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    #16
    Originally posted by LeoS View Post
    Hey Bram,

    Hats off to you for the great implementation and for sharing it with the community in such a comprehensive write up!

    Just want to ask you follow up questions...

    -How is the system going?
    Still using it daily. I have now 9 locations with speakers and 5 of them have also mics installed. Audio works flawless, VR at about 80% reliability and phone calls at 40%. They work oke but i can't hear the caller very well. That is because if i turn up the volume of the speaker the mic starts to sing around due to feedback. The caller can hear me well btw.

    - Overtime, do you use the system more or less?
    I would say more. I get some crazy ideas that i work out, trying them and most of the time reject them because nobody using them. For example i made a shoppinglist that can be filled via VR. You collect all the grosseries througout the week and when you go to the shop just ask for the list and it will be mailed to your phone. Sounds cool but we don't use it. Just pen and paper is more simpler.

    - Are there any other problems or issues that crop up after all this time?
    For the music part none, all works great. But there are problems on the VR side. I get a few false response when the house is crowed (lively). Since i wrote my own VR software i build i a few options to hendle this. One of them that makes me happy it when the system thinks it hears a attention phrase then it will just wat 7 sec. for a command and got to listening again if not. When it do hear a command then it will keep attention for 30 seconds after the last command so you have time enough. Another thing was that determing the mic that is gated on the XAP800 didn't work well. The thing is that the XAP800 gate and signal this but this is a one-shot signal. So even though the mic is still active the gate gate isn't. That gave me to much false positives and wrong room information. I changed to the give the attention phrase with location info like 'Attention Willy in the kitchen'. That way if another sensitive mic picks up the signal but the kitchen mic was still gated due to noise you still get response in the kitchen and context of where you say the commands is preserved. This boosted the reliability with atleast 20% for me.

    - What sort of commands/queries get used the most?
    Traffic info for the traject i use for the trip to work, weather info, turning on/off the alarm sections, change channels on TV set so only a few remotes in still use and controlling then radio. And 'Who is this' if i want to know which artist is singing and what song it is.
    All other is there is barely used. My goal is to let the house respond at us. I hardly use a switch anymore. And i see no point in automating the lights if i have to get out a phone, start the app, find the roon, the switch and click it. Just reach out your arm and flip the normal switch is easiers then...


    - What sort of commands did you not expect to use a lot, but turns out you do?
    Traffic info. I have a 2 hour trip to work mostly by train. If something happens on the track then i start work from home instead going to the station to see that i can go home again.

    And for a bonus answer
    My shoe size is 44
    - Bram

    Send from my Commodore VIC-20

    Ashai_Rey____________________________________________________________ ________________
    HS3 Pro 3.0.0.534
    PIugins: ZMC audio | ZMC VR | ZMC IR | ZMC NDS | RFXcom | AZ scripts | Jon00 Scripts | BLBackup | FritzBox | Z-Wave | mcsMQTT | AK Ikea

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      #17
      Originally posted by AshaiRey View Post
      Still using it daily. I have now 9 locations with speakers and 5 of them have also mics installed. Audio works flawless, VR at about 80% reliability and phone calls at 40%. They work oke but i can't hear the caller very well. That is because if i turn up the volume of the speaker the mic starts to sing around due to feedback. The caller can hear me well btw.
      I don't have plans to link my external phone calls to speakers\open-mics, but verbal linking of room intercom sounds pretty cool. "Computer, link to study." when you need to talk to your SO real quick or whatnot. Is the 40% also for inter-room calls?
      Btw if you rate it at 40%, why do you bother keeping it?

      I would say more. I get some crazy ideas that i work out, trying them and most of the time reject them because nobody using them. For example i made a shoppinglist that can be filled via VR. You collect all the grosseries througout the week and when you go to the shop just ask for the list and it will be mailed to your phone. Sounds cool but we don't use it. Just pen and paper is more simpler.
      Do you mind me asking how many ppl are in your household now?
      (Heck, I already know you're a 44)

      For the music part none, all works great. But there are problems on the VR side. I get a few false response when the house is crowed (lively). Since i wrote my own VR software i build i a few options to hendle this. One of them that makes me happy it when the system thinks it hears a attention phrase then it will just wat 7 sec. for a command and got to listening again if not. When it do hear a command then it will keep attention for 30 seconds after the last command so you have time enough. Another thing was that determing the mic that is gated on the XAP800 didn't work well. The thing is that the XAP800 gate and signal this but this is a one-shot signal. So even though the mic is still active the gate gate isn't. That gave me to much false positives and wrong room information. I changed to the give the attention phrase with location info like 'Attention Willy in the kitchen'. That way if another sensitive mic picks up the signal but the kitchen mic was still gated due to noise you still get response in the kitchen and context of where you say the commands is preserved. This boosted the reliability with atleast 20% for me.
      Valuable tips like this only comes from experience and real-life tweaking. Thanks.
      Btw, you mentioned that you use Samson CM11B mics. Did you compare it with the popular Crown PZM series? (The PZM were mentioned quite often here, I think pkoslow started with them..)

