BlueSoliel or StenoCast

[Tricia McLaughlin]

I'm sick of RT cables and am finally biting the bullet and going wireless.  The more I read, the more confused I get.  BlueSoliel is a whole lot cheaper than StenoCast, but I know most CRs are on StenoCast.

Are there any pros or cons to either setup, besides the price?

Thanks, Tricia

[Quyen]

Hi, Tricia.  I think you have Blue Soleil and StenoCast confused.

Blue Soleil is a wireless software/USB receiver to enable your writer to connect/write wirelessly to your laptop only, not to client laptops set up for real time. I got Blue Soleil when I bought my Diamante so I could write wirelessly to my laptop, but I've never gotten the worthless piece of junk (Blue Soleil or Diamante) to work without endless error messages and without it cutting off communication from my writer to my laptop. Got sick and tired of closing out my file and starting a new session every time that happened, so now I'm wired from my writer to laptop.  Pfffffttt!

Aaannnyway . . .

StenoCast is a wireless real-time system with a router that hooks up to your laptop and USB receivers that go into client laptops.  You have to buy each receiver separately ($100 ea.) in addition to the router ($400).  I got the StenoCast RED, which is enabled for auto refresh, and use it with Bridge.  Other than lagging/hanging/buffering sometimes when I edit on my laptop, I have not had any problems at all with StenoCast RED. Super easy and fast to set up. StenoCast can help you get the system set up over the phone. For RT, I say it's the only way to go. 

StenoCast (RED) is better than sliced bread. ;)

[Tricia McLaughlin]

Thanks for responding, Quyen!  On Glen's site, cheapandsleazy.net, there's a whole article by a CR who explains how to use BS to send to the attys computers.   The dongles are only around 50 each for each computer, and the BS sender, for lack of a better word, is around 100.  Compared to the 400 and 100 for each receiver, it's way cheaper, but I do not want to go cheap and have a whole bunch of problems.

I'm leaning toward StenoCast as it's the most commonly used, and according to their website, it seems seamless to set up.

[Quyen]

Oh, if that is really true for BS, that it could be set up for RT, I am unaware of it and stand corrected.  Do you have a link to that article? Not that I want anything to do with BS, but just curious.

If you do a lot of RT, then StenoCast will pay for itself with one or two jobs easily, depending how many receivers you buy -- three jobs, tops. :)

[Tricia McLaughlin]

Thanks again, Quyen.  I'm a babe in the woods with this stuff, and I'm not technophobic.  Here is the link.

http://cheapandsleazy.net/bluetooth.html

[Quyen]

I was just about to say I found the article.  The BS setup has too many steps for me to want to fuss with.  Call me lazy, but for me, paying more $$ to save myself the headache is worth it. I'm not technophobic either, but I'm certainly technolazy.

[Tricia McLaughlin]

I thought the same thing.  Is it worth the difference in the money?  How many receivers did you start out with on Stenocast?  It's not that it's that exorbitant that you couldn't add them as you go along.  Thanks again!

[Quyen]

I think it's worth every penny.  I started with four receivers.  Less than a month later, I bought two more, for a total of six. Remember, they're a write-off too.

If you provide RT with usually two hookups, I think two receivers is a perfectly fine start and should last you for a while before you buy more receivers. Make it like Nike, and just DO IT! :)

[Tricia McLaughlin]

DID IT!!!   :-)

[Quyen]

You're going to wonder how you ever managed to do RT before StenoCast.  It's going to look so beautiful and be so easy, you'll almost feel guilty when the paycheck comes in. 

Congrats & MERRY CHRISTMAS!  ;)