Question about new skill for "Featured home entertainment products that work with Alexa"

[ahwman]

I noticed today that Amazon has just released a new skill for "Featured home entertainment products that work with Alexa". What caught my attention is that unlike current skills, you do not need to invoke it by "Ask...". Instead you can simply ask things like "Alexa, turn on the tv", "Alexa, volume up", etc. This appears to be what I've been waiting for as I have had to create a patchwork using the ISY portal by naming commands as devices which creates problems with context "Alexa, turn on volume up" as well as issues with using reserved keywords like volume and mute since these are understood as Echo commands versus connected home device commands. That said, I currently have two wifi to ir units and am looking to add two more and am considering purchasing a few BroadLink All in One's as they're only around $38 on Amazon.

 

My biggest concerns are the following:

 

• By enabling this skill, how will it effect my current configuration? Example: I have devices already named "TV" and can turn them on using Alexa via the connected home ISY portal.

 

• How does this skill differentiate between different rooms and devices?

 

I would love to hear from someone using this new feature...

 

Thanks,

Chuck

Edited July 15, 2017 by ahwman

[dbuss]

I use the skill with my Harmony remote and it works quite well. It will turn on and off any activity I have programmed in my Harmony. It will adjust volume up and down. It will mute and unmute. It will go to the channel on the TV I ask it to go to. It's pretty neat.

[stusviews]

The only TVs that use the referred to skill are the latest Sony TVs. Here's the list of all Alexa compatible home entertainment devices.