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[Knightrider]

It's time for a discussion about microphones (bitman please jump in here).  There's many many types of pickup patterns as well as mic types.

When discussing the dynamic mic above, I think it was a reference to an omnidirectional mic.

Omni's are fine for the application mentioned above.

Let me throw a curve now.

Say you're on the couch with a TV blaring at one end of the room.  That omni would in theory pick up the latest episode of "Heros" just as well as it would pick up your voice from the couch.

Not good.

In that application, I recommend a well placed cardioid mic.  Kinda has a heart shaped pick up pattern,  By placing this mic up in the ceiling (I have exposed beams) and carefully directing the pick up pattern to where I constantly sit and away from any TV speakers, the background noise from the tube can be attenuated without any fancy electronics.

More to come on choosing the correct mic as the questions develop.

[blaib]

That is the problem I am having now, Tv noise and mic picks it up and of cource somehow or another BVC thinks it hears "computer" even if I mute the computer it hears somthing on the tv that unmutes it.  So Unfortunatly my baby monitor is not working as well as I hoped.  Dave do you have a tv on in any of the rooms with the monitors?  I think I will have to try a different kind of microphone.  I think I have come to realize that I will have to manually start BVC and then use it, because my tv is almost always on.  Or get a different mic and have it close to the computer and nowhere near the tv.

What kind of mics are everyone using here for BVC?

Brian

[HA Dave]

... Dave do you have a tv on in any of the rooms with the monitors? 

Yes I do! And if the TV is up loud... BVC will hear it. Also.. if the TV is up loud... I can't hear BVC well ether.

But I have the babymonitor on the same end of the room as the TV... and the monitor is pointed away from the room.. toward the wall (turned backwards). And I have the volume adjusted on the PC down to where the computer generally doesn't hear the TV. I also have my babymonitors on appliance modules so I can switch them when moving to different rooms. If you control the monitor with a module... you could turn it off.

Background noise is always problem with Voice Control. Loud TV's, radio, Music, barking dogs, kids... it all makes it harder for the computer to hear your voice... and for you to hear the computer.

[davideinmd]

Here's something I just thought of. A lapierre mic (wireless) should be ideal no? Couldn't walk around naked and talk to it (what would you clip it to?) But in theory, that should be the ultimate solution for just walking around the house and getting commands to the BVC, no?

[HA Dave]

Here's something I just thought of. A lapierre mic (wireless) should be ideal no? Couldn't walk around naked and talk to it (what would you clip it to?) But in theory, that should be the ultimate solution for just walking around the house and getting commands to the BVC, no?

Yes.. the wireless microphones do work. I tested one myself (back is the ole BXVC days). I also tried a bluetooth ear piece (which would work fine naked).

I tried the BabyMonitor after my stepson reported hearing a weather alert... (that aired on the apartment next door) and was picked up on my granddaughters babymonitor. These things (baby monitors) are really very good at detecting voices. I can yell at mine down the hall from the bathroom... and be heard and understood. Yet the TV (at reasonable volume) isn't detected.

Other people are the biggest voice/sound problems. Here at my home it is mostly just me and the wife. Most of my TV watching is just news and we have carpet [mostly] everywhere. Kids, dogs, loud TVs and hardwood floors... makes the setup more difficult.

[blaib]

Yes Dave, I think that is my problem. Kid's, hardwood floors and a loud tv do not mix we'll with the baby monitors.

[bitman]

I don't know if it was the baby monitors, BVC, my lack of patience or what, but the whole setup was like a defiant teenager and listened and obeyed less and less as time went on. When I realized I could do great emotional damage to my female German Shephard who doesn't like it when I raise my voice, I threw the whole "talk to the computer" idea out and were back to remotes and there is peace at my home again.

Except when the icon was last used to turn on a lamp and I pick it up and hit volume- to turn down an obnoxious TV only to have the light do something as the annoying tv blares on. - Stupid x10 developers... won't listen to me........Not even a measly option in the firmware.... wish I had the code.... #$%^&in fix it myself.... 

 

Happy Thanksgiving BTW! 

[HA Dave]

I don't know if it was the baby monitors, BVC, my lack of patience or what, but the whole setup was like a defiant teenager and listened and obeyed less and less as time went on.

