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TrueSpeech Player Download
Frequently Asked Questions
TrueSpeech Player
FAQ
What are the minimum requirements for using TrueSpeech?
How does Windows 95/NT give me the built-in ability to download and play TrueSpeech files?
How do I use Internet Explorer's built-in ability to stream TrueSpeech files?
How do I configure Microsoft's Internet Explorer?
How do I configure my Netscape browser? (The installation should do this for Netscape 2.0 and later.)
How do I configure other browsers?
How do I configure CompuServe's Mosaic browser?
Downloading Problems:
"Unable to launch external viewer..."
The screen turns black for a second, then nothing happens
"Can't establish socket"
"Connection Timed Out"
Troubleshooting Tips:
"Helper Application Not Found"
The TrueSpeech Player "stutters" or starts and stops as it plays back.
"Sound device can't play this format with given preferred settings."
"This is not a .WAV file"
Plug-in appears as broken image icon in Netscape
If All Else Fails...:
Try downloading and installing the DirectAudio Player which streams both TrueSpeech and GSM files!
Developing TrueSpeech Content
FAQ
How do I use the Win 95/NT Sound Recorder to convert files to TrueSpeech?
What audio formats can be converted to TrueSpeech using the Win 95/NT Sound Recorder?
How do I get the TrueSpeech Player to launch and play automatically for both Netscape and IE 3.0 when a page loads?
How do I get Microsoft's IE 3.0+ browser to start playing a TrueSpeech file when a page loads without launching a Player?
How do I create a link to use Internet Explorer's built-in ability to stream TrueSpeech files?
What other ways can I edit and convert to TrueSpeech files using Windows 95 or NT?
Why does my browser display text when I click on the *.tsp file?
Why doesn't the horizontal blue bar disappear to show the file conversion is complete?
How do I configure Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS)?
Can TrueSpeech be used for live broadcasting applications, such as a radio station?
How do I use Microsoft's Frontpage to add TrueSpeech to my web pages?
Troubleshooting tips:
"Unknown file type" error when attempting to open a .WAV file for conversion to TrueSpeech using the Win 3.xx Converter.
TrueSpeech Player
1. What are the minimum system requirements for using TrueSpeech?
The recommended minimum requirements are:
486 processor or higher
66 MHz or faster
8 MB RAM or more
SoundBlaster or compatible sound card installed.
You must have a card installed. A PC speaker driver alone is not sufficient.
2. How does Windows 95/NT give me the built-in ability to download and play TrueSpeech files?
If you are running Windows 95, you can use either Sound Recorder or Media Player to play TrueSpeech encoded .wav files after they have been downloaded. (For Win95: Start>Programs>Accessories>Multimedia>Media Player; For WinNT: Start>Programs>Accessories> Media Player) For real-time playback (Internet streaming), you must download the TrueSpeech Player.
3. How do I use Internet Explorer's built-in ability to stream TrueSpeech files?
If the TrueSpeech files are linked within the web page as *.wav files, do nothing. Your IE browser streams them with the built-in ActiveMovie Player. ActiveMovie will play many audio formats supported in Windows 95, including TrueSpeech. When the Play button becomes active, you can begin playing while the file is downloading.
4. How do I configure Microsoft's Internet Explorer?
To configure IE to launch the TrueSpeech Player for *.tsp files:
Select Options from the View menu. The Options dialog box opens.
Click the Programs tab.
Click File Types to display the File Types dialog box.
Click New Type. The Add New File Type dialog box displays.
Enter the following specifications:
Description of type: TrueSpeech
Associated extension: tsp
Content Type (MIME): application/dsptype
Click New. The New Action dialog box opens.
Enter the following:
Action: Open
Application used to perform action: tsplayer.exe.
Note: you must type in the full path for the TrueSpeech Player.
If you do not know the path, Browse until you locate it.
Click OK, and Close the other dialog boxes.
Your browser is now ready to play TrueSpeech files.
5. How do I configure my Netscape browser? (The installation should do this for Netscape 2.0 and later.)
Your Netscape 2.0+ browser will be automatically configured when the TrueSpeech Player is installed. Otherwise, configure as follows:
Select General Preferences from the Options menu.
Select Helpers, then click New Type.
Enter the following:
Mime Type: application
Mime SubType: dsptype
Click OK.
In the File Extensions text box, enter tsp.
Click Launch Application.
Type in the path of the TrueSpeech Player, or click Browse to locate the TrueSpeech Player .exe file.
Your Netscape browser is now ready to play TrueSpeech files.
6. How do I configure other browsers?
If you are using a non-Netscape or non-Internet Explorer browser, you need to configure similarly according to the following guidelines:
mime type = application
mime subtype = dsptype
extension = tsp
Then associate the .tsp file extensions with the TrueSpeech Player.
