01-28-2007, 08:30 PM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,221
|
|
Gadgeteer Reviews Resco Audio Recorder
"Now let us talk about Audio Recorders usability in the real world...I have to say that the software did a great job of recording all three of my events thus far, each one averaging more than 55 minutes. I choose the MP3 - 8 bit format for my recordings and the clarity with less than 2 feet from PocketPC to the speaker was very clear. We also take questions from the crowd in these events, for the most part without a microphone and in a large room setting of 150+ people, all the sounds came through just fine. I probably could have adjusted the gain some but with the closeness of the speaker, I didn't want to take a chance in distorting the main presentation just to bump up the reception of the crowd's questions a notch."
A review with real-world examples always catches my interest. While I've thought about recording a meeting on occasion, I didn't feel the built-in applications were up to the task. The Voice Activated System feature, which only records audio when someone is speaking, certainly makes this product worth checking out. Anyone else have experience with Resco's Audio Recorder?
|
| |
|
|
|
01-28-2007, 08:56 PM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
|
|
After having thoroughly compared it to all the Pocket PC alternatives (see my Audio Recording Bible HERE if interested on my remarks / comparisons; note that it also contains a lot of demo recordings to show the quality of each and every sound recorder apps), I've too settled for Resco Audio Recorder. For my purposes (long-time speech recording), I've found it the best, particularly when operated in 32 kHz q3 18 kbps Speex mode.
It's only the sub-par MP3 recording quality (at high bit speeds) that I don't like in this application (this means you should go for something else if you want to make quality MP3 recordings; however, as has already been pointed out, for speech, I recommend Speex the most); otherwise, it's just great and unbeatable.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-28-2007, 09:28 PM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 30
|
|
Love it!
As a perpetual college student, I have had the opportunity to use this program quite often over the last few years.
I've tried different settings and maybe it's because i'm not an audiophile or anything, but they've all worked just fine for me. The Voice Activated System feature works just as promised and when hooked up to an external AA battery pack, i've gotten over 3 hrs of recording with no problems.
It's a great program, and one of the reasons I bought a pda in the first place.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-28-2007, 10:25 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 61
|
|
Paul...glad the review piqued your curiosity! Thought I'd chime in on this thread as I said the events did present a good chance to review something I thought the PPC was made for.
While I'm no where even close to the ranks of an expert guru like Menneisyys (man...both your in-depth knowledge of all things PPC and the obvious lack of need for sleep based on your review/forum/blog output just awes me 8O), the Audio Recorder was easy to use for this specific purpose. I looked at a couple others that ranked high on PocketPCGear and Handango sites but they didn't really do it for me in my usual "10 minute" trials that I usually give stuff.
I did play around with the voice-activated function a little. I have a couple Board Meetings and vendor meetings over the next couple months that I would like to tape for later written documentation. Gonna try the Speex format too...thanks for the tip Menneisyys!
The only disappointment for me was the editing function as I noted. I thought from reading their website I could do more editing and was disappointed with that aspect but of all on the market, this seemed the best. However, as with any problem, there's always a better alternative out there and I would say that Audacity was a VERY easy editor for use on the PC. I've used it for some other things since then and highly recommend it if you need a simple and FREE option.
I'd too would love to hear other experiences too particularly on the other programs out there.
Kent
|
| |
|
|
|
01-29-2007, 12:55 AM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,221
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Menneisyys
(see my Audio Recording Bible HERE if interested on my remarks / comparisons; note that it also contains a lot of demo recordings to show the quality of each and every sound recorder apps), I've too settled for Resco Audio Recorder. |
Why am I not surprised that you don't an indepth comparison? :mrgreen: Thanks for the link, Menneisyys.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-29-2007, 01:00 AM
|
|
Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,221
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by klanum
The only disappointment for me was the editing function as I noted. I thought from reading their website I could do more editing and was disappointed with that aspect but of all on the market, this seemed the best.
|
Thanks, Kent. Occasionally, I have to go out and record news stories. I had grand visions of being able to do that on my Pocket PC. At this point, it's just not a reality, at least quality wise. Currently, I'm using a minidisc recorder and hoping to move to a flash recorder at some point. I looked at the core-audio stuff in the past, but the value vs. price balance wasn't there for my pocket book. 
I did try the Vito demo for it's sound editor, but it was a hurried trial and I couldn't get satisfatory results. I might if I had more time to play with it, or at least compare it to Resco's. Of course, now I'll just see what Menneisyys has already done in that area.
Paul
|
| |
|
|
|
01-29-2007, 05:04 AM
|
|
Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 555
|
|
Re: Love it!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Mountain343
As a perpetual college student, I have had the opportunity to use this program quite often over the last few years.
I've tried different settings and maybe it's because i'm not an audiophile or anything, but they've all worked just fine for me. The Voice Activated System feature works just as promised and when hooked up to an external AA battery pack, i've gotten over 3 hrs of recording with no problems.
It's a great program, and one of the reasons I bought a pda in the first place.
|
Another college student here. I've used Resco for about 3 years now, and it's been working out great. I can actually squeeze out enough juice for ~6-8 hrs of lecture (without using it for anything else), by underclocking to 200 MHz. Note though, if you underclock any more, the recordings end up skipping.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-29-2007, 07:09 AM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
|
|
Re: Love it!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by felixdd
Another college student here. I've used Resco for about 3 years now, and it's been working out great. I can actually squeeze out enough juice for ~6-8 hrs of lecture (without using it for anything else), by underclocking to 200 MHz. Note though, if you underclock any more, the recordings end up skipping.
|
That's pretty normal if you use the MP3 codec as it's using around 20-25% CPU time at 624 MHz. (With the Speex codec, you won't really be able to underclock your device this much - it uses more than twice as much CPU time.)
|
| |
|
|
|
01-29-2007, 07:12 AM
|
|
5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
|
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Paul Martin
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by klanum
The only disappointment for me was the editing function as I noted. I thought from reading their website I could do more editing and was disappointed with that aspect but of all on the market, this seemed the best.
|
Thanks, Kent. Occasionally, I have to go out and record news stories. I had grand visions of being able to do that on my Pocket PC. At this point, it's just not a reality, at least quality wise. Currently, I'm using a minidisc recorder and hoping to move to a flash recorder at some point. I looked at the core-audio stuff in the past, but the value vs. price balance wasn't there for my pocket book.
I did try the Vito demo for it's sound editor, but it was a hurried trial and I couldn't get satisfatory results. I might if I had more time to play with it, or at least compare it to Resco's. Of course, now I'll just see what Menneisyys has already done in that area.
Paul |
As far as audio editing is concerned, you may also want to give a try to 4Pockets' Virtual Recorder ( http://www.4pockets.com/product_info.php?p=80 ).
Note that, currently, that app doesn't really support recording into MP3 / OGG / Speex as yet (only WAV with ADPCM support) but this may change in the near future. (this is the main reason I haven't included it in my main audio recorder roundup). I don't know more about what will be implemented and when if at all; I discussed with this q a lot with their developers right after the release of 1.0.
|
| |
|
|
|
01-29-2007, 12:21 PM
|
|
Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 601
|
|
Resco is working on a WM5 version. Their latest posted version doesn't work on WM5. Wish they'd hurry !
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
