Xbox, can you hear me now? Xbox One voice detection requires some repetition


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Xbox, can you hear me now? Xbox One voice detection requires some repetition

By Associated Press, Published: November 8

 

LOS ANGELES ? Like a stubborn family member or insubordinate employee, Xbox One owners might need to tell their fancy new console what to do more than once.

In flashy commercials that began airing last week to promote Microsoft?s upcoming video game system, an array of users verbally command their Xbox Ones to do stuff like answer a Skype call, fire up a ?Titanfall? match or play the latest ?Star Trek? film. The ads leave out one detail: They probably had to repeat themselves a couple of times for it to work.

 

At a demonstration of the Xbox One this week organized by Microsoft, the new version of the company?s voice-and-motion-detecting Kinect sensor didn?t work nearly as flawlessly in real life. The Xbox 360 successor, which is scheduled for release Nov. 22, required several commands to be repeated for the response to pop up on screen.

 

During a private 45-minute presentation showcasing the console?s media and entertainment capabilities, about 10 of 45 voice commands issued had to be repeated by a Microsoft spokesman ? some as many as four times. Kinect didn?t immediately detect such orders as ?Xbox, watch ESPN? and ?Xbox, Bing movies with Sandra Bullock? during the demo.

 

?Everything you?re seeing here is going to get better,? promised Jose Pinero, senior director of marketing and public relations for Xbox, at the conclusion of Wednesday?s demo. ?Right now, we?re still a couple of weeks away but voice, the more you use it and the more the system learns, the more accurate it becomes. We?re still working on fit and finish.?

 

 

Continues...

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I've only dabbled with a few voice controlled programs in the past, but they've always required "training" to get the hang of your voice.  Nothing new there, they even say it's still being tweaked.

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I'd imagine it would work much better in a quiet living room than a big presentation with a lot of press and cameras going off. I think the issue here is background noise. The more background noise, the more likely you have to repeat a command.

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Of course it requires repetition to learn your voice otherwise how can it pick out your voice out of a room with other people speaking, so the point in quoting this and putting it in here is stupid. Fair enough after a week of you constantly talking to it and it not picking up basic voice commands then its a problem but seeing as the console isnt even released yet its stupid at best

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There's a video in another thread that I posted of a guy from the Verge using it for the first time and he did have to repeat a couple - but they also said it takes about half an hour for people to get used to the cadence required as well. And here it was only 10 of 45 total commands that failed, which I think is pretty good for a first use when it doesn't know you.

Not a big deal. It'll learn, and then it'll be fine.

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Can't say I'm too surprised, my existing Xbox 360 Kinect pretty much only responds to threats to its physical integrity and after watershed verbal communication.

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Can't say I'm too surprised, my existing Xbox 360 Kinect pretty much only responds to threats to its physical integrity and after watershed verbal communication.

Really?  That's odd because when my wife's watching something on Netflix, I frequently say, "Xbox, pause" from the kitchen and it works... And annoys her. :D

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Really?  That's odd because when my wife's watching something on Netflix, I frequently say, "Xbox, pause" from the kitchen and it works... And annoys her. :D

 

It doesn't like my Wiltshire accent unless I am come across as threatening.

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It doesn't like my Wiltshire accent unless I am come across as threatening.

 

It's the accents and other little things that are different from person to person that it needs time to learn, no surprise.   I'm sure it also has to figure out the way you pronounce some words since not everyone says them exactly the same in different parts of the world. 

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^and thats where headset with directed mic are superior than kinect's mic.

No. Most headsets are poor single, at most dual Mics. Kinect has 5 to handle background noise. If Kinect didn't work, fat chance regular mics will.
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Hmm, another negative topic, one that actually already had threads on the topic.

 

Regardless, this seems to fit in with the Verge video where a couple of times there was a repeat.

 

They say they are still working on it and it gets better the more you use it, which makes sense for voice commands.  Most good systems have a learning function.

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Hmm, another negative topic, one that actually already had threads on the topic.

 

Regardless, this seems to fit in with the Verge video where a couple of times there was a repeat.

 

They say they are still working on it and it gets better the more you use it, which makes sense for voice commands.  Most good systems have a learning function.

 

News is news, I'm not picking and choosing what to post. I also don't read Polygon/Verge/Kotaku so if it was one of those sites, I didn't see it.

 

I read the news on Reddit or Neogaf and saw it wasn't posted, so here it is.

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News is news, I'm not picking and choosing what to post. I also don't read Polygon/Verge/Kotaku so if it was one of those sites, I didn't see it.

 

I read the news on Reddit or Neogaf and saw it wasn't posted, so here it is.

I posted the Verge article in this forum before you posted this...

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I posted the Verge article in this forum before you posted this...

 

Then that is why I didn't read it. If they are the same news a mod is free to merge them.

