[Dtb-talk] Question from a new subscriber: Anyone working withthePlextalk PTP1?

[David Andrews]

Jim:

I would agree with the positive things you say.  The things I don't 
like about the Pocket are that its response to button pushes, 
navigating in a DAISY book etc., seem to be a bit sluggish, when 
changing things in the menu system you are exited from the menu after 
making a change so if you want to do other things you have to go back 
in.  Finally, the "time scale modification" that is the stuff that 
allows one to keep the pitch the same as a human voice reading is 
sped up isn't very good.  As you increase the speed up, the 
distortion increases noticeably until it sounds terrible.  For me 
this is a deal-breaker as I do lots of pleasure reading and want to 
speed up as much as possible.

Dave

At 01:45 PM 12/12/2008, you wrote:
>I'm also testing the new Plextalk PTP1.  Some may be confusing this new
>product with others from Plextalk.  I don't believe the PTP1 is
>available commercially quite yet.
>
>So far, I am liking the machine.  It's very small, smaller than the
>Stream, and it looks to be quite durable.  My initial impressions are
>that it is a superb recording device and a solid device for reading
>audio files.  Reading e-text leaves a bit to be desired, though.  The
>TTS voices are not as crisp as I want.  But, like most synthetic voices,
>one gets used to it fairly quickly.  For me, the same sort of comments
>also apply to the Stream.  In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the tts is the
>same for the PTP1 and the Stream.  For e-text, I really like the
>Book-Port, which of course is no longer available as I understand it.
>The PTP1's recording capabilities look to be awesome.  It's possible to
>build Daisy recordings complete with markup with its recording features.
>The audio playback looks good, also.  Of course, the PTP1 is not yet
>authorized to play RFB&D or NLS audio books yet, but I'm sure it is just
>a matter of time before the DRM is authorized for the PTP1.
>
>Looking forward to comments from other PTP1 testers.  For now, it's
>pretty clear the PTP1 will be a solid competitor to the Stream, and
>that's a good thing for consumers of these devices.
>
>
>
>-----
>Jim Marks
>jim.marks at umontana.edu
>-----
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>On Behalf Of David B Andrews
>Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 7:37 AM
>To: Robert Jaquiss; Discussion of Digital Talking Books
>Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] Question from a new subscriber: Anyone working
>withthePlextalk PTP1?
>
>I have one.  I haven't used it that much yet, so don't want to say to
>much.  Its performance, that is how quickly it responds to key strokes,
>moves to pages, etc., seems to be somewhat slower then with the VR
>Stream, tested on DAISY 2.02 books.  Its time scale modification, that
>is speeding up reading without changing the pitch, isn't that good.  As
>you increase the speed, the distortion increases.
>
>It looks like the machine will be of real interest to peoele who want
>to record in the DAISY format, and it is small and compact, but as a
>reader I am not sure how well it will compete with the Stream.
>
>More as I gain experience.
>
>Dave
>
>
>
>David Andrews
>Chief Technology Officer
>Minnesota State Services for the Blind
>2200 University Ave. W., #240
>St. Paul, MN  55114-1840
>(651) 642-0513  Office
>(612) 730-7931  Cell
>(651) 649-5927  Fax
>
>
> >>> "Robert Jaquiss" <rjaquiss at earthlink.net> 12/11/2008 11:10 PM >>>
>
>Hello:
>
>      Anyone have the Plextalk PTP1? I would be interested in your
>thoughts.
>
>Regards,
>
>Robert Jaquiss
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