Amazon Echo Club

[ApK]

We're paying about half as much as we were for satellite, and getting everything we care about. A surprising amount of what I watch is handled by free over-the-air TV and a Tablo DVR.
We're also finding we don't care about as much programming as we thought we did, so we may be dropping one of the streaming services as well. Cord cutting is more flexible that way...at least until the ISPs start to screw us over with throttling or similar monopolistic junk.
I've also become addicted to Youtube, like my kids. It's amazing how much you can learn there! There are some YouTubers who are amazingly knowledgeable, and highly engaging teachers.

[OtinG]

My internet provider Spectrum raised my monthly fees when I stopped their cable TV service which was bundled with their internet service. They raised the cost of internet almost $20/month because I was no longer bundling their crappy cable TV service. I get much better service via streaming and certainly less down time. Spectrum loves to tell us in their TV ads that they don't force you into a contract for their services. That is true, they don't. But they do raise the fees every year just like you have with cable/satellite companies that do require a contract. And without a contract, they can raise fees anytime they choose. Plus in my city they have and exclusive contract so you either get internet and cable through them, or you are just SOL. You can get satellite, but that sux even worse. You can stream of course. But with the internet service it is Spectrum or no one, unless you just use a cellular provider.

My problem with fees is that the channels I like require signing up for one or more add-ons. To get all my channels with Spectrum I had to get the Silver package and two add-ons. To get them through DirecTV Now I had to get their next to most expensive package. Same with Hulu with Live TV, I had to get add-ons. What really sux is that sometimes you have to get an add-on for one frigging channel as all the other channels in that add-on are total garbage. That way they can sucker you into getting more costly add-ons.

There are a lot of channels and channel groups you can get apps for, but most of those charge a costly monthly fee. MotorTrend for example charges $10 per month for one channel. CBS wants to charge extra for programming they don't broadcast OTA. All these apps would quickly surpass a cable TV bill. So it really isn't an option to try and get a bunch of channel apps. Oh, and the ones that don't charge a monthly fee almost always make you prove you have a cable/satellite/streaming service they approve of, so not much point in even having those apps since you are already paying to view those channels.

[OtinG]

In my area we have more than 60 OTA channels, but other than ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, and perhaps 3 or 4 others, they are mostly garbage channels that broadcast in low resolution and rarely show anything other then decades old TV shows, many of which are so messed up in video quality that they are difficult to watch. If you are an old fart and want to watch Walker Texas Ranger all day long, then OTA might be for you, but other than the major networks that broadcast in HD there is little worth watching in OTA in my area.

[OtinG]

I decided to check the internet speed on my Roku Ultra 2018 and my Fire TV Stick 4K. The latest Roku FW has a menu that allows you to test it. To test the Fire TV I installed the Firefox browser app and ran a speed test via it. The results were somewhat surprising.

I have 200 Mbps internet service. The Roku is normally hooked to an ethernet cable, but the Roku specs show a 10/100 capability. I tested the Roku on both ethernet and 5G WiFi. The Fire TV requires an adapter to hook up ethernet and the specs show it is also only 10/100. I don’t have the optional adapter so I only tested the Fire TV on 5G WiFi.

Roku Ultra 2018 Speed Test

Ethernet = 86 Mbps
WiFi = 77 Mbps

Fire TV Stick 4K Speed Test

WiFi = 135 Mbps

First thought is that even the 77 Mbps should be more than sufficient for streaming HD and probably 4K as well. But I was surprised the Fire TV Stick 4K with WiFi is way faster on internet speed than the Roku with ethernet connection. Since the optional ethernet adapter for the Fire TV is only 10/100 I don’t see a need to pay $15 for it since it will likely be only capable of about 85 Mbps and thus slower than my WiFi connection.

For reference my iPhone and iPads on WiFi typically get about 209 Mbps speed as do my two Macs connected via ethernet. Both Macs have Gigabit ethernet capability.

ETA: I added the speed tests for my Fire TV 3rd Generation and my Roku Express 2018.

Roku Express 2018 Speed Test

WiFi = 37 Mbps

Fire TV 3rd Gen Speed Test

WiFi = 80 Mbps

Even though the Roku Express only has about a third up to half the WiFi speed as the other three devices, I have never had significant streaming issues with it, even on Hulu Live TV. As a matter of fact, the cheaper Express is way more reliable than my Ultra model.

