Picked up an Xbone What's up with the voice commands)?

So I've officially "cut the cord". I'm only buying internet access from my TV provider and plan on surviving on a combination of Netflix, Amazon Instant prime, Hulu and torrents for German shows/movies my wife likes to watch.

Now, I have an HTPC, but it's bit long in the tooth, coming up to 5 years old now. It's served me well, but With Steam machines looming over the horizon, I didn't want to spend the dough for a nice new machine, specially since windows is still not a very TVUI friendly environment, and setting up XBMC is not a trivial thing since there are severla features I want included.

So I decided to pick up a Xbone, given it's emphasis on being a media device, and overall it's been a decent experience, but there are several things that really bug me, and make me miss my HTPC. I'm wodering if nayone feels similarly?

• The voice commands work like 50% of the time for me. I've run the calibraiton several times, yet when speakign directly at the kinect, even when it's quiet, it doesn't follow my commands I'd say 20%-30% of the time, which is extremely frustrating. When the TV is a moderate volume, or you can speak loudly because the baby is alseep, or the baby is making noise, commands drop in accuracy to maybe 30%. This feature is essentially usless 50% of the time for us, which sucks, since I was hoping this would help the wife navigate the TV while taking care fo the baby :( Anyone have this issue? Were you able to improve it in some way?
• Smart glass support in apps is inconsistent. Hulu lets me use the table to type search terms, but NEtflix requires a gamepad in order to navigate a stupid line of letters. Forget about using it for the Youtube app, might as well just grab the controller - which the wife doesnt like doing.
• Is there some way to float app data to the home page or maybe the TV page somewhere? I'd like to be able to make netflix/hulu, amazon stuff available when watching TV so I can easily transition from watching live TV to streaming an episode of something else.
• Finally, I couldn't belive that this thing can't see video/audio content from other PC's in my network, pretty damn sure the 360 could do that easily. What gives? I have to move from the couch to the PC in order to use the "play to" command - which doesn't even work except with a limited set of codecs. IS the Xbox team at war witht he Windows team at Microsoft, what the heck is going on with this? Anyone know if there are plans to put this basic functionality back in the Xbone?

Forgot to add that the Xbone gamepad is sooo good. I want drivers for the PC for this! The old gamepad feels clunky in comparison.

Do you have a stupid sounding voice?

@freedomfreak: I've been told my voice is sexy and sultry. Not sure how a voice could sound "stupid" anyway, the words being said might be stupid, but the voice itself?

Are you saying the Xbox is judging me?

That is exactly what I'm saying, but I have no problem believing your voice is sexy and sultry.

It might just be a factory fault.

Both of the last gen consoles are better media devices than the Xbone. You spent wisely...not.

Xbox, On.

Not sure why you're having so many issues with the voice commands. First off, make sure you are saying the correct ones. That was my issue on the first day. Second, there's a timing rhythm to using voice commands. If you try it once and it doesn't work, pause for a second or two and then try again. Honestly I'm getting around 85% accuracy on my voice commands. You'll get the hang of it, but if this persists for days and days it might be your Kinect. Hope it isn't.

That's hilarious. With the voice commands you have to say ever command exactly as it's written. If you don't, it just doesn't work. Also, I think there is some volumn adjustments within the Kinect setting so it's able to hear you from a further distance. Check out the Kinect settings if there is an adjustment for that. Microsoft is releasing a patch in April to fix a lot of Kinect voice issues.

I thought the XB1 with compatible with keyboards and mouse now.

You should be able to "Snap" other apps in and out while watching TV. Just say "Snap Netflix" or "Snap Amazon" to switch to it.

I don't know anothing about XB1 to PC features, as I don't really use it. I still need to try the Smartglass as well.

Both were much more flexible in regards to media streaming and comsumption sans voice commands. Still waiting for my PS4 to catch up to my PS3 for these features.

To address a few of your concerns with my own experiences:

* I have no problem with my Kinect voice commands.. Works about 90%+ of the time in a relatively large living room with 12ft high ceilings.. And on that one random occasional when my voice isn't recognized the first time, it has a 100% success rate on second attempts.. That's really good in my opinion and is on par with most other voice services like Siri and etc.. And apparently, Kinect voice recognition is going to get continually better and better over the life of the console which is obviously good news too.. If you're having that kind of trouble, even after calibration, you may have a defective Kinect unit and probably should call tech support.. I hope this isn't the case..

* If you have understandable issues in which you have to keep quiet because of a potentially sleeping baby but you also still want your wife to enjoy the all-in-one media goodness, I'd recommend investing in the Xbox One Media Remote.. I picked one up so that my girlfriend could use it instead of the Xbox Controller and/or voice commands and it works great.. She loves it and now she's starting to use voice commands here and there as she gets more comfortable with the system.. Thanks to the IR blaster in the Kinect, the XB1 Media Remote has taken the place of all my other remotes.. It controls my sound bar receiver, pauses/rewinds my cable DVR, turns my TV on/off, etc, etc.. It's a really nice option..

