my $.02 on buying the new Neospeech Voices

[alevey]

I'm interested in upgrading the sound of the TTS, definitely.

BUT... near $50 just for a better voice, no way!

If, for about $50, the voices "upgrade" included the ability to have and use multiple user VR profiles, gave us a choice of voices (not buy the first two, then pay for more if you want something different!) it would be worth it.

The reason I never bought AT&T is due to that and the fact that there seemed to be constant problems for many people. Especially for $60!!!!

If HS can guarantee that the products will add functionality for a reasonable price and not have problems (big factor!) then it is worth the dough...

otherwise I have too many other things to spend my time and money on then playing around trying the newest HS beta hoping it fixed the latest TTS issue.

I use to complain about HS not being stable... in my opinion, HS is stable enough now that I'd like to leave it alone and finally get to enjoy it's use, not its "tweakability" http://ubb.homeseer.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

I'd just like it to work, the first time and everytime.

am I alone with these thoughts?

--
Aaron

[Rupp]

I for one disagree. I jumped on the AT&T voices the second they came out. They are used as much or more than any other part of my home automation system. Speaking daily schedules, callerid, weather, sports, breaking news, time and temperature, emails, phone messages, motion alerts, speaking to my kids from work, etc. all over my homes audio system. As you can see this is used much more than a switch or some other piece of x10 hardware that most would buy in a heart beat. As far as trouble goes, I haven't had a single problem using the AT&T voices. I believe the reason you read of so many problems is the involvement of various sizes and types of hardware. The AT&T voices need a lot of horse power and memory but given the "recommended" amount they preform so much better than the included Microsoft voices I couldn't go back. So for me ~$60 was a bargain.

-Rupp
Isn't Disney World a people trap operated by a mouse?

[danieln]

I was one of the first ones to order the ATT voices and have not had a bit of trouble with it working with HS. Being legally blind, I have come to depending heavily on HS to read me my news, weather, callerid, TV programming and everything else Rupp has already mentioned. It is much easier to understand this information by using better and clearer voices than what Microsoft offers. I appreciate the fact that HS offers an alternative to different voices. So I'm one of the first ones to order the NeoSpeech (ok, what's the accronym for NeoSpeech? NS? HS and NS runs on the OS buult by MS...oh brother...).
Aaron, I've noticed that you said that you have not even tried the ATT voices. You should give the NeoSpeech a try. I believe there is a 30 day money back gaurantee. If you don't like them, just return them. Rich and Rick has a good track record of doing every thing they can to help solve any issues.
As far as your concerns about the VR, VR is a separate entity from the TTS. The VR profiles is a MS issue. HS just interfaces with the MS VR and does a pretty decent job of it. Although I've never had any need for differnt profiles, I've gotten along great with my VR.
One thing you have to understand about VR and TTS, it is still in it's infancy stage. VR and TTS is one of the hardest things to simulate on a computer. So what we are doing now is buying these products so the companies that are develping them can continue to develope and improve (hopefully).

Anyway, that's my 5 cents worth. http://ubb.homeseer.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Regards
Danny Norris

[alevey]

Guys, thanks for the input. I was not trying to say the software was crap, just that for people like me, where voices are a "polishing" agent and not a requirement ( as in daniel's case) $60 seems a bit high. I've heard the voices and they are better but here's my biggest gripe...

In my case:
I'd need to spend more $ to get the voice I want, seems like a bit of a scam.

If they said... give us $50 and choose any two voices from these 8 voices, cool!
... But it is more like a car dealer where to get the upgraded suspension in your car you must buy the leather seats. BUT I don't want leather seats in AZ!!!

I guess the Bang for the Buck is just not there for me. And my guess is that this is the same for many people... if the price was more reasonable, they sell multiple times more units.

--
Aaron

[Karen]

There seems to be some confusion here. The NeoSpeech voices are not an upgrade, in the traditional sense, to the AT&T Voices. They are two different software packages that do the same thing. Either one will work. It is not an upgrade such as HomeSeer version 1.5 to version 1.6.

[alevey]

I meant "upgrade" as to the MS voices... not from AT&T.

--
Aaron

[Viper76Man]

My 2 cents....
My wife thought the MS voices sounded bad and she liked the sound of the NeoSpeech voices tons better (as did I). Anything to increase WAF factor is worth any amount of money....

My wife can spend $50 on a pair of shoes or I can spend $50 on a new light switch in my house...

I am by no means wealthy or anything, but I guess I don't think $50 is to high for something that is most likely in the center of your entire automation system and is relied on so heavily.

