Speaker Mic Combo

[tome10]

Trying to figure out what I need to get Voice Recognition working.
Anyone using any VOIP Conference equipment?
Wherever i'd have a Mic, I'd probably want a speaker as well right? I'm guessing you can use conferencing equipment with the Mic and Speakers built in.
I need something in the living rm to tell homeseer to "Watch TV", "Play XBOX", "Watch Camera's" etc. I'd need one in the kitchen, and one in the master bedroom. While in the kitchen I would want to Page the device in the Bedroom that supper's ready or something like that. Any thoughts about this? What about using Homeseer to add items to a grocery list?

[Rupp]

If you want the best voice recognition available currently then the Amazon Echo is the way to go. Do a quick search on Echo and you'll see a variety of ways to control HS3 via the Echo.

[tome10]

I was thinking more of a LAN based system. I don't want to have the delay in telling the cloud to turn my local TV on. That's what I found horrible about Smartthings being cloud based there was a delay in things happening.

[Rupp]

I was thinking more of a LAN based system. I don't want to have the delay in telling the cloud to turn my local TV on. That's what I found horrible about Smartthings being cloud based there was a delay in things happening.

The Echo will turn the lights on faster than the response from the Echo typically. I understand the cloud based concern but it's all but impossible to come anywhere close to this functionality without spending a ton on mics, mixers, VR training, etc.

[Pete]

Here utilize both Amazon Alexa and Microsoft SAPI and Kinect.

Training VR on Microsoft 10 is much faster than earlier versions of SAPI.

The Kinect though is larger than a single microphone.

I do not get delays with the Amazon Echo or Kinect or just new W10 SAPI.

The Amazon Alexa blue tooth microphone works well too.

Here though I still prefer to keep the automation internal rather than having any dependencies on the Internet. That said though I like to tinker with it.

[tome10]

Hi Pete, I'm thinking about getting a connect. I need to get the one for the 360 right? With the USB connection? I actually have a newer one for the Xbox One laying around but I understand that will not work.? Could I lob off the cable and solder a USB connector on it?

[Pete]

The old or new Kinect will work. Not sure relating to the USB connection.

Googling it appears that Microsoft was including or giving away the USB connectors for the second generation of the Kinect.



That said it was last year or the year before that Gamestop had a special price for refurbished Kinects without power supplies. I forgot what I paid and do recall going to 3-4 local Gamestop locations to purchase them.

Just doing a google search see the refurb Kinects going for $60 and do see a listing for one with cable for $24.99. I recall that these were not on line. I called the Gamestop locations to see if they had them in stock when I purchased mine. (refurbished ones for $24.00).

[S-F]

I have a Kinect. It works. No cloud stuff. They're cheap on ebay. PITA to set up all of the commands though. I didn't think that the xbone kinect worked yet though.......

[tome10]

I read that somewhere. That the XBOne Kinect didn't work, because of the different style connector I thought. I was under the impression the 360 Kinect had a normal USB connector, and the XBOne didn't. looking at that diagram pete posted, it looks like that is referencing a XBOne version. What are the two bricks in the diagram? One is power, but what's the other brick for?

Looks like I don't know where my connect is. what do I need to order? a connect and a power supply. Any cables I need?

[S-F]

You need an xbox 360 Kinect and the power supply. It has all the cables built in. Check out the Kinect forum for more details. Tons of people posted their experiences there.

[Pete]

Yes the older ones (Kinect 360) I have have only one power brick.

You can also just purchase a $12 USB converter for the XBox Kinect.

I tested it with Spud's Kinect and Alexa plugin working on one Windows 10 computer with a multitouch screen running HSTouch. Worked fine. Windows 10 VR/TTS is levels above XP and W7 TTS/VR.

Have a look at the Kinect Wiki too relating to the two Kinect's today.

Personally like the no cloud option with the Kinect. That said as Colin mentions above training MS VR is a bit more work than the Amazon Alexa.

