Re: prs exercises
- From: "David Dick" <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ptr1-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 17:12:46 +0100
have attached the entire file, hope that helps
Kind Regards
David Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Mutch" <william_mutch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ptr1-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2006 4:59 PM
Subject: prs exercises
Hi. Does anyone on the list have the prs exercises which are on the
users manual disk? I have lost my disk and the link to these
excercises on the plextalk website does not work.
Regards
William Mutch
67 Regent Court
Aberdeen AB24 1ZS
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PLEXTALK RECORDING SOFTWARE USER MANUALPLEXTALK RECORDING SOFTWARE USER MANUAL
Table of Contents
1 About this Manual
1.1 Legal and Copyright Information
1.2 Information about navigating the manual
1.3 Sample exercises
2 Software Features and Limitations
2.1 Features of the Plextalk Recording Software (PRS)
2.2 Limitations of the PRS Software
3 Introduction to DAISY
3.1 What is DAISY?
3.2 Main features of DAISY
3.3 Types of DAISY book
3.4 Navigating a DAISY book
3.5 Main elements of a DAISY book
3.6 Main processes involved in producing an audio DAISY book
4 Getting Started
4.1 Terminology used in the software
4.2 Recommended system requirements
4.3 Installation and uninstallation of PRS
4.4 Launching and Exiting PRS
5 Accessing the PRS software
5.1 Description of the main screen interface
5.2 Operation from the keyboard
5.3 Information about using speech with PRS
6 Configuring PRS
6.1 Customising the Voice Guidance feature
6.2 Customising the display settings
6.3 Setting the default folder for recordings
6.4 Selecting the default CD writer
6.5 Exercises for configuring PRS
7 Opening and Creating New Projects
7.1 Opening an existing projects
7.2 Creating a new project
7.3 Opening an existing book from CD
7.4 Exercises for opening projects and existing books
8 Navigating and playing projects
8.1 Navigating sections and phrases
8.2 Playing sections or phrases
8.3 Continuous play
8.4 Adjusting playback speed
8.5 Adjusting playback volume
8.6 Getting section and phrase information
8.7 Searching for heading text
8.8 Jumping to Pages
8.9 Jumping to Groups
8.10 Jumping to Marks
8.11 Jumping to Events
8.12 Exercises in playing and moving around a project
9 Recording
9.1 Checking the Volume Control options for the computer
9.2 Selecting the required input device
9.3 Confirmation of the storage information
9.4 Setting up the recording functions
9.5 Selecting the recording mode
9.6 Adjusting the recording volume
9.7 Exercises for practicing recording techniques
10 Editing
10.1 Selecting multiple sections or phrases
10.2 Standard editing commands for phrases and sections
10.3 Editing a section
10.4 Editing phrases
10.5 Undoing editing
10.6 Editing the section properties
10.7 Setting and removing page information
10.8 Setting and removing group information
10.9 Marks
10.10 Setting page, group or mark codes whilst recording
10.11 Comments
10.12 Exercises in editing a project
11 Creating and Editing the Table of Contents
11.1 ToC (Table of Contents)
11.2 CSV (Comma Separated Variables)
11.3 TXT (Text)
11.4 Running the "ToC Import" process
11.5 Exercises in working with Tables of Contents (ToC)
12 Building the book
12.1 How to run the "Build Book" process
12.2 Outline of the alterations involved in the "Build Book" process
13 Creating the CD
13.1 Configuring PRS for your CD writer
13.2 Writing the CD
13.3 Explanation of the CD writing dialogue box
14 Additional Features of PRS
14.1 DAISY import
14.2 Audio Import
14.3 Audio Export
14.4 Text Import
14.5 Detecting the pause time
14.6 Exercises for the additional features of PRS
APPENDICES
Appendix A - Sample Exercises
Appendix B - Menu Details
Appendix C - Short-cut Details
Appendix D - Technical Details
1 About this Manual
1.1 Legal and Copyright Information
PLEXTOR reserves the right to make improvements in the products described in
this manual at any time without prior notice.
PLEXTOR makes no representation or warranties with respect to the contents
hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability
or
fitness for any particular purpose. Further, PLEXTOR Corp. reserves the right
to revise this manual and to make changes in its content without obligation
to
notify any person or organization of such revision or change.
This manual is copyrighted, all rights reserved. It may not be copied,
photocopied, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or
machine-readable form without PLEXTOR's prior permission.
Manual copyright PLEXTOR Corp. edition July 2004.
MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS and
THOMSON multimedia.
http://www.iis.fhg.de/
Licenses and Trademarks - All licenses and trademarks are property of their
respective owners.
1.2 Information about navigating the manual
This manual has been written in a logical sequence which should allow new
users and advanced users to easily find the information they are looking for.
New users should be able to build up their knowledge gradually by working
methodically through the chapters whilst advanced users may wish to skip some
chapters or sections and go directly to information about the more complex
features.
The manual has been written in HTML format to allow you to view it in your
web
browser. You can navigate through the text from start to finish or you can
use
the links and headings to find particular items of interest.
The main heading and all chapter headings are at level 1, sections are at
level 2 and sub sections are at level 3. All items in the Contents list are
linked to the related part of the manual with hyperlinks. At the end of every
chapter, there is a link back to the Contents list.
1.3 Sample exercises
Throughout the manual, reference is made to sample exercises available in
Appendix A. A copy of these exercises and some sample projects are available
on the "PTR1 User's Guide" CD(\PRS\Sample Projects), provided with your
software. The sample projects should be used in conjunction with the
exercises.
Return to Chapter 1 of ToC
Return to ToC
2 Software Features and Limitations
This chapter details some of the main features of the PRS software and some
of
the physical limitations which apply when used with different operating
systems.
2.1 Features of the Plextalk Recording Software (PRS)
The PRS software is a DAISY2.02 production tool which can import DAISY2.0
content for editing or upgrading. Please note that PRS can only produce DAISY
books that are structured audio and it does not have the capability of
producing full text DAISY books.
The main features of this version of the software are as follows:
It enables a blind or partially sighted person to create a DAISY audio book
independently.
All menus and navigation are fully accessible from the keyboard.
Built-in voice guidance and display options allow you to customise the
software for your particular needs.
Recordings can be edited easily using word processing style commands.
Use of MP3 encoding gives up to 90 hours of audio recording on a single CD.
Built-in CD writing facilities - you don't need a separate software for this
purpose.
Capable of creating multiple book CDs.
Import and edit existing DAISY books or combine several books into one.
Text import feature to allow rapid conversion of text to an audio format
using
synthesized speech.
Table of Contents (ToC) import feature to speed up the production process.
Audio conversion facility to change the audio format of your projects.
2.2 Limitations of the PRS Software
Depending on which operating system you are using, the PRS software is
limited
as follows:
2.2.1 Limitations when using Windows 2000 or XP
Maximum number of sections - 99,999
Maximum number of phrases in a section - 99,999
Maximum number of specified pages - 999,999 (see Note 1 below)
Maximum size of an audio file (MP3 or WAV) - 2 GB
Maximum character length - 127 characters (see Note 2 below)
2.2.2 Limitations when using Windows ME or 98 SE
Maximum number of sections - 2000 (see Note 3 below)
Maximum number of phrases in a section - 2000 (see Note 3 below)
Maximum number of specified pages - 999,999 (see Note 1 below)
Maximum size of an audio file (MP3 or WAV) - 2 GB
Maximum character length - 127 characters (see Note 2 below)
Note 1: Although you can specify up to 999,999 pages, you cannot specify Page
0 (zero)
Note 2: The character length referred to here is the text in the section
property and book information dialogue boxes.
Note 3: When using Windows ME/98 SE, there is a practical limitation of 2000
sections/phrases because of the time taken to refresh the list view. If
editing an extremely large book, it is highly recommended that you use
Windows
2000 or Windows XP.
Return to Chapter 2 of ToC
Return to ToC
3 Introduction to DAISY
This chapter gives an overview of the DAISY format and some of the
terminology
used. It also gives information about the structure of a DAISY project and
the
processes involved in producing a DAISY book. If you are a new DAISY user,
you
should read this chapter thoroughly. If you are an experienced DAISY user,
you
may wish to skim read the chapter or bypass it altogether.
3.1 What is DAISY?
DAISY is an acronym which stands for Digital Accessible Information SYstem.
It
is the information format which is being developed as the international
standard for digital talking books. DAISY books can be played on a dedicated
hardware player or on a computer equipped with the appropriate software.
3.2 Main features of DAISY
The main features of the DAISY format are as follows:
Compression of information - with high levels of compression available, it is
possible to store up to 90 hours of digital audio on a single CD. Imagine
storing a similar amount of audio on cassette tapes!
Speed of Navigation - the DAISY format includes a range of features which
enable the reader to quickly access parts of the book. These features include
6 levels of navigation, coding of pages and groups and the ability to move
backwards or forwards a phrase at a time. These items will be discussed in
more detail later in this chapter.
Multi-media capability - in addition to digital audio, the DAISY format is
able to incorporate text, graphics and even video to provide the reader with
a
fully synchronized reading experience.
3.3 Types of DAISY book
The DAISY format allows for 6 types of DAISY book which range from audio
books
with no navigation structure to books with text and no audio. A brief
description of each type is given below:
Type 1 - Audio without structure: The simplest type of book. Direct
navigation
to points within the book is not possible.
Type 2 - Audio and structure only: A marked up text file contains the
structure of the book and provides links to features such as headings and
page
numbers. This allows the end user to navigate directly to those points. The
marked up file is called the Table of Contents or ToC.
Type 3 - Audio with structure and partial text: As well as containing the
structure, the marked up file contains some text from the book, for example,
for a glossary or index. If listening to the book on a pc the text will
appear
on screen and the user will be able to search for words within the text.
Type 4 - Audio and full text: This is the most time consuming type of book to
produce but provides the most access. Audio and text are fully synchronised
throughout the book, so that the correct text appears on screen as the audio
is being read.
Type 5 - Full text and partial audio: the book has structure and complete
text
but only limited audio. The marked up file contains the structure and the
text
of the book, but there is only audio for part of the text. The end user can
navigate through the text.
Type 6 - Full text and no audio: This is electronic text with structure,
there
are no audio files.
Note: As the PRS package is designed to produce structured audio only talking
books, it has no facilities for including text, graphics or video. For this
reason, this manual only deals with the production of Type 2 DAISY books
(structured audio).
3.4 Navigating a DAISY book
A DAISY book can have up to 6 levels of navigation. The number of levels in a
book will depend on the structure of the original book. The levels are
hierarchical with Level 1 the highest level of navigation and Level 6 the
lowest.
There are no fixed rules about how the DAISY navigation levels should be used
and people's views on how this should be done will vary. For simple books
which only have chapters, it is likely that only one level (Level 1 equating
to chapters) will be used. For more complex books, which may have chapters,
sections and sub sections, there might be 3 levels used (Level 1 for
chapters,
Level 2 for sections and Level 3 for sub sections). Once the book has been
created, the levels of navigation are fixed and cannot be altered by the
reader.
When trying to find a specific part of a book, the reader would tend to use a
higher level (perhaps Level 1 or Level 2) to find the main area of interest,
and would then change to a lower level of navigation to home in more on the
information they are looking for. This allows them to bypass large portions
of
the book that they have no interest in at that time.
DAISY books can allow the reader can go directly to specific pages. To make
this possible, the producer of the book must include the page codes at the
correct locations when they create the book. Pages cannot be coded by the
reader.
Two other DAISY navigation features, namely "Groups" and "Phrases" are
available to the producer of the DAISY project. Both of these features give
the reader extra navigation options and are explained in the chapter called
"Getting Started" later in this manual.
Once the book is complete, the reader can add bookmarks at relevant places to
enable them to find the marked locations at a later stage. The number of
permitted bookmarks will depend on the player used but generally there will
be
more capacity than the reader requires. Bookmarks are the only item that the
reader can insert and remove.
3.5 Main elements of a DAISY book
A DAISY book consists of a number of items. A brief summary of these is given
below:
Audio files - these are the main building blocks of any audio DAISY book. The
DAISY format is able to work with audio formats including MP3 and WAV. The
selection of the audio format for a particular recording will depend on the
audio quality required and the estimated length of the recording. A DAISY
book
may contain a single audio file or a large number of individual files
depending on how the recording was made. The audio files created by the PRS
software are all named in the same style. This is the letter "a" followed by
6
numbers and with a file extension ".MP3" or ".WAV".
Navigation files - in order to enable the reader to quickly move around a
DAISY book, the software creates a number of navigation files automatically.
There are 2 main types of navigation file. Firstly there are files which have
a ".HTML" or ".HTM" file extension. The most important of these is the
"NCC.HTML" or "NCC.HTM" file. In this context "NCC" stands for "Navigation
Control Centre". This NCC file contains information about how the book is
structured and how the audio files should be linked together. The second type
of navigation file can be recognised by their ".SMIL" file extension and are
generally called the "smile files". These files control the timing of the
audio playback. Without these files, the audio files would not be 'linked'
together and could only be played like tracks on a standard music CD. All the
smile files that are generated by the PRS software will have the same style
of
file name. This is the three letters "ptk" followed by 6 numbers and with a
file extension of ".SMIL".
Book information - This is information about the original print book and
about
the people involved in creating the DAISY book. This includes the title of
the
book, the name of the author, the publisher, the ISBN, the name of the
narrator(s), the name of the book producer and the language. Although it is
possible to create a DAISY book without completing this information, it is
good practice to aim to fill in as much information as possible. The
information provided will be used as "meta data" in the NCC file along with
the Table of Contents information. Meta data is just the name given to this
kind of information in the marked up file.
Table of Contents or ToC - this is information which is stored in a marked up
text file which controls the outline structure of the DAISY book. It acts as
a
link between the audio files and the navigation files.
3.6 Main processes involved in producing an audio DAISY book
When producing an audio DAISY book, there are a number of tasks to complete.
In outline, these are as follows:
Starting the new project - this is very similar to the idea of creating a new
document in a word processor. By choosing to create a new DAISY project, you
will be given an empty project in which to generate your new book.
Completing the book information - this can be done at any time during the
process of creating the book but is probably best done at the beginning.
Creating the Table of Contents - this can be done before or after the
recording and will very much depend on the type of recording you are making.
Recording the audio - there are 2 main options for generating the recording.
It can either be recorded direct into the DAISY software or can be recorded
separately and imported into the project afterwards. The method selected will
depend on the type of DAISY book you are producing.
Editing the project - it is rare for a recording to be perfect first time so
there is likely to be a need to edit it afterwards. The editing process also
enable the producer of the DAISY book to check the structure of the new DAISY
book and to insert heading, level, page and other navigation information if
they haven't been entered previously.
Building the final book - after the editing has been completed, all DAISY
books must be run through a process called "building the book". This process
finalises a number of items. It also automatically enters the date of
completion into the book information.
Writing the CD - this is the final process required to give you a CD of your
DAISY book. The CD can either be a master CD or a distribution CD.
Distribution CDs cannot be edited.
Return to Chapter 3 of ToC
Return to ToC
4 Getting Started
By now, you should have a reasonable overview about the way a DAISY book is
structured and produced. This chapter focuses on how you get started with
using the PRS software.
4.1 Terminology used in the software
In order to avoid any confusion with terminology, the most commonly used
terms
used in the PRS software are explained below. It is stressed that the way
these terms are defined relates to their use in the PRS software and may not
be used in the same context in other publications.
4.1.1 Project
A project is a DAISY book before it is finished. The final process of
building
the book is the point at which the project is complete. At this stage it
would
be called a DAISY book.
4.1.2 Book
A "book" is a finished project. At this stage it is ready for distribution.
If
further editing of the book were required subsequently, the book would have
to
be imported into the PRS software as a new project.
4.1.3 Title
Throughout this manual the term "title" refers to the title of a book.
4.1.4 Section
A "section" in the PRS software refers to the segment of audio between one
heading and the next. A section is generally made up of a number of phrases
but can have as few as one phrase. Each section will have a heading and a
heading level associated with it. Do not get confused between sections in the
PRS software and sections of this manual!
4.1.5 Heading
A "heading" is the text associated with a section. The default text for all
section headings is the word "Heading". A more descriptive heading can be
entered by the producer of the project. The heading text forms the basis of
the Table of Contents and is used in the NCC file.
