Mid Range Field Recorders

lambert said:
Tascam dr-680 will ship in a few weeks, street price under a 1000. 6/8 channels.
Click to expand...

No TC though... And that's a major point on the HD-P2 for field work (depending on the field of course :) )

The HD-P2 preamps are way better than Marantz's. I've tested mine with a set of mics (both cardioids and shotguns), with and without an SD mixer. I'll post the results as soon as I find how or where can I upload sound files with more than 30mb.

You can't go wrong with the Tascam. Is a great recorder!
 
Not with those but I have tested the Fostex FR-2LE and Edirol R-44 and would recommend either one of them.

Nicole
 
misscc803 said:
Not with those but I have tested the Fostex FR-2LE and Edirol R-44 and would recommend either one of them.

Nicole
Click to expand...

I agree, but again, no timecode.

If you want timecode in an inexpensive recorder, then it's the Tascam HD-P2 or the Fostex FR-2 (NB: the original, not the LE).
 
The FR-2 has the option of timecode and as a field unit I have had success with it...2 tracks mind you. Also you need to get an external battery if you don't want to go insane charging 8 AAs all the time....it eats up power pretty nicely...especially if you are using it to power your mics with it. There are some nice battery solutions for cheap but you need to be careful with the power jack input...weak as hell (mine has cracked) and can disconnect at all the wrong times.
Cheers,
Sam.
 
SonicStates said:
The FR-2 has the option of timecode and as a field unit I have had success with it...2 tracks mind you. Also you need to get an external battery if you don't want to go insane charging 8 AAs all the time....it eats up power pretty nicely...especially if you are using it to power your mics with it...
Sam.
Click to expand...

Same thing with the HD-P2.

I've learned very fast that rechargeable batteries aren't the best option to work!

My solution was a Hawk-Woods NPU unit and NP70 NP-1 batteries. The NPU unit can feed up to 5 12V working units as recorders, mixers, transmitters and so on.

With a NP70 battery you can work all day long with the HD-P2 + SD Mixer + feeding 2 mics at 15V phantom from the mixer, and you have a plus...

...You won't ever suffer from battery acid inside your equipment!:happy:
 
Fostex FR-2LE I am using the 6 cell NiCd Battery batteries for mines and I get about 5 hours of use with those batteries. If I wasn't using Phantom power I would probably get even more battery life. By far these are the best batteries I have ever used. I just did a 3 day gig and I was getting 5-6 hours of run time with the batteries. So that really helped me out big time. That's with the machine running non stop by the way. If I would have powered down it might have gone a little longer. Also the Fostex FR-2LE doesn't have time code but it CAN stamp time of day on the BWF files. The project I just did we put the camera and recorder both on time of day and that worked out pretty good.

Nicole
 
Hmm. I get around 5-6 hours on a set of NiMH batteries in a PMD-671. I didn't find the preamps bad at all, but I use a SD MixPre because The 671 doesn't have a real limiter and the low roll off is not very useful.

TC is nice but I haven't been in a situation when I would have used it. I did a film many years ago that was shot on S16 and they had rented a TC DAT and smart slate. Since there was no link to the camera I never did find out why they were going to the expense other than someone told them that would be the "Pro" way to go. For multi cam video shoots it is almost a nec. except that if your onder a certain budget level you don't have cameras that can be jammed so again, it "looks" pro but it doesn't really serve a function.

That all said if I were buying today I would buy the Tascam.
 
naavt said:
...You won't ever suffer from battery acid inside your equipment!:happy:
Click to expand...

You could also do what every manufacturer tells you to do in the manual and not leave the batteries in the recorded when your not using it in the first place...
 
Noiz2 said:
You could also do what every manufacturer tells you to do in the manual and not leave the batteries in the recorded when your not using it in the first place...
Click to expand...

Which I always do! The problem resides in that particular battery that decides to spill half hour past you put it in the recorder to work with it:(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top