For important notifications I play a tts then grab the mp3 file, move it to my media folder and call that file when needed... This way it can work without internet. I can also use any mp3 this way meaning I can record myself or others to utilize. Works great for fixed alerts. I will use tts only for disposable announcements like time, weather, traffic, etc...
Hi Jeff. Great Video, sir ! 👌 I just wanted to say that I am totally new (I installed Home Assistant on a raspberry Pi 3B about 24h ago 😜). Actually I was surprised to see how many things work almost automagically, for instance, I have some zigbee devices and the were recognized and configured almost automatically ! Still, there is something that was not configured automatically and it is a basic and simple Bluetooth Speaker. I don't get how much specific devices are configured so easily but a very common Bluetooth Speaker was not :) Maybe I am missing something ? Thanks a lot.
You missed that a media-player must be installed, with a new installation this doesn't work! Then you have to figure out what media-player is best... PLEX, VLC, DLNA?
Good call out. I just left it has a requirement and referred to Google Chrome Devices and Google Homes and Echos but didn't cover it the actual installation/integration.
@@SlackerLabs Not wanting Google or Amazon in my house, installing VLC (remote not the 0layer) or PLEX and I still have no media support... Everything assumes your tying into remote services, the moment you make the decision to have no external links - including external control it complicates things immensely...
Hi Jeff, I loved this video and my Amazon Polly is up and running. I just have a question for you. I used Alexa notifications in the past but I don't like to have a microphone connected to the internet all the time in my living room. Since Alexa notifications requires the Echo to be online, I stopped using it. Can you use Polly with a google speaker NOT connected to the internet? Any offline or "dumb Speaker" at all like Sonos? Thanks again
Sure, as long as the media player is connected to Home Assistant it can be completely local. My main speaker these days is a local one using the local audio jack on ym home assistant blue connected to a stereo receiver that sends that audio to the main speakers in the house. And Polly works fine over it. I believe sinus works as well. And Chrome Casts and Google homes are interacted with locally, but you do need cloud to set them up. But if they didn't have internet access as long as Home Assistant did it would work.
I think Polly is the best, but I do have a weird problem of having some rooms that are echo only so I have to rely on both Polly and Alexa and a handler to choose which one to use based on the room. Way more complications that most people I suspect. I have thought about just moving to media players in everyroom that can handle polly.
I dont have a homepod to test it, but I dont think so. It is possible it could work. I know that using the Apple TV integration I can send TTS to the Apple TV (of course interrupting anything that is playing) but I dont think there is a way to integrate a homepod as a mediaplayer in home assistant which is what is needed. IF you can integrate your homepod with home assistant it might be possible.
I have Alexa devices all over the place, so what would be a good speaker to use with Amazon TTS? Seems nuts that it doesn't work with their own stuff. When I go to choose a speaker, several media players come up but none seem to actually play, some show an error, most just don't play.
@@SlackerLabs thanks for the reply, but not sure I’m following, are you saying the reason mine isn’t working is that I don’t have voices installed? I do have hacs so I’ll go take a look, but also wondering what actual voice speakers work well, all I have are actual Alexa’s, which I think you said won’t work?
Yes. 12:58 I talked about Mary TTS and Pico TTS in the video at the end. Both are local options and built in to home Assistant. I also know for some that want local only options and dont want the internet or to randomized the speech they have just gone to the console for Polly or one of the other cloud based options and create mp3s of there messages and then just play those instead of doing the TTS thing.
Hello Jeff: I have seen some other of your videos where I see some audible notifications coming out from an Amazon Echo show and I thought from what you explain that you couldn't use AWS in your echos. What did I get wrong? Thanks
Yeah, you can't use the Amazon Polly TTS integration in Home Assistant with your echos. Anytime I am using the echos for notifications I am using the notify service that is setup with the Alexa Media Player integration which works, I just can't choose the voice I want to use with that service. Thats really the only thing you can't do. I can use my Jarvis voice which is Brian in amazon polly.
