Articles
Configuring Ventrilo Based on Bandwidth Limitations
posted on February 24th 2007
In some circumstances, one may find themselves needing to adjust the bandwidth requirements of their Ventrilo server. These requirements may be to reduce overall throughput reducing stress on network connections or increasing information throughput to improve audio quality. In some circumstances, people using Ventrilo on university and college campuses may find themselves limited as to how much bandwidth they are allowed to consume on a monthly basis. The following documentation will provide you with the simple fundamentals to adjusting the bandwidth requirements of your Ventrilo server.
Working with Bandwidth Limitations
If you need to reduce the amount of bandwidth you are consuming on Ventrilo, the easiest and most effective way to accomplish this is simply by reducing the ?format? (or quality) of you outbound data throughput. You can do this by clicking on the ?Setup? button on the right of your client interface, then choosing a format option from the drop down menu on the bottom left hand side of the dialogue window. You will notice that a variety of options will appear. Regardless of what options are available, ensure that you are using the ?Speex? codec. This codec allows for much greater customization when compared to the standard GSM 6.10 codec.
With the ?Speex? codec activated, select the ?Format? drop down menu again. You should see a long list of options regarding the quality of your output. In order to understand these settings, you must understand what the variables within them mean.
Example: 32 KHz, 16 bit, 10 Qlty
32 KHz: This is a measurement of how well the codec will capture sound that is spoken into a microphone over Ventrilo. Sounds at lower hertz (Hz) are related to the bass sounds that we hear. Sounds at the higher ends of the kilohertz (KHz) are related to the treble that we can hear. In this example, the codec is capturing information at 32 kilohertz. This allows the codec to process information that has equal elements of bass and treble. The higher the kilohertz rating, the better the codec can capture high pitched sounds.
16 bit: This is a measurement of how high the ?resolution? of the voice capture is. The higher the resolution, the less noise one can hear while transmitting audio. 16 bit is a standard resolution for audio transmission, while 8 bit creates significantly more line noise and is therefore not recommended.
10 Qlty: This is an indication of how much compression is placed upon audio being transmitted through the codec. 10 Qlty means that there is close to no compression taking place, whereas a Qlty level of 0 means that the audio is being heavily compressed. Compression reduces the packet size of data being transmitted along a network. Higher compression means less network strain.
Now that the settings have been explained, you can now adjust the settings to your desire. If you need to reduce the amount of bandwidth being consumed but want to maintain a high level of clarity, use a Speex setting of 32 KHz, 16 bit, 4-7 Qlty. This will keep the voice capture clear (high KHz and 16 bit) while adding compression to the audio (Qlty) in order to reduce the amount of bandwidth consumed. This is an ideal compromise between quality and network usage.
If you need to significantly reduce your server?s bandwidth, you can use a Speex setting of 16 KHz, 16 bit, 4-7 Qlty. Although outbound quality will be greatly reduced (lower KHz and compression), you will also minimize bandwidth usage while still keeping Ventrilo users? voices audible and distinguishable. It is not recommended that you lower the quality any further, for it will negatively impact your ability to communicate effectively.
Now you should be able to adjust your Ventrilo clients and servers to an appropriate level of bandwidth use. Enjoy!