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First day with the SD833


henrimic

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Hi,

I spent the whole day testing the new SD833. Not in real life yet, but rather an introduction and discovery of the new functions.
First thing, no more Quickboot, but fortunately, the initialization of the recorder only takes 8 seconds, rather acceptable for this type of equipment.
Regarding the battery life, I tested the 833 with an MS couple of Schoeps microphones powered in 48 Volts, and a Wisycom MCR42 receiver connected in AES 3 on inputs 1 and 2. My Audioroot distribution shows a power consumption of more or less 12 W, or about 6 hours with a fully charged 98 Wh battery.
In the end, in a real situation, it will take 2 batteries to last the full day, but it doesn't seem to me to be a fundamental problem, as I always carry spare batteries.

On the other hand, what worries me a little is the heat released by the device. After a while, it becomes almost impossible to hold hands on the frame as it is so hot. The box acts as a thermal radiator, but I have some concerns for the days when the recorder is installed in a bag and the outside temperature is high. I hope that Sound devices has anticipated this aspect well, because the 833 will first be used in a bag. I called other colleagues and they observed the same heat release.
Despite this concern, I love the features offered by this machine. Thanks to the 6 microphone inputs, I can now connect my MS pair to inputs 3 and 4 and link it to keep the potentiometers 1 and 2 free for wireless receivers. With the 633, I had to use 1 and 2 for the stereo pair and lost the possibility to use the second potentiometer.
When the channels are linked, all their parameters are also linked (fader, gain, filter, limiter, etc.).
The menus are very intuitive and easy to navigate if you know the 633, and there are some well thought-out shortcuts like the Pan. By pressing the */** switch and turning the encoder, the Pan can be varied continuously and not only switched betweeen the three fixed positions.

I also like the integrated EQs to compensate for the effect of a fur on a windshield outdoors for example, the adjustable limiters and filters with lower cut-off frequencies but especially a slope of 18 dB/oct, more suitable for cleaning boom handling noises, in my opinion .

The screen is very readable and has a better resolution than the 633.  The colored LED rings around the gains could look a bit "disco style", but are indeed very useful as you can see on which channels there is a signal and if the levels are correctly adjusted. I found in this machine, the qualities of the 788 (Led rings, internal SSD) and the flexibility and ergonomics of the Sound Devices mixers.
Concerning the sound, the preamps seem clearer to me than those of the 633, perhaps because of the absence of input transformers and a decrease in the distortion rate.

This will have to be confirmed after the first shoots in real life situations.
The version of the Firmware I installed today seems to solve a Timecode problem and provides CL12 and Mix-assist support (in addition to Dungan).

After this first day with the 833, it sems that for run and gun, I'll need to prepare configurations as there are so many things that can be customized.

This shows the potential of development and this is exciting as one feel that there is lot to come with this new architecture.

 

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The heat is bad news for us folks in already high heat areas, me Arizona and Southern California where the outside temp can start at well over 100 degrees on a moderate day.. I hated my 788 cooking as well as my 744 back in the day. This may be a deal breaker for me.. if it's cooking in Switzerland, we're pretty much toast in Arizona...LOL  I never have heat issues at all with my 633/688 rigs.. cool man cool..

 

 

Henrimic said...

"On the other hand, what worries me a little is the heat released by the device. After a while, it becomes almost impossible to hold hands on the frame as it is so hot."  

 

Really!!!?

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My 744s have become hot enough, literally, to cook on in some situations, but they never failed, even in sustained high heat situations (closed box, hot day, direct sun) that killed several GoPros.  High heat is a pretty easy thing to test in the lab, no?  I kind of bet SD did this...   However, that doesn't make the machine any more pleasant to use on a hot day.  I will say that was a nice surprise re: 633--runs much cooler than 7xx.  That 833 is one busy box...

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I had a 788 shut down a few times in downtown LA while in a process trailer... it was about 108... but really hot in the cab...Not a pleasant situation.. Man that machine was so hot you could barely touch it.

 

I also had one shut down at Dumont dunes... it was about 115 ..  I think even hotter and that was at 19:30..

 

I agree with Philip, my 6 series machines in the really hot weather seem to do much better, never had a problem in some of the same situations...

Also agree that the 833 is a busy box, a lot going on...  I guess busy has it's price..

 

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Here is what one can read in the FAQ regarding the heat:

 

By design, the chassis of the 833 gets warm, wicking away the heat from the internal components. The cooling of internal components is important for long-term reliability; this is accomplished via our electro-mechanical design utilizing high-thermal-conductivity aluminum and direct heat-sinking of critical internal components.
The 833 quiet mic preamps and powerful processing engines are state-of-the-art — all of this mixing/recording power in a compact chassis means a bit of heat being generated.
Best practices for keeping the 833 as cool as possible include powering down unused channels when not in use, leaving at least ½” of air space around the 833 when used within bags, and by opening rear/side flaps of the bags to allow air to flow.