* I agree, app developers like the people behind Netflix and Youtube really need to step up their support for smartglass.. There's no reason for me to have to fumble with scrolling and hunting for letters/numbers in search menu when I could preferably use the keyboard on my smartphone or tablet using smartglass.. Hopefully, this will be a problem that eventually solves itself as times goes on and apps continually get updated..

Don't know what to tell you, seems your choice was influenced a lot by the voice commands, but a lot of people here have already stated that the voice commands on the xbox don't work very often and they end up not using it at all sometimes. I believe you just spent $100 more on the xbox when the ps4 has a lot of those features, better yet I'm sure you could have bought a nice PC and plug it up to your tv, I don't know, I really don't see any appeal to buy an xbox over a ps4 or PC, but that's what makes us all unique, we all have different ways of thinking.

Alright, excited about that April update then. Hopefully it will help. I'm also going to try and hook my little mini wireless keybaord with mouse pad to it and see if it works. That would go a long way towards making it feel more like my HTPC, which the wife was used to.

I wish MS would force some basic app consistency. Like, search must have an option for directly typing in characters. You cna have other options, but typing on the tablet/keyboard should automagically work too. Got damn it Netflix.

And yeah, I probably should have read carefullly about PC support before buying, but they had it on sale for $400 on Amazon. They need to patch that in though. My entire blu-ray and DVd library lives on my NAS. I don't use discs anymore, who does that?

Oops forgot one:

* you can "snap" media apps like TV, Netflix, Hulu, etc to the side of the screen to keep up with shows while gaming or doing whatever else.. In the upcoming April update, you'll be able to control the individual volume of the separate apps too.. The new volume option is already present in the update preview but isn't working yet as far as I can tell.. Also you can add various applications like Hulu, ESPN, NFL, Xbox Video, and etc to your One Guide feed so that you can browse and see new content for media apps without having to actually launch the app.. Really convenient..

@Kinthalis: Voice was spotty for me as well. It's gotten better over time, and works good for my kids now too. Just give it some time. You may not be interested but I purchased the media remote and other than having to point it at the console directly it's fantastic and easier than the controller and remotes. I also am using a wireless USB keyboard for text entry in IE and apps that allow.

For apps that allow it, it's better to do the device activation instead of using companion as a remote. For instance, you can pair the phone with YouTube and then whatever you play on the phone starts on the the xbone. The app will tell you how to do it and give you a code. Companion / smart glass has been good for games but the remote / app control is spotty at the moment.

I think you want snapping. You can snap most apps to the right while watching TV, or snap the TV while in an app. Double tap the guide button to change focus between the main app or game and the side app. If you go home you can easily navigate between the two, close the snapped app and or go full screen with the snapped app.

I don't think for inter network streaming there is much available officially right now. I don't do this feature... But I thought from a media PC you can mirror the content? I may be wrong. I'm hoping with external drive support that they will open up this feature a little bit.

One thing that has frustrated me about XBox One is that it doesn't include a lot of things out of the box, you have to download apps for it. That in mind, one by one:

• The voice commands work about 100% of the time for me. One thing I have noticed is that you have to take a slight pause between saying "Xbox" and the command. That might be your issue
• The Netfix and Youtube issues are on them, not MS. However, I read that there are new, XBox One specific versions on the way.
• You can use the snap feature to snap things to the TV. Is that what you mean?
• This goes back to my opening statement. Most features need app downloads (really stupid on MS's part). Here is how you stream content:

1. Make sure the Xbox One is connected to your home network, either via wired or wireless connection.
2. Head to the “Music” tab through the Xbox Live store and download the Xbox Music app, located right above a specified advertisement.
3. Head to the “Video” tab through the Xbox Live store and download the Xbox Video app, located right above a specified advertisement.
4. Head into the “Preferences” option through the user settings menu. Make sure that the “PlayTo” streaming option is checked.
5. Switch over to your PC and if you're using Windows 7 click on Start menu and click on “Devices and Printers”.
6. Add a device. The Xbox One OS should be an available UPnP option.
7. In Windows 8 use the Device charm through the Video app and select the Xbox One.
8. Stream your content.
9. Call and yell at Microsoft for making this too cumbersome.

So you can stream mp3s from your computer and play mkv video files as well? Can you browse and play them from the Xbox One interface or do you have to queue them from your PC?

Don't know why you are having issues with voice commands, my success rate is like 90% easily, except for the Xbox on command, which is a bit harder to get right the first time around . Its possible you are not using the right commands, it takes a bit to understand how it all works, when you need to say Xbox first and when you don't and can just say the green text on the page.

For typing, I highly recommend you use a Wireless USB keyboard.

By the way, this should be on the Xbox forum

Another question - if you want to - say - browse the internet and type something in, does the virtual keyboard show even if you use a wireless usb keyboard?

The voice commands are spotty and at times very frustrating, especially if other people are talking in the room. What really sucks is that at random times Kinect(lol) picks up gestures and brings up the commands on screen.

Not sure if you can turn that off, but it really makes me want to not use Kinect(lol) at all.

