Topic: Fostex FR-2 users?

[Stuart]

Antybody get their hands on one of the new Fostex FR-2 boxes?  I'm in the market for a new SFX collection recorder and it looks pretty cool.  I'd love to get the scoop on them.  Thanks in advance!

[sickrick43]

If all you're doing is SFX collection, it looks like a neat unit.  

No way of telling what the pre-a/d onboard sounds like, and from the specs given it looks like it will do up to 96/24 from an outboard pre-a/d.  The s/n, thd  & response specs look OK, and it will do 48V Phantom on it's mic inputs.

It'll do 289 minutes @ 48/24 and 144 minutes @ 96/24 on a 5GB PCMCIA drive.  Wonder why they didn't put an onboard drive 20 gig'r in the thing?  2 Hours/24 Minutes on a 5GB Drive?  You'd have to carry about 4 drives ($1000 or more) for a festival.

B&H has these listed for $1,299 - certainly not as cheep as a JB3.  5GB drives are in the $250-300 range - don't really see anyone making larger drives and CF memory seems the direction most storage is going (versus designing and building PCMCIA hi-capacity drives).  The power supply is not currently in stock, and someone on another thread commented that they tried RatShack adapters and couldn't get one to fit.

If they made one of these with a 20 or 40 (or <gasp> 60/80) gig internal drive or option, it would definately be something I'd consider for concert recording.  5GB Toshiba's seem to be the largest PCMCIA drives out there.  Hitachi/IBM Travelstars have 20/40GB drives in the 1.8" form factor, but I don't see them in a PCMCIA mount. (I smell another DIY Taper Project brewing)

It's a little large for stealthing (9.4X8.27X3.9").  I'd also be interested in seeing whether this "standard BWF (Broadcast Wave File)" format is something that's going to be compatible with standard tools, like soundforge, cooledit and wavelab.

Without having laid hands on this, I'd say it looks like a cool toy.  If I wasn't saving my pennies for the new Canon 1D MarkII camera that's coming out in a week or 2, I might even lust after one of these (ok, I'm kinda drooling to play with one.  If the pre-a/d was (is) any good sounding, I'd even consider dumping the V3 and picking up one of these up, even though spec-wise - the V3 has 7-10 more dB of dynamic range.  

Only thing that would hold me back, would be the lack of available storage devices.  With an internal 20/40/60GB hard disk, this would "almost" be a no brainer, and surely compete well with the other hard disk recorders that are coming to market now.  Fostex discusses thier movement into non-linear technology (hard disc recorders) as one of thier reasons for dropping thier DAT deck.  Maybe we'll see a similar unit soon from them, with a hard disc.  I know Marantz is supposedly coming out with one also.

The more I look at the specs, the more I drool...

Rick

[MattD]

Thread hijack ... should the release of that camera drive down the price on the 10D and the 300D? I'm putting my $ into lenses, so if I know the body prices are dropping, I'll wait another month before buying.

[sickrick43]

Thread hijack is it?  heh heh...

The new Nikon is driving down the price of the 300/10D.  Canon Canada announced a price drop (but this is more in line with the depreciation of the Canadian $$).  B&H has 10D's down to $1,399, I'm seeing them from $1,080 (express photo - has to be a refurb at that price) to $1,499.  I don't think the current 6MP model line will take a hit from the MarkII, as much as they will from the Nikon.  But then again, plenty of Nikon owners are selling thier glass collections to get thier hands on a MKII.  I know it's going to make a KILLER difference in my low light concert shooting, as well as better AF, better flash algorythyms, etc.

OTOH, the 1Ds will probably do a large price drop, as a result of the MkII.

My 10D, BG-ED3 Battery Grip, 3 extra batteries, and all my other 10D specific extra's will be for sale in a week or 2.  About 5,000 or less shutter activations, never dropped, MINT CONDITION.  I'll be looking for about $1,200 for the whole thing.

[MattD]

Keep me in mind then, though I don't think I'll have $1200 to drop on a body. Would rather get a 300d body under 800 and move those $400 to L glass

[plucks]

Actually, it will do better than 24/96.
Its the first portable HD recorder to do 24/192!

it's pretty big though.  About the size of a DA-p1, but thicker.

oh yeah, it wont be out for a few more months.

phil

[jacallery]

It is already out.  I bit the bullet and bought one.
There are a few retailers on the net with some for sale.
The going price is $1299 and that does not include AC power
cord (~$60 extra).  No DC power plug is available yet from Fostex (thay told me that it would be in dealer stores in near future).
I havn't had a chance to test it in the field yet, but when I do(next week)
I'll post the results. I will probably do a comparison against the minime
some time soon to check out the A/D section.
probably schoeps>oadem248(split signal)->minime(16bit)>m1              
                                                                 '->FR2(16bit)

..will also do a V3/FR2 comparison at some point.

