Voiceguide 7 Version 7.0.8 And Version 7.1.0 Inquiry

[Guest BlackBird]

Hi Team!

 

I have been using a trial version of VoiceGuide 7, version 7.0.8 with a Dialogic's D120JCT-LS in a Windows Server 2003 SP1 server environment with SQL 2005 Enterprise edition. VoiceGuide's product and support are excellent - Kudos to you!...

 

I am finally done with my my trial period, and plan to purchase a few VoiceGuide 7 licenses. However, I noticed that there has been a few version revisions since my last VG 7 install.

 

In the interest of not reviving old VG issues I encountered during my trial period with VG version 7.0.8, I have the following questions regarding VoiceGuide 7.1.0:

 

• Could you please confirm if VoiceGuide 7.1.0 includes the following fixes?

MS SQL Fix: http://voiceguide.co...indpost&p=26211

SAPI Fix: http://voiceguide.co...indpost&p=26421

 

 

I noticed that in addition to the VG 7.1.0 download, there is a link to Dialogic drivers which are specific to Win2003. During my trial period with VG 7.0.8, I been using Dialogic's driver Release 6.0 PCI Developer Edition version 6.1.148. When I install VG 7.1.0 Do you recommend that:

• I remove my existing Dialogic 6.0 driver and re-install the Dialogic driver currently offered with the VG 7.1.0 download?
• Are there Dialogic driver fixes that are specific to VG 7.1.0 in the version found on your site?
• Are there VG 7.1.0 fixes that have a dependency on the Dialogic driver version currently offered with the VG 7.1.0 download?
• Is the Dialogic driver version in your site greater than driver version 6.1.148?

Finally, are there release specific notes that would describe the changes between VG 7.0.8 and VG 7.1.0? I would like to catch changes to dependencies such as db taxonomy changes, db field changes, et al..

 

My apologies in advanced for all the questions, but I would like to mitigate the revival of old and new issues when I purchase and roll in to production VG 7.1.0.

 

Best Regards,

Ralph

[SupportTeam]

VoiceGuide's product and support are excellent - Kudos to you!...

Thank you

 

The v7.1.0 download includes the fixes that you mention. Both fixes mentions were made back in 2008, and have been included in v7.0.9 onwards.

 

The drivers currently available for download are newer then the drivers you currently have, but there is probably no need to go through the Dialogic drivers upgrade process if you are using D120JCT-LS cards.

For analog cards the v7.1.0 will work fine with current drivers you have.

But if you are deploying a new system then just use the newest drivers.

 

VoiceGuide has (in the \system\setup\ directory ?) an SQL file which is used by VoiceGuide to create the database tables. You can see in that file what database fields are created by that version of VoiceGuide. Outdial database fields would have changed since v7.0.8

[Guest BlackBird]

Thank you

 

The v7.1.0 download includes the fixes that you mention. Both fixes mentions were made back in 2008, and have been included in v7.0.9 onwards.

 

The drivers currently available for download are newer then the drivers you currently have, but there is probably no need to go through the Dialogic drivers upgrade process if you are using D120JCT-LS cards.

For analog cards the v7.1.0 will work fine with current drivers you have.

But if you are deploying a new system then just use the newest drivers.

 

VoiceGuide has (in the \system\setup\ directory ?) an SQL file which is used by VoiceGuide to create the database tables. You can see in that file what database fields are created by that version of VoiceGuide. Outdial database fields would have changed since v7.0.8

 

Unfortunately, after a fairly stable experience with VG7 version 7.0.8 my initial experience so far with VG 7 v7.1.0, well, it s a rocky one. Tha is, I went ahead and removed v7.0.8 via the Add/Remove programs option in Win2003, once uninstalled, I proceeded to install v7.1.0, as soon as the installation was done, wamo, I got Blue Screen (BSOD), my systems is a Xeon 5520, with 12 GB Ram, and 600GB hard drive, using Windows Server 2003 Enterprise.

 

Please note after a reboot, I went to add/remove program to remove VoiceGuide 7.1.0 in order to redo a clean install process, but the application does not uninstall. The installed VG7 v7.1.0 will not launch either, so I am stock in limbo.

 

How can I force uninstall VG7 v7.1.0?

 

Regards,

Ralph

[SupportTeam]

I got Blue Screen (BSOD),

BSOD is something that is only caused by drivers. We have not seen this with Dialogic drivers. Did you note which .DLL or component the BSOD reported?

One thing to try would be to uninstall your current Dialogic drivers and installing the latest ones available from our WWW.

 

How can I force uninstall VG7 v7.1.0?

Have you tried just removing the C:\Program Files\VoiceGuide directory?

[Guest BlackBird]

BSOD is something that is only caused by drivers. We have not seen this with Dialogic drivers. Did you note which .DLL or component the BSOD reported?

One thing to try would be to uninstall your current Dialogic drivers and installing the latest ones available from our WWW.

 

I will uninstall the current Dialogic driver as you suggested..