4.1.6 Level
The "level" of a section refers to its DAISY navigation level. As mentioned
earlier in the manual, the producer of the DAISY book can choose from 6
levels
of navigation. These are known as Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and so on. Level
1
is the highest level of navigation and Level 6 the lowest. Every section in a
DAISY project/book has an associated level of navigation. The default level
for all sections is Level 1. The level can be altered by the producer of the
project but cannot be altered by the reader.
4.1.7 Phrase
When the book is being recorded, the audio files are automatically divided
into segments called "phrases". The recording software will decide on where a
phrase starts and ends based on the amount of silence between one piece of
audio and the next. The length of silence permitted before a new phrase is
created is called the "pause time" and can be adjusted by the person making
the DAISY recording. In order to break the audio up into phrases that are not
too long or short, a fast reader might require a short pause time and a
slower
reader a longer pause time. When the recording is finished, the reader can
use
the phrases as an additional navigation feature.
4.1.8 Page
A "Page" refers to a code placed into the DAISY project. The page code is
attached to a phrase and can be inserted or removed by the project producer
before it is completed. It should be noted that page coding in the final
DAISY
book may not match the pages in the original printed text book depending on
the needs of the project. For example, page numbering in the DAISY book may
start at the point where the printed book content starts, ignoring the page
numbering of items such as the preface, dedication and extraneous information.
4.1.9 Group
The "group" coding is a flexible navigation feature and can be used by the
project producer to relate to elements in the book that they wish to
reference
separately from the other navigation features. For example, the producer may
choose to use the group code to identify each paragraph, though this would be
very labour intensive. It might also be used to reference other items such as
points of note, warnings, diagrams or tables. As with most DAISY elements,
the
group coding is decided upon by the producer and cannot be altered by the
reader.
4.1.10 Mark
A mark is a way in which the producer of the project can identify particular
phrases in the project that may need further attention. Marks do not affect
the playback of the finished book but would normally be removed by the
producer before finalising the project.
4.1.11 Event
An event includes all of the following: the first phrase in every section;
phrases coded with the "Page" code and phrases coded with the "Group" code.
Phrases marked with the "Mark" code are not considered to be "events".
4.2 Recommended system requirements
PLEXTOR recommends the following system environment for running the PRS
software. PLEXTOR does not guarantee proper operation of the software on
systems which do not meet this specification.
Recommended Specification:
Computer: PC/AT compatible machine
Operating System: XP (Home/Professional), Windows 2000, ME or 98 SE
Processor (CPU): Intel Celeron 400 MHz or higher
Memory: 128 MB or higher
Screen Resolution: 800 by 600 pixels or higher
Hard Disk (HDD): 1 GB for software installation (including temporary image
file area for CD writing) and 2 GB or more of free disk space for recorded
content
Sound card: Creative Labs SoundBlaster series
CDR/CDRW Drive: A list of recommended drives is given at Appendix D, Table D1
Voice Guidance: To comply with Microsoft Speech API 4.0 as following TTS
engine. (Included this software)
Mary, Mike, Sam, Mary (for Telephone), Mike (for Telephone), Female Whisper,
Mary in Space, Mary in Hall, Mary in Stadium, RoboSoft Six, RoboSoft Five,
RoboSoft Four, Male Whisper, RoboSoft One, RoboSoft Two, RoboSoft Three, Mike
in Hall, Mike in Stadium, Mike in Space.
4.3 Installation and uninstallation of PRS
This section of the manual explains how to install and uninstall the PRS
software.
4.3.1 Installing PRS
To install the PRS software do the following:
Connect the Plextalk PTR1 recorder to your computer and ensure that the
device
is recognised by your system. This is required because the software will not
install without first recognising the PTR1 drive. You should refer to the
PTR1
User Guide for detailed instructions of how to connect the PTR1 to your
computer for the first time.
Insert the PTR1 User Guide CD into the PTR1.
From the Windows Start Menu, select the "Run" option. Once in the "Run"
dialogue box, select the "Browse" button and navigate to the "PRS" folder on
the CD. Locate and highlight the file called "PRSsetup2_02E.exe" and press
the
"Enter" key. This will return you to the "Run" dialogue box with the correct
filename entered in the command line. Press the "Enter" key once more and the
installation wizard will start.
If the computer is unable to recognise the CD, an error message will be
displayed at this stage. Check that the PTR1 is correctly connected and
installed before re-trying.
If the PTR1 is correctly recognised, the "Welcome" dialogue box will appear.
Press the "Next" button to continue.
The "Licence Agreement" dialogue box will appear. In order to continue with
the installation, you should read the agreement and then press the "Yes"
button. If you do not accept the terms of the agreement, press the "No"
button
and the installation will abort.
If you accept the agreement, the "Choose Destination Location" dialogue box
will appear. You may choose to accept the default installation location or
enter an alternative folder name in the edit field provided. Once you have
made your choice, press the "Install" button and the installation process
will
start.
When the installation process is complete, the "Install Shield Wizard
Complete" dialogue box will appear. Press the "Finish" button and re-start
your computer.
Installation of the PRS software should now be complete.
4.3.2 Uninstalling PRS
To uninstall the PRS software do the following:
From the Windows Start Menu, select the "Settings" menu and then the "Control
Panel" option and press the "Enter" key.
The Windows Control Panel will appear. From the list of items, select
"Add/Remove Programs".
The "Add/Remove Programs" dialogue box will appear. From the list of
installed
components, select "Plextalk Recording Software" and press the
"Change/Remove"
button.
A dialogue box containing the following text will appear: "Whenever install
the PRS on your PC, you need the PLEXTALK Portable Recorder (PTR1) and the
original installation disc. Do you wish to completely remove "PLEXTALK
Recording Software" and all its components?"
To continue uninstalling the PRS software, press the "Yes" button.
The uninstallation will start.
After a short pause, the "Maintenance Complete" dialogue box will appear.
Press the "Finish" button to complete the process.
4.4 Launching and Exiting PRS
This section of the manual explains how to launch and exit the PRS software.
4.4.1 Launching PRS
In order to launch the PRS software, do the following:
Select the "Plextalk Recording Software" icon on the desktop, or, from the
Windows Start Menu, select the Programs menu then the "Plextalk Recording
Software" menu and then the "Plextalk Recording Software" short cut. When you
have selected the relevant short cut, press the "Enter" key.
Either of these options will launch the software.
The first time you launch the PRS software, the voice guidance feature will
be
present. Later in this chapter you will be shown how to turn it off or
customise it according to your needs.
After a short pause, the "Selection of the Operation" dialogue box will
appear. This gives you 3 options. You can choose to open an existing project,
create a new project or import an existing DAISY book. Use your "Up" or
"Down"
Arrow keys to select the required operation and then press the "Enter" key.
Pressing the "Escape" key at this stage will launch the software with no
project loaded. The voice guidance will announce "the project does not
exist".
If you select "Open", you will be presented with a standard file open
dialogue
box, in which you need to highlight the project folder and file that is to be
opened, and then press the "Open" button.
If you select "New", you need to give the software some additional
information
for the new project to be set up. This is done using 3 simple dialogue boxes
which appear one after the other. Firstly you will have to specify the audio
format that you wish to use for the project. The next box asks you to specify
a project name and folder in which it is to be saved. Finally you will be
presented with the "Book Information" dialogue box - you can either enter the
book information at this point or at any other time before the project is
finalised.
If you select "DAISY Import", you will again be presented with 3 dialogue
boxes. The first asks you to specify the NCC.HTML or NCC.HTM file that is to
be imported. The second allows you to specify the audio format to be used and
the third asks you to specify the location and project name for the imported
book. Further detail about the DAISY Import feature is given in Section 14.1
in this manual.
4.4.2 Exiting PRS
To exit the PRS software, do the following:
Select "Exit" from the "File" menu or press Alt+F4.
The "Exit Confirmation" dialogue box will appear. If you are sure that you
wish to exit the programme, press the "Enter" key or "OK" button. If you wish
to return to the project you are editing, press the "Cancel" button or the
"Escape" key.
Return to Chapter 4 of ToC
Return to ToC
5 Accessing the PRS software
This chapter gives details about the software interface, how to access it
from
the keyboard and the voice guidance feature.
5.1 Description of the main screen interface
The main screen in the PRS software is laid out like a typical Windows
application. There is a Title Bar at the top, under which there is a Menu Bar
and a Tool Bar. The remaining screen is divided into 3 areas: the Section
List, the Phrase List and the Monitoring Display area.
The Section List is immediately under the main toolbar and stretches across
the entire width of the application window. The Phrase List and the
Monitoring
Display areas are both below the Section list, with the Phrase List on the
left and the Monitoring Display on the right. Each of the main items on the
screen is described in more detail below.
5.1.1 Menu Bar
This has 7 items. From left to right, these are: File, Edit, Move, Control,
Tool, Option and Help. Keyboard navigation of the Menu Bar and the associated
drop-down menus conforms to normal Windows standards. A full list of the
items
on each drop down menu is given at Appendix B. A list of the available short
cut keystrokes is given at Appendix C.
5.1.2 Main Toolbar
This toolbar contains icons for features that affect the project as a whole
and also the Windows editing features that you would expect to find in most
Windows applications. It consists of 13 icons immediately under the Menu Bar.
From left to right, these are: New project, Open project, Cut, Copy, Paste,
Undo, Recording settings, Build book, CD writing, Find heading, Book
information, Storage information and HTML Help. If a mouse pointer is
positioned over any of these icons, a text tool tip is displayed to tell you
what feature the icon represents. All of these features can be accessed
through the menus or by keyboard short cuts as well as from the Toolbar.
5.1.3 Section List
The Section List is split into 7 columns with the following headings:
Section,
Level, Heading, Phrase, Length, Page, and Comment. When the project contains
recorded material, this area will list all the sections in the project.
Relevant details for each section will be displayed in the columns to the
right of the section number.
5.1.4 Centre Toolbar
Between the Section List and the Phrase List, there is a toolbar which has 8
buttons. Most of the features are for editing the properties of sections or
phrases. From left to right, they are: Level up, Level down, Section
creation,
Group, Page, Mark, Recording mode toggle and Play speed. All features can be
accessed using keyboard alternatives.
5.1.5 Phrase List
The phrase List is split into 8 columns with the following headings: Phrase,
Length, Pause, Group, Page, Mark and Audio file name. When the project
contains recorded material, this area will list all the phrases in the
section
which is highlighted in the Section List. Relevant details for each phrase
will be displayed in the columns to the right of the phrase number.
5.1.6 Lower Toolbar
Under the Phrase List, there is a third toolbar with 7 icons. This toolbar
can
be used to control the playing and recording of the project. From left to
right, the icons are: First phrase, Previous phrase, Play, Next phrase, Last
phrase, Stop and Record.
5.1.7 Monitoring Display
Level with the phrase List, at the bottom right corner of the screen, is
another box. This lists, vertically, 7 items related to the monitoring of
recording and playing levels and the status of the project. From top to
bottom, these are: Level monitor, Recording level slider, Playback volume
slider, Section information window, Phrase information window, Status window,
Recording format and Recorded format.
5.2 Operation from the keyboard
All features of the PRS software can be accessed either by keyboard commands
or by using the mouse. Most of the keyboard commands follow the standard
Windows pattern, for example, Cut, Copy and Paste use the keystrokes
"Control+X", "Control+C" and "Control+V" respectively. This section details
some of the most useful keyboard commands. A comprehensive list of keyboard
commands is provided at Appendix B & Appendix C.
5.2.1 Tab key
On the main screen, this key will switch the focus from the Section List to
the Phrase List and vice versa. If the voice guidance is on, you will hear
"Section" or "Phrase" to tell you which list the focus has moved to. Within
dialogue boxes, "Tab" or "Shift+Tab" will move you forward or backwards
around
the dialogue box.
5.2.2 Arrow keys
Within the Section List or the Phrase List, the Arrow keys will move you up
or
down on the list of sections or phrases. In lists that are in dialogue boxes,
they will allow you to change a selection.
5.2.3 F12 or F9 keys
These 2 keys have identical meanings in the PRS software and which one you
use
is a matter of personal preference. The usage of the keys depends on the
situation as follows:
If the focus is on the Section List, pressing "F12" or "F9" will cause the
voice guidance to speak the section information for the section selected.
If the focus is on the Phrase List, pressing "F12" or "F9" will cause the
voice guidance to speak the phrase information for the phrase selected.
If the focus is in a dialogue box, pressing "F12" or "F9" will cause the
voice
guidance to speak the item you are highlighting.
When the PRS software is processing a command such as a DAISY Import or Audio
Export, pressing "F12" or "F9" will indicate the percentage of the operation
that has been completed.
Note: The F12 and F9 keys will only have the above effects if the Voice
Guidance feature is turned on.
5.2.4 Shift+F1 key
Pressing this key combination when the focus is on the Section List or Phrase
List will cause the voice guidance to speak the following items: Input volume
(from microphone or other input device), Wave out volume, Section selected,
Total number of sections, Phrase selected, Total number of phrases, the
Recording format and the Recorded format.
5.2.5 Alt key
This has the standard Windows usage and, when pressed, will take the PC focus
to the Menu Bar. If pressed whilst you are on the Menu Bar or in a drop down
menu, it will close all drop down menus and return the focus to the Section
List or Phrase List.
5.2.6 Control key
This can be used to mute the voice guidance at any time.
5.3 Information about using speech with PRS
The PRS is supplied with a built-in Voice Guidance facility. The text to
speech engine used conforms to Microsoft's speech API 4.0. With the speech
enabled, it is possible for a totally blind user to use the PRS software
independently.
As the built-in speech is likely to clash with other screen reading packages,
it is recommended that you turn off other screen readers when launching the
PRS software. PLEXTOR is unable to guarantee the proper function of PRS or
the
built-in voice guidance if you use other screen reading software.
Return to Chapter 5 of ToC
Return to ToC
6 Configuring PRS
This chapter describes how to configure some of the features of the PRS
software basic operation. This includes altering the speech and display
settings. There is also information on setting up the default folder for
recordings and the default CDR/CDRW drive.
6.1 Customising the Voice Guidance feature
After installation of the PRS software, the Voice Guidance will be active
with
default settings. You may wish to turn off the voice altogether or customise
it to your own preferences. This section describes how to make these
alterations.
6.1.1 Turning the Voice Guidance "On" or "Off"
The Voice Guidance can be on or off when editing your project. You can also
select to have voice guidance turned off during recording so that it is not
picked up in the audio. If, however, you turn the voice guidance off during
editing, this will also automatically disable it during recording as well. To
turn the Voice Guidance on or off, do the following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
On the drop down menu select the "Voice Guidance" option or press "G". This
will leave you in the Voice Guidance dialogue box.
Press the "Tab" key to move to the "Guidance at Editing" or "Guidance at
Recording" elements and use your "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to set each item
to
"On" or "Off".
Press the "OK" button or the "Enter" key to save your selections.
Note: The settings that you select will become the default settings for the
future.
6.1.2 Customising the voice options
In order to select a different voice or to adjust the settings such as speed,
pitch or volume, do the following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
On the drop down menu, select the "Selection of the TTS Engine" option or
press "S". This will leave you in the dialogue box where you can select a
different TTS engine or make alterations to the existing one.
Press "Tab" or "Shift+Tab" to move around this dialogue box and "Up" or
"Down"
Arrow keys to make alterations to the various settings. Larger modifications
can be made by using the "Page up" or "Page down" keys.
The items that can be altered are: the TTS engine used, pitch, speed and
volume.
When you are happy with your alterations, press the "OK" button or the
"Enter"
key.
If you wish to cancel your alterations, press the "Cancel" button or the
"Escape" key.
Note 1: The list of TTS engines available to you in this dialogue will depend
on other software you have installed on your computer as well as PRS.
Note 2: If you make a mistake with your modifications to the pitch, speed or
volume, you can use the "Default" button to reset these values to their
original setting for that TTS engine.
Note 3: The settings you select in this dialogue box will become the default
settings when you start PRS in the future.
6.2 Customising the display settings
This section describes how to modify the font size in lists and message boxes.
