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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: Carlos E. Martinez on December 25, 2012, 08:46:43 AM

Title: Small portable with RCA digital input
Post by: Carlos E. Martinez on December 25, 2012, 08:46:43 AM

It's been some time that I don't follow this forum.

So I would be grateful if someone could tell me if any of the small portables around carries a coaxial digital input, usually RCA, so I can hook it to a satellite decoder or similar.

I already have a Tascam DR-07, so I wonder if another of their smaller models or Roland's can handle such signals. It would save me at least two coding/decoding stages on my recordings.

Thanks.

Title: Re: Small portable with RCA digital input
Post by: fmaderjr on December 25, 2012, 10:02:12 AM

Quote from: Carlos E. Martinez on December 25, 2012, 08:46:43 AM

It's been some time that I don't follow this forum.

So I would be grateful if someone could tell me if any of the small portables around carries a coaxial digital input, usually RCA, so I can hook it to a satellite decoder or similar.

I already have a Tascam DR-07, so I wonder if another of their smaller models or Roland's can handle such signals. It would save me at least two coding/decoding stages on my recordings.

Thanks.

Marantz PMD661 fills the bill. If you want to record music channels, I hope the sound you get is much better than that provided by my Comcast cable. It's horribly compressed and sounds awful. I certainly wouldn't invest in a recorder just to record it digitally.

Title: Re: Small portable with RCA digital input
Post by: H₂O on December 25, 2012, 11:08:53 AM

Also the tascam dr-100mkii

Title: Re: Small portable with RCA digital input
Post by: jb63 on March 12, 2013, 05:34:46 PM

This looks like as good a place as any to post this.

A while back I was thinking about what part of the board on the pmd661 gets the coax in jack, and what it would take to modify a pmd620 to have that digital in. I've opened both up and had a look inside, but it's not a job I could do. The 661 has a lot more connections and the 620 has 2: mic, which accepts phantom power and line, which doesn't.

Does anyone know what would be necessary to modify the 620 to collect its info from a coax digital in? 
It wouldn't have to do anything but pull in a signal at 24/48 or less, since that's all the unit can do, but it's a tiny, lightweight simple piece of equipment and the simplest one I could think of.

Title: Re: Small portable with RCA digital input
Post by: John Willett on March 12, 2013, 06:18:43 PM

There are only 3 on the market:- Marantz 661 (S-PDIF on phono connector), Tascam DR100-II (S-PDIF on special mini-jack) & Sony PCM-D50 (S-PDIF on optical input).

And that's all.

Title: Re: Small portable with RCA digital input
Post by: dallman on March 12, 2013, 06:39:18 PM

Quote from: John Willett on March 12, 2013, 06:18:43 PM

There are only 3 on the market:- Marantz 661 (S-PDIF on phono connector), Tascam DR100-II (S-PDIF on special mini-jack) & Sony PCM-D50 (S-PDIF on optical input).

And that's all.

It is worth noting that on the Tascam DR100MKII, the special mini jack goes into an RCA cable which fits the question being posed here. Also a used MT2496 would work as it too was S/PDIF via RCA cable.

I also haveto agree, the quality of satellite music is such that you could record analog and I cannot imagine it would be noticably different than the digital copy as the sound quality is just not high end.

Title: Re: Small portable with RCA digital input
Post by: Carlos E. Martinez on March 12, 2013, 07:14:50 PM

What I intended to record with this unit were live shows, not satellite music, which is certainly quite compressed and lifeless.

Even if these shows are aired by satellite, they do not sound nondynamic or compressed.