3 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

For me, the hype has been about the implementation of AI traffic control outside of the (terrible) default.

That's a big plus indeed. But remember, initially they planned to release BATC without that feature and all the hype was about the voices. Those who demanded that AI control should be included in BATC from the beginning to make it a complete ATC addon even got heavily attacked in this forum.

 

3 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

What remains to be seen is the quality of things like vectoring, being able to fly published procedures with realistic ATC responses, AI separation from user, etc etc etc. 

Indeed. This is the core of any ATC addon. The quality of voices is just a bonus.

 

23 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

Now if we can convince Jorg to add proper voice recognition ATC for MSFS 2024, I think Microsoft could afford to offer all the different regional and premium accents for free in MSFS 2024/2028, that Beyond ATC is charging for, because Microsoft probably already owns that technology.

To be honest, I've been somewhat astounded that they haven't utilized the Azure AI tech in a more comprehensive way. A while ago I checked different Azure voice qualities and was positively surprised. Why did they hold off on a much better Azure implementation?

Btw his name is Jörg 🙂https://www.howtopronounce.com/jörg

18 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

I agree. Let's hope Microsoft sees the potential of using MSFS and its ATC system as a demonstration or flagship product for their AI speech and voice technology.

They could have demonstrated this from launch in 2020. 

8 hours ago, RALF9636 said:

Absolutely. I am a little surprised that everybody now seems to be wanting to go for the offline voices because they are affordable. Wasn't all the hype about the premium voices and all the different world wide accents? Would there have been any of the hype if BATC would have released their first promo videos with the offline voices only - which sound roughly as good or as bad as those of PF3, FSHUD, or Cereprocs SAPI voices?

And of course BATC do not offer a real subscription in the sense that you pay a fixed price per month and can use as many premium voice transmissions as you like. Imagine they did. Based on an average number of monthly flights per user of say 20-30 that would have been in the range of 100$ per month for a premium subscription. Imagine the outrage. They cleverly circumvented that by bringing on their complex pricing model.

But if you do the math you realize that you will end up in that range of 100$ monthly if you go for the premium voices with all the worldwide accents and you are an avid simmer who makes a flight almost daily. And eventually the premium voices is what sets BATC apart from all we had before. Unfortunately it will not really be feasible for the average guy to use BATC that way it was initially promoted. Hopefully those premium voices will see a massive price drop over time.

 

I am very enthusiastic about this product and look forward to being an early adopter.  However, as “natural” as the premium voices sound, to me they sound like Hollywood movie controllers that had a little bit too much candy and coffee.  If they lowered their voices about an octave or so and came across a little bit more somber, the realism factor would be much greater.

So I save a penny if I purchase 2 medium packs over one large pack, how does that make cents 😄? Was listening to the premium set, they just sound like they are sped up a bit.

Edited February 23, 20242 yr by Mike_CFII_MEL

7 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

To be honest, I've been somewhat astounded that they haven't utilized the Azure AI tech in a more comprehensive way. A while ago I checked different Azure voice qualities and was positively surprised. Why did they hold off on a much better Azure implementation?

Btw his name is Jörg 🙂https://www.howtopronounce.com/jörg

They could have demonstrated this from launch in 2020. 

i remember on the msfs alpha before release they did a test with azure voices with different accent they were like over 100 voices but after the release they reduce the voices to like 5 -4   so ai azure voices are expensive cause require a lot of  electricity  so if  msfs not became monthly subscription  game ai azure voices are financially  inviable in medium term

38 minutes ago, michdb8 said:

i remember on the msfs alpha before release they did a test with azure voices with different accent they were like over 100 voices but after the release they reduce the voices to like 5 -4   so ai azure voices are expensive cause require a lot of  electricity  so if  msfs not became monthly subscription  game ai azure voices are financially  inviable in medium term

Good point! Somehow I thought that Azure is free. It’s not.…

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/cognitive-services/speech-services/

New video (at correct timestamp) with developer explaining how the product's costs break down.

 

I don't understand how the pricing is controversial

 

I sincerely don't.  As long as the functioning piece of the ATC works well, the basic no money voices sound better than nearly everything available.  If you wanna be a pimp and hear super realistic voices?  Right now it's super expensive, but it's an option! 