[aboyce]

I have the female voice setup on my HS system. My wife loves them. Especially when it reminds me to take out the trash she will say to me "She told you to take out the trash" when it wakes us up in the morning Monday through Friday I have it announce the time and outside temp, turn on the bedroom light and watch for motion in the bathroom. If there is no motion in the bathroom after 10 min it gets insistent about the need for us to get up. When this happens my wife refers to her as "That Bitch needs to shut up before i rip out its guts all over the computer room." He He.. It sure diverts the hostilities away from me. She is defiantly not a morning person. Also when we have friends over she wants them to listen to the house and is proud of how high tech we are. I find the Voices and the quality of them is kee to the WAF. And it truly is the center of the system.

[jwilson56]

Well I switched from Mike16 to Paul16 as my wife though it sounded sexy and Mike sounded more robotic. Paul does sound nice even over Mike which is light years better than the ones that come stock.

John

[ukdavros]

I have the female voice setup on my HS system. My wife loves them. Especially when it reminds me to take out the trash she will say to me "She told you to take out the trash" when it wakes us up in the morning Monday through Friday I have it announce the time and outside temp, turn on the bedroom light and watch for motion in the bathroom. If there is no motion in the bathroom after 10 min it gets insistent about the need for us to get up. When this happens my wife refers to her as "That Bitch needs to shut up before i rip out its guts all over the computer room." He He.. It sure diverts the hostilities away from me. She is defiantly not a morning person. Also when we have friends over she wants them to listen to the house and is proud of how high tech we are. I find the Voices and the quality of them is kee to the WAF. And it truly is the center of the system.

Hi Andrew
Any chance of using some of your scripts as a starting point.
I would like to do as you have but not sure where to start

Thanks
Mark

[Rupp]

Mark,
I do not know how Andrew does it but my all all events that are time triggered and have a speech action as part of the event.

[kennesaw10]

Well I switched from Mike16 to Paul16 as my wife though it sounded sexy and Mike sounded more robotic. Paul does sound nice even over Mike which is light years better than the ones that come stock.

John

I downloaded the Cepstral software and voices. They're only about $30. I now have an English Butler (UK Engllish) voice on Homeseer and it works very well.

Since Homeseer is using the Microsoft SAPI interface, you have the option to use a lot of different voices. Keep in mind that for access via the telephone, you also need an 8K voice. The Cepstral voice seems to do both 8 and 16K very nicely.

[Want2BACustomer]

I haven't gotten into the voices yet but was wondering how it all works. My home automation system is in rack in the basement along with all my media equipment. I do have a complete house audio system - but how do you tie the audio output from homeseer into it?

thanks!

[stipus]

You just need to run an instance of the "HomeSeer Speaker" program on one of your computers, and plug the audio out of this computer to an input of your whole house audio system.

[JeffCharger]

I consider the $50 on Kate and Paul one of the best investments I have made. As I recall, Rich and team really worked to make these available to us at a "reasonable" cost. They merely resell these voices, so I suspect that they aren't making much on them. (although I don't have any insight into this).

Kate's a part of the family now! And boy, is she good lookin! :D

[Rupp]

I consider the $50 on Kate and Paul one of the best investments I have made. As I recall, Rich and team really worked to make these available to us at a "reasonable" cost. They merely resell these voices, so I suspect that they aren't making much on them. (although I don't have any insight into this).

Kate's a part of the family now! And boy, is she good looking! :D

+1 on that. When the wife mutes Kate I get a bit lonely.

[Want2BACustomer]

You just need to run an instance of the "HomeSeer Speaker" program on one of your computers, and plug the audio out of this computer to an input of your whole house audio system.

But I assume if I want to do more complicated things like only play the "Get out of bed - it's time for school message" in my daughter's room (which is its own zone) its not so easy?

Thanks!

[stipus]

But I assume if I want to do more complicated things like only play the "Get out of bed - it's time for school message" in my daughter's room (which is its own zone) its not so easy?

Thanks!

I haven't done this myself, but I think you need several audio interfaces on your computer, and you have to bind one instance of the HS Speaker to each audio board.

Then in HS, you have to choose the right speaker instance each time you want a script or event to say something. For example, the hs.Speak command has a "HS Speaker instance" parameter.

[kennesaw10]

But I assume if I want to do more complicated things like only play the "Get out of bed - it's time for school message" in my daughter's room (which is its own zone) its not so easy?

Thanks!

