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[spval]

Question for HA DAVE: I believe that you were having problems trying to use BVC on a Win 7 64 bit pc. I am aware of a minor problem, but can you explain what the main show stopper is ?
Thanks, spval

[kenrad]

Question for HA DAVE: I believe that you were having problems trying to use BVC on a Win 7 64 bit pc. I am aware of a minor problem, but can you explain what the main show stopper is ?
Thanks, spval

I was a long time BVC user as well and I can shine a little light on this for ya.  The main issue with windows 7 and BVC is that win7 increased teh VR capabilities which made BVC and the computer clash Win 7 can't tell if you are talking to the computer or BVC

Simple example: the default attention phrase in BVC is computer, in win7 BVC would respond tp it but the pomputer would also open the computer window so depending on your commands by the time you got back to your pc there would be multiple windows open

  Ken

[spval]

Thanks Ken. I just tried BVC and I see that you have to do a "start listening" and yes, there are now two dialogues going on. If you got past this problem and you had all of the functions, minus the facesets and a particular voice engine, would it work for you ?

spval

[HA Dave]

Thanks Ken. I just tried BVC and I see that you have to do a "start listening" and yes, there are now two dialogues going on. If you got past this problem and you had all of the functions, minus the facesets and a particular voice engine, would it work for you ?

Yes the Visa/Win7 problem could be "coded out".... but Bill (Bill is the creator and owner of BVC) seems to have lost interest in updating BVC. Bill had originally turned much of his attention to tablets. But then changes at/with his employer seems to have consumed any spare time he had previously had.

If you already own BVC it still works great on the old XP operating systems... which is what I use. I even have a couple backup XP PC's. There is also another [free] software that I hear does work well with Vista and Seven. Search (or maybe someone could add a link) for ihouse.

[spval]

Thanks for the reply, Dave. I was actually wondering if (once getting past the Win 7 problems) the main attraction with BVC was the interfacing experience with the faceset and the audio responses. I am the person that provided a link on Bill's forum to a similar program that I wrote in visual basic in early August. Since I received no responses, I deleted the info and realized that the forum is basically inactive. The program that I use (not the one I was referring to) is pretty much a monitoring tool of the MS16A sensors placed around the house. I have all of my rooms laid out, as well as the yards. When the sensor trips, I have that area blink red on and off until I receive the Off command. I don't really use voice recognition, but I have a checkbox to toggle it on and off if I want to say some phrases to execute whatever. All this stuff is pretty easy to program-just time consuming. One of the items that I couldn't figure out how to do was to monitor the mic input level like Bill has done. If you guys ever want some source code written in VB Express 2010 to play with, I'll be glad to post a link to it.
- spval
Here is a picture of the program that I use:  http://www.riverwalk-hoa.com/Capture2.PNG

[HA Dave]

Thanks for the reply, Dave. I was actually wondering if (once getting past the Win 7 problems) the main attraction with BVC was the interfacing experience with the faceset and the audio responses.

My Home Automation Computer is in my basement... the monitor is off and I rarely look at the PC. I don't issue many commands at all... ether by voice or push button. The automation... just runs.

I love the voice... or should I say... the information I get from the setup [via voice]. It was my hope to increase the interaction with the PC control [and the voice] using S.A.R.A.. The idea was to use programing to cause the software to look for command opportunities and then the computer/BVC/voice would ask if I would like this or that. An example would be... a reminder when a favorite TV program came on the TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBk0O__WT2o

[spval]

I love your imagination, Dave. Enjoyed the video. The DS-10As are great for implementing lots of ideas. I use one as a water sensor. After watching your video, my imagination upped the ante to The Stepford Wives (lol). I am going to look into what is available for receiving favorite tv program alerts, whether that would have to be written from scratch or just use an existing program that something like BVC could get the info from. Thanks for your ideas.

- spval

[spval]

If anyone is interested in getting their feet wet with Visual Basic and the CM15A,
I just created a real basic vb project:  http://www.riverwalk-hoa.com/cm15a test.zip

Very little code and you will see where you put your own housecode/device number in. An "On" condition will start the "Front Porch Sensor" to blink until the CM15a receives an "Off". Hopefully, you have the AHSDK installed because you need to "reference" the ahscript.dll
Visual Basic 2010 Express  is free and can be downloaded here: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/express

[HA Dave]

I love your imagination, Dave. Enjoyed the video. The DS-10As are great for implementing lots of ideas. I use one as a water sensor. After watching your video, my imagination upped the ante to The Stepford Wives (lol). I am going to look into what is available for receiving favorite tv program alerts, whether that would have to be written from scratch or just use an existing program that something like BVC could get the info from. Thanks for your ideas.
- spval

I use a small transformer unit plugged into the cable boxes power on plug attached to a universal module. So turning on the TV also signals the Home Automation PC (via the CM15A).

[Tuicemen]

As I mentioned before users need to communicate with software developers.
Let them know what your after or need so they're software better suits your needs.
There have been a few examples of this working.

KENRADs communication with Nitrogen Logic on the Kinect implementation led to code created to enable it to send commandline arguments to other software. (the other software needed to be able to accept commandline commands).
ihouse has gotten expanded zwave functions and is able to comunicate with other programs
I've implemented VR into PCC (something I said I wouldn't do )to enable users with newer Windows versions to have voice activation.
TAC now has a Security Screen which displays a touch pad.

For those that follow my posts on My forum know the developement progress of my programs.
PCC and TAC have gotten the most work lately as I continue to improve the intergrations.
However the BlueWatch programs (currently in testing) are also being worked on to improve occupancy sensing by intergrating with a tablet running the TAC security screen.

