn't work. "Tell Emby home to" gets the same results as "Use Emby home to." As I wrote in my original post, asking emby to play music works for some songs or artists and not others, hence the unreliability. 

[xitan 0]

Is there any additional information on this? This is a touted feature and justification for Emby Premiere, which is the only reason I am paying for it right now. However, it is completely unreliable in its current state.

[ebr 16185]

Hi.  I'm afraid some of these issues come down to Google's algorithms for understanding exactly what you are asking.  @chef do you have any suggestions?

[chef 3810]

I find that when requesting commands from either google or Amazon assistants, it's best to keep the wake word, and command structure simple.

For instance, using "Tell", and "Use" to differ between a command, and a request seems to complicated.

Probabaly the best advice, is to limit the amount of action keywords the assistant understands during interaction

It is best to just use the "Tell" command with specific structures afterwards.

"Hey Google, tell emby home to..."

1. "Play music by..."

That may have to be delt with in the code.

Smart assistants aren't very smart after all...

 

-------

In order to best handle command requests using the Amazon Assistant (which I understand best), I had to create a link between Emby devices in my home, and rooms they reside in.

This is handled in a plugin configuration.

I realize that this is not how embys skills work, but it did allow me to use fluent speech when requesting play back on certain devices.

 

"Alexa, ask home theater to show the movie Free Guy in the family room."

Alexa sees this:

"{display.slot} the {media_type.slot} {move_name.slot} in the {room.slot}"

 

Once I have the slot values, I can do a query of emby for the particular BaseItem, and because I have configured the device to a room, I am able to browse to that item on the device. Playback, pause etc.

This can also be done to playback music, I'm sure. But, I haven't really attempted it.

I can get somewhat involved to integrate this.

.

Confirmation slots can be used with Alexa, but I am unsure about how google uses them. 

They are slots that must be filled, and (at least for Alexa) the conversation can continue until all the data is retrieved.

What song?

Where is it going to play?

 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by chef

[Luke 42081]

@xitan?

[xitan 0]

Which plugin are you talking about? Is there a plugin for Google Assistant? I don't use Alexa. Is there a way to apply what you are mentioning in your post on Alexa to Google Assistant? 

[Luke 42081]

@chef

[chef 3810]

On 10/23/2021 at 11:54 AM, xitan said:

Which plugin are you talking about? Is there a plugin for Google Assistant? I don't use Alexa. Is there a way to apply what you are mentioning in your post on Alexa to Google Assistant? 

Can I build a Google assist skill? I don't know.

I only learned Alexa skill development.

When you request a song it sounds like the command is not routing to emby home.

The assistant is not using emby home to complete the request.

Can you try saying something to it as basic as you can?

"Hey Google! Emby Home! Taylor Swift!"

Can you let me know what the response is?

 

[chef 3810]

I have installed the Google home skill.

Over all, it seems to work okay... for movies anyway.

It seems to understand me, and it knew that I didn't have music in my library, and I received an acceptable response from the client. So A+ there.

 

This leads me to believe that ebr is correct in the sense that it is google which is not interpreting the request properly for some artist names.

 

You could try saying: "Hey google! Talk to emby home!"

This should open a session with the assistant.

From there try requesting your artist name.

Let me know how that goes.

 

 

-----

On a side note, I have a gripe about the skill structure and wish I knew enough about Google assist to fix it...

When I asked for a movie that was in a collection, I recieved a bunch of choices, and I had to select one from a list:

"Say one for {movie1}, say two for {movie2}".

 

It is my own personal opinion that having a list of numbered items to select from in emby home is just awful... Sorry...

1. If I wanted a certain movie to watch, I would ask for that movie by name...

2. Or I would ask for the collection that movie is in, and then I should be reminded of the titles in the collection...

3. or that the item belongs in a collection, and I should be asked weather or not I want to hear (or see it on a screen) the entire collection.

Otherwise, by the time I'm done listening to the options I have... I got up,  picked up the remote and chose the item I wanted. 