7. How Do I Configure CompuServe's Mosaic Browser?
To configure the CompuServe Mosaic Browser:
Select Options from the Tools menu.
Select File Types, and click New.
Enter the following:
Mime Type: application/dsptype
Extensions: .tsp
Program: tsplayer.exe (entire path),
or click Browse until you locate the TrueSpeech Player (.exe) file.
Click OK.
CompuServe's Mosaic is now configured to play TrueSpeech files in real time on the Web.
8. "Unable to launch external viewer...", etc.
If you get this message, your browser is trying to launch an application for *.exe files. You need to configure your browser to save *.exe files to disk. Configure your browser to save EXE files to disk by changing the appropriate setting in preferences and try downloading again.
9. The screen turns black for a second, then nothing happens.
Your browser is configured to launch the self-extracting file you have downloaded and not the TrueSpeech Player application. The screen turns black because the files are extracted in DOS mode. If you have done this more than once, it will also ask you to overwrite existing files. You don't need to do this, but you will need to complete the installation process by double-clicking on the setup.exe file located in the directory that you extracted the files to. It will take you through the installation process completely. If you are using Netscape 2.0, your browser's helper application settings will automatically be configured.
10. "Can't establish socket"
Try downloading the Win 3.x version of the TrueSpeech Player. If you are using an older version of Win 95/NT or have upgraded to Win/NT, your TCP/IP STACK (Winsock DLL 16-bit or 32-bit) is most likely still 16-bit, even though Win 95 and Win NT are both 32-bit. In this case, you should download the TrueSpeech Player for Win3.x which will work on your 32-bit system. Otherwise, you will need to purchase and install a program with Winsock 32 bit TCP/IP STACK, such as Microsoft Plus.
11. "Connection Timed Out"
This message is most common among users who are behind a firewall, although it can also mean simply that there are too many users downloading files at that moment. If you are behind a firewall, your server administrator may need to dedicate a port setting through which .tsp files can pass.
12. "Helper Application Not Found"
Your browser needs to be configured correctly. Use the instructions in this FAQ that are appropriate to your browser.
13. The TrueSpeech Player "stutters" or starts and stops as it plays back.
The stuttering effect is usually not a function of the TrueSpeech Player itself, but a function of the quality and speed of the internet connection, or the amount of traffic that the desired site is experiencing at that moment. You might be able to avoid this problem in one of two ways:
1) Select Advanced from the Options menu of your TrueSpeech Player and increase the Initial Buffer size from the default setting (6144) to 10,000, for example, and then try again (the maximum buffer setting is approx. 32,000). This will give the player more time before beginning to play, but can prevent the playback from overtaking the time it takes to download the file.
2) Allow the file to download completely. When you play it again, you will not have this stuttering problem, since the file is cached. You can also save the file to disk for later playback.
14. "Sound device can't play this format with given preferred settings."
You must have a Sound Blaster-compatible sound card installed in your computer. In general, the default settings should be sufficient. However, for some cards, it may be necessary to select a specific sampling rate and resolution type. Some cards may not support all sampling rate options displayed. Select Advanced from the Options menu of the TrueSpeech Player and select from the pull-down menu. Choose a particular setting other than the Default, and try each, one at a time, by playing the sample greeting.wav TrueSpeech file. Try each one until you find a setting that will work with your sound card.
15. "This is not a .WAV file"
For receiving files from Windows NT Servers, this bug has been fixed. Make sure you have the most recent version of the TrueSpeech Player (v3.20b for Win 95/NT).
Web Page designers, make sure that the URL in your *.TSP file is correct. The TSIP should always be capitalized, and you should not use "http://" before "www"; the rest of your address should be the same case-sensitive letters.
16. Plug-in appears as broken image in Netscape.
To verify that your Netscape browser is enabled for the plug-in, Select About Plug-ins from the Help menu. You should see audio/tsplayer listed on that page. If it is not, check to make sure the Plug-in DLL files are located in the Netscape Plug-ins Folder (d32tsd.dll, nptsp32.dll). If these files are missing, try to locate them in another Netscape subdirectory and place them in the appropriate Plugins directory.
Developing TrueSpeech Content
1. How do I use the Win 95/NT Sound Recorder to convert files to TrueSpeech?
To convert PCM-encoded WAV files to TrueSpeech-encoded WAV files, use the Microsoft Sound System in Windows 95 or NT.
In Sound Recorder:
Select Open from the File menu. Select the desired WAV file, and click OK.
Select Save As from the File menu.
Click Change to display the Sound Selection dialog box.
Select DSP Group TrueSpeech(TM) from the Format list box, and click OK.
Specify a new Filename, if desired, and click OK.
