DISH to work with the Google Assistant

[bacchus101]

Thanks. Can more than one smartphone be paired to the same Hopper/Google Assistant?

Your Dish account is paired to the account(s) listed in your google home app. There are no other settings or options.

Edit: So to be clear, it doesn't pair to devices but rather to your master account which is generally your gmail account.

 

[charlesrshell]

Your Dish account is paired to the account(s) listed in your google home app. There are no other settings or options.

Edit: So to be clear, it doesn't pair to devices but rather to your master account which is generally your gmail account.

OK, got it. Thanks

 

[primetimeguy]

I'm already back to using Alexa.

First of all, it breaks Smartthings (harmony) functionality so I can no longer turn on/off TVs or control volume. Half the time it says it can't do that or asks me what device (and I tell it to no avail). The rest of the time, it just starts playing something on the home itself: "Hey Google, change channel to ESPN" - and it starts playing ESPN radio on the home closest to me.

That said, it might be useful if all you have is one hopper and one home device.

They neglected to have any configurable settings in the home app (dish interface) itself to chose defaults (duh!) so when you say "Change channel to ESPN" and the master bedroom home hears that phrase, it should know to tune to the master bedroom default device (it doesn't) not the living room hopper or the guest room joey...


They should have the bugs worked out in 18-36 months.

Correct, Google home does not have room awareness. So you have to say "change bedroom Joey to espn". Works on my Hopper and all 4 Joey's. Not sure how useful it really is at this point though.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[bacchus101]

Correct, Google home does not have room awareness. So you have to say "change bedroom Joey to espn". Works on my Hopper and all 4 Joey's. Not sure how useful it really is at this point though.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

For science I did try relinking again and finally got it to change a channel after telling it what room I was in, what device I wanted to change the channel on and what channel I wanted to change to....but it still breaks harmony and smartthings making it useless in my household.

Also, the verbosity drives me crazy. Same command across both systems...

"Hey Google, tune to epsn on hopper in living room" - Google: Sure switching to espn in living room on hopper one million five hundred thirty-nine thousand six hundred thirty-three."

"Alexa, Tune to ESPN" - Alexa: Ok.

They have a long ways to go to make it work all the time, make it streamlined and not have it break other things.

 

[vicw]

I'm not seeing all of that verbosity and multi-room changes so far. If I say "switch the Hopper to CNN", it changes the hopper to CNN and responds almost instantly with "OK, switching to CNN on the Hopper". If I say "Switch Joey 2 to NBC", it switches Joey 2 to NBC and responds with "Switching to NBC on Joey 2." No cross effects on the other devices.

I suspect the difference is that I have applied Nicknames to each device in the Google Home app. Google will announce the convenient nickname that you give each device, instead of the original label.

The only oddity I'm getting today, is that it won't manage a channel number change. That was working yesterday. If I say" Switch the hopper to channel 5", it responds with "I'm sorry, there was an error and I'm unable to control your home device." I assume that's just a temporary mess up, but overall it's working great for me.

 

[Bobby]

I'm not seeing all of that verbosity and multi-room changes so far. If I say "switch the Hopper to CNN", it changes the hopper to CNN and responds almost instantly with "OK, switching to CNN on the Hopper". If I say "Switch Joey 2 to NBC", it switches Joey 2 to NBC and responds with "Switching to NBC on Joey 2." No cross effects on the other devices.

I suspect the difference is that I have applied Nicknames to each device in the Google Home app. Google will announce the convenient nickname that you give each device, instead of the original label.

The only oddity I'm getting today, is that it won't manage a channel number change. That was working yesterday. If I say" Switch the hopper to channel 5", it responds with "I'm sorry, there was an error and I'm unable to control your home device." I assume that's just a temporary mess up, but overall it's working great for me.

I think the verbosity comments come from the need to say Hopper, Joey, etc. With my Dot I simply say Alexa, ESPN and my Hopper goes directly to the ESPN channel.

 

[charlesrshell]

I think the verbosity comments come from the need to say Hopper, Joey, etc. With my Dot I simply say Alexa, ESPN and my Hopper goes directly to the ESPN channel.

