CallGraph.Biz Blog

We are proud to announce the Call Graph Premier Edition, the ad free version. For $1 a month you can get the same features of the Call Graph Standard Edition, but without the distraction of advertisements. You need to create an account with us, choose the Premium Edition from the Plans page and enter your registration details on the client. The ads will go away after that. It works from version 1.1.1.0 upwards.

We have also introduced new plans with a focus on online collaboration for work groups. Five plans, namely Enterprise, Large, Medium, Small and Micro are available now. You can check out the feature comparison from the plans page.

http://crims.callgraph.in/plans.php

The Individual Plan is free and offers 1 GB of storage space and 1 sample transcript free. However it only allows one associated machine with each account.

We are working on several new features for the team plans, Email digests, RSS feeds etc. Suggestions, feedback are welcome as usual.

If you havent seen this A/V feature on how to use Skype of recording interviews, then go through it right now. Its a must.

Great tips on how to optimize the Skype connection with a visual step by step guide. Here’s some additional one’s if you are using Call Graph.

• Record in the stereo mode and 16 KHz sampling rate. In the stereo mode incoming/outgoing voice data is encoding in a separate tracks which makes post editing a lot less painful.
• Use a headset instead of the inbuilt speaker and microphone of your laptop/notebook. Keeps unwanted noises down to the minimum.
• Keep the stats window open and keep an eye on it. If anything goes wrong during the recording, it will show up there.

And get it transcribed by us once the recording is done! its much easier to read through it than listen to it.

The echo/lag issues with Call Graph has been resolved in version 1.3.0.0. Please upgrade now.

Our weekly update of the recording client is out, version 1.0.6.5. Apart from the several bug fixes, it also contains a new feature: the recording toolbar.

This toolbar appears when a incoming/outgoing Skype call is detected and gives you ability to start/stop/pause the recording and view your call record history. It also displays the current status of recording, whether the recording is ongoing or paused or finished. The pause functionality is new in this release. During the call you can use this button to completely skip parts of the conversation from the recording.

The time when the window opens can be configured from the settings dialog. By default it shows up whenever a call is detected. In case you do not want this then check the box next to ‘Show toolbar when recording’ option.

A corresponding popup menu item also has been added. Click on it so see the toolbar at any point of time.

This is the beginning of a series of changes that we have planned to our client. Next up is ability to keep on recording beyond the call finishes. Eg. in cases when call is dropped or when are doing a redial. All of these will be implemented via this particular toolbar.

If you have some suggestion in mind then do send it across. It helps us in filling in the voids in our software.

Several new features in this release. Here’s a brief description of each one of them.

A new menu item for pausing/resuming uploads has been added. It will show up whenever an upload is ongoing. The upload is also automatically paused if another Skype call is detected so as not to hamper the quality of that call. It is automatically resumed when the call finishes. Thanks to David for suggesting this feature.

Some changes were made to the Echo Canceler to increase its sensitivity. If you are experiencing echo in your calls while using Call Graph, then please turn this option on from the ‘Advanced’ tab and check. This option is turned off by default. Beware that this is still an experimental feature and right now it degrades the quality of recording.

We added support for mono encoding of mp3 files in this release. Several of our users had asked for this. This option can be found in the configuration -> recording tab. Its available only for mp3 files though. The reasoning being, if you are recording as wav then you are more interested in preserving the quality and having the caller and the callee’s voices in a separate track does that. If you are doing a podcast then use the wav file encoding and then post edit with Audacity.

In addition we added support for 8 KHz and 24 KHz sampling rates. The default still stays at 16 KHz sampling rate, 96 kbps bit rate. The 8 KHz is mainly to ensure that you have lower file sizes. But note that the quality really goes down at this rate: its analog telephony quality.

Another minor change was to rename the ‘Search’ menu item to ‘History’ to clear up some confusion as to where your call records go after the recording is done! The search functionality is integrated into this call record history dialog. Also, you will see two new options ‘search’ and ‘transcribe’ for each call record. Right now they just redirect you to the CRIMS home page. But watch out, it will lead you directly to you account in the future releases!