 

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Well, as AFMY says, a location recorder intended for use on video shoots is going to end up needing to run in very hot conditions.  And the laws of location sound luck dictate that that super hot day in the sun w/ no breeze will also be a day where the recorder is running a "full house", right?   So we'll do the best we can about flaps and airflow and ice packs etc but when the AD yells "roll sound" that thing better roll no matter what.

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1 hour ago, filmsalang said:

Taking out the internal SSD would help the heat problem??? I am considering either SD833 or Nova...

If that helps, SD could sell 833 w/o internal SSD as an option.


An SSD uses almost no power at all, it is very minimal, thus logic would dictate that the 833 heats up very very little due to having an SSD.
(personally I feel that having an internal SSD that you can 100% rely upon is one of the strengths of the 833, not a weakness to be removed)

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On 10/23/2019 at 2:05 PM, henrimic said:

Hi,

I spent the whole day testing the new SD833. Not in real life yet, but rather an introduction and discovery of the new functions.
First thing, no more Quickboot, but fortunately, the initialization of the recorder only takes 8 seconds, rather acceptable for this type of equipment.
Regarding the battery life, I tested the 833 with an MS couple of Schoeps microphones powered in 48 Volts, and a Wisycom MCR42 receiver connected in AES 3 on inputs 1 and 2. My Audioroot distribution shows a power consumption of more or less 12 W, or about 6 hours with a fully charged 98 Wh battery.
In the end, in a real situation, it will take 2 batteries to last the full day, but it doesn't seem to me to be a fundamental problem, as I always carry spare batteries.

On the other hand, what worries me a little is the heat released by the device. After a while, it becomes almost impossible to hold hands on the frame as it is so hot. The box acts as a thermal radiator, but I have some concerns for the days when the recorder is installed in a bag and the outside temperature is high. I hope that Sound devices has anticipated this aspect well, because the 833 will first be used in a bag. I called other colleagues and they observed the same heat release.
Despite this concern, I love the features offered by this machine. Thanks to the 6 microphone inputs, I can now connect my MS pair to inputs 3 and 4 and link it to keep the potentiometers 1 and 2 free for wireless receivers. With the 633, I had to use 1 and 2 for the stereo pair and lost the possibility to use the second potentiometer.
When the channels are linked, all their parameters are also linked (fader, gain, filter, limiter, etc.).
The menus are very intuitive and easy to navigate if you know the 633, and there are some well thought-out shortcuts like the Pan. By pressing the */** switch and turning the encoder, the Pan can be varied continuously and not only switched betweeen the three fixed positions.

I also like the integrated EQs to compensate for the effect of a fur on a windshield outdoors for example, the adjustable limiters and filters with lower cut-off frequencies but especially a slope of 18 dB/oct, more suitable for cleaning boom handling noises, in my opinion .

The screen is very readable and has a better resolution than the 633.  The colored LED rings around the gains could look a bit "disco style", but are indeed very useful as you can see on which channels there is a signal and if the levels are correctly adjusted. I found in this machine, the qualities of the 788 (Led rings, internal SSD) and the flexibility and ergonomics of the Sound Devices mixers.
Concerning the sound, the preamps seem clearer to me than those of the 633, perhaps because of the absence of input transformers and a decrease in the distortion rate.

This will have to be confirmed after the first shoots in real life situations.
The version of the Firmware I installed today seems to solve a Timecode problem and provides CL12 and Mix-assist support (in addition to Dungan).

After this first day with the 833, it sems that for run and gun, I'll need to prepare configurations as there are so many things that can be customized.

This shows the potential of development and this is exciting as one feel that there is lot to come with this new architecture.

 

How much does it draw? Audioroot distro should have a value.

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3 hours ago, RadoStefanov said:

Can you screen shot with channels and mic running in?

 

 

Here are two pictures. The setup is an MS pair of Schoeps and a Wisycom MCR 42 on channels 1 and 2 in AES3, the 833 is recording.

As one can see on the second picture, the consumption is around 14 Watts, so the battery should last more or less 6 hours which is fairly OK. 

Regarding the heat, I trust SD engineers, they know what they do and they certainly know that this recorder will be mainly used in a bag surrounded by a lot of stuff.

I'll keep vigilant but not worried. 

IMG_7540.JPG

IMG_7541.JPG

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7 hours ago, INARI said:

Does anyone around you have a FLIR?
If you know which components are hot, you should be able to take measures

 

If not a FLIR, maybe just a FLUKE-style probe thermometer? In an old job long ago, I used one all the time to figure out stuff like this. That'd help us figure out if the heat the 833's putting out is like 110°F/43°C or more like... I don't know. And we could see if it's building up in a bag to a worrisome level.

 

Lectro says the operating temp range of their SRc is -20°C to +50°C. That's 122°F. And I wonder if Lectro (and other manufacturers) are a bit conservative in their ranges. Also note that just a little bit of space in a bag can let things cool off a bit.

 

So I'd love to hear from a manufacturer of recorders, receivers, bags, power, etc chime in here. Is the heat put off by the 833 likely to cause problems?

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