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[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Andy,
To eliminate the feedback, open up the
volume control panel to the Play Control
panel and look for the slider for
Microphone (if you don't see it, click the
top menu "Options" then sub-
menu "Properties".  Make sure the "Adjust
volume for" section has "Playback"
selected.  In the "Show the following
volume controls" box, scroll down and find
the Microphone and make sure it's checked
then click "OK")
Make sure "Mute" is checked on the
Microphone slider.
Again this is all under the "Play Control"
panel, not the "Recording Control" panel.

-Bill- (of BXVC)
bill@wgjohns.com

[redneckmacguiver]

wouldnt the squeel disappear when the mic and
speakers were in diffrent rooms or
outside/inside?  the problem should take care
of itself (if the camera is normaly
outside)and only inside for testing/adjusting
levels....... my 2

[Tuicemen]

-Bill- (of BXVC)
Nice update 0.42
Although I haven't tried all the new
features, I do like the stop/start listening
feature.

[JimC]

Every time I try running version .42 I
get “An error has occurred in the script on
this page” error.
Just wondering if anyone else is having
this problem. I ran the upgrade not the
full install. I was running version .40
previously and it is still working.

Jim

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Jim,

The upgrade is not a stand-alone program.  It is just a zip file that contains the four (actually two and their backup copies) files I changed to add the new features.  You should unzip it or copy the files from it into the same folder BXVC 0.40 lives in and allow the files to replace the existing ones.  Then if you run BXVC as normal it should work and include the new commands.

If you still can't get it to work, e-mail me.

Hope this helps,

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Thanks to all of you for trying Bill's X10 Voice Commander (BXVC)!

For those of you who haven't e-mailed me, the latest version is now posted on the web at:
http://www.wgjohns.com/bxvc.htm

If you already have version 0.4 or above you can save yourself some time and effort if you just download the upgrade as it won't overwrite your configuration or device list (it's also smaller because it doesn't contain the face graphics or audio files).

Otherwise, download the full version.

(continued)

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

New features:

Brighten & Dim commands that actually work!

Say: (attention phrase) brighten (or dim)
(device name) by (or to) (0-100) percent
(optional).  If you say "to" the value is
absolute (the device dims to 0 and then
brightens up to the stated value).  If you
don't say "to" the value is relative (the
device brightens or dims by the stated
value from its current setting).  If you
don't specify a value, the device brightens
or dims by 10%.  Other brighten or dim
commands are turn up (down), increase
(decrease) ((light) output (or level) of).
Well, as always, just say it however you
like and if it doesn't work let me know and
I'll try and fix it.

Tell the program to be quiet!

Say: (attention phrase) "be quiet"/"shut
up".  Also
try, "deactivate"/"mute"/"disable"/"turn
off"
(the) "audio"/"voice" "response"/"feedback".

Tell the program to be speak up!

Say: (attention phrase) "speak to
me" /"speak up"/"talk to me". Also
try, "activate"/"reactivate"/"unmute"/"enabl
e"/"turn on"
(the) "audio"/"voice" "response"/"feedback".


Tell the program to start or stop listening!

Say: (attention
phrase) "start"/"stop" "listening".

As always, thanks for playing with BXVC and
keep in touch!

-Bill-
bill@wgjohns.com

[JimC]

Bill,

I got it working by downloading the full
version of .42 into a new folder and then
copying the device list and config files
into this new folder. All is working fine
again. Thanks for the great program. The
bright and dim commands work great.

Thanks,

Jim

[bob r]

Bill
GREAT PROGRAM!
I just started to explore it, but am VERY
IMPRESSED.
I seem not to have any audio out though.
I'm sure it's something I doing wrong in my
Windows setup or the BXVC program. The
Commands are working ok. Any ideas?

[-Bill- (of wgjohns.com)]

Bob R,

If you haven't already found a solution...
Under "Manage Audio Output", make sure you
have a device selected in the "Output" list-
box.  Make sure the volume bar is set at 90
or so, and isn't muted.  Click the "Save
Configuration Settings" button (under the
faces).  Exit the program and run it
again.  Click the "Test Voice" button and
see if it talks now.  Otherwise, e-mail me
at bill@wgjohns.com for further trouble
shooting.

