Voice commands useless unless in pure silent room

[Coreldan]

Sounds like your Kinect maybe messed up and needs to be exchanged out. I don't agree with Coreldan's potential solution in moving your system to another part of the house. It's unfair for you to move your system to a location, because MS failed to design it for your kind of room.

Which sort of reminds me. My living room and kitchen are openly connected. Not many walls going on...I wonder how Kinect would handle a room like that?

I didn't suggest moving it for good, just to test whether Kinect is faulty. If regardless of room and acoustics it still requires dead silence, it might imply something is wrong. It was more of a measure to individually rule out possible causes instead of sending it back to Microsoft just to have it boomerang back with them saying it functions as intended

 

[smoledman]

Well that's good news for me... my living room is always quiet.

 

[MohamedIdle]

I believe you just need to learn the commands and the behaviour of Kinect and you will be surprised at how well it works when used correctly.

 

[MohamedIdle]

I have been using it in my living room with my little cousins being in the room and believe me when I say this they were not quite. My younger brother was also using his laptop which was at full volume and I had no problem with Kinect. Learn to say the command's in the correct way and you will be pleased with it in the end.

 

[runamuck83]

Is there a list somewhere of the robotic commands I need to recite to get it to work?

 

[Coreldan]

Is there a list somewhere of the robotic commands I need to recite to get it to work?

Click to enlarge.

Remember that there should be a pause between the Xbox and the rest of the command even if the list doesn't really imply that (a comma would've helped realize that, probably).

 

[oldpueblo]

Make sure it's at least 3 feet away from any speakers if I recall the directions correctly.
THEN calibrate it, and make sure you turn your volume up loud when it says to. People seem to miss that part from what I've seen.
Now try to speak as clearly as possible, but don't yell the commands.

If none of that improves anything then I don't know, is your open area have clear walls? Maybe it's too echoy, get some pictures or something?

Also I'm reusing my Kinect 1.0 TV mount and it works pretty well. You remove the part the Kinect 1.0 attaches to, underneat that is a screw that's the same thread as the Kinect 2.0. Use that to screw it onto the Kinect 1.0 flat slide part and slide it in. It doesn't lock but it goes pretty far back in and you can just put a little tape on it if you want. Mines pretty firmly there though and the cord holds it in as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Kine...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU2234784





It looks like it's perched precariously on the edge, but it's screwed into a plate that's slid all the way to the back and sandwiched to the TV. Like I said, a little tape (slide plate to shell) would make it firm but I'm not worried about it.

 

[TMavC5]

Works great with my Jawbone Era. Use this to reply in coming text all the time.

 

[runamuck83]

Make sure it's at least 3 feet away from any speakers if I recall the directions correctly.
THEN calibrate it, and make sure you turn your volume up loud when it says to. People seem to miss that part from what I've seen.
Now try to speak as clearly as possible, but don't yell the commands.

If none of that improves anything then I don't know, is your open area have clear walls? Maybe it's too echoy, get some pictures or something?

Also I'm reusing my Kinect 1.0 TV mount and it works pretty well. You remove the part the Kinect 1.0 attaches to, underneat that is a screw that's the same thread as the Kinect 2.0. Use that to screw it onto the Kinect 1.0 flat slide part and slide it in. It doesn't lock but it goes pretty far back in and you can just put a little tape on it if you want. Mines pretty firmly there though and the cord holds it in as well.

Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Kinect TV Mount: Video Games

View attachment 50591
View attachment 50592
View attachment 50593

It looks like it's perched precariously on the edge, but it's screwed into a plate that's slid all the way to the back and sandwiched to the TV. Like I said, a little tape (slide plate to shell) would make it firm but I'm not worried about it.

Awesome, I appreciate the ideas! I will order something to try and mount it on top like this and hope it makes things better.

 

[Salem874]

There's a few possible problems:

2) You could try relocating Kinect and running setup again. Many people say that doing this (while having the TV volume high during setup) has greatly enhanced the outcome if they've had problems

I haven't had that problem at all, although when I had a blu ray playing so loud I could barely hear myself talk I had to yell for it to hear me.

Is there a way to do the Kinect setup with other sound (TV) in the background? When i tried, the Xbox was complaining ther room wasn't quiet enough. The only way to proceed was to keep have no other audio (including PC off to silence fan)

Make sure it's at least 3 feet away from any speakers if I recall the directions correctly.

I think this may be my problem. My TV is wall mounted, so the Kinect sits below it. It sounds like placing on on to of the TV

The Xbox one Kinect tv mount is available starting on Dec. 4 which will make mounting the kinect on a tv easier...

