Media Player

Introduction

Media Player is a Windows desktop application that provides audio playback of many popular audio formats (including DSS/DS2), allows the audio to be submitted to 2RC"s cloud-based Speech Service for speech recognition, and integrates with 2RC Transcribe Assistant by providing an option to import the audio.

Features

• Audio playback
• Submit audio files to 2RC Speech Service for speech recognition
• Real time recording and streaming for speech recognition
• Import file to selected Transcribe Assistant folder
• Supports audio formats:
  • .dss, .ds2
  • .wav, .mp3, .caf, .wma
  • .aif, .aiff, .flac, .ogg, .3gp, .amr, .m4a, .acc, .ac3, .mka, .au
• Supports extraction of audio from video formats:
  • .mp4, .avi, .mov, .mpg, .flv

Requirements

• Windows 7/8/10; Windows Server 2008/2012/2016
• .NET Framework 4.0
• 50 MB Free Disk Space
• 2RC Speech Service account (for Speech Recognition).
• Port 8080 open (for Speech Recognition)

Quick Start

1. Download and run the latest installer.
2. Run the Media Player application:
   Start > All Programs > 2RC Software > Media Player
3. Open a supported audio file and press play.

Application

The Media Player application allows you to import audio files and record new audio files. Metadata can be associated with each audio file in the form of a Job Descriptor. Once imported or recorded, audio files are distributed to one or more locations using the supported distribution methods.

Command Line

The following command line arguments are supported when starting Media Player:

Menu Items

File > Open
Browse for an audio or video file. If the selected file is a supported audio or video file, it is opened and initialized for audio playback.

File > Open Streamed Audio
Browse for an audio file from Media Player's Log Folder. The Log folder is where streaming audio files are created if the "Save local copy of streamed audio" feature is enabled. The selected file is opened and initialized for audio playback. This menu option is only available when Streaming Speech Recognition is enabled.

File > Submit for Speech Recognition
The open audio or video file is submitted to the 2RC cloud-based Speech Service for speech recognition. The transcript returned is displayed in a text editor that becomes visible upon successful speech recognition. This feature requires a 2RC Speech Service account.

File > Import to ...
Opens a dialog that allows the selection of a destination folder. When run on a workstation that also has 2RC Transcribe Assistant installed, the audio folders configured in Transcribe Assistant are provided as selections in a dropdown list. The currently open audio file is copied or moved to the selected folder.

File > Exit
Exit the program.

Options > Setup
Opens a setup dialog to allow changes to commonly accessed program settings.

Options > Settings Manager
Run the Settings Manager application for access of all the application settings.

Options > Set File Associations
Runs an external helper utility that can be used to associate Media Player with one or more audio and video file types (extensions). In order to set file associations in Windows the application must have administrator rights. When you choose this menu option you will be prompted to allow the utility to be run as an administrator. Associating Media Player with a file extension (.wav for example) does not necessarily mean Media Player will run when a file of this type is opened. Windows allows multiple programs to be associated with a file extension. If there are already programs associated with a file extension, you may need to right-click a file of the type and choose "Open with..." and choose Media Player.

Options > Expand Window / Contract Window
Expands the window to display the text editor. If already expanded, the window is contracted to the original size, hiding the text editor from view.

Help > View Event Log
Run the 2RC Event Manager to view log entries associated with Media Player.

Help > About (F2)
View the application's version.

Previewing Audio

Audio and supported video files can be opened by dragging and dropping the file onto the main window, choosing the Browse button (...) or by choosing the menu option:

Supported files that are open can be listened to prior to being submitted for speech recognition or imported into a folder accessible by 2RC"s Transcribe Assistant.

Speech Recognition

After an audio or video file is opened it can be submitted to the 2RC Speech Services server for speech recognition. Submit for speech recognition by clicking the Submit for Speech Recognition button or choosing from the menu:

The unedited transcript that is created by speech recognition is displayed in the text editor visible in an expanded Media Player window.

To successfully receive text you must have enough credits in your account. Each credit represents 1 (one) seconds of audio. Credits are automatically decremented based on the length of the audio submitted.

Speech Recognition Streaming

The streaming feature allows you to record audio and have each audio segment converted to text in almost real-time. The text returned from submitting the recorded audio segment to 2RC's Speech Service is added to your computer's keyboard buffer and appears wherever the cursor is located - even if that is in another application, Word for example, or perhaps a browser-based EMR form.

Recording is initiated by pressing and releasing the designated "hot key":

When recording is initiated by pressing the hot key, wait for a beep before you being speaking. When you are done dictating your sentence or short paragraph, press and release the hot key again to stop the recording and submit the audio for speech recognition. A beep will indicate that recording has stopped. Wait until the resultant text is displayed before beginning a new recording segment. It will take a number of seconds for the processing to finish and the text to appear - the longer the audio segment, the longer processing will take.

Live streaming is a feature that is primarily designed for short (less than 1 minute) recordings, although the feature will accept longer recording segments. Recordings longer that 1 minute will take proportionally longer to process.

The speech recognition streaming feature is enabled by choosing from the menu:

When enabled, the main form will display a round LED on the main form. The LED is "Off" when not in use, and "On" when recording is in progress.

