Topic: TASCAM DR-05 RECORDING SNAFU

[VinceG.]

Just tested my Tascam DR-05 out on a show tonight. I checked, re-checked, and re-re-checked all my settings prior to the show, and everything was set the way it was supposed to be. However, after the show, I noticed that out of a near 3 hour performance, I had only managed to record 30 minutes. I'm quite pissed, to say the least. I have a 16 GB card in it, yet I noticed under the "Record" settings it only went as high as 2 GB, which allowed for 2 hr 04 min of supposed recording time. I couldn't find anything that would let me ammend the settings to a higher card capacity. Yet, the owner's manual states that an 8 GB should have allowed me to record for up to 4 hr 04 min, so I'm guessing that a 16 GB card should have let me record much longer. I can't find anything in my owner's manual that would give me a clue as to what went wrong with tonight's recording.

Does someone have a clue as to what the hell happened, or what I missed? Thank you.

[acidjack]

Sounds to me like either (a) "STOP" got hit at some point or (b) some kind of card error.  Is the 30 min you recorded there?  It sounds like yes.  That suggests to me that something just hit 'stop'. 

Did you have HOLD on?

[VinceG.]

I forgot to mention, yes...I did have "Hold" enabled, and out of a near 3 hour show, only 30 minutes of material was actually recorded. When I discreetly  looked down at the recorder about 10 minutes prior to the show's end,  I noticed a "FILE ERROR" message.

[Cooker]

it probably doesn't like that card for whatever reason. i've had that happen before in my DR-07.

they are supposed to support 16GB cards, but it's flaky. try an 8.

[tailschao]

Almost 3 hours? On 26th April?

Was the show at the LA Sports Arena, by any chance...?

[VinceG.]

No, this was a comedy show in Denver. This is/was the only show I had tickets to that I could road test it at. The next one won't be until late May.

The max file size says "2 GB" under the file size settings, and my card size is 16 GB.

[Nigel Tufnel]

The max file size says "2 GB" under the file size settings, and my card size is 16 GB.

That's normal. It is the maximum file size that can be written on to the card. If your recording goes longer than 2 gigs, it will produce a second file and the transition between the two is seamless. Just takes a few seconds to combine the files in Audacity or another audio editor.

[sabre]

What sort of card are you using? Where did you buy it from? There are a lot of fake cards on eBay.

[VinceG.]

I didn't buy my card off ebay. It's the card that came with my cell phone. As for my recording producing a second file, that wasn't so in this case. 

[stepeanut]

Cheap batteries, perhaps?

I've had it happen to me before, when I was running an R-09HR.  Put fresh (but cheap brand) batteries in the recorder prior to the show.  Everything ran normal at first, but when I came to transfer the file later it had stopped recording after 30, 40 minutes.

I run an M10 now -- as we all know, the battery life is amazing -- but I still make sure I only use premium Duracells or Energizers.

[kubacheck]

the presence of the "file error" message tells me that probably it wasn't the stop button being hit accidently, more that it didn't like that card......... is the recorder's firmware up to date??  did you re-format the card beforehand?? sometimes just deleting files off it doesn't clear up the card..... the closest thing I ever had happen to me like what you describe was a few years ago, I hadn't updated the R09 firmware that would allow it to handle more than a 4gb card.... not knowing this, I'd started using an 8gb card and at one show, everything was fine up until it hit the 2gb file size limit.... instead of rolling over into a new file, it kept writing a never ending series of 1 byte files to the recorder....  in any case, for this error, there's no need to wait for another show to test out your recorder.... try a different (perhaps smaller) card, put a fresh set of batteries in it, hit record and see what happens, hopefully it goes on longer than the 30 minutes you got at that show.....

[TimeBandit]

always do a full format with the card in the recorder you use. Use fresh charged batteries or power supply for that full format can take up to an hour with 16 gig card (measured with my dr-05), the old tascam Dr07 i had also sometimes disliked the cards when formatted in the computer only. for me lucky just the Wave header was damaged and i was able to fix it.

i don't use 32 gig cards anymore, mostly 8 ore only 4 gig cards, on festivals one card per day or per act. so if one card is f*cked not all tapes are lost.

[VinceG.]

Batteries were fresh out of the package. Before inserting the 16 GB card, I reformatted it. I looked, but didn't see anything in the owner's manual about updating firmware (unless I looked past it).

I was thinking, after reading the manual and the length of time each card is supposed to give you depending on the settings, that maybe it was the card and I should have tried using a smaller card, like an 8 GB.

[F.O.Bean]

Yep, sounds like the card just didnt like your DR05. ALWAYS format before each show, and use fresh batts.

[fmaderjr]

and use fresh batts.

That's a waste of money. Use low self discharge NiMh's. They hold their charge a lot longer than regular NiMh's and also seem to last a lot longer before you need to replace them.

I recommend the Imedion 2400 mAh's as the best bang for the buck.