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VoxCommando - Speech recognition and command utility (control XBMC by voice commands) - Printable Version

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- jitterjames - 2011-03-28

Alethenorio Wrote:I thought I might add some thoughts here.

First I am looking into getting a amulet remote but am a bit disappointed the buttons require IR because that means I will need a looooong USB cable to drag a IR receiver all the way to the other side of my room (Where the TV is). I hope future versions come with full RF.

Secondly just when I am about to finally get around trying voxcommando, it goes into license mode Sad, well I guess any good software deserves it however I am confused as to why there are 2 different licenses, does that mean that if I skip on 10$ I will no get any future updates to the product?

Regards
Alethenorio

If it makes you feel any better, I have yet to attain my dream of earning $1.00 per hour for my time invested in the project. Actually, I keep getting further from it.

The regular license will be good up to at least version 1.0, which is still a good ways off. But most people seem to be springing for the lifetime updates option. Maybe you are confused because products such as adobe photoshop, which cost hundreds of dollars don't offer lifetime updates at all, and make you pay hundreds of dollars every year in order to keep up to date...

I personally think the product is dirt cheap for what it does, and in the future the price may go up, so it makes sense to spend a little extra now if you have tried it enough to know you like it. You are encouraging me to keep developing and potentially saving yourself money in the long run.

Also, remember than in unlicensed mode the program is 100% functional, so there is no reason to not try it. You are simply limited to 25 commands before you have to restart, and you can restart as many times as you like. The idea is to make it impractical to use on a daily basis as part of your htpc, but possible to fully evaluate and experiment with. It thought this would be better than having a product that was only semi functional, where you couldn't really test all of its features.

I agree, it is a shame about the IR vs RF on the amulet. The voice is RF so if you are away from your TV etc (e.g. out on the terrace) you can still control your music with voice commands. The RF rannge is pretty good, and a 15' usb extension should work fine and is super cheap. I recently bought a bunch of usb extensions because I found my various wireless devices were interfering with each other, so I wanted to put some distance between them. It seems to have helped.Nod


Amulet Remote - Pure3picshot - 2011-03-28

steppedup,
I haven't seen much information on the universal remote side of the house when it comes to the amulet. I am debating on buying this or a logitech harmony one. I definately want the amulet for VOX, but the harmony for functionality when it comes to an all in one device.

Can let us know how many devices it will control and if they are customizeable e.g. Harmony remotes doesn' matter what device you are controlling your volume can always be tied to your reciever. Thank you in advance.

I am a firm believer in supporting any developer and or software that is useful. James thank you for taking the time to allow us to use something functional and resonable, keep up the good work. I haven't set up XBMC with VOX yet, but will once I decide on the remote lol =)


- Alethenorio - 2011-03-29

jitterjames Wrote:The RF rannge is pretty good, and a 15' usb extension should work fine and is super cheap.

In my case it will actually have to be around 30 feet cable length but yeah I guess it will work, I just hope there's no delay on it. I really don't understand why the industry keeps insisting on such crappy technology as IR when we have the tech to do so much better.

Regarding the license, as I mentioned, I don't mind paying at all, if the software is as good as I keep seeing reviews for I think it deserves it.


- jitterjames - 2011-03-29

I don't think you need to worry about delay with a 30' usb cable, but I would be more worried about it not working at all. I guess since an IR receiver is an extremely low power device you would probably be ok. The other option is to just try to bounce the ir signal off the TV / wall. If your IR receiver is properly positioned this might work better than you expect.

The Amulet engineers decided to go with IR for two reasons I gather.

The main one is that they were making something specifically for Windows Media Center so they were trying to come up something that would add to the already well established standard WMC remotes with a minimum of fuss for people that were already using a standard remote. For the same reason, the Amulet does not ship with and IR receiver so if you don't already have one make sure you get one, or grab a usb uirt if you want to be able to blast signals to your other AV equipment. This would allow you to control your TV and stereo with voice commands too.

The other is that to maintain an RF connection for instant response is a bit of a battery drainer. I can't comment on how true this is or if there are methods to get around it. I know there are remotes that do it, but I have no idea what the battery life is like. My ps3 bluetooth remote dies after a few days because it does this and never sleeps. The amulet RF used for the voice connection turns off when the remote is not touched for a while, but can take a second or two to re-establish itself when you first pick it up. I have found that the small delay is acceptable for voice commands, but it would not be acceptable for buttons.


