Use VSLogger's Mixed Playback for Public Safety Scenarios

"The most common usage of playback in a public safety environment is a scenario. You have a 911 call, then perhaps radio call to an officer. Then back to the 911 line. Perhaps a radio transmission to rescue and then fire."

Versadial's VSLogger Monitor has several features that help reconstruct and document a public safety scenario, such as described above by one of our customers:

• Find the recordings of interest


• Add Notes and Bookmarks


• Save search results


• Mixed playback


• Save and send a mixed recording

Find

Recordings can be located by searching specific channels, time periods, caller ID, dialed numbers, and any combination of these (and more) criteria. Once you have a list, you can sort it by channel number, description, start time, length, etc., ascending or descending. The most useful arrangement is by start time with the newest at the top. When you have the presentation you want, "Save current view settings" (right mouse-click in the list for a context menu) so it will be restored in subsequent sessions.

Notes and Bookmarks

Select a recording of interest by clicking on it. Add individuals recordings by control-clicking. Add a range by shift-clicking. Click the Note button (or right mouse-click again) and choose Update Note.

Type anything you like up to 1000 characters, click OK to add the Note to all selected recordings.

When playing back individual recordings, you can bookmark the locations of interest. When that recording is revisited later, you can start playback at those spots by double-clicking the markers. Bookmarks save the date and time and you may add your own comment. The digital clock readout shows the time of day by default. You can also choose to show the elapsed time or time remaining.

Save Search Results

Once you have the desired list of recordings, you can save the result list and the search parameters that were used to produce it, so that you can retrieve them quickly later.

Mixed Playback

When you want to replay several recordings exactly as they went down, check the Mixed playback box. Regardless of the order chosen in the search result list, the recordings are played back with the same timing as in the live scenario, including any overlaps and time gaps. Of course, you can still pause, rewind, and fast forward as desired.

Save and Send Mixed Recording

Now that you have reconstructed the scenario, you can easily share it with anyone that has a wave file media player. Right mouse-click in the result list and choose Uncompress and.../Mix as wave or Mix and send by E-mail.

Call Recording Demo Kits Available to Resellers

Demonstration call recording systems: Buying a demo kit will allow you to get hands-on training, more effectively support your clients, and make your own live sales presentation. Reseller Demo Kits come with both a 2-channel software license and recording card of choice. You can also get an optional timer license key that will allow you to loan the demo kit to a client for a 30-day trial.

This is one-time demo purchase and not intended for resale.

• Demo Kit 1: Reseller 2-channel VoIP demo recording kit includes software and usb-timer license key. Records VoIP phones (G.711). Requires computer system to install.

Reseller One-Time Demo is now available at a highly discounted price

• Demo Kit 2: Reseller 2-channel analog and VoIP demo recording kit includes usb recorder box, software, and usb timer license key. Unlimited analog recordings and VoIP (G.711). Requires computer system to install.

Reseller One-Time Demo is now available at a highly discounted price

USB Recorder Box

For more details on the kit visit: Versadial Kits

Interested resellers should email: sales@versadial.com or call your account representative for more information.

SB Win Logger - Personal Phone Recording Software

Versadial has released the latest version of SB Win Logger.

Download a 6.0 MB zipped version of SB Win Logger telephone recording software today and try it free for 30 uses. The adapter you'll need can be purchased at a variety of locations . The TLP-102 from Dynametric will work for most land line telephones. The CRA-124V will work with most cell phones. Once you choose an adapter that fits your particular telephone and sound card SB Win Logger will take care of the rest.

Go to: http://www.telephone-recording.com for more information and to download.

or

30 free uses trial with a $60 purchase option.

VoIP Recording

Versadial has provided recording solutions for traditional telecommunications media, including analog extensions and trunks, T1/E1 trunks, and digital PBX extensions, for many years. Within the last year, we began offering a software-only solution for recording VoIP extensions. This is attractive because there is no hardware to buy and no wiring (other than one CAT5 patch cord) required. However, there are several potential obstacles on the road to realizing a cost-effective solution.

The first is getting the audio packets to the recorder via that one patch cord. This is most often achieved by setting up one of the IP-PBX ports as a SPAN (Switch Port ANalyzer), which replicates all the phone traffic that should be recorded. The details of how to do that depend on the switch and it's capabilities. Some small switches cannot do it at all or may have limits on how many ports can be SPANned or mirrored. For example, one popular 24 port switch can only mirror 5 ports. Don't be tempted to take shortcuts in setting this up, for example SPANning all ports because it's easier and faster to do so. The result is recordings that playback at half speed because there are two copies of every audio packet, one from the phone port, the other from the PBX.

A network analyzer of some sort is indispensible in getting set up for VoIP recording. There are several free software analyzers available. We highly recommend Wireshark. The time spent learning to use it will pay dividends when installation day arrives. Set it up to capture the traffic on the recording computer NIC. (Be aware that if you wish to access the recording computer over the network while it is recording, two NICs are required.) Make test calls to or from each recorded device (physical phone or softphone) and verify that the traffic arrives at the recorder.

How will you know? VoIP audio is carried by UDP or RTP packets. There should be a steady stream of them while conversations are in progress. Here is an example:

If you know that your system actually uses RTP but all you see is UDP, select a UDP packet, right-mouse-click and choose Decode as ... and type in RTP. This will reveal whether or not you must overcome the next most common obstacle: what type of CODEC is in use. Our software solution at present records only the "plain vanilla" VoIP: G.711. Other CODECs have advantages but cannot be recorded. G.729, for example, uses bandwidth more efficiently but requires a license. G.723 is a wideband implementation that produces remarkable clarity on the phone but silent recordings.

Now that you know there is recordable phone traffic, see if each device is represented. Type a filter string in the Wireshark Filter edit box. If the devices have static IP addresses, this can be something like "ip.addr==192.168.0.100". If the IP addresses are dynamic, look for MAC addresses instead: "eth.addr==00:FA:11:27:CC:05" and click Apply. The captured data is re-analyzed as RTP. Once again, verify that the CODEC is recognized as G.711.

The next potential obstacle is the audio port range. The Wireshark trace shows the source and destination ports for each packet. When it comes time to setup the Versadial software-only solution, make sure that the range is wide enough to include them all.

Finally, use Wireshark to check for common VoIP problems: excessive skew, jitter, latency, and dropped packets. These can occur on the SPAN port even when the actual phone traffic is fine. If that data is not clean, the recordings won't be either.

Adutante Product Release

It's been some time coming but Versadial is very close now to launching its Adutante network recording product.  Some very cool features will be available in version 1.0, namely:

• AduScreen - records screen capture video and/or snapshots & uploads them to the Adutante server.
• PCagent - takes videos or snapshots from web cameras; a great simple video security system.
• VS Logger - the award winning voice recorder software solution.
• Online Recorder - the web-based managing system that controls access to all the recordings.

These (providers) are all part of the first/primary Module for Adutante, the Recording Manager.

Little secret - if you're a VAR or Reseller for Versadial then now is the time to inquire about final testing of the pre-release version and also translations to other languages.  Versadial is offering some nice incentives and discounted pricing to participating resellers.

If you want to know more about Adutante we recommend visiting the website: http://www.adutante.com/ or checking out the Product Sheet.

More info coming soon!