Go to www.asteriskdocs.org and grab a copy of Asterisk: The Future of Telephony (or Amazon, if you want a hard copy ;-)
Read the section in chapter 8 about codecs. Transcoding is essentially the process of translating from one codec to another. The reason it is a consideration when building an asterisk system is that it can require an massive amount of computational power. On an embedded system, which typically has a low power CPU, transcoding can quickly overwhelm the processor. Most traditional telecom systems will handle transcoding in hardware, with a chip called a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). Asterisk can run on inexpensive hardware because it does not need these expensive DSP chips. The catch is that the CPU of the system has to handle this work, which can be a very heavy burden on a busy system. Hope that helps. Regards, -- Jim Van Meggelen [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2177 "A child is the ultimate startup, and I have three. This makes me rich." Guy Kawasaki -- > -----Original Message----- > From: Carla Schroder [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: December 7, 2006 9:41 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [Astlinux-users] transcoding question > > I'm having trouble getting a grip on what transcoding is. > Searching Google is > interesting- meelyuns of vendors offering expensive > transcoding widgets. > > How does it apply to Astlinux and VoIP? Is it converting one > codec to a different one, like G.729 to G.711, or converting > analog to digital, or what? > If your VoIP call is the same from end to end, for example > G.726 from endpoint to endpoint, does any transcoding even occur? > > thanks much... > -- > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Carla Schroder > Linux geek and random computer tamer > check out my Linux Cookbook! > http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/ > best book for sysadmins and power users > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > _______________________________________________ > Astlinux-users mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.kriscompanies.com/mailman/listinfo/astlinux-users > > Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via > PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.15.14/578 - Release > Date: 07/12/2006 > _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.kriscompanies.com/mailman/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
