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> Review :: LivePVR 2.6, Rating 4 out of 5
Slacker
post Nov 1 2006, 12:23 PM
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[attachment=1849:attachment]

LivePVR v2.6
By SoftTrends
MGN Rating -

Rating Legend

1 star: Find something else; save your money
2 star: Below average; not recommended
3 star: Average; performs as advertised but not inspiring
4 star: Good; worth the money
5 star: Great; best of its kind on the market

Review by Slacker
Review Date / November 1st, 2006

Note: Screen captures are created with Pocket Controller-Professional by Soti, Inc.

Here is what softTrends has to say about LivePVR:

QUOTE
A true Mobile Device application that provides 3 extremely useful Personal Voice Recorder functionality; Meeting Notes PVR, Phone Call PVR and Voice Recorder PVR.
  • Allows recording incoming/outgoing phone calls
  • Record voice clips in meetings to drop into notes
  • A regular voice recorder is available
  • Length of recording is limited to the storage available in the device
Phone call PVR

Phone call PVR is the personal voice recorder mobile application that provides real time phone call recording using Automatic or Manual capture modes. It allows you to record your mobile phone conversations, either by recording all phone calls automatically, or by recording the next call you make.


Meeting Notes PVR

Meeting Notes PVR is the personal voice recorder mobile application that provides real time meeting notes using Timed or Manual capture modes. It allows you to record moments-in-time, or "thoughts" during a meeting, but without missing the context that led up to that main point or thought. Using pre-defined application settings, a certain number of seconds are recorded using the Rolling Buffer, both before and after pressing the Timed Capture. This ensures you always have proper context to your recordings. By also providing synchronization capabilities with ActiveSync, you can have these recordings, with their meeting context, embedded in your Microsoft OneNote files or other note taking applications.

Voice recorder PVR

Voice PVR is the personal voice recorder mobile application that provides basic voice recorder functionality, without the limits on how long you can record. As long as you have storage, such as an SD Card in your phone, you can record whatever you wold like, for as long as you would like.


The first question I had about recording phone conversations was, "Is this legal?". Turns out it may well be depending on where you live. The first screen you see when starting up LivePVR is this legal disclaimer:



Clicking OK signifies your understanding of the law as it applies to you. It's probably a good idea to actually read that warning and understand the implications of using this type of application before you try it out...

Ok, enough with the legal disclaimers. Lets move on to the application. The main menu shows you three utilities: Phone Call PVR, Meeting Notes PVR and Voice Recorder. We will look at each section one at a time, starting with the Phone Call PVR.



You have two options here: record every call or just the next call. Again, make sure you understand the legal implications of recording calls before you use these, especially the option to record every call!



I choose to select the second option which will record just my next call. The next thing I do is make a phone call to someone. When the call is connected, LivePVR begins recording automatically. When the call ends, LivePVR ends the recording. Pretty cool! Once the recording is finished, click the LOCATE FILES link in the bottom left corner to open a browser window showing you all of the files created by LivePVR. The files are named to include a date/time stamp of when they were created to help you with the anagement of recordings.



You can just click on one and it will open in your defined media player (in my case with The Core Media Player).

Ok, lets move on to the second option on the main menu: MEETING NOTES PVR. Click that and you will see this screen:



The first thing you must do for a meeting is click the START MEETING button. The other buttons will do nothing until you click START MEETING. Now you have two options, TIMED CAPTURE and MANUAL CAPTURE. The two are very different in how they work. Before I go into that one thing about this feature you need to understand is that from the time you click the START MEETING button until you click the END MEETING button (the same button but it changes names after is it clicked) you are making a single recording file. You can stop and start the recording over and over, but it will all be a part of the same file.

The big difference between TIMED and MANUAL capture modes is best explained by showing you the SETTINGS screen which is available from the main menu:



Those times are directly related to the TIMED CAPTURE mode. Here is a scenario: you are in a meeting and the guy that always talks too much is rambling. So you stop the recording as nothing he is saying has any value. Then you think you hear a slip and he lets out some information about an upcoming promotion opportunity you are interested in. Unfortunately you had all but tuned the guy out and really didn't catch any of the specifics. Too bad, right? Wrong. Click the TIMED CAPTURE and Live PVR will record everything that was said starting at the period of seconds listed in the SETTINGS page before you ever clicked the button! So in this case, with the setting shown above it would record a full 45 seconds of the meeting before you ever pressed the button. The follow-up to that is that it will continue to record 45 seconds after you stop the recording as well.



The MANUAL CAPTURE is exactly that: manual. You press to start the recording and it starts. you press to stop the recording and it stops. No matter how many times you press the START and STOP buttons the entire meeting is captured in a single recording.

The last option from the main menu is VOICE RECORDER



This is a simple recorder that generates a new file for each recording. You start and stop a recording and a file is created. When you start again a new file is created.

Finally here is the ABOUT screen showing the version information of the producted tested:



One thing about this application is that it comes with a desktop component. To save you the trouble of poking around through ActiveSync to find the files for transferring to your computer the developer included a tool to help you manage your files from the computer:



The FILE menu gives you the option to COPY or MOVE the files from your mobile device to the folder listed in the target location box at the bottom. This is much easier than wading through an ActiveSync browser.

So that is LivePVR. It is a very simple program to use and very effective at doing what it claims to do. I did run into one problem using the application though. It does not work with bluetooth headsets. This may well be a showstopper for some and proved to be a major annoyance for me as I hardly use my phone without one.