[wodin]

Could we take this to the Cutting the Cable TV thread please.

[OtinG]

I only brought it up here because we talk a LOT about Alexa enabled devices in this thread. I will stop posting about the Fire TV for now, but I do get tired of all the folks around this forum who think a particular post or subject matter has to always go into a specific thread. That is a bunch of BS. It isn't like we don't get off topic quite often in this thread... And seriously, that other thread apparently has been dead for 5 friggin years until you posted "bump" today!

[wodin]

Alexa's new skill lets you scour Ticketmaster using your voice

You can buy tickets using voice commands now that Ticketmaster has given Alexa access to its events. If you've got nothing particular in mind, say "Alexa, open Ticketmaster." You can also ask the voice assistant to look for events you can go to with the date range and location you have in mind. For instance, you can say "Alexa, ask Ticketmaster to find events this weekend" or "find concerts in [a specific area]." Looking for tickets for a particular event? Just use the artist's or team's name: "Alexa, find Miami Heat/[another team or artist] tickets." You can select your seats and finalize your order from there.

[tubemonkey]

Alexa’s new Song ID feature will tell you what song is playing

Note: this skill is ONLY compatible with Amazon Music

The feature is, thankfully, optional

Amazon is rolling out a new feature for Alexa today called Song ID, which allows the virtual assistant to announce the name and artist of whatever songs you’re playing before they play. This basically turns Alexa into the digital embodiment of that opening act that has to tell audiences what their songs are called because no one has ever heard of them before (via VentureBeat).

Thankfully, Song ID is optional. Users can turn it on or off by asking Alexa to “Turn on Song ID” or “Turn off Song ID,” so you won’t be stuck with it if you’d rather just listen to your music uninterrupted.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Alexa’s new Song ID feature will tell you what song is playing

Note: this skill is ONLY compatible with Amazon Music

Ummmm, I wonder how this is different from what she has been doing as far back as I can remember. When I ask, "Alexa, play [song title] by [artist], she responds with, "Playing [song title] by [artist] from Amazon Prime", and often she adds "live version"....

Also another feature they recently released is a throwback to the days when Alexa kept responding to every darn word on the TV, even when none of those words in any way sound like "Alexa"! She was doing so well back in November and December, but she has gotten as bad as ever before in the last few weeks. Every time the bozo programmers at Amazon make changes to the FW or server code they seem to break stuff that was previously working.

[wodin]

Last week I noticed that an alarm my wife set for 5:30 PM went off at 4:30. When I went into the app to check, it said the 5:30 pm alarm was indeed there, but was disabled, this was at 4:35. I tried setting another 5:30 alarm from the app and it told me that alarms need to be set for a FUTURE TIME. WTF? 5:30 WAS a future time!

Then I checked the time on the living room Echo and she said it was 4:50 pm, exactly right, but the Spot in the bedroom said it was 5:50. So the alarm and the Spot were exactly one hour fast, but the time Alexa reported was right.

Aha! Alexa is confused by Daylight Saving Time, and has at least two time standards. One got it right but the other (2?) didn't.

I sent at trouble ticket to Amazon Customer Service saying "Does Alexa know that Hawaii and Arizona doesn't come under daylight savings time?" and received a reply from their AI named Vivek Chaudhary, saying:

Originally Posted by Vivek Chaudhary

Hello Wodin,

This is Vivek from Amazon Alexa support team.

I understand that you'd like to know if Alexa knows that Hawaii and Arizona doesn't come under daylight savings time.

No, at this time Alexa doesn't have the information regarding it. I have forwarded your comments as a feedback to our development team so that they will consider it for future improvements.

As you know "Alexa" is a work in progress. We are constantly making changes for a better user experience. Discussion about the issues and suggestions you give helps us to improve "Alexa".

Your feedback and suggestions are very important for us to make sure we improve the product where it lacks or to be rectified so that it gives better performance to our Alexa customers and you may make the best use of it to enjoy it to the utmost.

We look forward to see you again.

We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.

Best regards,
Vivek Chaudhary
Amazon.com

It would seem that Jeff's Artificial Intelligence engine is not all that intelligent.

