yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Nonsequitur:
Annoying VC music issue solved

This is a great thread, thanks for putting it together. I finally solved an issue yesterday that I have encountered in every build of VC 1.6 including 19209. I haven't seen it discussed before in the forums or anywhere else on the Web.

The problem: When asked to "play artist", VC repeats a single artist's name two or more times, sometimes with extra syllables added. This occurs whether the artist's files were copied directly to an SD card or synced with the desktop Windows Media Player.

Example: I have one album by the band Spoon on an SD card. I say "play artist". VC replies, "Which artist: Spoon. Spoon. Spoonuh. Spoono. Spoon."

The bug: VC doesn't know how to read ID3v2 tags. Apparently it reads a byte or two after the last character of the artist's name and includes that extra data in what it believes to be the artist's name.

The fix: Use MP3s with only ID3v1 tags. If an album is tagged with both ID3v1 and ID3v2, strip the ID3v2 before using the files with VC. If an album is tagged with ID3v2 only, copy the data to ID3v1, then strip the ID3v2. MP3tag does this well.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] jdmba:
Z9

I always suspected main memory should be where it is, but, by all means, update your FANTASTIC guide. I think the crash on the first uninstall (originally) left bits of it still there. I had to do two REMOVE PROGRAMS to get the old one off, before reinstalling. Its an off-shoot of your recommendation 'make sure to uninstall before installing a new version'. I think its more 'make sure your uninstall worked before installing a new version' in my case :)

As for the Z9, I can't answer directly on that, but I can by a one-off. I use the Z9 only in my car (which is where it lives). I know that the radio must be off (not just low) to use it. Have you tried increasing "voice isolation mode"? A quick tap of the Z9 turns it on (you should hear "Voice Isolation Mode - Maximum" through the headset).

Otherwise, the Z9 is wonderful for me. I like that its firmware can be upgraded, and it has great battery life.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
Interesting, I never really used MSVC for WMP, but good to know. I will update main thread with your contriubtion.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] kipmast:
Hi, I finally got around to upgrading MSVC. I loaded your cab and I still notice that It will not wake up the Kaiser. If I manually bring the phone out of sleep mode it then announces any new messages fine. Frustrating... It works great on all my other WM6 devices!!

Also I figure if anyone will know it is you: Why wont MSVC also announce new Email from my windows live account??

Thanks again for all your help!
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
Kip, let me re-hash your issues to make sure I understand.

Issue #1:

When your phone is in sleep mode (as if you pressed the power key) then incoming announcements get cut off in the middle of announcing. When you then turn your phone on from sleep mode the announcements finish. You don't have these issues if your phone is awake.

Is this correct? Please also detail the following:

Is this all announcements? E-mail, TXT, phonecalls?

When your phone is in sleep mode and gets an announcement does it wake up? Or is the screen still off? How long can you wait until you press the button to bring it out of sleep? Will it still announce the end of the messages from like an hour ago?

Is the problem present when announcing to the speaker, a BT headset, or both?

Issue #2:

MSVC won't issue incoming announcements for your windows live account.

Do you have any other e-mail accounts set up that announcements work for?

Do you have incoming announcement checked off under settings for e-mail? Remember incoming announcements are turned on for each category, not as a whole.

What version of Windows Live are you running?

I actually haven't tested incoming announcements for e-mail, but I have a hotmail account so I will set it up and test on my phone as well.

Let me know the answers.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] kipmast:
Issue#1: that is correct. This includes all MSVC announcements such as SMS & POP3 Email. The phone wakes fine for a voice call. No issues at all if phone is awake.

Problem occurs in both modes (bluetooth headset/device speaker) I have tried all variations in MSVC setup.

Issue#2:I know windows live doesn't announce like POP3 accounts do, just did not understand why that was true. Im using version 10.6.0031.2600

UPDATE:After more tests I'm narrowing this down to my POP3 account(?). It's not even waking from sleep mode to give me my standard device notification!! Maybe MSVC is not the issue here..
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
Ok. I will test these things on my end tomorrow. In the meantime keep digging since, as you say it may not be MSVC, but rather that is just one symptom.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] kipmast:
I think Im right in it not being a MSVC issue:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=332362

I spent the time to go thru all 21 pages! Man!! I found if I let my device go into sleep mode by itself it actually would bring it out of sleep mode to announce an incoming message. If I force it into sleep mode by using the power button it becomes very inconsistent (like the folks in the thread mention). I cant wait for the "Fabled" Rom update to come from HTC because I know this will take care of all the issue's that we currently experience with Kaiser, right?(Ha).
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
Heh...yeah..it might solve the problems, but I bet you'll find some new ones! I'm not going to bother testing with your config then since it seems unrelated. Score one for MSVC!

thx
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] kipmast:
Hey one last question you might know, Is their any other program you know of that announces incoming Emails to try out?? I have not found anything so far in my searches.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] boggsie:
HTC Vogue / Sprint Touch

ROM: 3.02

MSVC Version: US PPC 1.6.19209

Bluetooth Headset: Jabra BT250

Description: I haven't run into any problems with MSVC -EXCEPT- the volume of announcements and confirmations is barely audible.

