recording calls

BryanW · Post by **BryanW** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:58 am

Hey judge, it records with both my phone and my headset. I am pretty sure I only changed a few settings in the config.xml. One being the "all available devices" in the config.xml to <Devices>\Device\NPF_GenericDialupAdapter</Devices> and then the other was to delete the native audio files. I have my MJ plugged directly into the back of my computer and have it set to use headphones in MJ, but I am still able to pick up either the phone or use the headphones when a call comes in, not able to switch between the two once a call is answered(if I am on headphones and hit "ACCEPT" then I can't switch to the phone in the middle of the call and vice versa.

I know in the install log it did list a few devices, but I only use the one device above in the config.xml. I know it was super easy to setup for me or else I just hit the lucky button that day and everything worked. That usually doesn't happen for me! If you need any additional info please let me know.

Bryan

EDIT:

Changed voip.dll to config.xml(Thnx Judge)

Darkman90808 · Post by **Darkman90808** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:05 pm

Another alternative to Cain is Wireshark. I haven't used it for a while but I preferred it over Cain because it records both sides of the conversation separately. I remember having a little bit of a challenge figuring out the settings, although it's actually not that difficult. At the time, MJ was having volume issues and echo issues and it gave me an idea of what the other person was experiencing. Doesn't seem to be a problem for me anymore.

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:09 pm

Bryan W and Darkman,

Bryan,
Does it record each call to a separate file or are they all grouped into one big file?

Thanks for the feed back. I'll look into it and report back.

Darkman,

Yes, I've been using Wireshark and it works fine at recording the calls fine. I have issues with it separating the conversations into separate files (I know you like that part

). Also, it records ALL SIP packets into a HUGE file. No way easily filter just the Voip, but I'm sure it can be done. Also, it does not date and separately record each call. Otherwise, WS works great at the basic recording part. If I have to, I'll stick with it. Cain is actually the killer app for me if I could just get it to record the entire call....

THnaks for the help guys. I'll let you know what I figure out.

BryanW · Post by **BryanW** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:35 pm

Judge-It separates them out to individual call recording. Kinda like this

Folder setup
-->AudioRecordings
----->2009
-------->06
------------>03
--------------->08
--------------->12
--------------->13

so it reads the YEAR then MONTH then DAY then HOUR(24 hour time). So any calls made at 8:00am-8:59am would be in folder 08(seperate recordings for each call. Interesting note though all the calls I have "checked" recorded just fine with very decent quality, but their was 1 recording to my wife on her cell that didn't record her end, just mine. No idea what caused this but she did say she was an hour away from town and we do live in an area where you only get real decent reception in town. Other cell phone calls have recorded fine and even other conversations I have had with her on her cell recorded fine so I am hoping it was just a fluke. So far it has recorded Voip --> Voip/ Voip --> Cell/ Voip --> Landline just fine with that one exception. Also might want to delete the original data form file as it is quite abit larger than the WAV file it converts it to(automatically) after the call is ended. Set that up in the config.xml file. Will post back if I ever figure out what happened to that one cell call not recording both sides.

Check out yer state laws as they trump Federal laws when it comes to recording calls. Didn't research it much(so it may be old info) but here is a list of the 12 states that require dual consent.

California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

Here's a link to start ya off with some reading about the legality of recording calls.

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/about ... -laws.html

Let me know here if you figure out any tricks or need help.

Bryan

EDIT:

If you don't have any software to edit the XML file I use "XML Marker". Works perfect and it's free. Find the link below.

http://symbolclick.com/

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:04 pm

Bryan W,

Great detail! I really appreciate that. I like it so far. I'll test it over the next day or so.

It might help me, and others, if you could post the snippets of XML code you modified, the file it is in, and the reason for it. I think I got the gist of what you said earlier, but I'll have to test the program first to better understand. I.E. Deleting the original native sound files and "all available devices" in the voip.dll to <Devices>\Device\NPF_GenericDialupAdapter</Devices>

I'm sure I'll figure that out. Thanks for the links too!

