portable audio/visual recorders

Dear Mister Gilliver,

Thanks for this good rapid response!

J. P. Gilliver snipped-for-privacy@255soft.UK wrote: |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"> Dear all: | |> | |> I am interested in portable audio or video or audiovisual recorders | | | |Which?" | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I am interested in all of these. I use recordings in court cases against defendants. An opponent was angry so I was asked: "Are you recording [. . .] Do you have on you now a sound-recording device?" so a judge tried to not laugh at her.

I tend to rely on audio recordings more. If I had something like a GoPro camera or glasses, then I might accumulate more video evidence, but normal persons cannot read lips. Of course, audio recordings cannot see!

I do not need a microphone and a camera to be integrated into a single recorder - but Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses have so integrated sensors. Tablets and smartphones also have integrated sensors - but I need to use my hands to hold a tablet during a video recording which is not practical. A defendant could easily grab a tablet or a phone and throw it to a ground or wall and stomp on it to destroy evidence.

I made this directory:

J. P. Gilliver snipped-for-privacy@255soft.UK wrote: |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"And, do you want to record covertly?" | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I do not need to record covertly. Covert recorders might be of inferior qualities. It is not practical to hold the best recorder right in a defendant's face!

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"> which are smaller than a tablet and whose recordings can be easily | |> backed up onto a computer e.g. to the Internet with live streaming and | | | |Do you mean a live link/save?" | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Yes (but I must consider options which are actually available within a price of circa a few thousand pounds, so I would consider products without a live link/save). I prefer a live link/save which would upload to Insomnia247.NL instead of to be restricted to a 3rd-party website which I cannot control (e.g. Facebook) - but as the most expensive Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses that I found cost under a few hundred pounds then maybe being restricted to Meta is not too restrictive.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I don't know about tablets" | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

An Apple iPad is good for recording a video with hands - but I do not want to use hands, and a big Apple logo is like a sign saying "I am rich. Please rob me!" A non-Apple tablet is untrustworthy for a video recording (but good for an audio recording).

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"[. ..] If you mean you want to _start_ | |the recording without touching it," | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Touching hands to start a recording is OK.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |" I don't know; many years ago there | |were sunglasses with a stills camera in that could be triggered by a | |remote in your pocket (IIRR it was disc-shaped)," | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Thanks! Interesting! I am ignorant thereof.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"> A friend recommends me to buy Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses. Are they any | | | |I can't see why you'd need AI for this sort of purpose." | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I do not need AI for this. AI is in a marketing name for these glasses.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I presume with the name Ray-ban they'll be expensive;" | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

They are not too expensive . . . if they do not really need a mobile telephone on a telephone network. I do not use a mobile telephone, so starting a mobile-telephone-network contract just to use these glasses is probably too expensive. All mobile telephones which I used to use were taken off me - usually as thefts. I do not need another phone to be robbed off me.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"Beware - covert recording, especially pictures and videos, is of dubious | |legality in many countries, possibly totally illegal." | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Thanks for this warning. Actually protections like Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 are common. I record in a jurisdiction whose minister for justice sent a certificate to me confirming that covert recordings are legal. Lawyers who represent are happy that I record.

For examples of precedents in various jurisdictions including the British Isles cf.

Also cf.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"Put "spy glasses" or something similar into ebay; you'll find lots." | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Thanks.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"If audio alone will suffice, I've seen ones that look like just a USB | |memory stick." | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Thanks. I often use a tablet for audio recordings, but a tablet is a bit big and heavy. A USB-memory-stick-sized recorder could be preferable if it would not sacrifice qualities as it could fit into a pocket. Do you know if it would be inferior to this tablet recorder?

Mono is fine.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"[. . .] Olympus | |made some, but I'm sure there are plenty of makes." | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Olympus used to make recorders marketed for recording lectures, which can also fast forward past silence. Olympus split into 2 companies. The new audio company thereof is OM SYSTEM.

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"Is there any reason you can't just use your smartphone?" | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I can use a smart ex-phone via WiFi. It is an ex-phone because it is not still connected to a phone network. (S.

On 2026/7/17 22:45:42, Cóilín Nioclásín Glostéir wrote: [snip]

Are you talking about actually recording in court? I think in most countries that is not allowed - the official court recording is the only one allowed. Or in some cases accredited media. []

These days, I think most video recording devices have audio recording to go with the video, though not necessarily good quality. []

For both video and audio, I suspect the main problem you have is proving you have not edited the recording(s). The basic quality will be up to the jury to judge. (Though IANAL.) []

I am not the person to be asking: devices I have looked at have been in the range of a few pounds to a few tens of pounds. If you are thinking of spending thousands, you need to be asking someone else!

Do you own insomnia247.nl? If not, setting up your own website - which you then would control - is neither expensive nor difficult. Though why would you want to put the material on a website, rather than just keep it on memory sticks/cards or local disc storage? (To be brought out in court when necessary.) []

You could always tape over it (maybe with a picture of a cheap logo)!

I am sure nowadays you can get good cameras (mainly in 'phones) made by other makes. []

I still do not understand why you need to upload while recording at all, rather than just record to a memory card. You have said you do not need a live link. []

Have you done that?

Recording through the pocket material probably would reduce the quality. Since you are talking thousands of pounds, why not buy a few different cheap ones and try them out? I think I've seen those sort for less than ten pounds, so you should be able to buy several different models to try without affecting your budget. I think some have internal memory (you read from them just like a USB stick), and some take memory cards. []

So why do you need further recording devices?