When making calls and Michelle confirms, I know what she is saying so I can make it out and confirm or cancel the call. However, when reading incoming messages or announcing incoming calls, it is barely audible.

I have tried any number of changes to AudioPara.csv and it doesn't seem that I am able to impact the volume of announcements with the settings in this file.

Finally: In call volume is great. I can hear callers and callers can hear me.

Thank you so much for the information in this thread.

Best regards,

-boggsie
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
boggsie,

The only thing I have been able to find regarding adjusting the volume of announcments is the following registry location:

HKCU\Control Panel\Sound Categories\Voice Command1

There are two keys:

AttenutationCategory

InitVol

There are apparently different default setting based on your device (again this forum is meant for the Kaiser/Tilt, which you are not running). But, in general the values are generally around 1-4 for AttenuationCategory and 1-5 for InitVol.

Some older posts state that setting InitVol to 40 and AttenuationCategory to 1 provide the best results.

In my testing (on the Tilt) I have found the InitVol to do nothing. The AttenuationCategory definitely does something, it seems the lower the number the lower the voice. If I set it to 0 the announcements were very faint. Setting it higher made them higher, although I can't say that anything over 4 or 5 got any louder.

So, in my findings I would say set both of these to 5 (I have read some other posts that lead me to believe setting InitVol over 5 is pointless, in addition, the posts that recommend setting it to 40 don't specify if that is decimal or hex).

These keys definitely work...but possibly not on all devices, and possibly not since WM6 or maybe 6.1.

Most places say you don't need to reset after these changes, but on my phone I found that I

definitely had to reset.

The only thing I can say is play around with these values and see what you get. Report back with your results.

good luck
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] btec1020:
Wow bro, what a great thread you have here. Answered all my Q's about MSVC. Now i'm trying the volume reg tweaks. Thanks & Cheers!
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Vragor:
I have read through the thread several times and searched but can't find any suggestions for making Dialing via MSVC work any better.

I have nearly 800 names in my contacts list. With that many, the odds of Voice Command picking out the right name is slim to none. On a different message board, the only suggestion I got was to delete all but the few names I actually call which seems silly.

I'd love to be able to tag the 20+ names that I routinely call and limit MSVC to searching only those few names. For that one feature, VoiceDial actually works better than MSVC. (Yes, I've tried saying "Start VoiceDial .pause. Fred" but it's long, annoying and fraught with failures).

Another solution I've considered but haven't figured out, is putting a shortcut in the programs directory. Since there are relatively few programs, the odds of finding the correct entry are higher. Plus I can rename the shortcut to anything I want (without screwing up the outlook entry).

I already do this for things like playlists. Since MSVC has no "Play Playlist XXXX" command, I solved it by making a shortcut in \windows\start menu\programs pointed to the playlist file. Now I can say "Start Motorcyle" to begin playing my motorcycle playlist.

I think I could solve this with some form of link to individual contacts and say "Start Joan Freemont" rather than "Call Joan Freemont"
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
I'm not aware of a way to create s shortcut to dial a contact, but if it exists i suppose that solution would work.

Even with 800 names I am surprised that MSVC wouldn't work sufficiently, assuming you are using full first and last names.

With only first name there would probably be some recognition errors, as some names would sound similar. But with both first and last names I would think the chances are quite slim. Sure there may be a "Nate Smith" and a "Tate Smith", and in situations like that it might be best to change "Nate" to "Nathan" or "Tate" to "Tatum." Using middle names may be another option.

Although I'm not sure it would work, read the tips about RejectionThreshold on page 2. Lowering the rejection threshold should mean that MSVC is abit more picky about what it thinks you are saying.

Another things to consider is your BT headset. Some are better than other and if you are not using a high quality one, you may want to upgrade.

Lastly, I can only think of accents or pronunciation. Try to enunciate the name as MSVC says it, not necessarily how you would say it. Punching consanants and stretching vowels may help.

Honestly I have never had a contact list of 800 people in my phone so I can't definitively say what should or should not work.

Finally, I found this tip from Microsoft:

Unfortunately, I'm not really sure what they mean by the nickname field, as I don't see that field in PocketOutlook. If you know what that means however, maybe it will help.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
I just noticed this comment and am wondering if you are using your bluetooth headset while on a motorcycle?

