2. Locating and Organizing Recordings¶

The typical process for finding and organizing recordings includes the following steps:

Browse or search for recording data on the recorder.
Create and save Incidents by selecting individual recordings or groups of recordings and organizing them into incidents.
Export the data in a variety of formats.

2.1. Browsing for Recordings¶

The simplest method for locating recordings on the recorder is provided by the Browse tab, Figure 2. When viewing the Browse tab, the connected sources appear on the left. Below the source(s), a list of months corresponding to the available data on the recorder will appear after you click on the + sign next to the source. Clicking on a + sign next to a month will display all the days in that month that data was recorded. Clicking on a + sign next to a day will open a list of channels on that recorder that contain the data for the day selected. When you click on a channel, MediaWorks DX™ retrieves the recordings for that channel and displays them in the upper right pane.

Fig. 2.1 Browse Tab¶

To retrieve recordings for a different day, expand the tree for the appropriate day and click on the desired channel. The recordings for that channel will then be retrieved and displayed. To update the browse tree, click on the blue refresh button at the top right of resources tree pane, next to the current day. Each channel in the resources tree will be updated with the new calls.

The Browse tab can display the list of channel in three modes: Resource Name, Resource Name Grouped by Recorder, or Channel Number Grouped by Recorder. The default is Resource Name. To change the display mode, click on Show… at the top of the left pane and select the mode from the drop-down menu. When viewing the information by Channel Number Grouped by Recorder, each physical channel on the primary recorder and connected bridges and archives will be listed with its channel number. When viewing by Resource Name, each channel on the recorder and on all connected NexLog Access Bridges will be listed by its resource name.

When using the Grouped by Recorder options, the resources will be divided into groups by which NexLog system the resources originate from. In Resource Name mode, all resources made available by NexLog Access Bridge connections will be listed alongside the locally available resources as if they were all one system. Because physical Channel Number is tied specifically to hardware, it is only available in Grouped by Recorder format.

2.2. Searching for Recordings¶

MediaWorks DX™ provides a powerful interface for advanced recording retrieval in the Search tab. When viewing the Search tab, a list of search criteria in the form of Filters is provided in the left pane. Clicking on Filters… at the top of the panel displays a drop-down list of filters.

Fig. 2.2 Search Tab¶

Each element of a search is contained within a search “panel” in the left pane of the Search tab. The Date and Resource panels are always required, so you must provide, at a minimum, a value for these criteria to conduct a search for recordings. When more filters are added, additional panels will appear as needed. If necessary, scroll the search panel to view the additional panels. Each filter panel can be compressed or expanded by clicking on the arrow located in the upper left corner of the pane.

2.2.1. Creating a Search¶

To create a search, first select one or more days from the Date filter area. Dates can be selected by clicking on the calendar (default), or by specifying a date range or relative time period. To change the way a date filter is specified, click the down arrow in the upper right corner of the Date filter panel and choose the desired mode from the drop-down menu. The modes include Calendar (default), Date Range, and Relative.

In the Calendar mode, you can select a continuous range of dates across more than one month, as follows: Select the earliest date, click the forward arrow to navigate to the next month, hold down the Shift key, and select the last date.

In Date Range mode, you can enter date and time by clicking the calendar icons next to the Start and End text fields; this will pop open a window that lets you choose the date and time visually with sliders. You can also edit the fields as text. The start and end fields use the Date Chooser format as set in the Date Format Options.

In Relative mode, you can choose how far back from the current time you want the search to cover. For example, a setting of 2 Days and HH:MM:SS 04:15:30 will search on call records from the most recent two days, four hours, fifteen minutes and thirty seconds relative to the time the Search button is pressed. You can edit this as text or you can click the clock icon to bring up a window that has sliders to set the hour, minute and second values.

