Ventrilo - Channel
Display name
This is the name of the channel that will be displayed in the main window.
Phonetic name
This is the phonetic spelling of the channel name. This is used by the Text-To-Speech (TTS) engine whenever you join or leave the channel. Since a channel name isn't always pronounceable the way it is spelled this option allows you to change the pronunciation to suit your needs.
For example, the channel name might be "Hi there" but the phonetic name might be "Hello". Thus it says something completely different from the actual channel name.
Or, if the channel name is "[T2K]Private" and you don't specify a phonetic name the TTS engine will pronounce this as "Left square bracket T2K right square bracket Private". This doesn't sound appropriate and takes too long to pronounce so you can assign it a phonetic spelling of just "T2K Private"
Comment
This allows a comment to be assigned to the channel name. Similar to the comment button from the main window for Users, this option will force the channel to be displayed like the following:
Channel name (Channel comment)
Channel password
This is the password assigned to the channel and applies only when "Protected mode" is set to "Channel password".
If you are editing an existing channel password then the old password will always appear as 8 dots. This is a common computer security feature. If you go to the end of these dots and enter a single character you should realize that you are not expanding on the previous password because the client doesn't know what the old password was. It just knows that there is a password. The entire password should ALWAYS be re-typed if you are changing it.
Allow Recording
This option permits recording of any User that is in this channel. When not checked it will prevent anyone from recording other Users that are in the channel. Please note that this controls the programs built-in recording system and will not prevent others from recording your conversation by using Operating System or Sound Card mechanisms.
Allow Cross Channel Transmitting
This option controls whether or not someone from another channel is allowed to transmit cross channel to this channel. It is meant for someone transmitting into this channel rather than someone in this channel transmitting to another channel.
Allow Paging
This option controls whether or not Users in this channel are allowed to be paged.
Allow Wave File Binds
This option will enable or disable replication of wave file binds while the User is in this channel.
Allow TTS Binds
This option will enable or disable replication of Text-to-Speech (TTS) binds while the User is in this channel.
Allow User-to-User Transmitting
This option controls whether or not someone can transmit to a specific User (User-to-user) while the target User is in this channel.
Allow Phantoms
This option will allow Users to place phantoms into this channel.
Allow Guest Accounts to Join
This option will allow Guest accounts to join the channel.
Allow Voice Targets
This option will allow Users who are part of a Voice Target Group to receive voice target streams when they are in this channel. If not checked then the voice target streams will be discarded until they switch channels.
Allow Commanding Targets
This option will allow Users who are part of a Commanding Target Group to receive commanding messages when they are in this channel. If unchecked then the commanding messages will be discarded.
Allow Visible Transmit
This option will prevent other Users that are not currently in the channel from seeing the indication of any User that is transmitting.
Exempt from Inactivity Timers
This option will allow all clients in this channel to be exempt from Inactivity timers. This is useful for channels dedicated to streaming music but you would rather not exempt individual Users from the inactivity timers.
Disable Guest Account Transmitting
This option will prevent Guest accounts from transmitting into this channel. Guests will be allowed to listen, as long as the "Allow Guest Accounts to Join" option is checked.
Disable Sound Events
This option will prevent all Users in this channel from generating sound notification events, such as those that are generated whenever someone joins or leaves the channel. This can be very useful for "Muted" channels and only one User is un-muted, while at the same time you don't want them to generate and then pick up extraneous noises when someone joins / leaves the channel. Very useful when doing auditions or someone is streaming music.
Protected mode
This option controls the level of access required to join a channel.
Open To Public
This mode indicates the channel is open to everyone. Channel icon color will be cyan.
Channel Password
This mode requires that the User know the password for this specific channel. Channel icon color will be red.
User Authorization
This mode requires that each User that joins this channel have a unique account login on this server and that an Account or Server Admin has given explicit access to that account in order to join this channel. Channel icon color will be yellow.
Note: Your account must have the "Add user" right in order to set a channel to User Authorization mode.
Voice mode
This option controls the operational mode of the channel in regards to voice streams.
Normal
Standard mode. Any User who joins the channel can transmit.
Queued
Only one User at a time can transmit while in the channel until they stop transmitting or the time limit is reached. Each User is automatically channel muted when they enter the channel, as denoted by the "N" next to their name. The first User to start transmitting is the only one who is allowed to talk.
Muted
Upon entering the channel each User is automatically muted, as denoted by "N" next their name. Users can not transmit in this channel until a server or channel admin manually un-mutes them.
Channel specific codec
This feature is only available if the server has been instructed to allow channel specific codecs in the servers INI file.
If you are using any form of cross channel transmitting, voice target groups, user-to-user targeting or private chat stream then please be aware that your current channel and its assigned custom codec is what will be used even if the intended targets are in channels defined for a different codec or format. The same idea applies even if your current channel has not been assigned a custom codec meaning you will be transmitting using the server defined default codec irrelevant of what the target users channel configuration is.
Codec
This option selects a specific codec. It is strongly recommended that you use the Opus codec to assure compatibility with the Macintosh and other non-Windows platforms. If bandwidth usage is important then consider using the Opus codec at the 22KHz setting.
Format
This option controls the sample rate and sound compression quality. If your User base has ample bandwidth you should consider using the Opus codec at the 48KHz (Stereo) setting.
Transmit Time Limit (seconds)
This option controls how long a User is allowed to transmit during each attempt. If the User is still transmitting after the time limit has elapsed they will be automatically muted until they cease transmitting and then start again. NOTE: This only applies to Voice modes Queued and Muted.
Transmit Rank Level (0 to 100)
This option only applies when Voice mode is set to Queued or Muted.
When accounts are assigned a Rank, the rank will have an associated Level value. If the rank level is greater-than or equal-to this value then any User with that rank will be automatically un-muted when they join the channel. Whereas, everyone else will be auto-muted. See the Rank list for more details.
Max Clients (0 to N)
This option allows you to control how many Users are allowed to be in a channel at any given time. A value of 0 means there is no limit.
There is a similar feature in the server and is controlled by the "ventrilo_srv.ini" option called "ChanClients". It works the same way but is global to all channels. If this is enabled and is smaller than any value you enter here then the server's configuration will take precedence over any channel specific max clients value. If the channel specific max clients is smaller than the server "ChanClients" value then it will take precedence.