| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Is anyone else having trouble using Dragon? Thread poster: Astrid Elke Witte
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Astrid Elke Witte 
Germany
Local time: 12:32
Member (2002)
German to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Maybe my headset is defective | Nov 7, 2006 |
I don't really know what sort it is; it came in the box together with the software. I thought I understood it is supposed to be a "USB" one. However, I should imagine that, being supplied along with the software, it is a very inexpensive one, in any event.
I have made the appointment for the computer guy to come (after I get back from the conference in Edinburgh) and it is his job now to work out where the problem lies in my case. There could be several explanations, or more than on... See more I don't really know what sort it is; it came in the box together with the software. I thought I understood it is supposed to be a "USB" one. However, I should imagine that, being supplied along with the software, it is a very inexpensive one, in any event.
I have made the appointment for the computer guy to come (after I get back from the conference in Edinburgh) and it is his job now to work out where the problem lies in my case. There could be several explanations, or more than one might apply.
Astrid ▲ Collapse
| | | | Uldis Liepkalns
Latvia
Local time: 13:32
Member (2003)
English to Latvian
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| You can tell if yours is USB | Nov 7, 2006 |
by looking what connection it requires on the Computer end- if it requires USB plug, then it's USB
BTW, though I never have had or tried Dragon, I use Office XP inbuilt speech recognition system and that wouldn't function at all with any other microphone headset expect a USB one. It was fairly expensive (about EUR 70 - but that was the cheapest one available) when I bought mine some 3 years ago, it's "Labtech", it has... See more by looking what connection it requires on the Computer end- if it requires USB plug, then it's USB
BTW, though I never have had or tried Dragon, I use Office XP inbuilt speech recognition system and that wouldn't function at all with any other microphone headset expect a USB one. It was fairly expensive (about EUR 70 - but that was the cheapest one available) when I bought mine some 3 years ago, it's "Labtech", it has a separate control box mounted halfway in it's wire (Power/volume/mute) and it broke down once already (some wire in the headphone had gone loose, so if wouldn't work at all, our local geeks broke the faulty headphone open, mended it and glued in back again (the detail wasn't dissasembable).
Just relating my experience,
Uldis
Astrid Elke Johnson wrote:
I don't really know what sort it is; it came in the box together with the software. I thought I understood it is supposed to be a "USB" one. ▲ Collapse
| | | | juvera
Local time: 11:32
English to Hungarian
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| Now that's funny | Nov 9, 2006 |
Charlie Bavington wrote: I initially made the mistake of training it in utter silence, so when I first used it for real, it was picking up the radio and trying to write out the football commentary
Thanks, Charlie,
haven't had such a good laugh for ages.
I better not try Dragon, because with hubby and two sons watching rugby, football, cricket, car racing, athletics, rowing, etc. not more than ten paces away from me, all I would be good for is a sport columnist. (I don't mean it disparagingly, but it is not my niche.)
Judith
| | | | Patricia Rosas
United States
Local time: 03:32
Spanish to English
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In memoriam | No problems at all! | Nov 12, 2006 |
Hi, everyone. I just have to say that I just decided to buy voice recognition software last week. My copy of Dragon 9 arrived yesterday, and it has been a complete BREEZE to use! I'm thrilled...
The only snags were that I couldn't find the serial number (a dumb mistake on my part!). The Nuance people helped me out for free on the phone.
The second one came when I ran the microphone check. I had plugged the two headphone jacks into the correspondingly colored outlets ... See more Hi, everyone. I just have to say that I just decided to buy voice recognition software last week. My copy of Dragon 9 arrived yesterday, and it has been a complete BREEZE to use! I'm thrilled...
The only snags were that I couldn't find the serial number (a dumb mistake on my part!). The Nuance people helped me out for free on the phone.
The second one came when I ran the microphone check. I had plugged the two headphone jacks into the correspondingly colored outlets on the back of the computer, but noticed that one didn't seem to fit or sit properly. So, when the test didn't work, I moved it to the next outlet (where it seated properly), and everything from then to now has been great.
Of course, this is only Day 2, so I may be back complaining, but I felt compelled to write in Nuance's defense.
I hope Astrid is having an easier time now! ▲ Collapse
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Igor Kazmierski
France
Local time: 12:32
Member (2006)
English to French
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| Adding my two cents... | Nov 14, 2006 |
I'm a happy DNS 8 user since March. There is one thing I wanted to add to this thread : DNS works wonders even with an processor-embedded sound card, the crappy mike they sell with it (the 200$ software with the 3$ headset...) and a signal/noise ration of 9. It requires time to train the software, though - in my case a solid month - before achieving better results than with typing.
I have worked this way (with underadapted hardware) for a few months before investing in a (regular ga... See more I'm a happy DNS 8 user since March. There is one thing I wanted to add to this thread : DNS works wonders even with an processor-embedded sound card, the crappy mike they sell with it (the 200$ software with the 3$ headset...) and a signal/noise ration of 9. It requires time to train the software, though - in my case a solid month - before achieving better results than with typing.
I have worked this way (with underadapted hardware) for a few months before investing in a (regular gaming) Plantronics headset for $20 and a new computer (still with embedded sound card). I now enjoy a signal/noise ratio of 19 and this is just perfect for speech rec.
