Topic: PT: 3 - New Marantz PMD661

[yug du nord]

IMO, class 10 cards are overkill for audio and can cause problems.  Good for video though.  Just my experiences.  YMMV.

[rastasean]

So I recently picked up a used pmd661 and if there's any issues with this one, I can exchange for a different one.

Really liking the unit except today when I took out the card and put it in the computer, it wanted to format it and couldn't find the files on the card. I formatted the card as fat and fat32 on the computer and put it back in the recorder but the recorder wanted to format it again.

I have tried the following SD cards with the same results, no audio on the card after its mounted on the computer.

• 2 x kingston SDHC 16gig class 4
• transcend sdhc 32gig class 6
• 2 x adata 16gig class 6

The recorder records and plays back the files without any issue but its just when mounting the drive that its empty.

The computers I am using are ubuntu 10.10, fedora 16, mac OS 10.5.8. All the cards have been formatted as FAT and work on other devices without fail.

Has anyone experienced this issue before? I read that kingston cards could be an issue but it it appears either all my cards have issues or its a problem with this recorder. Does anyone have any advice?

thanks!



Edit: as much as I don't want to call this resolved, it looks like the only solution I have. Look for the post below to find out the cause and resolution.

[DigiGal]

So I recently picked up a used pmd661 and if there's any issues with this one, I can exchange for a different one.

Really liking the unit except today when I took out the card and put it in the computer, it wanted to format it and couldn't find the files on the card. I formatted the card as fat and fat32 on the computer and put it back in the recorder but the recorder wanted to format it again.

I have tried the following SD cards with the same results, no audio on the card after its mounted on the computer.

• 2 x kingston SDHC 16gig class 4
• transcend sdhc 32gig class 6
• 2 x adata 16gig class 6

The recorder records and plays back the files without any issue but its just when mounting the drive that its empty.

The computers I am using are ubuntu 10.10, fedora 16, mac OS 10.5.8. All the cards have been formatted as FAT and work on other devices without fail.

Has anyone experienced this issue before? I read that kingston cards could be an issue but it it appears either all my cards have issues or its a problem with this recorder. Does anyone have any advice?

thanks!

I'm on OS X 10.6.8, format the card in the 661 and don't have any issues with computer wanting to format the card or not recognizing files.  No problems with putting the card back in 661 after the computer either.  I used to run Tiger and didn't have any problems with that OS but never ran Leopard.

[tedyun]

On my Mac, I can never see the audio files. I always have to mount it on my PC, then move the audio files to the root, and then it can be seen by my Mac. My Mac is 10.6.8.

So I recently picked up a used pmd661 and if there's any issues with this one, I can exchange for a different one.

Really liking the unit except today when I took out the card and put it in the computer, it wanted to format it and couldn't find the files on the card. I formatted the card as fat and fat32 on the computer and put it back in the recorder but the recorder wanted to format it again.

I have tried the following SD cards with the same results, no audio on the card after its mounted on the computer.

• 2 x kingston SDHC 16gig class 4
• transcend sdhc 32gig class 6
• 2 x adata 16gig class 6

The recorder records and plays back the files without any issue but its just when mounting the drive that its empty.

The computers I am using are ubuntu 10.10, fedora 16, mac OS 10.5.8. All the cards have been formatted as FAT and work on other devices without fail.

Has anyone experienced this issue before? I read that kingston cards could be an issue but it it appears either all my cards have issues or its a problem with this recorder. Does anyone have any advice?

thanks!

I'm on OS X 10.6.8, format the card in the 661 and don't have any issues with computer wanting to format the card or not recognizing files.  No problems with putting the card back in 661 after the computer either.  I used to run Tiger and didn't have any problems with that OS but never ran Leopard.

[Rockinman59]

Tom, I was talking about the lock on the card, not the "hold" button on the recorder. I had the problem twice and both times I had locked the card, forgot to unlock it before hitting record, and after I got the msg on the unit about the card lock, I powered down the unit, popped out the card, moved the switch, put the card back in, fired the deck back up, and got the error msg you are seeing. Only after pulling the batteries and leaving the unit off for a few min, then putting the batts back did it seem to clear up. Hope this helps.

Hey Brad,  not sure what you mean by "card lock" or "hold button". The right side of the 661 above the power on switch is the "key lock" which is supposed to keep you or anyone from accidentally hitting stop while recording, I thought that was the function of the key lock.  The SD card has a door on the left side you close, but I didn't know the key lock would lock the card.  I'm not sure why it happened at the Umphrey's show in Richmond which is when we were both there.  I have tested it several times at home with a class 10 card and I can't get it to give an error message now.  I'm resorting now to taping a cap over the stop and record buttons so it can't be accidentally shut off

[rastasean]

So this is what I have determined to be the issues: the pmd661 is very picky about its format and appears to require you to format the card in the device.

when formatting on linux:
# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdb: 15.9 GB, 15931539456 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1936 cylinders, total 31116288 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x000c35e1

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1              63    31101839    15550888+   b  W95 FAT32

When formatting on the pmd661:

# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sdb: 15.9 GB, 15931539456 bytes
230 heads, 21 sectors/track, 6442 cylinders, total 31116288 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1            8192    31116287    15554048    b  W95 FAT32

You will notice quite a few differences between these two. I tried formatting the card with the match heads, sector, start and end but it didn't make a difference.