Google speaker, yes, I believe it is possible. Echos is a no go unless you write your own method. Essentially any speaker you can add to Home Assistant as a media player that can play audio files from HA can be used with any of the local TTS systems. All the TTS systems do is take your text, turn it to speech, and create a audio file, mp3 usually, that is simply played on the media player. In fact if your TTS service allows you to cache the TTS, you get a folder with audio files in it. The Amazon echo wont like you play an MP3 file from your local HA instance directly. You can play audio files on amazon echos using the alexa media player integration in the Home Assistant Community Store, but you would have to write a script that does that since it wont let you do it directly on the media player entity. So its possible, but you would have to use a TTS service that created the audio files in the specific format the echo wants it in or you would have to have an automation convert it. Then you would need an automation to grab the audio file and get it to a script so it can get routed the correct way to play. I suspect while doable, thats going to be a high effort low reward project with a big possibleity of random failures. But it could be done if you really wanted it. Much easier to use a google speaker which connects to HA over the local network or a different networked speaker.
Hi Jeff, I am a new subscriber and HA lurker. Do either or both of the local options you mentioned work with the Echo, not meaning do they echo, or I guess that's what I am asking, do they Echo?
Ha...the Local ones will work with the Google devices since they can act as ip based speakers on your local network, but not really with the Echo. Although, honestly if you didn't mind the work, you could fake it. But it would be a lot of work. Like record MP3s of the TTS (some of the services produce MP3s that get cached in HA so you could just grab them from the files) and then have the echo play a MP3. I have learned that is possible. It just wouldn't be real time TTS. But in terms of the Echo knowing what is being said, all it would know is you played an MP3.
I really like your videos. I want to use Amazon Media Player but when I try to set it up it fails when it tries to show the web page after I log in. Got any ideas?
@@SlackerLabs It fails to open the page that has the casa web link. When I go back to my integration list it has a message to open a web page but that continues to be a loop and the integration never shows up in my list.
@@mackm3058 I am not sure what is going on there. I believe it is just trying to open an amazon page, so unless something in the browser or the computer you are on is preventing it from hitting the url I am not sure what would be causing the issue. I dont think that is an integration issue. I think the integration is just trying to create a cookie so that it can act like your browser. Maybe you have cookies disabled?
Hi Jeff. Great video. If I understand you correctly none of these methods work to send text to voice to Amazon Echo, correct? If this is the case how do you do it then?
For the echos the best way is to use the Alexa Media Player integration in the home assistant community store. It provide a notify service for each of your echos and with that can be used for text to speech.
Figured out that the keys generated had a back slash in them. That won't work, so I had them regenerated by adding a different user and I'm up and running. Using Kevin's voice for my son's assistant. He loves it. It's like having a new friend. Now I have to figure out how to get multiple voices on the fly. Thanks for the vid.
I don’t think you can do voices on the fly with Amazon Polly. But you can using the Alexa media player integration. I’m the video about coming clean about jarvis I talk about using that method. But you need echos…
Hi Jeff, I have some issues reaching my Google Home Mini's. It looks like a mDNS issue but it also can be related to my WiFi network. Did you have any issues with reaching your speakers and if so, how did you solve that?
I seem to have issues from time to time. Not sure what causes it. Just noticed every once in a while home assistant says it can reach my speakers. I haven’t really solved it other than having a script check and if the destination is not idle or off then send it to An adjacent room.
I just tried to use the cloud_say service with the entity id pointed to one of my echo's media_player entity and got the message "text to speech can only be used with the notify service"...which doesn't allow me to the Nabu Casa TTS service. How do you use the Nabu Casa TTS with the echos? I would love to have just one text to speech engine regardless of whether I am using the echos or the google homes.
HI Jeff. Just found your video while I was looking for the solution to start using TTS. I have Echo plus and dot, but prefer not to use it for HA TTS - my native language is polish and Alexa sounds a bit weird to my guests:) I have Nabu Casa sub, so I wanted to use cloud_say... But Alexa will not let me to use it through Echo as a speaker :( Although I tested TTS via notify_alexa and works well. I have also Samsung soundbar q900a that is Alexa capable, and TTS via Alexa works with it also ok. But... cloud_say doesnt... Can't figure out why? While I can somehow understand why Amazon keeps it that way, I thought that 3rd party device will work regardles of TTS provider..:( Regarding soundbar I have Smart Things integration enabled, I can change volume and so on... but media_player class device is only from Alexa integration... Is there any possibility to set it up somehow ? Thank you in advance.
