Philips Voice Tracer DVT6000 – A Game Changer in Learning
If there was such a thing as a professional student, I’d be it. Not necessarily because I’m the best student, but simply because I’ve endured a grammar school education, an undergraduate degree, two masters degrees and a PHD. Also I almost forgot, I’m now a teacher!
I’ve been the student who struggled in secondary school and at university with keeping up and staying ahead to be prepared for exams. I was also the student who wrote and re-wrote notes in the hope that different coloured pens and highlighters would make things easier to learn (which they do!). While I look back fondly at the tape cassettes I made where I read my notes aloud so that I could play them back before I slept I cringe at the technology I used.
The technology has certainly changed over the last decade in which most of my learning happened, but it wasn’t until recently that I truly understood that my smartphone couldn’t do everything. I had been using my HTC One X M8 (great phone) to record some lectures I’d been attending and thought that it was doing a reasonable job of recording the audio from the professor. It was during this course that I had the opportunity to test out Philips Voice Tracer (DVT6000).
At first glance it looked like a traditional dictation device with built in memory rather than a small cassette but this little device offered so much more.
This device feels strong and sturdy. It has a metal design and is designed to feel comfortable in your hand, although it also has a kickstand to rest the unit on a table during an interview or on the edge of a stage in a lecture hall.
Once the Voice Tracer is switched on, the large color display lights up and provides for an intuitive experience. There’s a calendar search to find the recording you need.
Philips describe the device as being for lectures and interviews due to its three-microphone system that combines a central directional mic and two additional omni-directional microphones on each side. The result is that motion sensors in the device are able to track and stabilize the audio providing far superior results than any other device I’ve used. There’s also noise cancellation and the ability to mark recordings in places so that the segment can be found quickly at a later date.
The Philips Voice Tracer DVT6000 also has an AutoZoom feature that can record at a distance and while providing a quality recording – perfect for overcrowded lecture halls. While testing the device in a conversational/interview setting, the audio recoding was crisp and clear. The mp3 file produced was definitely of a quality high enough for podcast quality should that be your thing too.
Recording can be set based on a timer or whenever someone starts to talk and pre-recording can be activated to the start of a sentence is never missed. The device supports an SD card for additional memory but has 4gb of internal storage that will take a while to fill.
A few other nice features I liked were the loudspeaker playback and the built in radio function. Although the device came boxed with a USB to micro USB cable and earphones, the battery life is an incredible 50 hours which I came close to in my testing even while using the loudspeaker!
I tested the audio files produced with Philips Voice Tracer (DVT6000) and the translation into text through Dragon’s software and it did an impeccable job. For many users this will be essential. When I have tried dragon’s software using audio files produced by my smart phone the results were no where near as good as the DVT6000.
In conclusion, whether you’re looking for a personal recording device, something to capture lectures or something to capture interviews for podcast quality playback, Philips Voice Tracer (DVT6000) should be at the top of your shortlist. The recording quality is superb as is the usability and success of converting voice to text via Dragon’s dictation software.
Take my word as a professional student this product makes learning and reviewing content easier.
Category: Sci Tech
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