- Alethenorio - 2011-03-29

To be honest I was checking WMC remote controls to buy and the only one I could find in an online store I usually shop at was a RF remote with good reviews however I can see some of those points you mentioned.

Now you worried me about the not working thing, do you think there will be a loss of power in such a long cable to the point where the IR won't work at all?


- jitterjames - 2011-03-29

probably not, but I really don't know. You should search around for answers to this.

AFAIK, the vast majority of media center remotes are IR, that's not to say that RF don't exist.


- steppedup - 2011-04-05

Hey Purepic - just saw your question.

So, I think the learning aspect of the AmuletRemote is very hit and miss.

It learned my TV power just fine, but not the volume controls for my Denon 3808ci.

But....the Denon 3808ci can be controlled by RS 232. Which my computer did not have. Whatever - grabbed a $12 RS232/ USB cable, and now my computer can control my receiver via an Eventghost plugin - which is controlled by VoxCommando, which is controlled by my voice.

Flawlessly.

So, now I've got fully built-out functions like my Harmony One has (turn on Receiver. Set volume to 35, Turn Input to Computer, yada yada) - but via the amulet remote.

And with JitterJames' help, I put together some commands to:
  • "Play random <tv show name> episodes" - which builds a playlist of your fiancee's favorite episodes, and starts playing them.
  • "Play random TV drama" - builds a playlist of random dramas, and starts playing them.


And the best by far is the handling of music. It was so painful scrolling through all of my music, that we weren't even using that aspect of XBMC.

Now, the fiancee loves just being able to say, "Play artist - Madonna" and booya - all of her favs instantly.

She loves XBMC now.

Oh - and I figured out a way (again with jitterjames' help) to say "Add <name", and VoxCommando adds the currently playing song to <name's> playlist.


It is so freakin cool.....


- steppedup - 2011-04-05

Sorry - I've just been putting together some more customized commands for my system (new command builder is powerful!).

And am very excited about vox commando.

Currently waiting for my new front-porch network camera. Going to now be able to pop-up a new window showing the front-door without getting up from the couch to see who it is.

Going to do it in XBMC via streaming:

Logic will be:

"Front door"

VoxCommando gets currently playing media, and stores it.
VoxCommando opens up .strm file that's set to the front door camera's stream.

I see my local crazy meat-salesman trying to sell me steaks out of the back of his truck. I do NOT get up, just say, "Close front door"

VoxCommando starts up saved currently playing media, and I settle back into the couch:

Image


- jitterjames - 2011-04-05

Sounds like fun. Now we just need to build face recognition into VC so it can tell you it's the Frozen Meat Man!


- steppedup - 2011-04-14

lol....

I'm signing off for a while now that my system's pimped out. One more quick thing that I found - it's possible to turn on/off debugging mode via voice.

Very, very handy when you tweak XBMC as much as I do.

Anyway, thanks again for a great product Jitter James - everyone the hype is real!!


- jitterjames - 2011-04-14

just some bonus features...

1 - use VoxCommando as a universal translator!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0PS6oFla08&feature=feedlik

2 - getting ready to use Kinect as a killer (hopefully) microphone for voxCommando:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/13/microsoft-details-kinect-sdk-for-windows-pc-promises-robust-sk/

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/kinectaudio-041311.aspx

Also with the release of official drivers for kinect with skeleton tracking, I may decide to develop a system where voxCommando watches for certain gestures as well. Same idea as KinEmote but more geared to supporting voice commands.


- jitterjames - 2011-06-01

We just released a new version, 0.891 Big Grin

http://voxcommando.com/downloads.asp


- chrisuk11 - 2011-06-08

Command - Play Album ...

When using this command, it plays the album, but doesn't start from track 1? It always lists the album in alphabetical order?

Does anyone know how I can get this to list in track order, If I go to the album through usual menus, it lists in track order


- jitterjames - 2011-06-08

chrisuk11 Wrote:Command - Play Album ...

When using this command, it plays the album, but doesn't start from track 1? It always lists the album in alphabetical order?

Does anyone know how I can get this to list in track order, If I go to the album through usual menus, it lists in track order

Edit the command and change the parameter for the third action to:

AddToPlayListFromDB(songs;strAlbum='{1}' order by iTrack)


- jitterjames - 2011-06-14

here is the latest video showing VoxCommando for XBMC

http://youtu.be/0gYDcandlZ8