I don't expect the pre section of the FR2 to match the V3's or
for that matter the Minime, but I can do some All-In-One box
camparisons if they would be of interest.
The only problem, is there is not a whole crapload of good music here for a month or so.

If anyone has any questions on the basics of the unit, I'd be happy
to try and answer what I can.

callery

[plucks]

good to know they came out early!!

[creekfreak]

also, you can get those 5GB drives for under $200 if you know where to look....looks cool as hell, if it can do 24/192 I might have to look into it

[BobW]

Toshiba sells a 5GB PCMCIA HD based MP3 player that retails for less that $200.
You get a neat player that will use a Hard Drive or CF memory in a sleeve and the 5GB drive........

I want to hear the FR-2 in the worst way.
Would love to hear comps on the analog and A/D sections on it.

[Stuart]

Wow, thanks for the responses!  I do sound editing for tv and cheesy movies so this would probably be a good box for me.  My neighbor works at Location Sound and he said they had a few in stock for me to look at next week.  

The reason I want a really high sampling rate is that I do shitloads of pitchshifting in my daily editing and that Nyquist aliasing is pretty easy to incur at normal sampling rates when pitching down.  Some of the danetracks people are already doing this approach, and they're no slouches.  I won't get much sampling time at 24/192 but that's okay.  I just wish they'd announce some sort of bulk dump routine to a large USB drive in the field.  I'm probably stuck having to buy an old laptop just to unload files and grab more when on a shoot.  

Keep em' coming.  I like this board and would be very pleased to hear some first-hand experiences with it.

Thanks again,
S.  

[sickrick43]

Actually, it will do better than 24/96.
Its the first portable HD recorder to do 24/192!

it's pretty big though.  About the size of a DA-p1, but thicker.

oh yeah, it wont be out for a few more months.

phil

That's strange, B&H is showing them IN STOCK! (although without the power supply)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=314091&is=REG


From the spec sheet, it will only record up to 24/96 on a PCMCIA Hard Disk or CF.  Don't know why they even spec 24/192 if it won't record it. Perhaps a typo on the spec sheet?

http://www.fostexdvd.net/fxdvd_route/docs/pdf/fr2_broch.pdf

5GB = 24/192 stereo =72 minutes.  
5GB = 24/96 stereo = 144 minutes (2 hours 24 minutes)
5GB = 24/48 stereo = 289 minutes (4 hours 29 minutes)
5GB = 16/48 stereo = 434 minutes (7 hours 34 minutes)

Lexar has 8GB CF cards now, the 4GB's are $1,400, I can only imagine what the 8GB's are going for, but 8GB would give you 224 minutes @ 24/96.  That for me is a do-able proposition (for field music recording), though not @ $2000 for an 8GB CF Card.  If someone had a PCMCIA 10 or 20GB drive out at a reasonable price, this would be WAY more palatable.

I'm still researching what this BWF (broadcast wave format) is, and whether it's compatible with anything we already use <g>...

Rick
The wife is already screaming "NO FUKKIN WAY, I get a LIVING ROOM SET before you buy more recording gear."

[Flarnet]

BWF is just a normal .wav file with extra embedded info. Everything that can play a wav can play it. Check out http://www.sr.se/utveckling/tu/bwf/ for links to some BWF files as well as basic info.

And I would LOVE to hear about the FR2. Give us all the dirt on AD, limiters, headphone amp etc. With the recent Muvo trick they are actually pretty interesting.

[sickrick43]

BWF is just a normal .wav file with extra embedded info. Everything that can play a wav can play it. Check out http://www.sr.se/utveckling/tu/bwf/ for links to some BWF files as well as basic info.

And I would LOVE to hear about the FR2. Give us all the dirt on AD, limiters, headphone amp etc. With the recent Muvo trick they are actually pretty interesting.

Thanks for the link, this one links to the actual guide:

http://www.ebu.ch/tech_info/tech_info_bwf_ug/tech_info_bwf_ug.html

I'm starting to drool a little more than I'd like to at this point   .

Wonder if you could DIY mod a Toshiba 5 gig, and shoehorn a Travelstar 40 gig in it's place?  I still can't believe Fostex let this out, without a high capacity drive option and USB instead of Firewire.  WTF were they thinking?  It's almost hard to believe this is NEW technology.

Well, I'm DEFINATELY INTERESTED in hearing how the pre-A/D sounds.  If the wife didn't get the UPS deliveries, I probably would have impulse-ordered this from B&H already.

Rick
Wonder if I can return my $3000 LASIK for a refund and buy this thing?

[BobW]

Wow, thanks for the responses!  I do sound editing for tv and cheesy movies so this would probably be a good box for me.  My neighbor works at Location Sound and he said they had a few in stock for me to look at next week.  

Ever hear of IndustrialTV  ?