Kinect and Voxcommando

[Kennethk]

Hello

Started looking into VC 2-3 days ago and it seems PERFECT for me, I downloaded the trial version and installed my kinect to my htpc, but it seems like VC dont understand what I say, I had to give every word 5-6 tried before it accepted it. So i tried to adjust the "sensitivity" option down to 40, but then it mixed everything up. So could it be that the kinect is not suitable for this type of program or could it be that some setting or install settings was wrong or are missing?

Im sitting 2-3 meters away from the kinect when speaking.

Could anyone give me a heads up on where to trubleshoot? Or should i invest in a new and better microphone?

Thanks

[jitterjames]

I personally find the Kinect to be rather poor as a microphone.  Others have reported pretty good results with it.  You may want to try doing some windows training with it first.  I have personally found that the input level is usually good at around 60% for the Kinect.

If you just want to do testing even a very cheap wired microphone can often achieve excellent results.  Especially something like a $25 wired headset should work extremely well.  Depending on your accent, you may need to do more training.  I personally am able to use VC with zero training, but if I want to use commands that use open dictation where I can say anything (i.e. for web searches etc) then a little training always helps.

If you decide you like VC and you don't mind spending the money, the Amulet remote is an excellent choice.

[Kennethk]

Ok, ive looked in to the amulet remote, but I rather want a device I can "hide" somewhere . And bluetooth microphone would be perfect if there is any suitable for VC , and btw im from Norway so English is not my main language. Should I look into a norwegian sound recognition software? And do you got any other microphones to recommend?

Thanks for the fast answer btw

[jitterjames]

I'm not aware of any bluetooth mics that work well.  There is no Norwegian profile available that works with the Microsoft engine we use, also since most media names are English (*maybe not yours*) you are probably better off using the English engine if you can.  You will need to do more training though to overcome your accent.  I found Kinect was hard to train though even for me in English because the sound quality is actually quite bad.  You may want to look into an array microphone from Andrea but I have not tried one myself so I can't comment.  Boundary microphones are good from a distance but they tend to pick up everything in the room so they aren't really suitable for most situations.

[Kennethk]

Ok, can you recommend any good usb microphones that i can put next to my television or something?

Thanks =)

[jitterjames]

I can't really recommend any personally since I haven't tried many, but putting a microphone next to your TV is problematic.  You will pick up words from music and especially from tv and movies.  The closer you can get it to you mouth and the further from other sources of sound the better.  An array microphone should help solve this problem to some extent, in theory, but I have yet to see the theory proven in practice.  To be fair, the only array microphones I have played with are the Kinect and the PS3eye, and neither has been particularly impressive.

[Wanilton]

Look in this page progress team amulet, integration Kinect controling Addon software Windows Media Center

http://www.amuletdevices.com/blog/index.php/kinect-audio-smarts-are-seriously-impressive.html/comment-page-1#comment-1154

videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/steve118x?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/1/j4oxq4o04HI

I liked...

[Snozbunny]

Hello, I'm busy setting up the Kinect for voice control and hand gestures at home. I noticed something strange. When I installed the SDK it was working but it wasn't always picking up the commands properly when the speakers were playing anything with constant noise. I think VoxCommando was trying to work out what the feedback was so it wasn't listening to my voice.

Then I installed the software for the Kinect that doesn't come with the SDK as listed on the Kinemote download page. Now it's working properly. This is very confusing to me because it's still using the microphone drivers from the SDK provided by microsoft. Either I clicked somewhere that enables feedback cancelling or those drivers somehow mashed together.

On that note, is it possible to get speaker feedback noise cancelling? The current setup working properly but it still gets confused when the music is playing and VoxCommando keeps listing crazy commands all over the place once the noise reaches a certain level.

[jitterjames]

the Kinect is a crappy microphone.

Are you trying to use VoxCommando or VoxKinecto?

If you use VoxKinecto it is possible to use the AEC version (acoustic echo cancellation) but it has lots of problems and in the end it doesn't work well enough to justify the downsides.  Did you read this thread already?

Once I realized how poor the results were with the Kinect I stopped wasting my time trying to develop a program to take advantage of its "features".

[jitterjames]

Look in this page progress team amulet, integration Kinect controling Addon software Windows Media Center

http://www.amuletdevices.com/blog/index.php/kinect-audio-smarts-are-seriously-impressive.html/comment-page-1#comment-1154

videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/steve118x?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/1/j4oxq4o04HI

I liked...

I think they have done a good job with the software, but it doesn't change the fact that the end result is not usable in a practical sense.

[jitterjames]

Hello, I'm busy setting up the Kinect for voice control and hand gestures at home. I noticed something strange. When I installed the SDK it was working but it wasn't always picking up the commands properly when the speakers were playing anything with constant noise. I think VoxCommando was trying to work out what the feedback was so it wasn't listening to my voice.

Then I installed the software for the Kinect that doesn't come with the SDK as listed on the Kinemote download page. Now it's working properly. This is very confusing to me because it's still using the microphone drivers from the SDK provided by microsoft. Either I clicked somewhere that enables feedback cancelling or those drivers somehow mashed together.

On that note, is it possible to get speaker feedback noise cancelling? The current setup working properly but it still gets confused when the music is playing and VoxCommando keeps listing crazy commands all over the place once the noise reaches a certain level.

one thing you should check first is the input level on the kinect.  If it is still at 100% you should turn it down to about 50%, or the lowest level that still seems to work well.

[Snozbunny]

The Kinect is poor but at least I don't have to dig around for a remote or headset. I ran through the voice recognition setup in Windows 7 and checked the noise levels. Now it works from across the room while music is playing. Sometimes if I'm watching Star Trek the word "Computer" make it bug out but that's expected since it's my activate keyword. 

[jitterjames]

The Kinect is poor but at least I don't have to dig around for a remote or headset. I ran through the voice recognition setup in Windows 7 and checked the noise levels. Now it works from across the room while music is playing. Sometimes if I'm watching Star Trek the word "Computer" make it bug out but that's expected since it's my activate keyword. 

I'm glad it's working for you.  You may want to keep an eye on the following topic:

http://voxcommando.com/forum/index.php?topic=600.msg4316#msg4316