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A Voice-Controlled TV Remote

Posted by timothy on from the your-little-sister-doesn't-count dept.

Pankaj Arora writes "California-based Agile TV aims to 'change the way people watch TV' via the creation of its voice-controlled TV remote, Promptu. From the article: 'The Promptu remote is designed to replace a conventional remote control and includes a "Talk" button and a built-in microphone, together with an infra-red receiver used in conjunction with an existing cable box.' Personally, I'm waiting for the version that interfaces with your brain."

34 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Mirror by pressesc · · Score: 2, Informative

    That didn't take long to get ./ed did it now? Here's a Mirror

  2. Best feature by bonch · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course, the best feature of a voice-controlled remote would be to yell out, "Where the hell are you?" and have it respond, "Over here!"

    1. Re:Best feature by Infinityis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Which, of course, becomes useless if you apply it to a number of devices. Might work better if it responds to "Where are you, remote control?"

    2. Re:Best feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      "You're sitting on me you dolt!"

    3. Re:Best feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't try to anthropomorphize objects, they hate it when you do this!

    4. Re:Best feature by DigiShaman · · Score: 2

      Me: "Where the hell are you?"

      Remote: **muffling sound as it trys to answer**

      Me: "Ahh ha! You must be wedge between the sofa cushions again."

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  3. voice control by Richard+Allen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've noticed that voice commands seem to take more energy than pushing buttons. Why present it like it's an advancement?

    1. Re:voice control by imsabbel · · Score: 4, Funny

      I agree.
      Voice recoginition is fine if the result is supposed to be a text, but commands?

      Its like in star trek. Think about how many battles would have been won if they had a big red "fire phaser" and a green "modulate shield frequency" button an the captains chair (instead of wasting time speaking it out everytime) :)

      --
      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    2. Re:voice control by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I played with IBM's ViaVoice several years ago. It's next to useless.

      For regular text, the results don't even resemble whatever was said. Getting a single sentence right is a major feat, even after a number of repetitions. And this was not just me, none of my friends was able to make the damn thing work.

      For simple commands, it often worked. There were frequent mistakes, but generally, it looked like it might be an idea worth pursuing.

      However, every time you try talking to your computer, everyone in your vicinity looks at you weird way. Sure, getting accustomed to such gizmos would shake off this reaction pretty fast, but even then, it wouldn't be treated any gentler than it's the case for a cell phone going off in a bus. Talking to a machine makes you stand out.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    3. Re:voice control by MBCook · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I can see that to a degree. "Volume up, volume up, volume up" or "next, next, next, next". But if the TV was smarter (or it integrated with your TiVo or something) then it could be very hany. If you use a TiVo, then you basically never use the channel up/down buttons (I don't). So the commands could be more like:
      • Play Friday's Law & Order
      • Play the oldest Cheers episode
      • Add a wishlist for "Stargate"
      • Record PBS at 5pm on Wendsday
      • Show me the to-do list
      • or... Play all episodes on the TiVo of shows directed by people who's last names start with the letter "R" that were NOT aired in the 80s in alphebetical order of guest stars' characters' first names. (OK, useless, but can you imagine how hard it would be to enter that in a UI with just a remote?).

      Give the box some intelligence and it could be useful. But one word for each remote button on a standard TV would be painful.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    4. Re:voice control by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I want to say "Find me something good to watch." but since I can't do that often myself, I don't think the smart TV will be able to.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
    5. Re:voice control by kfg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      For the makers that is easy to answer, because they wish to sell it. They don't give a damn about whether it's an advancement or not. They care about transfering your money from your pocket to theirs. For some reason companies think we're going to go all ga-ga over voice control. We never do. We never will. It sucks. It will continue to suck. Mostly because it means you have to talk just to do some simple, quiet little thing. It doesn't matter how well it understands you and responds, it's the sheer act of having to vocalize a command that is the innate source of the suckitude.

      In this case the application isn't even correct. As poster below suggests the correct way to impliment TV voice control would be to build it into the TV, so you don't even need to have a remote, but you couldn't sell remotes that way, now could you? You could, perhaps, sell set top boxes though, then at least it would be functional for those who need an access device (I need voice control because my arms don't work, so all I have to do is pick up this voice control remote and. . .).

      Why Slashdot might present it as an advancement, let alone present it at all, particularly given the standard response of "Noooooooo!" that rings out every time some such device comes up, is beyond me.

      KFG

    6. Re:voice control by flyingsquid · · Score: 3, Funny
      Its like in star trek. Think about how many battles would have been won if they had a big red "fire phaser" and a green "modulate shield frequency" button an the captains chair (instead of wasting time speaking it out everytime) :)

      Seat belts. How come they never had seat belts, even though they were always flying out of their chairs?

      If I were going to battle the Enterprise, I'd get a starship with a bigass bumper, heavily padded chairs, airbags, and of course, lots and lots of seat belts. Just ram them at high speed... and then send in a boarding party with spatulas to clean up the mess.

    7. Re:voice control by rustbear · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It is stupid to compare this to a desktop ViaVoice. Because ViaVoice desktop edition has a vocabulary of 200,000 words, it requires training and results are not always accurate. However a device such as this voice remote control has a very limited vocabulary. Simply put, it has a smaller subset of words to choose from, so accuracy goes up. The limited-vocab systems can be very robust, as long as the software interface itself is well written, and the grammars are constructed correctly.

