Spoken POI alerts for TomTom GO, Mobile, PocketPC and Palm

Mr-B · Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 7:16 pm Post subject: Still far too quiet on a Palm

I downloaded the new spkon warning alerts file.chk for Palm a couple of days ago along with the POIs for different speeds and tested it out, as it soudned like a great idea.

Unfortunately I'll be going back to the old alert sounds file as the voice alerts are just far too quiet on my T3! Sad

I found them to be substantially quieter than the normal road direction commands, and I missed several completely with the radio on.

They also definitely need some sort of alert tone beforehand - a voice by itself makes for a very poor attention-grabbing sound.

The Aston Martin test which supposedly has the louder alert sounds seems to have used a TT GO. Maybe the sound level was only increased for that model?

MikeB · Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:17 pm Post subject:

Actually we did use a GO in the Aston Marting, but it was with the original voice files. That said the volume is much better on the GO, as it has a stonking great speaker, which is almost as big as the screen on the Plam.
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lbendlin · Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 9:31 pm Post subject:

send us some of your existing sound files so we can compare the audio parameters. But honest, we have already cranked it up to 6 dB, and it starts to sound distorted... Not sure what else is possible
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Mr-B · Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:31 pm Post subject:

Tx for the reply - if you let me know exactly which files you need then I'll gladly forward them.

However this new voice file is just so much quieter than the standard TTN4 directions (latest v4.40 release) which are easily strident enough to be heard over the radio without distortion, that I can only assume that something must have gone seriously amiss somehow in the 'construction' of it.

lbendlin · Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:43 pm Post subject:

send me the dataxx.chk file that you currently use. Have a look in the VIF files - those list the voice names, and the related dataxx.chk .
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carl_w · Lifetime Member Joined: Mar 13, 2004 Posts: 242

Thanks for this. Smile

Installed on my 4.40 TT GO (can't remember exact version no) and it fell over. Continuous reboots :-(

Reinstalled from the CD. Spent half an hour trying to find the product code so I could reactivate the maps. Then downloaded 4.42 from Tomtom and installed over the top of 4.40. Then copied the data.chk file over and then all the zoned gatso files.

Rebooted the GO and it worked a treat. Took a while to assign all the warnings to the POI categories, but now it's fine. Might be a plan to make the filenames on the speed camera database shorter (it's a bit hard to assign the right sound file when you have 7 files that all appear as "pocketgps_uk_mobile..." and have identical icons).

Well done to all involved :D

flasher · Regular Visitor Joined: Oct 07, 2004 Posts: 120

Mr-B · Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2005 1:48 pm Post subject:

Or use TT in landscape mode (fine with Palm T3 - not sure about other platforms).

Zeena · Posted: Sun Feb 20, 2005 4:09 pm Post subject:

TT GO is alredy in lanscape.

TomTom HP NavPack support landscape.
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TomTomTim · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 10, 2005 Posts: 25

I tend to agree with Viktor (Department_S ?), that it might useful for us mere mortals to be able to compile our own POI warnings; as we can for the speech files with Viftool.

This is not by any means ingratitude for the great work and tireless assistance offered to forum members by Lutz and the rest of the PocketGPSWorld team: quite the opposite - without you we'd all be in the dark, on this and many other issues.

It merely seems that with so many requests for slightly different versions of the POI warnings and the potential for making others that perhaps only one or two people might want: noisy ones, Dutch ones, ones that go 'bing' and others to numerous to mention (personally I would like to make my own custom sound for RSPB wildfowl reserves), sooner or later, this is going to become a bit of a burden for the PGW guys - so there might be a bit of an argument for the early release of an executable.

I read Lutz's previous post, indicating that the release of a POI tool has been considered already but suggesting waiting for CBit - though I confess to being confused by the risk of a 'duplication of effort' - perhaps you could elaborate on this a bit... Do you think perhaps TomTom might release a customer-configurable POI tool? Would such a tool be likley to serve those with TT for Palm, TT Nav 1, 2, 3, 4,*and* Go?? Or is it more likely that if TomTom were to break with the norm and supply a Windows executable tool that it would only work with the latest versions, leaving the faithful early adopters in the cold?

Best regards,
TomTomTim

DavidW · Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 12:28 am Post subject:

mycarsavw · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 3:16 pm Post subject:

I've not posted for ages, and have mainly sat back and watched the development of something wonderful.

But it's reached a point where I'm starting to get confused (yes I know, it didn't take much) Embarassed

I have the new sounds on my TTGO and think they're loud enough thank you. I wish to add a chime or some sort of initial warning beep before the spoken words.

I have found the site which allows you to make your own spoken sounds. I have also followed the thread about the viftool but my German is below par. Could someone with more understanding than me possibly point me in the right direction of an English page describing viftool and how to use it.

Finally I see the sounds still retain their factory names, is it not possible to rename the sounds or is this something TTGO looks for as it boots up i.e. by changing the name of the Beep 1 to something more obvious would TTGO then not function?

This is something very exciting and it's nice to be a (silent) part of it. Keep up the excellent work guys.

Sam
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Nothing else to add :-(

TomTomTim · Occasional Visitor Joined: Feb 10, 2005 Posts: 25

Sam,

I also had problems making Viftool work - With some help from it's very helpful author and also from this list, I figured it out. I posted a fresh thread on the subject with basic instructions here: http://pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=16637 I hope this is some help.

Regarding the sounds for POI warnings: you cannot change these with Viftool. At present, 'lbendlin' (Lutz) has cracked this problem and (I think) is offering to create data.chk files for those who send him their custom sounds.

I hope that Lutz might feel he can share his work in the near future so that we can all make our own custom files; as the author of the POI 'version' of Viftool, this is of course entirely his perogative.

If you are still having problems, send me a PM and I'll do my best to help

Best
TTT

mycarsavw · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 7:45 pm Post subject:

TTTim,

Great write up, thanks for sharing it.

I think I too have cross posted my queries, I'm not even over the hill yet and I'm confused for England Embarassed

I was under the (wrong) impression that by using viftool we would be able to change our POI warnings - silly me.

It looks like 'fun' and I may change my guidance sounds to something a little more understandable. Many times I've been blatting down the motorway keeping one eye on my TTGO only to almost miss the slight turning because I was told to "Stay in the left hand lane" when in fact I should have taken the subtle turn.

A simple alteration should solve the problem

Thanks again

Sam
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Nothing else to add :-(

lbendlin · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:42 pm Post subject:

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