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Honestly, I'd take all of this with a grain of salt. Most voice recognition systems suck, and I'm not expecting the Kinect 2.0 to be greatest thing on earth, despite what fanboys may foam out the mouth and expect it to be. Fact of the matter is that when it comes to voice recognition, it's not about which one can do it best, it's about which one sucks the least. That being said, from my understanding at least, I'd imagine that the software can be further optimized and tweaked so that it may continue to get better and better as we move forward.

 

That being said, expect to hear plenty of complaints about the Kinect's voice recognition. I say that not because I somehow know it'll be bad, but because many men/women aren't assertive or confident with their voice, mumble, speak too quickly, etc. So I can totally see them blaming the console for their inability to give an actual command. :p

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Honestly, I'd take all of this with a grain of salt. Most voice recognition systems suck, and I'm not expecting the Kinect 2.0 to be greatest thing on earth, despite what fanboys may foam out the mouth and expect it to be. Fact of the matter is that when it comes to voice recognition, it's not about which one can do it best, it's about which one sucks the least. That being said, from my understanding at least, I'd imagine that the software can be further optimized and tweaked so that it may continue to get better and better as we move forward.

 

That being said, expect to hear plenty of complaints about the Kinect's voice recognition. I say that not because I somehow know it'll be bad, but because many men/women aren't assertive or confident with their voice, mumble, speak too quickly, etc. So I can totally see them blaming the console for their inability to give an actual command. :p

I'll let you know (I mumble a lot...) :p

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I noticed a lot of gaffers talking about the difficulties that Scots/Welsh have with voice recognition, but ironically my accent is picked up perfectly by all the ones I've used, including the original Kinect and Siri. I'm sure that's down to me not speaking in a horrible Scots slang accent though and using proper annunciation, which is a rare thing in this country, so won't be indicitive of the rest of the population :laugh:

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News is news, I'm not picking and choosing what to post. I also don't read Polygon/Verge/Kotaku so if it was one of those sites, I didn't see it.

 

I read the news on Reddit or Neogaf and saw it wasn't posted, so here it is.

 

Certainly, its just your sources for news that apparently only feed you the negative topics.

 

I'm not blaming you for that.

 

Its not a bad topic at all though, voice commands are a tricky thing to get right.  As has been said, I doubt Kinect 2 will be perfect, but it seems like its going to be better than the first Kinect.

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Certainly, its just your sources for news that apparently only feed you the negative topics.

 

I'm not blaming you for that.

 

Its not a bad topic at all though, voice commands are a tricky thing to get right.  As has been said, I doubt Kinect 2 will be perfect, but it seems like its going to be better than the first Kinect.

 

Like I said, news is news. This is what is trending today so I posted it. If there was something positive trending I'd post it too. This week's Annoyed Gamer was pretty positive which I posted, and GiantBomb were also positive yesterday. Things balance out in the end.

 

If all you want to focus on is the bad then that is your choice. But why does it suddenly turn into a "negative" when I post it and Spenser supposedly posted the same thing via another source, it's a positive? Dat Neowin logic (N)

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Like I said, news is news. This is what is trending today so I posted it. If there was something positive trending I'd post it too. This week's Annoyed Gamer was pretty positive which I posted, and GiantBomb were also positive yesterday. Things balance out in the end.

 

If all you want to focus on is the bad then that is your choice. But why does it suddenly turn into a "negative" when I post it and Spenser supposedly posted the same thing via another source, it's a positive? Dat Neowin logic (N)

 

Oh boy, trying to lump me in with people by insulting me, your better than that. Apparently, you seem fond of 'Dat Neowin logic' yourself. (I'm just joking by the way, just illustrating the point)

 

I never mentioned Spenser at all by the way, you want to make this a bigger deal, that's your problem.

 

Its a negative topic, I don't care who posted it.  You posted two other topics that were not negative, I have not disputed that at all. I haven't questioned your motives at all.  Again, read my posts.  I said your news sources, not you, tend to be more negative than positive.  I know because I follow those myself, along with others.  Not about you at all.

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Oh boy, trying to lump me in with people by insulting me, your better than that. Apparently, you seem fond of 'Dat Neowin logic' yourself. (I'm just joking by the way, just illustrating the point)

 

I never mentioned Spenser at all by the way, you want to make this a bigger deal, that's your problem.

 

Its a negative topic, I don't care who posted it.  You posted two other topics that were not negative, I have not disputed that at all. I haven't questioned your motives at all.  Again, read my posts.  I said your news sources, not you, tend to be more negative than positive.  I know because I follow those myself, along with others.  Not about you at all.

 

I'm simply asking why it's negative news when I post it, and positive when it's someone else? It doesn't have to be Spenser. In this case it is Spenser and from what I gather, the same story simply reworded.

 

And do we really need to highlight it with posts every time something is a positive or negative? Are people keeping score on a chalkboard or something? Who cares! Digest the news, discuss it, move on. We don't need a tally of "oh more bad topics I see" in the comments.

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