Marantz PMD 706 is now shipping at last. The new ultra low budget recorder of choice?

IronFilm said:
$100 extra is nothing for the extra features of the F4
And for HDMI you'd have to be tied down to the camera, awful, I'd rather not do that!
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But... Your falling into the trap of thinking his needs are the same as yours. For me I agree with you but obviously for him HDMI is a deal breaker.
Also in theory you would not have to be "tied down" to the camera. You could do the HDMI with a wireless hop. And of course if you are shooting on sets or a sound stage connecting to the camera is not a big issue generally. Even in the field most of the run and gun stuff I have done they want a feed to the camera.
 
Noiz2 said:
But... Your falling into the trap of thinking his needs are the same as yours. For me I agree with you but obviously for him HDMI is a deal breaker.
Also in theory you would not have to be "tied down" to the camera. You could do the HDMI with a wireless hop. And of course if you are shooting on sets or a sound stage connecting to the camera is not a big issue generally. Even in the field most of the run and gun stuff I have done they want a feed to the camera.
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The GH5 has only timecode output through HDMI. Unfortunate but other features of the GH5 make it a worthwhile camera to use. The GH5s has SDI timecode in and out.
I can synch both cams free running timecodes using the Bluetooth app getting the current time from the smartphone. I can then jam-synch the DR701D with the GH5s. The DR701D TC will free-run if disconnected from the SDI. The DR701D can also support a 1080p video monitor and HDMI audio recording and mix.
 
Before I bought my Mixpre6, I had a Zoom F4 and the clock on that was very accurate. It stayed in time with my Tentacle Sync boxes, plus it has SDI, dual card recording and decent battery life. It actually came with an adapter that allowed you to power it with 12v USB batteries which are a lot cheaper than NP1 batteries. Those are some big pluses of the F4. The Mixpre has really mediocre battery life, even with the 8 battery sled. I also have the Sony NPF sled but it has such an awkward battery configuration that it doesn't fit in any of my bags unless you use the smallest batteries. I've been thinking of getting the Hawk Woods Hirose sled but am not sure that I absolutely need it yet. I looked at the Tascam 701D before buying the F4 but a lot of users in different forums commented about the timecode clock drifting on long takes and that it had pretty poor battery life. I think the F4 is a pretty nice recorder with pro level features. Even the limiters on the F4 are pretty good. Not Sound Devices good but decent. The Mixpre6 is better in many ways but I feel like I took a step back in a few important respects.

By the way, I also used to have a Marantz PMD670 which I used for public radio stories. Not the quietest of pre's but a robust, decent recorder. Never had any failures with that and still have it.
 
Noiz2 said:
Also in theory you would not have to be "tied down" to the camera. You could do the HDMI with a wireless hop.
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What is the chances the wireless HDMI hop would strip out the HDMI trigger in the process? Quite high.

Additionally to get quality video wireless is VERY expensive.

DNN said:
Before I bought my Mixpre6, I had a Zoom F4 and the clock on that was very accurate. It stayed in time with my Tentacle Sync boxes, plus it has SDI, dual card recording and decent battery life. It actually came with an adapter that allowed you to power it with 12v USB batteries which are a lot cheaper than NP1 batteries. Those are some big pluses of the F4. The Mixpre has really mediocre battery life, even with the 8 battery sled. I also have the Sony NPF sled but it has such an awkward battery configuration that it doesn't fit in any of my bags unless you use the smallest batteries. I've been thinking of getting the Hawk Woods Hirose sled but am not sure that I absolutely need it yet. I looked at the Tascam 701D before buying the F4 but a lot of users in different forums commented about the timecode clock drifting on long takes and that it had pretty poor battery life. I think the F4 is a pretty nice recorder with pro level features. Even the limiters on the F4 are pretty good. Not Sound Devices good but decent. The Mixpre6 is better in many ways but I feel like I took a step back in a few important respects.
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May I ask then why didn't you stick with the F4 for a while longer? Until you could change over to a recorder which would be an improvement in every manner. (that is what I'm doing in going from an F4 to the new F8n)
 
IronFilm said:
What is the chances the wireless HDMI hop would strip out the HDMI trigger in the process? Quite high.

Additionally to get quality video wireless is VERY expensive.
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Well the first is pure speculation on your part and the second doesn't really matter because all you are reading is the TC for jaming the recorder, you are not using the image.
 
I've always wanted to bump up to Sound Devices but could never justify the cost. When the Mixpre's came out, I was, of course, interested and Sweetwater actually had a store demo for sale. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Great build quality, intuitive controls, great pre's, great limiters, small and light form factor. I carry it on a photo belt with a K-Tek Stingray bag. I also have a bigger Orca bag that I used for my F4 as needed. I do miss some features like SDI, hirose connector, internal time code, dual card recording AND balanced XLR line out. The Mixpre only has 1/8 stereo output.