 

Until we know if the bones of this software works correctly, we're arguing about how much a pair of Jordans costs as opposed to WalMart brand shoes without even knowing if they fit. 

 

It's silly, right? 

Edited February 23, 20242 yr by JughedJones

15 hours ago, virtuali said:

Not a subscription, because if you don't use online voices, there is no recurring payment. It's not like Netflx, where you pay every month, regardless of seeing movies or not.

Is more like Pay as you Go.

But if one uses the online/premium voices they are on a user timed subscription that requires cash renewals.

9 minutes ago, Mike_CFII_MEL said:

But if one uses the online/premium voices they are on a user timed subscription that requires cash renewals.

 

It seems to me, if the ATC works well, you're choosing to drive a Ferrari and paying all the accepted costs for that choice if you want the super duper option.    

Where as someone could drive a perfectly practical Honda Civic which will get them from A to B and a nice enough ride. 

 

You're paying for extravagance iffin' ya wanna.      

5 minutes ago, JughedJones said:

 

It seems to me, if the ATC works well, you're choosing to drive a Ferrari and paying all the accepted costs for that choice if you want the super duper option.    

Where as someone could drive a perfectly practical Honda Civic which will get them from A to B and a nice enough ride. 

 

You're paying for extravagance iffin' ya wanna.      

One good thing if this company doesn't get any cash / kickback from premium voice time, if that area of BATC falls flat due to pricing, it shouldn't effect the company or spell its demise.

Anyone know if it's possible to use premium for all my transmissions except clearance and taxi instructions? That will save a ton of voice time, use basic or offllne for those two items.

Edited February 23, 20242 yr by Mike_CFII_MEL

Lest we forget, PilotEdge is 30 bucks a month and you get highly trained humans to interact with you. 

 

Fly as much as you want.   Real as F word. 

 

This is for us wimps who are scared to do it for real. (and I know the coverage is limited, but the point applies)

2 hours ago, JughedJones said:

It's silly, right? 

Yup. They said from the start AI super voices would be an extra cost and that AI is expensive. I don't remember any backlash then, just that everybody was agreeing we wouldn't want an actual subscription. So BATC came up with a different solution which is better since you pay as you actually use, but that's frowned upon too now. Not sure what people expected or what they think would be a better solution.

It also seems like the actual ATC part of it and the traffic management that everyone was pushing BATC to include which they listened to also is completely indifferent now; everyone just wants voices and people are like "the premium voices are expensive so the program is useless".

Btw, offline voices still use AI tech.

2 hours ago, Mike_CFII_MEL said:

Anyone know if it's possible to use premium for all my transmissions except clearance and taxi instructions? That will save a ton of voice time, use basic or offllne for those two items.

You can switch between voices throughout the flight. You can also assign, for example, offline voices to AI and use premium voices only for the conversations between yourself and ATC.

This thread amongst many others elsewhere is simply mind boggling.  Not difficult to understand the very flexible range of options. Why there is this ruckus, is just the negativity that permeates everywhere and radiates to the next person. Years ago we all begged for better ATC, and complained the voices were extremely robotic.   Now the ATC looks very promising and plausibly realistic, and you have choices for voice models.  1 of which is free.  What is the problem? On top of that, control of AI traffic, with real-time voices.  All sounds great to me.  And no subscription.

I won't be using voice (I'm not in the situation to do so) and will use the offline voices. Going from just a few voices right now to +150 is awesome already. Getting realistic ATC is awesome already. Getting traffic that's controlled just like me is awesome already. Everything about BATC is awesome and I really don't need the fancy voices. Would I use them if they were free? Sure. But they aren't. Simple as that. I don't understand why some people are somehow upset about the pricing. I can't buy the Porsche Carrera I want: I accepted that and drive a simple Toyota. If you can't afford the premium voices simply accept it and use the basic ones or the offline ones.

People nowadays always seem to want everything in premium quality right now and for free, please. But you just can't have everything you want in life. Accept that. And you'll be a happier person.

I am thankful that I have a PC on which I can run MSFS plus a few addons. That is a big blessing already. I enjoy every minute I fly. There are people who can't even buy a meal a day, let alone a PC, let alone MSFS, let alone BATC and let alone premium voices. Some people need to get a life.

Edited February 23, 20242 yr by tup61