Setting Up Playback and Recording Devices for the Media Master

The Media Master is used to make and play recordings in the Cisco Unity Connection web tools.

See the following sections:

About the Unity Connection Media Master

The Media Master appears on the pages of the Cisco Unity Connection Messaging Inbox and Cisco Unity Connection Personal Call Transfer Rules web tools on which users can make or play recordings. Depending on how Cisco Unity Connection is set up, the Media Master may also appear on some Unity Connection Messaging Assistant pages. Users can use the phone or the computer microphone and speakers with the Media Master controls to make and play recordings. See Figure 2-1.

Figure 2-1 Media Master

 

 

1

Options menu
7

Stop
2

Recording/playback progress
8

Pause
3

Record list
9

Play
4

Help menu
10

Volume control
5

Playback speed control
11

Playback list
6

Record

The Media Master is a Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) application, and the Java plug-in component must be installed on the user workstation for it to run properly.

Note Depending on the web browser, if the Java plug-in component is not installed, the Media Master does not appear in the browser window or the user is prompted to install the component. (See the “Configuring a Web Browser to Access Cisco PCA” section.)

Before users start using the Cisco Unity Connection web tools that offer the Media Master, specify that Unity Connection has at least one voice messaging port designated to allow users to use the phone as a recording and playback device, by adjusting the Allow TRAP Connections setting on the Telephony Integrations > Port page in Cisco Unity Connection Administration.

Determining the Recording and Playback Devices Used by Media Master

When determining the recording and playback devices that you want users to use, note the following considerations:

  • The phone offers the best sound quality for recordings, and serves as the default recording and playback device for the Media Master.
  • In order for users to use the phone as a recording and playback device, Cisco Unity Connection must have at least one voice messaging port designated for this purpose. Note that when a user listens to messages or other recordings by using a computer microphone and speakers, no ports are used, which decreases the load on the Unity Connection server and leaves ports open for other functions.
  • You must provide sound cards, speakers, and microphones to users who do not want to use the phone as their recording and playback device.

See the following sections for detailed descriptions of the events that occur when using the phone or the computer microphone and speakers for recording and playback:

What Happens When Phone is Used as the Recording and Playback Device

Revised April, 2014

When users use the phone as a recording and playback device in the web tools that are accessed through the Cisco PCA (and in Cisco Unity Connection Administration), the following events occur:

1. The user selects the applicable option in the client application to make or play a recording.

2. The client application asks Cisco Unity Connection to place a call to the user extension or URI, and Unity Connection calls the extension or URI.

3. When making a recording, the user answers the phone, and begins recording the message, name, or greeting. When the user hangs up, the client application tells Unity Connection that the recording is finished.

4. When playing a recording, the user answers the phone, and the client application asks Unity Connection to play the message. Unity Connection streams the recording by phone.

What Happens When Computer Microphone and Speakers are Used as the Recording and Playback Devices

When users use a computer microphone and speakers as the recording and playback devices, the following events occur:

1. The user selects the applicable option in the client application to make or play a recording.

2. When making a recording, the user begins speaking into the microphone. When the user selects the applicable option in the client application to stop recording, the client application tells Cisco Unity Connection that the recording is finished.

3. When playing a recording, Unity Connection streams the message to the client application. Streaming occurs on demand, regardless of network traffic. The client application begins to play the message through the speakers as soon as a few seconds of the message are buffered in memory on the user workstation.

How Users Specify their Recording and Playback Device Preferences

Users can set their own recording and playback device preferences. For example, the Options menu in the Media Master allows users to choose their own recording and playback devices.

Media Master recording and playback settings are saved per user, per workstation. This means that:

  • A user can change recording and playback devices from the Options menu and from both the Playback and Record lists of any Media Master on the web-tool pages. The recording and playback devices that a user chooses apply to all Cisco Unity Connection web tools, as long as the user accesses the applications from the same workstation on which the changes were initially made.
  • If multiple users share the same workstation, each user who uses the workstation must indicate a choice of recording and playback devices.
  • If a user has updated the choice of recording and playback devices from one workstation but also accesses the web tools on a different workstation (for example, from a computer at home), the choice of recording and playback devices must be set for the second workstation as well.