      Traffic info for the traject i use for the trip to work, weather info, turning on/off the alarm sections, change channels on TV set so only a few remotes in still use and controlling then radio. And 'Who is this' if i want to know which artist is singing and what song it is.
      All other is there is barely used. My goal is to let the house respond at us. I hardly use a switch anymore. And i see no point in automating the lights if i have to get out a phone, start the app, find the roon, the switch and click it. Just reach out your arm and flip the normal switch is easiers then...
      Cool. I was thinking of making verbal queries for occupancy too (whether occupancy flag is triggered somehow, or based on which motion detector/door sensor were last triggered. To check which door/windows are not closed or locked after certain time, etc.

      And for a bonus answer
      My shoe size is 44
      Well I'm +2 from that :P
      HW: HS3 w/ Win8.1 on ASRock C2550d4i. Digi AnywhereUSB, Hubport, Edgeport, UZB, Z-trollers, PLCBUS, SONOS, GC-100, iTach IP2SL, WF2IR, IP2IR, RFXtrx433, Harmony Hubs, Hue, Ademco Vista 128BP, NetAtmo, NetAtmo Welcome

      Google Search for HomeSeer Forum

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        #18
        Btw if you rate it at 40%, why do you bother keeping it?
        The infrastructure is there and a quick try proved that it was working. I didn't had the time to fully explore that area. Last year my wife got seriously ill (she is better now) and now the temperatue is raising so i live and work more in the garden. Next winter i will work on this again. At the moment is just does outbound calls when the alarm goes off. So it's working now at 40% approval rate so to say.

        Do you mind me asking how many ppl are in your household now?
        2 and that gives no problem but when there is a party with 12-18 people then you get sometimes a false reaction as the VR thinks that an attention phrase was said.

        Btw, you mentioned that you use Samson CM11B mics. Did you compare it with the popular Crown PZM series? (The PZM were mentioned quite often here, I think pkoslow started with them..)
        The PZM is more an US thing i think. In the Netherlands where i live they aren't that common. For me the Samson CM11b mics where far more effortable to get and suited much better in our interieur.

        Cool. I was thinking of making verbal queries for occupancy too (whether occupancy flag is triggered somehow, or based on which motion detector/door sensor were last triggered. To check which door/windows are not closed or locked after certain time, etc
        That is a nice idea. i will make a note of that.
        I was rethinking your question again and i realized that i use the cooking alarm very often. (like, 'Give me an alarm in 1 hour and 11 minutes') We use that for many things to give us a reminder that something has to be done.

        But you know that the ultimate answer is 42
        - Bram

        Send from my Commodore VIC-20

        Ashai_Rey____________________________________________________________ ________________
        HS3 Pro 3.0.0.534
        PIugins: ZMC audio | ZMC VR | ZMC IR | ZMC NDS | RFXcom | AZ scripts | Jon00 Scripts | BLBackup | FritzBox | Z-Wave | mcsMQTT | AK Ikea

        Comment


          #19
          I fear that I know your response, but gotta ask again if you have intent to bring this forward to HS3?

          Something makes me recall you saying the script is much different and won't work.
          HSPro: 3.0.0.194
          PL: Insteon PLM 3.0.5.20,Insteon Thermostat 3.0.1.1 , UltraM1G, RainRelay8, UltraECM3, UltraPioneerAVR3, BLBackup, weatherXML, Jon00 Network & PC Monitor
          HW : Win 7 64bit, Intel i7-2600, 16 GB DDR3 Ram, 60 Plus Insteon Dual Band Devices, Rain8 Pro2, Elk M1 Gold, Brueltech GreenEye.

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            #20
            Originally posted by AshaiRey View Post
            That is a nice idea. i will make a note of that.
            I was rethinking your question again and i realized that i use the cooking alarm very often. (like, 'Give me an alarm in 1 hour and 11 minutes') We use that for many things to give us a reminder that something has to be done.
            Very cool, thanks

            This is why I insist on going the long and tortuous way to connect things back to speaker.exe rather than use plugin-supplied VR (like ones in kinect) even though they're easier to install.

