Need Some Help With VoxCommando

[Ryan00]

Hello, Im a new user here and have been reading on the forums for about a week now. Voxcommando is working great but im having a few issues that i need help with.

My system setup (just so you can get a idea)

I use xbmc for all media ( music, movies, hulu ect )
windows 7 64bit  connected to (60 inch tv)
I use the Mobiola headset app on my ipod for a mic for voxcommando.
Payed voxcommando customer.


1.   I listen to my music and movies very loud and when i try to speak a command to voxcommando when listening to music or watching a movie, voxcommando won't understand the command at all. I have to mute the sound so voxcommando will understand. After i mute the sound to my speakers, Voxcommando will understand what was said with 95.1 % . Im using the Mobiola app on my ipod for a mic, I understand this isnt the best, but it works really well when the room is quiet. I have done 1 hour of training with microsoft speech program. So my question is their anyway to auto mute the sound so i can speak a command to voxcommando, then when im done speaking the volume from my speakers will go back to normal. (Just like the amulet remote works,) On the Mobiola app  their is a mute button so the mic on the ipod won't pick up any noise. Anyway to press the mute button on the Mobiola app and then when voxcommando see's their isnt any sound coming tho the mic it will turn the speaker volume to your normal listening level. Then when you unmute on the mobiola app to speak a command and voxcommando hears sound coming from the mic it will lower the system  volume (NOT mic volume)  to 10 percent?  Is their anyway of doing this or does anyone have any idea's on using voxcommando when listening to media at high audio levels. I understand that the Amulet remote would do this task just fine, but the remote costs a lot of money and i already use my ipod for a remote that can control my tv and avr and  xbox.  Any help would being really appreciated.

2. Does anyone use spotify with voxcommando I got the program to launch and close but can't figure out how to make it play music or play next song ect. Any idea's on this or if anyone has a xml for spotify already made that would be great too.

Again thanks for the great software and any help .

                                                                                        Ryan 

[jitterjames]

Hy Ryan00,

Welcome to VoxCommando.

I don't think I can offer much in the way of good news for you at the moment.  I'm not aware of any way to detect if mobiola is sending data.  It might be possible for me to add a feature to VoxCommando that can generate an event based on the volume level detected on the active input, but for this to work VC would need to be "on" or in "standby" mode.  What I'm thinking is that you could set a threshhold value and when the level went above this an event could be fired.  What you do with the event would be up to you.  I don't know.  It might work, or it might not!  One problem would be finding a way to prevent the event from firing over and over.  It could cause major problems...

As for spotify, I mucked about with trying to control it a bit without too much success.  You might be able to control some simple things using keyboard emulation.  If that doesn't work, you might want to look around to see if someone has already come up with something like an autohotkey script for doing it.  These scripts could be activated using the VoxCommando Launch actions.

I'm not too sure but it might also be possible to perform some searches in Spotify using RoboBrowser.  If memory serves, you can open certain URLs in your browser and they will trigger some kind of search in Spotify (artist="..." etc.).  I hope you can run with this a little bit since I'm pretty tied up with other things at the moment.  I'm interested in what you or anyone else can figure out on this subject though.  If you make some progress and get stumped on something in particular, by all means let me know and I'll have a look.

I think you may be able to get spotify going on XBMC (paid only AFAIK) so then maybe we could get better control of it via XBMC.

Thanks for supporting the software.

[Ryan00]

Thanks for the quick reply, I dont think mobiola and VC really need to communicate, I understand why you would think this by pressing the mute button on the mobiola app. Please let me explain my logic. So what im trying to do is set a event / trigger telling VC that if it does not hear any commands being sent to put xbmc system volume at 100 %. Once VC hears a command the system volume will be triggerd to 10% . I can then utilize this by pressing the mute button on the mobiola app  so VC won't detect any commands given.  So all we are really trying to do is tell VC if it hears any commands given from the mic to put system volume at 10% and if it does not hear any commands given with in say 2 seconds  set system volume at 100%.  Does that give a better understanding or im i way off here?


I tryed messing with spotify and looks like spoity navigation is based really by the mouse . So you really cant do any  key sends  ect . Ill keep trying really trying to find a solution for the volume before i get into anything else.

[jitterjames]

Once VC hears a command the system volume will be triggerd to 10%

this doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  I thought the problem was that VC can't hear your commands properly.  You want to lower the volume when VC hears a command so that it can hear a command, but it can't do that until the volume is lowered.

if this is what you want, VoxCommando already generates an event when a command is unrecognizable.  Take a look in the history window for the events:

VC.NotRecognized
and / or
VC.Reco.TooLow

you can use this to reduce your XBMC volume using softmute.

If you are not seeing these event, then make sure that "Show all events" is selected in the "Options" dropdown menu, or if you are using an older version update to 0.935 which you can get on the forum.

[Ryan00]

Well the problem is VC cant understand the commands because the music or movie im playing to loud. Looking for a way to lower volume when VC detect a command

[jitterjames]

yeah. I understand.  The problem is the "detect a command" part.

[Ryan00]

If you did VC.NotRecognized and then set volume to say 10 . How can you get VC to reset the volume to 100% when a command is recongnized?   

