Manage Audio Messages

Use the Manage Audio Messages dialog to edit the camera's voice messages.

The camera can record, play and manage voice messages. To record voice messages, you can either use your telephone or the camera's integrated microphone.

Notes:

In order to record a voice message using the camera's internal microphone, you must have activated the microphone in the Loudspeaker and Microphone dialog. The factory default setting for the microphone is deactivated.
This feature is not available for Web and Basic models.

Alternatively, you can transfer one or more messages recorded by another camera as an audio file via your computer to this camera.

Recording an Audio File Using the Camera

1. Using the Telephone

Select the Connection Type that should be used for all numbers in this profile (SIP or ISDN). If you would like to use VoIP for this purpose, activate SIP telephony in the VoIP Settings dialog and enter the appropriate settings (open the VoIP Settings help page to get more information about this topic).
Enter the phone number or SIP address the camera will dial.
Select the maximum message duration in seconds.
Value range: 2 .. 20 sec.
Click on the Call & Record button.

The camera calls the telephone number or SIP address you entered so that you can record the voice message. Hang up the phone to stop the recording.

2. Using the Internal Microphone

Select the maximum message duration in seconds.
Value range: 2 .. 20 sec.
Click on the Record button.

To record a voice message, start recording the message using the camera microphone as soon as the top three (M12) or all LEDs (all other models) start blinking. The camera automatically stops the recording after the specified time.

Note:	Note that LED signaling will only work if the LED main switch in the LED Setup dialog has been set to Default Configuration or Custom Configuration.

Once the recording is finished, additional options are displayed:

Testing the voice message:
- Click on the Play button in order to play back the voice message using the camera's speaker. For doing so, the speaker needs to be activated in the Loudspeaker and Microphone dialog.
- If you click on the Call & Play button, the camera calls the number and plays back the voice message over the telephone.
Once you are satisfied with the voice message, enter a name and save the recording by clicking on the Store button.
If you do not want to store the voice message, click on the Cancel button.

Recording an Audio File Using a Computer

Launch an application for recording audio files on your computer (e.g. Windows: Audiorecorder, Audacity, Wavesurfer; Linux: Audacity, KRecord).
Record an audio file or open an existing audio file.
The length of the recording should not exceed 20 seconds.
Save the file as CCITT A-law with 8 kHz; 8 Bit sampling rate; Mono.
Make sure that the finished file is not larger than the free space on the camera (see Stored Voice Messages > Free).

Stored Voice Messages

Note:	This section is available only if you already have created and stored at least one voice message.

The name and size of the individual voice messages are displayed in the list. You can execute these actions on each voice message:

Play	The voice message is played back using the camera's speaker.
Call & Play	The camera calls the telephone number entered in Phone Number to Call and plays back the voice message.
Delete	Removes the corresponding voice message.

The last line of this section displays information on the amount of storage space that the voice messages are using.

Download Voice Messages

Note:	This section is available only if you already have created and stored at least one voice message.

You can download one or several voice messages to archive them on your local computer. In order to select several files, keep the Ctrl key pressed and select the desired files with your mouse.

You can either keep such an archive for backup purposes or upload it to other cameras.

Upload Voice Messages

First, select the format of the file you would like to upload:

.tar	A compressed audio archive that can contain several packed .al files and that has been generated by a camera. Use this format for exchanging voice messages between cameras.
.wav	Use this format if you have recorded an audio file on a Windows computer by means of the Sound Recorder. When saving the file, make sure to set Format to CCITT A-law and Attribute to 8 kHz, 8 Bit, Mono.
.al	A-law encoding is frequently used for digitally transferring analog signals. This encoding system needs very few digitizing levels for improving the quality of voice transfer. The camera expects an A-law file with the following specifications: 8,000 Hz sampling rate, mono, 8 bit.

Click on the Browse button to select the file on your computer. To start the transfer, click on Upload.

Notes:

Use the Sound Recorder on Windows systems if you would like to convert audio files in WAV format to other formats. The WAV files on Windows systems usually are PCM format with 44,100 Hz, 16 Bit, Mono. You will have to convert these files to A-law with 8,000 Hz, 8 bit, Mono before you can use them in the camera.
Linux systems, for example, feature the sox program for creating A-law-compatible voice messages (having the file name extension .al).

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