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[cjc5602]

I am in the final stages of my set up and am wondering which is the mast popular setup for voice controll. I want a clean professional look and if i did use baby monitors i am planning on dismantling them so i can place them in the wall. and if i use the intercom upgrade as shown on the BVC fan site i definitely want to recess the console in the wall. what have other people done, any ideas and suggestions would be great as to i am really not leaning either way. both options are viable but i would like to hear about other peoples ideas.

[HA Dave]

.........what have other people done, any ideas and suggestions would be great as to i am really not leaning either way.

When I first read about BVC (back then still called BXVC for: Bill's X10 Voice Commander) the only widely known and excepted method for Voice-to-PC was a wired and extremely complex and expensive gated microphone setup.

I believed at the time that one of the big hold-ups of Voice Control was the microphone setup. I posted about my trials and errors as I tried different setups. All through my trial and error process... I/we received GREAT advice and guidance from a fellow forum member (and HomeSeer Voice Control user) named glt. glt used radio shack RF intercoms with his system... and he shared valuable information though-out the BXVC thread.

The $17 baby-monitors were the last thing I tried because they worked so well... and they proved a point. The point being is the microphone system doesn't need to cost a fortune to work well. I had always planned on converting (upgrading) to a intercom system (like glt's), but I never have. My baby monitors are hidden away behind decorations and such and have continued to work without failing.

All I have ever meant to say about the baby monitors is: they have worked well for me. Getting a clear mono voice to the PC (and that is all that is required) can be done cheaply and easily. I have no real audiophile type skills or knowledge.. and I built a great reliable setup using Walmarts cheapest Baby monitor. I think the most popular setup remains the intercoms... and for good reason too. They are not expensive... and they are attractive and can be feature rich.

NOTE: Thanks for a chance to ramble down the BVC memory Lane.. I enjoyed reviewing the old BXVC thread.

[bitman]

I tried the same baby monitors that you did. The safety first $17.00 ones.
I modified as you did and plugged them into the line input of my sound card.

They work as well as even a pro wireless system that I tried. But am stuggling with having to enunciate-very-deliberately in order to be recognized. Often times I'll say "Ron light on" and it will say  false recognition: Ron light on

What!? - I want to strangle that MS Mary sometimes.

It's no better with a pro wireless system so it must be me.
However I did beckon my wife to come and she could not get it to even think she was speaking at all.

I'm going to keep trying, but I can't get far speakings as casually as you do to yours yet.

[Knightrider]

bitman,

There is a training guide to the ms speech SDK.  If I remember correctly, you have to read "War and Peace" to it aloud. After that BVC has no problems recognizing you.

[HA Dave]

... If I remember correctly, you have to read "War and Peace" to it aloud.

I think it helps to listen to tapes of Bill Gates speaking... then try to sound like him. 

Joking aside... I really think volume control is the key to good recognition. When I setup the microphone I speak loudly (louder than I would normally). Then after the system sets the microphone volume... I turn in down.

I have (and still do) check volume levels in my living room (from my office) using the TV and/or a Radio. It was when I heard my wife speaking on the phone with her sister that I realized there is a difference. I am not an audio person but.. I think it might be the volume of air a human displaces when they talk that effects microphone volume levels. But it's been my experience that it is much easier to get volume input levels too high... than too low.

[dave w]

bitman, I think it is an estrogen thing...switch to MS Mike instead of Mary. 

Sorry sometimes I can't help myself, but if Dave and Knightrider or maybe Steve R and Boiler can't help, then it ain't doable