Using Tivo for Audio Recording Only

[rfransix]

I got an idea I want to explore...2 requirements:

1. Record voice/speech in a conference setting, so audio input has to be sensitive and cover a large area, ideally with multiple microphone inputs.

2. While recording, is networked to a transcribing station that can transcribe the speech real-time and play-back speech to catch-up, as necessary.

Sounds perfect for a Tivo box...or does it.

Thanks for your technical observation on how to do this...!

[mattack]

This sounds definitely like the wrong tool for the job.

Heck, the following idea is ALSO the wrong tool for the job, but might be closer to what you want.. a standalone hard drive recorder, like the Toshiba recorders, could take the audio input (in rca cables for example) and record, and you could use 'chase play' to go back earlier in the recording.

But still, a dedicated audio recording device would make the most sense.

[classicsat]

You can get dedicated digital audio recorders of varying degrees of quality and flexibility.

To concurrently network you essentially need a PC. A TiVo cannot network transfer a recording in progress.

For multiple microphones, you need a small mixer, with as many mic inputs as you will have microphones.

[sjlush]

Old post, but i have a partial answer to the OP's question. Using a TIVO as an audio recorder is a great idea, for certain applications. For example, I use it for making long form recordings when I'm doing radio production backstage at festival concerts. I plug the stage audio feed into the audio inputs of my Series 1 TIVO and set it to manually record for 12 hours; the typical duration of the events. TIVO won't record audio unless a video source is present so I connect a small video camera which is pointed at a clock. This allows me to record the entire event without stopping. Periodically throughout the day I pull audio from the concert-usually stage announcements, comments from the performers etc. The video recording of the clock enables me to jump through the file and locate the parts I want, provided I have a general idea when they happened. I dub them into my laptop where I can edit it in Pro Tools, then quickly email mp3s back to the station for playback on the air. The beauty of it is I never have to stop recording when I am playing back audio that was recorded earlier. It's a great use for a TIVO that was collecting dust since I switched from cable to DirecTV. I wouldn't mind having a small digital audio recorder with a real-time counter that could playback while still recording but my old TIVO gets the job done just fine. It's a little big but that's my only complaint. I could see other applications for this setup, like recording radio shows, lectures, interviews, or other long audio events. By the way, TIVOing radio lets you skip all the commercials, replay things you missed, pause, etc., so it's really not so silly after all, is it? The only thing that would make it easier would be using a video source that would record the time of day on screen more easily than a camera pointed at a clock. Does anybody know where I can get a cheap video signal generator with a composite output that could also generate and insert time code into the video signal?

[replaytv]

I am working on using a Tivo to record from a camera for security purposes. The quality is much better than the video recording that I have seen on bank and convenience store robbers. They show the videos on TV asking if U know this guy that just robbed a bank, but the video quality is to bad U wouldn't know your own brother from the video.
Course it is only one or two channels, but U can get 24 hours of high quality video instead of the worthless video that most people use for security.

[unitron]

I got an idea I want to explore...2 requirements:

1. Record voice/speech in a conference setting, so audio input has to be sensitive and cover a large area, ideally with multiple microphone inputs.

2. While recording, is networked to a transcribing station that can transcribe the speech real-time and play-back speech to catch-up, as necessary.

Sounds perfect for a Tivo box...or does it.

Thanks for your technical observation on how to do this...!

Number 1 requires someone who knows what they're doing running an audio mixer, and possibly other people running around Phil Donahue style with wireless mics.

If the conferees are seated at large tables, perhaps something like the Crown PZM (or the Radio Shack branded version) microphones would work.

I suspect religion is involved in this, as church audio people are always expected to be able to perform miracles.

Once you have a good mix of the audio you could, in addition to making a regular recording (analog or digital) of it, parallel feed it into a TiVo, if you can get the Tivo to tune itself to its line inputs, provided you also give it a video signal of some sort to latch on to. Perhaps a video camera aimed at a digital clock or elapsed time readout with hours, minutes, and seconds to assist the transcriptionist, since audio is turned off during the Tivo's fast forward and rewind.