Dear Mister Gilliver,

J. P. Gilliver snipped-for-privacy@255soft.UK wrote: |------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"On 2026/7/17 22:45:42, Cóilín Nioclásín Glostéir wrote: | |Are you talking about actually recording in court? [. . .] | |[. . .]" | |------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Not necessarily.

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"> It is currently mainly about audio recordings. A defendant argued that| |> an audio recording was not of a good quality. If a plea like that | |> could ever be successful, then perhaps I would need a better | | | |For both video and audio, I suspect the main problem you have is proving | |you have not edited the recording(s). [. . .] | |[. . .]" | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Lawyers said that they want an expert witness to confirm that I did not edit a recording. Do you want to be this expert witness? How much do you charge?

A complication may be that they intend to use expert witnesses who are locally based. (We are not in the UK.)

|------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"Do you own insomnia247.nl? [. . .]" | |------------------------------------------------------------------------|

No. I use an account on it and I am allowed to do a lot on it. E.g. du --human-readable [. . .]

ulimit -a real-time non-blocking time (microseconds, -R) unlimited core file size (blocks, -c) 0 data seg size (kbytes, -d) unlimited scheduling priority (-e) 0 file size (blocks, -f) unlimited pending signals (-i) 514428 max locked memory (kbytes, -l) 16477948 max memory size (kbytes, -m) unlimited open files (-n) 1024 pipe size (512 bytes, -p) 8 POSIX message queues (bytes, -q) 819200 real-time priority (-r) 0 stack size (kbytes, -s) 8192 cpu time (seconds, -t) unlimited max user processes (-u) 350 virtual memory (kbytes, -v) unlimited file locks (-x) 150

Insomnia 24/7 has good Internet and computing abilities (24 x AMD Ryzen 9 3900X @ 3.8GHz). Despite what umlimit might seem to say above, I am restricted to using about 60% of its computing power at a time - which is still very liberal!

If you want an account, then let me know or even apply by yourselves.

|------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"[. . .] Though why | |would you want to put the material on a website, rather than just keep | |it on memory sticks/cards or local disc storage? (To be brought out in | |court when necessary.)" | |------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Persons on the Internet found a recording to be informative.

As crimes happen, it is good to let persons know that they happen.

This website is in a different country than I am, so it is a good place for back ups.

Defendants like to rewrite history (cf. "Animal Farm" and "1984"), so I prefer to show that evidence exists since a long time ago and is not tampered with.

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"I still do not understand why you need to upload while recording at all,| |rather than just record to a memory card." | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I do not need to upload while recording but it is certainly better to upload while recording. E.g. a defendant could rob a recorder off me. Criminals robbed many of my recorders.

|------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"You have said you do not need | |a live link." | |------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I do not need a live link whereas I do want a live link.

|------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"So why do you need further recording devices?" | |------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I do not own a good hands-free video recorder.

Glasses seem to be a good format.

I would like a hands-free audio recorder which is smaller and lighter than what I use.

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------| |"[] | |>> |"Put "spy glasses" or something similar into ebay; you'll find lots." || |> |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | |> | |> Thanks. | |> | |Have you done that?" | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Not yet. (S.

"It is generally legal to record" said "Channel-4 News" at 7:42p.m. on

(S.

A newspaper dated today reports an accusation about Meta AI glasses and a contract with a company (Sama) in Kenya becoming terminated. Does anyone know if this accusation is true? (S.

Anyone use this before?

I registered but it seems sorta hard to get the handle on.

Do they source the components for you via mouser / Digi-key and have the board made in China?

This is the board I'd like to try and make:

A site in Italy has done this but wont sell to the US anymore.

Why not use a cheap dc/dc converter?

ebay as a zillion power converter modules, this one seems isolated?

Form. Fit. Function.

RL

That's creative. Did you invent that?

In Europe there are sort of 'mailbox' companies which let clients in one European country use an address in a different European country (belonging to a sort of 'mailbox' company). Clients order deliveries to a foreign address. Afterwards, a 'mailbox' company forwards those products to the country where those clients actually reside.

Maybe you can check if a company like that operates in the countries where you are interested in. Good luck!

(S.

It's a long-standing issue with som US sites, as well.

More common in Europe is not selling outside the EEC. No communications, either.

Just the way the website policies go . . . .

If you know anybody there, you might have them process the order for you.

RL

It's the three Rs of engineering.

Wasting creative effort on something that won't 'do' is a crime - particularly if it wastes everyone else's, in the process.

RL

Sounded like three Fs to me.

There's not much creative about buying a potted dc/dc converter. They just work.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

Sometimes they don't. Early on, many of them were too noisy.

I saw a video from an Argentine EE yesterday that complained that a lot of the off-the-shelf dc/dc converter boards she’d tried were problematic in many ways:

• noisy (140mV ripple),
• adjustable with potentiometers vulnerable to vibration in industrial environments,
• badly laid out, creating * EMI problems and * safety problems from inadequte trace clearance,
• built with counterfeit chips, and
• inadequately heatsinked.

Basically though she was talking about boards targeted at hobbyists. None of the ones she showed were potted. But here in Argentina we have to take what we can get.

The video is mostly talking-head filler with still images, so I think it would have been better as a blog post:

But possibly the real intent was to convince customers that it’s worth paying her to lay out an SMPS as part of the boards she’s designing for them.

Kragen

Take a look at UCC33421. It's part of the new generation of isolated converters. I did some testing and it's not bad.

I need isolated power to run a high-side GaN fet gate driver. I'll be testing that soon.

My experience with several switchmode boards, sone low and some high power, are positive. Mainly from ebay / China. Yes some trimpots are sensitive. but you can, if needed, replace those with 2 resistors in most cases. unless you want to screw voltage / current up-down all the time The big Meanwell supplies are very good too, also from China?