So the way any of the TTS works for the Nabu Casa is it creates a MP3 on the fly then just plays it. So as long as you have a speaker that HA can play an MP3 to, the TTS should work. the Echos despite being a "media player" wont let you stream a local MP3 so the TTS doesn't work. It sounds like that Samsung soundbar might be the same way. Unless you can connect to it directly you may have to use the Alexa one. Depending on your device running home assistant you may be able to use the onboard audio jack and some speakers. Not ideal if your home assistant computer is not close to everything else. But I suspect any of the Amazon capable speakers that connect toHome Assistant via the Alxea media player integration are going to be unable to use the other TTS.
Question in regards to speakers. I have been wanting to change to Polly for a few months, but have most of my house with Echo's of all types. If I go with new speakers (Sonos, Ikea, etc) NOW here is the really stupid part can I say something and have it talk back. I have a handicapped wife who uses the echos constantly, just need something to be able to be used by her.
Absolutely. Although perhaps not in the way you envision. I do that with mine. But I have scripts setup in Home Assistant. Like say a script that all it does is provide a read out of the house security. Then I just have a routine on either Echo or Google Home that when I say "Alexa/Hey Google, give me a security update" that fires the script which is exposed to either echo or google. Then the script just uses amazon polly or the alexa media player integration and text to speech to the speaker. Its a little more work. since you have to write the trigger part in either the google home app or the alexa app, but works really well. But it allows you to leverage the voice interface from those systems to trigger home assistant todo something. Hope that helps. Let me know if you still have questions.
@@SlackerLabs Thank you for the comment, being retired I have a good amount of time to "play". Last question, what type of speakers are you using in conjunction with Echo and Google and how are they connected (ie: wired or wifi)
@@carltonwbrooks Most of my speakers are just the google Home minis. But the main audio for the house is a chromecast connected to an old Audio/Video Receiver. Then I have a Rocketfish wireless system to send that audio to a main set of speakers in the center my living room. The amp allows the chromecast to get really loud for alarms and such, but also fo general things like door chimes it works pretty well.
Oh, man...this reminds I better get on with doing my tour and showing how I have everything setup with the audible notifications. My whole current Amazon polly config is at github.com/thejeffreystone/home-assistant-configuration/blob/55836c615984213aa6093c146b0708aa78d4ae1e/config/packages/notify.yaml#L45 but really, the under the platform: amazon_polly you just need a line for voice that looks like -> voice: Brian
Because amazing doesn’t allow the echos to be used like a true media player. The way the tts service works is it create an mp3 which is played on the media player. But you cannot play mp3s on the echo locally from Home assistant. So the o Lu tts service that works is the Amazon one.
What TTS Integration do you think is the best? And what is the one thing you find TTS is a perfect for?
Sending text to a local smart speaker to make it speak would be awesome.
And with a HomePod ? 😅
@@Quentame74 Yeah. I'm not sure about HomePod though. There might be a way to do it. I guess I need to get a home pod and try it out.
For important notifications I play a tts then grab the mp3 file, move it to my media folder and call that file when needed... This way it can work without internet. I can also use any mp3 this way meaning I can record myself or others to utilize. Works great for fixed alerts. I will use tts only for disposable announcements like time, weather, traffic, etc...
Im working on a custom integration with coqui tts
Nabu Casa is my pick! However I would like to learn about Amazon Polly :) Thanks a lot for sharing !
I like Nabu Casa as well. I have been testing it to see everyone in the house likes it enough to switch. I am already paying for Nabu Casa anyway.
Oh, forgot to mention! You can also fake accents, I could do an Italian accent speaking with English text
You better do a video showing us how. Hahah
hahahahahahahahaha "Not enough yatch!!!"
MaryTTS is fun if you like more control.
Thanks for the video. FYI, The "wrapping up" timestamp is wrong.
