Topic: PT: 3 - New Marantz PMD661

[dactylus]

Thanks.  I'm curious to see if your Kingston venture is a success.

+T

[tedyun]

OK -- I'll try digital in first because I noticed that you're running a Mytek 192.

Actually, on a separate note, I was wondering what your experience with the Mytek was in the field. I've read somewhere here or on gearslutz that powering it with anything above 7V will result in wasted power, ie., it will be dissipated as heat. When I ran it, I powered it with 7.5V from my Tekkeon, but the low battery light kept flashing. Is this normal? Everything turned out OK to my ears, but it was disconcerting to see the warning light flash.

Thanks.  I'm curious to see if your Kingston venture is a success.

+T

[dactylus]

OK -- I'll try digital in first because I noticed that you're running a Mytek 192.

Actually, on a separate note, I was wondering what your experience with the Mytek was in the field. I've read somewhere here or on gearslutz that powering it with anything above 7V will result in wasted power, ie., it will be dissipated as heat. When I ran it, I powered it with 7.5V from my Tekkeon, but the low battery light kept flashing. Is this normal? Everything turned out OK to my ears, but it was disconcerting to see the warning light flash.

Thanks.  I'm curious to see if your Kingston venture is a success.

+T

The mytek low battery light flashes anytime that you're powering it with an external battery source.  I've run it both with a Tekkeon and a wally world dvd battery.  The recordings turn out fine, you just have to learn to tune out the "low battery" flashing light.   

I run the pmd 661 in different configurations depending upon where/what I'm taping.

1). standalone

2). line in V3

3). digi in

I dig it in every mode that I've run it in.  I'd love to see marantz produce a 4 channel all in one recorder.     That might cure my itch for a sd744 or sd788.

[yug du nord]

^^Hey Ted......  I believe Mytek recommends using the lowest voltage possible in order to maximize battery efficiency.  But you can use any voltage that's between the printed specs.  A 9v wally world DVD battery works great!

[tedyun]

Cool thanks guys. That's helpful to know. It's just that flashing Lo Battery light makes me nervous.....

^^Hey Ted......  I believe Mytek recommends using the lowest voltage possible in order to maximize battery efficiency.  But you can use any voltage that's between the printed specs.  A 9v wally world DVD battery works great!

[tedyun]

I accidentally dislodged the power cord when I was moving some stuff around, so there was a hard stop at 7 h on the Kingston 32 GB card, going dig in from the Mytek at 24/96.

That's about 6 h better than before 

Thanks Marantz for finally dealing with this issue! The usefulness of the 661 has just increased about 10x for me now that I can use my 32 GB cards.

I'll test XLR in now (P48 on).

OK -- I'll try digital in first because I noticed that you're running a Mytek 192.

Actually, on a separate note, I was wondering what your experience with the Mytek was in the field. I've read somewhere here or on gearslutz that powering it with anything above 7V will result in wasted power, ie., it will be dissipated as heat. When I ran it, I powered it with 7.5V from my Tekkeon, but the low battery light kept flashing. Is this normal? Everything turned out OK to my ears, but it was disconcerting to see the warning light flash.

Thanks.  I'm curious to see if your Kingston venture is a success.

+T

The mytek low battery light flashes anytime that you're powering it with an external battery source.  I've run it both with a Tekkeon and a wally world dvd battery.  The recordings turn out fine, you just have to learn to tune out the "low battery" flashing light.   

I run the pmd 661 in different configurations depending upon where/what I'm taping.

1). standalone

2). line in V3

3). digi in

I dig it in every mode that I've run it in.  I'd love to see marantz produce a 4 channel all in one recorder.     That might cure my itch for a sd744 or sd788.

[yug du nord]

Cool thanks guys. That's helpful to know. It's just that flashing Lo Battery light makes me nervous.....

^^Hey Ted......  I believe Mytek recommends using the lowest voltage possible in order to maximize battery efficiency.  But you can use any voltage that's between the printed specs.  A 9v wally world DVD battery works great!

Like dactylus said...........   the low battery light ALWAYS blinks when an external battery is used.  As you probably know too, the Power switch is also disabled when an external battery is used.  Nothing to worry about.

