[asterisk-dev] Configuration for recording quality?

[Jared Smith]

On Fri, 2006-08-04 at 13:42 +0200, Jan du Toit wrote:
> I have recently posted a mail on the users mailing list, asking around 
> how to change the quality setting of files that asterisk record for you.
> For instance change the 8kHz for meetme recordings to 32kHz.

Unfortunately, this list isn't the "I asked on the -users list, but
nobody answered" list.  This is not a court of appeals.  This is the
list the Asterisk developers use to discuss changes to the Asterisk
source code.

> The reply came that you can not configure the recording 
> settings/quality. Is this true?

As far as I know (and I could be wrong here), it's not possible.  Why,
you ask?  First of all, because Asterisk deals with 8kHz audio, because
that's what comes across the PSTN.  While there is certainly VoIP
hardware (and softphones) that support wideband audio, it's not that
mainstream yet. [1]

> I was just wondering if something like this is in the pipeline? Or was 
> thought about?

Yes, the developers have thought about it, and I think you'll see
Asterisk start to support wideband audio more and more once Asterisk 1.4
has been released and has a chance to settle.  In fact, I think at least
one of the developers has a "wideband" tree in the subversion
repository, although I haven't seen any movement on it in a while, most
likely because the developers are busy trying to get the finishing
touches on 1.4 done. [2]

> I was suprised to see that asterisk, which I regard as a functionality 
> rich product, does not allow you to do this.

At this point, what good would it do to be able to provide a 32kHz
recording of a meetme conference, if the audio coming into it is only
8kHz to begin with?  If you really want 32kHz audio, why not use sox to
convert the file after the fact.

I apologize this this comes off sounding rude -- I don't mean it to be
that way.  I'm just trying to explain things in a way that will help you
understand.

-Jared

[1] See chapter 7 of "Asterisk: The Future of Telephony" for an
explanation of why it's 8kHz.  The PDF is downloadable for free from
www.asteriskdocs.org
[2] http://svn.digium.com/view/asterisk/team/mattf/asterisk-wideband/