[orangeboy]

Number 1 requires someone who knows what they're doing running an audio mixer, and possibly other people running around Phil Donahue style with wireless mics.

If the conferees are seated at large tables, perhaps something like the Crown PZM (or the Radio Shack branded version) microphones would work.

I suspect religion is involved in this, as church audio people are always expected to be able to perform miracles.

Once you have a good mix of the audio you could, in addition to making a regular recording (analog or digital) of it, parallel feed it into a TiVo, if you can get the Tivo to tune itself to its line inputs, provided you also give it a video signal of some sort to latch on to. Perhaps a video camera aimed at a digital clock or elapsed time readout with hours, minutes, and seconds to assist the transcriptionist, since audio is turned off during the Tivo's fast forward and rewind.

Perhaps you could explain what "Phil Donahue style" or religion has to do with your response. :confused:

[unitron]

Perhaps you could explain what "Phil Donahue style" or religion has to do with your response. :confused:

From the wording of your earlier post I get the impression that you read into it something which was not there, or at least certainly not intended.

Back when wireless mics were still a pretty new thing, Donahue was pretty much the first well-known talk show host to go out in the audience with one and run around to various audience members to allow them to ask questions of the guest(s).

If the OP was trying to set this up for a business, they'd more likely have a budget for doing it right, or for hiring a professional outfit to take care of it, so I figured it was a volunteer not quite realizing what they were getting themselves in for. Having done church audio in the past, it just felt like the kind of event someone in that position would find themselves asked to handle. So I threw in my little joke about being expected to perform miracles. People without experience in sound reinforcement and recording often have very unrealistic expectations of what can be done, and the level of resources necessary. In my case they even once or twice assumed a greater level of expertise on my part than I actually possessed.

I failed to notice originally that this thread was replied to today, which is why I noticed it, but the original post was from 5 years ago, so I thought I was speaking directly to the OP, and was commiserating with them, having, so to speak, "been there".

(never got a T-shirt out of the deal, though)

I do hope that I have answered all that you asked me.

[orangeboy]

From the wording of your earlier post I get the impression that you read into it something which was not there, or at least certainly not intended.


Indeed, I did reply, and promptly deleted a hastily worded response as not to incite a "religious" war that was not warranted.


Back when wireless mics were still a pretty new thing, Donahue was pretty much the first well-known talk show host to go out in the audience with one and run around to various audience members to allow them to ask questions of the guest(s).

If the OP was trying to set this up for a business, they'd more likely have a budget for doing it right, or for hiring a professional outfit to take care of it, so I figured it was a volunteer not quite realizing what they were getting themselves in for. Having done church audio in the past, it just felt like the kind of event someone in that position would find themselves asked to handle. So I threw in my little joke about being expected to perform miracles. People without experience in sound reinforcement and recording often have very unrealistic expectations of what can be done, and the level of resources necessary. In my case they even once or twice assumed a greater level of expertise on my part than I actually possessed.


Indeed, those in ignorance (which is not, or should be, a derogatory term) can expect too much, myself included!


I failed to notice originally that this thread was replied to today, which is why I noticed it, but the original post was from 5 years ago, so I thought I was speaking directly to the OP, and was commiserating with them, having, so to speak, "been there".

(never got a T-shirt out of the deal, though)

I do hope that I have answered all that you asked me.

Yes you have, and enlightened me in the process.

As with any religious or political "responses", I do have a tendency for knee-jerk reactions, siding more for those that believe what they want without persecution or judgement (despite my own personal beliefs). This was not the case.

To quote ZeoTiVo quoting justapixel:
At the end of of the day, it's the happy moments in life that count, not the big manufactured productions. Being generous with your love and time brings more rewards than you can know.

[replaytv]

Polycom makes audio conferencing boxes that are used by some of the biggest firms. I am not sure how U would integrate that in with the Tivo though, as the boxes are telephones.

I thought the comments were meant as funny and not anything more. I thought the actual content of the post was useful.