Topic: Picking a TC recorder: reliability

[Carlos E. Martinez]

Any of those units, Deva or Nagra, would make my life certainly easier, but they are out of my possibilities for now, as I said.

Available work over here, in Brazil or Argentina, would not pay for any of them.

On the other hand I already have mixers, TC clapper and mics from my rental business, so all I need is a simple TC capable recorder.

[wbrisette]

Seems to me that you probably want to look at the Tascam if you only want 2 channels, or the Edirol R44 if you want four channels then.

They are some of the least expensive timecode recorders out there.

Wayne

[wbrisette]

The Nagra VI *can* be software upgraded and has been designed to be able to do this.

Personally I don't like the Deva very much - a friend has one and has now given up on it.

That's good to know about the Nagra. There really is very little information on that unit out there.

As far as the Deva goes, to each there own. Seems most of the big picture mixers here in the states are using them. A few have the Cantars, but for the most part if you're doing major productions, you're using the Deva here in the states. That's not to say it is a perfect product, but I don't think there currently is a mixer/recorder that works as well over the shoulder as it does on a cart... Maybe the Nagra will fit into that niche too, but it's a bit early to tell.

Wayne (yep, I'm biased towards the Deva) B.

[Carlos E. Martinez]

Seems to me that you probably want to look at the Tascam if you only want 2 channels, or the Edirol R44 if you want four channels then.

They are some of the least expensive timecode recorders out there.

Just to have an opinion: what about the Fostex?

[wbrisette]

Seems to me that you probably want to look at the Tascam if you only want 2 channels, or the Edirol R44 if you want four channels then.

They are some of the least expensive timecode recorders out there.

Just to have an opinion: what about the Fostex?

I haven't used the Fostex, so I have no opinions of it. Seems that people on this board seem to only like it after the analog input stage has been rebuilt. But, then they aren't using it for film/video, but for music which is a bit more demanding.

Wayne

[Carlos E. Martinez]

I haven't used the Fostex, so I have no opinions of it. Seems that people on this board seem to only like it after the analog input stage has been rebuilt. But, then they aren't using it for film/video, but for music which is a bit more demanding.

Interesting. I think film/video is more demanding that music, at least the music you will record stealthing. Non-amplified instruments do demand better preamps and mics, but that is rarely done by people in this forum.

OTOS, something unusual I have seen were some tests done with nature bird singing and the files they recorded with them. Can't remember the URL. The Fostex and Tascam (besides the Sound Devices) did quite well on it. The Edirol was not that good, if I remember well. All preamps were the original ones.

[stevetoney]

I have a Fostex HD-P2 and ran the stock unit for music recording for awhile.  Although I have just received my upgraded unit back from Chris Johnson (busman) in the mail today, I also was quite happy with the sound performance of the stock unit.  However, even if you feel that the sound performance of the stock model is not up to the standards that you would like to have, Chris's upgrade service is not expensive ($175USD excluding shipping) especially when compared to the prices that you are talking about for some of the other units that have been discussed in this thread.

[Carlos E. Martinez]

I have a Fostex HD-P2 and ran the stock unit for music recording for awhile.  Although I have just received my upgraded unit back from Chris Johnson (busman) in the mail today, I also was quite happy with the sound performance of the stock unit.  However, even if you feel that the sound performance of the stock model is not up to the standards that you would like to have, Chris's upgrade service is not expensive ($175USD excluding shipping) especially when compared to the prices that you are talking about for some of the other units that have been discussed in this thread.

Do you have a cross-model or you misnamed the unit? 

Yes, the Chris Johnson mod seems to be a good thing for the Tascam and the Fostex. Even if in my case I would buy this unit direct from B&H.

[George2]

No TC, but a nice stock recorder.

http://www.fostexinternational.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EkEEkVFylFpFGLULFQ&tmpl=viewnews_pro_head


http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm