HS 1.7.43 Audio Output Problem

[pp]

I recently upgraded to this version. In my system I would set the audio output in the options menu for speech to an external audio device. In my scripts I would also have it play a tone before an announcement because my audio system needs an audio to to trigger an interupt. All was fine before, Now I notice that the Speech part comes out where ever you set it in the options menu which is fine. But if you select the Play .Wav the wave doesnt follow the same setting as it did before. I tried to rewire some items but it didnt work. Could anyone shed any light on this? Also I was thinking I could add a play wav script to my script, If someone could post how that script would look like to play a tone I would like to try that.
Thanks

[rich63]

I also have seen the audio output problems, and homeseer crashing too.

Running Windows XP with 2 sound cards. 1 is a SB LIVE, and the other is a SB LIVE-24bit.

When I have the Controll Panel's Sound & Audio tabs set to SB LIVE (both the Audio and Voice tabs), and with Homeseer's Options -> TTS set to "system default"... and I have an event defined called "SoundTest", where the Script/Speach tab has "test test test" to be spoken prior the script running, with the Output Device set to "Auto"... THEN when I run execute the event... I hear the expected audio. Unfortunatley, the associated script (which I have not yet described) only runs parially. I'll get to the script issues in a moment.

OK, so in the last paragraph... at least the text in the Script/Speach tab was spoken. In the same configuration as above... If I change the Output Device on the Script/Speach tab of the event to SB LIVE or SB LIVE-24bit, and then execute the event again manually... homeseer crashes in
AppName: homeseer.exe AppVer: 1.7.0.43 ModName: ahutil.dll
ModVer: 1.0.0.3 Offset: 00002175

OK.. so I move the Script/Speach Output deice back to "Auto" so that things will work.
In this case, the control panel is set to "SB LIVE", and I am hearing the audio again.

Now for the script that is associated with this event. Here is the script:
sub main()
hs.speak "This is the default speak command"
hs.speakEx 0," This is a test of device 0",TRUE
hs.speakEx 1," This is a test of device 1",TRUE
end sub

Ok, when I execute the event, I hear "test test test test", which is what is on the Script/Speach tab, and then I hear "This is the default Speak Command". I do NOT hear any of the output for the SpeakEx commands. The Log just shows:
Speak test test test test"
Event Trigger Trigger from menu (sound Test).

However, if I am on the Script/Speach tab, and I click the "TEST" button... then I get the same audio output as above... but the log is different. The log says:
Speak This si the default speak command
Speak This is a test of device 0
Error Script error in file: soundText.txt 0: in line 0

---------------------
I get different behavior if the Control Panel is confgured to SB LIVE-24 bit. Basically, everything works... events, scripts... no Error message... but when I try to use the speakEx commands and send audio to the SB-LIVE card it does not come out. When using speakEx to the LIVE-24 bit it works.

Hmmm... all of this used to work without problems (and without HS crashing) in 1.6.

Any suggestions? I really would like two sound cards to work with homeseer.

Thanks, rich

[Rupp]

rich63,
Do you have the latest drivers for both your sound cards loaded? There have been several threads on other XP BB's where many things lock up due to sound card drivers being incompatible with WinXP.

[rich63]

Hi Rupp... I do have the latest drivers installed for each. On creative.com, there is no new driver for the LIVE-24bit card. I did get the lastest driver for the LIVE card.

Should I open a case with homeseer to see where the crash is taking place. I assume ahutil.dll is a homeseer library.
AppName: homeseer.exe AppVer: 1.7.0.43 ModName: ahutil.dll
ModVer: 1.0.0.3 Offset: 00002175

Not sure if the HS folks read these posts... or if I need to formaly open a help case.

Any other suggestions?
Thanks, rich

[rich63]

I opened a case for this problem, and was provided a work around to avoid the problem. Homeseer is running much better now. Below is the response I got from Rick.

------------------------------------------------

Hello,

In HomeSeer, on the TTS tab, disable the Agent by uncheckin the Use Agent checkbox.

On the same tab, select a voice that has a V5 in its name. Restart HomeSeer. That should solve this issue.


Regards,

Richard Helmke
HomeSeer Technologies LLC

[axotis]

Hmmm... Just upgraded to .43 and am also suffering from loss of speech output, unfortunately the above suggestion doesn't seem to solve the issue. I also upgraded to .44 with no luck regarding this problem. Anyone else experiencing this and have a fix ???

--

[CJVann]

I've noticed odd behavior too - if you send speech to a 2nd sound card while the first is speaking, it will immediately stop the current TTS string and never finish it. It basically abandons the current text in order to service the 2nd sound card.

However, if you put "TRUE" after all of your hs.speak/ex commands, it will force the system to finish what it's saying on one sound card before switching over to the 2nd one. The same thing is true with sound files - you must finish one before starting another on a 2nd sound card.

I tried to find a combo of on-board, internal, and external sound cards that might work, but didn't have any luck. I also tried speaking with HS Voices on one card, and with Microsoft Mary on the other card, but I got the same results. As Rich said, " HS simply hands off the audio to OS" so it appears to be more of a system problem than a HS problem.