Problems with the volume of TTS voices in Navi Apps

[PCB-Tech]

Hello,

I have a Joying Android Radio with the SKU EU-JY-UO135N4GS-C1002

The device works very well, except for a small blemish, and I am otherwise very satisfied with it.

Unfortunately there is a problem with the TTS voices in the navigation systems. They are all so quiet that they are practically not audible. Or the music must be so loud that you can hear it.

I have tried the following Navi Apps: The pre-installed iGO version with additionally installed TTS voices, Sygic, Navigon and TomTom.

First of all, all languages that only consist of sound samples work. So the simple voices that can't announce streets and are not really usable.

Also the automatic volume reduction of music works when an announcement is made (except Navigon).

I have Google TTS on it and everything configured and installed accordingly.

Google Maps is pretty much the only program that works with TTS. There you can hear the voices.

The TTS voices of TomTom are also chopped off. I also installed all the navigation apps on my phone. There these programs work without problems.

I have tried all kinds of audio settings, but nothing changes.

As soon as you activate the default voices (and these are the TTS voices) in the navigation system again, they are so quiet that they are almost not audible at normal music volume.

The only exception here is Navigon. But strangely enough, the music volume is not lowered. It doesn't matter if I have activated this in the settings of the Head Unit or not.

By the way, Navigon lowers the music on the mobile phone when PowerAmp is running in parallel.

I have always set the navigation apps as default.

With TomTom I was able to activate Google TTS voices in the beta features. With them it works halfway. Halfway because the music lowering does not work 100%. When an announcement is playing, the music gets louder and then quieter again.

Does anyone have any tips for me? The radio is otherwise just great.

[AR105]

I have a similar problem:

in the system settings, I can increase the volume for google TTS text output in the TTS settings. As long as this setting is active, the announcement volume of my navigation program (Mapfactor Navigator) with TTS voices can be used. Radio / Music is not quieter / switched off. Not perfect, but you can live with it.
Unfortunately, this setting - as well as permissions that programs such as Tasker or Macrodroid need - are reset each time the engine is started. That means, every time I want to drive off and need the Navi and / or Macrodroid (so always), I have to navigate through various system settings to reset the appropriate settings.
I don't know if this is a "security feature" of Android 8.1 or if Joying simply crippled android. In any case, a solution is pretty urgent, but it would be enough for me if I could reset the necessary settings after each start at least by pressing a button. As it is currently, the device can only be described as suitable to a limited extent.

[PCB-Tech]

I had already tried that. But I had no success with the navigation apps I tested.

But I also installed Mapfactor once. And there I can really make the Google TTS voice much louder, with the help of your tips.

But I can also use the Google TTS voices with TomTom, but I don't have to increase the volume. Nevertheless the voices are easy to understand. I would use TomTom, but I only have a trial version now. And I bought Sygic yesterday for a lot of money, hoping it would work.

By the way, Google Maps also uses Google TTS. There you don't need to turn up the volume either. But I don't like them too much.

But what I noticed during testing is that if you switch the voices (Normal/TTS) in the navigation system fast enough while they are still speaking, the TTS voice is suddenly loud at that moment. However, the music is then no longer lowered and runs parallel with the same volume.

But only until the next announcement. Then everything is as before and TTS is too quiet.

But now it is clear that the problem has to do with the music lowering. You can switch this off in the system settings. But it does not switch off. It seems to be permanently activated. I can only configure the level, how much the music is lowered.

So this seems to be a bug, since it seems to affect all navigation systems that bring their own TTS voices.

[hvdwolf]

I use Magic Earth and OsmAnd.
In Magic Earth i need to set audio to phone speaker. Then the instructions are at the correct sound level.
In OsmAnd I need to set it to phone call (interrupts BT) and then it works OK.

