robeerski

Thanks for the reply, I hope someone sometime comes up with an answer to this dilema. I too have gone back to using direct hardware as I was not able to make the VMware server work reliably

I have been using DialDictate for a long time and I recently started converting all of my servers to Virtual Machines using VMware ESX server. This has really saved me a lot on rack space rental etc. The only server that has given me torubles is my DialDictate machine. All of my lines are Voip through Vonage and I seem to get very choppy audio on both the incomming recording and the outgoing voice prompts when Dial Dictate is running in a virtual machine. I am wondering if anyone has had any luck getting DialDictate to run in a Virtual Machine and if so, what did you do to make it work. What really puzzels me is that I have a Virtual Machine running an Asterisk Voip phone PBX with 10 inbound lines on the same server as this new DialDictate Virtual Machine and I get none of the choppy audio issues on the Asterisk system. I obviously have a lot more control on how Asterisk provisions the Voip lines then in Dial Dictate but I wouldn't think that this should cause me this much trouble.

I am running DialDictate version 4.08 in Windows 2000 SP4 all on top of a VMware ESX server.

Wow, it is nice to see an answer in the forum from someone at NCH. A while back it seemed that nobody from NCH even looked at these forums. Thank you and I appreciate the answer.

I am curious what features you over at NCH are considering adding to future versions of DD? I would love to see an option to run a report against the log for a single dictator. What would be really cool would be a web control panel, where transcriptionists could log in via the web and run their own reports.

I am currently running version 4.08. The current version is 4.11. Does anyone know what has changed from 4.08 to 4.11?

My version has been stable for me so I have not wanted upgrade. I am wondering if there are any new features that might make upgrading worth wile?

I too am still using Vonage 13 lines and except for the ocational 20 - 60 minute outage I have had no problems either.

If you choose WAV as your file type instead of DCT then my understanding is that DialDictate actually creates and MP3 with a .WAV extension. I think it is a software limitation. I think you could rename all your DialDictate .WAV's to .MP3's and you would end up with real MP3's

When activing a user's license, what is the purpose of the user's email address?  What if the user does not have an email address or changes their email address after the license has been activated?  We have some older physicians who may not have email addresses, and would like to know what to enter in the user's email address field when activating a license.

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I don't think you are required to enter anything in that field. I think that field is basically used to help ExpressScribe users by making it easier to just reply to the e-mail address on file for that person who is dictating.

Could it be that your internet connection is not stable? Anything that uses up your internet bandwidth could potentially cause this. Are you file sharing? Just so I would not have these types of problems I have DialDictate running on a dedicated box with only windows and Dial Dictate installed on it.

Yes it can. I currently have 75 users and 12 phoe lines running into Dial Dictate. you need a seperate phone line for each simultaneous user. I am using Vonage phone lines.

You get this prompt if you recorded something and then hung up without pressing [*][1] to send it. I have had times when there is a very small file in saved recordings and DialDictate has a hard time playing it to the caller. From time to time I search through my user folders and delete any saved recording files under 75K. A 75k file is probably large enough to record the click of a hang up.

I do not use FTP so I have no answer for you on why your recordings are being sent. I think there may be an option under the DialDictate menu there is a clear pending sent files and a reatempt pending sent files that may help you but other then that, I am not sure what is causing your problem.

I am thinking of getting Vonage and assume this avoids the need for a modem or telephony device?

You do not need a modem if you use vonage. You can purchase soft phone lines from vonage and make them work directly with DialDictate.

I noticed a post that with DSL connection they hit a ceiling as to how many lines could come in at the same time - what was that ceiling?

I am running a system with 13 incomming vonage lines and I think I had to relocate my server into a network operations center with a very fast connection after about 5 or 6 phone lines. The reason for this is that each phone line needs a certain amount of upstream and downstream data transfer and at somepoint a DSL line runs out of bandwidth.

With Vonage - do I need the PBX software too?

I am not running any PBX software

Another post I saw noted problems with deleting dictation instead of sending it - has this been corrected?  I cannot see getting this up and running only to have my clients' (lawyers) dictation deleted - what a way to lose a client fast.

I do not loose dictations, I send my dictations via e-mail and the only problem I had was that I needed to upgrade my processor or else I got choppy sound. I am now running an Athelon XP duel core on windows 2000 and all my problems are gone. I do often times get doctors claim I lost a dictation but usually I find that the Doc forgot to leave it and thought he had or it is sitting in that doc's saved recordings file. The system says you have saved recordings and for some reason my doctors never seem to hear that.

I guess what I'm really looking for is a list of instructions as to exactly what it is that I need to get this up and running for a couple of users to start with a view to adding more later using DSL (cable) and Vonage(Canada).  There is so much on the site, but too much for me to sort through

For instructions I don't have much. Get a fast processor and a good network card and from my expirence you should be OK. You can read about vonage's bandwidth requirements on their forum and then you just need to decide how many lines your chosen internet connection can handle.

