Content
Introduction
IP multicast is a technique for one-to-many communication over an IP network. The transmitter sends out packets to a specific multicast IP address. Any node (phone) listening on this IP address will receive the stream and play it in handsfree mode.
Currently any Snom phone can use up to 10 multicast addresses. The index of the addresses is equivalent to the stream priority: 1 is lowest, 10 is highest.
Streams with higher priorities will overlap those with lower priority. This description deals with firmware version 8.x.
Configuration of the phones for announcements
The Multicast configuration can be found in the phones web interface on Advanced → SIP/RTP.
- Turn multicast support on.
- Enter a valid multicast IP-address and port, separated by colons into a index line.
The default codec used by the phone when sending multicast is pcmu, with a packet-size of 20 milliseconds. Starting with version 8.6.6, you can edit these values using the following settings:
Starting with version 8.7.3.26, you can setup the multicast address with additional options:
- speaker=(0|1): If this option is set and value is 1, then the multicast audio will be played always over speaker. If value is 0, then the current audio device will be used. If this option is not set, then value 0 is used as default value.
- interrupt=(0|1[|2(*)]):
If this option is set and value is 1, then the multicast audio interrupts a running call. If multicast is finished, then the interrupted call continues. If value is 0, the multicast audio will only be played in idle state. If this option is not set, then value 0 is used as default value. (*)Starting with 8.7.5.75 and 8.9.3.67 the value can also be 2. If this value is set, then the call will be mixed with the multicast audio in a local conference. But this is only supported on snom7XX and snom3X5 phones. - volmax=(0|1):Â If this option is set and value is 1, then the maximal volume will be used for multicast audio. If value is 0, then the current volume will be used. If this option is not set, then value 0 is used as default value.
- priority=(0..10):Â This option sets the priority of the multicast address. You can choose a priority between 0 and 10, where 0 is the lowest and 10 the highest priority. If the phone receives multicast from more than one configured port, then the multicast with the highest priority will be played. If they have the same priority then the multicast will be played, that was received first. If this option is not set, then a priority of 5 is used as default.
Example XML
mc_address1=239.255.255.230:5555,speaker=1,interrupt=1,volmax=1,priority=9,name=Sales
Behavior
| interrupt | A call is active and multicast comes in | Multicast is active and a call comes in | Multicast is active and the user makes an outgoing call |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (default) |
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| 1 |
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
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Configuration for Streaming MP3 or WAV Files over Multicast with VLC or FFMPEG
It is possible to stream an audio file directly to the snom phones via multicast. This can be used to start pre-recorded audio announcements or automated audio warning messages. Depending on which file format your audio file is, a different streaming tool has to be used.
- If you have a wav file that you want to stream over multicast you can download https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
- If you have a mp3 file that you want to stream over multicast you can download https://ffmpeg.org/
ffmpeg works for both wav and mp3 files but vlc only works for wav files.
On the receiving phone configure:
multicast_listen=on mc_address1=239.255.255.244:5555
On the PC or MAC in the terminal window type:
VLC
Warning: there are some issues with VLC streaming all VoIP codecs compatible with our devices, and apparently there is no fix for that in the roadmap, this still allows you to stream but the quality of the incoming RTP stream is impacted
PATH/TO/VLC PATH/TO/WAVFILE --sout "#transcode{acodec=ulaw,ab=16,scale=1,channels=1,samplerate=8000}:rtp{dst=239.255.255.244,port-audio=5555}"
FFMPEG
g711u
PATH/TO/FFMPEG -re -i PATH/TO/MP3FILE -filter_complex aresample=8000,asetnsamples=n=160 -acodec pcm_mulaw -ac 1 -f rtp udp://239.255.255.244:5555
g722
PATH/TO/FFMPEG -re -i PATH/TO/MP3FILE -filter_complex aresample=16000,asetnsamples=n=160 -acodec g722 -ac 1 -f rtp udp://239.255.255.244:5555
FW Version <=10.1.42.14 - D717, D735 and D335 only support g711u properly (ulaw option in vlc and mulaw option in ffmpeg). All other phones support g722 as well.
FW Version >= 10.1.42.14 - All phones support g711 as well as g722
Multicast via snom phone
The snom phones D3xx, D7xx, PA1 and MP are able to generate a muticast stream. You need to setup a function key for that.
Example
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Visualisation
Starting with version 8.9.3.58 incoming multicast audio will be displayed by an icon in the title bar on phones with monochrome displays.
Example monochrome display:
- On high resolution monochrome display (D745, D305, D315, D345):
On all other phones the text "PA" will be shown in the status message line.
Multicast Zones
The concept of Multicast Zones is introduced in version 10.1.x. The configuration is done on the web interface the same as before, with the addition of Zone names.
A new keyevent type F_ZONES is added, so that a function key can be configured for the Multicast Zone feature, using the web interface as shown below.
An example showing the idle screen of D375:
The above softkey will bring up the Multicast Zones screen on the phone interface.
The user can select the zone on which to start the outbound multicast stream. The first number is the zone number, and corresponds to the keypad shortcut. For example, user presses 2 to select Zone 2.
Note: key 0 corresponds to zone 10.
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