BryanW · Post by **BryanW** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:23 pm

Judge- Once you open up that config.xml(found in the Orkaudio install folder-make a backup of that file if yer gonna play with it so you can get back to default settings) file you'll see it is pretty easy to modify. You'll easily see where to change the NO to a YES to delete native files.(Mine still saved the native file formats for some reason after I changed it and saved it but then a reboot fixed that)

Here's mine


<DeleteNativeFile>YES</DeleteNativeFile>

Also for the devices thingy-here's mine

-

You can find your devices in "orkaudio.log"(check this log file-yer's may be different)after the service has started. I just have the GenericDialupAdapter in mine and it works great for both headset and phone recording. I have my MagicJack set to headphones, but it works just fine if I pick up the phone instead(rarely use telephone, just headphones). There is alot more to tweak here and I haven't messed around with it to much(working on a minimag flashlight mod), so if anyone does and finds some improvement tweaks PLEASE post it! Thnx!

Bryan

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:36 pm

Bryan,

I was installing Orkaudio while you were posting this. I found already the config.xml and Ork found both my Ethernet and dial up devices. Also, it is preset to delete the native files. I'm getting ready to test it now.

I was just confused because you mentioned to mod the .dll file instead of the xml file at first.

Stay tuned.

BryanW · Post by **BryanW** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:40 pm

lol ok no idea why I put that in there! Edited it though to read correctly, thnx for pointing that out to me.

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:41 pm

Bryan,

Got it installed and it works right out of the box. No tweaking needed. XML file auto detected and configured my xml file. Took 3 minutes!

Upon testing, OrkAudio appears to work just fine with my phone and MagicJack. Which is nice. Strange part is there is no User Interface with this program. It runs as a service and simply posts the recorded call files in one folder and the log details of each call in a TXT file. Simplistic and cool. You then have to reconcile the call log/phone numbers with the recordings by date/time. A bit tricky, but overall ok to deal with. Also, seems memory used is only about 12,000K while idle. Less taxing on my system than Wireshark. Call sound quality is not as good as Wireshark, but overall not too bad for what you're doing with it. Don't need stereophonic sound quality do we?

The next big thing about OrkAudio is that it records ONLY the VOiP packets and not every single thing like WireShark. The only files it stores are the wav files.

OrkAudio also supplies the incoming caller ID with each time stamp, where Cain does not.

Testing will prove OrkAudio's reliability and consistency of recording. That will make or break this deal for me.

As stated earlier, it all depends upon your needs and expectations when choosing a recording program. OrkAudio seems to have what I need. As long as it's reliable, I'll stick with it.

Hope this review helps others.

BryanW, Thanks for the assistance!!!!

BryanW · Post by **BryanW** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:48 pm

Hey Judge np! and stop back after you play with this abit and let us know what ya found out. I am soon hopefully going to move my magicjack to a thin client with no hard drive so recording all my calls prob isn't feasible until I figure out a way to add some storage to the thing.

eq2675 · Post by **eq2675** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:31 am

thejudge wrote:
BryanW wrote:This works great for me. I mighta messed with the options a little bit, but I had it recording both sides of the audio in literally minutes.

http://oreka.sourceforge.net/download/windows
Bryan,

I've seen this here before. If this works with the sound card, I think....that it will work only with a headset. I am not using a headset but rather an actual phone. So I believe it must monitor SIP packets in order to record both sides of the call.

Any additional info on this program?

Thanks.

I just installed OrkAudio for Windows and it works great with the handset. It's all automatic. No change in settings or anything. Just be sure to pick the folder at install where you want the .wav files to be located.

It just works!

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 7:00 am

BryanW wrote:Hey Judge np! and stop back after you play with this abit and let us know what ya found out. I am soon hopefully going to move my magicjack to a thin client with no hard drive so recording all my calls prob isn't feasible until I figure out a way to add some storage to the thing.

Bryan,

Yeah, I'll report how OrkAudio works out and what tweaks work.

I too want to move my MJ to my Windows Home Server and run as a service. (Since that server is on 24/7.) So I have to test MagicJack to see if I can get it to first work as they claim it was tested only with XP and Vista. If it works, then I'll try OrkAudio too.

Stay tuned... And thanks again for the help!