The SpeakEasy plug-in will control a number of different speaker switching devices. I don't have a whole house intercom but I have speakers in most rooms. I use an ADI Ocelot and RLY08 module, along with the SpeakEasy plug-in to do just that. It works great. You preface the text to be spoken with some embedded key words and the plug-in will route the spoken text where you specify.

[misraels]

If $50 to $60 sounds like a bit much, how about $30, that is the going price of the HomeSeer voices Kate and Paul at smarthome.

I got them recently and it made a huge difference for the family, i personally didn't care, but the family kept complaining they couldn't understand the compter before the new voices came.

[Want2BACustomer]

Thanks guys I'll check that out and see if there is a way I can talk to my speakercraft box and also ADI Ocelot and RLY08.

[bmora]

I don't want to steal this thread but regarding VW Kate, I can't seem to insert a pause in a TTS text string. I’ve tried to use the silence mSec='17000'/ but it does not work. Has anybody successfully inserted a pause in the TTS or had any issues with VW Kate voice engine not invoking the <silence mSec='17000'/> or some other "PAUSE"?

[Steve Q]

I consider the $50 on Kate and Paul one of the best investments I have made.

Kate's a part of the family now! And boy, is she good lookin! :D

I agree! I use Kate to announce the time & temperature on the hour; speaking over the "Westminster clock chimes" wave file. It really makes a good impression on visitors, and provides a perfect starting point to talk about home automation. I think everyone on this board is an advocate of home automation. That being the case, we should be motivated to show our best to anyone interested. When Homeseer speaks, we want people to listen!!!

Steve Q

[donstephens]

Try this...

<silence msec=" 500"/>

I'm not sure of your syntax, but this works for me...


I don't want to steal this thread but regarding VW Kate, I can't seem to insert a pause in a TTS text string. I’ve tried to use the silence mSec='17000'/ but it does not work. Has anybody successfully inserted a pause in the TTS or had any issues with VW Kate voice engine not invoking the <silence msec="17000"> or some other "PAUSE"?

</silence>

[Pete]

Listened to the Cepstral voices this morning. They are good but still not as natural sounding as the Neospeech voices to me. This is my personal opinion.

[The Ol Alfer]

Just installed the new voices, now I have to run some speakers as the voices are only on one set of speakers at this time. Was wondering about some one said installing Incident of HS Speaking on other computers ??/

What does that do and how & why would I do this?

Thanks ,,,

[wayneway]

witch voices work best on vista

[Rupp]

Just installed the new voices, now I have to run some speakers as the voices are only on one set of speakers at this time. Was wondering about some one said installing Incident of HS Speaking on other computers ??/

What does that do and how & why would I do this?

Thanks ,,,

It's the HomeSeer speaker client and it is covered in the HomeSeer help files. Look under Setting up HomeSeer , then The Speaker Application.

[Rupp]

witch voices work best on vista

The NeoVoices work fine on Vista.

[The Ol Alfer]

Thanks Rupp, I went through the help file & user guide but am still somewhat confused ??? The speaker client runs when I start HS on it own computer and I hear the voices from the sound card from that machine over the speakers.

So far I get it, is that all the speaker client does? I kind of had the idea that I could run the speaker client on another machine on my network and I would hear what HS was saying over that computers speakers ??? Or have I reverted back to my days in the 60's ??

Other than producing the voice output on the main HS computer, and possibly having 2 running as in the example in the help file, It doesn't give any other ideas as to what it is for,don't know what to do with it.

Thanks again and please bear with my ignorance ,,,

[Rupp]

No worries. Yes you can install the speaker app on other Windows PC's. The put a shortcut to the speaker.exe in the startup group so it auto starts. Then using the options of the speaker app you tell it what PC to connect to and enter a valid user name and password for connecting to HomeSeer and you should start hearing the output of HomeSeer. You can get the speaker client only here:
http://www.homeseer.com/downloads/

[The Ol Alfer]

I downloaded the speaker client to my laptop, ran the set up, I have no idea where speaker.exe would be found ??? Looked in various spots but just not finding it ,,,

[The Ol Alfer]

It looks like that is an update only, it says it cannot find HS exe or speaker.exe on this machine ???

[Rupp]

You can also use the full HS 2.2.66 installer and choose custom install option and select the speaker app only.

[Want2BACustomer]

Just to throw in my .02 here...when you install it on the client and configure it, you see the instance name for that pc (e.g. JDOE:Default). Using this, you can then create Actions on your events that send the text just to that specific PC.