One thing I would like to emphasize here is the routine use of Dragon recognition tools - Optimizer and such - so the software actually learns the way you speak. I have experienced radical changes the day I launched the optimization program for the first time.
Good luck and don't give up, speech rec is the real thing !
Igor ▲ Collapse
| | | | Astrid Elke Witte
Germany
Local time: 12:32
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Brief report on progress | Nov 17, 2006 |
The computer guy was here today, and it works now. He just waved a magic wand and suddenly it was working. However, it is quite slow, and I have to dictate at a fraction of the speed that I can type, which is quite the opposite of what Nuance promised. I usually type at about 50 wpm, but am having to dictate at the speed of around 10-15 wpm. The right words then slowly appear, after a short time lapse.
Apparently my computer is not quite up to this modern software, being over 2 year... See more The computer guy was here today, and it works now. He just waved a magic wand and suddenly it was working. However, it is quite slow, and I have to dictate at a fraction of the speed that I can type, which is quite the opposite of what Nuance promised. I usually type at about 50 wpm, but am having to dictate at the speed of around 10-15 wpm. The right words then slowly appear, after a short time lapse.
Apparently my computer is not quite up to this modern software, being over 2 years old. The guy said that 512 MB of RAM is not adequate, because it really needs a whole Gigabyte. He is coming back next week to install some more RAM in my computer. After that it should be possible to dictate a bit faster.
Astrid ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It works here, too | Nov 18, 2006 |
Hi all!
I've received a new headset from Plantronics and it works! I still have to get used to it but from what I saw in the Tutorial, the recognition speed seems to be OK - I have a 4 year old computer but 1 GB RAM so Astrid, I guess that next week you will be much more comfortable!
Marie-Céline
| | | | | Hang in there Ingrid! | Nov 19, 2006 |
Hello!
I used Dragon a few times.
Here are a few tips for you :
Your computer has got to get his act together. Dragon will not fix driver or hardware issues.
Quick test: Use the basic recorder from windows to test your microphone set-up. If it does not work, fix that before trying Dragon.
Obviously, your sound card is defective (either it's a hardware or software issue).
Get yourself a new sound card - nothing exotic,... See more Hello!
I used Dragon a few times.
Here are a few tips for you :
Your computer has got to get his act together. Dragon will not fix driver or hardware issues.
Quick test: Use the basic recorder from windows to test your microphone set-up. If it does not work, fix that before trying Dragon.
Obviously, your sound card is defective (either it's a hardware or software issue).
Get yourself a new sound card - nothing exotic, just a basic Sound Blaster will do just fine. If your present soundcard is embedded in the computer, you might have some difficulties getting the computer to disregard it. In that case, use the hardware manager, find your old sound card, select, choose properties, then at the bottom, use the drop-down menu to desactivate it.
Once your sound card setup if fixed, you should not have any problems with Dragon.
Dragon works fine on my computer and it's an old Dell Optiplex G1, Pentium III, 600 MHz, 768 Meg of ram. I use a good Plantronics headset (not USB).
Dragon is a good product but Nuance is a sh... company.
Good luck
Francis ▲ Collapse
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| Just a few ideas that might help | Nov 28, 2006 |
Let me give you my 2 cents worth of struggling with Speech Recognition for the better part of a year, Astrid.
1 - Buy a decent microphone! I just recently bought a Sennheiser PC 135, a USB microphone. Recognition is lightyears above the cheapie headset that comes with the software. I went for USB for two reasons - I don't have to worry about the quality of my soundcard, and I can switch quickly between PC and Notebook, which I frequently do.
2 - Train the system - The... See more Let me give you my 2 cents worth of struggling with Speech Recognition for the better part of a year, Astrid.
1 - Buy a decent microphone! I just recently bought a Sennheiser PC 135, a USB microphone. Recognition is lightyears above the cheapie headset that comes with the software. I went for USB for two reasons - I don't have to worry about the quality of my soundcard, and I can switch quickly between PC and Notebook, which I frequently do.
2 - Train the system - The more you train it, the better it becomes. Training REALLY raises your productivity. Reading fairy tales to your computer might make your neigbours wonder about you, but it REALLY pays.
3 - Keep the backgound noise level steady - SR systems don't like changes in the background noise level. It throws them off the track. If it gets really bad, re-start the SR system.
4 - Don't buy IBM ViaVoice - if you run SDLX. ViaVoice will do all kinds of things in SDLX, and it isn't only jumping cursors. I understand that DNS will also produce jumping cursors in Wordfast, but SDLX users tell me DNS works fine for them. IBM ViaVoice and SDLX won't mix - I have to use a function called Speech Pad (a sort of scratchpad function) to dictate and then transfer the content to SDLX.
5 - Buy stacks of memory! 1 GB is the bare minimum, I think, if you have a number of processes running. The more you have, the more reliable the whole set-up.
6 - Use acronyms! SR puts you at a disadvantage in technical texts with lots of letter/number combinations. If you know that the combination 224XU5m9/200 will come up 15 times in your document, why not call it "Joe"? You can either train your system to write 224XU5m9/200 every time you say "Joe", but better yet - do a search/replace at the end. I recently completed a job with at least 500 instances of the word "TAH-t Implantationssystem". I decided to call it "theo". Really speeded up my dictation.
7, 8, 9... Train the system!
Good luck!
Volkmar ▲ Collapse
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