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:35 pm

eq2675,

Glad it worked for you too. Yup, install and it flat works! No fuss, no muss, no tweaks and uses little resources.

keithfrasier · Post by **keithfrasier** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:25 pm

The easy way to record outbound calls is to first set up a free account with drop.io
they will then give you a free 1800 number that liks to your new account. This account can hold 100 megs of data. To record your outbound call just use 3 way calling and call your drop.io 800 number, then call any number. The call will be saved as an mp3 and you can listen online, or download it to listen whenever you want.

I have used this many times and it works great!

Keith

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:11 am

keithfrasier wrote:The easy way to record outbound calls is to first set up a free account with drop.io
they will then give you a free 1800 number that liks to your new account. This account can hold 100 megs of data. To record your outbound call just use 3 way calling and call your drop.io 800 number, then call any number. The call will be saved as an mp3 and you can listen online, or download it to listen whenever you want.

I have used this many times and it works great!

Keith

That's a cool alternative. But that would record only the call you do a three way with instead of all calls. Not bad if it is for clients or specific situations.

For me, I need them all recorded without the extra dialing.

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:17 am

Bryan,

I have tested Orkaudio for a few days. Seems to work pretty well. One thing I noticed.....

If a call is started (either in or out bound) and if I do ANYTHING else on my PC, like open a browser or another program....Orkaudio loses focus on my or other caller's side of the conversation. Meaning, it records only one voice. I've tested it several times since figuring this out and it happens every time I open a program while a call is in progress. When I don't, it records just fine.

As long as the PC is left idle during the call, Orkaudio records both sides of every call made. Is it because my PC is a little older or is it just a small glitch in the programming? Either way, it's a small one.

eq2675 · Post by **eq2675** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:56 pm

I too am having issues with Orkaudio recording only 1 side of the conversation.

FWIW, I am using a new Dell Vostro with Core 2 Duo, XP Pro, and 2 gigs of ram. I don't think it's a performance issue.

Is their anyone using CAIN with absolutly no issues when using an external telephone? I may write a script using "sendkeys" to put it in "hidden" mode if it's a better alternative.

BryanW · Post by **BryanW** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:23 pm

Judge- grrr kinda same issue here, not everytime, but some of the times when I do something when i am on a call I can just hear my side and not the other side. This only happens with one persons cell phone, but still...grrrr. If you ever get this troubleshot and figure out a solution, I'm sure you'll post it here. I am moving to a thin client on tuesday(hopefully) so i am not going to spend much time with this unless i can figure out a way to save the calls over a network or something. G'luck!

stroths · Post by **stroths** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:07 pm

I use CAIN with pretty much no issues. Originally, I had it running on my Vista x64 (quad core, 3GHz, 8gb RAM, etc) and I noticed it slowing the system down and any web related services ran from that computer were slowed down as well (ftp, web, downloads, etc). I figured it would be better to move CAIN over to a different computer, but hated to setup yet another PC.

I have used thin clients as magicjack boxes as well as firewall routers due to their low power usage, decent horsepower and small footprint. I got a good deal on a HP t5720, which I upgraded to 1gb and 2GB flash. I put a small 2.5" external drive on for the recordeded calls. Installed a full copy of XP Pro (nlited) and its sole purpose is to run CAIN. I had one issue where it had some sort of memory leak and locked up once. Other than that, its been running fine for months now recording over the network.

I will note that its just used for my Wife's vonage account, but I did do some testing and it could also record MJ calls just fine.

I also use a freeware program called DirMon2 to monitor for wav recorded from CAIN. Once the wav file quits growing in size, Dirmon kicks off a batch file that converts the wav to a mp3 using a command line lame converter. Dirmon then removes the wav file. This saves disk space and puts it in a nice mp3 format.

eq2675 · Post by **eq2675** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:32 pm

I noticed that CAIN has better sound quality, but the file sizes are a lot larger.

Anyway, I would consider going with a paid recording product (less than $50) if it flawlessly recorded my MJ calls and didn't slow the system down.

thejudge · Post by **thejudge** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 8:37 pm

stroths wrote:I use CAIN with pretty much no issues.

I liked Cain as it was easy and recorded only the calls and not every packet. But, it would record only 2-10 seconds of the call. Even though it showed the call as "in process" and terminate after the call ended, the file would be tiny. Could not figure it out.

