Messages

1

"Open air" and "whole home" microphones / Re: Polycom ef2280 detailed setup

« on: September 20, 2014, 04:20:39 AM »

If using the Polycom EF2280 in your whole house setup - I would recommend using Polycom Conference Composer with your setup. This software is free to download but makes the setup of multiple microphone, noise cancelling, gain control & filters very easy. 
You will need to use a serial to USB convertor but these are not very expensive.

Once you have installed the software and connected it to your PC, when you run it - it allows you to dynamically monitor and change the configuration. You can also save different configurations backups.
It is really powerful and helpful when "tuning " each of your microphone setting for the room it is in.

Remember that its better to start off with low levels and slow increase.
I have found 15dB gain is a good starting point for ceiling mics with the AGC set to 3dB steps and NC set to 10dB.
On the output I set the gain to 0dB.

2

What is a good microphone for speech recognition? / Re: Mic choice advise

« on: September 14, 2014, 09:29:50 AM »

FYI - when I purchased my EF2280 it didn't come with a power supply - so I purchased one from Polycomm.
I think from memory it was about $40.00 and took a few weeks for delivery.

Note that the plug on the PS is not a standard type.
 

3

What is a good microphone for speech recognition? / Re: Mic choice advise

« on: September 11, 2014, 09:22:13 AM »

I received a pm from Thumper702 and replied with an answer however for anyone else who would like to know the answer - here it is.

The Vortex actual has analogue outlets that can be connected to any soundcard that uses analogue inputs.
I used 4 wire shielded cable. 2 wires for input and 2 for output.
so from the Vortex mixer - 2 wires (+ve & -ve) connected to the 2 RCA plugs (Left & Right Channels) with the shield connected to the grd on the mixer.  The RCA plugs are then connected to the input of the soundcard.

From the output of they sound card  connect 2 wires to RCA plugs (left & right channels)  - the cable then goes to the Amp via RCA plugs.
As all connectors are shielded or earthed - this will help prevent hum (this called a balanced line).

 

4

VoxCommando Basics and Core Features / Re: Using VC with Insteon

« on: April 10, 2014, 07:18:07 PM »

"downloaded it"?  What do you mean?

ok - to be correct - I copied and pasted it.
 BTW - I had to update my version of VC to be able to copy it into VC.

5

VoxCommando Basics and Core Features / Re: Using VC with Insteon

« on: April 10, 2014, 05:16:54 AM »

thanks jitterjames for the script.
I have downloaded it but I not  still need to verify it to confirm it works correctly.

6

VoxCommando Basics and Core Features / Re: Using VC with Insteon

« on: April 09, 2014, 09:48:49 AM »

Haddood - To be able to obtain the status of an Insteon device would be great - it is the one piece that is missing from my HA setup too.

 

7

Feature Requests / status register or store

« on: March 26, 2014, 07:06:46 PM »

I'm not sure if this is possible or if it can be done by another method.

I was thinking that it would be good to have a feature that would allow VC to store a status of something so that it can then be used at a later time.
for example -
if I had a light turned on and that was recorded so that VC could use that information in it's logic without having to poll a device.
This would allow it to "remember" something that happened in the past and use that in it's logic.
if a weather report shows that it was raining/snowing/ hot etc  - then that status is stored and can be used later.

Yes - I know that these sort of things could be done using complex scraping commands and other fancy things however for the non programmers out there like me - a nice simple way to use the logic feature of VC to provide different conditional responses would be good feature to have.

8

Vera Home Automation Controller / Re: Overall Z-Wave impressions and reliability

« on: March 20, 2014, 06:44:36 PM »

I was not recommending x10 - just pointing out that it can made be work reliably - it depends on many factors.

regarding Insteon - I understand that old insteon "single band" devices did suffer from issues - however the dual band devices have sorted those issues and are now very reliable.

As jitterjames says - check out all the HA forums to work out what you think is best for you & want you want to achieve.

9

Vera Home Automation Controller / Re: Overall Z-Wave impressions and reliability

« on: March 20, 2014, 07:49:30 AM »

Phobophile,

while I have not used ZWave - I have used Insteon and x10 for HA.
x10 has it issues but with careful planning & a bit of luck it can be made to work reliable.

However IMHO for the HA system with the best reliability  - you cant beat Insteon - it uses a dual mesh system of both RF & PLC signals so every device can repeat and forward commands to each other. I have about 12 lights and 9 motion and 4 other types of senses that all work reliably.

10

VoxCommando Basics and Core Features / Re: Importing scripts from posts - dosent always work

« on: March 09, 2014, 09:27:26 AM »

Yeah - I think you are right - if I select a group and right mouse click - I can paste ok.
yet if I right mouse click down the bottom of the tree - the paste comes up - but wont paste..
it is only on code without a group.

This is a little tip to remember for the newbies..

11

XML Exchange / House shutdown Procedure using VC

« on: March 09, 2014, 04:27:33 AM »

Here is my first attempt at this so i hope it is all ok.

This script is one that you can run if you have HA and you want to shut everything down as you leave the house.
It currently is using x10 command but could be adapted for any HA system.
I did want to have a "cancel shutdown" command in case I want to halt the count down timer but I could not get it to work correctly.
BTW - the count down timer only goes for 20 sec but you should be able to see how to adjust that.
The alarm is controlled by my HA system so there are no commands for it in the script.