Furthermore I did make a mod of the "main server" apk 190000000_com.syu.ms.apk which has in its assets a text file "navi_app.txt" which in the original Joying version ONLY supports Google Maps and iGo, next to about 20 Asian navigation apps.
So I added:

Code:

com.mapfactor.navigator #Mapfactor Navigator Free
com.generalmagic.magicearth #Magic Earth
com.route66.maps5 #Magic Earth Pro
net.osmand #OsmAnd Free
net.osmand.plus #OsmAnd Plus
com.here.app.maps #HERE WeGo
com.mapswithme.maps.pro #MAPS.ME
com.navfree.android.OSM.ALL #Navmii
com.navigon.navigator_one #Navigon
com.tomtom.gplay.navapp #TomTom Mobile Go
com.sygic.incar #Sygic In Car
com.alk.copilot.mapviewer #CoPilot GPS
cz.aponia.bor3.offlinemaps #Offline Maps & Navigation
com.google.android.launcher #Google Now Launcher
com.turboled.enhancedtts #Enhanced TTs improves TTS
com.tomtom.speedcams.android.map #TomTom Speed Cameras
com.viamichelin.android.viamichelinmobile #ViaMichelin
com.camsam # camsam blitzer.de blitzerwarner
com.camsam.plus # camsam plus version
cm.aptoide.pt # Blitzer.de ?
de.blitzer # Blitzer.de ?
de.blitzer.plus # Blitzer.de Plus ?
nl.flitsmeister # Flitsmeister
com.sygic.speedcamapp # Sygic Speed cams and traffic
com.alpriority.alpconnect # alpconnect
com.ventel.android.radardroid2 # Radardroid
com.nng.igo.primong.igoworld # iGo nav app
es.codefactory.vocalizertts # Voice vocalizer tts
com.acapelagroup.android.tts # Acapela TTS Voices
com.emileferreira.bestee # Bestee virtual assistant (tts)

Note that this has been mentioned many, many times to Joying but without result. I still have to make that mod, even after 3+ years.

Next to that: On the new SC9853i models there is a new assets file "navi_audio_from_playstatus.txt".
I also had to add to that file the following TTS engines:

Code:

com.google.android.tts
es.codefactory.vocalizertts
com.acapelagroup.android.tts
com.emileferreira.bestee

[AR105]

@hvdwolf

I know your contributions to XDA - great cinema - thanks for that.
I will test your changes, but the bigger problem seems to me that changes in the system settings are "forgotten" during / after sleep mode. I think I remember that when sleep mode was switched off, i.e. device start with a complete cold start, not only Macrodroid was loaded (I believe with all the necessary permissions), but the volume setting in google-tts was also unchanged. Unfortunately, the cold start takes too long for my taste. So what I need is a way to make changes in the system settings permanently. It works flawlessly on my Android 8.1 China phone - so there has to be a way that can also be done on the Joying device.

[PCB-Tech]

@hvdwolf

Many thanks for the advice.

Now I have flashed the file 2019-09-17-com_syu_ms-ORG_extended.zip to my radio. Now the TTS voice from Sygic at least works with the AM/FM radio. But unfortunately only with this radio. With Poweramp or the included player the TTS voice is still extremely quiet.

Interesting is, if no audio app is running, the voice is also almost not to be heard. Only if the AM/FM radio app is running in the background, the TTS voice is also audible.

Did I forget anything or did I do something wrong?

[hvdwolf]

(12-20-2019, 06:00 PM)AR105 Wrote:  I will test your changes, but the bigger problem seems to me that changes in the system settings are "forgotten" during / after sleep mode.
.........
It works flawlessly on my Android 8.1 China phone - so there has to be a way that can also be done on the Joying device.

The difference between your Joying head unit and a phone (any phone), is that upon sleep mode "nothing" happens on your phone, but on the head unit almost all apps are killed, including their current "in memory" settings. If your unit does a cold boot, it looks at the Settings which are set for default boot volume and for default volumes for the several apps (actually the channels).
I also have a "No Kill" mod that prevents apps from being killed upon going to sleep. This will keep your apps in memory including your wanted settings and the like, as they were before deep sleep. Using the NoKill mod can have some other negative side effects, when using it with apps that place "wake locks". I do not know if Macrodroid does that.
Other options are to alter the fyt.prop and reflash the modified Allapp.pkg, alter com.syu.sys apk and add your specifi apps to the unkill_app.txt. All is described in several posts on XDA.
I do not know how to keep your current "in memory" settings in another way.

---

(12-20-2019, 06:45 PM)PCB-Tech Wrote:  Interesting is, if no audio app is running, the voice is also almost not to be heard. Only if the AM/FM radio app is running in the background, the TTS voice is also audible.

