I know there was some basic discussion about a Sonos and Smartthings integration here on the forums but I see Sonos has been added to the list of compatible devices. Has anyone actually done anything with Sonos and Smartthings yet or is it just an assumption that it will work? I’m guessing a smartthings app will have to be developed with the sonos api. I’m not even really familiar with the Sonos API and how robust it is though.
I just ordered my first Sonos parts today so pretty excited to see what can be done. Audible alerts of which motion sensors or contact sensors have been tripped is #1 on my list if its possible.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
2
Hi Mweston,
I am definitely interested in following and/or contributing to this topic/research/development.
I am more generally interested in Home Theater and Multi-Zone Home Media in general, not just Sonos; but Sonos is a popular and robust (?) platform to use as a model.
Sonos is an interesting creature. It seems to use relatively easy to understand and parse commands, but very few people have been able to create a fully featured interface to it, regardless of which control platform you’re talking about. Then contrast that with Andronos, which was a Sonos/Android app that was created before the official Sonos App was available for Andriod, and it worked perfectly. I have had Sonos for almost seven years, so I will be putting some effort into integrating this as well as my Lutron, Savant, and RTI.
Would love Sonos to integrate with a motion/occupancy/vacancy sensor so that when I launch a rule (let’s call it Cleaning), as I am wandering around the house doing the cleaning, the music will follow me and turn on and off as I enter/exit various rooms - until I stop the rule.
I’m actually fine with controlling sonos with the sonos apps, the smartthings integration that I would really want is to be able to lower the volume on anything that is playing by about 80% and announce an event like “Front Door Open” or “motion living room”. Since I already have a sonos speaker in every room it would expand audio smartthings alerts to every room.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
9
Regarding DLNA vs. Control vs. Event Announcements…
I agree that DLNA is not a great protocol for both library access nor remote rendering. JRiver also has its own protocols; just as other music serving systems do (Sonos, NuVo, etc.)…
I still feel that SmartThings will benefit from access to the CONTROL protocols for these media players. For example, at “wake up time”, a typical Home Automation system will: Open the Blinds, Turn on the Heat, and Play some Music.
A little OT, but regarding my example of the music following me around the house, until there is a way to integrate sonos, I could probably achieve a similar result by streaming music over various Ubi’s - but the quality and volume is going to much lower compared with sonos speakers.
Yeah, I’d bet the ubi speakers are no where near the quality of Sonos.
Ubi would be nice for event announcements, if I didn’t already have Sonos. Plus I dont really care too much about the other features of ubi, I dont really want to talk to it and I don’t want something in every room constantly listening. I guess I have a point where technology can get a bit too creepy. But thats just me.
Don’t say that guys. I am envisaging a home where I can also use my voice to control what is happening, and for it to inform me of the same. I really hope it works as designed. Even if it doesn’t quite, I think we have seen a significant innovation in the field this year with several devices/ideas coming to fruition and I am sure the big players are keeping a very close eye on what is happening. Not only traditional HA companies, but I am sure the likes of Google, Microsoft, Apple etc are all paying attention. When/if they decide to enter the market and put their considerable $$ and resources behind it, it could get very interesting.
@ SmartThings, is the dream to get bought out by one of these really big players?
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
15
As a backer of The Ubi project, I’d love if those that are interested would move to that thread here:
I am quite interested in hearing your concerns and discussions, as I have some of my own; but I am actually quite optimistic about The Ubi due to its basic Android base … though I don’t know how many “embedded systems” are using Android OS – yet!
As related to Sonos and possibly using The Ubi instead for “whole home music” … For THAT I would say there is a major challenge. Synchronizing music streams over TCP/IP is very difficult; if the sound in one room next to another is off by just a hundred milliseconds, you will notice it.
I’m not sure how Sonos manages to do it well – but they have full control of specialized hardware and software to perfect the job.
There is undoubtedly some magic Sonos sauce. They have a proprietary mesh network which I think buffers internally to sync across the system after taking it’s latency into account. As for ST and Sonos, I think just integration of announcements, which I think would require either custom files on your music server triggered through a Sonos alarm or playlist, or some odd version of the “Send To” command, would be nice. That shouldn’t be very different than playing the Imperial March when the wife’s sensor arrives at the house, or Hail to the Chief when I do…come to think of it, maybe the Friday the 13th music if the security is triggered?
So did anyone get the Sonos to work? Where is it listed as a supported device?
Halloween is coming up and controlling audio via a trigger is something I’d like to try.