FTR 4-channel specifications[1].rtf

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4-channel Bid Specifications

A) Purpose:

The Workers’ Compensation Board is soliciting bids for a 4-channel audio digital recording system. The system shall provide a digital method of capturing, storing, accessing, copying and transcribing digitally-recorded audio.

B) System Description

The system shall perform 4-channel audio recording onto a single PC or laptop for each courtroom. The recorder will provide the court/hearing environment with the appropriate level of redundancy and fault tolerance. The PC or laptop must initially record to the recorders local hard drive and then optionally archive a second copy of the recording to either removable media such as an external hard drive, optical media or to a network location. The system shall be a software-based product. The system must not require any vendor-proprietary hardware components including sound cards. The system shall provide at least 2 options for audio sampling rate

The recorder must automatically capture the date, location and time of the recording in addition to the audio/video capture. All recording files must be automatically captured without user input and should reflect the date and location of the recording capture.

The system shall be user-friendly and designed for inexperienced computer users. Ideally the system will require only slight changes in the current court processes. The system will also allow for the movement of recordings via removable media such as, but not limited to CD/DVD, portable memory, or file transfer/access across a LAN or internet. The system must provide for reformatting the recording into non-proprietary formats such as Windows Media, MP3 or Audio CD formats.

The system shall produce 4-channel audio recordings that can be played using a no-cost player application available through the Internet. The player shall be able to isolate the four channels individually or a mixed combination of the four channels.

The system shall not require a database to store and retrieve audio files. The playback application shall be capable of selecting audio from any file location using Microsoft Windows operating system tools only. If the court chooses, the system shall allow the court to use open-market tools or purchase software for the purpose of “cataloging” the audio for easy retrieval.

C) Software Requirements:

The recording software shall provide the (Clerk) the option to record in single (1), two (2) or four (4) channel mode. Recording software shall allow the user to turn on and off the ability to continuously “confidence monitor”.

The recorder must provide a display of audio levels and the activity from the supplying mixer. The recorder must allow the activity meter to be displayed in its own size configurable frame.

The recording software shall record all audio utilizing MPEG 2 AAC format or other open market standard. The recording software must be able to run on Windows XP or Vista. Audio must be created and named in such a way that the court or its applications can select specific recordings using location, date and time as the identifiers. Software must allow the user to define at least two different bit rates and resolutions for compression.

The recording software shall run on a PC or laptop and allow for other software applications to run on that PC or laptop at the same time as recording is taking place.

Software shall allow (Clerk) to access and play audio recorded earlier in the current recording day or from a prior day without affecting continued recording. Channel isolation shall be available during this playback of audio.

The recording software shall allow (Clerk) to access recorded files from another time, another courtroom, or earlier in the recording session and save all or portions of the audio to other locations on the network or removable media.

The playback software shall be available as a separate module that shall be provided at no cost to all potential listeners of the audio. This software must be available through a website on the Internet. Playback software must operate on Windows Vista, XP and 2000.

The playback software shall allow (Clerk, Transcriptionist, and Judge) to access audio from a LAN or digital media such as, but not limited to, DVD, CD-R or flash memory. This software shall provide the ability to isolate channels during playback. The software shall provide the ability to change the volume of playback on individual channels. The Playback software must include configurable keyboard shortcuts to control channel isolation and volume.

The playback software shall allow the use of an optional footpedal to control stop, start, rewind and fast-forward of audio.

The recording system must allow for reformatting the 4-channel digital audio to a standard 2-channel digital format such as wav, mp3 or wma. The recording system must support the conversion of recordings to an audio CD format that can be played in a boom box or CD player.

The recording software shall allow the court to choose its own method of creating log notes. Court options for creating log notes must include handwritten notes, handwritten time-linked notes, time-linked word processor notes or the use of open market applications to create usable log notes.

Logging software shall be available by the vendor, which will allow court and non-court personnel to create independent time-linked log notes. This log note application must be usable by judges, clerks and lawyers who are not connected to the recording system or network. The log notes must be captured and stored in XML format. The logging software must include the ability to save to .htm format. The software must allow the user to create custom keyboard shortcuts to facilitate rapid text entry.

Log note application shall allow rapid search and retrieval of any log entry, case number, name of proceeding, location of proceeding, date of proceeding, or any combination thereof.

Logging software must include the ability to create links to the audio from within a third party word processor such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect.

Recording system must support time-stamp linking through hand-written notes.

Vendor must provide published documentation that allows third party developers to automate various aspects of recording & note taking application, such as (but not necessarily limited to):

D) Optional Requirements

Sealing Capabilities:

The recording solution must provide an optional module that provides the ability to separately capture, manage and organize sealed court recordings. The optional application must include the following capabilities:

The sealing component shall not encrypt or place password requirements on sealed recordings.

The application’s sealing capability shall not utilize or be dependent on a database infrastructure or application.

Audio Mixing Device

Vendor must provide an eight input 4-channel output analog to digital matrix mixer. The mixer must be capable of delivering digital audio directly to the recording computer through a high-speed USB port eliminating the need for an internal computer-based 4-channel encoder card.

The mixer must include four or more analog outputs that can be addressed per input. The mixer must support dynamic, condenser and line inputs. The mixer must supply phantom power for microphones that require it. The mixer must support saving of individual mixer configurations in individual files on the recording computer for easy retrieval and setup of different scenes in the mixer.

E) Hardware Requirements:

All hardware necessary for the recording, storage, retrieval and playback of digitally recorded audio by the system shall be non-proprietary and accessible on the open market.

The recording software must be able to be operated on a PC or laptop meeting the following minimum specifications:

For Audio only Recording and Playback:

Microsoft® Windows® 2000 SP4**, XP Professional SP1/SP2 450 MHz Intel® Pentium® II processor 256 MB memory 800x600 High color (16 bit) display Windows compatible stereo sound card CD or DVD recordable drive or network access (for archiving or long-term storage) Windows compatible 4-channel sound card (in addition to stereo sound card)***

The playback software shall be able to be operated on a PC or laptop (or file server) meeting the following minimum specifications:

Audio-only Recording & Playback (FTR Reporter) Windows® XP Professional SP3 (32-bit only) with:

- 450 MHz Intel® Pentium® II processor

- 250 MB memory Windows Vista® Business SP1 with:

- 2.4 GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo E4600 processor

- 1 GB memory file_9.wmf

Windows-compatible stereo sound card file_10.wmf

FTR® and Windows® compatible video capture card (click HYPERLINK "http://www.fortherecord.com/images/ftr%20audiovideo%20compatible%20cards%20master%20list_jul08.pdf"here for a current list) file_11.wmf

FTR and Windows-compatible 4–channel sound card (in addition to stereo sound card) for 4-channel recording (click HYPERLINK "http://www.fortherecord.com/images/ftr%20audiovideo%20compatible%20cards%20master%20list_jul08.pdf"here for a current list) file_12.wmf

CD or DVD recordable drive or network access (for archiving or long-term storage)

Compatible with Novell® NetWare® 6.5 SP7 and Novell® Client™ 4.91 SP4 for Windows® XP/2003. Compatibility with Novell® Client™ for Windows Vista® may require custom configuration or updated software from Novell®.

NOTE: As with any software there are hardware and software requirements which need to be in place prior to installing and using FTR Gold® software. While this list shows the recommended specifications, it’s important to be aware that using additional programs may require a higher specification.

Windows® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.