Topic: Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder (Part 5)

[2manyrocks]

Not much off the normal price, but this is $18.95 through Nov. 25th:  http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/824139-REG/SanDisk_SDSDXPA_016G_A75_Extreme_Pro_16_GB.html

Since Voltronic and johnmuge have both reported problems with the "approved" sdsdup-016g, I bought the sdsdxpa card from B & H even though it appears to be more expensive. 

The approved 32g panasonic card is a clearance item at Adorama, but with shipping, it's over $40.   

[Life In Rewind]

Here's something to watch out for...

Last night I formatted my card in my computer (not quick format) - and then popped it back into the DR-70D.

Fired it up and it automatically formatted the card without my intervention.

When I hit record - I had no 1/2 MIC signal...I stopped and checked the settings - they were correct.

3/4 with a SBD feed were fine.

I stopped the recorder again - power cycled it - then it all worked.

Missed most of the first song last night figuring this out.

This is the older firmware - so this may be something that was addressed.

Weird that it formatted the card without asking...sucks for the guy put in the wrong card!

[Life In Rewind]

If you have a card that glitched in the DR-70D - don't try to use it for anything else.

I screwed myself last night using my old DR-70D Lexar card in my camera...Shot a lot of pics - and no files.

I Full formatted this card in Windows and used it in my camera for a show a few weeks ago - seemed ok. Last night - Pfftttttt.

I ran the trial version of Lexars Image Recovery software - no dice. There is something there - blocks of 2.5 GB and few other 11 MB files with "no preview available"

The camera never really complained - although I do recall it seeming sluggish at one point.

I'd love to be able to blame the DR-70D for destroying my card - but not sure we're there yet!

[vanark]

I don't understand why it was formatted on your computer. You would still need to format the card in the device.

[Life In Rewind]

I don't understand why it was formatted on your computer. You would still need to format the card in the device.

In this case - I did that because this card had been used in the DR-70D and glitched - it wasn't going back in that device so I formatted it on the computer.

I'm sure I formatted it in the Camera also - probably not optional.

[voltronic]

If you have a card that glitched in the DR-70D - don't try to use it for anything else.

I screwed myself last night using my old DR-70D Lexar card in my camera...Shot a lot of pics - and no files.

I Full formatted this card in Windows and used it in my camera for a show a few weeks ago - seemed ok. Last night - Pfftttttt.

I ran the trial version of Lexars Image Recovery software - no dice. There is something there - blocks of 2.5 GB and few other 11 MB files with "no preview available"

The camera never really complained - although I do recall it seeming sluggish at one point.

I'd love to be able to blame the DR-70D for destroying my card - but not sure we're there yet!

Not sure why you would want to blame the 70D for destroying your card.  Have you really determined that the card is destroyed, or just has a massively corrupt filesystem?  Did you try the SD Association Formatter?  If not, try it, and then format it again in your camera.  If you did all this, maybe this card just decided to die.  It happens.

I had a pretty new SanDisk 64GB micro SD go bad in my old Galaxy S3.  It got to where it could be read but not written to, could not delete files or format it even with low-level tools.  It never crossed my mind once that my phone was to blame - it was clearly a card that had gone bad.  New card of exactly the same model worked great in that phone with no problems, as it does years later in my current phone.

[Jhurlbs81]

I want to try this deck, but these card issues are troubling. Are people having issues even with the approved cards?

[stevetoney]

I want to try this deck, but these card issues are troubling. Are people having issues even with the approved cards?

I'll try to give you an objective response.

It's tough to answer your question with a high level of confidence about where this is going but the trend over the last month or two is positive.  In general, I think people are having success using approved cards; however, there has been some limited evidence that 'the issue' has revealed itself on at least one of the card types on the approved list (two reported events from different users...same card).  In one of those instances, a reformat of the card using an outside SD card formatter has cleared the issue and the user reports no problems using that same card in the unit since.  In the other, it's not clear if the problem was cleared up or if the user has used the suspect card in the unit.

As an owner of a unit that has been problematic in the past, I also own this same card.  I've used the unit twice with the card and it's performed well over approximately eight hours of use.  I have other recorders available to me, so unfortunately my confidence level using this deck still has a ways to go before I would consider pulling it out as anything but a backup, but that's because I have other units available to me that I have more confidence in.  Obviously, the more people report success and the more successes I experience, the more my confidence grows, but the two instances of glitchy experiences with approved cards continues to infect my conscience.

A month or two ago I wouldn't have recommended this unit, but now that it seems the number of reported incidents has calmed down and the negative trend seems to have turned, and people are having success using a low priced approved card (16gb Sandisk is available for around $15), I'd say to go ahead and buy.  The DR70D is a great value at $200. 

That said, if you have an absolutely mission critical recording, you might want employ some redundancy until you're absolutely sure your DR70D/card combo will perform for you.

[Life In Rewind]

I want to try this deck, but these card issues are troubling. Are people having issues even with the approved cards?

I'll try to give you an objective response.

It's tough to answer your question with a high level of confidence about where this is going but the trend over the last month or two is positive.  In general, I think people are having success using approved cards; however, there has been some limited evidence that 'the issue' has revealed itself on at least one of the card types on the approved list (two reported events from different users...same card).  In one of those instances, a reformat of the card using an outside SD card formatter has cleared the issue and the user reports no problems using that same card in the unit since.  In the other, it's not clear if the problem was cleared up or if the user has used the suspect card in the unit.

