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Displaying wrong elapsed time


MM1772

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[i made a mistake in the topic title -- it should say "Display wrong recording time"]

 

I don't know if this is a problem with my voice recorder, Windows 7, or Express Scribe 5.30 (free version; I have the paid version, too, but haven't installed it yet).

 

During a meeting I both took notes and recorded an audio file with my Olympus WS-110 Digital Video Voice Recorder. In my notes, I would jot down the time if there was something that I wanted to go back to later.

 

For example, I wrote down 10:45 next to a something I wanted to look up. When I found the section of the recording containing the discussion, Express Scribe showed the elapsed time as 15:00 (3 pm). Thoroughly confused, I looked at Windows 7 to see what the date stamp of the recording file is. Oddly enough, it's 13:01 (1 pm).

 

In other words, the discussion I want happened at:

 

According to my note to myself -- 10:45 am

According to Express Scribe -- 15:00 (3 pm)

According to Windows 7 -- Not long after 13:01 (1 pm)

 

I've verified that my WS-110 has the correct time and date. Windows 7 has the correct time and date. To upload a file from the WS-110, you just plug it in a USB port and drag and drop the files into the Windows file system.

 

The duration of the file is 77:16. Even if the WS-110 is doing something odd like time-stamping the file with the time the recording stopped instead of the time the recording started, I can't make sense of these times.

 

Where does Express Scribe obtain the Recording Time from?

 

Or, what do I need to do so that what I think is the Recording Time is the Recording Time that Express Scribe displays?

Edited by MM1772
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I just did a little test.

 

I'm using Windows 7 Professional, SP1, 32-bit.

 

I displayed the Windows clock face so that I could watch the seconds, and recorded exactly a 1-minute file.

 

I started recording at 14:40.

I finished recording at 14:41.

 

I connected my recorder to Windows. It shows up as a regular USB drive and shows the start time as 14:39. (That could probably be explained by my recorder's clock being set a few seconds slower than my Windows clock.)

 

I dragged and dropped the file onto Windows, and then from there, dragged and dropped it into Express Scribe, where the Option is set to show the Recording time.

 

Express Scribe shows the Recording time as 14:42.

 

 

I made a copy of the file and loaded that at 14:56. The Recording time shows as 14:56!

 

So is the Time that you see in the list of dictations the time that the file is loaded? That means that if I have 5 files that I record during the day, and I load them all at 17:30, they'll all show 17:30-ish as the Recording time?

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  • 5 months later...

Update:

 

I'm still using Windows 7.

I'm now using Express Scribe Pro 5.48.

I tested this on the WS-110 and also my new recorder, Olympus VN-8000PC.

 

If I move (cut and paste) the file from the device to Windows, it works as I expected. The file shows its true date and time in Windows (Date Modified and Date Created) and in Express Scribe.

 

If I *COPY* the file (copy and paste or drag and drop) from the device to Windows, though, Windows shows the correct time in Date Modified, but shows the time it was copied over in Date Created. Express Scribe picks up the date and time I copied it over, not the real date and time.

 

In other words, Express Scribe displays the Date Created time, not the Date Modified time.

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I just reported it as a bug, though I don't think it's really a bug, but the way things work.

 

According to the Express Scribe help, when you choose the Display option of Recording Time (Options > Display, then choose Recording Time), you will see "The absolute, real time when the current playback position was actually being recorded."

 

The problem is that if you copy and paste (or drag and drop) a file from your recording device to Windows, Windows does this:

 

o Puts the "absolute, real time" in Date Modified

o Puts the date you copied the file from the device to Windows in Date Created

 

Express Scribe seems to be picking up the Windows Date Created time, which normally makes sense: This is the time you pressed Record and the file was created. However, when you just copy the file to Windows, Windows fills the Date Created time with the date and time that the file was created on Windows, not the date and time that the file was created on your recording device.

 

So, if you have recording devices that are treated as an external drive when you go to upload them (that is, you don't require special software), you have to cut and paste to get the correct time to show in Express Scribe.

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