6.2.1 Modifying the list font size
The list font size affects the size of text in the Section and Phrase Lists
on
the main screen. To modify the list font, do the following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
Select the "List font size" option from the drop down menu or press "F".
From the list that appears, use the "Up" or "Down" Arrows to choose your
desired setting. The options are Largest (G), Larger (L), Smaller (S) and
Smallest (A).
Press the "Enter" key to make your selection.
6.2.2 Modifying the message font size
The message font will affect the size of text you see in dialogue boxes. To
modify the message font, do the following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
Select the "Message font size" option from the drop down menu or press "M".
From the list that appears, use the "Up" or "Down" Arrows to choose your
desired setting. The options are Largest (G), Larger (L), Smaller (S) and
Smallest (A).
Press the "Enter" key to make your selection.
Note: In both situations above, Largest is 2.5, Larger is 2.0, Smaller is 1.5
and Smallest is 1.0 times the standard Windows icon font size.
6.3 Setting the default folder for recordings
Before working with the software it is worth taking a few moments to decide
where you want your PRS projects to be located. PRS allows you to specify a
default folder which can be an existing folder or a new one. This section
explains how to set the default folder for your system.
6.3.1 Setting an existing folder as the default folder
To set an existing folder to be your default folder, do the following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
Select the "Recording" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively you can press "Control+R" directly from the main screen.
This will take you to the "Recording Function" dialogue box. The detail of
this dialogue will be discussed later in this manual.
If you wish to enter the folder name manually, tab round the dialogue box to
the "Open folder when new creation" edit box. Type in the desired folder path
and name and press "Enter" to confirm your folder selection.
If you wish to select an existing folder from a folder list, tab round the
dialogue box to the "Select folder" button and press "Enter". You will end up
in another dialogue box.
Press "Shift+Tab" to go to the folder list. Use your "Up" or "Down" Arrow
keys
to select the required folder. The Right and Left Arrow keys can be used to
open or close the list of sub folders respectively. Once you have highlighted
the required folder, press "Enter" to confirm this selection. You will return
to the "Recording Function" dialogue box. Press "Enter" once again to
complete
the process.
6.3.2 Creating a new folder to be the default folder
To create a new folder and set it as the default folder, do the following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
Select the "Recording" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively you can press "Control+R" directly from the main screen.
This will take you to the "Recording Function" dialogue box. The detail of
this dialogue will be discussed later in this manual.
Tab round the dialogue box to the "Select file" button and press "Enter".
This
will open another dialogue box.
Press "Shift+Tab" to go to the folder list. Use your "Up" or "Down" Arrow
keys
to select the folder in which you wish to create your new folder. The Right
and Left Arrow keys can be used to open or close the list of sub folders
respectively.
Once you have highlighted the required folder, press "Shift+Tab" to select
the
"New folder" button and press "Enter".
Type in the folder name for the folder which will become the default folder.
If you do not type in a name, the default name of "New folder" will be
assumed.
Press the "Enter" key to confirm the entry.
Press "Enter" again to confirm the selection of the new folder. This will
return you to the "Recording function" dialogue box. Press "Enter" one last
time to complete the process.
6.4 Selecting the default CD writer
Although you may not require to use the CD writing facility for some time, it
is a good idea to configure the software for this at an early stage to avoid
unnecessary errors later on. This section details how to set up the software
to work with your selected CD writer.
To configure the software to work with your desired CD writer, do the
following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
Select the "CDR Drive" option from the drop down menu or press "D".
Alternatively you can press "Control+D" directly from the main screen.
This will take you to the "Setting of the CDR Drive" dialogue box. This
dialogue has 2 elements, a list of available CDR/CDRW drives and a radio
button which allows you to turn on or off the facility for creating a
temporary image file whilst recording.
The focus will be on the list of available drives. Use the "Up" or "Down"
Arrow keys to select your preferred drive.
Press "Tab" to move to the radio button for the temporary image setting. Use
"Up" or "Down" Arrows to set this feature to "On" or "Off".
Press the "Enter" key to confirm your selections.
Note: After confirming your selection, this will become the default selection
in the future. You can also change the selected drive or the temporary image
setting at any time.
6.5 Exercises for configuring PRS
You have now covered the basic methods of configuring the PRS software.
Before
continuing, you may wish to practice some of these skills. Exercise 1 in
Appendix A gives you some ideas of things to try.
Return to Chapter 6 of ToC
Return to ToC
7 Opening and Creating New Projects
This chapter details how to open existing projects from the hard disk and how
to create new projects. It also describes how to open existing completed
DAISY
books from CD to prepare them for further editing.
7.1 Opening an existing projects
This section of the manual describes how to open an existing PRS project from
the hard disk. This can be done when the software is launched or from within
the programme after it is loaded. The dialogue box, which appears in both
cases, is identical.
The 2 methods of opening an existing project are detailed below. Following
this the dialogue box itself is described.
7.1.1 Method 1 - if you are not already in the PRS software
Launch the PRS as described in an earlier section of the manual.
Select "Open" from the "Selection of the Operation" dialogue box which
appears
and press "Enter".
7.1.2 Method 2 - if you are already using the PRS software
Select the "File" menu from the Main Bar or press "Alt+F".
Select "Open" from the drop down menu or press "O".
Alternatively you can press "Control+O" directly from the main screen.
7.1.3 Description of the "Open" dialogue box
Both methods above will cause the "Open" dialogue box to appear. It has 6
elements and can be navigated by pressing the "Tab" key to move forwards or
"Shift+Tab" to move backwards. The 6 elements are as follows:
File name edit field - type the required file name. You can use up to 63
alphanumeric characters for the name of the project folder - do not use
spaces. Use "Alt+N" to jump to this element from anywhere else in the
dialogue
box.
Files of Type combo box - select the type of file to be opened from the list
provided. You will be offered either "Project file (NCC.IMDN)" or "NCC
(NCC.HTML ; NCC.HTM)". To open an existing project, you should select the
Project file option. Use "Alt+T" to jump to this element from anywhere else
in
the dialogue box.
Look IN combo box - use the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to locate the folder
which contains your existing project and press "Enter" once you have
highlighted it. The contents of the folder will be displayed in the list box
provided. Use "Alt+I" to jump to this element from anywhere else in the
dialogue box.
File List - this will display the contents of the selected folder in the
"Look
in" combo. Use your "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to move up and down the list or
the initial letter of the file you are looking for (Note: PRS project files
will always be called "NCC.IMDN"). To choose a file or folder in this list,
highlight the item and press the "Enter" key. Use the "Backspace" key to move
up one level in the folder structure.
Open button - once you have selected the "NCC.IMDN" file for the project you
wish to open, press the "Open" button and the project will be loaded.
Alternatively you can use "Alt+O".
Cancel button - Tab to the "Cancel" button and press "Enter" if you no longer
wish to open an existing project. You can also press the "Escape" key if you
prefer.
7.2 Creating a new project
This section of the manual describes how to create a new PRS project. This
can
be done when the software is launched or from within the programme after it
is
loaded. The series of dialogue boxes, which appear in both cases, are
identical.
The 2 methods of creating a new project are detailed below. Following this
the
3 dialogue boxes themselves are described in the order that they appear.
7.2.1 Method 1 - if you are not already in the PRS software
Launch the PRS as described in an earlier section of the manual.
Select "New" from the "Selection of the Operation" dialogue box which appears
and press "Enter".
7.2.2 Method 2 - if you are already using the PRS software
Select the "File" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+F".
Select "New" from the drop down menu or press "N".
Alternatively you can press "Control+N" directly from the main screen.
Having chosen to create a new project, you will be offered a series of 3
dialogue boxes. The first is for setting the recording format for the
project.
The next gives you an opportunity to specify a name and folder for your new
project. The third is for entering the book information if you wish. The 3
dialogue boxes are described in more detail below:
7.2.3 Description of the "Recording Format" dialogue box
The first dialogue box to appear is the "Recording Format" dialogue. This is
used to specify the recording format you wish to use in the new project. It
has 3 elements and can be navigated by pressing the "Tab" key to move
forwards
or "Shift+Tab" to move backwards. The 3 elements are as follows:
Recording Format combo box - use your "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to select
your
preferred recording format. You can choose from the following10 formats: PCM
44.1 kHz Stereo, PCM 44.1 kHz Mono, PCM 22.05 kHz Mono, MP3 256 kbps Stereo,
MP3 128 kbps Stereo, MP3 64 kbps Mono, MP3 48 kbps Mono, MP3 32 kbps Mono,
MP3
24 kbps Mono and MP3 16 kbps Mono. The PCM 44.1 kHz Stereo option will give
the highest sound quality but will use the most disk space. A table showing
the recording times available for each recording format, on different types
of
CD, is given at Appendix D, Table D2.
OK button - once you have selected the required recording format from the
list
provided, press the "OK" button to accept your selection.
Cancel button - Tab to the "Cancel" button and press "Enter" if you no longer
wish to specify a recording format. You can also press the "Escape" key if
you
prefer.
Note: Once you select a recording format, you will not be able to change it
when the project is being edited. You will, however, be able to change the
format by using the "Audio Export" feature of the PRS software which is
described later, in this manual.
7.2.4 Description of the "Folder Name" dialogue box
The second of the 3 dialogue boxes is the "Folder Name" dialogue. It is used
to specify the name and location of the new project folder. It has 6 elements
and can be navigated by pressing the "Tab" key to move forwards or
"Shift+Tab"
to move backwards. The 6 elements are as follows:
File name edit field - type the required file name. You can use up to 63
alphanumeric characters for the name of the project folder - do not use
spaces. Use "Alt+N" to jump to this element from anywhere else in the
dialogue
box.
Save as Type combo box - in this instance, you are only offered the choice of
"Project File" so you do not require to specify anything in this field. Use
"Alt+T" to jump to this element from anywhere else in the dialogue box.
Save IN combo box - use the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to locate the folder
where you wish to save your new project folder. Press "Enter" once you have
highlighted a folder in order to view its contents. These will be displayed
in
the list box provided. Use "Alt+I" to jump to this element from anywhere else
in the dialogue box.
File List - this will display the contents of the selected folder in the
"Save
in" combo. Use your "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to move up and down the list or
the initial letter of the folder you are looking for. To choose a file or
folder in this list, highlight it and press the "Enter" key. Use the
"Backspace" key to move up one level in the folder structure.
Save button - once you have typed a name for the new project and specified
the
folder in which it is to be saved, press the "Save" button.
Alternatively you can use "Alt+S". A confirmation dialogue box will appear.
Press the "Enter" key to confirm or the "Escape" key to abort.
Cancel button - Tab to the "Cancel" button and press "Enter" if you no longer
wish to create a new project. You can also press the "Escape" key if you
prefer.
7.2.5 Description of the "Book Information" dialogue
The last of the 3 dialogue boxes is the "Book Information" dialogue and is
used to enter a range of important information about the original printed
book
and about the people who have created the DAISY version. This information can
be completed at any time during the editing of the project up to the point
where the book is built. The dialogue has 11 main elements (apart from the
"OK" and "Cancel" buttons) and can be navigated by pressing the "Tab" key to
move forwards or "Shift+Tab" to move backwards. The 11 elements are nearly
all
simple edit boxes for entering textual information.
A brief description of these elements follows:
Title - title of the original printed book.
Author - name of the author.
ISBN - unique code for the original print book.
Identifier - this is a randomly generated code which should be unique for
this
project. The PRS software can generate this automatically if left blank.
Publisher - name of the publishing organisation.
Language - this is a combo box with a list of available languages. English is
the default on installation.
Narrator - the name or names of those doing the reading.
Character Set - default entry is ISO-8859-1.
Subject - the topic of the content of the DAISY book.
Scheme of subject - keywords or classification codes.
DTB Producer - name of the person generating the DAISY book.
Note: When this dialogue appears, if you do not wish to enter the data at the
time, simply press the "Enter" key and the dialogue will vanish.
7.3 Opening an existing book from CD
This section describes how to open a finished DAISY book in order to do
further editing. The procedure is useful if you wish to use the PRS to edit a
recording that you have created on the Plextalk PTR1 portable recorder. The
"DAISY Import" feature is similar to the procedure described in this section
but it is more versatile. The "DAISY Import" feature is described in detail
in
Section 14.1 of this manual.
In outline, opening an existing DAISY book involves: locating the required
NCC
file, setting the correct audio format for the new project (if necessary),
selecting the folder where you wish to save the new project and running the
import process.
To carry out this process, do the following:
Select "File" from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+F".
Select "Open" from the drop down menu or press "O".
Alternatively you can press "Control+O" directly from the main screen. The
"Open" dialogue will be displayed.
Press "Tab" to go to the "Files of Type" element.
Use the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to set the type to "NCC (NCC.HTML ;
NCC.HTM)".
Tab to the "Look In" box and select the drive where your CD book is located.
Tab to the list box showing the contents of the selected drive and use the
"Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to select the folder which contains the finished
book.
Press "Enter" to select this folder. You can use the "Backspace" key to move
up a level in the folder structure.
When you have located the required folder, the list box should display one
NCC
file with either an "HTML" or "HTM" file extension.
Select the file and press "Enter". This will start the process of opening
your
book.
If the audio format of the existing book is not recognised by the PRS
software, the "Recording Format" dialogue will appear.
Select the desired audio format from the list and press "Enter".
Next a dialogue box will appear which prompts you to specify a project name
and a location where you wish to save the imported project. Type in a project
name and specify the required location in the list box provided. When
complete, tab to the "Save" button and press "Enter" or press "Alt+S".
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to confirm that you
wish to save the new project in this location.
After confirming this dialogue box, the import process will start. During
this
process, the Voice Guidance will intermittently say "Running". If you wish to
check the progress of this procedure at any time, press the "F12" or "F9" key
and the percentage complete will be spoken.
Note 1: When saving the new project, the file name can include up to 63
alphanumeric characters. Do not use spaces.
Note 2: If you are importing a large project, this process may take some time
so be patient.
7.4 Exercises for opening projects and existing books
You should now have a good idea of how to open existing projects and books.
If
you would like to practice these procedures, Exercise 2 in Appendix A sets
you
some simple tasks.
Return to Chapter 7 of ToC
Return to ToC
8 Navigating and playing projects
This chapter explains how to navigate around your project and how to play
sections and phrases. It also explains how to use some of the additional
navigation features of the PRS software.
8.1 Navigating sections and phrases
To navigate around the Section or Phrase Lists, do the following:
Press "Tab" to select the Section List or the Phrase List. The Voice Guidance
will say "Section" or "Phrase" to indicate the list you have moved to.
Once you have selected the list you want, use your "Up" or "Down" Arrows to
go
to the section or phrase you wish to play.
Additionally, you can use "Home" or "End" to move to the first or last
section
or phrase in the Section or Phrase List you are in.
8.2 Playing sections or phrases
To play or stop a section or phrase, do the following:
Select the required section or phrase as above.
Press the "Left" or "Right" Arrow key. In the Section List, the first phrase
will play and then stop. In the Phrase List, the selected phrase will play
and
then stop.
To stop play, select "Stop" from the "Control" drop down menu or press the
"Spacebar".
8.3 Continuous play
To play continuously, do the following:
Select "Play Continuously" from the "Control" drop down menu or press "F5"
from the main screen. The project will play continuously from the start of
the
selected section or phrase until the end of the project.
To stop continuous play, select "Stop" from the "Control" drop down menu or
press "Spacebar".
8.4 Adjusting playback speed
To adjust the playback speed, do the following:
To increase playback speed, select "Speed up" from the "Control" drop down
menu or press "F6".
To decrease playback speed, select "Speed down" from the "Control" drop down
menu or press "Shift+F6".
The speed can be adjusted to 5 positions which are 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2 and 3
times
the normal speed.
Note: The speed selected will become the default speed.
8.5 Adjusting playback volume
To adjust the playback volume (Wave out volume), do the following:
To increase the volume of the playback, select "Wave out up" from the
"Control" drop down menu or press the "F3" key.
To decrease the playback volume, select "Wave out down" from the "Control"
drop down menu or press "Shift+F3".
Note: The new volume setting will become the default volume.
8.6 Getting section and phrase information
This section describes how to obtain section and phrase information.