If you decide to use more then 4 incomming lines you may have to purchase 1 extra line to be used for routing. I had a problem with Vonage failing to forward past 4 lines. I had to purchase an extra line that is not connected Dial Dictate which forward to banks of 4 connected phone lines. Send me a PM if you need help with that one.

I have never tried FTP or any other file transfer method. For me, I use e-mail. I am compressing my dictations using MP3 on the 2nd or 3rd from the higheset compression setting and my transcribers say the sound is great. I have 75 doctors, 9 transcriptionists, and 13 phone lines, only 12 of them are actually connected to DialDictate. Them main problem I have is from time to time Vonage may hiccup and miss a word. This sounds much like a poor connection on a cell phone and I sumetimes suspect that my docs may be calling from a cell phone eventhough I have told them not to. My 2nd biggest problem is keeping my transcribers' version of Outlook Express running. I also need to remind my doctors to listen for the saved recordings prompt if they think a dictation is missing.

Sorry nobody has responded to you, I don't get into the frums very often but when I do, I try and answer people if I know the answer. I am actually surprised that there is not an NCH moderator in this forum to answer questions. Many other forums have a moderator who answers questions. When I first started over a year ago I never got any answers fom the forum either so I quit using it. I had to basically learn everything on my own or by sending support requests to NCH.

Good Luck

Before I transfer DCT file to ES I put it in folder with my about 5 000 mp3 files. I used Dock Browser of Express Scribe to point folder with all files (both this DCT file and mp3 files). I thought that ES will find and transfer only DCT file not mp3 files. Became something different. ES started transfer mp3 files. I didn't know how to stop it so I closed ES. Whan I run again ES it proceeded transfer mp3 files. I decided to change name of the folder with mp3 files. After this ES stoped transfer of mp3 files but started to transfer WINDOWS original sounds. So I lost 42 sounds and lots of my mp3 files. My question is: if is possible to transfer back mp3 files and original Windows sounds from ES to the first positons ?

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Go to settings -> File Types and unselect MP3.

1.  For security, is the person calling-in required to enter a user code and password?  How many users can be created?

You can add as many users as you want but there is a fee for each add unless you purchase a site license

2.  Can DialDictate accomodate multiple simultaneous calls if you only have one phone line connected?  Do I need to get more phone lines if I expect to get multiple simultaneous call-ins?

Dial Dictate can only handle as many simultaneous calls as there are phone lines connected to it. You may want to consider using Vonage VoIP lines

3.  What set-up (hardware) should I have to accomodate multiple simultaneous call-ins?

I am currnetly running 13 VoIP phone lines into an athelon 64 with with an n-force 4 chipset on Win 2000. My problem has been the speed of the internet. I ended up putting a server into a network operations center to get access to a 48 megabit pipe.

In settings > Options

check the following and that may help you with the key presses:

Send Files if caller disconnects without saving recording

Skip the main menu if there are no saved dictations

Skip done menu(Don't let user save or delete dictations)

As far as the voice being quiet I really have no suggestion excep to record the file at a higher volume on your Mic.

All the logs in the form of text files are contained in this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\NCH Swift Sound\DialDictate\Logs

I got my own answer from support. DialDictate gets its CODEC's from Windows and I did not have that CODEC instsalled. The easiest way to get the CODEC's is to install Windows Media Player.

We started using a fast DSL connection and Voip lines but rather quickly ran into a ceiling on how many concurrent connections our DSL line could handle. We ended up leasing space in a network operations center who gave us a 48 mega bit connection and now we have no problems accepting 13 simultaneous incoming calls. We have around 75 doctors and 9 transcribers using the system who love it.

Some doctors have complained that the system is too complicated but once they start using it they seem to get the hang of it. I still have a few who complain but not too many.

The biggest complaint I get is that the number 9 is used to start recording and also to hang up. It is too late for me as I do not want to re-train 75 doctors but I suggest using a different number then 9 to start recording. That way 9 will only be used to hang up. One function per button probably makes more sense.

4 of our transcribers moved over from a dictaphone system. They are a little older and there was definately a learning curve getting them trained on using ExpresScribe. Once they all got some sort of high-speed connection and we got past the training all has gone pretty well.

You do need to purchase softphone lines.

When you purchase a softphone line, you will be given an access password. you need this password for DialDictate.

In DialDictate > Settings > Voip > add

you will need to enter your 11 digit phone number, 1 then area code then phone number.

The server is sphone.vopr.vonage.net

The password is the password you were given when you signed up for a softphone.

You may also want to forward some ports through your router to the PC where you are running DialDictate. The ports you forward are the ports listed on the voip page.

I just did a new install on a new PC using version 4.0 then upgrading to 4.05. My old install came from 3.?? and it had MP3. I lost my 3.?? installation file so I had to start with 4.0. Anyway, my new install is missing the MP3 CODEC and I am wondering how to get it back.

I'm having pretty good performance on a windows 2000 Advanced Server Box. I too sit on a on an OC48 with 90ms ping times. I am using 13 Vonage SIP lines.