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Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

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Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#161

Post by tass »

joshstrange wrote: post #141

This is a pretty lackluster "update" for a product that had a number of issues. Not to mention a press release doesn't fill me with confidence that Apple even believes in this product line (if that wasn't obvious when they pulled the HomePod 1). I'm a hardcore apple fanboy and I just can't justify the HomePods. I want to like them but Siri is useful for setting timers, asking the time/weather, and... that's about all…

I saw you mentioned the HA bridge. I can only give my anecdote that it works well for me - probably been set up without touching anything for about a year now.

I remember the initial setup wasn’t exactly intuitive, but what I like is that HomeKit communicates using your own devices rather than via an exposed web service

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#162

Post by Hippocrates »

brutuscat wrote: post #152
Hippocrates wrote: post #137

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

I might try it with the stereo setup for the home cinema tv setup. I agree on everything about Siri. Though in the kitchen I bought those 100 bucks Ikea Sonos made speakers that sound amazing too. Much cheaper... One issue though is that I can not pass thru audio over the Apple TV, so the cinema setup would only work when using the Apple TV.

This should work if you enable ARC (must be enabled on Apple TV settings, and on your HDMI switching device. You also need to use an ARC compatible HDMI cable and to be using the ARC port on your "switching" device, since often there is only one such port. This is how I have it set up and my HomePod outputs all inputs that come into my TV.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#163

Post by joshstrange »

tass wrote: post #161
joshstrange wrote: post #141

This is a pretty lackluster "update" for a product that had a number of issues. Not to mention a press release doesn't fill me with confidence that Apple even believes in this product line (if that wasn't obvious when they pulled the HomePod 1). I'm a hardcore apple fanboy and I just can't justify the HomePods. I want to like them but Siri is useful for setting timers, asking the time/weather, and... that's about all…

I saw you mentioned the HA bridge. I can only give my anecdote that it works well for me - probably been set up without touching anything for about a year now. I remember the initial setup wasn’t exactly intuitive, but what I like is that HomeKit communicates using your own devices rather than via an exposed web service

I'm open to giving it another try, it's been well over a year since I last tried it and I have far more experience with HomeBridge vs HA's integration.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#165

Post by binarymax »

dmonitor wrote: post #158
Hippocrates wrote: post #137

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

I cannot get siri to text my Mom. I say “text Mom” and it would respond “what do you want to say to Dad?”. Both my parents are explicitly set to be Mom and Dad in my contacts, but Siri has its own logic for determining who I mean as “mom” or something. Siri is the worst part of the Apple ecosystem by far.

It’s so strange how Siri feels like it’s gotten worse over the years.

I’m hoping someone will leverage contemporary chat based LLMs to finally make these assistants work like we expect.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#166

Post by aug_aug »

Siri - 15% Alexa - 20% Google - 88%

These are my success rates talking to home devices across brands in last 5 yrs. Yes - I am complaining, Siri is horrible. Can't believe I'm complimenting Google (Chromecast Audio, Stadia, that RSS thing) at the same time, but I am in the realm of voice recognition.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#167

Post by novok »

Hippocrates wrote: post #137

I F'in LOVE the OG HomePods. The sound quality absolutely slaps for the money/size/convenience. I've got one for music in the kitchen and it fills the room like a setup 3x as large. The bass response even at low volumes is remarkable, and clarity through the whole volume range is near perfection. Many of my guests have sourced their own OGs after hearing it. I've got another hooked up to my Apple TV (mono) that repla…

Siri is really bad on many basic things that they could hard code. Like 'turn off lights' become 'turning on the the lights'. There are many weird ass bitflips for basics like that in Siri that is incredibly frustrating that alexa and google are significantly better in understanding reliably. Whats even worse is Siri could hard code these basics and not use ML which tends to work %90 of the time, but bitflips %10 of the time and leading to everyone here complaining about how bad it is.

Even worse, I think Siri used to work better 3 or 4 years ago.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#168

Post by yborg »

tiffanyh wrote: post #85
perardi wrote: post #46

Is it time to complain about Siri again? Sure is! I am an old-school Apple fanboy. I learned HyperCard on a Macintosh SE/30—I am that old. I still appreciate the Apple ecosystem, and I do like certain aspects of my HomePod mini…but Siri. C’mon. Get it together. It just fails at the absolute basics. https://imgur.com/q0H788Y The basics being: please add stuff to my shopping list when I yell it into the aether while in…

Speak recognition on Siri is horribly bad. They need to license/acquire Nuance Dragon, or do something to improve it. https://www.nuance.com/dragon.html

I'm often surprised at how far away I can be from the device and have it hear the trigger, but I also notice that it has a habit of trying to guess what you are saying when the input is weak instead of telling you that it didn't hear it well. I.e. if I move a few feet closer and repeat the same input string it will execute correctly. It feels like they should be less shy about having Siri just tell you that that the signal to noise ratio was too low for it to be sure of what you said.

Re: Apple HomePod 2nd Generation

#170

Post by tass »

joshstrange wrote: post #163
tass wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw you mentioned the HA bridge. I can only give my anecdote that it works well for me - probably been set up without touching anything for about a year now. I remember the initial setup wasn’t exactly intuitive, but what I like is that HomeKit communicates using your own devices rather than via an exposed web service

I'm open to giving it another try, it's been well over a year since I last tried it and I have far more experience with HomeBridge vs HA's integration.

I forgot that Homebridge was a thing. I use the “HASS Bridge” in homeassistant which I think is added via “add integration”/Apple/Homekit.
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