Topic: Tascam DV-RA1000 DVD Recorder Surprise

[Genghis Cougar Mellen Khan]

the futures here, we are it, we are on our own,.....
i hate quoting Weir, but its appropriate in this case.

glad i was able to offer up something that made sense in all the rambling.

Yes sir.  1 more show possible tonight... Now that I have a recorded disc I can play around with copying.  I got hung up on the "format" process if you can believe that, gave up and walked away until I had more patience.  I ended up buying a SLA from a local Interstate battery supplier here, mine (ordered 3 weeks ago) is scheduled for delivery today.  If it doesn't show up, I'll test and see if I can get 2 2.5 runs out of a 12v 18mAH SLA. 

[Genghis Cougar Mellen Khan]

I got hung up on the "format" process if you can believe that, gave up and walked away until I had more patience.

What happened?
the world knows of my great formatting faux pas,... so spill the beans

The first screen that asks you if you'd like to format the disc "is this format ok".  I saw 44 16 to the right and was assuming it was going to format the disc as 16/44.1.  2 days of swearing at the manual and bashing my head I fired it up and just hit enter, BINGO.  Needless to say it was a pretty stupid newbie hang-up, no thanks to the manual for making that process more clear.   

"I don't want 16/44.1!?!" ....      ENTER      ohhhhhhhh 

[MattH]

I got 3.5 hours of non-continuous recording time out of my 12V 12AH battery with my cheapo power inverter. No extraneous noises on the recordings. $60 total for battery and inverter. I will push it more to see what the max time will be but I'm thinking 4 hours or more.

[Genghis Cougar Mellen Khan]

I just bought a ps/2 keyboard, dedicated to the dvra1000, a $10 investment (new).
It so beats the living snot out of trying to use the jog wheel for text!!    god that sucked!!

Logitech like this?:



Or PS2 as in Playstation 2 like this?:



Great idea, I can see that thumbwheel getting old for text, can prob fit the 2nd one in the gator bag's pocket.

[Genghis Cougar Mellen Khan]

actually,.... this was a total impromptu purchase, and I really wasn't thinking about bringing it along anywhere. But now that you mention it, that would be nice to have in a smaller size.
It does fit into the rear of the case, and on top of the recorder, but its too big for the pocket.
I might just get some plumbing pipe insulation and pad the keyboard, and keep it on top of the recorder in transit.

or be smart and label everything at home, and then leave the extra weight at home.

Note that it's (that smaller PS2 Playstation) a USB keyboard.

I can't remember which way it was, but my last keyboard had an adaptor with it, I just can't remember if it was the standard keyboard plug (like the input on the DVRA) > USB or a USB > standard.  My only concern is if it needed drivers or something to make it work, you might be safer using a basic keyboard.  I think I'll stick to labeling at home. 

[Genghis Cougar Mellen Khan]

man,... this thing is nice! heavy, back breaking, but really nice.
Its so well behaved in bypass mode. Its like a total groove spot when you hit unity gain, the thing just grooves!

It's worth the back strain isn't it. 

I've only ran it one show and I'm totally impressed.  The only thing I didn't do, which I will do next time, is set it to the 50min auto-track.  I looked down and thought it said 1hr 29mins and hit rec to start another, I had the 671 set to mark tracks at 1hr and it said 29mins.  If I wasn't suffering from new gear jitters my dumb ass would have realized that the 671 was still on track ONE at 29 mins and that I was only 29mins into the show.  After hitting rec to set another track, I looked at my M1 backup and realized my stupidity 00:31:12, for a couple minutes there I thought I might have trashed the first set. 

Lugged in: Tascam in a Gator rack bag w/the Exeltech interter mounted, a 12v 18aH SLA, V3 w/it's own 6v Eco-Charge SLA, Bogen 13' stand with a clamp/swivel T-bar, DPA shocks, Sure vert bar and at8410 shocks + various cables and 2 sets of mics, Marantz PMD671 and another EC-90 SLA and a M1 for backup.   

My back was pissed but my ears are happy.  A big thanks to Jef-O from the Pitts crew for taking pity on me and lugging the 18aH SLA for me on the way out.