May I ask then why didn't you stick with the F4 for a while longer? Until you could change over to a recorder which would be an improvement in every manner. (that is what I'm doing in going from an F4 to the new F8n)
 
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Noiz2 said:
Well the first is pure speculation on your part and the second doesn't really matter because all you are reading is the TC for jaming the recorder, you are not using the image.
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Not pure speculation, HDMI triggering is not something which works flawless even with a cabled connection and adding in an extra step will run risks.

Wireless video can easily drop out completely, no feed, no trigger.

DNN said:
I've always wanted to bump up to Sound Devices but could never justify the cost. When the Mixpre's came out, I was, of course, interested and Sweetwater actually had a store demo for sale. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Great build quality, intuitive controls, great pre's, great limiters, small and light form factor. I carry it on a photo belt with a K-Tek Stingray bag. I also have a bigger Orca bag that I used for my F4 as needed. I do miss some features like SDI, hirose connector, internal time code, dual card recording AND balanced XLR line out. The Mixpre only has 1/8 stereo output.
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So overall it was more the Sound Devices name which swayed you?
 
No, Sound Devices' reputation is what swayed me. Plus, I've had a Mixpre-D in the past. So I know what their stuff is capable of. I liked that the Mixpre6 is smaller than the F4 has quieter pre's and much better limiters. The latter was really important since I'm not on the levels as quickly as I should be since I'm also running the camera. I probably would have gotten the Mixpre3 since it's significantly smaller and lighter than it's bigger brother. But it doesn't have delay compensation and a few other things.

So overall it was more the Sound Devices name which swayed you?
 
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IronFilm said:
Not pure speculation, HDMI triggering is not something which works flawless even with a cabled connection and adding in an extra step will run risks.
Wireless video can easily drop out completely, no feed, no trigger.
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Well nothing comes with out risks. But the "trigger" is not what we are talking about. Yes you can have the tascam stop and start with the HTMI feed but nobody has mentioned that but you. What the poster was looking for was the TC feed. Now if you don't have the Tascam to auto start and stop then interruptions are not going to be a big deal. You are just looking to re-jam periodically. Also the no umbilical thing is just you, the poster didn't talk about it you complained about it. I'm not arguing that using a hop is the way to go but countering your assertion that it can't be done.

On a basic level I'm with you. I would be using an F series and if I needed to probably get a HTMI TC extractor (I'm sure they exist I already have a ton of TC readers extractors). But I am not the poster and he sees HDMI TC as a deal breaker.

I am really not clear why you are getting so antagonistic on this thread. It's not like anyone is attacking you for your choices, so why so aggressive on someone else's?

-

BTW Tom in looking around I found that the MixPre 3/6 can read TC off a HDMI signal, so that might be an optional upgrade.
 
Noiz2 said:
BTW Tom in looking around I found that the MixPre 3/6 can read TC off a HDMI signal, so that might be an optional upgrade.
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I knew that already, it is a well known MixPre recorder / DR701D feature. Maybe that is why you misunderstood what I was saying?

Noiz2 said:
On a basic level I'm with you. I would be using an F series and if I needed to probably get a HTMI TC extractor (I'm sure they exist I already have a ton of TC readers extractors). But I am not the poster and he sees HDMI TC as a deal breaker.
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A BNC TC extractor from HDMI does not exist in a suitable forum for film set work, that I know of, and I've looked! If you know of such a piece of gear then please share :-) I'd be very interested in it. (I'd also be fascinated if the reverse exists, that can inject TC into a dummy HDMI stream which is suitable for bag use)

My point is the HDMI TC feature only has a real benefit when wired up to the camera as part of one big built up rig. (super super ultra unpractical for a sound recordist most of the time!)
 
DNN said:
I probably would have gotten the Mixpre3 since it's significantly smaller and lighter than it's bigger brother. But it doesn't have delay compensation and a few other things.
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Although initially missing this feature, the Mixpre-3 does have delay compensation on inputs: it was added in firmware 1.20 back in Sept 2017.

Cheers,

Roland
 
DR701D Observations

- The RTC is very accurate, hasn't deviated a single second in 36 hours. So why does the timecode drift so much? And this is the case for both Panasonic cameras as well. They keep accurate time, but their timecode drifts.

- The Panasonic internal RTC can be synched to the time of a smartphone using the bluetooth app. The camera timecode can be re-synched to the internal clock at any time. The GH5s can jam synch the linear timecode of the DR701D. If they become disconnected or the camera switched off, the DR701D timecode keeps running but this is subject to drift.

- With HDMI timecode the video and audio remain continuously locked. If they become disconnected or the camera switched off, the DR701D timecode stops running, but you can switch timecode to use the RTC which stays accurate and doesn't drift.

- The HDMI timecode will not by itself start or stop the recording, but the Panasonic camera can insert a recording command into the HDMI timecode output. This works reliably. I don't mind it starting a recording, but I don't want it stopping it, so I don't use this feature.
 
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