Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder (Part 6)

[ButchAlmberg]

Scary, and sucked. It was only 2ch, and everyone at the time was suggesting it was a 4ch thing

[F.O.Bean]

LOL, OK F.O Bean...you have a good plan.  You are worse than me as far as OCD goes .  With stuff like this, you can't be over prepared.

I bought my 70D about 6 weeks ago.  I'm using whatever firmware was current at the time.  I think it was a timeout error...timeout writing to file or something like that.  It happened with 2 different 128 GB PNY cards I had. 

I'm using the 128GB suggested Sandisk Extreme Pro card with no trouble so far.  In case you haven't read back, I use it to record my duo direct out of our mixer.  We play 3 sets, each set being between 50 and 60 minutes.  I will stop and restart it between sets.  I also record our rehearsals.  I have recorded 2 or 3 rehearsals and 2 or 3 gigs so far with no trouble.  Before getting the supported card, it failed on me at a gig and at a rehearsal.  Overnight tests would fail also.  It was pretty consistent.

I also set up an HD camcorder on a tripod to record video.  It's ridiculous how easy it is to fully record performances in high quality today...all digitally.  No tapes to archive .

Ahh that's right! Forgot about that and that was you lol! I was going to get a 128gb PNY Elite, since my 32gb/64gb PNY cards worked great and still do! But when I saw your failures with the 128gb PNY Elite, I decided I better do what you did, and just shell out the extra $20 and got a Sandisk Extreme Pro, just like you did, except I got a 64gb card and not the 128gb like you did I should have my 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro by this coming Monday, so like I said, I will DEF report back about my tests and any issues that might arise[hoping/praying that they DON'T ]

[F.O.Bean]

Scary, and sucked. It was only 2ch, and everyone at the time was suggesting it was a 4ch thing

I had that same problem recently when I got a FAKE 64gb PNY Elite from ebay 2 channel OR 4 channel @ 24/96, I kept getting a "Write Timeout" error! At 24/44.1 it ran fine, but I only tested it for a couple of hours! Hopefully if everyone keeps sticking with Tascam's approved cards, that these problems and issues go away completely, just like they SHOULD

[F.O.Bean]

OK, just got my 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro [SDSDXPA-064G] SD Card today in the mail, and I've already formatted it[ERASE Format, which didn't take more than 1 minute surprisingly] and its already recording in my 70d, with all 4 channels @24/96[MIC IN w Phantom on chan 1/2 and LINE IN on chan 3/4]! So I'll let yinz know if I run into any problems! I'm PRAYING that this card works flawlessly, since its on Tascam's approved card list

EDIT: Well, I filled the new 64gb Sandisk Extreme Pro ONCE already, 15hrs:25mins roughly! Opened the WAVS in WL 6.11 and everything looked great! Getting ready to fill the card again! I just did an ERASE FORMAT and started recording again[4 channels@24/96, MIC IN/Phantom on 1/2 and LINE IN on 3/4]

[voltronic]

On sale for $222 right now - lowest price in quite a while.  (Thanks, hoppedup!)

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=177476.0

[F.O.Bean]

OK, filled my new 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro SD Card up a 2nd time FLAWLESSLY, and filling it up a 3rd time now I ran 4 channels[WAV@24/96, MIC IN/Phantom on 1/2 and LINE IN on 3/4]! I'm trying BWAV this time around just to try, with all of the other settings the same I am pretty satisfied so far and can rest a little easier now that I know this card works great That said, I'm filling it up a few more times before my 1st festie of the year in 3 weeks

[ballisticsquid]

OK, filled my new 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro SD Card up a 2nd time FLAWLESSLY, and filling it up a 3rd time now I ran 4 channels[WAV@24/96, MIC IN/Phantom on 1/2 and LINE IN on 3/4]! I'm trying BWAV this time around just to try, with all of the other settings the same I am pretty satisfied so far and can rest a little easier now that I know this card works great That said, I'm filling it up a few more times before my 1st festie of the year in 3 weeks

Sounds like you got yourself a winner!  Great to hear!  It's a great recorder...when paired with a memory card it likes.

[F.O.Bean]

OK, filled my new 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro SD Card up a 2nd time FLAWLESSLY, and filling it up a 3rd time now I ran 4 channels[WAV@24/96, MIC IN/Phantom on 1/2 and LINE IN on 3/4]! I'm trying BWAV this time around just to try, with all of the other settings the same I am pretty satisfied so far and can rest a little easier now that I know this card works great That said, I'm filling it up a few more times before my 1st festie of the year in 3 weeks

Sounds like you got yourself a winner!  Great to hear!  It's a great recorder...when paired with a memory card it likes.

