Transcriva is a powerful, flexible transcription aid. It does, however, have some limitations that may not be apparent to first-time users.
Transcriva does not provide or support voice recognition. It is intended to be a cost-effective alternative to expensive and inaccurate voice recognition packages. Transcriva users are expected to do the listening and typing themselves, using Transcriva's powerful organizational and media control features to ease the process.
Transcriva only works with QuickTimeŞ compatible formats. That is, only files that can be played back using QuickTime Player will work with Transcriva.
There are many third-party plug-ins for QuickTimeŞ that allow QuickTime Player to play file formats that are not otherwise supported. Adding additional file format support via third-party plug-ins can automatically extend Transcriva's compatibility. Please note that Bartas Technologies does not provide support for the use of Transcriva with file formats supported via third-party QuickTimeŞ plug-ins. Many work just fine, but some do not behave correctly and others do not work at all with Transcriva. Because of the nature of these plug-ins (one party writing software for another party that extends the capabilities of a Bartas product), supporting such a scenario is tricky at best.
Transcriva will work well with any USB foot pedal that provides interface software allowing it to work with any application. See the Transcriva product page on the Bartas Technologies web site for a list of such foot pedals.
Many foot pedals require a special driver and that the software directly supports it. With the many makes and models of foot pedals out there, it's not feasible to keep up with such support. A number of foot pedal manufacturers realize this, however, and provide software to install on your Mac which allows you to configure the pedal to send keyboard shortcuts to the front-most application when each pedal is pressed. In this way, the "Play/Pause" shortcut can be sent to Transcriva when the appropriate pedal is pressed, etc., allowing you to control Transcriva just as if the pedal were directly wired to the software itself.