As you record and submit audio segments for conversion to text, your "credits" are decremented by the number of seconds of audio converted to text. At any time, you may hover the mouse over the streaming status LED to see how many credits you have remaining in your account. Each credit represents 1 (one) second of audio.

Importing

A file is imported (copied or moved) into another folder by clicking the Import button or by choosing from the menu:

An import dialog allows the selection of a folder already defined in Transcribe Assistant settings or browsing to a different folder. A default filename for the imported file is suggested based on the setting RenameMask. It can be left as the default or modified as desired. Whether the file being imported is copied or moved is also selectable.

Click the Import button to copy/move the audio file, or Cancel to abort.

If an associated metadata file exists, it will automatically be imported to the same destination folder.

Settings

All settings are managed by running Settings Manager. To run Settings Manager choose the menu option:
Options > Settings Manager

In Settings Manager, the following settings are supported:

Setting Name Type	Description Default
ShowSpeechRecButton Boolean (True | False)	Causes the application to show or not show the button that allows an audio file to be submitted for speech recognition. Set this setting to False when used in an environment where the 2RC Speech Service is not being used. True
ShowImportButton Boolean (True | False)	Causes the application to show or not show the button that allows the selected audio/video file to be imported into a Transcribe Assistant audio folder. Set this setting to False when used in an environment where the Import feature is not being used. True
AutoCloseAfterImport Boolean	When enabled Media Player will be closed automatically after the selected audio/video file is imported to a specified folder. True
DeleteSourceAfterImporting Boolean	This setting defines whether the "Copy" or "Move" option in the Import dialog is the default. When this setting is True, the "Move" option will be the default, otherwise the "Copy" will be. Regardless of the default setting, the selection can be changed in the Import dialog prior to performing the Import. True
RenameMask String	Defines the default filename format for files being imported.
2RCServer URL	A URL that specifies the location of the 2RC speech server. This setting also requires that 2RCUsername and 2RCPassword be set. http://www.2rcsoftware.com
2RCOrganization String	Your 2RC Speech Services organization name. Each account belongs to an Organization.
2RCUsername String	Your 2RC Speech Services account name. Requires that the setting 2RCPassword is also set.
2RCPassword Password	Your 2RC Speech Services account password. Requires that the setting 2RCUsername also be be set.
SettingsMgr Pathname	Pathname to 2rcSettingsMgr.exe. Executed when the menu item "Options > Settings Mgr" in the application. <programfilesx86>\2RC Software\Settings Mgr\2rcSettingsMgr.exe
EventMgr Pathname	View events associated with the application. <programfilesx86>\2RC Software\Event Mgr\2rcEventMgr.exe
TempFolder Folder	The folder used to create temporary files required by the application for various tasks. C:\Users\{loginname}\AppData\Local\Temp
LogPathname Folder	The full pathname of a file where diagnostic information is logged. The directory (folder) name is also used by the streaming speech recognition feature if the setting SpeechRecStreamingSaveLocalCopyOfAudio is enabled. C:\Users\{loginname}\AppData\Roaming\2RC Software\Media Player\Log\2rcMediaPlayer.log
RewindSecs Integer	How many seconds audio playback will be rewound each time a rewind is issued. This value will be overridden by the System"s user record if SystemEnabled is set to true. 4
ForwardSecs Integer	How many seconds audio playback will be moved forward each time a fast-forward is issued. This value will be overridden by the System"s user record if SystemEnabled is set to true. 10
SpeechRecStreamingEnabled Boolean	When enabled, streaming speech recognition can be initiated by pressing the designated hot key (backquote). Short recorded audio segments are then submitted automatically to be converted into text. This feature requires a 2RC Speech Services account with sufficient "Credits". False
SpeechRecStreamingLoggingEnabled Boolean	Enable this feature to assist in diagnosing a problem with the streaming speech recognition feature. A diagnostic log file is written to the Log folder as defined by the setting LogPathname. False
SpeechRecStreamingSaveLocalCopyOfAudio Boolean	Recorded audio segments are stored locally as a .wav file. Audio files are created in the Log folder as defined by the setting LogPathname. False
SpeechRecStreamingPurgeDays Integer	When SpeechRecStreamingSaveLocalCopyOfAudio is enabled, and this value is greater than zero, local copy of streaming audio files older than the days specified in this setting are deleted automatically every time Media Player is started. 30
SpeechRecStreamingTimeoutSecs Integer	Specifies how long recording will continue if it is not stopped pressing the hot key. This is a safety feature that prevents accidentally creating excessively long recordings. Speech recognition streaming is a feature meant for recording and submitting short audio segments (less than 1 minute long for optimal performance). 60
SpeechRecStreamingDestination Enumeration (ThisApp|Keyboard)	By default, the streaming speech recognition feature pushes returned text into the Windows keyboard buffer which results in the transcript being displayed wherever the cursor is located - even if that is in a different application. That makes this feature ideal for filling out browser-based forms, for example. However, you can redirect that text to the Media Player editor by changing this setting to "ThisApp". Keyboard