RE: TTS and how to do it?

["Kenneth Watt" <kennwatt@xxxxxxx>]

Paul,

I've been thinking about this all day.

TBH, I see where you're coming from with this but I think it's a little
to complex for what I actually need to do. All I really want is a
single
small speaker, similar to the one used in a Comfort keypad to simply
announce whatever needs announcing, nothing more nothing less. Since I
use HV and already have a form of IR distribution muting the amp in any
given zone or pausing the source is already done here, or can be
relatively easily. The problem is that when that happens I have no idea
what event just took place to trigger it! Now if the phone rings or I
hear the door chime, fair enough I know, so TTS is not the be all and
end all to me but it would be damned nice and very useful.

Personally, I don't feel that volume control with TTS per room is
really
needed, a nice touch, but not essential. More essential is the ability
to just switch off certain zones, like the kid's bedroom at night to
isolate him from any announcements. Or to isolate your bedroom except
for security and safety announcements, then you want to be able to hear
it anyway through the night, as that is the point of it IMO. So you get
the controller to enable that speaker if the situation warrants it, but
that's a user-choice thing and a bit of programming, no biggie!

As to local control of TTS, again nice, but do you really need it or
are
you just doing it because it can be done and for the hell of it? Don't
get me wrong, huge respect for trying it, but I don't need it really.

What would be *very* useful but technically impractical (if not
financially), is to "overlay" TTS on any source that is switched
on or
fall-back as it were to a single speaker that is used only for TTS. The
problems with that are legion, but it would be bloody impressive to see
it working! The only way I can see that happening to any degree at all
is with Keith's switcher and even then you would be limited to the
sources playing over the switcher at that time.

Anyway, it's late I've had a conversation with JD so I'm off to bed,
where I should have been ages ago! ;)

K.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Gordon [mailto:paul_gordon@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 14 June 2002 14:12
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] TTS and how to do it?
> 
> OK fairy nuff,
> 
> For controlling "what output goes where" - you need to do
some source
> switching, - I'm >assuming< that what you're talking about here
is the
> "TTS
> goes to the kitchen, while MP3's go to the bedroom" type of
scenario...
> 
> Have you thought about putting multiple soundcards in the audio
server
PC,
> and doing all the source switching and volume control in software?
-
might
> be feasible for a small number of zones.... (dunno how many cards
you
> could
> actually get to work in a single PC before windows says
"ENOUGH!")
> 
> For my purposes, I just need a dedicated TTS speaker network, -
each
room
> in
> the house will have it's own audio system anyway, so I'll never
need
to
> switch sources to the TTS speakers, - I'll have a single speaker
in
each
> zone that is used for TTS output *only*, I'm not fussed about
volume
> control, - I'll pre-set the volume to a suitable level, and issue
mute
> commands to the room-based audio system so that TTS announcements
aren't
> fighting over the TV or music playing...
> 
> What would be really useful of course is a little magic black box,
with 2
> sets of speaker-inputs and one set of speaker outputs, that is
installed
> in-line in the speaker cables to a single set of decent room
speakers.
-
> the
> normal AV system output goes to input 1, and the rooms speakers on
the
> output (obviously!), in normal operation, that box does nowt, - the
AV
> system is directly connected to the speakers. But, - the HA/TTS
speaker
> output is connected to the 2nd input, and when a signal appears,
the
box
> mutes the 1st input by a user definable amount (but leaves it
connected to
> the output), and also mixes in the 2nd input... So that in any
room,
when
> (and only when) a TTS output is being sent to that room, it
automatically
> gets mixed in to the rooms AV speakers, and any AV source thats
playing
> automatically gets muted... (I prefer to mute a playing source to
50%
> <rather> than pause it or switch it out of the speaker
circuit
entirely,
> so
> I'd prefer not to just put relays in the speaker wires...)
> 
> Another thing I'm considering is not piping central TTS about the
house at
> all, but generating TTS at the point of delivery. This gives even
greater
> flexiblity, as the TTS can either be controlled centrally, or by
the
local
> zone-based controller. - I'm thinking along the lines of a Fuji 510
or
> similar in each room, on the house LAN, running a copy of ACE
client
> and/or
> ACE-TTS. ACE server runs on the same machine as Homeseer. When
Homeseer
> wants to make an announcement in a particular room, it passes the
"speak"
> command to ACE server, ACE server then forwards it to the ACE
client
in
> the
> room, and the ACE client actually does the TTS. - I'd have
complete
zone
> control, volume control, and source switching if I need it, as the
local
> room-controller "could" also be playing other audio sources
as well...
> (although I think we've established that a Fuji doesn't have
enough
grunt
> for that...). Plus I only need a CAT5 cable to the zone, instead
of
> speaker
> cables as well. In that vein, I am also looking at putting a
"proper"
PC
> in
> various rooms, hidden in floor/ceiling voids, cupboards etc, and
just
> controlling it with a Fuji...
> 
> Food for thought...
> 
> Paul G.
> 
> 
> >>I want to be able to control what output goes where and how
loud it
> >is, all from the software side. Using a pair of speaker outputs
is
> >cunning (I have that on my Arcam amp but have never used it)
but
> >a bit too limited for what I have in mind.
> >
> >I just want a bit more flexibility.
> >
> >Stuart
> >
> >
> >
> 
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