[DigiGal]

I'd love to see marantz produce a 4 channel all in one recorder.     That might cure my itch for a sd744 or sd788.

Yeah baby! 

[tedyun]

I'm happy to report that the new firmware (v2.03A) apparently fixes the fussiness with SDHC cards.

My 661 is the Oade SuperMod'ed version. I ran two tests with each card:

1) Digital-in at 24/96
2) XLR-in, P48 on, 24/96

I used the 32 GB PNY Optima and 32 GB Kingston, both class 4 cards (linked in a post above). As mentioned previously, both these cards failed using the old firmware. With the new firmware, in all 4 tests, the 661 recorded > 7h with no hiccups. I stopped the tests intentionally (and once unintentionally) after a suitable amount of time had been recorded.

Thanks to Marantz for finally dealing with this issue. To me, this was the achilles heel of the recorder. I loved everything about it, but I couldn't find anything besides my single PNY 8 GB card that I felt confident to record on. The ability to reliably record onto a variety of SDHC cards increases its utility 10x for me.

I'll definitely report back if I encounter any problems, and likewise I hope others report their success/failure with this new firmware, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic that they've fixed the problem.

[Since85]

Cool,

I also seem to be doing fine w/ Lexar 16gb professional card using the new firmware update. Any other reports?

Also...

Is there a need anymore for auto file splitting so as to not exceed a certain file size (like 2 gb)?. I use Peak Pro on a Mac, and it seems to handle files > 2 gb OK.
Is it better to do splits for stereo files @ 1 hr (assuming 24/96), to keep files right at 2 gb?

Thanks for any info!

[bhoy]

I also just upgraded the FW.  With the old FW, I was recording 24/96 last week onto a Panasonic Class 10 16GB card, got the Err9 message 5 min before house lights down, rebooted and started recording again.  I was shocked to look into my sidepack 5 min into the show to see the deck completely shut off.  I'm new to the 661 and I didn't know there were problems with large cards. 

Am I better off getting a 8GB card since I don't need such a large capacity?  I hope the new FW fixes things, as I hate blowing shows.

Bill

[su6oxone]

I also just upgraded the FW.  With the old FW, I was recording 24/96 last week onto a Panasonic Class 10 16GB card, got the Err9 message 5 min before house lights down, rebooted and started recording again.  I was shocked to look into my sidepack 5 min into the show to see the deck completely shut off.  I'm new to the 661 and I didn't know there were problems with large cards. 

Am I better off getting a 8GB card since I don't need such a large capacity?  I hope the new FW fixes things, as I hate blowing shows.

Bill

That sucks... FWIW, I've never had a problem using a 16GB Transcend SDHC card with my 661.

[dactylus]

I also just upgraded the FW.  With the old FW, I was recording 24/96 last week onto a Panasonic Class 10 16GB card, got the Err9 message 5 min before house lights down, rebooted and started recording again.  I was shocked to look into my sidepack 5 min into the show to see the deck completely shut off.  I'm new to the 661 and I didn't know there were problems with large cards. 

Am I better off getting a 8GB card since I don't need such a large capacity?  I hope the new FW fixes things, as I hate blowing shows.

Bill

I would say that the problem is the "Class 10" speed of the card or extremely poor quality control in the manufacturing.  I would stick with the recommended cards in the 661 threads and NOT go above Class 6 FWIW.

[ben_r_]

I also just upgraded the FW.  With the old FW, I was recording 24/96 last week onto a Panasonic Class 10 16GB card, got the Err9 message 5 min before house lights down, rebooted and started recording again.  I was shocked to look into my sidepack 5 min into the show to see the deck completely shut off.  I'm new to the 661 and I didn't know there were problems with large cards. 

Am I better off getting a 8GB card since I don't need such a large capacity?  I hope the new FW fixes things, as I hate blowing shows.

Bill

That sucks... FWIW, I've never had a problem using a 16GB Transcend SDHC card with my 661.

Same here, Im using a Class 10 Transcend 16GB SDHC card with no issues.

[GDfan]

I've been using a 16gb sandisk card for a year now, no problems.  I don't run 24/96. usually 24/44 or 24/48. not sure if that would make a difference.