Next, one or more resources or resource groups can be included in the search by selecting them in the Resources filter panel below the Date panel. The Resources filter displays resources for the recorder. Any number of resources can be selected. Resources can be selected by Resource Name, Physical Channel Number Grouped by Recorder, or by Resource Name Grouped by Recorder. To change the way the Resources filter is displayed, click the down arrow in the upper right corner of the Resources filter panel and choose the desired mode from the drop-down menu.

When using the Grouped by Recorder options, the resources will be separated by NexLog system the resources originate from. In Resource Name mode, all resources made available by NexLog Access Bridge connections will be listed alongside the locally available resources as if it were all one system. Because Physical Channel Number is tied specifically to hardware, it is only available in Grouped by Recorder format.

2.2.2. Initiating a Search¶

To initiate a search, click on the Search button at the top right in the Search pane. All recordings that meet the search criteria will be displayed in the tabular record view (in the right pane). You can also press the enter key to kick off a search after changing any of the search parameters; otherwise the enter key will start playback on the currently selected call.

2.3. Using Additional Filters¶

You may narrow your search by specifying additional filters, such as Call Length or Protected. To add an additional Search filter, click on Filters… and select a filter from the list. The selected filter will be displayed below the Resource filter area. More filters can be added, if necessary. Each new filter will appear as an additional panel.

Note: Some additional filters are standard on all recorders and will always appear on the drop-down list. Other additional filters depend on the custom fields included in the recording table. Some or none of these filters may be included on the drop-down list of your recorder.

To remove a filter, click the X button which appears in the title bar of each optional filter. Alternately, deselect the filter from the Filters… drop-down list. Once removed, the filter will not be used in subsequent searches.

2.3.1. Standard Additional Filters¶

The following standard additional filters appear in the Filter drop-down list of all recorders.

2.3.1.1. Call Length¶

Enter the minimum and maximum call durations. MediaWorks DX™ will search for all recordings equal to or between these values.

2.3.1.2. Call Note¶

Enter text in the Note box. MediaWorks DX™ will perform a search for all recordings that contain this text string in the Note field. Check the Case sensitive? box if you wish to make the search match case as well.

2.3.1.3. PIN¶

For installations that use a PIN code, enter the PIN number. MediaWorks DX™ will include this as part of the search criteria.

2.3.1.4. Protected¶

Search for all recordings that are protected, or all recordings that are unprotected.

2.3.1.5. Telephone¶

Enter the telephone number digits. Check the Search DTMF box to find recordings which match the telephone number in the DTMF field. Check the Search Caller ID box to find recordings which match the telephone number in the Caller ID field.

2.3.1.6. Call Direction¶

This filter only applies to recordings that contain data in the Caller ID or DTMF fields. Enable Incoming to find recordings that match incoming calls. Enable Outgoing to find recordings that match outgoing calls. Enable Unknown to match recordings that could not be identified as either incoming or outgoing. Enable Use DTMF and Caller ID to determine to use heuristics on the data in the Caller ID and DTMF fields to determine call direction.

2.3.1.7. Suppressed¶

Check Show suppressed to search for recordings that were suppressed on the recorder. Check Show unsuppressed to search for recordings that were unsuppressed on the recorder. Check Show forced to search for recordings that were forced into recording on the recorder.

2.3.1.8. Audited¶

Check Show accessed to search for recordings have had their data accessed by client applications. Check Show not accessed to search for recordings that have not had their data accessed by client applications.

2.3.1.9. Deleted¶

Click on Show deleted to search for recordings that do not have audio data associated with them (as may happen when the recorder purges data periodically to maintain free-space for newer calls. Click on Show not deleted to search for recordings that do have audio data associated with them.

2.3.2. Custom Additional Filters¶

These additional filters are based on the custom fields that have been added to the call properties for a particular recorder. Enter the string as it appears in the More tab of the Call Properties screen.

Following are some typical examples of additional custom filters which may or may not appear in the Filter drop-down list of your recorder, depending on your particular custom fields.

City: Search for recordings that have a specific city name associated with them. Enter the city name string the Search for: box.