I ride a bike myself and generally find it difficult to use even a high quality BT headset (helmet integrated or not) to the same quality.

The wind and noise on the bike are just too extreme for voice recognition to generally work adequately (even though you may be able to talk to the caller ok).

If indeed this is what you are doing, i would definitely look into the best BT headset you can afford.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Vragor:
I use my phone in about 4 ways. Just standing there with no headset, I push the PTT and say the name clearly. It matches about one out of 4 times despite trying to match pronunciation and some fiddling with names. "Start Motorcycle" works flawlessly.

I also use a motorola 820 stereo headset at work (to drown out the various conversations). It matches a little bit better, but not much. "Start Motorcycle" works flawlessly.

I have a handsfree bluetooth setup in my car (motorola T605) and it matches more like 1 out of 6. I almost never get a match and hardly try anymore. "Start Motorcycle" works flawlessly.

I use the phone on my bike with an Autocom intercom system and a hacked up Jabra SP100 bluetooth setup. I've tried to dial a few times but have never gotten a match. I answer calls and can hear and speak fine. Even though I don't use stereo bluetooth on the bike, I have said "start motorcycle" and it works about 50% of the time. Autocom is a really good system.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Vragor:
I wonder if they are referring to the "File As" field. I can try it and see.

But with so many variations on so many sounds, I don't hold out much hope for any search that inclues all contacts. I have things like "Tri Lakes Trash Disposal" and "Swan Mountain Resort" to give a couple examples. There's just too much to match.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
It sounds like you have alot of entries with multiple words, not just "First, Last"

There is a registry entry in the following location:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Voice Command\Speed

The value is ComplexResponseSpeed

I find no information on this attribute concerning MSVC specifically, but the following information can be found regarding this attribute with microsoft's SAPI interface in general:

My default value is 1100 and I believe that is in millisecconds. I think the range is from 0 - 10,000 ms. It is possible that increasing this value may improve recognition on these multiple word entries.

Short of that, I don't see what else can help. I think that the file applex.dat is the lexicon of words that the recognizer uses. By creating your own lexicon you should be able to add phrases that would improve recognition. Unforunately, although I have done work with the SAPI API through scripting, I don't know how to create and compile a new lexicon.

Maybe there is a developer out there who could add more insight. I have a feeling that the lexicon format would be the same on a PC as it is on a PPC, as they both use SAPI 5.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] t0mmyr:
how do i make my phone ring aloud & vibrate but at the same time only announce caller in bt headset?
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] kgbyr3:
custom voice tags

Hi,

i was wondering if there is any way to make custom voice tags in this voice commander,

Many of my contacts are not in english and therefor the voice commander can't recognize them.

Can i record my oun tags for these?

Thanks
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] BenOggo:
button on wired headset for voice command

thanks for the great article. What i miss, is some reference towards the button on the wired headset. I think nobody has managed to do it yet: get the button on the wired headset to trigger voice command. So some statement regarding this would be good in the article. However, if anybody did manage to do so, inform me.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
If you read through the guide you will see that this is not possible.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
No. MSVC is localized, meaning you should buy the version for your country. As far as I know there is only US, UK, and French.

You should probably look at using Cybertron Voice Command. It isn't as powerful as MSVC, because it needs to be trained for each name, but this is probably better for you.

As discussed a few threads back you might also try to use a nickname for these. Since you can speak english (obviously :)), put a nickname in for each user that sounds like there name is pronounced.

In the previous post I stated that I didn't know what the nickname was exactly, but I figured it out....

When you are in the contact there is a drop down arrow on their name. Click this and you will see more fields, one of which is the nickname. Fill in the "alternate" name here.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
I have never had a wired headset with a button...all the ones I had only had a mute button, nothing that would send any commands.

What I would try is this, though I don't know if it will work.

Download AEButtonPlus, I think you can get a free trial version. It has a mode to add a new button based on the keyscan code. Use that and press the button on your headset and see if it recognizes the scan code and adds a button for it. You can then assign that button to MSVC.

I would think that it should recognize the scancode, because otherwise I don't know how the button could trigger anything. On that note, what does the button do for you now? What was it intended to do? If it is just a mute button like I mentioned, then you will not get it to trigger anything as it has no control outside the headset.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Vragor:
I don't want to voice dial any of those wierd contacts. I don't want to delete them either. But their presence makes MSVC pick the wrong contact most of the time.

I only have 20 to 30 contacts that I ever want to voice dial. The others I'm happy looking up and dialing manually. The problem is restricting MSVC to only those contacts that I want to voice dial and ignoring the rest.