@Heil68: you can turn off Kinect gestures for times in which you're watching video based media.. check in the settings

As far as voice commands go, I just gave up on them. Never worked and I honestly don't care about it. Kinect is never used at my place.

My voice commands work about 80-90% of the time. The new Kinect recognizes words a lot better and the range is better also. I can control it via voice command when i'm in the kitchen cooking, which is about 35 feet away as long as I speak loud enough (YMMV based on the acoustics of your room, especially across multiple rooms). It makes it handy when my hands have food on them but my toddler wants to watch something on Netlix.

You can use the appropriate XB1 app.

Thanks for that tip. Does that work while watching TV too?

Your X1 will get better and understand you the more you use it. Starting off just the commands word for word with pauses. Like instead of just blurting out "xbox snap tv" for example say say it like "xbox" pause so it starts listening, then say "snap" let the snap feature open up, then say "tv" and your X1 will know how you say the words and commands then it will respond better when you say "xbox snap tv" all together.

@Salt_The_Fries: Yes, the virtual keyboard shows even when using a wireless USB keyboard. You can use either input simultaneously. Also, if you play around with a wireless keyboard you'll find other keys such as the windows key will have other functions helpful in navigating without a mouse. I wish they'd add mouse support for web navigation because I actually enjoy the browser but using a keyboard and then the controller also ruins the experience.

Anyone have to deal with the voice controls in nfs rivals? Lol. More sensitive than pms time. So annoying to have the kids say something that's not even a command and the camera spins around the car in the middle of a race, effectively crashing you.

On a side note, the Kinect does do a great function of assigning YOU to a controller instead of vice versa. On 360,each controller would be a particular player. Now the Kinect looks at you and the IR on the controller, and puts you and your voice chat stream etc to whatever controller you pick up. Fantastic!

@Kinthalis:

I wish I could help out on the voice commands. I did the calibration once and 85-90% of the time I'm good. Seems to be a case by case issue which makes me question the consistency of the people making the Kinect. As for your app question, I have been able to put apps in a small side of the screen and still watch TV. I haven't tried the Media functions with PC. Probably do the Media center thing in an update.

I hardly use the Kinect, I had a 80% functional rate.

I prefer to just use the controller anyways.

Voice command works about 85% of the time for me.....the only problem is the room has to be kinda quiet and if 2 people are talking it will not hear you.

its a garbage piece of tech this Kinect is. For it to detect your voice perfectly you'll need to wait at least five iterations and we're only on the 2nd. MS has the best engineers in the world yeah? lol

Thanks for the suggestion guys. I ordered the remote for Xbone from amazon and will definitely try snapping stuff tonight!

And yeah, sorry, I'm always on system wars, forgot to switch over to the Xbone forum. :p

The problem any voice recognition software will always face is accents or incorrect speech.

I don't know you and wont assume the worst of you, but that may be the problem. You also may be speaking to fast and the words picked up as one long word because of how fast you spoke.

I know in America, proper speech skills is severally lacking in our education systems.

Anyhow I have learned to try and speak just a little slower as I naturally talk fast myself. Not to the point you sound "slow", but maybe a little more proper for a normal conversation.

Hope this helps.

I've subsisted entirely on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and over-the-air network TV broadcasts for nearly two years now, and I haven't regretted it. Yeah, I miss live sporting events that are on Cable channels, but it's not worth $80 a month to me.

As are skills with the written word, apparently. "...speech skills are..."

The problem with most people's speech, beyond enunciation, is that they either didn't learn how to write well or they don't speak in the manner in which they write.

@Kinthalis: You should have bought a ps3 or Xbox 360. The Ones media features are almost exclusively based around a cable box. Without that box it's useless.

You said torrents and bought a machine without dlna? Bad move.

The image quality output for video on the xb1 is worse than the last gen hd twins.

Basically for what you want the xb1 was probably the worst possible choice at this point in its life.

Works about 95% of the time for me, but I do sit fairly close. It also works while im walking around the room though.

Did you just buy it for a media centre?

I find that "Xbox On" and "Xbox Turn Off" are about 50/50 for me, but "Xbox Record That" and "Xbox Snap DVR" seems to work almost always. I don't really use any other commands.

Have they taken away the option to rip CDs?

Yeah, I should've looked up it's DLNA support first.

Yep. I do my gaming on my PC.

I've heard that a lot from people on other forums - and yet, for me, Xbox on and Xbox turn off are more reliable than anythign else I try.

Even if that were true, it wouldn't be within a year.

Yeah mine works 95% of the time at minimum, was around 50% the first week I got it though. I honestly think it adjusts to the voice of whoever is signed in.

@Heil68 no prob, yep works during TV too

Both of you two are clueless.

@Spartan070:

Im sure they said it improves as time goes by with your voice, so maybe that is the case.

My 360 Kinect does better than 50% so I can't believe the new Kinect is having that much of a problem.

Lol nice.

I don't talk to either my PS4 or Xbox One very often. I find it that using the controller gets things done just as fast if not faster.
The only time I use it is for "Xbox record that." And that seems to work everytime-ish.