I had originally set my voice profile to "automatically adapt to this speakers voice". See the attached picture. That was sorta like putting Microsoft's paperclip man in charge of my voice control. After a period of time... I had to delete that profile.. and start over. I don't spend much time training ether.

I have recreated my setup more than once, with two computers and three sets of babymonitors to make sure I wasn't just lucky... once. I've also had great results with a BlueTooth ear piece, and a wireless microphone, a long wire extention on a desktop type microphone, I even used a baby monitor with... a microphone to the receiver. The handheld CB radio... was a waste of time.. it didn't work at all.

It does take a good weekend to tweak a setup to work correctly. But once setup.. it works great. If you view my videos you will see (hear?) that I don't have an announcers voice or anything. I just speak as clearly as I can.

[bitman]

Dear God no!

Not that Screen again!

 

[aussie mate]

I tried the baby monitor setup which didn't seem to work for me.
My house has tiled floors and so it has lots of echo.

I purchased a 12 channel auto mic mixer that uses phantom powered microphones off eBay.
then got some high powered conference center boundary microphones.
So far I have installed 2 - one in the kitchen & one in the lounge room.
I also have a multi zone amp that feeds speakers in these areas.

The auto mixer senors which microphone the voice is coming from & switches the nearest mic on.

This setup works very well - like most - the trick is to "tune" the system to your voice.

[HA Dave]

I purchased a 12 channel auto mic mixer that uses phantom powered microphones off eBay.
then got some high powered conference center boundary microphones.
So far I have installed 2 - one in the kitchen & one in the lounge room.
I also have a multi zone amp that feeds speakers in these areas.

Your method is surely the BY FAR best way to go! It is however a little complex for my skills... not to mention slightly pricey also. But it is nice to know that such a large spectrum of devices and setups can and do work. Your setup sounds AWESOME.

[Knightrider]

Your setup sounds AWESOME.

Agreed.

[aussie mate]

It wasnt very expensive considering the value you get.
Got all the stuff 2nd hand - the mixer was about $100, & the mics cost about $120 each.

Of course if you had to buy them new - it would cost three times that.

[jrwhit]

My two cents worth.. I am a successful baby monitor BVC user. I had originally looked at Dave's videos to help with setup but missed one important fact. I spliced a mono plug on the receiving baby monitor plug instead of a stereo plug (mono has one black stripe around plug, stereo has 2 bands). Dave and Knightrider helped track this one down in the Home Automation Chat Room. Thanks guys.    Once I changed this, I had to reset my audio levels as I was getting way too much input with the mono settings.
I have my baby monitor in the same room as my TV with the HA computer about 45 feet away. BVC will accept commands from the far end of the house if I raise my voice.
Recently, I bought a new laptop and was going to set up my old laptop running Windows Vista to be my HA PC. I finally got it to work fairly well but not as good as the PC running Windows XP. It looks to me like Vista's speech recognition tries to do battle with BVC and sometimes wins. If I check the screen it has opened notepad started to write a message. Hopefully, it didn't inadvertently email someone a nastygram.
I won't say my system doesn't occasionally misfire but, as a rule, I seldom use a remote. When it's working right, you really do feel like you are the master of your domain!

[HA Dave]

My two cents worth.. I am a successful baby monitor BVC user.

I had intended to keep testing different methods of getting a voice command to the PC. I had also fully expected to end up with intercoms. I had planned to do X10 cameras as microphones next and I feel sure they would have worked also. But the Baby Monitors worked so well.... and at $18 a set. I just stopped there. I published the monitor information so others could see just how cheap and easy (and really COOL) this Voice Control could be. But we don't all need or even care to do this stuff on-the-cheap. And certainly... there aren't any rules.

Recently, I bought a new laptop and was going to set up my old laptop running Windows Vista to be my HA PC. I finally got it to work fairly well but not as good as the PC running Windows XP. It looks to me like Vista's speech recognition tries to do battle with BVC and sometimes wins.

I've wondered about Vista (and lately 7) myself. But there are several Vista BVC users (and I think a 7 or two user, also). Maybe you should start a thread.. ether here or at Bill's forum. I know for a fact Bill won't be happy till your happy with your BVC setup.