Now if only there was a setting to make MSVC only look at nicknames, that would solve my problem.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Vragor:
I finally found what I was looking for.

http://www.vijay555.com/?Releases:VJPhoneTools

There is a command line dialer that will dial whatever number is included in the link. So I can make a link to the dialer, give it a unique name and give it the phone number of one of my contacts.

I do miss the confirmation by MSVC when dialing a number, but since I was just always saying "NO", I guess I'll live with it.

There's also an sms message sender that I might fiddle with. So I could have a link that sends an SMS to my wife that says "Call me when you have time" whenever I say some key phrase to MSVC.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
There's not, but I bet if you set short nicknames that were different then you would have a better shot.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Mikee4fun:
I believe you have a type on the latest MSVC build you have: 1.6.19123 - Latest 6.1 embedded US version, not available for retail. Should work with newest 6.1 builds.

It should be 1.6.19213 if your post was a typo. I am running 1.6.19213 on all my mobile devices. =P

Cheers,

Mikee
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
thanks, you're right...I guess I have minor dyslexia...I'll fix it...
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] MarkAtHome:
Before I post, would this be the proper place to ask about MSVC used in conjunction with the Blueant Z9 (and HTC Tilt)?
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
As long as you follow the posting format listed at the beginning of this thread :)
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] MarkAtHome:
Well, it's not a problem that is ROM/Radio/etc specific. Since I see that you use both the Tilt and the Z9, have you figured out how to enable the noise isolation switch when you alert your Z9 to pay attention, when not using the phone?

Apparently, Blueant only allows you to switch the modes while in a phone call so the other person on the call can hear you better. What if you simply need the phone to hear you better in a non-quiet environment, while using Microsoft Voice Command?
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
Right...well there isn't. What you need to do is place a call, like to your VM and while you are in the call press the button to turn the isolation to MAX. The headset retains its isolation mode until it is turned off.

BTW, I just sold my Z9 on ebay because I found the noise isolation, specifically wind noise what not up to my needs.

You may want to play around with the recognition registry keys posted under the tweaks section. My MSVC wouldn't even respond in a noisy environment (like it didn't hear me at all). Changing those thresholds may help....but i didn't think to try it previously.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] MarkAtHome:
That's my problem, as well. Which headset did you opt for and are you pleased with it?

FWIW, if not for the noisy environment, I would be pleased with mine. I need something that's as good as the Z9 but handles the outdoors... :-)
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
I haven't yet. I'm about to take a cardo scala-800 out of the box that I had laying around. I doubt it will compete with the current set of headsets, but I will use it until I can make a decision on the new Jawbone 2 or the Z9i that is coming out very shortly.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] MarkAtHome:
My original choice was between the Jawbone and Z9 and I opted for the Z9... figures.

A comparison between the Z9 and Z9i didn't infer any performance difference in regards to noise, though, their blurb was unclear whether the Z9i is better in noisy environments or better than the Z9 in noisy environments... I do have a 2-week old Z9 firmware v3.4 that was emailed to me yesterday by tech support (I hate it when a new version is released without any indication in the version number), and will see if that helps with the noise. Will let you know.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Urbanator:
I doubt it's the list length. I have 2500+ and my recognition is great. Microphone does matter with BT. I don't think the number of contacts is the culprit. Are you sure that you're speaking into the correct mic? When I first installed it, it used the built-in mic until I soft reset it. Have you followed all the instructions?
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Urbanator:
MSVC not recognizing confirmation

Phone: Verison XV6800 (HTC 6800)

ROM: 2.09.605.8 (Straight from the store, WM6)

MSVC Version: 1.6.19209 (v1.60.4622 did the same thing)

Bluetooth: Plantronics 510

The issue I'm having is VC doesn't hear my confirmation going through BT. I'll ask to dial a contact, it will pop up the right one and ask, work, mobile, etc., I'll answer mobile, and then I get the failed tone. Dialing though PTT works fine.

The same thing happens for multiple hits. I have two John Does, and it asks if the first one is correct, I say no, then it also give the failed tone through BT, fine through PTT.

Whenever it talks, it never hears again afterwards. It's like the outgoing audio channel stays open or the incoming audio channel never opens again. I end up saying lookup contact a lot, then manually selecting.

Version 1.6.19209 fixed so many things, but not this.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
You must disable confirmations in MSVC options and speak the full name of who you want to call, e.g., "John Doe Mobile."

As far as I know there isn't another resolution, but again this forum is for Kaiser/Tilt, so it would be best to post in the 6800 forums for additional advice.
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] Urbanator:
Without making me look too stupid, I don't seem to find a confirmations option. Is this a registry hack?
[Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III Themes and Apps] bengalih:
In MSVC setttings, choose Phone, then click Options then turn off "Confirm when calling by name" and "Confirm when calling by number"