Transcription Settings
For high quality voice recordings of your Skype conversation, please use the following settings
- Recording Mode: Stereo – 2 channels
- Sampling Rate: 16000 Hz
- Bit Rate: 128 kbps
The first three can be configured from the ‘Recording’ tab of the configuration dialog. The last two are in the ‘Advanced’ Tab.
Tips:
- First and foremost, use a headset instead of the inbuilt speaker and mic. It helps to keep the background noise to the minimum and reduces the possibility of any echo during the call.
- If you get an echo then drop the call and try again. If possible, record a test call first and play it back to make sure things are fine.
- For SkypeOut and Conference calls, ensure that the call quality is good enough before you start the recording. Make a few test calls before the actual one if possible.
- Close all other applications which might use your internet bandwidth during that period. Usual browsing should not interfere but downloads or uploads (or BitTorrent) severely hampers the call quality.
- If possible, reboot your machine once before you start on the call. It clears up the memory and performs better.
- Finally, keep an eye on the status displayed at the bottom of the Toolbar as well during the call. It should be showing ‘Recording in progress’. If not restart the call and the recording.
Explanation:
Technically speaking, these settings are optimal for our system. The Speech Recognition engine that we use works in the wideband mode (16 kHz) and the 128 kbps bit rate preserves the optimal voice quality in the mp3 files. Encoding in two track mode enables us to split up each of the track separately and process them.
If you have more questions then feel free to leave a comment or contact us.
August 6th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Good info! The new feature in version 1.0.6.5 is very useful too. One question – is 16000 Hz the maximum sampling rate for all Skype calls? Recently I made a call and it sounded higher quality. Is that possible?
August 6th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
16 kHz is the internal sampling rate of Skype, but we can upsample or downsample while encoding. The quality however depends entirely on Skype. We cannot improve on what is being received from Skype!
November 25th, 2008 at 3:24 am
On my Dell Latitude D620 the other party is not recorded when I have Headphones pluged in. (In skype everyting works normal)
If I don’t use HeadPhones I get a massive echo.
Is there a setting which enables me to use my Headset and still record the other party with CallGraph?
November 25th, 2008 at 3:46 am
@paul, can you pls. run the interactive demo and send me the log file as well as the recorded file. thanks.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Is it the higher I put up the Sampling Rate, Bit Rate and Encoding Buffer Size the better quality I’ll get? Or is there a particular point that gets the best quality?
Is there any reason not to put them all on the highest number possible?
Thanks.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
@xantos for voice 16KHz sampling rate and 64 kbps is adequate to preserve the quality of it. higher settings wont have much effect on quality.
November 28th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Ok thanks a lot Rajiv. Just one more thing – is there a difference in quality or anything at all between WAV and MP3 recording?
November 28th, 2008 at 1:07 am
wav is an uncompressed format, so the original quality is preserved, but files are of large sizes.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:24 am
Hi!
if I have understood this correctly the programme uses a voice recognition engine to transcribe automatically. What is the accuracy rate, and can you transcribe any language (for instance Norwegian), or only English?
Also, how long would I have to wait for the transcription after submitting the recording for transcription?
February 11th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Tarjei,
The program is first simply records your call, and saves the audio, then you have the option to submit the audio to be transcribed for a small fee.
Just clearing that little thing up. I’m not sure of the details – such as whether it transcribes automatically and if they do Norwegian. Someone will probably answer that question for you soon
Good luck,
Xantos
February 11th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Yes thanks Xantos, what I meant was to say that the *company* transcribes after I have made a call recording
February 11th, 2009 at 7:03 am
The program does not use Speech Recognition. It simply records and if you want, uploads it to your account. During transcription we internally use an ASR system to reduce the human effort involved.
February 11th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Hi Rajiv
Yes I understand, but does that mean then that the transcription I receive will be 100% accurate? And I assume that you only transcribe English?
Also: 50 cents per minute: does that mean 50 cents per minute of the recording, or 50 cents per minute it takes to transcribe the recording?
February 11th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Accuracy is around 99%. The words that cannot be transcribed are timestamped and marked.
Its 50 cents per minute of the recorded audio.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Great, thanks Rajiv.
February 11th, 2009 at 8:24 am
welcome
April 29th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I have awful echo all the time. Skype says that my mic is very low. Yet, the playback has no echo. But during the call, recording, the echo is and does not vanish.
Withou Call Graph, there is no echo.
April 29th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
please check http://crims.callgraph.in/blog/2008/09/call-graph-echo/
April 30th, 2009 at 3:21 am
Rajiv,
Thank you. The cancelling echo helped.
“Enable Echo Cancellation (Help)
Far End EC
Near End EC ”
Lasse
August 6th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I need to record a conversation in skype realized from the computer to a fixed telephone but when I do it I do not listen to the voice of the person who speaks in the fixed telephone. Do you know how I can solve it?
August 24th, 2009 at 4:24 am
I have the same problem as Gabi. And I think it happened after downloading the last updates for Call Graph.
August 24th, 2009 at 5:16 am
try turning off Near End EC option from configuration -> advanced tab.
http://crims.callgraph.in/blog/2009/05/known-issues-v1211/
February 4th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Rajiv,
I am a new user of CallGraph (ver 1.3.0.0 Beta) ; have tried it with Skype Echo Test Service and it worked very well. Yet to test it with a live call.
Some questions:
1. In a reply above you said 64 kbps is good enough, while the software defaults to 128kbps when I hit the ‘Transcription Settings’ button in the ‘Recording’ tab. Why? Should I stick to 128kbps or move to 64kbps if there is minimal loss (I believe my files sizes will be dramatically less in 64kbps vs 128 kbps)?
2. My ‘Advanced’ tab does not show any setting for Echo. Is that because this is now inbuilt and not user customizable?
3. What do you recommend for the ‘Enable logging’ option in the ‘General’ tab?
Thanks!
Gurdas
February 4th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
You can try out various bitrates and choose the one which gives you the best quality.
The Echo options have been removed in v1.3.0.0.
Logging helps us locate a problem if you encounter any problems with Call Graph.
February 24th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Hi I am trying to use Call Graph but can’t seem to get started. How do I test if everything is working? Do I have to make a call to somebody else or is there another way to test. At the moment if I hit test on teh pop up toolbar I get an error message: failed to launch Call Graph Browser.
Thanks
February 25th, 2010 at 6:26 am
You can make a call to echo123 (Skype’s test call service). Please authorize CallGraph to connect to Skype.
March 10th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
I’m using a Voip dual phone and am trying to record calls. Although I am able to make an echo123 test call from the Voip phone, I am not able to record it with Call Graph. I also have tried a SkypeOut call, with no luck. Is there something I need to change to make this work?
March 15th, 2011 at 2:03 am
Please first try with the Skype desktop client and check if it works
April 27th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Call graph recorded me, but the person that I called was not recorded.
This was a skype-to-cell phone call, not skype-to-skype.
May 2nd, 2011 at 1:11 am
Have you authorized CallGraph to connect to Skype? If you have then try recording in mono mode.
July 19th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Hi, I have a problem.
I recorded a very important Skype call in stereo mode and as I already inderstood, I should have been set the mode to Mono (grrrr)
When I playback my mp3 file – I can hear only my voice and dont hear my callee. Can I somehow make it possile to hear the second track – where my callee’s voice actually recorded?
Maybe some software/players?
Pl, help!
Thanks,
Julia.
August 18th, 2011 at 11:13 am
Please open the file with Audacity and you’ll be able to see the tracks in the file. If your callee’s voice was recorded it will show up there. You can also convert the file to mono with Audacity.