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<commandGroup open="True" name="House Shutdown" enabled="True" prefix="" priority="3" requiredProcess="" description="">
  <command id="688" name="House shut down mode" enabled="true" alwaysOn="False" confirm="False" requiredConfidence="0" loop="False" loopDelay="0" loopMax="0" description="">
    <action>
      <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
      <cmdString>Do you want me to shut the house down?</cmdString>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <action>
      <cmdType>VC.On</cmdType>
      <cmdString />
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <phrase>I am leaving, I am leaving the house, </phrase>
  </command>
  <command id="520" name="Shut house down" enabled="true" alwaysOn="False" confirm="False" requiredConfidence="0" loop="False" loopDelay="0" loopMax="0" description="">
    <if ifBlockDisabled="False" ifNot="False">
      <ifType>(A)Contains(B)</ifType>
      <ifParams>{LastSpoken}&amp;&amp;be good</ifParams>
      <then>
        <action>
          <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
          <cmdString>Ok I will initiate the House shut down procedure</cmdString>
          <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
        </action>
        <action>
          <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
          <cmdString>I will turn off all the lights and activate the alarm system</cmdString>
          <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
        </action>
        <action>
          <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
          <cmdString>the shut down process will occurr in 60 seconds</cmdString>
          <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
        </action>
        <action>
          <cmdType>VC.TellVox</cmdType>
          <cmdString>Count Down Timer</cmdString>
          <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
        </action>
      </then>
      <else />
    </if>
    <if ifBlockDisabled="False" ifNot="False">
      <ifType>(A)Contains(B)</ifType>
      <ifParams>{LastSpoken}&amp;&amp;not today</ifParams>
      <then>
        <action>
          <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
          <cmdString>Understood, the house will remain in the current mode</cmdString>
          <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
        </action>
      </then>
      <else />
    </if>
    <phrase>that would be good, not today</phrase>
    <phrase optional="true">yes, ok, no</phrase>
  </command>
  <command id="549" name="Count Down Timer" enabled="true" alwaysOn="False" confirm="False" requiredConfidence="0" loop="False" loopDelay="0" loopMax="0" description="">
    <action>
      <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
      <cmdString>initiating the house shutdown procedure</cmdString>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <action>
      <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
      <cmdString>You have 60 seconds to leave the house.</cmdString>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <action>
      <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
      <cmdString>59, 58, 57, 56, 55, 54, 53, 52, 51, 50,</cmdString>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <action>
      <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
      <cmdString>10, 9, 8, 7,  6,  5,  4,  3,  2,  1,,,</cmdString>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <action>
      <cmdType>TTS.SpeakSync</cmdType>
      <cmdString>The House Shutdown has been Initiated.</cmdString>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <action>
      <cmdType>X10.SendPlc</cmdType>
      <cmdString>K1 ON</cmdString>
      <cmdRepeat>1</cmdRepeat>
    </action>
    <phrase>Count Down Timer</phrase>
  </command>
</commandGroup>

12

VoxCommando Basics and Core Features / Re: Importing scripts from posts - dosent always work

« on: March 09, 2014, 12:41:50 AM »

Thanks James for the quick reply.

I did read that wiki before posting to make sure that i understood it.
I did select the complete xml and tried to copy it to VC. as I said this process does work sometimes - so I know how to do it.
I also have successfully "imported" a file by the "drag & drop" - but as this is not a file I didn't use that method here.

That said - I have just tried again using the Copy & Paste method with the code block from Sean - I double checked that I had selected the whole code block and it still would not work.
I checked that I had selected the whole lot by pasting it into Notepad.
The Notepad shows the whole code from the 1st line to the last line is the same as what is in the post.

I also note that if I try to miss a character  or leave a bit out of the the section - VC comes up with notice "you can only drag Groups or xml files here"
when I do select the full code block & right mouse click and select Paste - then nothing happens.

However - I have just discovered that if I use Ctrl-V - this works. it does however puts the relevant commands onto an existing command group tree rather than creating a new group.

 

13

VoxCommando Basics and Core Features / Importing scripts from posts - dosent always work

« on: March 08, 2014, 08:48:35 PM »

I have found that when importing scripts that have been posted on the forum - while many can be copied & pasted ok - i find often that some scripts don't seem to be able to be imported into my VC. An example is in the XML exchange board - the "Google now" post -it doesn't import for me but the "Coming Home" one does.

any idea what may be causing this?

14

Feature Requests / Re: A simple query function (Question / Answer)

« on: March 08, 2014, 08:22:41 PM »

This sounds like a good way to contain a set of question and answers within one command group which would be a great feature.
It should make VC easier to program and for it to do such things with human like responses.

i agree that  to stop endless looping you would need a cancel phase- it could be put in the option menu with the confirm phases

15

VoxCommando Basics and Core Features / some general questions

« on: March 08, 2014, 07:11:47 PM »

I have been trying to understand how to best use VC and have some basic questions:

1) What happens if a phase(s) are the same in multiple commands? how does VC know which one to use?
2) Phases and payloads - again what happens if the same phases are used in more than one command?

3) what does the grouping do ? is it just there to group common commands together or does it have a function - ie does VC use grouping when processing?
4) does VC monitor all commands waiting for a phase it recognizes?  or does it only monitor enabled ones?
5) what about when in standby - does it still monitor and try to match what it hears to all commands or just the ones enabled "ON"
6) does having more commands & groups make VC use more processing power?


sorry if theses have been answered but I have checked the forum & the training videos and could find any answers.