Please make video on how we can use self signed certificate for homeassistant and then use TTS because tts is not working with self signed certificate
Hi,, would it be possible to send a TTS notification from outside your network to your Google mini/nest?
Hi Jeff.
Great Video, sir ! 👌
I just wanted to say that I am totally new (I installed Home Assistant on a raspberry Pi 3B about 24h ago 😜).
Actually I was surprised to see how many things work almost automagically, for instance, I have some zigbee devices and the were recognized and configured almost automatically ! Still, there is something that was not configured automatically and it is a basic and simple Bluetooth Speaker. I don't get how much specific devices are configured so easily but a very common Bluetooth Speaker was not :) Maybe I am missing something ? Thanks a lot.
Google is your friend
Hi can you make a tutorial how to make a card ready for tts like I want to announce something I can just tyoe in straight away on my home page
You missed that a media-player must be installed, with a new installation this doesn't work! Then you have to figure out what media-player is best... PLEX, VLC, DLNA?
Good call out. I just left it has a requirement and referred to Google Chrome Devices and Google Homes and Echos but didn't cover it the actual installation/integration.
@@SlackerLabs Not wanting Google or Amazon in my house, installing VLC (remote not the 0layer) or PLEX and I still have no media support... Everything assumes your tying into remote services, the moment you make the decision to have no external links - including external control it complicates things immensely...
Hi Jeff, I loved this video and my Amazon Polly is up and running. I just have a question for you. I used Alexa notifications in the past but I don't like to have a microphone connected to the internet all the time in my living room. Since Alexa notifications requires the Echo to be online, I stopped using it. Can you use Polly with a google speaker NOT connected to the internet? Any offline or "dumb Speaker" at all like Sonos?
Thanks again
Sure, as long as the media player is connected to Home Assistant it can be completely local. My main speaker these days is a local one using the local audio jack on ym home assistant blue connected to a stereo receiver that sends that audio to the main speakers in the house. And Polly works fine over it. I believe sinus works as well. And Chrome Casts and Google homes are interacted with locally, but you do need cloud to set them up. But if they didn't have internet access as long as Home Assistant did it would work.
I tried Google, Alexa, and Polly... I settled on Polly, but I haven't setup many notifications yet.
I think Polly is the best, but I do have a weird problem of having some rooms that are echo only so I have to rely on both Polly and Alexa and a handler to choose which one to use based on the room. Way more complications that most people I suspect. I have thought about just moving to media players in everyroom that can handle polly.
Thanks for the video. Did you look at the RHVoice integration during your research? I’m just wondering if it was ruled out for any particular reason?
I didn't look at it. But I do eventually want to have a completely local solution and RHVoice may fit into that.
I’m just taking first steps with Home Assistant. Is any of this working with Apple HomePod (mini)?
I dont have a homepod to test it, but I dont think so. It is possible it could work. I know that using the Apple TV integration I can send TTS to the Apple TV (of course interrupting anything that is playing) but I dont think there is a way to integrate a homepod as a mediaplayer in home assistant which is what is needed. IF you can integrate your homepod with home assistant it might be possible.
I have Alexa devices all over the place, so what would be a good speaker to use with Amazon TTS? Seems nuts that it doesn't work with their own stuff. When I go to choose a speaker, several media players come up but none seem to actually play, some show an error, most just don't play.
You can just use the hacs integration. You just got get all the voices. But it does work well for keeping the user experience the same.
@@SlackerLabs thanks for the reply, but not sure I’m following, are you saying the reason mine isn’t working is that I don’t have voices installed? I do have hacs so I’ll go take a look, but also wondering what actual voice speakers work well, all I have are actual Alexa’s, which I think you said won’t work?
is there some solution that does it all locally, without using the internet?
Yes. 12:58 I talked about Mary TTS and Pico TTS in the video at the end. Both are local options and built in to home Assistant. I also know for some that want local only options and dont want the internet or to randomized the speech they have just gone to the console for Polly or one of the other cloud based options and create mp3s of there messages and then just play those instead of doing the TTS thing.
