Wave vs tl;dv
tl;dv made its name helping teams clip, timestamp, and share moments from video calls. Wave is built for the same core job — AI notes from your meetings — but captures far more than scheduled video calls: in-person conversations, iPhone phone calls, lectures, and voice memos, on every device you own.
tl;dv (“too long; didn’t view”) is a meeting bot with a clear specialty: recording Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams calls, then making it easy to timestamp, clip, and share the moments that matter with people who weren’t there. For teams that live in scheduled video calls and communicate asynchronously, that’s a genuinely useful loop.
Wave solves the same job — clean AI notes from real conversations — with a different capture model, and the difference determines which tool fits your working life.
How they capture audio
tl;dv joins your scheduled video meetings as a bot and records what the meeting platform sends it. If a conversation doesn’t have a Zoom, Meet, or Teams join link, tl;dv has no way to hear it — no in-person capture, no phone calls, no offline recording.
Wave records four ways:
- In-person, on your phone or Apple Watch. Press record and capture the room — client meetings, interviews, lectures, hallway conversations.
- Phone calls. A built-in Phone Bridge records incoming and outgoing iPhone calls — something no meeting bot can do.
- Calendar meeting bot. Connect Google Calendar or Outlook and a Wave bot auto-joins your scheduled Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams calls — the same workflow tl;dv users know.
- System audio on the desktop. Wave Desktop for Mac and Windows captures mic + system audio directly, so you can record any call with no bot visible in the meeting.
Where each tool wins
Pick tl;dv if:your team’s conversations all happen in scheduled video calls and your main need is clipping and sharing meeting moments asynchronously across the team.
Pick Wave if: your conversations spill outside the video call — phone calls with clients, in-person meetings, lectures, voice memos — or you want the option to record without a bot joining. Every recording gets a speaker-labeled transcript, an AI summary with action items, and a searchable archive you can ask questions about later.
Platform coverage at a glance
| Surface | Wave | tl;dv |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom / Meet / Teams bot | ✓ | ✓ |
| No-bot desktop capture (Mac & Windows) | ✓ | — |
| In-person meetings | ✓ | — |
| Phone calls | ✓ | — |
| iPhone / Android recording apps | ✓ | — |
| Apple Watch capture | ✓ | — |
| Timestamped clips & highlights | Summaries + transcript search | ✓ |
The bottom line
tl;dv is a solid choice for async teams clipping video-call moments. Wave goes wider — same meeting-bot workflow when you want it, plus the conversations that never had a join link. See the best tl;dv alternatives or the Wave Desktop app for bot-free recording on Mac and Windows.
Common questions about Wave vs tl;dv
Can tl;dv record in-person meetings?
No. tl;dv is a meeting bot — it joins scheduled Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams calls and records what the platform sends it. There is no in-person capture path. Wave records the room directly from your iPhone, Android phone, Apple Watch, or the Wave Desktop app.
Can tl;dv record phone calls?
No. tl;dv records video meetings only — iPhone calls and other regular phone conversations are outside its scope. Wave includes a Phone Bridge that records incoming and outgoing iPhone calls with both sides transcribed and summarized.
Can tl;dv record a meeting without joining as a bot?
No — the bot joining the call is how tl;dv captures audio. Wave gives you both options: send the calendar bot, or use Wave Desktop on Mac and Windows to capture mic + system audio directly with nothing visible in the meeting.
Does tl;dv have a mobile recording app?
tl;dv is built around desktop video meetings; it does not offer mobile-first recording. Wave has native iPhone and Android apps where recording is the primary feature, plus Apple Watch capture, with every recording syncing across devices.