Just looked at Spud's description and see that the Kinect plugin currently only works with the Kinect 360 and not the new Kinect for XBox.

Apologies as I thought it worked with with both new and old Kinects.

My interest in testing it was to make sure it worked with my Ubuntu HS3 Pro box and it does.

IE: running the Kinect plugin and remotely connecting to the HS3 mothership running in Ubuntu.

There is Microsoft based automation pieces of software (to purchase) which primarily depend on the Kinect for TTS/VR today.

CastleOS -

CastleOS integrates support for more smart devices and protocols than any other home automation system.
Only CastleOS supports X10, INSTEON, Z-Wave, UPB, WeMo, LightwaveRF, Nest, Sonos, Ecobee, and others right out of the box.
Voice control
Download the optional CastleOS Kinect app, connect a Microsoft Kinect, and control your home by simply speaking out loud to your house!
A single Kinect can cover very large rooms, and CastleOS supports an unlimited number of Kinects in your home.
Control lighting, thermostats, and other devices by simply saying out loud, "computer, turn on the lights" or "house, turn up the air conditioning", or many other natural language commands!



I am trying / have been trying to keep my automation at home but tinker with cloud stuff all of the time. I can do that with my PFSense firewall with multiple interfaces. IE: my Amazon Alexa has it's own network and physical interface to the firewall. (a bit different than using VLANs). Same now with the Samsung Smarthings and Securifi Almond + testing.

I had one larger 4:3 touchscreen mounted on one wall in the house. The direction was to replace it with a wide screen multitouch monitor (17') and put the Kinect above it building it in to the wall (larger footprint than old 4:3 17" touch screen monitor).

I tested the concoction in my office. The connectivity footprint on the back of the multitouch monitor was small and I could velcro or connect the originally used PipoX7 to the back of the monitor.

Looking for test pictures.

From the original test was going to run HSTouch/Kodi on a mini PC connected to a 36" LCD TV I have in my office running in 1920X1080 mode with the Kinect (no touch).

Today my LCD TV's all use Kodi running on Intel based Ubuntu mini PCs which I shut off when not using. I stream live TV / recorded media / internet media on the Kodi boxes and have no need anymore for anything else by the LCD TVs. I have never used the smart TV stuff built in to newer LCD tvs as I do not want my TV on the internet. I shut off my tablets/cellular phones here when not using them. That is me.

[mrceolla]

Hi,

I too am looking to purchase an acceptable microphone for VR that can plug directly into my mini PC without the need for mixers or phantom power or cloud services. I am interested to know more about Kinect. Does it require use of the plugin someone mentioned earlier? Or can it be setup simply as a Windows microphone to be used with the HomeSeer Speaker app?

Much thanks!

[tome10]

I know there's a plugin for it. I don't see one with an external power supply. I'm still kinda lost at what I need to go along with it. I think I read somewhere that the USB power was insufficient, and we need external power supplies correct?
Pete, you said Win10 had better VR. How do you use Win10 VR with Homeseer? I need to put Win10 on the Homeseer Mini PC?

[S-F]

For the Kinect you need the sensor and the power adapter. See this ebay listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/XBox-360-Kin...3D272476238797

Notice the power adapter? You need that.
You also need the Kinect plugin. It doesn't use the HS3 speech recognition and doesn't use a speaker client. It's entirely separate. It can be run on a different machine than your HS3 PC though.

Go look through the Kinect forum. Really, there's a ton of information there. Every question that could be asked has been and answered thoroughly.

[mrceolla]

Thanks for the information. I asked someone in the Kinect 3P forum if I could connect the Kinect as a standard PC mic, allowing me to use the Speaker client and was told "Yes". I realize this Kinect 3P plugin is completely separate from HomeSeer's built in voice recognition but I am already making use of the built in and do not want to recreate events or re-write scripts. I am going to try to obtain a Kinect and accomplish this w/o the use of that plugin. This seems like the best mic for the price for voice recognition from the research I've done thus far.