I then tried formatting the card on the 661, setting up my windows xp machine that's been unused for awhile and connecting the card. Once the card was connected, the directory appeared and there was a file clip i recorded. Once I moved the clip to the root of the directory, i connected it to the linux pcs and found the audio clip!! I tried this out because of what tedyun has to do so he can find the file.

[rastasean]

Rockinman59,

I pretty sure he was referring to the lock on the actual SD card. If you look closely on the left side of the card, you will see a tiny thing that you can slide either up or down. On my cards, the down position means locked. When the locked position is engaged, you won't be able to write, modify, or delete data from the card--its strictly read only. You may remember this from floppy disk days.

The 661 does have a partial keypad and full keypad lock that you can engage by sliding the switch above the power up.

[Rockinman59]

Rockinman59,

I pretty sure he was referring to the lock on the actual SD card. If you look closely on the left side of the card, you will see a tiny thing that you can slide either up or down. On my cards, the down position means locked. When the locked position is engaged, you won't be able to write, modify, or delete data from the card--its strictly read only. You may remember this from floppy disk days.

The 661 does have a partial keypad and full keypad lock that you can engage by sliding the switch above the power up.

Thanks for the info Sean.  The problem I had was when I turned the 661 back on to start recording the 2nd set of the show.  The same card was used for the 1st set and I didn't touch the card nor lock it.  I did use the key lock on the recorder for the 1st set and that was fine, but when I tried it after hitting record on the 2nd set, it gave me this error message (can't recall if it was a Digital in error or an sd card error) and I can't recall which card I used since I have 3 different sized ones (8,16 & 32gb),

[Rodhiripod]

hello friends.
The theme of the Marantz PMD 661 is a bit beyond your battery performance, its special modifications to improve the pre-amps, etc..
I think as powerful recorder should meet certain standards that make it more versatile and convenient for field use.

I wrote some time ago to suggest that Marantz re-design the PMD 661 so that it can accommodate configurations of land with suitable bags, and the remote is not very helpful when working with sound and wanting to be in full swing review parameters and check tracks.
I took the liberty to suggest, humbly, an idea of how rude I think it should be the Marantz PMD 661Aubag.
  with the smaller screen, it saves energy, more space you can add an extra slot for backup battery, etc.

I attached some photos retouched rudely to get an idea.
Let the order, a critical mass to give the change the LDCs, there are 2 models, the traditional and PMD for sound bags
I think that would be welcomed in the community of field recorders.

I hope you understand my English robot Tarzan
A hug from Chile

[Rodhiripod]

hello friends.
The theme of the Marantz PMD 661 is a bit beyond your battery performance, its special modifications to improve the pre-amps, etc..
I think as powerful recorder should meet certain standards that make it more versatile and convenient for field use.

I wrote some time ago to suggest that Marantz re-design the PMD 661 so that it can accommodate configurations of land with suitable bags, and the remote is not very helpful when working with sound and wanting to be in full swing review parameters and check tracks.
I took the liberty to suggest, humbly, an idea of how rude I think it should be the Marantz PMD 661Aubag.
  with the smaller screen, it saves energy, more space you can add an extra slot for backup battery, etc.

I attached some photos retouched rudely to get an idea.
Let the order, a critical mass to give the change the LDCs, there are 2 models, the traditional and soundbags
I think that would be welcomed in the community of field recorders.
A hug from Chile

I hope you understand my  robot Tarzan English

[rastasean]

where's the xlr inputs? to the right of your draft? This would be practical if you had a bag with an opening going out or right angle cables but wouldn't work well for straight cables.

[Rodhiripod]

hello rastasean

the truth is that the XLR will find where they are in the current model as well come out the sides. The idea is to intervene only how information is displayed and the main controls, currently occupy the petrol in a bag PMD, the mic-line are very good for the mixer, but management controls the entry of headphones and gain management are poorly positioned monitor. All this I see the issue of working with the bag on the ground and under conditions which make it difficult to check out the recorder information, stop and start another track, the gain of monitoring headphones, etc.. Another alternative is that there is a more comprehensive remote control to avoid changing the design.

the idea is that total control is visible on the audio bag

Greetings from Chile

[DigiGal]

Rod, maybe in a successor, though it's not realistic that they'll change the layout/form factor of the 661, as it is basically an evolution from the 660 with 620 influences. 

Marantz Professional does, however, currently offer the PMD671 which is more along the lines of what you're looking for... 

[Rodhiripod]

Hello DigiGal.
My English is very poor...

Thank you very much for your time.
The truth is that I used the PMD 671 and find it brittle, and devoid of large autonomy, many things stuffed into a package that does not seem to clear his goal, at the time was a good choice, but my experience turned into something more elaborate and simple.
I understand that it is unlikely to work on modifying the PMD661, but I also sent the idea of having a full remote control, you clear the screen to save power. This would allow the handling of the PMD661 in bags, or connected to other devices.
In the world of recording, I think it would welcome an innovation or improvement in this regard, and it does not hurt to ask ...

photo of the idea of total control
PD: how you do it for the photo to appear in the body of the message and not attached?
greetings from Chile

[dallman]

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.

I was just reading this, and I do not have the light flashing but I was running my Mytek at 12V. I did that, because at that voltage, there was not low battery light flashing. That said, it is good to know I can run at a lower level. I have used the Mytek about 5 times now and always at 12v, always without the low power light flashing. I don't see it getting particularly hot at all, but I assume I'd get a longer run time at a lower voltage. So at 12v the low battery light does not flash for me. Has anyone else tried this?