To acquire section or phrase information, do the following:
Select the section or phrase you want information about.
Press the "F12" or "F9" key to hear the information for that item.
In sections, the Voice Guidance will speak the Section number, the Section
heading, the Section level, the number of phrases in the section and the
total
time to play the section.
In phrases, the Voice Guidance will speak the Phrase number, the Phrase
attributes (such as page or group information), the Length of the phrase, the
amount of pause time in the phrase and the file name where the audio is
stored.
8.7 Searching for heading text
A section heading is the text associated with the section. The heading
information can be used to search for a section in the project.
To search for heading text, do the following:
Select the "Find" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Control+F".
The search dialogue box will appear.
Type in the text you wish to search for and press "Enter". PRS will locate
the
first section whose heading contains the specified text. The first phrase of
the section which has been found will be played.
If you wish to continue searching for the same text, press the "Enter" key
again.
If you have found the section you were looking for, press "Tab" to go to the
"End" button and press "Enter" or press the "Escape" key. The find dialogue
box will disappear and the section containing the text that was searched for
last will be highlighted.
If the specified text is not found in any of the headings, a dialogue box
will
inform you of the search failure. Press the "Enter" key to return to the main
screen. If you wish to search for different text, repeat the procedure above.
8.8 Jumping to Pages
To jump forwards or backwards to the next page, do the following:
To jump from the current phrase position to the next page, select the "Next
Page" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Control+Down Arrow".
To jump from the current phrase position to the previous page, select the
"Previous Page" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Control+Up
Arrow".
8.9 Jumping to Groups
To jump forwards or backwards to the next group, do the following:
To jump from the current phrase position to the next group, select the "Next
Group" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Shift+Right Arrow".
To jump from the current phrase position to the previous group, select the
"Previous Group" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Shift+Left
Arrow".
8.10 Jumping to Marks
To jump forwards or backwards to the next mark, do the following:
To jump from the current phrase position to the next mark, select the "Next
Mark" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Control+Right Arrow".
To jump from the current phrase position to the previous mark, select the
"Previous Mark" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Control+Left
Arrow".
8.11 Jumping to Events
To jump forwards or backwards to the next event, do the following:
To jump from the current phrase position to the next event, select the "Next
Event" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Shift+J".
To jump from the current phrase position to the previous event, select the
"Previous Event" option from the "Move" drop down menu or press "Shift+F".
8.12 Exercises in playing and moving around a project
You should now have a good knowledge of how to move around a project and play
sections and phrases. Exercise 3 in Appendix A gives you an opportunity to
try
out these skills in a real project.
Return to Chapter 8 of ToC
Return to ToC
9 Recording
This chapter details how to set up your computer and software to make a
recording.
9.1 Checking the Volume Control options for the computer
Before trying to record a project, it is worth checking the Volume Control
settings within your operating system. You will need to ensure that the
devices that you intend to use for recording, such as the microphone or line
in sockets on your sound card, have been activated in the Windows Volume
Controls. If this has not been done, you will not be able to record in the
PRS
software. For further information on how to make these checks, refer to your
Windows Help system.
9.2 Selecting the required input device
Having ensured that your Windows system is properly configured, you now need
to set up the PRS to accept audio input from the correct source. You can
choose to record from the microphone socket or from the line in socket on
your
sound card. If you want to make a live recording you would probably want to
use your microphone. If you wished to record from another device such as a
cassette player or CD player, you would use the Line in option.
To set up the PRS software for either of these input sources, do the
following:
Select the "Control" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+C".
Select the "Selection of the Recording Volume Control" option from the drop
down menu or press "V".
This will open a sub menu with 2 items, "Line" and "Microphone". Use the "Up"
or "Down" Arrow keys to select the option you wish to use for the recording
input and press the "Enter" key.
9.3 Confirmation of the storage information
Either before or after recording, you may wish to check the recording
capacity
of your system. This section details how to acquire information such as the
recording format, the recorded time, the disk space used, the available
recording time and the available disk capacity.
To acquire the storage information, do the following:
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "Storage Information" option from the drop down menu or press "S".
Alternatively you can press "Control+S" directly from the main screen.
A dialogue with this information will appear. Press "Enter" when you have
read
the required details. If you wish the Voice Guidance to repeat the
information, press the "F9" or "F12" key.
9.4 Setting up the recording functions
Several recording features can be customised by the producer of the DAISY
project. These include the phrase pause time, noise level, section pause
time,
whether to create a new audio file or not, time to stop recording and the
recording speed. This section outlines the purposes of each of these settings
and how to make changes.
To access the "Recording Function" dialogue box, do the following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
Select the "Recording" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+R" directly from the main screen.
This will open the "Recording Function" dialogue box where you can alter the
following settings. Use the "Tab" key to move around the dialogue. Press the
"OK" button to confirm alterations or "Cancel" to abort the changes.
9.4.1 Phrase pause time
The phrase pause time is the amount of silence that the PRS software will
accept before automatically creating a new phrase. Pause times can be set in
increments of 0.1 seconds, in the range 0.1 seconds to 1.0 seconds. The
default setting on installation is 0.4 seconds.
9.4.2 Noise level
The noise level is the level of background noise. If this is high, PRS will
find it difficult to split phrases and the recording will be one long phrase.
If there is no background noise, you may end up with too many phrases. PRS
offers you 3 noise levels, high, normal and low. The default setting is
normal. If the background noise is high, set this option to "High" and if
there is no background noise, set the option to "Low". Low noise levels are
typically around -40 dB, normal noise level is around -28 dB and High noise
level is around -20 dB.
9.4.3 Section pause time
The section pause time is the amount of silence that PRS will allow before
automatically creating a new section and continuing to record. This is
particularly useful when recording from tape cassettes and other media as it
can greatly reduce the editing time required. The Section Pause time can be
set in increments of 1 second in the range of 1 second up to 5 seconds. This
setting can be ignored if set to "Nothing". The default setting is "Nothing".
Note: The Section Pause time is only valid in "Overwrite" recording mode.
9.4.4 Create a new audio file
This setting allows you to specify if PRS should take a new audio file when a
new section is created. The default setting is "Yes". If you are recording in
a location where the recording level is low such as in a conference or
lecture
room, set this setting to "No" and you should be able to record the low
levels.
9.4.5 Time to stop recording
This setting would generally be used when recording from cassette or other
device. The setting can be used to specify an amount of silence after which
the recording will stop automatically. The available settings are 10 seconds,
20 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes and 5
minutes. This setting can be ignored if set to "Nothing". The default setting
is "Nothing".
9.4.6 Recording speed
This can be set to "Normal" (1x) or "Double" (2x) speed and is useful if you
have a cassette player or other device which can play at double speed. This
will half the time to record from that device. For normal use, set this to
"Normal" and set it to "Double" if using a device capable of playing at
double
speed.
9.4.7 Remove DC offset
This option may help to reduce static noise from DC power sources. Noise of
this kind can cause problems with phrase detection and it is recommended
that,
if you have tried changing the "Noise Level" options without success, you
should try this option. There are 2 settings, "On" and "Off". The default
setting is "Off".
9.4.8 Open folder when new creation and "Select Folder"
By using these 2 elements, you can specify a default folder for all project
recordings. These were described in more detail earlier in the manual.
9.5 Selecting the recording mode
Within the PRS software, there are 2 recording modes that can be used. These
are "Overwrite" and "Punch-in" modes. This section explains the meaning of
these modes and describes how to select the desired mode for recording.
9.5.1 Changing recording mode
To change from "Overwrite" to "Punch-in" mode or vice versa, do the following:
Select the "Control" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+C".
Select the "Record Mode" option from the drop down menu or press "M".
Alternatively you can press "F7" directly from the main screen. The Voice
Guidance will announce the selected mode.
Repeat the process until you have selected your desired recording mode.
Note: Whichever setting you last select during a session, will become the
default setting.
9.5.2 Recording in "Overwrite" mode
"Overwrite" mode allows the producer to overwrite the whole of a specified
section, from the selected phrase onwards, regardless of how long the
original
section was or how long the new recording is. The new recording will
overwrite
all phrases in the current section from the selected phrase onwards. It will
not overwrite audio in the following sections!
To record in "Overwrite" mode, do the following:
Ensure that you have selected "Overwrite" mode recording as detailed above.
Move to the phrase which is the first phrase in the section that is to be
overwritten.
Select the "Control" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+C".
Select "Record" from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press "F8" directly from the main screen.
This will place you in a test recording mode. At this point you can adjust
the
recording volume for this section of the project. The Voice Guidance will
indicate if the level is "High", "Good" or "Low".
Once you are happy with the recording level, press "F8" a second time and the
recording will start.
To stop recording, select "Stop" from the "Control" drop down menu or press
the "Spacebar".
Note 1: If you do not wish to use the test recording mode, press "Shift+F8"
and recording will start immediately.
Note 2: When you start to record, the system will stay on pause until an
audio
input is detected by the software. Once the audio is detected, recording will
start automatically.
Note 3: To create a new section whilst recording, press the "Insert" key -
ensure that the number lock is "Off" - this does not work in "Punch in" mode.
9.5.3 Recording in "Punch-in" mode
"Punch-in" mode enables the producer to insert audio at the selected
location,
without overwriting any audio. It can also be used to overwrite specified
phrases in the selected section.
To record in "Punch-in" mode, do the following:
Ensure that you have selected "Punch-in" mode recording as detailed above.
Move to the phrase where you want to insert or punch-in your new audio.
Select the "Control" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+C".
Select "Record" from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press "F8" directly from the main screen.
The "Punch-in" dialogue box will appear. This allows you to specify the
phrases, in the current section, that are to be overwritten.
If you do not want to overwrite any phrases (i.e. you want to insert new
audio
without deleting any existing audio), you should select "Nothing" in this
dialogue.
If you wish to delete some phrases in the section and replace them with the
new audio, use the "Up" and "Down" Arrow keys to select the phrases to be
replaced.
If selecting multiple phrases, you can only select phrases that are next to
each other. Move to the first phrase to be removed, hold down the "Shift" key
and press "Down Arrow" until all required phrases are selected.
When you have made your selection, press "Enter" to confirm.
This will place you in a recording monitoring mode. At this point you can
adjust the recording volume for this section of the project. The Voice
Guidance will indicate if the level is "High", "Good" or "Low".
Once you are happy with the recording level, press "F8" a second time and the
recording will start.
To stop recording, select "Stop" from the "Control" drop down menu or press
the "Spacebar".
Note 1: When selecting phrases to be deleted, you can press "F5" to hear a
phrase you have selected or press "Shift+F5" to hear all the phrases that
have
been selected.
Note 2: When you start to record, the system will stay on pause until an
audio
input is detected by the software. Once the audio is detected, recording will
start automatically.
Note 3: You cannot insert sections when recording in "Punch in" mode.
Note 4: PRS will only allow you to record into a single section at a time,
whether in "Overwrite" or "Punch-in" mode.
9.6 Adjusting the recording volume
When making a recording it is important that the recording volume is neither
too high nor too low. If it is too high, the recording will be "clipped" and
the recording may well be distorted to listen to. If the recording volume is
too low, it may be difficult to hear. In both these cases, the phrase
detection may not work properly.
You should be aiming to record in a middle range to avoid both situations.
This section describes how to adjust the recording volume.
To adjust the recording volume, do the following:
Select the "Control" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+C".
Select the "Record" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, press "F8" directly from the main screen.
This will place you in the test recording mode.
Now adjust the recording volume as required.
The best way to do this is to speak a word at a time and then pause to listen
to the feedback from the PRS software.
If using the Voice Guidance, you will hear "High", "Good" or "Low". You
should
adjust the recording volume until you hear "Good" most often.
To increase the recording volume, select "Input volume up" from the "Control"
drop down menu or press "F4".
To decrease the recording volume, select "Input volume down" from the
"Control" drop down menu or press "Shift+F4".
During this process, you should check that the phrase detection appears to be
functioning well. This can be gauged by speaking several short sentences and
viewing the number of phrases that have been detected during the test
recording process. This information is visible in the Monitoring Display area
of the screen or can be listened to by pressing the "F12" or "F9" keys.
Note 1: "Low" indicates a peak level lower than -12 dB, "Good" indicates a
peak level between -12 dB and -3 dB and "High" indicates a peak level which
is
-3 dB or higher.
Note 2: If setting the recording volume visually, you should set the level to
be around -10 dB.
9.7 Exercises for practicing recording techniques
You should now have a good understanding of the main issues involved in
making
a recording with the PRS software. If you would like to try some practical
exercises in recording, see Exercise 4 in Appendix A.
Return to Chapter 9 of ToC
Return to ToC
10 Editing
This chapter focuses on how you can edit your project including manipulating
the recorded information and structuring in the DAISY features such as pages
and groups. At the end of this part of the manual you should be able to
record
and edit using most of the facilities in the PRS software.
10.1 Selecting multiple sections or phrases
Selecting multiple phrases or sections in a PRS project, is very similar to
selecting multiple items in other Windows list boxes. The process is as
follows:
Move to the phrase or section from which you wish to start selecting.
Hold down the "Shift" key and press the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to select
the phrases or sections above or below your initial position. The Voice
Guidance will speak the phrases or sections as they are selected.
Continue to hold down the "Shift" key until all the required phrases or
sections have been selected.
If you wish to select all the phrases in a section or all the sections in the
project, you can select "Select All" from the "Edit" drop down menu or press
"Control+A".
Now you are ready to perform the necessary action on the selected phrases or
sections. This could be: cut, copy, delete etc.
Note: You can only select multiple phrases or sections that are contiguous.
10.2 Standard editing commands for phrases and sections
Now that you know how to select single and multiple phrases and sections, it
is simple to action a number of the basic editing features of the PRS
software. Many of the commands will be familiar from other Windows based
programmes. Below is listed some of the most useful commands:
Cut selection - press "Control+X" or select "Cut" from the "Edit" menu.
Copy selection - press "Control+C" or select "Copy" from the "Edit" menu.
Paste selection - re-position the highlight where you wish to insert the
phrases or sections being copied or moved and then press "Control+V" or
select
"Paste" from the "Edit" menu.
Undo previous edit - press "Control+Z" or select "undo" from the "Edit" menu.
Delete selection - press "Delete" or select "Delete" from he "Edit" menu.
10.3 Editing a section
This part of the manual deals with some of the basic editing commands for
working with sections.
10.3.1 Joining sections
To join 2 or more sections together, do the following:
Select the sections to be joined, as above.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Join" option from the drop down menu or press "J".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+M" from the main screen.
A confirmation box will appear. Press "Enter" to proceed or "Escape" to
cancel.
10.3.2 Splitting a section
On occasions it will be necessary to split a section into smaller parts. The
procedure to do this is explained below:
Go to the Section List and select the section that you wish to split.
Press "Tab" to move to the Phrase List for that section.
Locate the phrase that is to be the first phrase of the new section.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Split Section" option from the drop down menu or press "O".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+Q" from the main screen.
A confirmation box will appear, press "Enter" to accept the split or "Escape"
to cancel.
The result will be the creation of a new section with the phrase which was at
the split point being the first phrase in the new section.
10.3.3 Deleting sections
To delete a section, do the following:
Select the section or sections to be deleted.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Delete" option from the drop down menu or press "D".
Alternatively, you can press the "Delete" key directly from the main screen.
10.3.4 Deleting all sections
If you wish to delete all the sections in a project, do the following:
Go to the Section List by pressing "Tab" until the Voice Guidance announces
"Section".
Select the "Edit" menu or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Delete All" option from the drop down menu.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear, press "Enter" to confirm the
deletion
of all the sections or "Escape" to cancel.
10.3.5 Inserting a new section
If you wish to insert a new empty section, do the following:
Go to the Section List and locate the position for the new section to be
inserted.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Insert Section" option from the drop down menu or press
"Shift+Insert".
A confirmation box will appear. Press the "Enter" key to confirm, and the new
empty section will be created, or press "Escape" to cancel.
10.4 Editing phrases
This section deals with some of the basic commands used for editing phrases.
10.4.1 Joining phrases
Select the phrases to be joined, as above.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Join" option from the drop down menu or press "J".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+M" from the main screen.
A confirmation box will appear. Press "Enter" to proceed or "Escape" to
cancel.