            I wish HS3 would open up ways for the core VR to be channeled through more technology (SIP, Sonos, etc), than just speaker.exe as the market has progressed quite some ways.

            But you know that the ultimate answer is 42
            I have to read that book one of these days!
            HW: HS3 w/ Win8.1 on ASRock C2550d4i. Digi AnywhereUSB, Hubport, Edgeport, UZB, Z-trollers, PLCBUS, SONOS, GC-100, iTach IP2SL, WF2IR, IP2IR, RFXtrx433, Harmony Hubs, Hue, Ademco Vista 128BP, NetAtmo, NetAtmo Welcome

            Google Search for HomeSeer Forum

            Comment


              #21
              Originally posted by CharlieWayne View Post
              I fear that I know your response, but gotta ask again if you have intent to bring this forward to HS3?

              Something makes me recall you saying the script is much different and won't work.
              It's not a difficult script and 90% is repeating the same trick. However i don't have HS3 to test the script. The script doesn't work directly on HS3 because Homeseer has changed how the scripting engine works. But i know a few have made a conversion and you need to change a few minor commands to reflect the new syntax. Sadly they never send me back the changes so i don't know what is done.
              - Bram

              Send from my Commodore VIC-20

              Ashai_Rey____________________________________________________________ ________________
              HS3 Pro 3.0.0.534
              PIugins: ZMC audio | ZMC VR | ZMC IR | ZMC NDS | RFXcom | AZ scripts | Jon00 Scripts | BLBackup | FritzBox | Z-Wave | mcsMQTT | AK Ikea

              Comment


                #22
                Hi Bram,

                I'm doing cable planning (again)... for now I have a rough idea for the mics and speakers counts and rough placements.. but what about the sound sources to cancel?

                Based on your experience, what are the sound sources that must be cancelled and which ones are not actually used/practical to wire?

                Also, what sound source can really mess up with VR performance?

                I mean, there are quite a lot of things out there (TVs, Sonos, Bluetooth speakers, etc), and limited number of ports on XAP800
                HW: HS3 w/ Win8.1 on ASRock C2550d4i. Digi AnywhereUSB, Hubport, Edgeport, UZB, Z-trollers, PLCBUS, SONOS, GC-100, iTach IP2SL, WF2IR, IP2IR, RFXtrx433, Harmony Hubs, Hue, Ademco Vista 128BP, NetAtmo, NetAtmo Welcome

                Google Search for HomeSeer Forum

                Comment


                  #23
                  Originally posted by LeoS View Post
                  Hi Bram,
                  Based on your experience, what are the sound sources that must be cancelled and which ones are not actually used/practical to wire?

                  Also, what sound source can really mess up with VR performance?
                  I use internet radio and the media player so the first source that you need to use is this. Luckely you have this already in your system so that is covered.

                  The main television is another great source of false triggers especially if you use English VR because most television programs are English spoken. (No problem here because of subtitles in Dutch)

                  In general all audio sources that are on at regular basis are candidate for cancelling in VR. That said i only added the TV and nothing else. I do get a false trigger from time to time but it doesn't annoy me so i am fine with it.

                  >What sound source can really mess up with VR performance?
                  Kids..
                  Really, they love to play around with it.

                  I mean, there are quite a lot of things out there (TVs, Sonos, Bluetooth speakers, etc), and limited number of ports on XAP800
                  You can stack XAP800 units so if i recall well you can have 96 input ports for cancelling. Sounds enough to me. No pun intended here
                  - Bram

                  Send from my Commodore VIC-20

                  Ashai_Rey____________________________________________________________ ________________
                  HS3 Pro 3.0.0.534
                  PIugins: ZMC audio | ZMC VR | ZMC IR | ZMC NDS | RFXcom | AZ scripts | Jon00 Scripts | BLBackup | FritzBox | Z-Wave | mcsMQTT | AK Ikea

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Originally posted by AshaiRey View Post
                    I use internet radio and the media player so the first source that you need to use is this. Luckely you have this already in your system so that is covered.

                    The main television is another great source of false triggers especially if you use English VR because most television programs are English spoken. (No problem here because of subtitles in Dutch)

                    In general all audio sources that are on at regular basis are candidate for cancelling in VR. That said i only added the TV and nothing else. I do get a false trigger from time to time but it doesn't annoy me so i am fine with it.
                    Ok, so basically they fall to 2 categories:
                    1). Stuff that can generate false triggers (TV, News radio, etc)
                    2). Stuff that you want to let play in the background while you talk with Ms. HomeSeer

                    I have bluetooth speakers (floorstanding kind) that's kinda hard to wire... I think I'll just have to use the Pause button to deal with that one.

