Voxwav 2.5 TTS issue with Android 4.3

[three6zerocool]

Hello, recently I read posting on this forum, about a user who upgraded to KitKat, and discovered that TTS in Voxwav no longer worked.
Well, the same issue has just happened to me, after applying Jellybean 4.3 OTA update to my Sony Xperia Tablet Z. (Model SGP312)

Basically I get zero, zilch, nada TTS in Voxwav 2.5...   Voxwav 2.5 and TTS worked just fine with previous firmware. (4.2.x).
I even tried nuking everything and reset to factory 4.3 config,  with fresh install of all apps, but still no TTS in voxwav 2.5.

TTS works everywhere 'except' in voxwav, so stuffed if I know whats going on.
Using standard Google TTS, but have also tried Ivona.   Both work fine and can hear the samples perfect in Android settings,  but get no TTS at all in Voxwav itself.

Open to suggestions here, as I do not think the issue is one of configuration with my tablet, there seems to be a compatibility issue with 4.3 and above firmware with Voxwav.
I do seem to be getting an error within Voxwav, after manually selecting TTS to on. After several seconds something flashes up about can not initialise TTS.
(Sorry, comes up too fast to read)

As mentioned, TTS in other apps I have tried do seem to work, so am rather perplexed as to why TTS no longer works with voxwav.

[nime5ter]

TTS works everywhere 'except' in voxwav, so stuffed if I know whats going on.
Using standard Google TTS, but have also tried Ivona.   Both work fine and can hear the samples perfect in Android settings,  but get no TTS at all in Voxwav itself.

Unfortunately, James has not been able to re-create this problem yet and only a small number of KitKat users have reported an issue, which makes it difficult to debug. Particularly when users are not responding to questions.

Would you mind installing the following two free apps to test whether their TTS works for you?

Cool Reader https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.coolreader&hl=en

Text Fiction https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.onyxbits.textfiction&hl=en

In the latter, you'll need to enable the TTS in the settings before beginning a game.

These two apps are open source, so if they work for you James can compare their code to his own. Thanks for your help.

[three6zerocool]

I downloaded both of those apps, and the default TTS  Google voices, and Ivona voices seem to work just fine on my Xperia Tablet Z.

[nime5ter]

Thanks for reporting back. That gives James a starting point.

[jitterjames]

I downloaded both of those apps, and the default TTS  Google voices, and Ivona voices seem to work just fine on my Xperia Tablet Z.

Can you please confirm that you are getting OSD messages and seeing feedback on your recognized commands, as well as seeing a list of alternates on VoxWav?  I just want to make sure that the communication from VC to VoxWav is working correctly.

thanks

[three6zerocool]

Affirmative to all three.
Running no custom commands, just testing with default XBMC configuration from VoxCommando wizard install.

Active plugins:   Audio Endpoint,  TCPmic, XJson, Xsql.   Voxcommando version 1.1.8.5

From Voxwav, I say  'open xbmc'  it opens, and voxwav displays OSD of the command.
Likewise for other commands.
Alternates are also listed, and also phrases.

TTS option turned on while above is going on.  No TTS audio at all.
No errors about TTS.

Apart from no TTS audio, voxwav seems to be working ok.

Does one need any other plugins or settings configured in VoxCommando to utilise TTS in voxwav?.
I definately remember getting voice confirmation message when selecting TTS On in voxwav on previous firmware.

[jitterjames]

No, you have everything configured correctly.  It is purely a KitKat thing.  I will look at the code from these other apps and try to figure out what they are doing differently.

I don't have access to a device with android 4.3 on it so it would help if I could email some small test apps to someone as I experiment. If you are interested please pm me your email address.

[jitterjames]

I have identified the bug in KitKat (Google's bug, not mine) and I have a test version with a work around that I would like to try.  I don't have KitKat so I can't test it myself but I think it might work.

If there is any VoxWav Pro user with KitKat that would like to try it out please send me an email.

thanks.