Note 1: Phrases to be joined must be contiguous.
Note 2: If the error message "Unable to join these phrases" appears, you
should carry out one of the following actions. If the audio format of your
project is "PCM", run the "Build Book" process from the "Tool" menu. If the
audio format of your project is "MP3" run the "Audio Export" process from the
"Tool" menu.
10.4.2 Splitting a phrase
On occasion you may wish to split a phrase to break down a long phrase into
smaller pieces. This can be done as follows:
Select the phrase you wish to split.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Split Phrase" option from the drop down menu or press "H".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+P" directly from the main screen.
The Voice Guidance will ask you to select the splitting position.
Now use the "Left" and "Right" Arrow keys to adjust the splitting position to
the desired position in the phrase. You can press these keys one press at a
time or you can hold down the keys to scroll through the recording more
quickly. Holding down the "Shift" key in combination with the "Arrow" keys
will allow you to jump backwards or forwards 1 second at a time. Use the
"Shift" key with "Left Arrow" or "Up Arrow" to move backwards. Use the
"Shift"
key with "Right Arrow" or "Down Arrow" to move forwards.
The phrase will be played, each time you move, from the selected split
position forwards in the recording. This way you can hear where the split
will
occur before making the Change.
Once you are happy that you have chosen the correct position for making the
split, press the "Enter" key.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear, press "Enter" to confirm the split
or
"Escape" to cancel your selected position and adjust the split position
further.
Note 1: When you start the splitting process, the splitting position will
always start at the beginning of the phrase to be split, so pressing the
"Left
Arrow" key at the start, will have no effect.
Note 2: You will be unable to split a phrase if you are positioned at the
beginning or end of the phrase.
Note 3: During the splitting process, pressing the "F5" key will cause the
Voice Guidance to speak from the split position. Pressing it again during the
audio playback will stop the audio output.
Note 4: If you wish to cancel the splitting process at any time whilst
selecting the split position, press the "Escape" key to return to the main
screen.
Note 5: If you click on the phrase wave form with the right mouse button, the
whole wave form will be displayed. Clicking a second time with the right
mouse
button will return the screen to normal.
10.4.3 Deleting a phrase
To delete a phrase, do the following:
Select the phrase or phrases to be deleted.
Select the Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Delete" option from the drop down menu or press "D".
Alternatively, you can press the "Delete" key directly from the main screen.
10.4.4 Deleting all phrases
If you need to, you can delete all the phrases in a selected section. This
can
be done as follows:
In the Section List, select the section that all the phrases are to be
deleted
from.
Press "Tab" to move to the related Phrase List.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "All Delete" option from the drop down menu or press "E".
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to confirm the
deletion
or "Escape" to cancel.
10.5 Undoing editing
Similar to a word processor, PRS allows you to undo previous edits. You can
undo the previous 10 edits in reverse order. In the event that you wish to
undo editing, do the following:
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Undo" option from the drop down menu or press "U".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+Z" directly from the main screen.
You can repeat this process for the previous 10 edits, in reverse order.
Note 1: The "Undo" command is valid for the following editing commands: Join,
Split, Delete, All Delete, Insert, Cut, Paste, Page setting, Group setting,
Mark setting, Level setting, Section property and Phrase property.
Note 2: The "Undo" command will not work for undoing recording, DAISY import,
Audio Import, Audio Export, Text Import, Build Book and CD Writing.
10.6 Editing the section properties
For every section in the project, there are 2 pieces of information that will
always be present. These are the section heading and the section level.
Assuming that you have not previously made alterations to a section's
properties, the default text for every heading will be "Heading" and the
default level will be Level 1. Although you can leave these unaltered, the
information in the section properties is much more meaningful if it is
customised to suit the particular project. It also makes it possible to
search
for particular sections by use of the heading text.
The information can be modified either manually, one section at a time, or by
using the "ToC Import" feature of the PRS software. This feature will be
discussed in the next chapter of this manual.
The section properties contains the information that makes up the Table of
Contents for the DAISY project. This section describes how to edit the
section
properties manually. Manual editing is likely to be used when there are only
a
small number of sections in the project or when there is only a small amount
of editing required.
10.6.1 Editing the section heading
To edit a section's heading, do the following:
Select the Section List on the main screen by pressing "Tab".
Select the section you wish to edit and then select the "Edit" menu from the
Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Property" item on the drop down menu or press "R". The "Section
Properties" dialogue box will appear with the highlight on the "Level"
element.
Alternatively, you can press the "Enter" key directly from the main screen.
Press the "Tab" key to move to the "Heading" element.
Type in the appropriate text for the section heading.
If you wish to edit the previous or next section information, press the
"Previous" or "Next" section buttons or use "Alt+Left Arrow" or "Alt+Right
Arrow" respectively.
If you wish to hear the first phrase of the section, press the "Play" button
or press "F5". The first phrase will play and then stop.
When you have finished editing, press "Enter" to confirm the changes or
"Escape" to cancel.
10.6.2 Editing the section level
Every section in a PRS project can be assigned a level from 1 to 6. Level 1
is
the highest level of navigation and Level 6 is the lowest. The default
setting
for a new section is Level 1. You may wish to alter the assigned level for a
section, in order to make the navigation of your project more specific. This
section details how to raise or lower the section levels.
To raise the level for a section, do the following:
Select the section that is to have its level raised.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Level Up" option from the drop down or press "V".
Alternatively, you can press "F11" directly from the main screen.
To lower the level of a section, do the following:
Select the section that is to have its level lowered.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Level Down" option from the drop down menu or press "W".
Alternatively, you can press "Shift+F11" directly from the main screen.
Note 1: If you wish to adjust the level of multiple sections, select the
desired sections and use the same process as above to raise or lower the
level
as appropriate.
Note 2: The level information is also available on the section properties
dialogue box. Open the section properties and make alterations to the level
element by using the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys. Press "Enter" to confirm the
changes.
10.7 Setting and removing page information
The PRS software allows you to specify phrases in the project that are to be
marked as "pages". The page marker adds extra navigation functionality to the
DAISY project. This can be particularly useful where the original text does
not have many other natural break points, such as novels, which may only have
chapters and paragraphs. It is also very useful in reference works as a means
to find information quickly.
The PRS software allows you to use 4 types of page coding as follows: Auto
page, Manual page, Front page and Special page.
This section explains each of the page codings and how to use them.
10.7.1 Auto page numbering
The auto page numbering feature allows you to place page codes on phrases in
your project. Having inserted these page codes, they will automatically
number
themselves according to their position relative to the other page codes. The
first code will become Page 1, the second will be Page 2 and so on. There is
no need to enter specific page numbers.
To enter an automatic page code, do the following:
Select the phrase which is to be given the "Page" coding.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Page" option from the drop down menu or press "A". The phrase
will
be coded with an automatic page tag.
Alternatively, you can press "P" directly from the main screen.
Note 1: As you enter automatic page codes into the project, a small cross
will
be added under the "Page" column. Pressing the "F12" or "F9" key will cause
the Voice Guidance to announce the phrase number followed by "Attributes Page
Automatic" along with the other phrase information.
Note 2: If you wish to determine the currently assigned page number for that
phrase, you need to refresh the information on the screen. Do this by
selecting "Refresh" from the "Edit" menu or by pressing either "Control+L" or
"F10" directly from the main screen. The small cross will change to the
relevant page number. After refreshing the information, pressing "F12" or
"F9"
will cause the Voice Guidance to say "Attribute Page Automatic Number XX"
(where XX is the calculated page number at that time), along with the other
phrase information.
Note 3: Any time you add or remove automatic page codes from the project, you
must use the "Refresh" function to determine the new page number in the
project.
10.7.2 Manual page numbering
You can choose to enter a specified page number rather than using the
automatic page numbering. You might want to do this in various situations,
for
example, if you are creating a DAISY version of only part of the original
text
and want the page numbers to still match the original.
To enter a manual page number, do the following:
Select the phrase to which the page code is to be assigned.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Properties" option on the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press the "Enter" key directly from the main screen.
You will be on a list where you can select the type of page (No Page, Auto
page, Manual page, Front page or Special page).
Use the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to select "Manual".
Press "Tab" to move to the edit box where you can enter a page number. Enter
the required page number and press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape" to cancel.
Note 1: Manual page numbers must be specified in sequence. If they are not,
an
error message will be displayed when you execute the "Refresh" command (F10).
Note 2: Manual page numbering can be used in combination with automatic page
numbering. For example, if a phrase has a manual page set to be Page 10 and
phrases later in the project are coded as automatic pages, the first page
after the manually set page will become Page 11 and the next one will become
Page 12 and so on.
Note 3: When a manual page has been specified, the page number will appear in
parentheses "(" and ")" on the phrase list under the "Page" column. Pressing
the "F12" or "F9" keys will cause the Voice Guidance to say "Attribute Page
Manual Number XX" (where XX is the specified page number), along with the
other phrase information.
10.7.3 Front page option
In printed books, the pages before the main content of the book are often
numbered with Roman style numbering such as "i", "ii", "iii", "iv" and so on.
You can use the "Front Page" option in the PRS software to enter this type of
page numbering in your DAISY project, in order to match the original text.
To enter a "Front" page code, do the following:
Select the phrase to which the page code is to be assigned.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Properties" option on the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press the "Enter" key directly from the main screen.
You will be on a list where you can select the type of page (No Page, Auto
page, Manual page, Front page or Special page).
Use the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to select "Front".
Press "Tab" to move to the edit box where you can enter a page number. Enter
the required page number and press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape" to cancel.
Note: When you specify a front page code, the page number specified will
appear in square brackets "[" and "]", under the "Page" column of the phrase
properties. Pressing the "F12" or "F9" keys will cause the Voice Guidance to
say "Attribute Page Front XX" (where XX is the specified front page number),
along with the other phrase information.
10.7.4 Special page option
The special page option can be used to specify non-standard page numbering
such as "1-34" or "1-iv", where the hyphen "-" is used to separate numbers
which can be standard numbers or Roman numerals.
To set a "Special" page code, do the following:
Select the phrase to which the page code is to be assigned.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Properties" option on the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press the "Enter" key directly from the main screen.
You will be on a list where you can select the type of page (No Page, Auto
page, Manual page, Front page or Special page).
Use the "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys to select "Special".
Press "Tab" to move to the edit box where you can enter a page number. Enter
the required page number and press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape" to cancel.
Note: After entering a special page number on a phrase, the specified number
will appear in angle brackets "<" and ">" under the "Page" column on the
phrase properties. Pressing the "F12" or "F9" keys will cause the Voice
Guidance to say "Attribute Page Special XX" (where XX is the specified
number), along with the other phrase information.
10.7.5 Removing page codes from a phrase
If you wish to remove the page coding from a phrase, do the following:
Select the phrase from which you want to remove the page code.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Page" option from the drop down menu or press "A".
Alternatively, you can press "P" directly from the main screen.
The page code will be removed from the phrase.
Note: This method will remove page codes from the selected phrase regardless
of the type of page code.
10.7.6 Deleting all page codes from the project
If you wish to delete all the page codes from the project, do the following:
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Delete all pages" option from the drop down menu or press "S".
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape"
to cancel.
If confirmed, all page codes will be deleted from the entire project.
10.8 Setting and removing group information
A group code can be specified for any phrase in a project apart from the
first
phrase in any section. You may wish to use this code for marking the first
phrase in a paragraph, a note, a warning or safety related item or for other
items such as tables or pictures. Essentially this code can be used by the
project producer as a 'wild card' type of coding.
To set the group code on a phrase, do the following:
10.8.1 Setting the group code in the phrase properties
Select the required phrase.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Properties" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press "Enter" directly from the main screen.
The phrase properties dialogue box will appear.
Tab round to the "Group" element and set it to "On" by using the "Up" or
"Down" Arrow keys.
Press "Enter" to confirm the setting or "Escape" to cancel.
10.8.2 Setting the group code directly
Select the required phrase.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Group" option from the drop down menu or press "G".
Alternatively, you can press "G" directly from the main screen.
The group code will be set.
Note: Having set the group code on a phrase, pressing the "F12" or "F9" keys
will cause the Voice Guidance to say "Attribute Group" along with the other
phrase information.
10.8.3 Removing the group coding
To remove the group coding from a phrase, do the following:
Select the phrase concerned.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Group" option from the drop down menu or press "G".
Alternatively, you can press "G" directly from the main screen.
The group code will be removed.
Note: You can achieve the same result by setting the "Group" item to "Off" in
the phrase properties dialogue box.
10.9 Marks
Marks are a method by which the producer of the project can easily find a
particular phrase in the project. Essentially it is a way of tagging the
phrase for future attention.
To set a mark on a phrase, do the following:
10.9.1 Inserting a mark using the phrase properties
Select the required phrase.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Properties" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press "Enter" directly from the main screen.
The phrase properties dialogue will appear.
Tab around to the "Mark" element and use the "Up" or "Down" Arrows to set the
item to "On".
Press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape" to cancel.
10.9.2 Inserting a mark directly
Select the required phrase.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Mark" option from the drop down menu or press "M".
Alternatively, you can press "M" directly from the main screen.
The mark code will be set on the phrase.
Note: Having set the mark code on a phrase, pressing the "F12" or "F9" keys
will cause the Voice Guidance to say "Attribute Mark" along with the other
phrase information.
10.9.3 Removing a mark
To remove the mark coding from a phrase, do the following:
Select the phrase concerned.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Mark" option from the drop down menu or press "M".
Alternatively, you can press "M" directly from the main screen.
The mark code will be removed.
Note: You can achieve the same result by setting the "Mark" item to "Off" in
the phrase properties dialogue box.
10.9.4 Deleting all marks from the project
If you wish to delete all the marks from the project in one operation, do the
following:
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Delete all marks" option from the drop down menu or press "K".
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape"
to cancel.
If confirmed, all mark codes will be deleted from the entire project.
10.10 Setting page, group or mark codes whilst recording
If you wish to insert the page, group or mark codes whilst you are recording,
simply press "P", "G" or "M" respectively at the appropriate place in the
recording.
Note: This method is recommended for advanced users only.
10.11 Comments
In order that the producer of the DAISY project can make notes for a section,
the PRS software provides the "Comment" element in the section properties
dialogue box. This may be used to store information about a section that will
be referred to later or further guide the editing of that section. The
comment
text can also be used as an additional way of navigating the project before
it
is finished. Comment information does not affect the final DAISY book in any
way.
10.11.1 Adding a comment to a section's properties
To add or edit a comment for a section, do the following:
Select the section that is to have a comment added or edited.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Properties" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press "Enter" directly from the main screen.
Press "Tab" until you are at the "Comment" element.
Type in the required comment text and press the "Enter" key.
The comment will now be added to the section properties.
10.11.2 Deleting a comment from the section properties
To delete a comment from a section properties, do the following:
Select the appropriate section.
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Properties" option from the drop down menu or press "R".
Alternatively, you can press "Enter" directly from the main screen.
The section properties dialogue box will appear.
Tab round the dialogue box to the "Comment" element.
Press the "Delete" key to remove all text in this edit box.
Press the "Enter" key to confirm the action or "Escape" to cancel.
10.11.3 Deleting all comments from the project
If you wish to delete all comments from the entire project, do the following:
Select the "Edit" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+E".
Select the "Delete all comments" option from the drop down menu or press "N".
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to confirm the action
or "Escape" to cancel.
If confirmed, all comments will be removed from the project.
10.12 Exercises in editing a project
This chapter has covered most of the basic editing commands of the PRS
software. If you would like to practice some of these skills, Exercise 5 in
Appendix A gives you this opportunity.
Return to Chapter 10 of ToC
Return to ToC
11 Creating and Editing the Table of Contents
The Table of Contents is a collation of the information held in the "Section
Properties" dialogue boxes. This information can be created or edited before
or after making the recording. The method selected will depend on the way the
recording is made. For example, if you are creating a DAISY version of a
printed book, you may choose to set up the Table of Contents first and then
record the audio directly into your project. If you wish to make a recording
on location somewhere and then create a DAISY book with this audio, you would
tend to make the recording first, import the audio into your new project and
then edit the structure and the Table of Contents.