                    >What sound source can really mess up with VR performance?
                    Kids..
                    Really, they love to play around with it.
                    Lol
                    You should make a separate trigger for them!
                    I mean, adults can call your system with 'Computer' (or whatever dutch equivalent you use), but kids have to call them with 'MISTER Computer', and this trigger will make your HomeSeer give crazy responses

                    You can stack XAP800 units so if i recall well you can have 96 input ports for cancelling. Sounds enough to me. No pun intended here
                    Yeah, I guess at $30 per unit it's super cheap... considering they used to retail for $5k
                    Last edited by LeoS; August 18, 2015, 12:19 PM.
                    HW: HS3 w/ Win8.1 on ASRock C2550d4i. Digi AnywhereUSB, Hubport, Edgeport, UZB, Z-trollers, PLCBUS, SONOS, GC-100, iTach IP2SL, WF2IR, IP2IR, RFXtrx433, Harmony Hubs, Hue, Ademco Vista 128BP, NetAtmo, NetAtmo Welcome

                    Google Search for HomeSeer Forum

                    Comment


                      #25

                      Ok, so basically they fall to 2 categories:
                      1). Stuff that can generate false triggers (TV, News radio, etc)
                      2). Stuff that you want to let play in the background while you talk with Ms. HomeSeer

                      I have bluetooth speakers (floorstanding kind) that's kinda hard to wire... I think I'll just have to use the Pause button to deal with that one.
                      1 - Yes any thing that produce noise/audio can trigger the VR system
                      2 - If it's softly then is not so much of a problem but indeed for max results you want to have it quiet. My script also disables all the other mics so they can't feed the system with commands that are not said by you. That increase the VR rating also much. So, if you got the attention of the VR in the livingroom then there is no need to turn off the radio in the attic (if there is a mic) because it can't interfere with your commands anyway. But turning off the radio in the livingroom or use that as a feed for cancelling will improve the VR in the livingroom.

                      About the bluetooth speakers. The audio send to the speakers is comming from a single source. You only have to take that source from somewhere and feed it in to the XAP. Possible ways are using the headphone output and cable that, some aux output or put one speaker close to the XAP and connect the fysical speaker with a wire with the XAP unit. The last one could be an expensive solution but i am not that familiair with wireless speakers. Oh, and using only one channel when the sound is stereo give already a good result. Using 2 channels only give a small improvement compared to the costs.
                      - Bram

                      Send from my Commodore VIC-20

                      Ashai_Rey____________________________________________________________ ________________
                      HS3 Pro 3.0.0.534
                      PIugins: ZMC audio | ZMC VR | ZMC IR | ZMC NDS | RFXcom | AZ scripts | Jon00 Scripts | BLBackup | FritzBox | Z-Wave | mcsMQTT | AK Ikea

                      Comment


                        #26
                        Originally posted by AshaiRey View Post
                        1 - Yes any thing that produce noise/audio can trigger the VR system
                        2 - If it's softly then is not so much of a problem but indeed for max results you want to have it quiet. My script also disables all the other mics so they can't feed the system with commands that are not said by you. That increase the VR rating also much. So, if you got the attention of the VR in the livingroom then there is no need to turn off the radio in the attic (if there is a mic) because it can't interfere with your commands anyway. But turning off the radio in the livingroom or use that as a feed for cancelling will improve the VR in the livingroom.

                        About the bluetooth speakers. The audio send to the speakers is comming from a single source. You only have to take that source from somewhere and feed it in to the XAP. Possible ways are using the headphone output and cable that, some aux output or put one speaker close to the XAP and connect the fysical speaker with a wire with the XAP unit. The last one could be an expensive solution but i am not that familiair with wireless speakers. Oh, and using only one channel when the sound is stereo give already a good result. Using 2 channels only give a small improvement compared to the costs.
                        That mono tip is golden. It gives possibility of splitting a stereo cable to serve 2 devices if needed in the future.

