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Before You Begin | What You Need to Prepare
Whether you use Tencent Meeting's built-in AI Meeting Notes or independently use Tinrec to organize meeting recordings, your preparation beforehand will affect the results.
If you use Tencent Meeting: • You need a Tencent Meeting account (the free version is fine) and you'll need to host or join an online meeting. • You need to manually enable the "AI Meeting Notes" feature during the meeting (you can set it to auto-enable when joining, but it's not on by default). • After the meeting, the notes are automatically saved locally, and you can find them in "Past Meetings."
If you use Tinrec: • A smartphone (iPhone/Android) or computer with the Tinrec app installed (available for free on the App Store and Google Play; just log in with Google or Apple ID). • The sources you can organize are very flexible: it can be a Tencent Meeting recording, a live recording from an in-person meeting, or even a public video link from YouTube/Bilibili. • You don't need to be inside a specific meeting software to use it; any audio or video file can be imported for processing.
In short, Tencent Meeting's notes are an "ancillary meeting feature" — you can't use them outside Tencent Meeting. Tinrec is a standalone "audio/video organization workbench" that can handle recordings from any source.
Step 1 | Record the Content You Want to Organize
The goal of this step is to get a clear recording — whether you're using Tencent Meeting or not, audio quality determines the accuracy of the transcription and meeting notes later.
**Tencent Meeting's approach:** When you start the meeting, enable AI Meeting Notes, and it will automatically transcribe the entire meeting's audio into text, so you don't have to record separately. The advantage is a seamless workflow, but it can only be used within Tencent Meeting, and if the meeting audio itself is unclear (e.g., someone is using a mic with lots of background noise), the quality of the notes will suffer significantly.
**Tinrec's approach:** You can use Tinrec's live recording feature — open the app, tap the record button, and place your phone in the middle of the meeting table. If it's an online meeting (e.g., Tencent Meeting), you can either use your computer's system audio recording or download the meeting recording and import it into Tinrec. You can even paste a public meeting video link (e.g., a company-wide meeting posted on YouTube), and Tinrec will directly transcribe it from the link.
Why highlight this difference? Because not every meeting happens in Tencent Meeting — you might use Zoom, Google Meet, or even meet in person. Tinrec can handle everything uniformly across platforms, so you don't have to switch tools each time.
Once the recording is done, it will appear on the Tinrec home screen with its duration and file size. It will also automatically back up to the cloud (if you're on the Pro version), so you don't need to worry about losing it.
(Illustration: A person in a meeting room with a phone recording on the table, with both the Tencent Meeting interface and the Tinrec app's recording screen visible, conveying the idea that "all meeting recordings can be handed over to Tinrec for processing.")
Step 2 | Let AI Convert It into a Transcript
This step turns the audio back into text — the foundation of all meeting records.
**Tencent Meeting's built-in transcription:** After enabling AI Meeting Notes, the system transcribes speech to text in real time, and you can see a scrolling subtitle-style transcript on the side of the meeting screen. As for accuracy, Mandarin and English perform well, but Cantonese support is quite limited — the official product doesn't emphasize Cantonese transcription, and in our testing, there were more errors when Cantonese was mixed with English and technical terms.
**Tinrec's transcription:** Whether you record live or import a file, Tinrec supports transcription in multiple languages, including Chinese (with targeted optimization for both Mandarin and Cantonese), English, Japanese, and more. In testing, with clear audio, Cantonese meeting transcription accuracy was quite high, and it handled mixed Chinese-English content better than typical general-purpose transcription tools.
Why the big difference? Because Tinrec's AI models are trained specifically for Chinese (especially Cantonese), while Tencent Meeting uses a general-purpose engine focused mainly on Mandarin scenarios.
After transcription is complete, you'll get a searchable, copyable transcript. You can also jump to any point on the timeline to re-listen to the recording.
(Illustration: A phone screen showing a transcript with different colors for different speakers and a timeline on the side, conveying the ability to quickly locate specific segments in the recording.)
Step 3 | Quickly Proofread the Transcript
AI transcription isn't 100% perfect, especially when multiple people are talking at once, or when there are accents or technical terms. This step is about quickly fixing errors.
**Tencent Meeting:** After the notes are generated, you can only view them; it's hard to directly edit the transcript — its interface is designed for "viewing highlights," not for making detailed edits. If you want to correct something, you'll usually need to export and use another tool.
**Tinrec:** The app includes a built-in editor that lets you listen and edit simultaneously, with auto-save. There's also a very useful feature: tap on the text and the recording will jump to that exact timestamp to play, making proofreading much faster. Additionally, you can directly highlight key points in the transcript or add comments for later organization.
Why proofread? Because the quality of meeting minutes largely depends on the transcript's accuracy — if the transcript has errors, the AI-generated summary and action items will be wrong too. Tinrec's built-in proofreading feature makes this step much faster; you don't have to export and edit in Word.
When you're done, you'll have a highly accurate, annotated transcript that you can use directly for documentation or to further generate meeting minutes.
Stop organizing recordings by hand
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(Illustration: A person at a computer, with a transcript editor on the left side and an audio waveform on the right, with color indicating the currently playing segment, conveying a smooth experience of editing while listening.)
Step 4 | Let AI Generate Meeting Minutes
This step is the core of our PK — which tool produces the most useful meeting minutes?
**Tencent Meeting AI Minutes:** The system automatically generates a structured summary, including "meeting topic," "discussion points," "action items," etc. Some versions even let you view each member's speaking summary. The advantage is that it's automated and requires no extra work — you get it right after the meeting. But the limitations are:
- The content tends to be brief, usually just a few bullet points, with details left out.