I know this is kinda off subject but can the amulet remote be programmed to turn on/off your tv and avr ?

Thanks again   

                           Ryan

[jitterjames]

I think you could try this.

create an action that lowers the volume and then executes the action VC.OnSingle

after you iissue a command it should then fire off the event:  

VC.Single.End

which you could use to turn the volume back up.  (xbmc.softunmute)

I don't know how well or how reliably it will all work but you can give it a shot.

It would be better if we could convince Mobiola to have the option of sending out a UDP message whenever the mic is turned off or on.  Maybe you can convince them...  

Yes, Amulet can learn IR codes and you can assign them to buttons, but I personally have not found the performance to be so great in this area.  Sometimes I have to hold the button down for a long time before anything happens.  I have an earlier version of the Amulet than most though, so maybe other users have had better experiences.  You are best to ask about this in the Amulet threads on this forum.

[bp_pbs]

Throwing my 2 cents in..

Honestly I haven't found a way. My setup is similar to yours. The only way I was able to get around it was using XBMC Commander on my IPhone or XBMC remote on my Android Tablet. On Media Playback I have added a command for Vox to VC.Off. If I want to hear something else I just press stop or pause on the remote(s); which puts Vox back into Standby mode.
My mic stays on so this prevents Vox from randomly choosing stuff.


Just my opinion. Hopefully you can find a way

[Kalle]

If you did VC.NotRecognized and then set volume to say 10 . How can you get VC to reset the volume to 100% when a command is recongnized?   

I know this is kinda off subject but can the amulet remote be programmed to turn on/off your tv and avr ?

Thanks again   

                           Ryan

Hi Ryan, yes the amulet remote can learn IR-code from other devices. My amulet is a newer version as James and it works with all learning code perfect.
I think mobilio headset on the phone send a UDP-packet or simliar to the pc when you tab on the mute (mic) button on the headsetsoftware on the phone. If we find a way how VC can listen for this packet it should be possible VC can trigger a command, but that is out of my knowledge.

[Ryan00]

@  bp_pbs   Im not sure i understand what your saying could you please explain in more detail? I also use xbmc commander.

So i think i have something going here i sent a action for XBMC.Btn.KB and then Volume_mute then set a event for VC.Notrecoginzed
so any time Vc.notreconginzed is triggered it mutes xbmc so i can talk .
now i can say my command to VC and it will understand.Now I looking for a action to put volume back to 100%. any idea's ?? Im almost have this setup so i can blast my music and use VC . 

Thanks everyone for the help and idea's i have my brain cooking..

[Kalle]

@  bp_pbs   Im not sure i understand what your saying could you please explain in more detail? I also use xbmc commander.

So i think i have something going here i sent a action for XBMC.Btn.KB and then Volume_mute then set a event for VC.Notrecoginzed
so any time Vc.notreconginzed is triggered it mutes xbmc so i can talk .
now i can say my command to VC and it will understand.Now I looking for a action to put volume back to 100%. any idea's ?? Im almost have this setup so i can blast my music and use VC .  

Thanks everyone for the help and idea's i have my brain cooking..

Yes, you can create a XBMC.SoftUnMute command http://voxcommando.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Actions#SoftUnMute_3 and use as phrase "unmute" or what ever you would like to say.
I'm sure if you use a external mic for iPhone http://mobile.brando.com/brando-workshop-flexible-mini-capsule-microphone-for-iphone-3g-s_p04351c0921d092.html you have better results as with the open mic. You can turn it into your speech direction.

[DHHJ]

James,

Are you considering putting a UDP broadcast into your (hopefully) new IOS app that can trigger EvenGhost or VC? Could this be a possible solution- upon receiving the right packet, a mute or soft mute could be initiated, allowing for high accuracy speech recognition. ? I too carry my cell phone with me everywhere and would prefer using it, rather than Amulet.

[Kalle]

James,

Are you considering putting a UDP broadcast into your (hopefully) new IOS app that can trigger EvenGhost or VC? Could this be a possible solution- upon receiving the right packet, a mute or soft mute could be initiated, allowing for high accuracy speech recognition. ? I too carry my cell phone with me everywhere and would prefer using it, rather than Amulet.

Hi DHHJ, James working on a android app that you allowed to speak in your phone and the app transferred it directly to VC - it works but the app is not ready yet  (only for android)

[bp_pbs]

Sorry if i wasn't clear. My mic doesn't have a mute so it's constantly picking up words. So the only way I was able to get mine to not perform random commands was to trigger a VC.Off on the events XBMC.OnPlayBackStarted, XBMC.OnPlayBackResumed, and XBMC.MediaChanged.MovieTitle.  So basically whenever something is playing Vox is off. On the events XBMC.OnPlayBackPaused, XBMC.OnPlayBackStopped, and XBMC.OnPlayBackEnded  it triggers VC.Standby. So when stuff are not playing it goes to VC.Standby.

In your case since you do have a mute I would think you would just need to added a command to XBMC.SoftMute on the event VC.NotRecognized and VC.Reco.TooLow .And to XBMC.SoftUnMute on the event VC.Prefix.Start.
Of course it would need to be in Standby mode.