HTPC using Voice Recognition software, Am I crazy?

T

thenewrick

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
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I have a dream, that I could build a htpc, that uses voice recognition software. Essentially I'd like to be able to awaken, sleep, navigate the pc with voice, open files with voice, and make the movie file I opened fullscreen with voice. I want to be able to sit on my couch and say a sequence like, "Computer wake up, find file Wolverine, open file, full screen? Is this still too much to ask, or is this possible? I feel like it is but..
 
Vista had outstanding built in voice recognition. I can only assume that win 7 does as well, although I haven't used it before
 
I just had the same thought the other day.. why use remotes when you could just speak to the computer...

If it worked really well it could be awesome...
 
the carpc world is starting to explode with voice recognition.... this spring my "awesome" carpc will become amazing when it nearly turns into a kit car. "Play korn, life is peachy" and i got tunes.

but im afraid, just as the carpc world, youll run into ambient noise problems. this is solved by installing a momentary switch somewhere and holding that while you say the command. this allows the machine to know when you are about to speak the command, and also mute the sound its playing so it doesnt trample over your voice (most attenuate the sound to 10% or whatever so its not a harsh dead silence).

the software isnt quite ready yet, so i havent tried it... but i cant imagine it would be too hard to convert into home use. i mean i would try the win7 built in software first, for what you want it probably would be better.... i can let you know more about voice recognition soon though, i cant wait to get it into my car!
 
You cant awaken it with voice.... since its off and the cpu does the voice rec.

Recognition of commands with voice rec is decent, but its not going to work well for movie names - standard english words might be ok, but there are lots that are named crazily.
 
You don't think you could hotkey functions like tab to search bar, and say letters to enter then scroll with voice for a movie like "CB4" ? I'm excited about the possibilities.
 
there are nice omnidirectional large area microphones that have noise cancelation but they are expensive....

a bluetooth headset connected to the PC might work well.

7 has voice recognition.. Homeseer does as well
 
That is funny you say that. I have written a piece of software that does exactly that. You just say, Play such and such, and it does. It is buggy at the moment though. I hope to release it later this year. Free too. With an easy dot net api that you can write your own plug ins. It does movies (including dl'ing the info from the net), music, x10, tv shows, and weather. Groovy eh? Now, if I can get the damned thing done, I would be happy. : )
 
Hmmm, this is something that interests me, too.

A few years ago, I remember reading a couple of things about this subject, but not only for HTPC use (more for a car or wearable PC). Unfortunately, at that time, CPU power, WinXP and voice recognition software was not really suited to that kind of use.

I have used Vista's voice recognition software with low-end microphones (and crappy Realtek software not really capable of de-noising) in the past. It worked surprisingly well in a low-noise environment, and there is NOTHING you can't do with that software (apart from turning the PC on, obviously): if your command isn't recognized/available, just say "Show numbers", and every command available in the screen becomes a number, or "Show grid", and you can actually point-and-click anywhere on the screen. AND there is a master "Start listening/Stop listening" command :)

From my (limited) experience, a good noise-canceling wireless microphone (either BlueTooth or news anchor types are great) might fit the OT's needs. Also, I might revisit the same concept, too, thanks for reminding me!
 
krupted said:
but im afraid, just as the carpc world, youll run into ambient noise problems.
Click to expand...
Give the CarPC a unique name, all my PCs have one. That way you can have it listen in for the prompt (it's name) and then the command. "Haruhi, play Korn Life is peachy."
 
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