Amulet Voice Remote

[shango]

just ordered mine, 90 of the finest UK pounds with the VC discount for the remote, ir reciever and shipping. + whatever Bundlebox gonna charge me to ship to UK, bout 100 quid probably.

[jitterjames]

money well spent 

[shango]

Incase anyone is interested in using Bundlebox to ship an Amulet to the UK my total cost for the remote and IR reciever has come to £133

That included product price, shipping from Amulet to Bundlebox, shipping from Bundlebox to the UK and import duties and taxes.

Thats also with the $40 discount from Vox and 15% shipping discount from Bundlebox on my 1st shipping.

Not particularly cheap but I guess it's in the same area as a mid range Harmony remote.

Just hope it's not DOA 

[jitterjames]

I think it is very unlikely to be DOA.  The remote itself is fairly rugged and quality control seems to be good.  The packaging it comes in is also pretty good, so unless it receives cruel and unusual abuse during shipping it should be fine.

[shango]

Long as the UK leg isn't handled by Royal Mail all should be well

[shango]

James, how do I configure the new executable file "Amulat USB Monitor" that is in the directory of the vox to work to integrate with the Amulet? I noticed this new executable file, it has to run before voxcommando? just set up and can be terminated? need to run every time you turn On the vox?

You just run it and leave it on.  You can minimize it to the task-bar.  It may need a bit of adjustment still.  Once or twice I think it locked up after a suspend / wake.  I'm not sure.  If it happens you can end-task and run it again.

I will probably make it more customizable in the future.  Currently it lowers the system volume.  You can set it by how much, but some users might prefer to leave the system volume alone, and instead lower the volume of mediamonkey or xbmc so that the TTS volume is still loud... also some users might prefer to switch to 'standby' mode in stead of 'on' when the remote is lifted...

I thought it would be best to leave it as a separate program so that users who don't own the remote would not have to worry about the extra configuration or resources.

Hi, recieved my Amulet today, found the above in this thread but I don't see "Amulat USB Monitor" in my Vox folder, is this done differently now or just not included in the current version?

Thanks

[jitterjames]

go to http://voxcommando.com/downloads.asp

click "DOWNLOAD EXTRAS"

it's in there.

[bader500]

Hi
  i have amulet remote but its not reduced the system volume when the microphone is on or held upright??

is there anyway to make it work?

thanks

[jitterjames]

Hi bader500 and welcome to VoxCommando. 

Good question.  This should really be information in our wiki.  For now I've created a topic for Amulet support and included all the basic info to get you started.

If you have any questions please ask them on the following new topic:

http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=803.0

[Phobophile]

Hello! Recently discovered VoxCommando and, being a programmer myself, think it's really great work!
But I was wandering if the discount for Amulet Remote still applies if I buy VC?

[jitterjames]

Amulet Devices has assured me that they will let me know if the promotion ends.

So... as far as we know, yes it is still in effect.  If for some reason you have any problems, let us know and we will take care of it.

[MANswers]

James and team.. good job on a fantastic software. I was recently introduced to Voxcommando via a member on youtube who has been using it for XBMC, and then saw a couple used for homeautomation as well.
Love the idea, and i myself want to take a plunge into voice recognition, and see what possibilities this brings to our family.

I have a URC remote for most of my home theater needs, plus recently i have started using iRule.. which i have started using recently for controlling the theater and lights.
Would like to add voxcommando as well. Things i would like to do is primarly xbmc, wmc and a little bit of home automation if possible.
Well, all that to say, i am posting in the Amulet thread, cos i was looking for a decent piece of hardware that i can attach to my htpc thats sitting on my AV rack.
Do i have to have the amulet remote all the time with me if i have to send voice commands and lift it up near my face? I dont really want to be adding a second piece of remote and trying to find each time i want to send voice commands. Can i place it in some nearby location and still be able to send commands? Will it pickup commands within 15ft of the sitting area and the amulet remote?

Sorry to be posting this on the amulet thread, but if there is anything else that i can use if amulet is not ideal in my case? I was also looking at some people using ipad/iphones/android devices to send commands.. what about that?

[xtermin8r]

Hi MANswers

Welcome to the forum.

Do i have to have the amulet remote all the time with me if i have to send voice commands and lift it up near my face?

Yes you do

Can i place it in some nearby location and still be able to send commands?

No, in order to send voice commands you wll need to pick it up.

Will it pickup commands within 15ft of the sitting area and the amulet remote?

If its with you i think it should.

but if there is anything else that i can use if amulet is not ideal in my case? I was also looking at some people using ipad/iphones/android devices to send commands.. what about that?

when you mean send commands do you mean by voice or buttons ?
either way the device has to be with you, also take a look at voxwav for android devices works in a similar way to the Amulet remote.

[jitterjames]

Hi Manswers,

Welcome.

Any microphone that can pick up your voice up from 15 feet away that is active all the time, is going to hear everything that goes on in your home.  It is probably not a realistic expectation to think that this can be done without some complications.  In theory you can leave VoxCommando in standby mode and use a long enough command to get the computers attention that it is not likely to be activated by accident.  Even so, you will not be able to speak to your computer unless the room is quite silent.  That is why any really reliable solution will involve a microphone held close to your mouth so that your voice will be louder than everything else.  Amulet works well and avoid false commands because it is only on when you pick it up, and because you hold it close to your mouth. 

If you have an Android phone you can try VoxWav which is similar in the way it is used.

If you really want to use a hands free microphone you should at least try to mount it as close to your sitting position as possible, like in the ceiling over your couch.  If you listen to loud music or movies though, you will probably still have problems.

The way I see it, the voice commands are not so much to eliminate the need to use your hands, but to give you access to those extra 1000 buttons that you can't fit on the remote.

[MANswers]

Thanks for your reply James. Nice to see your prompt response, i am assured VoxCommando is one of the top noch softwares in the market today. You are true about external factors affecting the effectiveness of voice commands and microphones reception. I just want to be sure that whatever technology is present today I am able to take full benefit of it, am sure in the future there will be more add-on hardware's available in the market that will identify human sound and automatically reduce the sound of audio on the speakers.

I have spent a couple of hours going through this entire microphones section of the forum, including the wiki.. having understood my requirement.. i realize that an open mic, such as the array microphone will be best suited for my scenario. I did some research on the internet to see what people use with dragon speech recognition (as a lot of people use them for writing novels and all), i see multitudes of product, and one product does stand out is "Acoustic Magic Voice Tracker I Array Microphone". I dont see anyone has posted their experiences about this product with voxcommando, however i am planning to drop the ball on this, and if it does not turn out to be that good i can always return it and get something else.

The list of universities in here does say that the product is capable enough. Also many govt agencies use it too.

http://www.acousticmagic.com/university-list.html

Another quick question is, how hard is it to integrate VC with Vera 3 home automation controller. All the switches, and other components on my home network is based of Z-Wave.