Hello Jeff: I have seen some other of your videos where I see some audible notifications coming out from an Amazon Echo show and I thought from what you explain that you couldn't use AWS in your echos. What did I get wrong? Thanks
Yeah, you can't use the Amazon Polly TTS integration in Home Assistant with your echos. Anytime I am using the echos for notifications I am using the notify service that is setup with the Alexa Media Player integration which works, I just can't choose the voice I want to use with that service. Thats really the only thing you can't do. I can use my Jarvis voice which is Brian in amazon polly.
@@SlackerLabs 👍 thanks
is there any way to get local tts to play though a alexa or google speaker?
Google speaker, yes, I believe it is possible. Echos is a no go unless you write your own method.
Essentially any speaker you can add to Home Assistant as a media player that can play audio files from HA can be used with any of the local TTS systems.
All the TTS systems do is take your text, turn it to speech, and create a audio file, mp3 usually, that is simply played on the media player. In fact if your TTS service allows you to cache the TTS, you get a folder with audio files in it.
The Amazon echo wont like you play an MP3 file from your local HA instance directly. You can play audio files on amazon echos using the alexa media player integration in the Home Assistant Community Store, but you would have to write a script that does that since it wont let you do it directly on the media player entity. So its possible, but you would have to use a TTS service that created the audio files in the specific format the echo wants it in or you would have to have an automation convert it. Then you would need an automation to grab the audio file and get it to a script so it can get routed the correct way to play. I suspect while doable, thats going to be a high effort low reward project with a big possibleity of random failures. But it could be done if you really wanted it.
Much easier to use a google speaker which connects to HA over the local network or a different networked speaker.
I thought NC supports Alexa now?
How do you do this using Node Red and Nabu Case say service?
Hi Jeff, I am a new subscriber and HA lurker. Do either or both of the local options you mentioned work with the Echo, not meaning do they echo, or I guess that's what I am asking, do they Echo?
Ha...the Local ones will work with the Google devices since they can act as ip based speakers on your local network, but not really with the Echo. Although, honestly if you didn't mind the work, you could fake it. But it would be a lot of work. Like record MP3s of the TTS (some of the services produce MP3s that get cached in HA so you could just grab them from the files) and then have the echo play a MP3. I have learned that is possible. It just wouldn't be real time TTS. But in terms of the Echo knowing what is being said, all it would know is you played an MP3.
I really like your videos. I want to use Amazon Media Player but when I try to set it up it fails when it tries to show the web page after I log in. Got any ideas?
It fails to open the page? Or it shows a blank page? Seems like I get an error sometimes but it still works.
@@SlackerLabs It fails to open the page that has the casa web link. When I go back to my integration list it has a message to open a web page but that continues to be a loop and the integration never shows up in my list.
@@mackm3058 I am not sure what is going on there. I believe it is just trying to open an amazon page, so unless something in the browser or the computer you are on is preventing it from hitting the url I am not sure what would be causing the issue. I dont think that is an integration issue. I think the integration is just trying to create a cookie so that it can act like your browser. Maybe you have cookies disabled?
Hi Jeff. Great video. If I understand you correctly none of these methods work to send text to voice to Amazon Echo, correct? If this is the case how do you do it then?
For the echos the best way is to use the Alexa Media Player integration in the home assistant community store. It provide a notify service for each of your echos and with that can be used for text to speech.
I followed this... How do I actually get Brian's voice in an automation? I'm stuck with the generic one as of right now.
Figured out that the keys generated had a back slash in them. That won't work, so I had them regenerated by adding a different user and I'm up and running. Using Kevin's voice for my son's assistant. He loves it. It's like having a new friend.
Now I have to figure out how to get multiple voices on the fly. Thanks for the vid.
I don’t think you can do voices on the fly with Amazon Polly. But you can using the Alexa media player integration. I’m the video about coming clean about jarvis I talk about using that method. But you need echos…
Hi Jeff, I have some issues reaching my Google Home Mini's. It looks like a mDNS issue but it also can be related to my WiFi network. Did you have any issues with reaching your speakers and if so, how did you solve that?
I seem to have issues from time to time. Not sure what causes it. Just noticed every once in a while home assistant says it can reach my speakers. I haven’t really solved it other than having a script check and if the destination is not idle or off then send it to
An adjacent room.