[OtinG]

As I've been saying for a few years now, Jeff's programmers are not that bright. Even when they finally get Alexa to work pretty well, they screw it up again on the next update they program. I'm getting a large number of Alexa blue ring awakenings each day from words and even non-word sounds which in no manner come close to sounding like the word "Alexa". I'm getting major failures within Fire TV for voice commands using their remotes with Mic button, which is essentially Alexa too from what I understand. I finally gave up on asking Alexa via Mic button on Fire TV remote to "Tune to [PREFERRED CHANNEL]" because most of the time she either says okay but then does nothing at all or she says she cannot find that channel. I'm also miffed that Amazon has purposely rigged Alexa to take you to certain PAID content when you ask her general search questions for Fire TV regardless of using the Mic on the remote or an Echo device. And don't get me started on all my aggravation associated with trying to listen to and navigate within podcasts on Echo devices. A walleyed squirrel could have done a better job programming the podcast feature into Alexa!

[Tarana]

Free from Audible through Echo only for March is The Four Hour Work Week. I just asked Alexa what audiobook was free from Audible this month, but here's more info on the audio.

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-4-Hou...Y5S7V9&http://

I'm still having a lot of troubles with my Echos. In home Drop-in barely works at best, Audiobooks occasionally start from random places and aren't recognized from unit to unit, and now even reminders aren't always being accepted into the system. Lights on and off, well, that is another problem. So frustrating as everything worked perfect before December.

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by wodin

Last week I noticed that an alarm my wife set for 5:30 PM went off at 4:30. When I went into the app to check, it said the 5:30 pm alarm was indeed there, but was disabled, this was at 4:35. I tried setting another 5:30 alarm from the app and it told me that alarms need to be set for a FUTURE TIME. WTF? 5:30 WAS a future time!

Then I checked the time on the living room Echo and she said it was 4:50 pm, exactly right, but the Spot in the bedroom said it was 5:50. So the alarm and the Spot were exactly one hour fast, but the time Alexa reported was right.

Aha! Alexa is confused by Daylight Saving Time, and has at least two time standards. One got it right but the other (2?) didn't.

I sent at trouble ticket to Amazon Customer Service saying "Does Alexa know that Hawaii and Arizona doesn't come under daylight savings time?" and received a reply from their AI named Vivek Chaudhary, saying:



It would seem that Jeff's Artificial Intelligence engine is not all that intelligent.

If you live in a mobile home, isn't the most likely explanation that your bedroom happened to be in a different time zone?

[OtinG]

Speaking of podcasts, I tried again early this morning to use Alexa to play podcasts. The result was a major failure. I tried using the AnyPod skill, so at least some of the blame falls on them, but I suspect at least some blame falls on Amazon's lack of focus on podcasts and their mediocre implementation to same.

I asked Alexa to play a specific episode of a specific podcast title on my two Dot 3s that are synced together as a stereo pair. The result was an echo effect on my ECHO Dot 3s! Yep they both played an episode (unfortunately the incorrect one) but they were not synced in timing so I got a horrible echo sound as they were being played about 200 milliseconds out of sync. Totally no good for listening. I told Alexa to stop the podcasts and she stopped it on one of the Dots but it kept running on the other one. At least it was better sounding then, but apparently asking Alexa to play a podcasts via AnyPod on a stereo paired set of Dots is a bad idea. And yep, she played the last available episode instead of the one I requested. She repeatedly refused to play a specific episode number. Major fail.

I tried using Tune-in, the default podcast skill for Alexa, but good luck finding the podcasts you want through that maize of confusion, and forget about controlling fast forward/reverse or episode number. Even using Tune-in on my iPad was frustrating with the newest Alexa interface that sucks big time in the podcast area. And the Search box in the podcast area of Alexa iPad app actually searches outside of podcasts and takes you into another area altogether. Worthless junk!

So once again I just used my MacBook Pro and iTunes to quickly find a podcast and play the episode I wanted. I would sure like to be able to do that in Alexa for my various Echo devices, but no such luck.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Free from Audible through Echo only for March is The Four Hour Work Week. I just asked Alexa what audiobook was free from Audible this month, but here's more info on the audio.

https://www.audible.com/pd/The-4-Hou...Y5S7V9&http://

I'm still having a lot of troubles with my Echos. In home Drop-in barely works at best, Audiobooks occasionally start from random places and aren't recognized from unit to unit, and now even reminders aren't always being accepted into the system. Lights on and off, well, that is another problem. So frustrating as everything worked perfect before December.

Yes, Alexa was working great in December, but has regressed to being nearly useless today.