      These types of systems have been around for yonks, mainly used in telephone booking systems, customer support call centres for various big organisations, etc

  4. Email Powered? by sammykrupa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about a TV where you email it directions? Examples:

    1. Tape all "Charmed" episodes

    2. Turn OFF

    Think of the possibilities! You won't even need to be in the same country!

    --
    Dashboard Widgets
    1. Re:Email Powered? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, but that would suck if someone, somehow, exploited it and sent something like "Record ALL Spongebob episodes" to your remote and you're a single man with no kids.

      Then someone comes over and see all the recordings of Spongebob on your DVR, and they're like "WTF man!?" and you're like "it wasn't me, I'm dead serious" and they're all like "yeah ok, loser" and they go on to tell everyone and your known as the 23 year old who watches Spongebob Squarepants and every time you go outside someone points and laughs at you, "Haha! You watch kiddie shows!" and you try to deny it and have continual emotional outbursts, you're like "NO I DON'T, THAT DUDE MADE IT UP!"

      Then you die and on your grave it says:

      Here lies the loser that watched Spongebob all his life

      RIP

      PS: Enjoy those episodes, wierdo.

      I know because this happened to uh.. a friend.. and he died in grief. In grief, man, in grief!

      So, I'm strongly against this "e-mail powered" technology, it is fatal.

  5. Worthless... by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Excuse my cynicism, but if I have to push a button in the first place, why shouldn't I just press the appropriate button to perform the desired command?

    Dan East

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  6. Old Technology by sparkhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    We had these when I was a kid.

    They were called "children".

    1. Re:Old Technology by Infinityis · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, but this has the added feature of not being able to reply, "But I did it last time! Make Johhny get up and do it."

    2. Re:Old Technology by RichardX · · Score: 2, Insightful

      When I was a kid, we also had something called "spanking".

      It's still around these days, just a bit harder to find.. and kinda pricey.
      Usually costs me about $10 to $20 a time, depending on quality, avaliability, etc..

      --
      Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
  7. this is not new.. by Prophetic_Truth · · Score: 2, Informative

    I remember a similar device being pitched during the early 90's. They would air their commercial and my grandmother (god rest her soul) would always ask for one. We never got her one, after some research it turned out to be more complicated than the regular remote.

    --
    time is a perception of a being's consciousness
    time is your 6th sense, the wierd ones are 7+
  8. Nothing new about this... by suitepotato · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...which would be well known to anyone in the custom high-end AV biz. It's also probably a bad idea as sooner or later an argument in the family room erupts over which channel to watch and the system has a nervous breakdown as it hears "Nickolodeon!" "MTV!" "Golf!" and so on until you go back to the good old fashioned button remote.

    --
    If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
  9. From the article by Infinityis · · Score: 5, Funny

    It comes with a handy reference card that helpfully explains "You can also find an actor in an Adult program by saying 'Find Adult Actor' and the actor's name".

    Aha! The true purpose is revealed! Naturally, one's hands will be occupied when searching for adult actors...

  10. Oh god no... by qyiet · · Score: 5, Funny

    Personally, I'm waiting for the version that interfaces with your brain.

    What, so it changes to the playboy channel every 3 min?

  11. This is... by fm6 · · Score: 3, Funny
    Personally, I'm waiting for the version that interfaces with your brain.
    Assuming you have one left, after all that TV...
  12. In Soviet Russia by yahyamf · · Score: 2, Insightful

    the television programs voice command YOU oh wait... actually that's true in Democratic USA too

  13. My voice-activated remote control is broken by rocjoe71 · · Score: 2, Funny

    My voice-activated remote control is broken. I keep asking for cooking shows about "prawns" and I get something wayyyy different.

    --
    Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
  14. works great until... by the-build-chicken · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...you watch a show about the english channel and the increase in the volume of ships using it.

  15. Better yet by bonch · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's make the remote control pointless and have the TV itself be voice-activated.

  16. Need programmable surfing by time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    On my wish list would be the ability to change available channels by time of day. Some channels offer nothing bout infomercials during certain hours. With smart channel surfing, your TV would skip these channels. Also it could help you avoid accidently stumbling onto Larry King or the Teletubbies.

  17. "German Shizer Porn" by t_allardyce · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All I want to know, is which retard invented a voice-controlled remote but put a button on it that you have to press before you can actually talk? What would have been useful is a remote control that would make a beep when you called it after you had lost it down the sofa. They could have put all these search features on a device with a screen or just taken any PDA with an infra red port and written some software.

    Verdict: no one is using it now and no-one will be using it in 6 months time..

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  18. Re:Arguing about a distorted topic by brianf711 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Voice control of a TV remote isn't the same as voice-controlling a computer, as there is already or will be a BIG TV MAKING LOUD NOISES IN YOUR VICINITY.
    If this catches on, will the FCC outlaw shows that say "power off" and such as they can cause device interference?
  19. Anyone remember by Rasta_the_far_Ian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    the old remote controls from the '70s? They had two buttons that made a loud clicking noises. With just a little practice, one could made similar mouth generated sounds that would make the TV either turn on/off or change channels. We've gone full circle!

  20. A New Comedy Show by spiritusvuylt · · Score: 2, Funny

    What happens when a show has a a character giving commands to his TV? I don't know about most shows, but the Simpsons would definitely have fun with it.