Although not an official Microsoft stand, it looks like one is available for Kinect 2.0 from ORB via Amazon UK for ?18.43.

Now to decide if i should wait for 4 Dec for the official stand (assuming its available globally on the 4th) or go with this ORB one.

 

[anony_mouse]

I'm very curious to find out who much people (those for whom it works well) use voice control compared to more conventional methods - especially after a few weeks/months, once the initial novelty has worn off. I will keep watching this forum!

 

[curseoftheninja]

I haven't had problems. Its worked 90% of the time. Turn your volume up high when you calibrate the audio. Good luck, and let us know if you fix the problem!

 

[Coreldan]

I'm very curious to find out who much people (those for whom it works well) use voice control compared to more conventional methods - especially after a few weeks/months, once the initial novelty has worn off. I will keep watching this forum!

I would think that it's sorta similar to device with touch screen and keyboard/mouse. There are certain tasks that are more efficient with mouse and keyboard, but there are also tasks that are easier/nicer to do with the touch screen. You don't NEED the touch screen for anything, but it enhances the experience with those certain things.

Given, voice control is a bit more niche than a touchscreen, I admit, but I'm pretty sure there are those handful of things that will be convenient with voice control too, even when initial novelty wears off.

 

[tk-093]

i might have to see if my local Walmart has any Kinect 1.0 mounts in stock and go that route. My voice controls seem to be pretty dang good, but it's not perfect. However it is sitting right on the top of my front speaker so I need to move it away from that.

 

[MobileVortex]

I was watching this video on my laptop while my xbox was on. He opened a few apps, and almost shutdown my console (the yes didnt register).

Thought it was pretty funny.

 

[anony_mouse]

Given, voice control is a bit more niche than a touchscreen, I admit, but I'm pretty sure there are those handful of things that will be convenient with voice control too, even when initial novelty wears off.

That's exactly what I would like to find out.

 

[TheJoester09]

Like some others have said, calibrate the Kinect with the speakers turned way up. Like, WAY up. There will be a point where it will tell you that the speakers are too loud for calibration, so gradually lower the volume from there and keep trying until it works. You want it to be as loud as possible (I can't emphasize this enough). I read this tip from someone on Twitter yesterday and immediately tried it out. The difference is seriously night and day. Before I had to yell three times to get it to work, but now I can just speak the command in my regular voice, and it will get it 99% of the time.

 

[oldpueblo]

I would think that it's sorta similar to device with touch screen and keyboard/mouse. There are certain tasks that are more efficient with mouse and keyboard, but there are also tasks that are easier/nicer to do with the touch screen. You don't NEED the touch screen for anything, but it enhances the experience with those certain things.

Given, voice control is a bit more niche than a touchscreen, I admit, but I'm pretty sure there are those handful of things that will be convenient with voice control too, even when initial novelty wears off.

This is exactly how I see it, I don't plan on using the voice commands exclusively. Just when it adds convenience. We've all lost the remote or plunked down on the couch and then realized the remote is across the room, etc. Maybe you're up wandering around the room and rather than run back to the remote to pause something or change the channel you just speak it out. Maybe someone else has the remote and instead of asking them to pause it you can just do it yourself, same vocal effort. That's when it can be useful and supplementary.

I'll add this video which can be helpful, it looks like whether or not you're looking at the kinect might actually influence whether or not you're being ignored.

Xbox One New Kinect Hands On Demo At Microsoft Headquarters - Gamerhubtv - YouTube

Start at 10:20 when they talk about "engagement".

 

[anon(8032808)]

So, I don't know what everyone else's experiences are so far, but I've found using the kinect voice commands to be pretty much useless.

the only time I can get them to possibly work, is when the room is DEAD quiet. No one else can be speaking in another room, there can't be any background noise, and I have to say the commands perfectly like a robot.

ive run through the setup multiple times now thinking I did something wrong, but apparently it just ain't that smart....

my my wife pretty much told me I wasted our money lol

I've noticed I have to talk louder the louder the background noise of the room is, but that's all and obviously makes sense. If it's quiet I can say any command in normal tone of voice and it responds 99% of the time. I was actually pleasantly surprised after reviews made it seem like it worked only half the time. Took a few minutes to get the commands down but now it's super easy. Regardless it's not a must-have feature ...just a cool addition if you can use it.

 

[runamuck83]

Still doesn't work for crap....

I bought the Xbox Media Remote and I never speak to this piece of junk anymore. Maybe one day Microsoft will figure out how to make something that the average person can actually use and you don't need to be an IT worker to figure out.

Like for example - make the damn thing understand normal speech - until then it's a gimmick.