Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder (Part 4)

[stevetoney]

Firmware is rarely revertable, but here's hoping.

The person that had the 70D said he tried all of the firmware versions and it didn't solve the glitches.  Plan B is that I have a million different SD cards that I'll try in it.

[Life In Rewind]

I aint changing nuthin!!!

[mfrench]

Another round of cassettes transferred, and no issues.

Question, please and thanks,....
Powering w/ external USB battery pack.
Something like this OK?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/50000mAh-3-USB-Backup-External-Battery-Power-Bank-Pack-Charger-for-Cell-Phone-/181830020550?hash=item2a55e9edc6

Better, or, suggested?

[ScoobieKW]

That will do fine. The unit draws around a watt per hour recording 4 channel, phantom on.

[Nigel Tufnel]

I ran four channels at a three day fest last month. I used the DR-70 at one stage that had 5 or 6 sets per day and I ran a pair of Busman Omnis on stage into 1-2 with a FOH board feed on channels 3-4.

No glitches found and everything ran smooth once I swapped SD cards at the start of the first day. I had a Transcend 16 gig class 10 card that it refused to write to and I quickly popped in a SanDisk Extreme 16 Gig card and ran that the rest of the weekend. The card glitch was weird since I tested the card in the deck before the fest. Running current firmware. Turns out, my deck is still on 1.10.

I also ran this deck without any glitches at a Wilco show running some Busman large diaphragm mics into a V2 into 1-2 and some Line Audio CM3s into 3-4.

After reading other people's problems, I'm not sure I will run this deck without a backup until it has earned my trust. But knock on wood, so far so good.

[johnmuge]

Don't know if it was a fluke but mine ran fine with the original firmware.  I installed V1.10 and it didn't like the Sandisk micro SD with adaptor any longer that came with the unit free from B&h.  It ran great for 30 minutes and then it turned to total digital crap.  Ruined both sets of George Porter Jr. and I was the only taper there.  Since then, I changed to a Sandisk 16 GB class 4 SDHC and it has run without a problem but mine is also on probation.  My DR-680 and DR60d have never failed me so if it messes up again,  I'm dumping it.  I don't really need it but I like its size and how it sounds when it works.

[vanark]

Well, at one point, I had FOMO on this unit. The fact that there have been numerous reports of artifact on recordings has definitely made me more than happy with my 60D. Does Tascam know about these issues?

[greenmtnsrider]

I did contact tascam and all they did was direct me to their list of acceptable SD cards.

[yug du nord]

It sounds like Class 4 cards might have better luck than Class 10 cards....  maybe??
I'll try to test at home with the Class 4 card again and report back.
I am not switching cards if I find confidence in the Class 4.

.....this isn't a "pro" deck...  so maybe it doesn't like "pro" cards..

[capnhook]

Firmware, not wormware....

[phil_er_up]

Don't know if it was a fluke but mine ran fine with the original firmware.  I installed V1.10 and it didn't like the Sandisk micro SD with adaptor any longer that came with the unit free from B&h.  It ran great for 30 minutes and then it turned to total digital crap.  Ruined both sets of George Porter Jr. and I was the only taper there.  Since then, I changed to a Sandisk 16 GB class 4 SDHC and it has run without a problem but mine is also on probation.  My DR-680 and DR60d have never failed me so if it messes up again,  I'm dumping it.  I don't really need it but I like its size and how it sounds when it works.

Have installed V1.10 and had multiple problems with a  Sandisk 32 GB class 4 SDHC so I switched to a freshly formatted Sandisk 32 GB class 10 SDHC and it had errors too. So as someone said maybe its the 32GB size it does not like...it is like a guessing game and there might not be one answer that fits all...

Almost always run 4 channels. Interesting on the  Sandisk 32 GB class 10 SDHC error. First set ran phantom on one set of channels and other with a preamp. Second set no phantom and ran 2 external preamp and same error. So it errors with phantom on or off...

==========================================================

Question to the group:
What time does it error on the SD card?

My errors seem late into sets...errors start after an  hour of recording...like at 1:12 or 1:22 into a set..only a few glitches too then runs fine to end of set...really weird!!!

Is this what everyone is experiencing on there SD cards -Late set errors running 4 channels?

[morst]

Is this what everyone is experiencing on there SD cards -Late set errors running 4 channels?

I have had trouble on both two and four-channel recordings, with two different cards.

[voltronic]

I did contact tascam and all they did was direct me to their list of acceptable SD cards.

That's a fairly predictable response.  I don't see them taking any investigative action until people start having problems with one of their "approved" cards.

[groovon]

I did contact tascam and all they did was direct me to their list of acceptable SD cards.

That's a fairly predictable response. 

And completely understandable IMO, since they've made it known that cards other than those recommended may prove unreliable(!) 

[stevetoney]

I did contact tascam and all they did was direct me to their list of acceptable SD cards.

That's a fairly predictable response. 

And completely understandable IMO, since they've made it known that cards other than those recommended may prove unreliable(!) 

You must work for Tascam!  It's not understandable response AT ALL.  First off, if there are severe limitations to the media can be reliably used in the DR70D, that should have been flushed out at the testing stage.  It's not quite, but I'd say it's pretty close to a design flaw if only a tiny percentage of the worlds SD card media is able to work in your device. 

Second, in their marketing information on their site, it says...'Tracks on the DR-70D are captured to SD card, SDHC or SDXC media – up to 128GB cards are supported.'  The first line in their specification sheet says 'SD card(64MB to 2GB), SDHC card(4GB to 32GB), SDXC card(48GB to 128GB)'

With the list of approved media shown, neither of the above statements is true.