This release also contains several bug fixes. So please update now. And please keep sending in your feedback.

Today, we introduced a new transcript ordering process and UI. Transcripts are one of the premium features we offer and it is the cornerstone for our business model. Till now we had been offering the service for free. But starting today, we have changed our policy to offer only the first transcript for free. For subsequent orders, an advance payment is required. The payments can be made from PayPal as of now.

Ordering Process:

Here’s how the new process works (click on the images to see a larger version).

Once the uploaded file is screened by our system you will get a notification and a link. The link will lead you to the transcripts page. Its a new page and a new menu item.

Click on the ‘Order’ button to place an order. The system will detect if its your first transcript order and offer it for free.

In case this is not the first transcript order then the price will be mentioned and clicking the ‘Order’ button will lead you to the PayPal gateway. Once the order is done, it will provide a confirmation.

If you want to check your transcripts any time then click on the ‘Transcripts’ page on the menu. It will show all the ordered transcripts and the files for which it can be ordered.

Policy Changes:

Only the first transcript will be offered for free and the subsequent ones will be charged on a per line basis. The cost per line is 7 cents. The payment has to be made in advance and the transcript will be delivered within 18 hours after we receive the payment.

We have also relaxed the minimum duration criteria for screening of call records. Now all call records more than 1 MB are screened by our system.

Whats Next:

Ability to view the transcripts, download it, search through it, share it with others etc. If you have any suggestions please send them across.

Important Note:

If you have ordered transcripts in the recent few days then it probably has gone into a black hole due to the changes that were being done. We’d request you to place the transcript order once again. We’ll be mailing you individually as well regarding this.

Please let us know what do you think of these changes. Is this interface simple enough? Is the policy okay? Price high, low? We’d be glad to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks.

Call Graph needs to connect to the Skype API so as the get the voice data. Skype should automatically ask you now to authorize Call Graph and once you’ve permitted it, you are all set. But sometimes that never happens. Here’s a step by step tutorial on how to authorize CG to connect to Skype.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Step 1: Go to Skype – > Tools -> Options

Step 2: Click on ‘Advanced’ tab on your left navigation bar.

Step 3: Click on that ‘Manage other programs access to Skype’ link at the bottom of this window.

Step 4: Click on the ‘Change’ button. If you do not see Call Graph listed there, then try restarting both Call Graph and Skype. If that doesn’t work too, restart your PC.

Step 5: Authorize Call Graph to connect to Skype and click on the OK button. The Call Graph task bar icon should show a green tick mark. The toolbar status should have message ‘Ready to record’.

If you get a message from Skype “Another application (CallGraph.exe) is attempting to access Skype, but we are unable to respond. Please try to restart application.” then please try restarting both Skype and CallGraph. To restart CallGraph, right click on the CallGraph system tray icon and choose exit from the popup menu.

If you do not get any message from Skype then try making a call to echo123 from Skype.

If you have authorized CallGraph and still can hear only one side of the conversation in the recorded file, then it might be a problem with your stereo file playback settings. Please try recording in the mono mode. The setting is in configuration -> recording tab.

Leave a comment or get in touch with us if you need any help.

So how do record Skype calls? Here’s how you do it with Call Graph.

Installation:

The first thing that you have to do is to download and install Call Graph client. Get it from here. Its completely free and certified by CNET. So you can be assured that it will not install any spyware/adware/crapware on your PC. What’s more, its completely free.

Save the installer to a directory and double click to run it. The installation wizard will start off, agree to the license and then click on ‘Next’ till it finishes. If you want you can modify the options during the installation. Here’s a screenshot of the installer.

Configuration:

After installation Call Graph icons should turn up on your Start Menu. Run it from there. The first time it runs, it might ask you to choose a directory where the Call Records are stored. It tries to guess but if it cannot, it just prompts. Once that is done, the Call Graph icon will appear on your task bar. Hover your cursor over the icon and it will show you the status.

The first status it will show will be “Waiting for Skype connection…”. All Skype plugins have to be authorized by the user before they can connect to Skype. So Skype will display a dialog asking you to Authorize it. Once you click OK on that, its ready to record. Hover your cursor again and it should show “Connected to Skype. Ready to record…”. Here’s a screenhost of the Skype authorization dialog.