-Bill- (of BXVC)
bill@wgjohns.com

[bart]

I just got AHP ordered, and I am SOOOOOOO
looking forward to trying BXVC. I have a
question though. If I can wire individual
microphones to each room of the house, is
there a way to use voice commands for each
room separately? Like perhaps use different
"Attention Phrases" for each room, like
"Bathroom" for the bathroom, "Living Room"
for the living room. That way, you could have
your light modules set up to a house code in
the bathroom, and that way you could say
"Bathroom Lights On" and only the bathroom
lights would come on. Or "Living Room Lights
On" and the living room lights would come on.
For all I know, BXVC is already capable of
doing this and I just don't know it since I
can't play with it yet!

It would definitely be neat to wire some
microphones throughout the house to be able
to control each room independently.

Also, is there a way to use custom words that
will trigger a certain house/unit code? Let's
say I have a coffee pot with an appliance
module set to a1. Is it possible to set the
software up to accept the word "coffee" in
order to use a phrase like "House, coffee on"
which would start the coffeemaker?

I sure am looking forward to playing with
this software. And I know that even though my
wife keeps looking at me funny with some of
the things I have tentatively planned, once I
get it done she will OOOOO and AAAAAHHH over
it. I'm one of the lucky one's...my WAF is
always high no matter what goofy project I
tackle! LOL!

[Tuicemen]

Bart
the attention phrase  is used Just to get
the computers attention.
So you woulds say "House bathroom lights
On" This Only turns on the bathroom lights.
All will become clearer once you play with
it. You should be able to add microphones
to each room but it would pick up more
noise for BXVC to sort threw.

[bart]

Hey Tuicemen! Thanks for the reply. So it
sounds like that BXVC can decypher codes
that would correspond to different rooms,
which is GREAT! I knew it would
accept "House, lights on" and it would turn
on whatever was set to turn on to a basic
lights on command, but I wasn't sure if you
could make it room-specific. Sounds like you
can.

Here's my next question...BXVC can trigger
x10 events (lamp modules, etc), but can it
be used to trigger PC events (like opneing a
specific program or audio file)? It would be
cool to be able to say "House, play music"
and the PC would load a playlist and begin
playing music. What would be even COOLER
would be song-specific commands like "House,
play Oh Christmas Tree" and that song would
begin playing. Or perhaps load a video file,
like "House, Play The Matrix" and the movie
the Matrix would begin on the PC.

Of course, if this is possible to do, some
possible conflicts that could occur would be
in you happen to have 2 different movies
that happen to have the same title, or 2
different audio files that happen to have
the same title. I guess for the music
scenario, I suppose you could include the
artist as part of the command...if BXVC has
the ability to understand many many many
words.

Can't wait to play with it!!

[Tuicemen]

Bart
You can do everything you wish if you
combine X10dispatch into the mix.(another
awesome free program) without it you could
set up AHP to open a program  or batch
file  but think you need the smart macros
plugin for that and thats not free! :)And
you still might need X10dispatch. You can
read more about this freeware and other
homeautomation stuff here:
http://www.accessha.com/forums/

[bart]

Thanks again for the reply. This just keeps
sounding better and better. I can't wait to play!

Soooo, here's my next set of questions. Once
you issue the attention phrase, is there a
set amount of time that BXVC will respond to
a command before you would have to reissue
the attention phrase again? Also, is there a
way to have a specific automatic action taken
ONLY by giving the attention command? Also,
once a command is given, can you give another
command right away without using the
attention phrase again (2 seperate commands
but only using the attention phrase once to
initialize the commands)?

Here is the scenario I'm wanting to do. I
would like to give the attention phrase and a
WAV file playback immeddiately...so it would
go something like this (attention phrase is
'House')...

me:"House"
WAV played:"Hello. What can I do for you"
me:"turn on light"

Would it be possible to break it down like
this? It would just be something neat to do,
like to have the kids show off to their
friends that not only can they make the house
do things by voice, but that the system will
actually talk back to them (even if only a
simple "What can I do for you" response after
the attention phrase is given).

If not, I guess there is a way to do it. It
wouldn't be quite as cool as the cut-n-dry
example above, but it would be close. It
would go something like this (attention
phrase would be 'House')...

me:"House. Hello." (in which 'hello' would
trigger the following WAV file)
WAV played:"Hello. What can I do for you."
me:"House. Turn on light."

In the above example, in the last command
given, you would need to use the 'House'
attention phrase again, since it was given in
the first command and the program
responded...unless it is possible once the
first attention phrase is given and the Hello
WAV file is played, that BXVC would still
accept another command without the attention
phrase. I know I'm spl;itting hairs here, but
I figure if it is possible, I want to do it! LOL!

Naturally, you could simply say "House. Turn
on light" and that action would still be
taken. I just thought it would be cool to
have the inital interaction between you and
the house. The kids would LOVE that!