Google Assistant now in Plex

[Pelon 203]

Here is some information that I found interesting.

 

https://www.androidauthority.com/plex-android-update-2-814460/

[Gilgamesh_48 1240]

Here is some information that I found interesting.

 

https://www.androidauthority.com/plex-android-update-2-814460/

 

If that works as well as their Alexia integration then it will prove to be nearly totally worthless for many, if not most people. Plex's Alexia integration fails more often than not to do what is asked unless the environment is near perfect and your enunciation is as well.

 

When I tested it, as a single example, I had an episode of the old "Adam 12" TV series and I said "Alexia, tell Plex pause" and what happened was the response was to stop what was playing and start music playback of a song ( "American Pie" I think) which I then had to stop and reenter the TV library and restart the show."

 

I know that it was neither me nor the environment because I tested again using my Harmony integration by saying "Alexia, tell Harmony pause." What happened was that the Plex app paused just fine and when I told it to play the app played. I use the Harmony app regularly and NEVER have a problem but every time over the last I tried the Plex Alexia app it screwed up big time.

 

It appears that the programmers working for Plex on their Alexia app are less than incompetent and/or they only test under ideal conditions or, most probably, both. 

 

Plex seems to care very little about quality control or about proper testing of code. They have grown to the point where they are too big to do anything that resembles customer service.

 

Emby "might" be able to do it right as they do not seem to have fallen into the sane trap as Plex. But my recommendation, if you want to use basic voice control, is to get a Harmony with a hub and install the Harmony app on your Echo or Google device. (if it exists for Google) The reliability would be MUCH higher.

[jasonmcroy 316]

The Harmony Hub use does work with the Google Home and the integrated Google Assistant on the Nvidia Shield at least. You can also set up shortcuts within the app and instead of having to say "Hey Google, tell Harmony to turn on the TV" you can just say "Hey Google, turn on the TV" and the shortcut being already set up will do that for you. 

 

I can also start something playing from within the app if the item is highlighted by saying "Hey Google, tell Harmony to play my movie" and it just activates the "Ok" button and starts playing whatever is currently in focus on the screen.

 

So far though, trying to say "Hey Google, play episode 4 of The Flash" it won't work. I also tried that in Plex just to test it and it doesn't work that well. Saying "Hey Google, fast forward 2 minutes" works every time though while something is already playing. Getting something started though doesn't seem to work. You can do that for Netflix or Youtube though.

[Carlo 4561]

The difference is that for a device like the ShieldTV you speak directly into the microphone which is on your controller/remote so the background noise isn't as drastic as what an Alexia would here.

 

It's not really ready for prime time quite yet IMHO and I turned it off on my ShieldTV and use the voice searching that's built in.  For now I prefer it this way.  Navigate by remote but use voice for searching.  Being able to say "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" beats typing it.

 

Carlo

[swhitmore 781]

The difference is that for a device like the ShieldTV you speak directly into the microphone which is on your controller/remote so the background noise isn't as drastic as what an Alexia would here.

 

Hmmm I don't think thats necessarily true. The echo has a very, very good microphone array that's designed to work in noisy conditions. You can almost bet that the mic in the ShieldTV remote is a cheap one similar to those found in mobile phones.

Edited November 17, 2017 by swhitmore

[Carlo 4561]

I'm just saying from my experience using it that it works better than Alexa current does in noisy environments like when the TV is on.

Who knows how this will play out in the real world long term?

 

It's interesting non-the-less.