Deity PR-4 Recorder

[fanofjam]

Nice review.

Remote control via the same Sidus app used with PR-2?

Yes I just grabbed the Sidus app and it interfaces fine with the PR-4.  Seems to set up glitch-free...took less than five minutes to register on the app and have the app recognize the PR-4, of course after I enabled bluetooth on the PR-4. 

I never used the app with PR-2 for reasons I mentioned before.  Is there a lock function on the app so that nothing can be reset while your phone is in your pocket.  I did start and stop recording via the app just now and I like that before stopping the recording the app asks if you really want to stop recording, which should prevent accidental stopping, but I'd also like a lock to prevent any other controls from being accidentally bumped.  TIA.

[fanofjam]

For what it's worth, I've left the PR-4 on for the last two hours with it recording (no mics attached though) and I can't feel that it's any warmer than it was when I first took it out of the packaging.  Probably not indicative of anything though until I connect two sets of mics with phantom turned on.

[fanofjam]

I just spent another hour trying to confirm that my initial concern about no file delete from the menu is correct and I just can't find where you can do this, so I really think my initial concern holds true. Someone please correct this if you see something I don't.

I was also starting to doubt my conclusion that the SD and SSD can't be independently controlled to switch either of them on and off, but I think that's also holding true.  The reason I was starting to doubt is the basic screen has two tiny little icons that are continuously lit green...one for the SD and one for the SSD.  My thinking was that, logically those icons should correspond to the SD and SSDs being enabled...like say green for enable/on and red for disabled/off.  However, that doesn't appear to be how it works. 

Upon switching on the PR-4, those two icons don't initially appear on the main screen.  Then after five to ten seconds, the come on and are lit green.  I think what's happening is that the machine goes through some sort of self-check and one of the self-check functions that the SD and SSD are both working properly.  If there's no SD card in the slot, the only icon that lights is the SSD icon.  But with the SD card installed, both of them come on.  I don't have a bad SD card to check, but my bet is that if either the SD card or SSD go bad, the corresponding icons will light red instead of green. 

I'll double check the manual to see if there's anything about these lights/icons and/or confirm the above.

EDIT:  Nope, the colors of the lights associated with the SD and SSD cards is simply to indicate if they are almost full.  They are lit green until there's only 1 hour of recording time left, then they turn red.  I mean, that's nice and all, but I'd REALLY prefer having the ability to independently control the SSD to toggle it off, especially if it draws much battery power.

[Gutbucket]

If only because it is much easier to see and more fully labeled (at least it is on PR-2), you might try using the Sidus app only to check settings and available menu options, even if not using it for while recording.

Nice review.

Remote control via the same Sidus app used with PR-2?

Yes I just grabbed the Sidus app and it interfaces fine with the PR-4.  Seems to set up glitch-free...took less than five minutes to register on the app and have the app recognize the PR-4, of course after I enabled bluetooth on the PR-4. 

I never used the app with PR-2 for reasons I mentioned before.  Is there a lock function on the app so that nothing can be reset while your phone is in your pocket.  I did start and stop recording via the app just now and I like that before stopping the recording the app asks if you really want to stop recording, which should prevent accidental stopping, but I'd also like a lock to prevent any other controls from being accidentally bumped.  TIA.

I didn't use the app to control the PR-2 originally, preferring simple direct hands on control of the device, partly for the reasons you mention.  I did later start using it occasionally simply as a way of easily confirming all settings.

However because I'm now using now using two PR-2 to record four channels, I use the app every time while recording to sync the clocks and for simultaneous transport control.  It makes for easy syncing of date/time beforehand, of timecode just prior to the start of recording, and a single button push to start/stop both recorders.  It provides control for powering both off afterward, and for batch firmware updates to the recorders wirelessly from the phone. 

I'm unaware if there is a lock function in the app (I don't think there is), so I simply either minimize the app (if actively doing something else with the phone) and/or push the power button of the phone to disable the phone screen and put the phone in "standby mode", both of which protect from making any accidental changes.  After the phone has been "standing by" in pocket for a while, the bluetooth connection sometimes needs to be reestablished, but doing so has not been problematic.  I've not had any problems with recordings being stopped accidentally when controlling the recorders via the app.

The app has been additionally useful to "check that meters are moving" on both recorders, and otherwise confirm everything else is good while recording, including both clocks in visual sync and the input gain of all channels is correct and unchanged.  The app has not been very useful for accurately confirming levels (meter movement is quite intermittent and not smooth), or for accurately adjusting levels while recording if necessary because control of levels via the app is via on screen "faders".  For that reason its better to adjust levels directly on the devices themselves if possible, much more accurately via the detented input wheel of the PR-2. [Edit- a TS member in the PR-2 thread mentioned a work around for this, which entails setting up a number of saved configurations that differ only in input gain setting and switching between them using the app, rather than trying to change gain via the screen sliders.  Clever, but I've not yet tried it.   And I now pretty much know what gain settings I'll need beforehand so rarely need to adjust while recording)]

Obviously some of this is specific to PR-2 and may not apply to PR-4, but may be helpful for you.