Android knows different "channels" for audio. On Android, "media" apps use the media channel. The radio is not an Android app. It is a piece of hardware in combination with an analog or digital amplifier, normally unknown to phones. Joying (and all other brands) use a custom made audio switching on their head units to make the radio heard.
If you use media apps together with your navigation app, both use (in 90% of the cases), the same media audio channel. In this case the media player outputting constant (!) audio gets the focus, whereas the navigation app, sometimes outputting audio, has its volume level lowered. Actually the exact other way round as you want it.

If you use the radio, the media channel is "free" for your navigation app.
I have been using Mapfactor Navigator as well. As far as I can remember I set the output to one of the Bluetooth "phone call" options, as if it was an app on a remote BT-connected phone.
On all of these Chinese head units (on any head unit for that matter), BT "phone calls" always get preference over any other channel. Then it might work.
Note though that reall phone calls wait till the phone is picked up. Not all navigation apps are so sophisitcated that they wait 100~300 milliseconds (or so), before starting their output. Sometimes the first part of a navigation instruction might be cut off otherwise. Building up a BT phone call channel (which is 2-ways) simply takes some time.

But it remains a struggle. I only know and use navigation apps that use OSM data. It is always a trial and error in the navi app itself to check which output is best.

[PCB-Tech]

So it's no use at all to flash the navi_app.txt and navi_audio_from_playstatus.txt? I had understood it in such a way that thereby the voice of the registered navigation program becomes audible again.

Unfortunately, only very few navigation programs allow you to select the audio channel. And with the few, where this was possible, it had no function (e.g. Sygic). I had installed Magic Earth, but this is so slow that the calculation of a route two streets away takes about 4 minutes. And the voice (at least the German one) is only a little louder.

I had now reset everything to factory default. But now the box reboots regularly every 2-3 minutes.

I flashed the last firmware "9853i OS 1024X600 800X480 1280X720 2019.11.28.zip" again, but the problem remains. The box keeps rebooting by itself and I haven't set or installed anything yet.

My initial euphoria slowly disappears. It seems to have bought only a piece of overpriced scrap metal. So it would have been better to put a simple cheap Android tray in the car...

But thanks a lot for your help.

[hvdwolf]

(12-21-2019, 05:38 PM)PCB-Tech Wrote:  So it's no use at all to flash the navi_app.txt and navi_audio_from_playstatus.txt? I had understood it in such a way that thereby the voice of the registered navigation program becomes audible again.

Unfortunately, only very few navigation programs allow you to select the audio channel. And with the few, where this was possible, it had no function (e.g. Sygic). I had installed Magic Earth, but this is so slow that the calculation of a route two streets away takes about 4 minutes. And the voice (at least the German one) is only a little louder.

I had now reset everything to factory default. But now the box reboots regularly every 2-3 minutes.

I flashed the last firmware "9853i OS 1024X600 800X480 1280X720 2019.11.28.zip" again, but the problem remains. The box keeps rebooting by itself and I haven't set or installed anything yet.

My initial euphoria slowly disappears. It seems to have bought only a piece of overpriced scrap metal. So it would have been better to put a simple cheap Android tray in the car...

But thanks a lot for your help.

Those text files are not complete. It is what I added to the standard files. Those files are inside the com.syu.ms apk. It has no use at all to flash them directly.

w.r.t. the reboots: please contact Joying directly via carjoying@gmail.com

[AR105]

just to understand it correctly:
on the phone, apps and their settings are retained during deep sleep, the apps are closed on cold start, but the settings remain unaffected?
And on the car radio, all apps are closed and the settings reset, both when cold starting and when deep sleep?
And this behavior is changed by your "Nokill-mod" in such a way that the apps are not closed during deep sleep and the settings are retained, but after a cold start the settings would have to be reset manually - right?
If so: does the "nokill-mod" also maintain the volume setting of google-tts? And can the setting of the right settings be automated - apps like Tasker or Macrodroid can only do useful things if they have the appropriate permissions, so they are not useful for this. Or am I missing something ??

Joying has a new firmware in the blog since November 28th, 2019. Can I use it in connection with your Nokill-mod from the xda forum? or is there a newer version and I should wait better?