Topic: What is the best, "RELIABLE!!", stealthable recorder

[silentmark]

Had also thought about a MT recorder, until I read about how hot it got and then talked with a taper at Vegoose this past weekend that told me one actually blew up in his hand and burned him!  MAN!!!!

The MT does not get hot, not sure who told you otherwise but I have never felt it abnormally "hot", maybe warm, just like any other piece of gear gets "warm."

Blew up in his hand ? Who was it ? Is he is on this forum ? I'm just curious as there has been only one reported case of the internal battery going up in flames. Frankly I call BS on that one ...

From my own personal use, the MT is rock solid now, YMMV ...

[petur]

Have you considered that the problem may not lie in the recorders, but with your computer?  It seems unlikely that experiencing identical problems with all three iHP-120s and the RH-10 points to a recorder problem, and suggests, to me, anyway, it's the computer that's the root of the problem.

I had exactly the same feeling.
The h120/h140 does have issues with its harddisk connector, but on all three would be a bit of a surprise unless they were together in one bag and you dropped it

[Krispy D]

depends on what you call stealthy, but I would vote for the PMD 660 as the most reliable (and stealthable) recorder I have ever had.

[~sin213~]

Have you considered that the problem may not lie in the recorders, but with your computer?  It seems unlikely that experiencing identical problems with all three iHP-120s and the RH-10 points to a recorder problem, and suggests, to me, anyway, it's the computer that's the root of the problem.

I had exactly the same feeling.
The h120/h140 does have issues with its harddisk connector, but on all three would be a bit of a surprise unless they were together in one bag and you dropped it

I know its not my computer - I'm an Information Technology professional with a custom built computer.  It rocks - believe me.  LOL!  The iRivers each had error messages display...if I remember correctly it was a Cyclic Redundancy Error.  The HI MD discs that wouldn't work wouldn't work for playback on the HI MD recorder itself, let alone transfer to my computer.  And then the recent error I had with my HI MD was on the recorder itself with a REC ERROR message when trying to remove a track split on the HI MD unit itself...not my computer.

I'm 100% positive that none of my issues are computer related - it is all recorder unit related.

Thanx for trying to troubleshoot from a different angle, though!

[~sin213~]

Had also thought about a MT recorder, until I read about how hot it got and then talked with a taper at Vegoose this past weekend that told me one actually blew up in his hand and burned him!  MAN!!!!

The MT does not get hot, not sure who told you otherwise but I have never felt it abnormally "hot", maybe warm, just like any other piece of gear gets "warm."

Blew up in his hand ? Who was it ? Is he is on this forum ? I'm just curious as there has been only one reported case of the internal battery going up in flames. Frankly I call BS on that one ...

From my own personal use, the MT is rock solid now, YMMV ...

The taper is not on this board - I was a little unsure that the unit actually blew up as well...but I've read all over these TS boards and there are plenty of threads about the MT running hotter than normal.

[silentmark]

I guess I have the only one that runs normal then 

Trust me the MT doesn't run hot and I have been using it since it first come out. The biggest knocks are the internal battery life, the lack of seemless split at the 2g file limit and the analog ins being noisy. As a bit bucket with a digital input and for the price, well it works for me ...

[dmonkey]

File splits on the R-09 are seamless. At least in my experience.

[Ozpeter]

File splits on the H2 seem to be around 20 seconds.  But you've got about 3 hours 10 minutes before you get there (at 16/44.1).  A manual stop/record enable/record start is pretty fast, during some applause or whatever.  10 seconds, say??

See http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,93532.0.html for what you can get out of the H2 stand-alone under optimum conditions.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Trust me the MT doesn't run hot and I have been using it since it first come out.

All of these recorders give off heat and that heat can build if they are confined. Lithium batteries are temperature sensitive and produce a variable amount of their own heat when discharging..

Lithium batteries age more quickly when exposed to heat. It is a non-issue with the r09's cheap rechargables but a concern with the mt's internal battery.

[attheshow]

I know its not my computer - I'm an Information Technology professional with a custom built computer.  It rocks - believe me.  LOL!  The iRivers each had error messages display...if I remember correctly it was a Cyclic Redundancy Error.  The HI MD discs that wouldn't work wouldn't work for playback on the HI MD recorder itself, let alone transfer to my computer.  And then the recent error I had with my HI MD was on the recorder itself with a REC ERROR message when trying to remove a track split on the HI MD unit itself...not my computer.

I'm 100% positive that none of my issues are computer related - it is all recorder unit related.

Thanx for trying to troubleshoot from a different angle, though!

I know this sounds obvious, but in case you are unaware... Are you careful not to jar the recorder (or shut it off) during the track out write? Whenever you end recording or editing a track on the MD it writes critical information to the disk for 15-60 seconds. If there are any errors during this write your tracks will be unreadable. I'm careful with the MD during this write, and have never had a bad disk over two different MDs and many years of service.

[~sin213~]

I know its not my computer - I'm an Information Technology professional with a custom built computer.  It rocks - believe me.  LOL!  The iRivers each had error messages display...if I remember correctly it was a Cyclic Redundancy Error.  The HI MD discs that wouldn't work wouldn't work for playback on the HI MD recorder itself, let alone transfer to my computer.  And then the recent error I had with my HI MD was on the recorder itself with a REC ERROR message when trying to remove a track split on the HI MD unit itself...not my computer.

I'm 100% positive that none of my issues are computer related - it is all recorder unit related.

Thanx for trying to troubleshoot from a different angle, though!

I know this sounds obvious, but in case you are unaware... Are you careful not to jar the recorder (or shut it off) during the track out write? Whenever you end recording or editing a track on the MD it writes critical information to the disk for 15-60 seconds. If there are any errors during this write your tracks will be unreadable. I'm careful with the MD during this write, and have never had a bad disk over two different MDs and many years of service.

Yeah, I'm extremely careful not to shut it off or jar it when editing.  I hit pause, forward to the next track, & the second I hit REC to remove the track split it said REC ERROR and made a weird noise.

Interestingly enough, I was looking at the yard sale and found a R09 that has already had the line input fixed to mitigate the input issue.  That was my main and only concern with that recorder, so I bought it.  Perfect timing too.  I'm going to keep my eye on that new Sony PCM-D50, though.  It looks pretty legit to me!   

[petur]

I know its not my computer - I'm an Information Technology professional with a custom built computer.  It rocks - believe me.  LOL!  The iRivers each had error messages display...if I remember correctly it was a Cyclic Redundancy Error.

Well then, there should be no problem for you to open them up, check the solder joints and/or replace the harddisk.
If you plan to throw the irivers away, let me give you an address to use as bin

[George]

I was gonna vote for H140....I've never had an issue with mine when recording.

[calvinroots]

My R09 and I are getting along great!

[flintstone]

"Reliable" depends on your perspective. 

Consumer-grade gear has features like 1/8" TRS jacks, simple switches built onto circuit boards, and lightweight construction.  These devices are designed to last for a couple of years, at which time a newer, more desirable version will be available.  When consumer gear breaks, it's usually more cost-effective to replace rather than fix.

Pro gear is designed with a more robust construction.  It has to survive in a rough-and-tumble work environment for years.  People make their living using pro gear, so any failure comes with consequences.  Word gets around about gear that causes problems.  This is not to say that pro gear is bulletproof.  Failures do happen.  Pro gear is repairable, and rarely discarded.

Pro gear is several times more expensive than consumer-level products.  This is true in most lines of work, not only for audio recorders.  It's an investment in a tool that makes you money.

Can you get good results with consumer-grade gear?  Sure.  But you're less likely to get the consistent, predictable results that pro gear provides.

Flintstone