Too many syllables in Alexa. I changed mine to Echo.

 

[vicw]

Too many syllables in Alexa. I changed mine to Echo.

Another few years and we probably will be able to just think "ESPN" and it will switch.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[ERSanders]

Too many syllables in Alexa. I changed mine to Echo.

Saves a lot of time!

 

[edisonprime]

I'm not seeing all of that verbosity and multi-room changes so far. If I say "switch the Hopper to CNN", it changes the hopper to CNN and responds almost instantly with "OK, switching to CNN on the Hopper". If I say "Switch Joey 2 to NBC", it switches Joey 2 to NBC and responds with "Switching to NBC on Joey 2." No cross effects on the other devices.

I suspect the difference is that I have applied Nicknames to each device in the Google Home app. Google will announce the convenient nickname that you give each device, instead of the original label.

The only oddity I'm getting today, is that it won't manage a channel number change. That was working yesterday. If I say" Switch the hopper to channel 5", it responds with "I'm sorry, there was an error and I'm unable to control your home device." I assume that's just a temporary mess up, but overall it's working great for me.

I could SO comment on the CNN thing, but as the rules state, no politics here.

 

[pattykay]

Too many syllables in Alexa. I changed mine to Echo.

I left mine set for "Alexa" but I just say "Lexa" and it works. That makes it the same number of syllables as "Echo."

 

[Bobby]

I think Amazon should allow Hal! One syllable, excellent name. Seriously though, may Dot sits right next to me in my theater room. It is amazing how many times it hears, or thinks it hears, Alexa. I am thinking Echo is a more used word than Alexa. That could drive me crazy just watching the Dot continuously lighting up. Or worse, hearing Echo from some TV dialog and then responding that it doesn't know what to do with the dialog that followed.

 

[dare2be]

When I tell my dog "come here", my Echo thinks I just said "computer".

My daughter recently changed her word from "echo" to "alexa", as there were too many false pickups with "echo"

 

[dare2be]

I could SO comment on the CNN thing, but as the rules state, no politics here.

But you did anyway.

Back to ignore you go.

 

[edisonprime]

But you did anyway.

Back to ignore you go.

I know you can’t read this, but it’s funny that people like you don’t get this upset when anything regarding Fox News is brought up in which similar comments are ALWAYS said. Double standard anyone?


Sent from my iPhone using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[pattykay]

I think Amazon should allow Hal! One syllable, excellent name. Seriously though, may Dot sits right next to me in my theater room. It is amazing how many times it hears, or thinks it hears, Alexa. I am thinking Echo is a more used word than Alexa. That could drive me crazy just watching the Dot continuously lighting up. Or worse, hearing Echo from some TV dialog and then responding that it doesn't know what to do with the dialog that followed.

My favorite example is when the ad for their Alexa skill airs on my local TV station, WMFD. The ad ends with the tagline, "Alexa just got smarter." My Echo Dot hears that and responds, "Hmm, I don't know that."

 

[comfortably_numb]

My favorite example is when the ad for their Alexa skill airs on my local TV station, WMFD. The ad ends with the tagline, "Alexa just got smarter." My Echo Dot hears that and responds, "Hmm, I don't know that."

That’s actually why I changed the trigger word. A commerical in my area says “Hey Alexa, play....” and she changes the channel.

+1 on adding Hal to the list. Plus, I am a Dave. So it seems natural

 

[pattykay]

That’s actually why I changed the trigger word. A commerical in my area says “Hey Alexa, play....” and she changes the channel.

I posted about something similar in the Pub Members section awhile back. I would fall asleep listening to one radio station through my Echo Dot, and when I woke up, it would be playing a different station. I assumed something like that was happening. This hasn't happened to me in awhile, but I have not been listening to that station as often, either.

 

[vicw]

Since Wednesday, Google Assistant errors off for me on any voice command to switch to a channel number. Channel names work fine. Am I the only one experiencing that problem?

 

[pattykay]

Since Wednesday, Google Assistant errors off for me on any voice command to switch to a channel number. Channel names work fine. Am I the only one experiencing that problem?

No, the same problem was reported elsewhere. I am sure Dish is aware of this and working on it.