On Google Home devices next MediaObject stops playing after one second

Question

I have an action that automatically loops on a collection of shorts audio tracks (each about 30 secs). The action (same action, same code) on Google Assistant app executed on real smartphone works well, but on Google Home devices it has a strange behavior:

first track plays entirely

second track stops playing after 1 sec

third track plays entirely

fourth track stops playing after 1 sec

and so on, alternately one track plays entirely and the next one not. So, is there any difference between the MediaObject on smartphone and the Google Home one? Any hints, please? Thanks

UPDATE sept 2019: The behavior of the Home device got worse over the last week (without changes to the active code): now the first track plays completely, the second stops after a second, the third doesn't sound at all and the loop stops (crashes?).

SAMPLE CODE:

-> The next track automatically plays at receiving MEDIA_STATUS = FINISHED

app.intent('Media Status', (conv) => {
   const mediaStatus = conv.arguments.get('MEDIA_STATUS');
   if (mediaStatus && mediaStatus.status === 'FINISHED') {
      // Automatically start playing the next track
      nextTrackPower(conv, true, false, datapower);
   } else {
      console.log('Unknown media status received.');
      conv.close(getRandomPrompt(conv, 'error'));
   }
});

-> Then I emit three ask command from nextTrackPower() function (an intro text, in the middle the right MediaObject, finally some suggestion chips)

const nextTrackPower = (conv, intro, backwards, datapower) => {
   // Loops the tracks
    --- OMITTED ---
   // Plays the next track
   trackpower = datapower[conv.user.storage.trackpower - 1];

   // Add a prompt intro
   if (intro) {
      conv.ask(nextPrompt);
   }

   // Create a media response
   conv.ask(new MediaObject({
    name: trackpower.title,
    url: POWER_BASE_URL + trackpower.clip,
    description: trackpower.artist,
    icon: new Image({
      url: POWER_BASE_URL + trackpower.link,
      alt: 'Media icon'
       })
    }));

   // Add suggestions to continue the conversation
     conv.ask(suggestions1 );
};

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 18 '19 at 02:43

This is, apparently, a currently known issue, although the engineering team is still investigating. See this thread on the official Reddit forum, which includes a response from a Googler saying

Thanks for reporting the issue. We are investigating.

and later

Our engineers are still investigating.

Tests with my existing Actions indicated problems on both Smart Speakers and Smart Displays, although it worked on an Android device. A Home Mini that I have that remained unplugged for a while seemed to work correctly as well, suggesting it might be an update that was done relatively recently.

I encourage you to add your information to the thread I mentioned above, indicating you're seeing problems similar to those described.

Thks for the link, I will add some info on that thread. According to my tests the malfunction occurred 2/3 months ago, before the action worked well. Today it is even worse as after the second track (which stops immediately) the loop stops completely. — GPack, Sep 19 '19 at 13:20

On Google Home devices next MediaObject stops playing after one second

1 Answers1