Exactly! Now maybe more tapers will realize this is a great deck, especially for the $$, since once you get an SD card it likes, then its a SOLID deck

[Brian G]

I ran the DR-70D this past weekend for the first time. Very easy deck to use. I also ran my R-44. Very happy with the way the 70D internal Pres sound.

[F.O.Bean]

I ran the DR-70D this past weekend for the first time. Very easy deck to use. I also ran my R-44. Very happy with the way the 70D internal Pres sound.

Great to hear Brian It is VERY easy to use, and just has what you need, instead of a bunch of useless menu options to sort through

And I ran my new 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro SD Card in my 2nd 70d for the 3rd time flawlessly, completely filling up the card! This time I did all [4 channels@24/96 MIC IN/Phantom on 1/2 and LINE IN on 3/4], but this time in BWAV[Broadcast WAV] files instead of the standard WAV files, just to see if it could handle it, and how my post processing liked the newer BWAV files! Well, it wrote the BWAV files flawlessly too, so I trust my new card/70d faithfully at this point I dont want to jinx myself, but at this point, and with two different 70d's, it is a VERY solid deck IMO! I have recorded hundreds of hours of TV alone with the two decks to test their reliability and to cycle/test battery runtimes and whatnot, and with an SD card it likes, its never done me wrong **knock on wood**

Fluff mode off Sorry, just cant help myself, I LOVE this deck! Its everything I have ever wanted[minus a couple of things] in a small, 4 channel deck!

[F.O.Bean]

Also, after trying numerous MicroSD/SD cards in my 1st 70d last year, and now using the new 70d with my new SanDisk EP SD card, the 70d seems to do the ERASE FORMAT, VERY quickly, when it has a card that it seems to like! My old PNY Elite from last year do the Erase Format pretty fast, but my new 64gb SanDisk Extreme Pro in my newest 70d, well it takes LESS than a minute to complete the whole ERASE FORMAT

Last year when I tried every card that I had[my M10 Micro SD cards mainly], the 70d took FOREVER to Erase Format a few Micro SD Cards that I used for my M10s! And subsequently, those were the cards that the 70d DIDN'T like, and had weird glitches when I did try to record to them! So if you have a card in your 70d that is taking longer than 10 minutes to ERASE FORMAT, then I would CERTAINLY test that card in front of the TV before I went "live" with it Obviously, some of that super fast speed is due to my SD card being brand new, but I don't see it taking longer than a few minutes, even after owning and running the SD card for awhile My [2] PNY Elite SD Cards finish the ERASE FORMAT pretty quickly too! About a few minutes MAX for the 32gb and about 5 minutes MAX for the 64gb PNY cards

[ashevillain]

I'm sure no one cares at this point but I just recorded my first and last show with the DR-70D.

Facts:

- current firmware
- card from approved media list (erase formatted prior to the show...tested for roughly 16 consecutive hours with no issues prior to the show.)
- battery that others have used successfully (and had plenty of juice when the recorder decided to stop recording)
- 2 channel, 24/44.1 with phantom on channels 1 & 2

-> recording just stopped after about 45 minutes...recorder powered off by itself while the battery was perfectly fine (recorder powered right back on after I discovered that it had turned off)

Fuck it. I don't have the patience for this shit. Anyone with more patience than me wants this thing, send me an offer. I'll throw in the battery, battery cable, a card, and a hard case.

[mfrench]

Bad USB cable?
I just had to replace one, due to very similar description.

[Life In Rewind]

Bad USB cable?
I just had to replace one, due to very similar description.

I've had one cable that wouldn't work also - seemed to work ok for data, but not power...

Another related gotcha is - some USB batteries want to be "on" when you turn on the DR-70D.

Otherwise the deck won't see the battery, and you won't get the "BUS POWER" message at startup - resulting in the deck being powered by internals...leading to shorter runtimes.

[kleiner Rainer]

Bad USB cable?
I just had to replace one, due to very similar description.

I've had one cable that wouldn't work also - seemed to work ok for data, but not power...

Another related gotcha is - some USB batteries want to be "on" when you turn on the DR-70D.

Otherwise the deck won't see the battery, and you won't get the "BUS POWER" message at startup - resulting in the deck being powered by internals...leading to shorter runtimes.

Had this problem while doing a software update on a Garmin GPS - it would start the update and then shut down. Replaced USB cable with one that had less resistance on the power carrying wires. The wire size of the USB cable used first was barely sufficient for 100mA USB load...

I have an USB powerpack that would shut down when powering a DR-44WL - recording on internal mics the recorder would draw less current than the auto shut off of the powerpack requires - most modern USB power packs have this feature now.

So - use a short, fat USB cable specified for charging. Hint: if the wire diameter is small, there cannot be very much copper inside...


Greetings,

Rainer