Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.

So, how’s it going?

  • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz
    ·
    11 months ago

    I would love some smart speakers but I find them pricey as well.

    I'm using a Chromecast audio with an old pair of speakers on a smart plug. The speakers are old enough that it only has an IR remote.

    I have it setup so:

    • Chromecast is detected as Playing, speakers turn on.
    • IR blaster sends commands to set the volume and bass level I like.
    • Dashboard displays additional buttons for controlling volume via IR blaster.
    • If Chromecast stops casting, the speakers turn off and buttons on dashboard disappear.

    Main reason it's setup this way is I already had the old speakers and getting a Chromecast audio and IR blaster was much cheaper than getting good smart speakers. Although you're right it would be much simpler if I just get some decent smart speakers.

      • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz
        ·
        11 months ago

        I got it shortly after I heard they were discontinued, so there was still some stock floating around. I think it might have been through Dick Smith/Kogan at the time?

        If you're willing to go down the Amazon route, I think Echo Dot's have an aux out? They had a device called the Echo Input as well which was like and Echo Dot without the speaker, doesn't seem available anywhere though. I would probably only try this if I could be sure I could disable the microphone and smart speaker functions.

        • sylverstream@lemmy.nz
          ·
          11 months ago

          Thanks. Yeah I don't want any cloud based stuff, especially not from Amazon as I'm afraid they will shut down Alexa if they keep losing money on it.

          Guess I'll wait for now. Thanks.

          • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nz
            ·
            11 months ago

            Understandable. I feel like there must be something out there that works as a replacement, I just haven’t looked very deeply into it.

            • sylverstream@lemmy.nz
              ·
              11 months ago

              I saw ESPMuse, which is an ESP32 based speaker, but has terrible reviews.

              I just checked TM, CC Audio is sold for $200 there. Crazy. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/electronics-photography/media-streaming/chromecast/listing/4278960673

            • sylverstream@lemmy.nz
              ·
              11 months ago

              This is an ESP32 solution: https://www.instructables.com/MQTT-Audio-Notifier-for-ESP8266-Play-MP3-TTS-RTTL/

            • sylverstream@lemmy.nz
              ·
              11 months ago

              Sorry one more post :) I just found this one on Aliexpress which seems promising. Works via a dedicated app but it seems compatible with HA. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003331228026.html

              Could be an affordable alternative.