Phatnoise media manager in Vista

[jp110099]

Hey everyone I'm having trouble generating voice prompts in Vista for my Audi Phatbox, and I downloaded a hack At&t natural voices to work with Vista, but I am unsure how to get it working.  Should I just use PhatHack Media Manager as a better alternative?  Thanks in advance.

[todd1010]

i couldn't even get Phatnoise Media Manager 3.92 or whatever is to even install on my Vista Ultimate machine.

[VorTechS]

Should I just use PhatHack Media Manager as a better alternative? 

Todd: I believe this was directed at me, and not something to do with our friends who brought us the glorious Phatbox ....

jp110099:

I haven't written a utility yet to mass generate voice announcements for the DMS cartridge, only one to re-generate the static voice prompts, however am very willing to do so as it won't take long to do.

This is provided of course you are happy to test it.  As I'll be in a little bit of a lull on Monday I'll assume that you are happy to give it a go - and will make a private build available for you.

If you'd prefer to use the last build I released on Friday - you could get voice announcements generated without too much pain by doing the following:

1. Right-click on 'Local Disks' and choose 'Add Watch Folder'
2. Locate, and if necessary create, the directory for the new Watch Folder - and name it as you wish.
3. Go to 'Tools' and 'Options'
4. Click on the 'Encoder Settings' tab
5. Dropdown 'Media Device' and choose the watch folder you just added
6. Ensure the box 'Generate Voice Prompts' is checked (ticked)
7. Drop down and select the 'Voice'
8. Click on 'Test Voice Settings' and modify the speed to taste. [The 'Format' should be more than sufficient for DMS needs]
9. Click on 'Save'
10. Select your watch folder in the device list on the left side of the screen.
11. Dropdown 'Playlist' and choose 'New Playlist'
12. Enter the album name as it appears in PhatNoise - so that it generates a file of the same name, don't forget to pay attention to capitalizatiion! (and if you wish, select the 'Announcements' tab and modify the 'Playlist title' to accurately reflect the album announcement as best you can get it.
13. Tab off the 'Playlist Title' on the 'Album' tab to activate the 'Save Changes'
14. Click on 'Save Changes'

When you click on the 'Save Changes' the TTS announcement file will be generated in the watch folder directory, under a folder called 'TTS' (unless you modified the path in the options, in which case it will appear under whatever folder name you entered)

Anyway, if you can't wait until tomorrow - do the above.
If you can, I'll create the tool tomorrow and hopefully have it ready by tomorrow PM (BST)

[VorTechS]

Hmmm, I've not heard from you since you had the interim build so I didn't provide an update.  Although I did - as I said I would - get round to checking it out myself.

The voice prompts were re-built fine using the new build, and the 'Corrupt Track' problem has now gone too

I just need to play a bit more with the output settings as the default sounded a little 'sharp'.

[the911sc]

I am going to try this; had the same problem with my vista installation where 'unable to create stream' errors came up. I used phatvoice to create them in the end but its not as good as it was as the voice is too fast!...

[VorTechS]

If you have any problems please let me know.

[the911sc]

Still not working; this time it wiped all my prompts out.
 I think I may well de install it and try from scratch as the options selected dont seem to 'stay' active..

[VorTechS]

It does wipe the prompts out first, and then rebuilds - sounds like you might be choosing options that result in voice prompts not being generated.  Delete the file 'Device Encoder Settings.INI' from 'My Documents\PhatHack Media Manager' and restart the application.  Your voice prompt settings should then be reverted back to the defaults which DO work.

Try re-generating the prompts using the defaults and if there is still a problem let me know.

If the prompts get re-generated, then try modifying the prompt settings for the DMS (Go to Device, select your DMS, and then change the TTS voice options).

I'll check the options dialog for persistence issues in the meantime.