johngooch

Awhile back. I recall some conversations about Ambient making a radio link for transmitting TC. Was that just vapor? Is it a real product? It sounded like a good idea, and fairly cheap if i remember. thanks, john

If you have the opportunity to share first class section with richard simmons, you'd better not bring a hamburger on board for your meal and you'd better have noise canceling headsets. Truly a scene.

John Paul, I have sent many mini DVD-RAMs to post production without any hassle at all. Initially it was a problem and it required some handholding, but now that DAT is dead, nobody blinks an eye. Some don't want DVD-RAM at all, but that really is their problem for being stuck in stone age. I have a Lacie firewire DVD-RAM drive i've loaned to production in the past if they really can not work it out. DVD-RAM is the most reliable choice for us to use as an optical medium. That is my opinion, i don't think many would disagree. john

Hi jeff, i was not aware of the infinite buffer with DEVA, i be curious to know how well that works. The addition of the hard disc to the PD-6 was a smart move and they added that pretty quickly after the recorder hit the market and i think they did it for free. Your right, the initial perspective focused on using the optical media as the primary recording method but that perspective changed fairly fast after the hard drive was installed. Obviously, the capability was built in to the initial design already and it should have been there from the start. None of these recorders are as futureproof as we'd want them to be. I look forward to never burning a CD or a DVD on set ever again. I hate it when i am working on a commercial and every department is wrapped before i get my discs out. I think we provided the original poster MT some good info to help him with his project with his PD-6. See you at NAB- looking forward to it. John Gooch

If you want to mirror to a DVD-RAM and walk down the street while recording 6 tracks of audio, the PD-6 is the only one that can do it. It is the limitation of the media stability that has everything ham- strung. The buffering needed would be too intense to accomplish this with full size dvd-rams. PD-6 has a feature called auto new partition that allows the machine to record(to HD only) across partions, without losing a sample. This combined with the possibility of mounting the Hard drive to a PC would greatly improve functionality. Also, the added USB memory function on the PD-606 has been very helpful and has opened up the the option to deliver flash memory as a final product. Of course that is PD-606 and not very helpful to PD-6 users. John.

You do not need to format this disc first. However, if i have problem, i would format this disc separately and then do a mirrored format.

Here's how I think I should run this setup: (I'm not gonna use another mixer) - All mic inputs into the PD-6 - PD-6 Analog output into the RME FF400 to feed Boom Recorder iso tracks - Hirose output to feed main mix track on boom recorder to record the mono mix - TC out of the PD-6 to feed 1 input of RME FF400 - RME FF400 individual outs to feed Boom operator headphones, and comtek (Routed via RME Totalmix) - Run PD-6 and Boom Recorder simultaneously. PD-6 will be main, and Boom recorder will be backup. Does that seem like an OK workflow? I think your over complicating things. It might be too distracting. If your PD-6 loses power or locks up, your ISO feeds are gone as well. So the usefulness of BR(boom recorder) as BU is not very valid. With PD-6/EX-12 you can mirror to both DVD-RAM and internal hard drive. Granted it is not foolproof but you are protected against bad media with the HD. Like any other recorder PD-6 has had its share of problems but on the plus side it is a simple device and in my opinion-reliable. If you were adding tracks with boom recorder, that would be a different argument. I would use the PD-6 and get a more agile backup recorder(702t-FR-2-Tascam) and run it separate from PD-6. However, my comments don't solve your desire to not use another mixer. PD-6 mixer is pretty basic, nothing more than what an eng mixer would give you. In a drama situation, it probably w not serve you well. PD-6 is a power hungry recorder. Keep it powered up and you will have no TC problems. I have had none. And to add to what others have mentioned about things to watch out for. Be careful how you set your battery cutoff threshold. That can be a rude awakening. If using regular gel-cel batteries set for the lowest threshold possible. Be careful, if the wrong voltage is selected, you can get a power low warning and 2 seconds later, complete shutdown. PD-6 will autosave a file every 60 seconds so you have some protection but that could be a really rough 59.999 seconds of missing audio on some sets. I've rarely used the 2+4, or 5+1 options on PD-6. I think it may confuse post if they have to sort thru different files for each take. I think it is a good idea but have not used it much. I've always submitted a mix on track 1 and ISOs 2-6. john.

