tl;dv is a powerful meeting recorder that lets you spend less time in meetings and more time actually making progress towards your business goals. It stands for “too long; didn’t view” and is a prime example of how the modern work-from-home attitude can be used to your advantage.
@tldv.io Makes perfect sense. #meeting #comedy #corporate #meetings #9to5 #firstday
♬ original sound - tldv.io - AI Meeting Recorder
What is tl;dv?
tl;dv is a juggernaut AI meeting assistant that specializes in remote work, particularly for user researchers and product teams. However, tl;dv is easy-to-use and can be utilized by anybody to record, edit, and transcribe any online meetings they wish.
Not only does it record both audio and video (without limits, and for FREE), it also automatically recognizes who’s speaking so that you have an accurate transcript, even in busy video calls with multiple speakers. And guess what? These transcriptions can be immediately translated into more than 20 languages!
Because of its integration with GPT, tl;dv has a mighty AI that takes notes, summarizes meetings, and helps organize the search function so you can find exactly what you need. While manual note-taking is still an option, the AI’s notes give you the best of both worlds.
Individual moments can quickly and easily be recapped, put into clips, or even into highlight reels. You can tag colleagues so they’ll receive a notification with a timestamp of an exact moment to watch. Gone are the days of having to sift through entire meetings to find the juicy bits. tl;dv’s timestamp feature makes it instant and simple.
Working with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, tl;dv is easy to integrate with your current meetings, and can also directly integrate with Notion, Slack, Hubspot, and Salesforce!
Who Gets the Most Out of tl;dv?
As mentioned above, tl;dv is loved by user researchers because it’s one of the best remote UX research tools available, especially for the price.
It’s also a favorite product research tool among product teams, allowing them to fine-tune the development process and make the best products ever.
Because of this, it’s also a huge hit with customer success. This is because tl;dv amplifies the voice of the customer, letting you capture more accurately what your users want, and then giving it to them.
Finally, it’s adored by sales teams too. As a sales call recording software, tl;dv allows you to review sales calls at lightning speed, entering follow-up calls utterly prepared. You can easily create snippets to teach newcomers to your sales team, as well as highlighting moments to share with prospects.
So who gets the most out of tl;dv?
- User researchers
- Product teams
- Customers
- Sales teams
How Much Does it Cost?
The best thing about tl;dv is that you can get the vast majority of its features completely free… forever.
Free Plan Features
- Unlimited recordings
- Record Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom
- Transcribe Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom calls
- Transcribe in 20+ languages
- Set timestamps and highlights
- Create and share clips
- Set recording automations
The paid plans offer more integrations, analytics, downloadable recordings, customizable share settings, as well as priority customer support. And this is all for just $20 per user per month… Check out the Pro plan features here.
If you’ve tried tl;dv and it wasn’t your cup of tea, let us know why and we’d be more than happy to hear how we can improve!
5 tl;dv Alternatives for Recording Meetings
So you might be thinking that tl;dv is an unbeatable powerhouse without competition. You’d be half-right. There are some meeting recorders that are better in very specific scenarios. Let’s take a look at them now.
1. GSuite
We’ve already done a detailed comparison between GSuite and tl;dv. While Google Suite has a lot of benefits, and lots of ways you can use it, it can also be rather limiting. Not to mention, there’s no free option. You start at $12 per month whether you like it or not.
It’s worth noting that not everybody will use tl;dv’s pro features, but in order to access any features of GSuite, you’ll need to pay $12 per month. Got 10 users? That’s $120 per month. With tl;dv, it’s more likely to be $20-40 for a team of 10 because most of them won’t need the additional features.
It’s great for Google-related products like Google Meet, but if your business uses Zoom or MS Teams as their primary conference platform then GSuite is essentially useless.
If you’re thinking of getting GSuite to record your virtual meetings, then you should also be aware that it lacks the productivity-enhancing bonuses that tl;dv offers. There’s no option to timestamp or edit recordings, meaning your team is still going to have to attend the call, or rewatch the entire thing before they can access the good bits. tl;dv streamlines this process so that anybody in your company can jump to the best insights in seconds, no attendance necessary. tl;dv even lets you create a highlight reel from several separate video recordings…
2. OBS Studio
OBS Software, otherwise known as Open Broadcaster Software, is a free and open source software for video recording and live streaming. It sounds like it’ll be a great tl;dv alternative right off the bat. But does it hold up to scrutiny?
Well, if you like tl;dv but aren’t happy with a bot joining the chat, OBS Studio might be for you. It records your entire screen so everything you do will be visible, which could be good or bad depending on your needs.
