OK, after running tests on my 8GB CF Card writing to FLAC, I BARELY got over 9hrs of actual recording, while the counter on the cf card once the cf card is formatted reads 16hrs of recording. I think a letter to SD is in order........So what my tests have shown me is this: recording to FLAC is ABSOLUTELY USELESS AT THE MOMENT. I BARELY got better recording times than I do writing to WAV. The 50% space reduction is NOWHERE NEAR accurate
Liek I said, I BARELY got 9-10hrs of recording writing to FLAC on my 8GB CF Card. I SHOULD HAVE gotten enar 16hrs recording to FLAC on my 8GB CF Card.
Also, another HUGE DOWNFALL recording to FLAC is battery drain. I had a FULLY CHARGED 6000mah 722 battery when i ran my last test writing FLAC to my 8GB CF Card, and I ONLY GOT 2hrs and 40mins on the card written because my battery died after ONLY 2hrs 40mins
That is FREAKIN HORRIBLE IMO. I NORMALLY get about 7hrs SAFELY when writing WAV to JUST my 8GB CF Card. So I saved next to ZERO recording space recording to FLAC and I DRAINED my 6000mah battery only 2hrs 40mins. DEFINITELY not wortyh it recording to FLAC on the 7-series ANYTIME SOON.
Has ANYONE besides myself and Boojum run any tests to see if this is JUST on my end, or if SD has ALOT of work to do with their on-the-fly flac encoding/writing as a realistic option? Like I have said previously, I could really care less if SD ever gets the flac recording bugs worked out, because my 722 has been ROCK SOLID and 100% RELIABLE while recording WAV to both my 8GB CF Card+INHDD, so I am a HAPPY TAPIR just having it write WAVS reliably to my cf card/inhdd. It would be sweet if they could wrinkle out the flac bugs so if you needed that extra 50% reduction in record space in a pinch, it would be there, but I am not going to whine and cry about it, thats for sure. I simply will buck up and get another CF Card, and since theyre SOOOO cheap nowadays, then that is def the option we will have to go with our 7-series. I just wanted to run these tests to see if flac recording was there for me if/when I needed it. IM VERY GLAD I ran these tests first, because if I went to use the flac recording option in a pinch and got SCREWED because it simply doesnt save 50% of your space, not to mention the HUGE battery drain it has on the batteries, I would have been PISSED. I not only wouldnt have gotten the whole show show due to running out of cf card space recording in FLAC, I would also have been BUMMED when my battery ran out after only 2.5hrs of recording
So for that reason alone, Im glad I ran those tests. I am not done yet either. I will continue to do these flac tests until i go thru ALL (4) of my 722 batteries and get consistent results TWICE with every battery
I am thorough to say the least
I would be HAPPY to hear from anyone else recording to FLAC and to hear their test results to see if this is an isolated incident with my 722, or if this is a widespread problem and if SD should be notified
Bean