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92Chief
Tl Posts:
4

USA
Posted - 11/18/2004 8:53:36 AM  Show Profile  Email Poster  Edit Message
Does anybody know of a program that simply plays the audio from a voice modem through the wave device on the PC? No recorder, no answering machine - just convert the audio stream out of the modem into wave data and feed it into the sound mixer.

I need to be able to call into a server running RealProducer that will encode the audio. RealProducer doen't seem to be able to pull the audio stream out of the modem so I need it converted and re-routed to the wave device...Any thoughts?

Pi
Tl Posts:
89

USA
Posted - 11/18/2004 11:14:15 AM  Show Profile  Email Poster  Edit Message
Might help, not sure.

Control Panel, audio devices, "wave device voice modem", properties
uncheck "Do not map through this device"

92Chief
Tl Posts:
4

USA
Posted - 11/18/2004 11:19:28 AM  Show Profile  Email Poster  Edit Message
Tried it. That doesn't help, although I do see something interesting in there.

Modem Wave Driver
Status: Driver is enabled but not functioning properly

There are two radio buttons below this messege but they have no labels...any ideas on how to fix it? I've reinstalled my modem drivers but I think this is the unimodem driver right?

Pi
Tl Posts:
89

USA
Posted - 11/18/2004 10:11:49 PM  Show Profile  Email Poster  Edit Message
What brand and model number is the modem involved, chipset if you know it?
What OS is running on the server the modem is installed on?

"There are two radio buttons below this messege but they have no labels" Don't know what this would be.
Boot in to Safe Mode and see if more then one driver was installed for the Modem Wave device.
If so delete them and let Windows redetect and install.

I would look for the latest driver for you modem . Preferably one that is WDM compliant or installs a WDM emulator.

Unimodem/V, (V stands for voice) Works with TAPI compliant modems (with TAPI compliant drivers) and provides universal voice functionally, among other things.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q139383/
"""SUMMARY
Unimodem V is the newest release of Unimodem, the Windows universal modem driver/telephony service provider for data/fax modems. Unimodem V provides the driver support that sits between telephony applications and voice modems and allows them to work together. This driver adds the most requested features to support data/fax/voice modems, including wave file playback and recording to and from the phone line, wave file playback and recording to and from the handset, and support for speakerphones, Caller ID, distinctive ringing, and call forwarding. """

http://tapifaq.pennypacker.org/tapifaq2.html

P/S
I have never used RealProducer but I found this web site;
http://www.uas.alaska.edu/faculty_support/presentationTools/RealProducer/realproducer.htm
"""Select Input Device
* In the Input side of the window click the radio button labeled "Devices", then select an input device from the “Audio Devices” drop down menu. This most likely will be the name of your sound card.(see figure at right)"""

Does the "Audio Device" dropdown box list the modem wave device as an Input Device ?
Another P/S
Having thought on this for a while.
I'm having trouble imagining exactly what you trying to do here but ultimately I don't think it will work using the modem wave device. Modem wave devices functionally are very limited and only seem to work with software designed for them I.E. "TAM" Telephone Answering Machines, Phone recorders.

RealProducer product discription "stream over a dialup connection" but the Real Audio software has to be the player?
If your streaming to the remote modem Real Audio would have to be the player (stream would be in Real Audio format)

"""WHY REALPRODUCER PLUS?
RealProducer Plus creates great quality content efficiently and effectively for live and on-demand distribution and will convert the most common audio and video files (see Specifications for details) into RealAudio and RealVideo formats.""""

It's an interesting problem and I downloaded the DEMO to check it out.

If your sending a wave file to the server I don't see (so far) where RealProducer can do this live. Wave file would have to be saved on the server and later procesed (encoded) by the RealProducer program.

I hope you get it working. If so let us know how you did it.

Edited by - Pi on 11/19/2004 2:18:30 AM

92Chief
Tl Posts:
4

USA
Posted - 11/19/2004 5:33:35 AM  Show Profile  Email Poster  Edit Message
Thanks for your help.

We have a Broadexant DI3631-1 modem with a Conexant HCF chipset (I know, I know). It running in an XP Pro machine. I have verified we are running the current revision per Creative.

We did make some progress in testing yesterday. We get it to work as desired... The only problem is that it required an add-in from a $500+ call center application to work. We don't have that kind of budget.

What you stated about RP is correct. It cannot, by itself, do what we want. We made a "middleware" program to handle the call setup functions and re-route the output from the modem into the soundcard. In effect the modem would be emulating a mic or CD player in a normal RP setup. RP would encode the modem audio and pass it to a Helix server for live broadcast to the audience. And that's what we're after - an autonomous way of streaming a live, on location broadcast.

Since we have been unable to find a cheap software solution to our problem I think we have two options:

- I have some Visual Basic experience. I can learn the TAPI and try and create one myself -or-
- We can buy a modem with dedicated TAM/TAD jacks and route the audio in that way. I wanted to avoid this option if possible because of the extra A/D conversion but it looks like the best option at this point. Any suggestions on model?

Pi
Tl Posts:
89

USA
Posted - 11/19/2004 10:05:33 PM  Show Profile  Email Poster  Edit Message
I'm sure you know this but for others that may be reading this post;
Using a speakerphone modem you can jumper the speaker and mic output to the sound card BUT sound quality and volume control can be and often is an issue.
Sound quality is much improved when using the internal TAD (telephone answering device) header (sometimes called the TAPI header).
TAD headers are not common on modern PCI modems these days.
The only current modem manufacturer I know of listing it as a feature is the Creative *xxxxxx.
For a Winmodem (Controllerless) At $35 to $50 I think its overpriced.

Some OEM versions of retail modem sometimes come with a TAD where the retail does not.
http://support.tangent.com/hardware/modem/mod-008.htm.

A local system builder might have a OEM modem with a TAD header much cheaper.

Good luck with your project.

* Typed the wrong model number, should have been DI5631. Sorry
Edited by - Pi on 11/28/2004 1:47:30 AM

92Chief
Tl Posts:
4

USA
Posted - 11/23/2004 11:50:01 AM  Show Profile  Email Poster  Edit Message
I bought the Creative DI5631 and piped the audio in via the TAD header...problem solved. We had our first live test yesterday. Audio is actually VERY good and is more than adequate for our 16kbs encode stream.

I was able to find it for $37 and I've been happy with it so far.

Thanks.

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