In the previous chapter you learned how to edit the heading, level and
comment
information in the "Section Properties" dialogue box. This chapter describes
how to create the appropriate files for use with the "ToC Import" feature. It
also details how to run the import when the file has been created.
The "ToC Import" feature of the PRS software allows for the import of 3 file
formats. The information that can be imported will depend on the file format
chosen. Each format is discussed in detail below.
11.1 ToC (Table of Contents)
The format for a ToC file to be used in the import process is HTML. Relevant
files will have a ".HTML" or ".HTM" file extension. Within the file there
will
be a list of the headings, each of which has been marked up for the
appropriate heading level. For example, the HTML code for a simple Table of
Contents might look like the following:
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<h1>Chapter 1</h1>
<h2>Section 1.1</h2>
<h2>Section 1.2</h2>
<h3>Sub Section 1.2.1</h3>
<h3>Sub Section 1.2.2</h3>
<h1>End of Book</h1>
</body>
</html>
If viewed in a web browser, this would simply look like a list of headings of
the correct level. In order to create this file, you can use an HTML editing
software, manually code the information into a text editor or you can type
the
text in a word processor and save the file in HTML format. Either way the
file
should be saved with a "HTML" or "HTM" file extension.
In addition, if you specify an existing "NCC.HTML" or "NCC.HTM" file as the
source file for the import, any book information which is stored in the meta
data of the file, will be imported along with the heading and level
information.
Note: If you use a word processor, ensure that each heading is on a separate
line and that the appropriate style is selected. For example, If a heading is
to be Level 1 in the DAISY project, you should use the style "Heading 1" and
so on.
11.2 CSV (Comma Separated Variables)
The CSV format allows you to import level, heading and comment information
directly into the section properties. You do not have to specify a comment
for
each section - if no comment is appropriate, simply leave this entry blank.
The level and heading information, however, must be included.
One way to create the source file in CSV format would be to use a spread
sheet
package and then "Save as" "CSV" format. To ensure the correct result after
the ToC Import, please note that the first column used should contain the
level information and the second column should have the heading text. Once
saved in CSV format, the equivalent file for the example above would look
like:
1, Chapter 1, Appropriate comment if required
2, Section 1.1, Appropriate comment if required
2, Section 1.2, Appropriate comment if required
3, Sub Section 1.2.1, Appropriate comment if required
3, Sub Section 1.2.2, Appropriate comment if required
1, End of Book, Appropriate comment if required
You could also create the appropriate file for CSV import using a text editor
and type the information as above with the information for each section on a
new line. Once typed, save the file as a text file ensuring that you give the
file a ".CSV" file extension.
11.3 TXT (Text)
This format is the least flexible import format and will only allow the
heading information to be imported. Level information cannot be imported
using
this format.
In order to prepare a text file for use with the "ToC Import" feature, type
your heading information on separate lines in a text editor and save the file
with an appropriate name and with a ".TXT" file extension. The text file for
the example project above would look like:
Chapter 1
Section 1.1
Section 1.2
Sub Section 1.2.1
Sub Section 1.2.2
End of Book
11.4 Running the "ToC Import" process
Having prepared the necessary file, you can import the information, either
before or after making the recording, as follows:
11.4.1 Importing the Table of Contents before recording
In order to run the "ToC Import" feature before recording, do the following:
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "ToC Import" item from the drop down list or press "O".
You will then be prompted to confirm that you wish to overwrite the existing
Table of Contents (this dialogue appears even when the project is empty).
Press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape" to cancel.
You will then be asked to specify the file to be imported. Either type the
folder and name of the file or press "Tab" to select the "Select File"
button.
If you choose to select the file, a typical file open dialogue will be
displayed. Select the type of file to be ToC (*.HTML), CSV or TXT as
appropriate and use the "Look in" and file list elements to locate the
correct
file. Press "Enter" when you have selected this file.
Press "Enter" again and the file selection will be finished.
A dialogue will appear which asks you to confirm the ToC Import process.
Press
"Enter" and the import will begin or "Escape" if you wish to abandon the
process.
When the import is complete, a final dialogue confirming that the import has
been completed will appear. Press "Enter to acknowledge this message.
11.4.2 Importing the Table of Contents into an existing project
This procedure is exactly the same as in the previous section except that
more
care has to be taken. When the recording already exists, you should ensure
the
following before importing a Table of Contents:
The number of sections in the existing project should exactly match the
number
of headings in the file to be imported.
The order of the items in the import file are the same as the order of the
sections in the project.
Once you are happy that these points are OK, run the import process as
before.
It is always worth thoroughly checking the project after the import process
as
an extra precaution.
11.5 Exercises in working with Tables of Contents (ToC)
Exercise 6 in Appendix A gives you a chance to try working with a variety of
ToC formats and the "ToC Import" feature.
Return to Chapter 11 of ToC
Return to ToC
12 Building the book
Having completed all the recording and editing of the project, there is one
final process which must be carried out before CD writing. This is called
"Building the Book". This chapter details how to run the "Build Book" process
and the changes that this makes to the PRS project.
"Build Book" process has two purposes, one is make project as DAISY2.02
compliant book, and the other one is clean up audio files. Clean up process
deleting unnecessary part of audio files, and justifying one audio file
corresponding to one smile file.
12.1 How to run the "Build Book" process
To run the "Build Book" process, do the following:
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "Build Book" option from the drop down menu or press "B".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+B" directly from the main screen.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear.
To continue with the process, press "Enter" or press "Escape" to cancel.
If you choose to continue, the build book process will start. This may take a
while for larger projects.
On completion, a dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to acknowledge that
the process is complete.
Once this process has been finished, the book is ready to write to CD.
Note 1: Pressing the "F12" or "F9" keys during the "Build Book" process will
cause the Voice Guidance to announce the percentage complete.
Note 2: Before running the Build Book process, you should ensure that the
"Book Information" has been completed.
12.2 Outline of the alterations involved in the "Build Book" process
During the "Build Book" process, the PRS software makes a number of
alterations to the files that you will find in the project folder. The main
alterations are as follows:
The creation of a "NCC.HTML" file as the main navigation control file for the
finished DAISY book. This is created in addition to the "NCC.IMDN"
intermediate NCC file which has been in use up to this point.
The creation of the smile (.SMIL) files to link the navigation and audio
files
correctly.
The completion of the "Date" and "Identifier" entries in the Book
Information.
Deletion of any unnecessary audio files in a clean up process.
Note 1: Only PCM format audio files will be cleaned up during the "Build
Book"
process. To clean up MP3 audio files it requires the "Audio Export" function.
Note 2: The "Build Book" process can also be used when the project needs to
be
cleaned up during the editing stage.
Return to Chapter 12 of ToC
Return to ToC
13 Creating the CD
The process of creating the new DAISY book is complete but the information
must now be saved to CD. You can either choose to save the book as a "Master"
copy or as a "Distribution" copy. The master CD will contain all the files
which have been used in creating the project whereas the distribution CD will
only have the finished audio files, the relevant ".HTML" files and the
".SMIL"
files.
This Chapter explains how to create the final CD and how the CD writing
options affect the way in which the CD can be used afterwards.
In order to run the CD writing process, there are 2 stages as follows:
13.1 Configuring PRS for your CD writer
If you have not already done so when you first set up PRS , you need to
configure the software to know which CD writer you wish to use.
To configure the software to work with your desired CD writer, do the
following:
Select the "Option" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+O".
Select the "CDR Drive" option from the drop down menu or press "D".
Alternatively you can press "Control+D" directly from the main screen.
This will take you to the "Setting of the CDR Drive" dialogue box. This
dialogue has 2 elements, a list of available CDR/CDRW drives and a radio
button which allows you to turn on or off the facility for creating a
temporary image file whilst recording.
The focus will be on the list of available drives. Use the "Up" or "Down"
Arrow keys to select your preferred drive.
Press "Tab" to move to the radio button for the temporary image setting. Use
"Up" or "Down" Arrows to set this feature to "On" or "Off".
Press the "Enter" key to confirm your selections.
Note 1: After confirming your selection, this will become the default
selection in the future. You can also change the selected drive or the
temporary image setting at any time.
Note 2: If you do not specify an appropriate CDR or CDRW drive, when you try
to write a CD, the error "Incorrect drive setting" will appear.
Note 3: It is highly recommended you use the CD-R/RW drive manufactured by
Plextor corp.
13.2 Writing the CD
To start the CD writing process, do the following:
Ensure that the "Build Book" process has been carried out before running CD
writing.
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "CD Write" option from the drop down menu or press "W".
Alternatively, you can press "Control+W" directly from the main screen.
The CD writing dialogue box will appear. This contains 4 radio buttons which
are: Writing speed, Purpose of use, Select last session and Post editing by
the PLEXTALK portable recorder. Further details on each of these is given
below.
Press the "Tab" key to move around the dialogue box and use the "Up" or
"Down"
Arrows to select the options you require.
Finally press the "Enter" key to confirm the settings.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" again to start the CD
writing or "Escape" to cancel.
Note1: During CD writing the Voice Guidance will regularly say "Running" to
confirm that work is still being done. Press the "F12" or "F9" keys to cause
the Voice Guidance to speak the percentage complete.
Note2: Do not use another CD writing application to write to a CD written by
PRS. In some cases, the PRS material will become unreadable.
13.3 Explanation of the CD writing dialogue box
The four main elements in the CD writing dialogue box are detailed below with
their functions:
13.3.1 Select writing speed
The range of options offered in this box will depend on the selected CD
writer. Use the "Up" and "Down" Arrow keys to make your selection.
13.3.2 Purpose of use
This can be set to "Master Project" or "Distribution Copy". For the master
copy, all the project files, including the intermediate files, will be saved
onto the CD. The distribution copy CD will only contain the basic set of
files
required to play the DAISY book. A master project CD will be able to be
opened
directly by the PRS software. In order to edit a distribution copy CD book,
the DAISY Import function would need to be used.
13.3.3 Select last session
This option allows you to select between "Valid" or "Invalid". The "Last
session" referred to is the previous CD writing session or sessions on the CD
you intend to write to. If this option is set to "Valid" you will be able to
view all previous sessions and the current session when viewed on a computer.
You will also be able to access all previously written sessions on the
Plextalk PTR1 and on other DAISY players. If you select "Invalid" you will
only be able to see the most recent session on a computer or any other
player.
Essentially, by setting this option to "Valid" you will be able to create
multiple book CDs whereas the "Invalid" option will leave only the current
book 'visible' on the CD. The "Discinfo.html" file will be adjusted by the
software to suit your selection.
Note: When you select "Valid" to create a multiple book CD, the books will be
automatically listed alphabetically.
13.3.4 Post editing by Plextalk portable recorder
This can be set to "On" or "Off". If set to "On", the book will be able to be
edited after running the preparation for editing process on the Plextalk
PTR1.
If set to "Off", no further editing will be possible on the Plextalk PTR1.
Exercises in finishing the project and writing a CD.
Before looking at any of the more advanced features, you may wish to try
completing the process of creating your own DAISY book CD. Exercise 7 in
Appendix A sets this challenge.
Return to Chapter 13 of ToC
Return to ToC
14 Additional Features of PRS
The PRS software contains a number of additional functions which enhance the
way in which you can work with DAISY projects. This chapter details the
features that have not been covered earlier in this manual.
14.1 DAISY import
On occasion you may wish to work on a DAISY book that you prepared earlier or
that has been supplied to you by someone else. You may want to edit the
content, modify the structure or update the DAISY content from DAISY2.0 to
DAISY2.02 format. You may also wish to combine a number of DAISY books into a
single book. The first part of the process, for any of these situations, is
to
know how to import the original book. The "DAISY Import" feature allows you
to
do this in a simple way.
To import an existing DAISY book into an existing or new PRS project, do the
following:
Create a new project file or open the project into which you wish to import
the DAISY book.
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "DAISY Import" option on the drop down menu or press "D".
A dialogue box will appear where you can either type the location and name of
the NCC file of the book to be imported or press "Tab" to the "Select File"
button.
If you choose to select the file from a list, a standard file open dialogue
box will appear. Use this dialogue box to locate your desired NCC file and
then press the "Open" button. You will return to the previous dialogue box.
Once you have selected the correct file or have typed it in manually, the
file
name will appear in the edit box.
Press "Tab" to move round the dialogue box to the next element which is the
"Audio Format Conversion" radio button. This can be set to "On" or "Off". If
set to "On", the imported audio files will be converted to the same format as
the parent project. If set to "Off", no audio conversion will take place.
Press "Tab" again and you will move to the "Auto Page Conversion" radio
button. Again this can be set to "On" or "Off". If set to "On" automatic page
codes and manual page codes in the original book will be retained and/or
converted to automatic page codes. Front page and special page codes will be
ignored. If set to "Off", all page codes will be discarded.
Once you have set the relevant options, press "Enter" to start the DAISY
import.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to start the import or
"Escape" to cancel.
When the import is complete, a final confirmation dialogue box will appear.
Press "Enter" to acknowledge the completion of the process.
Note 1: The "DAISY Import" process will retain all section and level
information from the imported book(s). When importing multiple books, only
the
book information from the first imported book will be retained.
Note 2: You can only import NCC files which have a ".HTML" or ".HTM" file
extension.
Note 3: During the import process, pressing "F12" or "F9" will cause the
Voice
Guidance to speak the percentage complete.
Note 4: Regardless of where you were in the project when you action the
import
function, the imported book will be placed at the end of all existing
sections.
Note 5: PRS can import books that are in the DAISY2.0 or DAISY2.02 format. A
full list of the audio formats which can be imported is given at Appendix D,
Table D3.
14.2 Audio Import
The PRS software enables you to easily import audio files for use in a DAISY
project. As the files are imported, the pause detection process is applied in
order to split the audio automatically into phrases. Once imported, the audio
can then be edited in the normal way.
In order to import an existing audio file into a PRS project, do the
following:
Select the position at which you want to insert the audio. If you select a
section on the Section List, the imported audio will be inserted at the
beginning of that section. If you select a phrase on the Phrase List, the
imported audio will be inserted into the section at that location. If you
position the highlight at the end of the Section List, the imported audio
will
be paced in a new section. If you position the highlight at the end of the
Phrase List, the imported audio will be added at the end of that section.
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "Audio Import" option from the drop down menu or press "A".
The "Recording Function" dialogue box will appear. As discussed previously,
here you can specify a number of settings relating to the way the audio will
be interpreted on import. These include phrase pause time, section pause time
and noise level settings.
Make alterations to these settings as appropriate and then press the "OK"
button or press "Enter".
Depending on where you positioned your highlight prior to the import, you may
be asked to confirm that you want to create a new section. Press "Enter" to
confirm this or "Escape" to cancel.
If you choose to continue, or if this dialogue box did not appear, a file
selection dialogue box will appear in which you will be asked to specify the
file to be imported. Either type this in directly or choose the "Select File"
button to select the file from a standard file open dialogue box.
Once you have selected the required file for import, press "Enter" to
continue
or "Escape" to cancel.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear, press "Enter" to start the import
process or "Escape" to cancel.
When the import is complete, a final confirmation dialogue box will appear.
Press "Enter" to acknowledge the completion of the process.
Note 1: It is possible to specify multiple files to import in the same
import.
Just use the file list box to highlight the required files before running the
import. Files must be contiguous.
Note 2: Pressing the "F12" or "F9" key during the import, will cause the
Voice
Guidance to speak the percentage complete.
14.3 Audio Export
The "Audio Export" feature allows you to convert the audio format of an
existing DAISY project to an audio format you specify. This is done by
creating a new DAISY project which has your chosen audio format, whilst the
existing project remains unaffected.
"Audio Export" function deleting unnecessary part of audio files including
MP3
format.
To run the "Audio Export" process, do the following:
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "Audio Export" option from the drop down menu or press "E".
You will then be asked to specify the audio format for the new project.
Select
one of the audio formats from the list provided and press "Enter".
Because the process creates a new project, you will then be presented with a
dialogue box which requires you to specify a project name and location for
the
exported project. Select a suitable project name and press the "Save" button.
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to confirm or "Escape"
to cancel.
If you accept the new project name, you will then be asked to confirm the
export process. Press "Enter" to start the export or "Escape" to cancel.
