I'm seeing these units for sale at Consumer Electronic stores and the
prices are dropping, but I'm not familiar with their features or
specs........ Do they have any value for recording, storing, or
archiving audio?

J_West

In article writes:

I'm seeing these units for sale at Consumer Electronic stores and the
prices are dropping, but I'm not familiar with their features or
specs........ Do they have any value for recording, storing, or
archiving audio?

I suppose that you could use one with a PCM adapter (like the Sony
PCM-F1/501/601 series) but what's the point? You can assemble a
computer for less than a hard disk video recorder, and even the
built-in audio interface is probably at least as good as the
converters in a late-'80's PCM adapter.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 1:20:11 -0800, Johnston West wrote
(in message ) :

Do they have any value for recording, storing, or
archiving audio?
--------------------------------snip----------------------------------


Are you talking about D-VHS or the Tivo-like hard drive High Def video
recorders? And do you mean "HD = High Definition," or do you mean "HD = Hard
Drive"?

If you mean high def video, I'd say no bloody way. HD video and audio are
two very different recording mediums.

If you mean Hard Drive, then I'd say just buy a dedicated hard drive-based
audio recorder like the Mackie or the Alesis. Don't reinvent the wheel --
buy the right tool for the right job.

--MFW

If you mean Hard Drive, then I'd say just buy a dedicated hard drive-based
audio recorder like the Mackie or the Alesis. Don't reinvent the wheel --
buy the right tool for the right job.

--MFW

Yes I mean 'Hard Drive' recorders......... And I do use the right tool
for the right job; A laptop for mutitrack recording, with Presonus
M80 mic pres with Jensen Tranformers and 8 good mics.

My point is that these things are gonna be a few hundred bucks soon,
and I'm just curious about their quality and features..... They have
40 and 80 gig drives, and if they record in 'full fidelity' with CD
quality sound and have analog or digital inputs, they could be cheap
and useful for archiving CDs, quicky stereo recordings etc..... That's
all. Inquiring minds want to know.

J_West

In article writes:

........ And I do use the right tool
for the right job; A laptop for mutitrack recording

Right tool? I use a multitrack recorder for multitrack recording.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

(Mike Rivers) wrote in message news:znr1068817062k@trad...
In article writes:

........ And I do use the right tool
for the right job; A laptop for mutitrack recording

Right tool? I use a multitrack recorder for multitrack recording.


ahhh....... my laptop IS a multitrack recorder? (just like a real
computer .... and no wasted transfer time for editing..... cut out
the middle man g

J_West

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 22:39:49 -0800, Johnston West wrote
(in message ) :

and I'm just curious about their quality and features..... They have
40 and 80 gig drives, and if they record in 'full fidelity' with CD
quality sound and have analog or digital inputs...
--------------------------------snip----------------------------------

I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. All Tivo-type devices, including Replay and
similar PVR's (Personal Video Recorders) like those made by Pioneer, Zenith,
Goldstar, and many others, are using MPEG-3 compression schemes for both
audio and video. Both are compromised in many ways and are far from "full
fidelity." I've also never seen a Tivo-type device with digital inputs. The
industry is strongly against this. They're also against building Tivo's with
Firewire inputs and outputs; when Replay tried to buck this trend, they were
hit with several lawsuits, which didn't help their financial condition.
(Replay has since gone bankrupt, but is barely hanging on these days.)

Have you actually used and/or listened to one carefully? Of the five I own,
two are DirecTivo boxes that record the MPEG-3 stream directly off satellite.
The video quality from these isn't too bad, since you're not going through
an addition D/A - A/D encoding pass, but it still isn't perfect. And it'd
be crazy to try to adapt a box like this for uncompressed PCM audio
recording, given the tools already widely available that are designed for
that job.

--MFW

In article writes:

ahhh....... my laptop IS a multitrack recorder? (just like a real
computer

No, your laptop is a real computer. You probably have a multi-channel
audio interface attached to it (how many channels? What kind of
inputs?) and you have some software that makes it record audio. And
you probably would have latency problems if you ever needed to do
overdubs.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Marc Wielage wrote in message

All Tivo-type devices, including Replay and
similar PVR's (Personal Video Recorders) like those made by Pioneer, Zenith,
Goldstar, and many others, are using MPEG-3 compression schemes for both
audio and video. Both are compromised in many ways and are far from "full
fidelity."

Thank you. That was my question. I've never used used one of these
units and now it is cleared up for myself and others. They are
obviously '****e' for audio.

I've also never seen a Tivo-type device with digital inputs. The
industry is strongly against this. They're also against building Tivo's with
Firewire inputs and outputs; when Replay tried to buck this trend, they were
hit with several lawsuits, which didn't help their financial condition.
(Replay has since gone bankrupt, but is barely hanging on these days.)

Have you actually used and/or listened to one carefully?

No I haven't, which is why I was asking the group.


Of the five I own,
two are DirecTivo boxes that record the MPEG-3 stream directly off satellite.
The video quality from these isn't too bad, since you're not going through
an addition D/A - A/D encoding pass, but it still isn't perfect. And it'd
be crazy to try to adapt a box like this for uncompressed PCM audio
recording, given the tools already widely available that are designed for
that job.

--MFW

Thanks Marc.

J_West