                        I'll see if I can run cable to the bluetooth speakers. The thing is that they're floor standing in the middle of nowhere, so cables will be visible... and I cannot connect to the player, since most of the time we use smartphone or tablet as the player in that case
                        HW: HS3 w/ Win8.1 on ASRock C2550d4i. Digi AnywhereUSB, Hubport, Edgeport, UZB, Z-trollers, PLCBUS, SONOS, GC-100, iTach IP2SL, WF2IR, IP2IR, RFXtrx433, Harmony Hubs, Hue, Ademco Vista 128BP, NetAtmo, NetAtmo Welcome

                        Google Search for HomeSeer Forum

                        Comment


                          #27
                          Originally posted by AshaiRey View Post
                          It's not a difficult script and 90% is repeating the same trick. However i don't have HS3 to test the script. The script doesn't work directly on HS3 because Homeseer has changed how the scripting engine works. But i know a few have made a conversion and you need to change a few minor commands to reflect the new syntax. Sadly they never send me back the changes so i don't know what is done.
                          Bram, your vr is the holy grail of vr systems. I've bought all the equipment a few months ago but just haven't had the time to jump into this yet.

                          Have you had the time to look into Blades xap800 plugin? Would be great if your vast experience in vr could go into fine tuning the plugin.


                          Tom
                          Tom
                          baby steps...starting again with HS3
                          HS3Pro: Z-NET & 80 Z wave Devices,
                          HSTouch: 4 Joggler (Android Kitkat), 2 iPhone, 3 iPads
                          Whole House Audio: 5 SqueezePlay Jogglers w Bose Speakers
                          In The Works: 10 Cameras Geovision, new Adecmo/Envisalink Alarm, Arduinos
                          System: XP on Fanless Mini-ITX w/ SSD

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                            #28
                            I didn't try the plugin from Blade because i don't have HS3 to test it on. However i did send Blade an email and told him about the existance of the ZMC documentation so he could make use of it for developing the plugin.

                            Because there is so much interest in my script i would like to make a request here.

                            Is there anyone that has HS3 installed, got some VBScript knowledge and is willing to do some testing and give me feedback? In addition if you got a XAP800 that would be nice but it isn't a requierment. If so i am willing to spend time into this to convert the script to HS3 but i need commitment to this otherwise it can't be done. What i will ask from you is the put the script in your system and start it. If it crash (it will at first) then report back to me clearly what you have done, copy paste the error and if possible take a screenshot. If you can resolve it yourself then tell me also about it so i can implement it. This process repeats untill it's working.
                            - Bram

                            Send from my Commodore VIC-20

                            Ashai_Rey____________________________________________________________ ________________
                            HS3 Pro 3.0.0.534
                            PIugins: ZMC audio | ZMC VR | ZMC IR | ZMC NDS | RFXcom | AZ scripts | Jon00 Scripts | BLBackup | FritzBox | Z-Wave | mcsMQTT | AK Ikea

                            Comment


                              #29
                              Awesome, Your the Man mister AshaiRey.

                              I'm not a guy who can script or write code, but am willing to give effort on the testing side.

                              We have 2 xap800 units and have one request.
                              Can you please eliminate the max channel limit that is currently fixed by your HS2 script so we can run both xap800's?

                              Thanks, and I'll wait for instructions if need be.

                              Thanks.
                              Last edited by CharlieWayne; April 23, 2015, 07:09 AM.
                              HSPro: 3.0.0.194
                              PL: Insteon PLM 3.0.5.20,Insteon Thermostat 3.0.1.1 , UltraM1G, RainRelay8, UltraECM3, UltraPioneerAVR3, BLBackup, weatherXML, Jon00 Network & PC Monitor
                              HW : Win 7 64bit, Intel i7-2600, 16 GB DDR3 Ram, 60 Plus Insteon Dual Band Devices, Rain8 Pro2, Elk M1 Gold, Brueltech GreenEye.

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                                #30
                                Subscribed as this is COOL!!!!!

                                I have been trying to find a way to get wires from my basement to my attic and I found a way finally... Had the heater replaced with a high efficient one and now the chimney is no longer in use. Gas heater.... so that line runs from basement and up. I am thinking of going in the attic and cut a hole over through and get into that... then I can start fishing!!!!! possible summer deal
                                HW - i5 4570T @2.9ghz runs @11w | 8gb ram | 128gb ssd OS - Win10 x64

                                HS - HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.435

                                Plugins - BLRF 2.0.94.0 | Concord 4 3.1.13.10 | HSBuddy 3.9.605.5 | HSTouch Server 3.0.0.68 | RFXCOM 30.0.0.36 | X10 3.0.0.36 | Z-Wave 3.0.1.190

                                Hardware - EdgePort/4 DB9 Serial | RFXCOM 433MHz USB Transceiver | Superbus 2000 for Concord 4 | TI103 X-10 Interface | WGL Designs W800 RF | Z-Net Z-Wave Interface

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