"henry_io"wrote:
> I wonder if anyone can make any recommendations on portable
> HD recorders capable of recording lossless audio either over
> mic, line or digital in...
After a lot of skepticism, and after several firmware upgrades, the
concert tapers community has embraced the Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 as
an inexpensive HD recorder with analog and digital inputs. JB3 will
record in WAV as well as MP3.
There is a substantial body of information online about the JB3 as a
portable recorder. For starters, see the Tapers' Section JB3 FAQ at
http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=16338.0
You may need to register to gain access.
Creative regularly auctions off refurbished Nomad Jukebox 3s on EBay
for about $200.
Moving to a higher price bracket, the Fostex FR-2 records BWF to
Compactflash cards and hard discs in PCMCIA (PC Card) format. The
advantages of the FR-2 are a better quality pre-amp, and the ability
to select higher sampling rates (all the way up to 24/192 if you're
using a fast flash card, 24/96 for the hard disc). Get a DVD burner
and create your own DVD-A discs!
A Froogle search shows many vendors selling the FR-2 for $1300. Add
about $185 for a Toshiba 5GB PCMCIA hard drive.
For about $1000 more, you should consider the Sound Devices 722, which
has an internal 20GB disc. The 722 is supposed to start shipping in
September.
So is the 722 worth $2000 more than the Creative JB3? Maybe not if
you plan to use an external analog to digital converter. In that
case, either recorder just passes the data stream from the digital
input to the hard disc.
--oryoki
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