Topic: Sony PCM-A10 (Part 2)

[nulldogmas]

It's got an FCC ID number printed on it, so I assume it's for the USA market.

Lettering is all English except it does say "Fabriqué En Chine" in French.

Mine has the French as well, which leads me to believe Sony was making one production run for both the US and Canadian markets.

[vantheman]

I sent my first one back to Sony service in New Jersey, due to unequal levels (left channel was low) and got back PCM-A10 #1000694.
It's got an FCC ID number printed on it, so I assume it's for the USA market.

Lettering is all English except it does say "Fabriqué En Chine" in French.
No production date that I can see

Did you get a good unit sent back? I had the same issue, sent it back, and the second unit had the same issue.

[morst]

I sent my first one back to Sony service in New Jersey, due to unequal levels (left channel was low) and got back PCM-A10 #1000694.
It's got an FCC ID number printed on it, so I assume it's for the USA market.

Did you get a good unit sent back? I had the same issue, sent it back, and the second unit had the same issue.

Yeah second one is fine

[tjj5036]

How much lower was the channel? I think I might have a similar issue.

[adrianf74]

How much lower was the channel? I think I might have a similar issue.

In my case, one channel was about 6dB lower than the other.

[morst]

I'll check the file from the first attempt... I think it was down -6dB or so
Ok

My test recording shows peaks which differ by nearly 5.5dB
Note that the discrepancy with the line input levels was never an issue with the internal mics, which is one reason I didn't notice the problem for a few months.

[hardrain62]

So I finally got to use my A10 for the first time last night at the Pines in Florence, MA for Big Thief. I didn't want to go through the whole usual rigmarole with mics, battery boxes and cables, so I figured I'd try out the internal mics, as folks here said they were pretty good. I was in a position to use them, as I was in the back of the amphitheater GA pit, which itself had people seated on low-back lawn chairs in the rear-half. I perched the A10 on a structure about 4' high, with a totally unobstructed shot at the speaker stacks (again, amphitheater), and man, I've gotta say, those on-board mics on the A10 are really, really special. The sound I'm hearing on playback is a near-flawless representation of exactly what I heard from that spot. I can't imagine a scenario where any of my mics, AT943 included, would have done any better at all. And controlling the settings and monitoring the waveform on my iPhone 12 Mini was the icing on the cake. I would have absolutely no reservations about using the on-board mics again if I know I'll be in a position to situate the A10 on a structure that will allow for advantageous placement.

[hipporu]

Today, church, bells, PCM-A10, internal mics, recording level -3, near the bell ringer.

Record
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MDMN6_1vqtBeQX85AxRaMAfYvAPmDhb_/view?usp=sharing


https://vk.com/id186749794?w=wall186749794_788%2Fall

[Ozpeter]

Excellent result on those bells!

[gmm6797]

New question/confusion... here is the story:
Stealthing a show, using the REC Remote app to monitor levels.  I check ever few songs.  When I check about an hour in, there are no levels and I pull out the deck, it is on but no longer recording.  Looking at the screen it said something like "operational error". I panic, unlock it, power it off, then back on.  I hit record on the deck and it starts recording. I lock it and check the app, all looks good.  Keep recording and when the show if over, take the deck off hold, hit stop and then power it off and put it back in hold.
I get home, I have a tmp_211015_2058.wav file on the SD card (internal was full before the show and assumed, based on 3 prior shows and plenty of hours of record time remaining, it would just record to the SD card until it was full). This is the 1st 40 minutes of the show.
I have no second file, no temp or regular file.
I tried to do a file recovrey/restore with Recouva, and there are no files torecovere from the SD card or the internal memory.

Questions:
- what could cause the deck to stop recording on its own during a show?
- what could cause the deck to not record/save the file after a restart of the deck, when the app and deck both showed it was running?
- how often are people formatting the internal memory?
- how often are people formatting their SD card?

Any other ideas or suggestions are appreciated.  This is the 1st time in many years (maybe a decade or more) I have had any crash on any Sony or Sound Devices decks and I am willing to bet I was the only one at The Struts here in Rochester NY Friday night

[morst]

I never tried Recouva, but have you tried ZAR?
Website gives a certificate error, but seems ok.
https://www.z-a-recovery.com


There is a setting on the A10 to automatically switch to memory card when the internal gets full.
I don't really think that's relevant in this case, but I would set it to switch over instead of stopping.

[gmm6797]

Website gives a certificate error, but seems ok.
https://www.z-a-recovery.com
There is a setting on the A10 to automatically switch to memory card when the internal gets full.
I don't really think that's relevant in this case, but I would set it to switch over instead of stopping.

Ill give ZAR a try, not tred that one before.
I do have cross-memory recording on, and that worked back in July perfectly during a show when the memory filled up.  I domt think that was a concern, but I agree, it is worth having on. I do find it interesting that the M10 did SD then internal, now the A10 does internal then SD

[hipporu]

Any other ideas or suggestions are appreciated. 

If you took out the CD card before the show or inserted another, you need to check the memory priority setting and automatic switching to the memory card when the internal memory is full.

[gmm6797]

If you took out the CD card before the show or inserted another, you need to check the memory priority setting and automatic switching to the memory card when the internal memory is full.

I have not taken the card out since I put it in... until I got home the other night. Cross Memory recording was already turned on and did work fine when the internal memory filled back in July and the rest of that show saved properly to the SD card.
The internal memory was full already, and the opener and a couple of test tracks saved to the SD card fine, but the headliner file crashed (but did save) the 2nd file, after power cycling the unit, just does not exist.

[roffels]

I just picked up one of these from Ebay, but I think it's a lemon.

I don't get any indication that it's doing anything when I plug it into my PC, or any charging status on the unit's LCD screen. Is it fair to assume it's junk, or does it need to sit on a charger a long time before it does anything?

Thanks!