General Questions

Can I use the Amulet microphone with other applications like Skype?

Yes, the Amulet microphone appears as a standard audio input device to Microsoft Windows, and does not require any special drivers. Whilst we only provide speech recognition within Windows Media Center, you can use the microphone with any application that accepts speech.

What happens when I add new music or films to my media collection?

Amulet will detect any new Recorded TV Programs as they occur. For other media types, Amulet automatically picks up new media during its nightly scan, and you can also force an update at any time by saying "Update Music" or "Update Videos", for example.

How should I organize my downloaded videos?

Simply copy downloaded video files to the folders you have told Windows Media Center to monitor, and Amulet will detect them automatically. Movie filenames should simply be the name of the film. TV series episodes should follow the form "Series Name SxxExx Episode name", where Sxx and Exx are the Season and Episode numbers. For example, "Mad Men S01E12.avi" is Season 1, Episode 12 of the TV series Mad Men.

For other videos, such as home movies and unrecognised files, Amulet groups them according to the name of their containing disk folder.

Does Amulet work with the standard Windows Media Center screens?

Yes, most Amulet commands operate from anywhere within Media Center. We do recommend that you use the special Amulet user interface screens whilst you are becoming familiar with Amulet, since they provide immediate visual feedback to let you know your commands are being recognised.

As you become more used to Amulet, you can start to use the commands independently of whatever screen you are viewing. You can even issue Amulet commands when your screen is turned off, if you have your audio output connected to separate speakers.

Will Amulet's wireless technology interfere with my existing Wi-Fi network?

While Amulet does use the same 2.4 GHz band as wi-fi networks, it uses a proprietary chipset which automatically detects and routes around other transmitters in the same band. This happens dynamically, so that even a new hotspot coming online in the middle of a voice transmission won’t cause any audible interference – and Amulet won't interrupt your wifi activity.

What does the Amulet ShuffleSongs option do?

If you enable ShuffleSongs in the Amulet.ini configuration file, Amulet will randomise the songlist for any musical Artist you select, to provide more variety. Once randomised, you can browse and step through the songlist in the normal fashion.

Why do I get a random song when I skip to the next track?

If Amulet appears to be choosing a random song when you say Next Track, check the Shuffle setting on the standard Media Center Music page - when Media Center's Shuffle option is enabled, Media Center chooses a random song in response to Next Track rather than playing songs in sequence.