Entered CNET Catalog: 09/10/2003
SKU: 0780420105317
Manufacturer: Nuance Communications, Inc. (ScanSoft)
Manufacturer description
IBM ViaVoice Pro USB Edition represents the merger of high-productivity software with advanced microphone technology. Pro USB Edition offers great dictation versatility; dictate, edit, and correct text in SpeakPad, the resident speech-enabled word processor, or in Word, Excel, and other applications within the Microsoft Office product suites, including Office XP, or directly into a variety of other PC applications. Pro USB Edition expands the usefulness of the powerful Navigation Macro Center found in earlier generations of IBM ViaVoice for Windows. With Pro USB, users can create macros that will run across multiple applications. In addition, users can now control the speed at which their macros run. Pro USB Edition supports the use of select digital handheld recorders. Pro USB Edition is the IBM desktop voice recognition product that features IBM ViaVoice Documents - Microsoft Word-based customized templates for letters, reports, faxes, and e-mails - and VoiceMarks, which can read the name of a customized navigation macro to the user as an audio confirmation that the macro is being run correctly.Product summary
The good: ViaVoice 10 is affordable, works with Macs, and offers decent voice recognition and customizable macros.
The bad: ViaVoice 10's setup is prone to glitches, its voice-command recognition is uneven, its technical support is pricey, and it is not entirely hands-free.
The bottom line: ViaVoice is an affordable, if buggy, program for basic speech-to-text dictation. To avoid using your hands, however, we recommend the Windows-only Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 02/23/2006
ViaVoice 10 provides speech-recognition technology for users on a budget. Antivirus software can interfere with its installation, but if you don't mind wading through setup problems, ViaVoice can save you time typing documents and forms. ViaVoice is no Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 8, but not everyone needs all of Dragon's hands-free functions or its fat price tag. ViaVoice's handling of boilerplate text and forms will take the edge off tedious typing chores, and ViaVoice takes dictation well. You may, however, need to spend extra time training ViaVoice to understand your voice commands. And be sure to read the bundled user guide, because a handful of tech calls will quickly exceed the program's $124.99 purchase price.
ViaVoice 10's CD-ROM setup is designed to hold your hand, but we ran into several glitches during the setup process. ViaVoice warned us to turn off antivirus apps before installation, but when it rebooted partway through the process, so did our antivirus software, so we had to scramble to turn off the security app. When we checked online for software updates at the end of the installation, we found IBM's Web page for updates unavailable (likely because Nuance now owns ViaVoice).
After installation, the ViaVoice VoiceCenter toolbar anchors to the top of your desktop. The toolbar includes a ViaVoice button with a drop-down menu and a microphone icon to click when you use a headset or a microphone to dictate.
Once we had ViaVoice running, it prompted us to test the bundled noise-canceling headset and create a voice model by reading a short text passage aloud. This process went smoothly. It took about 45 minutes between the time we put the installation CD in the drive and the time we started using the program. ViaVoice can also analyze documents on your computer to learn the vocabulary you typically use. File types include DOC, RTF, TXT, and HTML.
ViaVoice has moderate RAM requirements: 64MB for Windows 98 SE and Windows Me, and 192MB for Windows XP Home and Professional. You'll need an Internet connection and a 16-bit sound card as well. ViaVoice 10 also comes in a Mac-ready version, which demands OS 10.3 and 192MB of RAM.
In some ways, ViaVoice 10 is a lightweight and less expensive version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8. Nuance (formerly ScanSoft) now distributes both programs, which even share some voice commands, such as "Scratch that" (to erase text) and "Go to sleep" (to turn off the microphone). ViaVoice is a dictation program, however, not a hands-free app like Dragon. For example, you need to click the mouse to pause text as ViaVoice reads it back to you, and you can't use your voice to enter keyboard commands, as you can with Dragon. Not surprisingly, ViaVoice also has lower memory requirements--about 750KB per minute for recorded speech, which is less than the 1.5MB of memory that Dragon requires.
ViaVoice understood our straight dictation moderately well. We found that it recognized larger words, such as subscription, but fumbled with smaller parts of speech that people tend to mumble, such as prepositions and contractions. Luckily, ViaVoice is designed to continue improving its speech-recognition vocabulary by analyzing the text errors that you correct. You can also return to the User Wizard for further training.
Voice commands within ViaVoice are logical, but the program sometimes had trouble recognizing them. In theory, you can improve performance by doing further voice-recognition training to acclimate ViaVoice to your pronunciation or by saying an "attention word" before speaking a command. Unfortunately, neither option improved voice-command recognition for us.
As with Dragon, you can use ViaVoice with a number of popular programs. You can dictate text into the bundled ViaVoice SpeakPad word processor or directly into Microsoft Word 97, 2000, or 2002. Intuitive commands such as "Open document" are available for Word and Excel 97, 2000, and 2002, and for Outlook 97, 98, 2000, and 2002. ViaVoice lets you surf the Internet with voice commands, but we found it unresponsive when we tried to select links verbally. The voice-activated Voice Mouse was more effective for clicking links.
Since ViaVoice is designed for dictation, some users will find its customizable macros handy. The macros let users insert boilerplate text and create customized forms. ViaVoice also transcribes from some Sanyo and Olympus digital recorders.
ViaVoice 10 arrives with a decent printed user guide and searchable help files. The Information Central menu includes tips on getting started and using the help files. It also provides a list of voice commands, a product-support link, and productivity tips. In our version, however, embedded links to online technical support led to an old, unavailable IBM Web page. Telephone and e-mail support will cost you dearly. The first call is free; after that, Nuance charges $19.95 per incident. We reached a helpful tech assistant by phone after several minutes. E-mail support costs $9.95 per incident. Telephone help is available weekdays from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT.
