Ventrilo

I am going to be giving you instructions on how to load Ventrilo which is a Voice Chat software we use at Poker School Online. It is a great place for us to all get together and talk about hands or just complain about the bad beats lol.

If you have any questions drop an email to jay@allinjac.com with your contact information and we will get a hold of you to help set it up! Look forward to seeing you on the tables and talking to you on Ventrilo.

Here are step by step instructions for you to get Ventrilo up and running. You only have to go through this set up once, and while I'm not quite an expert on the product yet, I've tried to make this as simple as possible:

1. Go to http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php

2. Download the Client Program (there is both a PC and MAC version)

3. Once you've successfully installed, run the program.

4. At the top where it says "User Name" there is an arrow on the right end of that row, pointing right… click on that and select "new"

5. Input your user name… the preferred format is: Your first name (your PSO screen name). Example: Kathy (AzPoohBear) At the very least we need your PSO screen name in there so we know who we’re talking to. Click OK twice so you’re back to the initial Ventrilo window in the application.

6. Where it says "Server" right below User Name, click the right-pointing arrow, click "new", and enter: PSO. Click OK once.

7. For Hostname or IP, enter: iodine.typefrag.com

8. For Port number, enter: 36415

9. For Password, leave blank.

10. Click OK.

Now when you click "connect" you'll be logged into the PSO server on Ventrilo. This information will be stored, so in the future when you run Ventrilo all you’ll have to do is click “connect” and you’ll be in.

You’ll notice several different rooms listed on the server. These are like channels on the radio, when you enter a room you can talk and hear others only in that room. Double click on a room to enter it. (Note: Some rooms may require a password to enter, your instructor or host will provide the password if necessary).

To set up your voice capability:

1. Click “Setup”

2. Make sure "Enable outgoing voice communications" is checked under the voice tab.

3. Check “Use Direct Sound” for Output device and Input device. You should be able to leave it at “Default DirectSound device”.

4. If you do not have headphones and will be listening via speakers, you should check “Use Push To Talk Hotkey”. This is a key that you have to press to speak. If you don’t use this, everyone will hear an echo through your speakers as they are liable to activate your microphone. You check that box, click with in the “Hotkey” box, and press the key you want. (Hint: If you use letters or the space bar, every time you’re typing something and hit that key, you will activate your microphone… I would recommend using a key that is not part of normal typing, like F1 for example).

5. If you have head phones and a quite environment (no loud background noise), or if you can mute/unmute your microphone easily, you can leave the push to talk hotkey unchecked… now your mic will be voice activated. If using this feature, it’s recommended that you set your silence time to 1.0 seconds, and the sensitivity to 10. You can test and play around with the sensitivity settings a bit to find what works best with your microphone. If you set it high at like 60, speaking softly may not activate the mic. Any lower than 10, and it will start to pick up your breathing. (Another note: If you have some modest background noise going on, you may tweak the sensitivity to 30 or 40… you’ll have to speak up a bit to ensure activating the mic, but your background noise shouldn’t activate it then.

One troubleshooting note: If you can’t get your mic to work after setting it up, check your sound settings on your computer and make sure the mic isn’t muted there. Sounds simple, I know, but it happens (I’ve done it before, I know ).