- You can't customize the note format — for example, if you want to add fields like "action items" or "risk alerts," it doesn't support that.
- If the meeting has multiple topics, it may not distinguish them clearly and sometimes mixes them up.
**Tinrec AI Organization:** Tinrec doesn't just give you a summary. It can:
- AI Summary: Automatically generates a complete summary, including the meeting's purpose, discussion points, and conclusions.
- Section Organization: Automatically splits long meetings into several sections, each with a title, for easy browsing.
- Action Item Extraction: Automatically pulls out "who needs to do what and by when" from the discussion, turning it into a checklist.
- AI Q&A: You can directly ask questions like "What budget was decided in this meeting?" or "Who is following up with client A?" and the AI will answer based on the recording content.
- Custom Output: You can ask the AI to "list all decisions in table format," "generate a summary email for the boss," or even "translate these minutes into English."
This is a huge difference: Tencent Meeting gives you a summary, while Tinrec gives you an AI assistant you can actually discuss the content with. If your minutes need to be submitted to a manager or client, or shared with a team, Tinrec's flexibility is far greater.
When you're done, you'll have a well-structured meeting summary with action items and key points, and you can ask follow-up questions anytime.
(Illustration: The same meeting recording, with Tencent Meeting's simple summary (a few bullets) on the left and Tinrec's multi-layered minutes on the right — complete with a summary, sections, action items, and an AI chat box where the user is typing a question, giving the screen a tech-savvy, interactive feel.)
Step 5 | Export and Share
The final step is to distribute your work to the right people.
**Tencent Meeting:** AI Meeting Notes are automatically saved locally, and you can find them in Past Meetings, but export options are limited — usually text files or screenshots. Sharing relies mainly on the built-in "share meeting record" function, which is weak for cross-platform collaboration.
**Tinrec:** Supports exporting in multiple formats (TXT, DOCX, PDF, SRT subtitles, etc.), and can sync directly to tools you commonly use, such as Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, and Dropbox. You can send meeting minutes, transcripts, and action items to another app with one tap to continue working.
For people who need to integrate meeting records into company workflows, Tinrec's export capabilities are clearly more practical.
(Illustration: A phone screen showing Tinrec's share interface with a row of app icons (Notion, Docs, WhatsApp, etc.), conveying the ease of sending meeting minutes anywhere with one tap.)
Common Questions and Troubleshooting
Q: Are Tencent Meeting's AI Meeting Notes sufficient? If you only need a simple record of the meeting's highlights and all your meetings happen in Tencent Meeting, then the built-in feature will already save you a lot of time. But if the recordings you need to organize come from various sources (e.g., a mix of Zoom, in-person, or even YouTube), or if you need more detailed minutes (with action items and analysis), then Tinrec is more suitable.
Q: Which is better for Cantonese meetings? Tencent Meeting's Cantonese support isn't particularly strong, with more transcription errors. Tinrec is optimized for Cantonese and handles mixed Chinese-English content better. We recommend Cantonese users choose Tinrec.
Q: Which one can be used for free? Tencent Meeting's AI notes are available in the free version with basic features (though there may be time or usage limits). Tinrec's free version includes a monthly base transcription quota, allowing you to experience most features. For long-term use, you can consider a weekly plan or Pro.
Q: I often need to review meeting records from months ago. Which is more convenient? Tinrec can store all historical recordings and meeting notes in the cloud, and you can use AI to search or ask about old data (e.g., "What was the budget we discussed three months ago?"). Tencent Meeting's records are typically saved per individual meeting, with weak cross-meeting search.
Advanced Tips | 3 Ways to Double Tinrec's Efficiency
1. Use AI Q&A to Replace Re-listening to Recordings Tinrec's unique AI conversation feature lets you directly ask about the recording content, such as "Did this project mention a deadline?" or "Who opposed Plan B?" No need to waste time listening from the beginning.
2. Turn Videos into Meeting Materials Not just audio — you can paste YouTube or Bilibili links, and Tinrec will automatically download the audio and transcribe it. Even your company's public speeches or product launches can be turned into text meeting minutes.
3. Customize a Meeting Summary Template and Generate with One Tap You can use the Agent feature to set "every meeting should produce a report in this format," and the next time you finish transcribing, one click gives you a standardized summary — even Excel tables or PowerPoint outlines.
If You Don't Use Tinrec, Here Are Other Options
Using only Tencent Meeting's built-in features: Suitable for users with a single meeting scenario and low requirements, but cross-platform and post-meeting organization capabilities are weak. Other transcription tools (e.g., Notta, Otter): They each have their strengths, but generally they fall short of Tinrec in Chinese (especially Cantonese) scenarios and in generating diverse meeting notes.
Conclusion
After our hands-on testing, Tencent Meeting's AI Meeting Notes is a "good enough" built-in aid that saves you some time, but with clear limitations. Tinrec, on the other hand, is a "complete" audio and video organization solution — whether it's recording sources, transcription accuracy, minutes flexibility, or export and integration, it's more comprehensive.
If 99% of your meetings are in Tencent Meeting and you only need simple records, the built-in feature is enough. But if you deal with a wide variety of recordings and want minutes you can submit directly, Tinrec is clearly a bigger time-saver — especially for office workers who don't want to work overtime. An AI you can discuss the content with is infinitely more practical than a static summary.
Finally, don't forget to try Tinrec's free version for AI Q&A and web video transcription — two features that Tencent Meeting can't offer you.
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