The new file is encoded in the TrueSpeech format with a compression rate of 15x. (displayed dialog boxes)
2. What audio formats can be converted to TrueSpeech using the Win 95/NT Sound Recorder?
You can use the Win 95/NT Sound Recorder to convert to TrueSpeech from quite a number of PCM, IMA ADPCM, Microsoft ADPCM, and GMT 6.10 .wav formats. File characteristics may range from 8khz to 44khz, 8-bit and 16-bit, mono and stereo.
3. How do I create a link to use Internet Explorer's built-in ability to stream TrueSpeech files?
Simply link a TrueSpeech .wav file directly into your page. When you click on the .wav file, ActiveMovie will appear and you can click the play button when activated for audio streaming. There is no need to create a *.tsp file nor to download the TrueSpeech Player (We recommend using both the .wav link and the .tsp link, however, to attract a broader audience).
4. How do I get the TrueSpeech Player to launch and play automatically for both Netscape and IE 3.0 when a page loads?
By using the following html tag at the beginning of your page, the TrueSpeech Player will spawn upon loading the page and your TrueSpeech file will begin playing.
<TITLE>Your Title</TITLE><META HTTP-EQUIV=REFRESH CONTENT="0; URL=filename.tsp">
...where filename is the name of your *.tsp file.
5. How do I get Microsoft's IE 3.0+ browser to start playing a TrueSpeech file when a page loads without launching a player?
If you want TrueSpeech to begin playing in the background without seeing the Player, simply insert the HTML tag in the top of your webpage:
<BGSOUND src="filename.wav" loop="Infinite">
Note, however, that the TrueSpeech .wav file should be relatively small since the file must be downloaded first before beginning to play--it is not streaming as in the previous example.
6. What other ways can I edit and convert to TrueSpeech files using Windows 95 or NT?
You can use Sound Recorder in Windows 95 and NT to perform simple editing tasks, such as cropping the beginning or ending of a file. However, if you are using Cool Edit, available from Syntrillium Software, with Windows 95 or NT, you can open, play, and visually edit TrueSpeech .wav files without having to edit the original PCM .wav file and then re-convert. You can even convert to TrueSpeech from other formats not available in Sound Recorder, such as Dialogic .VOX, .VOC, and .AU files. To convert to TrueSpeech from any format using Cool Edit:
Select Convert Sample Type from the Edit menu.
Select 8000hz, 16-bit, mono.
Click OK.
Select Save As from the File menu.
Select ACM .Waveform (*.WAV) from the pull-down menu.
Click Options.
Select DSP Group TrueSpeech from the pull-down menu.
Click OK.
Click OK again.
Your file is now in the TrueSpeech format. Both TrueSpeech and Cool Edit are 32-bit Windows ACM compatible.
7. Why does my browser display text when I click on the TSP file?
When your browser displays the text of the *.tsp file instead of launching the TrueSpeech Player, that means either:
1) the server's mime types file has not yet been configures with the setting application/dsptype for tsp files, OR
2) the server has not yet been RESTARTED for the new mime types to take effect.
An example of the server not being configured is when the browser displays:
TSIP>>www.home.com/audio/test.wav
8. Why doesn't the horizontal blue bar disappear to show the file conversion is complete?
The "Cancel" button does disappear, but the blue progress bar doesn't. Don't worry, if the blue bar makes it all the way across, the conversion is complete and you can open another file to convert.
9. How do I configure Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS)?
On the computer where your http server is located:
Select Run from the Start menu on the Win NT desktop.
Type RegEdt32 in the Open text box.
Go to the following directory: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\
Services\InetInfo\Parameters\MimeMap
Select Add Value from the Edit menu.
In the Add Value dialog box, type the following: application/dsptype,tsp,,5. Do not enter a string.
Click OK.
Restart IIS or restart the computer.
10. Can TrueSpeech be used in live broadcasting applications, such as a radio station?
Yes, TrueSpeech can be used in live broadcast applications; however, DSP Group currently does not offer this type of software to the public. OEMs and software developers should contact us by phone or email to discuss licensing fees and options for our software codecs.
11. How do I use Microsoft's Frontpage to add TrueSpeech to my web pages?
Simply click "Insert" then "Background Sound..." and "Browse" till you select the TrueSpeech *.wav file that you want to start playing when this page loads.
Note: This function works with IE browsers but not yet with Netscape.
12. "Unknown file type" error when attempting to open a .WAV file for conversion to TrueSpeech using the Win 3.xx Converter.
For the TrueSpeech 3.11 Converter to work, the .wav file needs to be formatted in 8khz, 16-bit. Only this format will be accepted by the Win 3.11 Converter. Several sound editing programs can convert from format to format, but are typically not freeware. Some of these include: Cool Edit (Windows), Gold Wave (Windows), Sound App (Mac) and SoundMachine (Mac).
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