Howto:Convert wave files in to G7xx coder files

From innovaphone wiki
Revision as of 18:18, 16 November 2014 by Akam1 (talk | contribs) (Add GNU/Linux point of view)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The HTTP interface allows to play sound files delivered from a web server. This is used mostly for music on hold or waiting queue announcements. These files need to be in a specific format, not standard wave file. Here is how to convert a standard wave file into this format.


Applies To

This information applies to

  • All innovaphone gateways (IP202, IP302,IP305 ,IP800, IP3000, IP6000)

Version 5.0 and later.

More Information

Problem Details

To avoid just-in-time format conversion and/or encoding, sound files played via the HTTP interface must be present as coder-specific raw sound stream data files. To use a standard wave file, it must be converted into G711/G723/G729 format first. Also, if you want to provide a specific sound file for calls with different coders, you must provide a single version of such file for each coder in question. To create G723, G729, G711a or G711u files, you will need standard 8kHz, 16bit, mono wave files.

At the download site you will find the softcod.exe in the tools folder. This is a command line utility which will convert such a wave file to the required coder files.


To convert a wave file announcement.wav, call at command line:

softcod announcement.wav

Softcode will create announcement.g723, announcement.g729, announcement.g711a and announcement.g711u.


Due to licensing issues, the conversion process requires access to an innovaphone gateway. The tool will thus ask for a valid gatekeeper/pbx alias. Note that the tool must be able to register with this alias. Therefore, you cannot use an account which is currently in use. As the tool will not ask for a password, you cannot use an account which is password protected.

Installation

There is no install available or required. Simply call softcod.exe from the command line.

Known Problems

The tool will locate the gatekeeper/pbx using gatekeeper discovery. Note that this currently will not work on multi-homed hosts, that is, hosts with more than one (virtual or physical) network interface. Most available wave file tools will not create wave files in the proper format (as defined above). In order for softcod.exe to work, you have to make sure the input wave file is in the proper format. Depending on the tool you are using, you may need to change the files audio properties. Also, you may use Windows™ standard audiorecorder application (sndrec32.exe) to convert a wave file in to the proper format (use File/Properties/Convert).

New since V6 SR1

Starting from V6 Sr1 it is possible to run the sound files via the Cf cardslot (no external web server needed) please refer to the related articles below.

! This method does not work when running a Linux Application Platform on this CF !

Also it is then possible to automaticly convert the wav files into g7xx on the built-in compact flash card without using softcod.

8khz, 16bit, mono *.wav files can be copied to webdav-mountable \\x.x.x.x\drive\CX0, in order to convert to *.g711a, *.g711u, *.g729. Please use the the Internet Explorer to open the directory on the CF.

First, the access to the cf-card must be enabled. For this make relevant settings under "General, HTTP server, CompactFlash public access". For example: "/DRIVE/CX0/" "read" and "write"

Go with Internet Explorer to "Administration, Diagnostics, CF" and choose the option "Browse CF Content (Explorer, IE only)". In the Internet Explorer the line \\x.x.x.x\drive\CF0 is appearing. Change in the URL CF0 to CX0. The URL is then looking like \\x.x.x.x\drive\CX0 (also to mount a network drive).

Use now drag&drop to copy the wav file to the directory on the Compact Flash card.

Convert wave files in to G7xx coder files 1.PNG

After a succesfull conversion, you should have a similar file structure on your CF card.

However, please be patient - a 2.5MB file (2.5min audio content) takes on an ip800 ~15min to be converted into a *.g729 file.

For GNU/Linux ...

Very nice tool called cadaver - it's a command line WebDAV client - it support up and download, move/copy/delete/list etc.


Convert other file formats

To use other source file formats (such as mp3 etc), following a small instruction how to do so:

  • Download audio-converter Audacity
  • Start Audacity and open the source-file to be converted. This can be mp3, wav, aiff, flac, ogg-vorbis(?), ffmpeg-compatible formatted.

Audacity open file.png

  • Select in the below-left corner a projectfrequency of 8000Hz

Audacity frequency.png

  • Click on File / Export and choose as output file format WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit PCM and store

Audacity export.png

Then proceed with the resulting WAV files as described above for conversion in g7xx formats.

Related Articles

Download softcode (included in the Tools Package)

Howto:Installing_the_voicemail/music_on_hold_on_a_compact_flash_card

Howto:General_information_for_compact_flash_cards

Howto:Convert wave files to G7xxx with softcode

Howto:Convert wave files in to G722 coder files