If you do not get the Skype dialog asking you to authorize then, you have to authorize the plugin manually. Go to the Skype ‘Tools’ menu, choose ‘Options’ and click on the last item ‘Advanced’ on the left hand navigation bar. Look for a link called “Manage other programs access to Skype”. Click on that and explictly give permission to Call Graph.

Recording:

At this stage you are all set to record. To check, right click on the Call Graph task bar icon and select ‘Start Recording’. You should get a notification saying that no calls are in progress. So go ahead and make a call. If you do not have anyone to call then call up echo123 (Skype’s test call service). As soon as the call is connected, you should get another recording saying that the call recording has started.

When the call ends, Call Graph will again notify you that the recording has been completed and the filename where it has been saved. Click on that link of the notification and you will be able to see your call record now. To play it back, just click on it. Your default mp3 player will be launched and you can listen to you recording.

Each of the calls that you record will end up on your search dialog. To open the dialog anytime, double click on the Call Graph task bar icon. At the bottom of each call you will see options to manage the call record. You can either rename it, edit the tags and delete the file.

Tagging and Search:

By default all your calls are tagged with the name of your contact. So the ‘Echo Skype Test Call’ should have been marked with echo, skype, test and call tags. You can can add as many tags as you want to it. And then search with your tags. Type ‘echo’ in the text box on the top of the search dialog and press enter. You should see the Skype Test call record as a result.

To list all the calls from a specific contact, just type in the name and you should see it listed in reverse chronological order. The tagging and search feature has been designed to help you locate a call record that was made some time back. It takes away the pain of managing individual files in a folder. If you want you can still open your call record folder and play the call record manually.

Options:

You can configure Call Graph to record call automatically or manually.  The setting is in configuration dialog, ‘Automatically record Skype calls’ check box. If this option is enabled then recording will be started automatically for all your calls. If not, then you’ll get a notification when a call is made or received. You can choose to start recording from that notification.

You can also set the ‘Auto Update’ feature on or off. We don’t recommend turning the feature off since we are still in beta phase and release updates at regular intervals. Usually once a week.

You can also change the recording parameters. We support mp3 and wav encoding formats. For mp3 recording we support various bit rates and sampling rates. The default setting is 80kbps bit rate at 16 kHz sampling rate. Its good enough to record voice calls.

What else?

Nothing. That’s it. It’s that simple to record Skype calls. Download, install and authorize. You dont have to pay anything or hack to record a Skype call anymore. Try it out now. If you face any issues, we are always eager to help out. Get in touch with us here.

The Call Graph web service is now open for everyone. Here’s a short introduction.

The purpose: it gives you storage, sharing, search and transcription services for your Skype calls recorded with our Call Graph Skype call recorder. Here’s how it works. You first sign up for the service, then download our Skype call recording client, associate the client with the your account on CRIMS and magically all your Skype calls will start appearing on the site. You can do various things with it after that, the most useful being search and generate transcripts.

The search is done through our keyword mining technology. We process the call record and generate a list of keywords for the call. The call is then indexed with these keywords. So if you used the word “Call Graph” several times during a call then both call and graph would become a keywords for it. Few months down the line if you want to locate this particular call, you just search for graph and you’ll get it back.

The transcripts are a bit more tricky thing though. The first pass is through a Automatic Speech Recognition engine. It processes the call and generates an output. Then we manually proof read the transcripts and correct all the errors. Right now the manual effort required is very high but we are hoping that as we improve the system we will be able to gradually reduce this manual effort.

Its important to note that we do try and protect the confidentiality of the call records. Even though its being heard by a person, we ensure that a single person does not go through the whole call. We use various methods to ensure that. Also, till you order the transcripts the call record is machine processed. So you have a control on which call records can be heard and which one’s cannot be.

Apart from these, you can also choose to just archive your call records and keep them for posterity. Or share them with anyone else without having to attach in your mail or upload it to some file sharing website.

We provide these services for free for the time being. Read up on our FAQ to know more. So please sign up and let us know what you think of it.