LivePVR is available for both the Pocket PC and SmartPhone platforms for $9.95.


--------------------
Jim Cleek (Slacker)
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runningtiger
post Nov 1 2006, 08:52 PM
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This looks like a very cool application. I have a question about the .wav files it creates.

I've been using the free app RJVSoundRecorder which even though it records in the .wav format, when I transferred a file to my WindowsXP laptop, Windows Media Player could not play it without me having to go out and find the audio codec. Once I'd done that, it was no big deal. But, it was a surprise...an unwelcome one.

So, I'm wondering if the .wav files Live PVR 2.6 creates are compatible with my other computers?


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runningtiger
post Nov 1 2006, 10:38 PM
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Recordings DO play on my laptop without any special codecs. Yeah!

Slacker - what do you mean it wouldn't work with your BT headset? Does that mean it won't record your side of the conversation - or, something else?

I recorded a conversation that I made while wearing my BT headset and both sides of the conversation were recorded. I don't have voice command on my phone, so maybe that's what you're talking about? If so, obviously, I couldn't try that.


--------------------
Devices: T-Mobile MDA (Cingular SIM), i-mate SP5m (sitting in a drawer at the moment while I attempt to migrate to PPC permanently), Cingular 3125 (unlocked and in use on T-Mobile), Motorola MPx220 (retired), Motorola MPx200 (retired)

Accessories: Plantronics Explorer 330 & 2G Patriot Micro-SD (use w/MDA), Kingston 2G mini-SD used in SP5m, Plantronics Discovery 640 & 2G San Disk micro-SD (use w/3125), Jabra A210 BT adapter + Motorola HS805 (retired)
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Slacker
post Nov 1 2006, 11:26 PM
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When I tried to record a conversation using my bluetooth headset it recorded nothing but garbage. The developer says that will be fixed in the next version.


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Jim Cleek (Slacker)
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runningtiger
post Nov 2 2006, 12:47 AM
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I hope they don't "fix" it so it won't work on my phone! laugh.gif Recording a conversation while using BT works just fine for me.

There are other aspects about the program that don't seem to work right on my phone though. Voice recorder can cut off the end of recordings if you press "end record" as soon as you're done speaking. I need to give it a second or two before pressing the "end record" button to be sure not to clip the end of what I'm recording.

It doesn't show up in task manager. That's a HUGE pain. It's running in the background but, every time I want to see the program again, I have to go through the process of re-starting it. It then shows up for a split second then disappears. Then I have to hit the "back" button a few times to bring it to the front again so I can use it. huh.gif

This is also an issue when after making a recording (or, wanting to go back and listen to one later) from the voice recorder screen I press "locate file" and it takes you to the folder where the files are stored. I select one to listen to which in turn takes you to the player automatically and it plays. That's good. But, here's the problem, say I chose the wrong file. I now want to return to the file folder where all the files are. I press the back button several times but never return to that folder - or, the program for that matter. I go to task manager and it's not there. So, I have to restart the program...again. So, I restart it. But, since it really is still running, it isn't like starting from scratch. You don't get the legal consent screen. Instead the program flashes on the screen for a split-second then disappears. From here, I can then hit the "back" key a few times then the program is returned to the screen so I can do the "locate file" thang again. dry.gif

I thought I'd make a shortcut to the LivePVR folder (\Storage Card\LivePVR) and place it on my start menu, but each time I try to access it I get a failed message. I'll make a separate post asking how to make a shortcut to a folder.

This doesn't fall under "seems to not be working right" but since I'm talking about the folder where it keeps the files. I'd like to offer an idea for an improvement. The files are automatically named with a date and time stamp. I wish I could rename the files to names more meaningful to me right from the screen where they're displayed instead of using file manager to locate the file and then change the name.


--------------------
Devices: T-Mobile MDA (Cingular SIM), i-mate SP5m (sitting in a drawer at the moment while I attempt to migrate to PPC permanently), Cingular 3125 (unlocked and in use on T-Mobile), Motorola MPx220 (retired), Motorola MPx200 (retired)

Accessories: Plantronics Explorer 330 & 2G Patriot Micro-SD (use w/MDA), Kingston 2G mini-SD used in SP5m, Plantronics Discovery 640 & 2G San Disk micro-SD (use w/3125), Jabra A210 BT adapter + Motorola HS805 (retired)
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runningtiger
post Nov 2 2006, 02:06 AM
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I just added a shortcut to my homescreen for LivePVR and it fixed the problem I was having where I had to re-start the program and hit back a few times before I could actually get back to using the program.

I already had a shortcut for the voice record app I was using before, so I just changed it to LivePVR. Now, after I listen to a file I come back to my homescreen and execute the shortcut and it goes right back to the program.

This makes using the program much more friendly. Now it doesn't feel clunky. I like it!


--------------------
Devices: T-Mobile MDA (Cingular SIM), i-mate SP5m (sitting in a drawer at the moment while I attempt to migrate to PPC permanently), Cingular 3125 (unlocked and in use on T-Mobile), Motorola MPx220 (retired), Motorola MPx200 (retired)

Accessories: Plantronics Explorer 330 & 2G Patriot Micro-SD (use w/MDA), Kingston 2G mini-SD used in SP5m, Plantronics Discovery 640 & 2G San Disk micro-SD (use w/3125), Jabra A210 BT adapter + Motorola HS805 (retired)
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