Customer Name: Search for recordings that have a specific customer name associated with them. Enter the customer name string in the Search for: box.

Geo-Fence: Search on a map for data occurring inside one or more geometric shapes. This feature must be enabled on the recorder and location data must be provided. See additional information in Geolocation Features.

Radioid: Search for radio call recordings that have Radioid information associated with them. Enter the Radioid string in the Search for: box.

State: Search for recordings that have a specific state associated with them. Enter the state string in the Search for: box.

Street Address: Search for recordings that have a specific street address associated with them. Enter the street address string in the Search for: box.

Subject: Search for recordings that have a specific subject associated with them. Enter the subject string in the Search for: box.

Talkgroup: Search for recordings that have a specific talk group associated with them. Enter the talk group string in the Search for: box.

Time: Search for recordings that have a specific time associated with them. Enter the time string in the Search for: box.

User Id: Search for recordings that have a specific user ID associated with them. Enter the user ID string in the Search for: box.

If you regularly make use of the advanced Search Filter options, you will likely find Saved Search Filters a very useful feature. This allows you to save and recall customizable search filters, including all metadata fields and search criteria (date, resources) in the format and style you most prefer.

Saved Search filters can be accessed from the Filters button or the Tools menu option Edit Search Filters. These options open a pop up window that allows you to load, save, and delete search filters. Filters are saved based on the current state of the search column, and you can choose which values to remember for the search, including Date, Resources, and any metadata options currently open.

The Filter Name and lower section (by default called New Search Filter) show the Filter you are currently acting on. Clicking a saved search will load the details into this window. If you want to then load it into the search tab, click Load.

If you click one of the saved search filters and then want to work with the current settings instead, click View Current to load the current settings into this window, from which they can be edited and saved.

For example, one may want to save a search that shows the last three days of call activity on a set of channels, to load each Monday to see what happened over the weekend. To create a filter like that, configure a search for Relative date mode, set it to 3 days, then select the resources desired, and then open the Edit Search Filters and save as Last 3 Days.

Fig. 2.3 Last 3 Days Example¶

Note

For convenience, if you save the hours, minutes and seconds as 0 and days as 3, this filter will load as 3 days plus all the time that has passed today, so that the results show today and the previous 3 days in full. If you really want 72 hours only, save with the days set to 3 and the seconds set to 1.

Saved Search Filters work well with Geo-Location; you can save Geo-Fences of areas you regularly search and recall them with ease.

Fig. 2.4 Northern New Jersey Geo-Fence Saved Filter Example¶

Fig. 2.5 Expanded Search¶

Expanded Search Filter View lets you fill your screen with all of the search filter options configured, for a clear view of the search at a glance. For example, the above image shows a search for:

Calls recorded on March 29 or 30, 2020
on any of 16 specific resources
inside or near Wilmington, North Carolina
that have a note
and that have been accessed (played back)

Without expanding the view, a search like this would require scrolling up and down to be sure of what parameters are set, even on a large monitor.

Use the > icon in the top left area next to “Filters” to expand the search. Use the same icon, now <, to close it back to the original column width.

Fig. 2.6 Search, Filters, Expand¶

You can rearrange your filters as you wish, and then use the Lock icon to keep them in place. The curved arrow will automatically organize them for you, if you wish. The X on the right edge can be used to collapse the view back to the original column width.

Fig. 2.7 Lock, Autolayout, Close¶

2.6. Tab Search¶

Tab Search allows you to narrow your search results by searching all fields of all calls in a given search result for any text string. For example, searching on “212” could return calls that have 212 in DTMF, Caller ID or a Street Address. It is a simple tool to find information quickly.

Once a search is performed, the calls will be listed only by the field that matched and the contents of that field; clicking on a row in Tab Search will highlight that call in the call grid.

Tab Search is accessible from the View menu (Show Tab Search), and once shown, from the tool bar above the call grid via the Magnifying Glass icon.