Homseer Speaker Client(s)

[stueng]

Question about the Homeseer Speaker Client

Presumably this is typically a piece of windows software which connects over TCP/IP to the HS server

1) Does it take microphone input too?

2) Having a computer dedicated as a speaker client is not ideal - what alternatives are there? I'd like to have a "speaker/microphone" in the kitchen, lounge and bedroom but do not want to have 5 computers. Is there some kind of unit that can be bought or alternative speaker/microphone device?

[Pete]

I believe if you want to utilize a microphone then you could try a wireless microphone setup as documented here in the forum. All the HSTouch pc's I use also utilize the speaker dot exe client. I personally do not utilize the VR on HS. For sound though I have the one HS Server audio output going to an amplifier then from there going to now about 12 zones. About 6 years ago utilized an AB8SS to split up the sound. It is no longer available. Most recently have split up the main floor into 6 zones utilizing a Russound CAS44. Two of the zones are AB switchable (deck and garage). I don't have speaker dot exe running on any of the laptops or individual non HS related computers.

[mrhappy]

1) I believe (as I have not used VR in a while) that it is just one microphone input per PC it can support - i'm making a guess that the speaker client uses whatever is specified in the windows control panel voice recording default device setting - don't think a mic input per client is supported.

2) Theres possibly quite a few answers to that - You can have multiple speaker clients on a single PC, your only limitation is RAM and soundcards. Now you might want to think about how you want the speech/music to be set up.

Eventually I settled on having all of my rooms with speakers (4 rooms) in as being run of a single speaker client, this is so the speech is broadcast into all of the rooms and I can use the WMP plugin and have music across all of the rooms.

You could have multiple PCI/USB sound cards in your PC and a speaker client per sound card then wire the audio output from the sound card into an amplifier and then run the cables to the rooms. That way you have one PC but five channels each wired to the seperate rooms.

I believe getting microphones across multi rooms to work is slightly trickier and I think i'll defer to someone with the know how for that - but one product i've seen mentioned is the Gentner AP800 which is an auto mixer for multiple microphones.

Hope this helps

[fran_joel]

On my to-do list is a project similar to yours in terms of distributing announcements throughout the house and microphones for VR.

For announcements, I used to have a network of pcs on which I used the speaker clients, but this never worked very well because the speaker clients tend to lose the connection when the homeseer server is rebooted and then they go mute until they are restarted.

Also, pcs go to sleep and have applications that change the volume settings on them and it complicates matters a lot.

In the end, I decided to purchase a Sonos distributed audio system and use that along with a single speaker client source on the homeseer server for all house announcements. Others do it differently by using other types of all-house audio distributing systems, but the end goal is to have one speaker client source and have another system in place that distributes this audio to the whole house, through hardware.

For the microphone part of the equation, my plan was to use some kind of intercom system to talk to the computer rather than have the speaker client listening all the time for the attention phrase in the house. The idea was to get the attention of the computer by pushing a button on the intercom, rather than saying the attention phrase.

Intercom stations can be installed all around the house and can link to a microphone or line input on the homeseer server to channel the VR commands. However, this is just the theory... I never got around to actually start working on this.

The only thing I did (and it works well) is to use a good quality plantronics wireless headset to give VR commands to a specific speaker client.

[Pete]

Joel,

My Russound "sat" on the workbench for almost 6 months before I started to wire it into place last week. I have the infrastructure (speakers already installed plus CAT5E's) but the shift over of speaker/Cat5 cables is taking longer than originally assumed.

I am doing one zone at a time with only two completed to date.

[fran_joel]

Joel,

My Russound "sat" on the workbench for almost 6 months before I started to wire it into place last week. I have the infrastructure (speakers already installed plus CAT5E's) but the shift over of speaker/Cat5 cables is taking longer than originally assumed.

I am doing one zone at a time with only two completed to date.

One of the advantages of the Sonos system is that it's wireless.

I have an old house and running wires throughout was not really an option...

[stueng]

Ok it sounds very obvious that a single speaker client is the way to go for distributing the sound using something like sonos, this also has the advantage of being able to distribute your music.

The problem still exists of getting VR input distributed, unless I can find Bluetooth/rf microphones that can stand/be mounted.

Could you tell me more about this intercom system? How does it connect to the line in on the computer? Do you have links to the hardware?

[fran_joel]

Ok it sounds very obvious that a single speaker client is the way to go for distributing the sound using something like sonos, this also has the advantage of being able to distribute your music.

The problem still exists of getting VR input distributed, unless I can find Bluetooth/rf microphones that can stand/be mounted.

Could you tell me more about this intercom system? How does it connect to the line in on the computer? Do you have links to the hardware?

I wish I could tell you more, but like I said it's just a concept right now. I didn't think of any specific hardware.

The configuration would have to be something like this: The base station would be located at the homeseer server and satellite stations would be located throughout the house. The base station would have a non-amplified line output that would be connected to the line-in input of the homeseer server audio card. Then, the homeseer speaker client would be configured to listen to the line-in input.

From the satellites, there would have to be a button to call the base station directly. Upon pressing it, you would say the attention phrase and the computer would respond by acknowledging through the audio distribution hardware (not the intercom). Then, you would speak your commands. It would probably be possible to have homeseer acknowledge through the intercom, however, it would be more complicated and would require some kind of interfacing.

This is as far as I went in conceptualizing the system at this time.

[fran_joel]

From doing a quick search online, I would consider something like this if it was a wired system. Seems like a pretty competent system for a fairly good price.

Not sure it would readily interface to the line-in input of a sound card though. There maybe some additional work there.

http://www.hometech.com/hts/products...ion/index.html

[stueng]

many years ago... when I was living in south africa we had an intercom system that ran over the power lines. Do these still exist? I'm not going to be installing cat5 in my home

[Rupp]

many years ago... when I was living in south africa we had an intercom system that ran over the power lines. Do these still exist? I'm not going to be installing cat5 in my home

Why not just use a wireless intercom?

[fran_joel]

A wireless intercom would probably work. Look these up, they seem to be good quality and the price is reasonable...

http://www.intercomsonline.com/MURS-...20538-base.htm

However, you will still have the problem of interfacing with the line-in input of a sound card coz I don't think those come with a line output jack.

You probably will have to get your hands under the hood and pickup the audio signal from the PCB where it enters the Audio amp and bring it out to an exterior RCA jack. I don't know if you're up to it. A little background in electronics would certainly help...

If you do a a stunt like that, however, it will probably void your warranty...

Finding a wireless intercom with a line out or headphone jack would be a better option, but I did not find any while researching this.

p.s. I would advise to stay away from the intercoms that send the audio signal through the power lines, as they are generally cheaply built units that are prone to interference. You would also probably need a phase coupler because these tend to work poorly from one leg of the 120/240 VAC to the other.

(Edit: Ok I see that you live in London, so the phase coupling should not be a problem for you...)

If you do go with an intercom like that, make sure the sound quality is impeccable and the background noise level is low. This is required to get good performance from your VR.