 

Have you tried just removing the C:\Program Files\VoiceGuide directory?

 

I have not tried, since the removal as suggested above, would not clean program trails such as the registry entries and entries added to the "All Programs", etc..., the uninstall script usually does all of the moping behind. That said, I will manually remove the directory, and will report back any issues during the reinstall.

 

-r

[SupportTeam]

would not clean program trails such as the registry entries

VoiceGuide does not really write anything to registry. The Script Designer saves the list of recently opened scripts there, but that's about it.

 

The Start->Programs->VoiceGuide entries can also be just deleted.

[Guest BlackBird]

I performed the steps you suggested, VG and Dialogic are up and running without further BSOD.... thank you for your guidance.

 

I would like to understand one minor detail.

 

Currently I generate the .wav files which are played by Voiceguide. Ideally I would like to use both, my .wav files and my TTS engine, but, I it seems that I can not do both.

 

That is, in the VG.INI under [sAPI] if the following argument is left blank (default setting) TTSEngine=

then the "Text to Speech" tab found in the control panel speech property is not present, consequently one losses the ability to configure the TTS properties.

 

In order to be able to access the "Text to Speech" tab found in the control panel speech property, then I have to set TTS argument in the VG.INI to TTSEngine=DISABLE, this setting I believe, will not allow me to use dynamically the TTS engine and SAPI voice I purchased when providing text via the VG Script Designer, Play Module option "Text to Speak" .

 

Is there a third setting for the TTSEngine switch which will allow me to use either a pre generated .wav file and/or provide the text to be spoken via the Play Module while allowing access to the "Text to Speech" tab properties found in the control panel speech property?

 

-r

[SupportTeam]

There is no other setting for the TTSEngine entry.

 

When SAPI TTS is enabled to be used, then VoiceGuide (running as a Windows Service) opens and uses use the selected engine, and uses it to generate TTS'd sound files with no problems.

 

However it looks like the "Text to Speech" tab in the sapi.cpl (C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Speech) does not appear on some systems when VoiceGuide is running with SAPI TTS enabled. Not sure why this is the case - the error here seems to be on the SAPI TTS engine part - it not being able to have both a Windows Service and a user application open the TTS at same time.

[Guest BlackBird]

So far I have repro'ed the TTS issue on my Windows Server 2003 (RTM and/or SP1) and about a year ago I reported same issue while using Win XP (RTM, SP1 & SP2), see, http://voiceguide.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5916&view=findpost&p=26416

 

On which OS - Service Pack combo have you been able to run both with the TTSEngine entry set to null, and the SAPI.cpl enabled?

 

Would this TTS behavior impact my ability to use Speech Recongnition?

 

For my clarification, by applying the work around to the VG.INI "TTSEngine=Disable" in order to generate my sound files, this means that I will not be able to use at all the "Text To Speak" function found in the PLAY module? Also it would seem that purchasing the Enterprise version would be a moot point, since I will not be able to use the dynamic Text to speech features, correct?

 

Regards,

-r

[SupportTeam]

On which OS - Service Pack combo have you been able to run both with the TTSEngine entry set to null, and the SAPI.cpl enabled?

There is no list available on this. This is not something that was tested for. Most customers do not have other TTS apps running on VoiceGuide machine, and all this could be dependent not just on Win version but could also depend on TTS engines installed.

 

Would this TTS behavior impact my ability to use Speech Recongnition?

No. MRCPv2 is used to interface to Speech Recognition engine. SAPI is only used for TTS.

 

For my clarification, by applying the work around to the VG.INI "TTSEngine=Disable" in order to generate my sound files, this means that I will not be able to use at all the "Text To Speak" function found in the PLAY module?

Correct.

 

Also it would seem that purchasing the Enterprise version would be a moot point, since I will not be able to use the dynamic Text to speech features, correct?

If you only would be selecting Enterprise for the TTS feature, and you are able to just pre-generate the TTS files yourself and that meets your requirements then yes, there would be no reason to purchase Enterprise..

[Guest BlackBird]

Thank you for the prompt responses, and my apologies for my delayed response.

 

I had a conversation with a customer, in his scenario using the "Text To Speak" function found in the PLAY module would work perfectly, as I will be retrieving text from a database and feeding it to VoiceGuide. Thus, I will not be able to relay solely on pre-generated sound files. However, in order to use the TTS functionality I will need to set the VG.INI TTSEngine= , which as discussed on this thread it would inhibit access to the TTS engine and its settings, I confirmed the behavior while using either Cepstral or AT&T's TTS.

 

I don't mind paying for the Enterprise edition, in order to have the advertised TTS capability, specially when associated with the Play module.

 

Overall VG is a great product, but, it seems lack the TTS capability or at least is very broken. The Play module's TTS functionality use to work (at least for me) in VoiceGuide v5 and much earlier versions of V7 - will the TTS functionality be fixed in the current v7 version? please....

 

Regards,

-r