Realtime question

[Vanessa]

I would really love to get some more info on realtime from anyone who has a lot of experience with it. 

I've provided realtime to judges in court proceedings, but what do you do if the judge and both attorneys want realtime as well?  I know Stenograph has realtime cables and all of that, but I've also heard of people using their cell phone as a wireless hub so to speak and realtime is hooked up that way.  I may be totally wrong on this.  I would love and appreciate anyone's input on where to get started and what they do to hook up for multiple people.  If it's a trial-type setting, do you provide the attorneys with laptops and/or tablets?

Thank you so much!  I'd appreciate any help or tips in this area!

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

I output to multiple parties, and there are various ways you can do it. If you're using cables, you can feed to a multiline block which then feeds to the parties via multiple cables. I rarely use cables. I mostly output wirelessly to my loaner equipment that I provide to the attorneys. When I was on Eclipse, I did that using Bluetooth. Now I'm on CaseCAT, and I do it using a wireless Cradlepoint router. Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable using my cell phone as the router, but that is interesting to hear. Good for you for looking more into this. :)

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

Does anyone remember that "in the old days" it took two (2) months for an attorney to get a transcript?

 

I hope these attorneys are paying for "instant" transcripts.  or is this the price we reporters must pay to get jobs these days?  just wondering....

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I do the same as Lisa using Stenocast's wireless system using my loaner laptops for the attorneys.  It is quick and easy and I can bring up to five laptops for attorneys to use.  I think that's what most RT reporters in the Bay Area are doing.  It doesn't matter what CAT system you're on; you output to the netbooks and make sure you have Bridge or Livenote or CaseviewNet or some other type of software on the laptops so the attorneys can get your feed.

[Susan Magee]

Stenograph has partnered with Connectify to use as another wireless connection.  It's basically a virtual router where you use your laptop as a hot spot for connecting to realtime.  http://www.connectify.me/  All you have to do is download the software for a nominal fee and do the connection.  No more worry about a physical router, wireless or tethered with cables.

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

Yeah, Stenocast sounds great too, Kelli.

I tried Connectify about a year ago and had very mixed results. Maybe they have worked through whatever it was? Hope so. One of my friends recently told me it's been working for her reliably for a few months, so I did try it again last week on a nonrealtime job to test, and it did work for the two-hour job. Will try it again for a longer period. You're right, Susan, when it works, it's so nice and easy.

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

what keeps a non-paying atty from connecting to the wireless realtime feed??

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

A password that you give out or not. :)

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

thanks, wondering how that worked.

sounds like a neat system..

[kathy - iamwrdsmth]

Ha! I work in court and I tell the attorneys, "No, I don't do realtime for you."  but then i am not required to provide realtime to the attys, and if the attys wanted realtime, i'm sure the court would figure out a way to charge the attys for my realtime.

i once heard that a reporter did provide a realtime feed to the attys and it was

an automatic transcript purchase, and a $30 hr charge for the realtime feed.

they bring their own computers with livenote on it, and not sure who provides

the cables.  they take home the rough realtime feed and automatically are

purchasing a transcript.

not sure if there was a realtime feed page charge, like $1 a page or something.

but I know the realtime feed is not cheap, still cheaper than what the attys are

charging their clients per hour to be in trial, though. 

And sometimes a trial can turn in an entirely new direction when the attys have the opportunity to read that day's testimony before the next day of trial.

[Julie Samford]

If you're on Eclipse, you can send the realtime feed to your judge and the attorneys via Connection Magic. You can use either the internet or a local setup that you create with a wireless router.  You can output to iPads and iPhones, Android devices, anything with a browswer basically. 

Here's a demo if you want to check it out.  

connect.eclipsecat.com:8880

Just click on the green play button and then the check mark. 

In Eclipse, just set this up under the Realtime tab one time, and you're all set.  Output formats/Bridge/Connection Magic.

[Denise Paddock]

For my roving/travel equipment setup, I use an Apple AirPort Base Station as the router.  This router is very reliable.  You do not need internet connection for realtime feed as it operates on an intranet. Set up your CAT software (mine is CaseCATalyst) to automatically pair/connect through CaseViewNet or Bridge to sync automatically with iPads or tablet computers, etc.  This is an easy way to bring realtime for the judge to any courtroom, as well as earn yourself income for the sale of realtime. My technique is to always provide all viewing screens so that counsel and judge have a separate monitor that always displays the realtime feed without having to toggle to view the text as they would if viewed on their personal computer.