One of its downsides is that it consumes a lot of browsing resources. By that, we mean it needs more processing power which can drain the battery quicker and make your computer slower, unlike tl;dv which consumes absolutely zero browsing resources.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are certain laws to be aware of when recording meetings. While it’s possible to record without ‘permission’ from the host, it may not be legal to record without consent of the participants. By that we mean, it’s technically possible to record a meeting when the video conferencing platform itself doesn’t allow you (just use tl;dv!), but actually gaining consent of the participants is vital. With tl;dv’s bot, everyone can tell you’re recording, and they automatically get sent a copy.
So while OBS makes a good screen recorder, it’s not optimized for meetings like tl;dv is, and it also treads a fine line with privacy issues for other participants.
3. Loom
Like the previous tl;dv competitor, OBS Studio, Loom is a resource-intensive software that’ll mean you’ll need a pretty powerful computer or laptop to use it for regular long recordings. It’s also similar to OBS in that it raises privacy concerns because of its screen recording (rather than specific meeting recording).
Having said that, Loom is not a desktop app, but a Chrome extension, meaning it’s a little less heavyweight than OBS as a tl;dv alternative.
One key difference between OBS and Loom is that Loom also transcribes. While this transcription might seem like a breath of fresh air from these tl;dv alternatives, it’s still nothing compared to tl;dv itself, which offers free unlimited transcriptions in more than 20 languages!
The tl;dv freemium plan, in general, is far more generous than Loom’s, which allows 5 minute-maximum videos, with a cap on 25 videos per person. Any more than that and you’ll have to start splashing the cash.
4. Gong
Gong is a platform dedicated to analyzing client interactions and transcribing calls. In this sense, it’s a more specialized meeting recorder than the aforementioned tl;dv alternatives.
Gong’s speaker recognition feature detects the length for which someone is speaking and even offers recommendations for how to improve sales pitches. It’s an intelligent AI software that can be used for maximizing profit from sales via online meetings.
If you’re wanting to improve your client-facing interactions, then one of Gong’s paid plans might sound ideal. That is until you see the price…
Unless you’re dedicated towards recording meetings purely to improve sales and make more profit, then Gong might be an option. If this is only a small part of why you’ll be using a meeting recorder, then you’re better off with tl;dv or one of its competitors. Gong is simply on another level when it comes to pricing, and it can take weeks to actually get set up with the program.
You’ll have to reach out directly to Gong to get a quote, but reliable sources suggest that it’s a 4-digit per year subscription.
When you compare what you get in Gong’s paid plan with tl;dv’s free plan, you’ll be left scratching your head, wondering how on earth it’s possible.
5. Otter.ai
Otter.ai is an AI meeting software that specializes in text-to-speech transcription. However, it only records audio, not video. This is great if you’re looking for a dedicated transcription tool, but even still, it’s only available in English. That’s 20 times less languages than tl;dv’s transcriptions.
Like tl;dv, however, you can add timestamps, highlights and other edits to the transcription, sharing it with your colleagues to align collaborative efforts and cut down on unnecessary meetings.
Widely used by journalists, media teams, and universities, Otter.ai is a great tool with a big following. But this software is rarely the first choice among remote or async work teams, and hardly established in the realm of Product or UX because of its lack of video.
Another one of Otter’s downsides is that it has no speaker recognition, which essentially negates all their hard work in specializing in transcription. Despite having a powerful AI component, they missed the ball by not allowing for speaker recognition. This is where tl;dv’s transcriptions excel.
Otter’s paid plan is only $8.33 per month when paid annually, but it’s simply not up to scratch with tl;dv’s free plan, let alone their Pro version. Here’s what you can get in Otter’s free plan.
Free Plan Features
- Record and transcribe your meetings in real time
- Otter Assistant joins Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet to automatically take and share notes, even if you can’t join the meeting
- Takeaways and Automated Summary
- 300 monthly transcription minutes; 30 minutes per conversation
The Verdict
So, do these tl;dv alternatives really compete with tl;dv? That depends.
Are you looking for an extremely sales-focused software that will help you improve your sales pitches? Gong might be worth the price tag, but that’s situational.
Are you looking to make use of all of Google’s features? GSuite is a great choice, perhaps partnered with tl;dv’s free plan so that you can get all the editing goodies.
Want to record your entire screen? OBS or Loom might be your best bet. Just make sure you inform the other participants that you’re recording.
Want to use your meeting recorder for everything and anything, cut down on unnecessary meetings, edit, transcribe, translate, and timestamp your meetings, and then generate AI summaries and notes… for free? tl;dv is your only option and none of its competitors stand a chance.
Don’t take our word for it. Listen to Jack.