As an owner of a unit that has been problematic in the past, I also own this same card.  I've used the unit twice with the card and it's performed well over approximately eight hours of use.  I have other recorders available to me, so unfortunately my confidence level using this deck still has a ways to go before I would consider pulling it out as anything but a backup, but that's because I have other units available to me that I have more confidence in.  Obviously, the more people report success and the more successes I experience, the more my confidence grows, but the two instances of glitchy experiences with approved cards continues to infect my conscience.

A month or two ago I wouldn't have recommended this unit, but now that it seems the number of reported incidents has calmed down and the negative trend seems to have turned, and people are having success using a low priced approved card (16gb Sandisk is available for around $15), I'd say to go ahead and buy.  The DR70D is a great value at $200. 

That said, if you have an absolutely mission critical recording, you might want employ some redundancy until you're absolutely sure your DR70D/card combo will perform for you.

Since its been less than 2 months since there was an actual list of "approved" cards - I think were still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I used my unapproved card for months, maybe 50 shows before I started having problems.

I've only done about 2-3 shows with the approved card. So - too early to tell.

I was being sarcastic about blaming the TASCAM for destroying my card - I shouldn't have used it at all...I had already proven to myself that the corruption persisted following full format in windows.

But - the idea that the DR-70D is ruining cards isn't out of the realm of possibility...we shall see.

[stevetoney]

I want to try this deck, but these card issues are troubling. Are people having issues even with the approved cards?

I'll try to give you an objective response.

It's tough to answer your question with a high level of confidence about where this is going but the trend over the last month or two is positive.  In general, I think people are having success using approved cards; however, there has been some limited evidence that 'the issue' has revealed itself on at least one of the card types on the approved list (two reported events from different users...same card).  In one of those instances, a reformat of the card using an outside SD card formatter has cleared the issue and the user reports no problems using that same card in the unit since.  In the other, it's not clear if the problem was cleared up or if the user has used the suspect card in the unit.

As an owner of a unit that has been problematic in the past, I also own this same card.  I've used the unit twice with the card and it's performed well over approximately eight hours of use.  I have other recorders available to me, so unfortunately my confidence level using this deck still has a ways to go before I would consider pulling it out as anything but a backup, but that's because I have other units available to me that I have more confidence in.  Obviously, the more people report success and the more successes I experience, the more my confidence grows, but the two instances of glitchy experiences with approved cards continues to infect my conscience.

A month or two ago I wouldn't have recommended this unit, but now that it seems the number of reported incidents has calmed down and the negative trend seems to have turned, and people are having success using a low priced approved card (16gb Sandisk is available for around $15), I'd say to go ahead and buy.  The DR70D is a great value at $200. 

That said, if you have an absolutely mission critical recording, you might want employ some redundancy until you're absolutely sure your DR70D/card combo will perform for you.

Since its been less than 2 months since there was an actual list of "approved" cards - I think were still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I used my unapproved card for months, maybe 50 shows before I started having problems.

I've only done about 2-3 shows with the approved card. So - too early to tell.

I was being sarcastic about blaming the TASCAM for destroying my card - I shouldn't have used it at all...I had already proven to myself that the corruption persisted following full format in windows.

But - the idea that the DR-70D is ruining cards isn't out of the realm of possibility...we shall see.

Definitely a valid point.  I also used an unapproved card for awhile before problems revealed.  I've been doing full formatting outside of the DR70D since.  My gut feeling, unproven in any way but discussed extensively, is that the quick format routine in the DR70D is buggy.

[hoppedup]

I want to try this deck, but these card issues are troubling. Are people having issues even with the approved cards?

I own one and have had no issues with a Sandisk Extreme Pro 32GB card that I'm pretty sure is not on the list. That said, it is now a backup recorder and will never be a primary based on other people's card issues. If I ever have one glitch, it will be a door stop. Last time I taped I ran an extension horizontally and had my DR-60D clamped to the backside of my stand. I attached the 70D to the 60D to help as a counterweight. It performed flawlessly in that capacity.

My DR-60D has been rock solid and I regret selling one of them to fund the 70D.

[stevetoney]

I thought people here might be interested in a comp I did over the weekend between DR70D and Zoom F8 preamps.  Since the comp was requested in the F8 thread, I've posted it there.

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=175264.msg2168280#msg2168280

[2manyrocks]

I want to try this deck, but these card issues are troubling. Are people having issues even with the approved cards?

I own one and have had no issues with a Sandisk Extreme Pro 32GB card that I'm pretty sure is not on the list. That said, it is now a backup recorder and will never be a primary based on other people's card issues. If I ever have one glitch, it will be a door stop. Last time I taped I ran an extension horizontally and had my DR-60D clamped to the backside of my stand. I attached the 70D to the 60D to help as a counterweight. It performed flawlessly in that capacity.

My DR-60D has been rock solid and I regret selling one of them to fund the 70D.

I have never had any issues with my 60d, either.  The 60mkii is $124.99 after rebate, now.  The specs on the two XLRs on the mkii are very close to the 680mkii and the 70d.  With the price of the 70d hovering back around $240, the 60dmkii seems to be the better buy right now unless you've got to have four channels of xlr.  http://www.adorama.com/TSDR60MKII.html?emailprice=t&hotlink=t&svfor=5m&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_source=rflaid912772&cvosrc=affiliate.912772

[Jhurlbs81]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys. Nine times out of ten I leave the tube rig at home and stick to mkx>Lemosax>m-10 for convienence.  I wanted this to be able to run both if I wanted, but I think I'll wait for something more reliable 

[Chomps]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys. Nine times out of ten I leave the tube rig at home and stick to mkx>Lemosax>m-10 for convienence.  I wanted this to be able to run both if I wanted, but I think I'll wait for something more reliable

If you want to borrow mine I would be more than happy to meet up with you and exchange. I have not been recording much and have other options.