Dragon Naturally Speaking 10

I have to admit right up front that I am a lousy typist. I took typing in high school and basically I've always been lousy at it. Recently, I have been forced to type my own scripts etc. Did I say that I am still a lousy typist?
Years ago I tried a Dragon speech recognition product and I have to admit I was really disappointed. Recently, on a whim I downloaded the free app Dragon Dictation on my iPhone from the people at Nuance. I was really impressed. It translated my voice to text very well and now makes sending texts and e-mails a lot faster.
My confidence buoyed by the amazing performance of this app I went in search of the Dragon Naturally Speaking 10. Over the holidays it was on sale and I thought it was time to revisit this product. I purchased the least expensive standard package which comes with software, [PC only] and a headset.
It installed easily and after running through the initial diagnostics I was on my way. It took a little while to get used to speaking aloud what I normally write in longhand and then type. But now, I realize, I will never go back. Despite the fact that my children chide me with taunts of nerd and air traffic controller.
This package works extremely well. In fact, I am using it places that I never thought it would be necessary or possible. And of course, I'm using it right now to write this blog. A few weeks back, while I was dictating a script I got a call from a client needing a graphic change. I opened up Photoshop found the text that needed to be updated highlighted and spoke instead of typed. I didn't have to lift my hand off the mouse and it worked great. You won't find that TechBIT on the box. I have to tell you it works great for me. You can even navigate your browser, something I really don't need but is kind of fun. There are tons of shortcuts and ways of cutting and pasting things like your signature or more standard boilerplate text items.
My wants are simple. Make my typing chores faster and easier. I read somewhere that Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 will increase your typing speed 300%. I know in my case it's way faster than that. I have to recommend this product. I've actually been telling all my friends about it. Even people who type really fast have been amazed at how much faster speech to text is. Another thing I've noticed is that although I'm a pretty good speller this product is better.
Now it's not all a bed of roses, many times I say a word such as by when I really mean bye and I am forced to actually type. Yes, I know there are ways to get around that but I don't mind typing a few words here and there. Sometimes, in the morning when my voice is a bit gravelly the product does deliver some very interesting versions of what I am dictating. More coffee generally sorts out those issues. You will notice that after prolonged use of this product your diction and enunciation will improve. I tend to speak quickly and can be a bit of a marble mouth. The product seems to learn with each session and has gotten significantly better over a very short period time. I recently found another headset I had used on one VOIP service or another and I think my accuracy has increased significantly. Perhaps the headset that comes with product is not of the absolute highest quality. It does work, but my new headset with a non-flexible boom microphone is better.
If you have not revisited speech to text I highly recommend Dragon
Naturally Speaking 10. It's relatively inexpensive and can really be a time saver
Bye for now... Hey that worked great!

Ikan's VX9 LCD Monitor

I recently received the ikan VX9 LCD monitor. The people at ikan are masters at building good quality production equipment at very reasonable prices.
The ikan VX9 LCD monitor has 1024x600 line of resolution. All signals are scaled to this resolution. I was skeptical at first but after reviewing other monitors in this price range that boast higher resolutions I was pleasantly surprised.
The picture is clean, saturated well and in the HD resolutions I tried there were negligible artifacts. Apparently this monitor is targeted towards the on location on camera market. It quickly found a place beneath my dual monitors in my edit suites. The 8.9" monitor is just the right size for my needs.
The viewing angle is tight so if you edit with clients you will want to seriously consider placement for maximum viewing benefit. Viewing angle is important, especially to producers and editors that need to collaborate.
The monitor comes with a battery mount for field use and ikan has lots of different mounts for the monitor itself. It only draws three watts max so it appears to be fairly efficient. There is also a 4 pin XLR type DC 12v-20v input for use with an external power supply. There are (4) 1/4-20 threads on all four sides of the monitor so you will have lots of options for mounting. The unit I received came complete with the monitor, power adapter, MA206 Articulating arm and the battery plate.
The VX9 supports HDMI, HD-SDI, Component and composite from 480i/59.94i to 1080P/30P.
The controls are straightforward and intuitive. I only looked at the docs to see their specs.
I know this is not a true HD monitor but I am really impressed by the picture quality. If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive way to monitor HD-SDI, HDMI signals you may want to consider the ikan VX9. I believe at the time of this writing they are selling for $1149.