After the export is complete, you will be asked to confirm that you want to
open the new project. Press "Enter" to open the project or "Escape" to keep
the old project on screen.
Note: During the export process, the Voice Guidance will regularly say
"Running". If you wish to check the percentage progress, press "F12" or "F9".
14.4 Text Import
This feature enables you to create a DAISY project from a source text file.
The "Text Import" process converts the text into synthesized speech which
becomes the audio files for the project.
To run the "Text Import" process, do the following:
Select the location in the project where you wish to insert the new audio or
create a new empty project.
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "Text Import" option from the drop down menu or press "T".
The "Recording Function" dialogue box will appear. Set the various options to
the required settings for the import and then press "Enter".
You will then be asked to select the text file to be imported. Either type
this in the edit box provided or select the "Select File" button to be given
a
standard file open dialogue box where you can specify the required file.
After selecting the file, press "Enter" to continue or "Escape" to cancel.
Another dialogue box will appear which allows you to specify the voice,
pitch,
speed and volume of the synthesized speech to be used in the import process.
Use "Tab" to move around this dialogue and "Up" or "Down" Arrows to alter the
setting on each element. You can also use the "Page Up" or "Page Down" keys
to
make larger alterations.
Once you have made your selections, press the "OK" button or "Enter" key to
continue, or "Escape" to cancel.
If you choose "OK", a confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to
continue with the import or "Escape" to cancel.
When the import is complete, a confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press
"Enter" to acknowledge the completion of the process.
Note 1: Experimenting with the settings for pause detection and the speed of
the selected synthesizer, can result in the automatic phrase splitting being
very consistent throughout your new audio. For example, you should be able to
get the phrases to be created each time a new sentence or paragraph is
detected. This can save a lot of editing time.
Note 2: It is possible to specify multiple files to import in the same
import.
Just use the file list box to highlight the required files before running the
import. Files must be contiguous.
Note 3: During the import process, the Voice Guidance will regularly say
"Running". If you wish to check the percentage progress, press "F12" or "F9".
Note 4: In the dialogue box where you specify the synthesizer properties, you
can use the "Default" button to reset the settings back to the default
settings for the selected voice.
14.5 Detecting the pause time
This is a simple feature of the PRS software. It enables you to check what
the
pause time is for phrases in your project. Sometimes this is not displayed,
for example, after a "DAISY Import" no pause time will be displayed in the
phrase properties. Running the "Detecting the Pause Time" feature will
display
the information.
To run the "Detecting the Pause Time" process, do the following:
Select the "Tool" menu from the Menu Bar or press "Alt+T".
Select the "Detecting the Pause Time" option from the drop down menu or press
"P".
A confirmation dialogue box will appear. Press "Enter" to continue or
"Escape"
to cancel.
After the detection process is complete, a confirmation dialogue box will
appear. Press "Enter" to acknowledge the completion of the process.
Note: During the process, the Voice Guidance will regularly say "Running". If
you wish to check the percentage progress, press "F12" or "F9".
14.6 Exercises for the additional features of PRS
This chapter has covered a number of the more advanced features of the PRS
software. If you wish to practice some of these, see Exercise 8 in Appendix A
for some ideas.
Return to Chapter 14 of ToC
Return to ToC
APPENDICES
Appendix A - Sample Exercises
This appendix gives you a series of exercises to try out as you progress
through the PRS manual. Detailed instructions for each task are not given
here
but, at times, some useful hints are given. If you feel you need more
detailed
information, you can return to the chapter which relates to the exercise and
read the relevant sections again.
Copies of the exercises are also available on the "PTR1 User's Guide" CD in
the folder called "PRS\Sample Projects\Documents".
It is hoped that you will find the exercises to be a useful addition to the
manual and that they help you to reinforce your understanding and enjoyment
of
the product as you learn.
Exercise 1 - Configuring PRS
This exercise will give you practice at configuring the PRS software
including
the Voice Guidance, the display settings, Default folder for recording and
selecting a CDR or CDRW drive.
a. First of all you need to launch your PRS software. Go ahead and do this
now. Remember that you can either use the "Plextalk Recording Software" icon
on the Desktop or by selecting it from the Windows Start Menu
When you get to the first dialogue box, select "New" from the list and then
press "Enter" to accept the suggested recording format. At the next dialogue,
just enter a simple folder name and press "Enter". Press "enter" again to
accept the creation of the temporary folder. One final press of the "Enter"
key will allow you to bypass the book information for now, leaving you in a
new empty project.
b. Once in the software, try turning off and on the Voice Guidance feature.
(Hint: "Voice Guidance" on the "Option" menu). Double check that you have
succeeded by trying to navigate the menu system or main screen. If you have
turned off the Voice Guidance, also note that the "F12" and "F9" keys have no
effect.
c. Before trying the next task, you will have to make sure that you have
turned on the Voice Guidance following the previous one. Set the voice to be
"Mary" with a pitch of 200, speed of 150 and volume of 100. (Hint: try
selecting the "Selection of the TTS engine" option on the "Option" menu).
Once
you have successfully managed to alter these settings, reset the voice back
to
its original settings by using the "Default" button.
Finally, go back to the same dialogue box and select a voice that you wish to
keep as your default voice. Set the pitch, speed and volume to suit your
preferences and save the settings.
d. Now try adjusting the list and message fonts. Have a go at changing both
of
these settings. (Hint: Try the "Option" menu and look for "List font size"
and
"Message font size"). Try setting these to the largest and smallest option
offered and see how this affects the on screen information.
e. The next task is to set up a default folder for all your PRS projects. By
using the "Select folder" button in the "Recording Function" dialogue box,
now
go ahead and try to set up a completely new folder in your "My Documents"
folder which is called "PRSProjects". (Hint: You can access the "Recording
Function" dialogue box from the "Recording" option on the "Option" menu.
Remember to select the parent folder and then press the "Add New Folder"
button before typing in the new folder name).
f. The last task in Exercise 1 is to select a valid CDR or CDRW drive for
writing to later on. Go ahead now and try to set up your preferred drive as
the default drive for the PRS software. (Hint: Try selecting the "CDR Drive"
option from the "Option" menu).
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 6 again.
Exercise 2 - Opening projects and CD books
This exercise aims to give you practice in opening existing projects or books
and creating new blank projects. Before starting this exercise, place the
"PTR1 User's Guide" CD in your CD drive.
On the CD there is a folder called "PRS\Sample Projects\Samples" which
contains 5 versions of the same project in different stages of production.
The
folders are called "AfterBuild", "BeforeBuild", "DistributionCD", "MasterCD"
and "Synthesized". Before starting this exercise, you may find it useful to
browse this folder and familiarise yourself with the files in the various
locations. You will probably note that many of the folders have similar files
but there are important differences. These will be highlighted during this
exercise.
a. Opening an existing project. Try to open the project in the
"Samples\BeforeBuild" folder. You can either do this as you launch the PRS
software by choosing "Open" from the initial dialogue box or by using "Open"
from the "File" menu. (Hint: You are looking for a file called "NCC.IMDN"
because you are looking for a project file not a finished book file).
You can confirm that you have successfully opened the project by pressing the
"Left Arrow" key. You should hear the words "Bogmoor Amateur Athletics Club"
spoken.
b. Creating a new project. Having successfully opened the existing project,
you now decide to create a new project altogether. Without exiting from the
PRS software, try to create a new project and call it "TestProject1".
Remember
that, if you have created a default folder earlier, your new project will be
saved into this folder unless you specify a different location. (Hint: Select
"New" from the "File" menu or press "Control+N").
Set the audio format to be "MP3 64 kbps Mono" and complete the "Book
Information" with fictional information of your choice. Leave the
"Identifier"
element empty for now.
Now exit the PRS software and re-launch it. At the opening dialogue box,
select to open a project and select the project that you just created. You
should see that this project has been selected automatically. PRS always
assumes that you want to continue working on the last used project.
c. Opening a finished book from CD. If you feel happy opening existing
projects, try opening a finished DAISY book from CD. This is very similar to
opening an existing project except that you have to locate a file called
"NCC.HTML" or "NCC.HTM". You will also be required to specify a new project
name because the only way to edit an existing DAISY book is to copy the
information onto the hard drive and create a new project. Information on a
finalised CDR cannot be modified.
Try to open the finished book which is located in the "PRS\Sample
Projects\Samples\DistributionCD\AfterBuild" folder on your sample CD. When
prompted to give this a new project name, give it the name "TestProject2".
Remember to set the "Files of Type" setting in the "Open" dialogue box to the
correct type of file).
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 7 again.
Exercise 3 - Playing and navigating in projects
This exercise is all about navigating around a PRS project. First of all,
open
the project called "TestProject2" which you created in the previous exercise.
This should be located in your default folder. Once you have opened this
project, try the following tasks:
a. Try switching from the Section List to the Phrase List. Examine how the
Phrase List changes according to which section is highlighted. (Hint: Try
using the "Tab" key).
b. Use your arrow keys to navigate up and down on the Section List and the
Phrase List, listening to what is spoken as you move. Try to locate the
section that begins with the words "4.1 Competitions". Count how many phrases
are in this section of the project (the answer should be 8).
c. Try moving to the start of the project and start listening to the project
in continuous play mode. Periodically stop the playback and then re-start it.
(Hint: "F5" to start and "Spacebar" to stop).
d. Adjust the playback speed and volume using the relevant function keys.
(Hint: "F3" for volume and "F6" for speed. Remember that "Shift" with these
keys reduces the volume or speed).
e. Use the heading search facility to find the heading containing the word
"Competent". This should take you to the "Any Other Competent Business"
section. Remember to press "Escape" to exit from the search facility after
finding the section.
f. This project has been coded with page, group and mark codes. Use the
relevant navigation keys to move around the document to find these codes. Try
to find out how many pages are in this project. The group code has been used
to indicate the items on the Treasurer's summary of the income and
expenditure. Use the group codes to find how much money is still due in
membership fees. How many marks has the producer of the project left in this
title? (Hint: If you can't remember the keyboard commands for these
navigation
items, look on the "Move" drop down menu).
You should find 3 page codes and the outstanding membership fees come to 150
pounds. There are 4 marks coded into this project.
Also note that the phrase which mentioned the outstanding membership fees is
coded with both the page and group codes.
g. Try using the event jump command to navigate backwards and forwards
through
the project. Remember that an event can be any of the following: the first
phrase in a section, a phrase marked with a page code and a page marked with
a
group code. Phrases coded with the mark code do not count as events.
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 8 again.
Exercise 4 - Recording
In this exercise you will try out some of the basic recording features to
create your own first project. However, before you start recording, there are
a few checks to carry out.
a. Ensure that you have connected a microphone to the correct socket on your
sound card. Also check that the Windows Volume Controls are set correctly for
accepting audio input from the microphone. If you are not sure of how to do
this, you should seek help from the Windows Help system.
b. Open the project you created earlier called "TestProject1". This should
still be an empty project with no recorded audio.
c. Now set PRS to accept input from the microphone. (Hint: Try the "Selection
of the Recording Volume Control" option on the "Control" menu). This should
be
set to "Microphone".
d. Before recording it is usually sensible to check out the available
resources. Check what available resources you currently have on your system.
(Hint: Use the "Storage Information" option on the "Tool" menu). Remember to
OK the dialogue box when you have reviewed the data.
e. Now set up the "Recording Function" dialogue box with the following
settings: Phrase pause time=0.3 seconds, Noise level=Normal, Section pause
time=Nothing, Create a new audio file=Yes, Time to stop recording=Nothing,
Record speed=Normal speed and Remove DC Offset=Off . (Hint: Use the
"Recording" option on the "Option" drop down menu).
f. Set your PRS software to be in "Overwrite" mode. (Hint: Try using the "F7"
key).
g. Ensure that your microphone is turned on and set the software into "Test
Recording" mode. Check that your recording level is in an acceptable range
and
then start recording. (Hint: Use "F8" to start the process and "F4" key to
adjust the recording volume). Try to record about 3 or 4 minutes of audio.
You
may wish to read from a document or book. As you record new audio, you should
see the phrase splitting working. This will be clear from the lower section
of
the main screen as the Phrase List starts to grow. When you have recorded a
reasonable section of audio, stop recording (Hint: Use "Spacebar").
h. Check through your new project and observe how the phrase detection
process
has worked. If the phrases are very short, you probably need to increase the
phrase pause time. If the phrases are very long, you may need to reduce it.
i. Make any adjustments that you think might be necessary to the pause time
in
the "Recording Function" dialogue box. Move your highlight to a phrase
somewhere in the middle of your recording. Choose a new piece of text to
record and select "Punch in" recording mode. Press "F8" to bring up the Punch
in dialogue box. Leave this set to "Nothing" and press "Enter". You should
now
be in "Test Recording" mode - adjust the recording level to suit. Press "F8"
again to start recording and read some of your new piece of text. Again the
phrases in the new recording should start to appear on the Phrase List. Stop
recording after a minute or two.
j. Try navigating through your project. You should observe that the new audio
has been entered into the middle of the original recording.
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 9 again.
Exercise 5 - Editing projects
This exercise is to get you used to manipulating sections and phrases in a
PRS
project. Remember that much of the editing is very similar to word processing
in terms of selecting and some of the basic commands like cut, copy, paste
and
undo. Initially we will use the project that you created in Exercise 4 so do
not worry about making mistakes, as the project is not important and was
created to be used for experimentation.
a. First, spend some time moving around the project and observe how the
phrase
detection has worked. It is always useful to get an idea of how well this has
worked in a project because, particularly for short documents, it is
sometimes
easier to re-record the project rather than spend a relatively long time
editing it. For the purposes of this exercise, we will assume that it has
worked reasonably well.
b. Try to select individual phrases and use the cut, copy and paste commands
to move phrases around the project or delete them entirely. Try repeating
these commands for multiple phrases. (Hint: Select multiple phrases by
holding
down "Shift" whilst pressing "Up" or "Down" Arrow keys).
c. Work your way through the Phrase List and create new sections at parts of
the recording where you think it might be appropriate to have a new section
start. This might be the start of a new paragraph or heading in the original
document. If you do not think that there are any obvious splitting positions,
just choose some phrases and create a new section at that location. (Hint:
Use
the "Control+Q" command and remember that you cannot create a new section if
you are on the first phrase in the current section). Try to create around 5
sections in your project.
d. Now use the cut, copy and paste commands on the newly created sections.
Observe how similar this process is to working with phrases.
e. Having made a few edits, try undoing some of these. (Hint: Use "Control+Z"
and remember you can undo the last 10 edits).
f. Select a number of phrases or sections and try to join them together.
(Hint: Use "Control+J" in both cases). Check that the sections or phrases
have
joined correctly by playing them.
g. Try to find a phrase which appears to be longer than you would like. Split
this phrase into 2 phrases at a sensible location. (Hint: Use "Control+P"
followed by your "Left" and "Right" Arrow keys). Try to observe how the
position in the phrase can be moved backwards or forwards through the phrase
and how the phrase will play from that point onwards. Remember to press
"Enter" when you think you have selected the correct location for the split.
h. Insert a new blank section into the Section List at a position of your
choice. (Hint: Use "Shift+Insert"). Record some new audio into this section
using "Overwrite" mode.
i. For the next part of this exercise, re-load the "TestProject2" project
that
you saved earlier. On the Section List, select the section called "3. Reports
from the Committee". Press "Enter" to view the section properties dialogue
box. Tab around this box to see what the level and heading text is for this
section. In this case, you should see that the level is Level 2 and the
heading text is "Reports from the Committee". Move to the next section by
pressing "Alt+Right Arrow" and observe the same information for this section.
This time the level is Level 3 and the heading text is "President's Report".
Move to other sections and check the properties. Remember that you can press
"F12" or "F9" to hear the section properties spoken by the Voice Guidance
system.
j. Use the page or group jump command to move to he phrase "Memberships still
due 150 pounds". Examine the phrase properties of this phrase. You should
observe that both the "Page" and "Group" options are selected. Try unchecking
these 2 check boxes and press "Enter". Move to the top of the recording and
try to navigate back to this phrase using the page or group jump commands.
