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Answered

Different responses to exact same command

  • 2 July 2019
  • 7 replies
  • 241 views
D
Userlevel 5
Badge +8
I have a Google Assistant routine invoked by the voice command "Local news" (it plays a radio station from TuneIn as a Sonos Favorite, because Sonos GA has a bug playing it directly).

Today I saw a repeat of a problem I've seen before. I said "Local news", and Sonos GA said "Sorry, I can't play local news yet. ". I said it again, same response. Said it again, this time it gave the correct response and played the radio station.

I checked my Google Assistant transcript, and it shows that it heard "Local news" all 3 times.

Any idea what might cause this bug?
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Best answer by Misfit 2 July 2019, 19:37

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7 replies

M
Userlevel 5
Badge +13
If I had to guess, it's due to Google Assistant being in its infancy with Sonos.
D
Userlevel 5
Badge +8
Thanks for the guess, but that couldn't reasonably be considered an answer. Who decides that something is an answer in this forum, and how did the bar get set so low for what constitutes an answer?
H
Userlevel 1
Badge +2
I have similar issues. If I say "Hey Google, Play Dave Matthews Band" it'll come back with "Sorry I can't do that here but I can on your other devices".

If i say it again a touch slower and fully enunciate it'll do as requested.

I do believe it's due to the relative infancy with Sonos and Google Assistant. The same thing happened when Sonos first introduced Alexa. Over time it'll all get sorted.
D
Userlevel 5
Badge +8
I have similar issues. If I say "Hey Google, Play Dave Matthews Band" it'll come back with "Sorry I can't do that here but I can on your other devices".

Obviously Google Assistant can just mis-hear you - that happens all the time. All you need to do to verify that is go to your Google Activities page and read the transcript of what Google Assistant thought it heard. But that's not related to my problem - as I said at the start, I did check the transcript, and Google Assistant heard the exact same thing from me each time. It just did something different each time for no apparent reason!
H
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

I have similar issues. If I say "Hey Google, Play Dave Matthews Band" it'll come back with "Sorry I can't do that here but I can on your other devices".Obviously Google Assistant can just mis-hear you - that happens all the time. All you need to do to verify that is go to your Google Activities page and read the transcript of what Google Assistant thought it heard. But that's not related to my problem - as I said at the start, I did check the transcript, and Google Assistant heard the exact same thing from me each time. It just did something different each time for no apparent reason!


I get it. I completely understand what you are saying. The same happens to me when I check the transcript. I still believe it's a translation error between Sonos and GA. GA is hearing the correct command, Sonos just isn't executing it correctly. That's a Sonos integration issue that I'm certain will be corrected over time. No one is perfect and Sonos is the only 3rd party supporting multiple voice assistants.
R
Userlevel 4
Badge +8
This can and has happened directly with Google Home Speakers.
At least it has happened with me and my Google Home speakers.
Actually now that you mention it, i do believe this has happened more often with my Sonos Beam.
In my opinion Sonos has left a bit to be desired when they integrated GA.
D
Userlevel 5
Badge +8
I've noticed a consistent pattern which may provide a clue on this problem, and perhaps is related to the problem of GA on Sonos not being able to play some TuneIn stations.

GA on Sonos won't play my local news radio station from TuneIn. Works fine on my other Google Home and Google Assistant devices, on Alexa, and in the Sonos app. But GA on my Sonos One says "Ok, playing (station)", then "Sorry, that content doesn't seem to be available on TuneIn". So I solved the problem for the moment by making the station a Sonos Favorite, and creating an IFTTT applet to play that Favorite when Google Assistant is triggered by the phrase "Local news".

This works reliably, except in one instance, which happens to be the case I initially reported in this thread, when I forget I'm talking to Sonos GA and say "Hey Google, play (station)". It responds with the error message. The next 2 times I say "Hey Google, local news", Google responds "Sorry, I can't play local news yet." (doesn't matter how long a gap there is between commands). The 3rd time it behaves normally again and runs the IFTTT applet to play the station.

Maybe some Sonos GA developer can make sense of that!

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