When a user asks for a movie, get the results, but see if any of the results actually resolve to the item they want. If not, then continue the conversation to narrow results:

Me: "Hey Google, ask emby home to play the movie Transformers"

Assistant: "I found the movie Transformers. It is part of the Transformers Collection. Would you like to play the movie now?"

Me:"play the movie" or "ask emby home to show the Transformers collection".

 

There, the conversation switched, but it was still fluent, even though I stopped the first intent request with the new intent request to view the collection.

All it took was a reminder of the collection.

No lists involved.

 

From my experience, if people use the assistant, they are okay with talking to it... briefly.

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by chef

[chef 3810]

Prompts and help pages go a long way.

 

Edited October 27, 2021 by chef

[xitan 0]

Here are the trials:

Trial 1:

Me: "Ok Google. Emby Home"

--> "Emby here"

Me "Taylor Swift"

--> "Sure, check out this youtube music station based on Taylor Swift, now playing on Kitchen Speaker"

This does not actually play the album that is searchable on the emby media webapp.

Trial 2:

Me: "Ok google, talk to Emby Home"

--> "Emby here, good day"

Me: "Play the Album 1989 by Taylor Swift"

--> "Emby here, did you mean the album 1989 (Deluxe) by Taylor Swift"

Me: "Yes"

--> "Say the number of the player to send this to: 1) this player 2) chrome windows"

Me: "One"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

Trial 3:

Me: "Hey Google, talk to Emby Home"

--> "Emby here, hi"

Me: "Play songs by Bob Dylan"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

This is when I have 5 albums coming up on the emby webapp search by Bob Dylan.

Trial 4:

Me: "Hey Google, talk to Emby Home"

--> "Emby here, hello"

Me: "Play songs by John Coltrane"

--> "Say the number of the player to send this to: 1) this player 2) chrome windows"

Me: "one"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

Trial 5:

Me: "Hey Google, ask Emby Home to play songs by John Coltrane"

--> "Say the number of the player to send this to: 1) this player 2) chrome windows"

Me: "One"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

 

I don't need to control this for movies. I have a specific question regarding music. I have several Google Home devices throughout my house that I want to play music on via voice commands. Could you please try and demonstrate functionality with music? 

Edited October 31, 2021 by xitan

[chef 3810]

1 hour ago, xitan said:

Here are the trials:

Trial 1:

Me: "Ok Google. Emby Home"

--> "Emby here"

Me "Taylor Swift"

--> "Sure, check out this youtube music station based on Taylor Swift, now playing on Kitchen Speaker"

This does not actually play the album that is searchable on the emby media webapp.

Trial 2:

Me: "Ok google, talk to Emby Home"

--> "Emby here, good day"

Me: "Play the Album 1989 by Taylor Swift"

--> "Emby here, did you mean the album 1989 (Deluxe) by Taylor Swift"

Me: "Yes"

--> "Say the number of the player to send this to: 1) this player 2) chrome windows"

Me: "One"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

Trial 3:

Me: "Hey Google, talk to Emby Home"

--> "Emby here, hi"

Me: "Play songs by Bob Dylan"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

This is when I have 5 albums coming up on the emby webapp search by Bob Dylan.

Trial 4:

Me: "Hey Google, talk to Emby Home"

--> "Emby here, hello"

Me: "Play songs by John Coltrane"

--> "Say the number of the player to send this to: 1) this player 2) chrome windows"

Me: "one"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

Trial 5:

Me: "Hey Google, ask Emby Home to play songs by John Coltrane"

--> "Say the number of the player to send this to: 1) this player 2) chrome windows"

Me: "One"

--> "Sorry, Emby home isn't responding right now, please try again soon."

 

I don't need to control this for movies. I have a specific question regarding music. I have several Google Home devices throughout my house that I want to play music on via voice commands. Could you please try and demonstrate functionality with music? 

I understand.

At least we can narrow down some of the issues here.

What we know, is that the Emby home app is responding and setting up a session.

It is able to understand your request for music,  figure out the album you want, and give you the actual name of the album.

This is good.

 

However, it can not connect back to your server.

Do you have a TLS, or SSL certificate setup on your server?