Neither of these should now work because the codings have been removed.
k. To reset these 2 codes, navigate to the "Treasurer's Report" on the
Section
List and then switch to the Phrase List. Move down the list until you find
the
phrase called "Memberships still due 150 pounds". Re-apply the page and group
codes by pressing "P" and "G" respectively. You should now be able to use the
page and group jump commands once again. Also try pressing "F12" or "F9" to
hear the Voice Guidance read the properties for the phrase.
l. In order to demonstrate the simplicity of removing all page and group
codes
from the entire project, go ahead and do this now. (Hint: Use the "Delete all
pages" and "Delete all groups" options from the "Edit" menu). Verify that
this
has worked after carrying out both commands.
m. If you are happy that this worked properly, undo both of these commands to
return the page and group codes to the project.
n. Add comments to 3 sections of your choice. Do not worry about the
relevance
of the comment text as long as it is recognisable. (Hint: Do this in the
section properties dialogue box for each section). Check that you have added
the text correctly by reviewing the section properties after entering the
text.
o. Remove all the comment text from the project using a single command.
(Hint:
Use the "Delete all comments" option from the "Edit" drop down menu.
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 10 again.
Exercise 6 - Working with Tables of Contents
This exercise is to give you the chance to see the advantages of importing a
Table of Contents into a PRS project rather than editing the section
properties manually. A number of sample Tables of Contents have been supplied
in the folder called "PRS\Sample Projects\TablesOfContents" on the "PTR1
User's Guide" CD. The 3 files are all called "CommitteeMinutes" but have
different file name extensions according to the formats of the files.
a. Load the project called "BeforeBuild" from the "PTR1 User's Guide" CD.
Observe that this project has only the default section properties for all
sections. All sections are set to Level 1 and the heading text for all
sections is "Heading". This is not particularly useful information. Editing a
larger project manually would take some time.
b. Move to the top of the project and highlight the first section. Now use
the
"ToC Import" feature to import the "CSV" format file from the "PRS\Sample
Projects\TablesOfContents" folder on the "PTR1 User's Guide" CD. (Hint: Use
the "ToC Import" option on the "Tool" menu). Observe the change in the
section
property information and how quickly the import process worked.
c. Use Windows Explorer to browse to the "TablesOfContents" folder and
examine
the contents of the 3 different files. You should observe that they all have
the heading text information but the ".HTML" and ".CSV" format files are able
to store other information as well.
d. Create a brand new project and call it "TestProject3". Do not enter any
book information when the dialogue box appears, simply press the "Enter" key
to bypass it at this time. Before any audio is included in the project, try
using the "ToC Import" feature to import the ".HTML" version of the Table of
Contents. You should observe that this process automatically creates empty
sections ready to record the audio into. In addition to creating the required
number of sections, the level and heading text information is also created.
At
this stage you would then have to record and edit the audio and modify the
book information. Remember that, if the ".HTML" file is an "NCC.HTML" file,
some or all of the book information will have been imported at the same time.
Observe the book information that now exists and you will see that the
project
title and most of the other book information items have been entered
automatically.
These short exercises will have shown you the benefits of using the "ToC
Import" feature of the software. As mentioned in the manual, which method
used
will depend on the circumstances of the project.
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 11 again.
Exercise 7 - Building the book and CD writing
This exercise will briefly look at the finishing of the book and writing the
project to CD. If you wish to do all these exercises, you will require to
have
some blank CDR or CDRW disks available.
a. Use Windows Explorer to examine the files in the project folder for the
"TestProject2". You should observe that there is no "NCC.HTML" file and
probably no smile (.SMIL) files.
b. Load the "TestProject2" project, and run the "Build Book" routine from the
"Tool" menu. Re-examine the project folder and several extra files will have
appeared. Essentially this means that the folder now contains files that are
required for the finished project and the files that were necessary during
the
creation process.
c. Place a blank disk in the drive you selected as your default drive in
Exercise 1. You need to do this before continuing with the CD writing
process.
If a CD is not found in the designated drive, an "Unknown error" error
message
will appear. Select the "CD Write" option from the "Tool" drop down menu. Use
the dialogue box which appears to set the following: Writing speed=4 times,
Project purpose=Master project, Last session=Valid and Post editing by
PTR1=Off.
d. Having set the correct values, press the "OK" button to accept the CD
writing options. When the writing process is complete, observe the files that
are on the disk. You should note 1 file and one folder. The folder should
contain all your normal project files, including both the temporary files and
the final book files. This is because the CD was set to be a Master Project
CD. This will allow future editing of the project by the PRS software. The
second item will be a file called "DISCINFO.HTML". This file is used to give
information to DAISY players about the structure of the books in the folder.
When there is more than one book, this file stores information on all the
books thus acting as a kind of catalogue file.
e. Before writing another copy of the same project to the CD, use the Book
Information dialogue to change the title of the project. Perhaps call it
"Second attempt" or something similar, but certainly different than the
existing title. e. Run the "Build Book" process again.
f. Now call up the CD Write dialogue again and set the options as follows:
Writing speed=4 times, Project purpose= Distribution CD, Last session=Valid
and Post editing by PTR1=Off. Go ahead and run the CD writing routine. By
choosing to create a Distribution CD, the intention is that end users do not
have access to all the files that would be required to immediately edit the
file with the PRS software. It could still be edited but would have to be
imported using the "DAISY Import" feature before this could happen. When the
CD writing is complete, again examine the contents of the newly created
folder
and the "DISCINFO.HTML" file. This time the project folder should have no
intermediate files as there were in the Master project folder. The
"DISCINFO.HTML" file should now show a listing for the project with the old
name and the new name. The 2 books will be listed alphabetically so do not be
too concerned if the second book is listed before the first one.
This exercise should have given you a chance to experiment with some of the
processes required to create your final CD.
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 12 and
Chapter 13 again.
Exercise 8 - Some advanced features
For the more advanced features of the PRS software, detailed exercises have
not been supplied. However, some ideas of things to try are given below:
a. DAISY Import - Try importing several copies of the finished books into a
single new project. Call this project "TestProject4". Use the "DAISY Import"
feature to achieve this. Use either the "PRS\Sample
Projects\Samples\DistributionCD" folder or the "PRS\Sample
Projects\Samples\MasterCD" folder for your source books.
When setting up the project initially, set the recording format to be MP3 32
kbps Mono. When running the import, set the audio conversion to be "On".
b. Audio Import - Try importing a small quantity of audio files using the
"Audio Import" feature. Create a new project called "TestProject5" for this
purpose. You could also try importing more than one file at a time by
selecting multiple files prior to running the import.
c. Audio Export - Run the "Audio Export" process to change the recorded
format
to a different one. You will be asked to specify a new folder name during
this
process. Call the new project "TestProject6".
d. Text Import - In the "PRS\Sample Projects\Documents" folder on the "PTR1
User's Guide" CD there are a number of documents in ".TXT" format. Try using
one of these files to run the "Text Import" function of the software. You may
need to experiment with the settings for the "Pause time" and the speed of
the
chosen TTS engine to try to get the phrase detection working well. Because a
synthesizer is very regimented in the way it speaks, the results can be
excellent. When prompted to do so, name the new project "TestProject7".
On the "PTR1 User's Guide" CD, in the folder called "PRS\Sample
Projects\Samples\Synthesized", there is an example of a project which was
created using the "Text Import" feature. Very little editing was required to
this project so compare your results with this one.
If you had difficulty with any of the tasks, try reading Chapter 14 again.
Appendix B - Menu Details
This appendix details all the items which appear on the PRS main menu and sub
menus. The information is displayed in a table with 3 columns. Column 1 lists
the main menu item with its highlighted letter in parentheses. Column 2 lists
the sub menu items and their highlighted letters in parentheses. Column 3
details the short cut keys (if one exists) for the associated sub menu item.
Main Menu
Sub MenuShort Cut Keys
File (F)New (N)Control + N
File (F)Open (O)Control + O
File (F)Exit (X)Alt + F4
Edit (E)Undo (U)Control + Z
Edit (E)Cut (T)Control + X
Edit (E)Copy (C)Control + C
Edit (E)Paste (P)Control + V
Edit (E)Delete (D)Delete
Edit (E)All delete (E)None
Edit (E)All select (L)Control + A
Edit (E)Join (J)Control + M
Edit (E)Split section (O)Control + Q
Edit (E)Split phrase (H)Control + P
Edit (E)Insert section (I)Shift + Insert
Edit (E)Level up (V)F11
Edit (E)Level down (W)Shift + F11
Edit (E)Group (G)G
Edit (E)Page (A)P
Edit (E)Mark (M)M
Edit (E)Delete all pages (S)None
Edit (E)Delete all marks (K)None
Edit (E)Delete all comments (N)None
Edit (E)Property (R)Enter
Move (M)Move top (T)Home
Move (M)Move bottom (B)End
Move (M)Previous group (V)Shift + Left Arrow
Move (M)Next group (X)Shift + Right Arrow
Move (M)Previous page (P)Control + Up Arrow
Move (M)Next page (N)Control + Down Arrow
Move (M)Previous mark (R)Control + Left Arrow
Move (M)Next mark (E)Control + Right Arrow
Move (M)Previous event (I)Shift + F
Move (M)Next event (T)Shift + J
Move (M)Find heading (F)Control + F
Control (C)Play continuously (P)F5
Control (C)Stop (S)Spacebar
Control (C)Record (R)F8
Control (C)Record mode (M)F7
Control (C)Selection of the recording volume control (V)
None
Control (C)Line (L), Microphone (M)None
Control (C)Play volume mute of selected rec. control (T)None
Control (C)Off (F), On (O)None
Control (C)Speed up (E)F6
Control (C)Speed down (O)Shift + F6
Control (C)Input volume up (U)F4
Control (C)Input volume down (D)Shift + F4
Control (C)Wave out volume up (W)F3
Control (C)Wave out volume down (A)Shift + F3
Control (C)Refresh (F)F10 or Control + L
Tool (T)Build book (B)Control + B
Tool (T)DAISY import (D)None
Tool (T)Audio import (A)None
Tool (T)Text import (T)None
Tool (T)ToC import (O)None
Tool (T)Audio export (E)None
Tool (T)Detecting the pause time (P)None
Tool (T)CD write (W)Control + W
Tool (T)Storage information (S)Control + S
Option (O)Book information (B)Control + I
Option (O)Recording (R)Control + R
Option (O)CD-R drive (D)Control + D
Option (O)Voice guidance (G)None
Option (O)Selection of the TTS engine (S)None
Option (O)List font size (F)None
Option (O)Largest (G), Larger (L), Smaller (S), Smallest (A)None
Option (O)Message font size (M)None
Option (O)Largest (G), Larger (L), Smaller (S), Smallest (A)
None
Help (H) About (A)F1
Appendix C - Short-cut Details
This appendix details the short cut keys available in the PRS software. These
are grouped in 4 tables. The tables relate to different processes as follows:
Commands for Selecting Phrases & Sections
Commands for Recording & Playback
Commands for Editing
Miscellaneous Commands
All of the tables has 2 columns. Column 1 details the function and Column 2
details the short cut keys.
Commands for Selecting Phrases & Sections
Function
Shortcut Key
Select top positionHome
Select last positionEnd
Select previousUp Arrow
Select nextDown Arrow
Page up the listPage UP
Page down the listPage Down
Select first phraseShift + B
Select last phraseShift + N
Select first sectionShift + T
Select last sectionShift + Y
Select previous phraseB
Select next phraseN
Select previous sectionT
Select next sectionY
Select previous pageCtrl + Up Arrow
Select next pageCtrl + Down Arrow
Select previous groupShift + Left Arrow or Shift + G
Select next groupShift + Right Arrow or Shift + H
Select previous markCtrl + Left Arrow
Select next markCtrl + Right Arrow
Select previous eventShift + F
Select next eventShift + J
Select all listCtrl + A
Select multi listsShift + Up Arrow or Shift + Down Arrow
Change listTab
Commands for Recording & Playback
FunctionShortcut Key
Play continuouslyF5
Play selected phrase (focus phrase list )Left Arrow or Right Arrow
Play first phrase of selected section (focus section list)Left Arrow or
Right Arrow
Recording startF8
Recording start (skip test recording)Shift + F8
Stop Recording/PlaybackSpacebar
Increase playback speedF6
Decrease playback speedShift + F6
Change recording modeF7
Increase input volume levelF4
Decrease input volume levelShift + F4
Increase wave-out volume levelF3
Decrease wave-out volume levelShift + F3
Create Section during recordingInsert
Set/cancel group during recordingG
Set/cancel auto page during recordingP
Set/cancel mark during recordingM
Commands for Editing
Function Shortcut Key
Section/Phrase property windowEnter
Hierarchical level upF11 or L
Hierarchical level downShift + F11 or O
Set/cancel groupG
Set/cancel pageP
Set/cancel markM
Cut section/phraseCtrl + X
Copy section/phraseCtrl + C
Paste section/phraseCtrl + V
UndoCtrl + Z
Insert the sectionShift + Insert
Delete the sections and phrasesDelete
Delete phrase\ (back slash)
Delete section' (grave accent)
Join sections/phrasesCtrl + M or C
Split sectionCtrl + Q or S
Split phraseCtrl + P or H
Create new projectCtrl + N
Open project
Ctrl + O
Miscellaneous Commands
FunctionShortcut Key
Recording settingCtrl + R or [ (open bracket)
Find headingCtrl + F or Ctrl + E
RefreshCtrl + L or F10
Build bookCtrl + B
Setting of the CD-R driveCtrl + D
CD writingCtrl + W
Storage informationCtrl + S
Book informationCtrl + I
About version informationF1
Voice guidance for volume levels, position of section/phrase, sound
formatShift + F1
Voice guidance for current statusF12 or F9
Mute voice guidanceCtrl
Appendix D - Technical Details
Table D1 - List of recommended CDR/CDRW drives
Whilst there are many CDR and CDRW drives which will work with the PRS ,
PLEXTOR recommends the following drives:\
PLEXTALK Portable Recorder (PTR1)
PX-W1210TA
PX-W1610TA
PX-W2410TA
PX-W4012TA
PX-W4824TA
PX-5224TA
PX-5232TA
PX-320A
PX-504A (*)
PX-S88TU
PX-208U
PX-W2410TU
PX-W4012TU
PX-708A/UF (*)
PX-712A (*)
*Note 1: You cannot write to DVD media on this drive, only to CDR or CDRW
media.
Note 2: This list is correct as at July 2004.
Table D2 - List of sample rates and equivalent recording times
SOUND FORMAT74 MINUTE MEDIA80 MINUTE MEDIA
PCM 44.1 kHz Stereo60 minutes65 minutes
PCM 44.1 kHz Mono120 minutes130 minutes
PCM 22.05 kHz Mono240 minutes260 minutes
MP3 256 kbps Stereo, Sampling frequency: 44.1 kHz5 hours6 hours
MP3 128 kbps Stereo, Sampling frequency: 44.1 kHz10 hours11 hours
MP3 64 kbps Mono, Sampling frequency: 44.1 kHz20 hours22 hours
MP3 48 kbps Mono, Sampling frequency: 22.05 kHz30 hours32 hours
MP3 32 kbps Mono, Sampling frequency: 22.05 kHz40 hours45 hours
MP3 24 kbps Mono, Sampling frequency: 16 kHz60 hours64 hours
MP3 16 kbps Mono, Sampling frequency: 16 kHz
80 hours90 hours
Table D3 - Audio formats which can be imported by the "DAISY Import" feature
AUDIO FORMATEXTENSION NAMEDETAILS
MPEG1 Layer IImp2, mpgBitrate: 32 kbps to 384 kbps
Channel: Mono/Stereo/Joint Stereo
MPEG1 Layer IIImp3, wavBitrate: 32 kbps to 320 kbps
Channel: Mono/Stereo/Joint Stereo
MPEG2 Layer IImp2, mpgBitrate: 8 kbps to 160 kbps
Channel: Mono/Stereo/Joint Stereo
MPEG2 Layer IIImp3, wavBitrate: 8 kbps to 160 kbps
Channel: Mono/Stereo/Joint Stereo
DAISY ADPCM2wavQuantifying bit number: 4 bits
Channel: Mono
PCMwavQuantifying bit number: 8 bits/16 bits
Channel: Mono/Stereo
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