WireShark works, is awkward and resource hungry. It does record every call without fail. BUT, I Found Wire Shark causes MJ to Beep during calls. Only the outside line would hear this beep. Sounds like the MJ user is pushing one of the dial keys.

OrkAudio works nicely and simply. Runs as service every boot, which sucks but tolerable. But, it randomly records only one side of the call and the side varies. It happens on incoming or outgoing calls. No idea what is up with that.

Geeze, does any of these programs actually work right? I realize that there can be conflicts and all, but how hard is this? LOL.

Any other suggestions? I've seen but not tried WinPCap, Stepvoice, Audacity.

chugg · Post by **chugg** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:29 am

I am still looking for a way to record my calls. I read this whole subject and it seems that the 3 programs discussed all have issues. I have cain installed on my computer but cant figure out how to use it.

cnewman402 · Post by **cnewman402** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 10:36 am

orkaudio

speaker2112 · Post by **speaker2112** » Mon Dec 28, 2009 11:12 pm

I've been experimenting with magicjack and tried Cain and Wireshark for recording but Cain keeps crashing during the calls. Anyone else experiencing this issue? Could you fix it?

WS works but records many more packets and can seemingly only be saved as a pcap file and listened to within WS. I'd like to be able to process the files in Audacity or at least listen to them as WAVs, MP3s or AUs. I was unable to save the audio as an .au file in WS due to an error about missing information. Ideas on how to get that working?

Thanks for any insights.

Iliya · Post by **Iliya** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 10:45 am

Personally for me the best tool for recording Skype conversation is SkypeCap, it very helps me in work.

redpepper · Post by **redpepper** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 7:42 am

The Magicfeatures plugin has a Call Recording on Demand (dial ***) feature.

You can also now enable/disable the call recording beep tone to meet your State's legal requirements.

HMPhx · Post by **HMPhx** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:58 pm

I have read many of the posts about recording with MJ but, I need to ask if this is possible using a cordless phone?

redpepper · Post by **redpepper** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:12 pm

I have read many of the posts about recording with MJ but, I need to ask if this is possible using a cordless phone?

If you will be using Magicfeatures for call recording, the answer to your question is yes.

HMPhx · Post by **HMPhx** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:16 pm

redpepper wrote:
I have read many of the posts about recording with MJ but, I need to ask if this is possible using a cordless phone?
If you will be using Magicfeatures for call recording, the answer to your question is yes.

Does the Magicfeatures include the recording of both in and out voices? And of course, is there a free way? Also, is it possible to have the recording begin automatically or does it have to be the on demand feature?

redpepper · Post by **redpepper** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:47 pm

It records the phone call conversation in both directions.

HMPhx · Post by **HMPhx** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:49 pm

Hey Red, just edited my previous post with another question. Must have done it at the same time as your response.

Anyways, is it possible to set the recording to begin automatically or is the on demand feature the only way?

redpepper · Post by **redpepper** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 9:49 pm

As recording involves extra real time overheads and of course disk space to store the recordings themselves, it was only implemented as an "on demand" feature rather than a feature that automatically runs for every single call.

What are you looking for some type of call center solution?

HMPhx · Post by **HMPhx** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 10:08 pm

Just want to eliminate the need to run to the computer if I have the cordless in another room.

redpepper · Post by **redpepper** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 11:29 pm

There is definitely no need to go to your computer to start call recording. You just dial *** on your cordless phone keypad to start recording the call. It works for both incoming and outgoing calls.

You know you can try it for free for a few days to see how it works and to see if it meets your needs. If it does not work out there is an uninstall application.

tsmith · Post by **tsmith** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:10 am

The recording feature works flawlessly on both my corded and cordless phones. Very handy.

blazer123 · Post by **blazer123** » Fri May 14, 2010 10:40 am

Hi Chad,

Have you tried http://www.calln.com ?
It is all automatic and doesn't require skills with wireshark.
A standard mp3 file is created.

Magicjack simply uses the standard SIP protocol.

magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

recording calls

Recording Calls the easy way

Re: Recording Calls the easy way

Cain crash, Wireshark save as .au

Recording calls with CallN