I've had requests to add other features to some programs that I can't follow up on as yet as hardware limitations prevent this.
I haven't ruled out the additions of these and continue to look into them.
Users here continue to impress me with how software (not just mine) has been implemented!
Some things I thought were possible only in the future are now a reality.

Dave Don't Stop working on this!
It has truely inspired me to continue coding to improve the HA experiance.
 

 

[kenrad]

Dave,

I would definitely second that it was your idea with  The S.A.R.A idea that led me to start looking for ways to make my house more intelligent.  I have been a heavy user of Tuicemens software for a few years now as well as Ihouse.  I started with bluewatch WIFI as a simple way to allow me to let the Ha system know if I was home or not, but then as you started looking into S.A.R.A I began to think more and more on how I could make the house more interactive with me and my family.  Of course this led to a Google search where I found some information about nitrogen logic and a controller that connects to a microsoft kinect and can detect occupancy in the room based on zones.  I contacted the developer of the nitrogen logic controller and started talking with him about how to get his controller to communicate with Ihouse and PCC.  he developed a small program that could send a command line argument so not the nitrogen logic controller can communicate with and program that accepts command lines.  The kinect controller has the ability to trigger zones based on many different parameters. ( occupancy of the zone, surface area of the zone, pixel population of the zone, as well as the center of gravity for the zones based on x,y,z parameters, and brightness).  some of the things that it allows me to do is sense the brightness in the room and only trigger the lights if the light in the room is below the selected light level, when I sit at my desk and the lightlevel is acceptable it will turn on my desk light no matter what the light level is it will use PCC to check my emails and read them to me.  when I get up and leave the light goes out.  also in the same room when I enter the ceiling fan comes on if the lightlevel is appropriate.  there are two desks in this room so when my girl friend sits at her desk the lamp on her desk comes on of course based on room light again.

There is a second controller in my bedroom that allow me to again turn on the ceiling light when I enter the room and off when I leave,  then I created a zone near my closet that when triggered will read my agenda and emails only between as set time frame in the morning,  the  I created 3 more zones two of them just set flags in ihouse that let the Ha PC know if me or my girlfriend are in bed, so that the kinect can't trigger the lights when someone is sleeping and it also disables the next zone I will discuss.  The last zone triggers a macro that will turn off the ceiling light  and turn on whe wall sconces on each side of my bed when I get into bed, then with a AHK script developed by ITguy (the qmacro script found at the Ihouse forum) it will turn off the sconces and say good nite two minutes later ( this macro is disabled if either of hte bed zones are occupied and only runs during a set time frame so it is not triggered whe it is not bed time. 


One other thing that I have been experimenting with is a zone that scans the floors in the kids bedroom,  when the surface area exceeds a preset threshold it will announce for hte kids to clean their rooms because of the mess on the floor    This is working approximately 70% at this time.   I think that there are many more possibilities for this controller and I have just broken the Ice.

I will be posting results and links to you tube videos at the ihouse and Tuicemen forum as well as sample macros that I am running with Ihouse and PCC and how I use them. 

Hope more individuals can see the functionality that this adds to HA

   Ken

[HA Dave]

I am totally impressed with the work that is being done with HA.

I haven't stopped working on my setup... I have made recent changes and improvements. Admittedly... problems with X10's supply chain and the stoppage of BVC support was very disheartening. I really like the idea of interfacing with the HA PC... using the Kinect! That's awesome. Have you been able to tap into the face recognition part of Kinect? Have you tried using gestures as means of control.... like maybe the shush gesture to mute the TV?

[kenrad]

I am totally impressed with the work that is being done with HA.

I haven't stopped working on my setup... I have made recent changes and improvements. Admittedly... problems with X10's supply chain and the stoppage of BVC support was very disheartening. I really like the idea of interfacing with the HA PC... using the Kinect! That's awesome. Have you been able to tap into the face recognition part of Kinect? Have you tried using gestures as means of control.... like maybe the shush gesture to mute the TV?

Dave, at this time, the controllers that nitrogen logic is developing don't allow for facial recognition or gesture control they basically setup zones that will trigger a command line argument, this argument can trigger any program that will accept them.  For instance when I sit at my desk the zone triggers three arguments. The first to I house to turn on the lamp, the second and third goto PCC, The forst one to PCC sends a IR command with the USBuirt to turn on the TV that I use for a monitor.  The second triggers a command that checks my emails. 

I think that the facial recognition and gesture controls are awesome stuff and I would like to see them added as well.  I have been trying to encourage Tuicemen to look into Kinect stuff a little and who knows maybe it will happen.  If you find any new info or software using the Kinect please share it.  I am hoping to integrate it as a huge part of my automation system. 

   Ken

[HA Dave]

........ If you find any new info or software using the Kinect please share it.  I am hoping to integrate it as a huge part of my automation system. 
   Ken

I will happily share any info or even ideas I have.... but unfortunately... I have no coding skills. You are doing great work with the Kinect interface. I think the Home Automation possibilities for the Kinect are near limitless.

[kenrad]

I agree with you 100% Dave.

I have no coding abilities either this all came around with the developer from nitrogen logic creating software at my request to interfact with Ihouse and PCC as well as Tuicemens input and a few AHK scripts supplied by ITGUY

even without coding skills, even you thoughts and imagination to give me directions to go that might spark other developers and HA enthusiasts like ourselves.   It was alot of your ideas that started me down this path, like S.A.R.A and the automated recliner.  I used the automated recliner idea for a long time and just recently retired it because e kinects but it was an awesome idea it is thoughts like that that keep this thing moving. 

One of my next ideas it to look at a way to implement the kinect for my garage to open and close doors and also let me know the presence in the garage.   even you garage reminder macro was an awesome idea that I am still using.  I have even expanded on it to sound reminders with PCC if the heat or air conditioning is running and a window or door is left open.  these were awesome ideas keep them coming.

   Ken