January 18, 2003

Digital voice recorder

The Olympus DS-3000 digital voice recorder allows you to store up to 330 minutes of audio files on a 16MB SmartMedia card, coupled with the ability to expand the recorder’s memory to up to 64MB, offering 10 hours of continuous voice recognition recording, which can be doubled on long play. The DSS software bundled with the DS-3000 allows voice files to be downloaded into computer, from where they can be replayed, transcribed, archived or incorporated into e-mails! When used in conjunction with voice recognition software, the voice dictations can be automatically transcribed on to your computer screen. An Olympus ME12 Noise Cancelling Microphone is specifically designed to reduce the effects of ambient noise. It weighs just 85 grams with two AAA batteries, and includes a USB cable and the DSS player pro software.
Price: $400
More info: http://www.voicepower.co.uk/oly1.html


TV with hard disk

The 27-inch Panasonic PV-ss2710 TV has an integrated replay TV hard disk with a 30-hour recording capacity. Features include 30-second skip-ahead (for recording material), instant broadcast pausing, and three recording modes. You can use the service to personalize station selections, and scheduling programmed recording is also possible. There are two audio/video inputs, one of which includes an S-Video connector, as well as one set of outputs so that you can copy digital recordings to your VCR. Well-placed buttons on the front of the TV control both the TV and the ReplayTV functions, though we found the large remote to be poorly laid out, with small buttons that weren’t logically grouped and were difficult to distinguish by feel.

Price: $800
More info: www.panasonic.com