Hi Nabu Casa does support Alexa
I just tried to use the cloud_say service with the entity id pointed to one of my echo's media_player entity and got the message "text to speech can only be used with the notify service"...which doesn't allow me to the Nabu Casa TTS service. How do you use the Nabu Casa TTS with the echos? I would love to have just one text to speech engine regardless of whether I am using the echos or the google homes.
HI Jeff. Just found your video while I was looking for the solution to start using TTS. I have Echo plus and dot, but prefer not to use it for HA TTS - my native language is polish and Alexa sounds a bit weird to my guests:) I have Nabu Casa sub, so I wanted to use cloud_say... But Alexa will not let me to use it through Echo as a speaker :( Although I tested TTS via notify_alexa and works well. I have also Samsung soundbar q900a that is Alexa capable, and TTS via Alexa works with it also ok. But... cloud_say doesnt... Can't figure out why? While I can somehow understand why Amazon keeps it that way, I thought that 3rd party device will work regardles of TTS provider..:( Regarding soundbar I have Smart Things integration enabled, I can change volume and so on... but media_player class device is only from Alexa integration... Is there any possibility to set it up somehow ? Thank you in advance.
So the way any of the TTS works for the Nabu Casa is it creates a MP3 on the fly then just plays it. So as long as you have a speaker that HA can play an MP3 to, the TTS should work. the Echos despite being a "media player" wont let you stream a local MP3 so the TTS doesn't work. It sounds like that Samsung soundbar might be the same way. Unless you can connect to it directly you may have to use the Alexa one. Depending on your device running home assistant you may be able to use the onboard audio jack and some speakers. Not ideal if your home assistant computer is not close to everything else. But I suspect any of the Amazon capable speakers that connect toHome Assistant via the Alxea media player integration are going to be unable to use the other TTS.
Question in regards to speakers. I have been wanting to change to Polly for a few months, but have most of my house with Echo's of all types. If I go with new speakers (Sonos, Ikea, etc) NOW here is the really stupid part can I say something and have it talk back. I have a handicapped wife who uses the echos constantly, just need something to be able to be used by her.
Absolutely. Although perhaps not in the way you envision. I do that with mine. But I have scripts setup in Home Assistant. Like say a script that all it does is provide a read out of the house security. Then I just have a routine on either Echo or Google Home that when I say "Alexa/Hey Google, give me a security update" that fires the script which is exposed to either echo or google. Then the script just uses amazon polly or the alexa media player integration and text to speech to the speaker. Its a little more work. since you have to write the trigger part in either the google home app or the alexa app, but works really well. But it allows you to leverage the voice interface from those systems to trigger home assistant todo something. Hope that helps. Let me know if you still have questions.
@@SlackerLabs Thank you for the comment, being retired I have a good amount of time to "play". Last question, what type of speakers are you using in conjunction with Echo and Google and how are they connected (ie: wired or wifi)
@@carltonwbrooks Most of my speakers are just the google Home minis. But the main audio for the house is a chromecast connected to an old Audio/Video Receiver. Then I have a Rocketfish wireless system to send that audio to a main set of speakers in the center my living room. The amp allows the chromecast to get really loud for alarms and such, but also fo general things like door chimes it works pretty well.
this awesome, and I learned a bunch, as usual. but how do I change the voice to Jarvis? or is it Brian? need some code man!
Oh, man...this reminds I better get on with doing my tour and showing how I have everything setup with the audible notifications. My whole current Amazon polly config is at github.com/thejeffreystone/home-assistant-configuration/blob/55836c615984213aa6093c146b0708aa78d4ae1e/config/packages/notify.yaml#L45 but really, the under the platform: amazon_polly you just need a line for voice that looks like ->
voice: Brian
@@SlackerLabs just what I needed!
hi why the service doesn't work: tts.google_translate_say z amazon echo? is there any way for functionality?
Because amazing doesn’t allow the echos to be used like a true media player. The way the tts service works is it create an mp3 which is played on the media player. But you cannot play mp3s on the echo locally from
Home assistant. So the o Lu tts service that works is the Amazon one.