Thanks Glen, Yes i made the conclusion that Position 1 of the mixers monitor was Buss #1. The workaround that you describe allows for mono monitoring of buss 1 and 2 . The operator would still deal with monitoring the other busses/returns in pairs. Not a huge hurdle but something to you have to adjust to. john gooch.

Thanks Glen for your comprehensive review. From what i can understand from the review and from the on line manual, With the exception of buss #1 there is no way to monitor the other individual buss outputs. You can only monitor pairs of buss outputs? Same for the returns? I would not have a problem with this if they installed a simple L/R select switch to allow the user to listen either the left (or odd) or the right(or even) side of the selected buss pair. I guess it would be an Odd/Even select select switch to avoid confusion? Am i understanding the functioning of the monitor system correctly? john

Thanks Daniel and Doug! Mine is way old and rusty(literally) and i am considering going back to that style of working. So much lighter, and easier to deal with than the whitman sampler style of packing the gear into a big pelican. john.

Does anybody here know where i can obtain a new rollerbox? I am referring to the lightweight design that was made of either a reinforced plastic or fiber material with the removable drawers? I'll attach a picture of my old one for reference. thanks.

Thanks Steve! I will pop by and take a look.

Ok, now we know how to hide ourselves and how that whole thing works. Now, i want to know why some are "hero members" "Sr members" etc... I am a "Sr Member" I am not that old! Inquiring minds want to know

Hi Steve, hope your well. Any chance the Studio Live will be at NAB? Will it be at the LSC booth? thanks, john

The days of big pharma spending big money to excite their own sales force are over. Yes they have money, but they don't want to spend it on video projects. I've seen this first hand with some of the largest companies. Other side of the coin- Because things are more immediate or the fact that alot of projects are vapor as soon as they are done, there is in general more work being done. I have clients who have hired me to work on their pharma "podcast". This was not even a medium a few years ago. Of course they will figure out how to do it "faster and cheaper" and forgo "better" but for now it is a new medium and it is a viable source of revenue. As far as how i've been treated on these things, pretty good. Better treatment than a reality show! I can't make a career out it but for now it helps fill in the gaps. Yes, overtime is paid and there is rarely a question about a bill when the job is finished.

Watch "this film is not yet rated it investigates the hypocritical practices of the MPAA. Sex gets a worse rating than violence almost every time. Well done movie.

I think that it is important to keep this in context. The project that the original poster described was a training sales piece for a pharmaceutical. From my experience, these are typically jobs that have more ambition than ability and money. And they usually have a shelf life of weeks, many times created just for a single meeting. Not a commercial, not an episode of a TV series, certainly not a drama piece. The clients know they have a short lifespan and therefore have limited funds. Great that the job got done, no way in hell would the producers of a job like this come up with the funds to do it in a way that is comfortable for most of us. With that in mind, this type of work pays the bills for many many crew members here in the northeast,including myself at times. I understand that we should never sell our craft short, and there is right way and wrong way to do things but in this scenario, it typically is back to basics and it is almost like doing a doc. That's my opinion.

from SD: Fader lag time= 10 ms. Pretty minimal in my opinion. Now we know. John Gooch

From my experience, a thumbdrive that has been pre-loaded with any backup software chokes when connected to PD-606. I had something called U3 launchpad on my thumbdrive and PD-606 would not recognize the USB thumbdrive until i removed it. Sandisk had a very simple utility that did that very well. So far 2gb and 4gb drives have worked well in tests. two different brands.

Good point Glen! I guess i am more concerned with Lag specs. A control surface with significant fader lag would be an issue for me.

Ok, I didn't mean to open a can of worms here. From my experience, not many manufacturers publish latency specs. There are several Mixers here who participate in these NGs that are SD beta testers and have provided equipment reviews for various outlets. I thought maybe someone asked this question before. I'd be surprised if i was the only one to ask. Honestly, it was one the first things i thought of when SD introduced a control surface. I'll go to the SD user forum for the measured spec. I'll let you know.

Now that sound devices is in the control surface business, has anyone here have latency specs? If any? Thanks, John Gooch