This is interesting. To date I have been using a Marantz PMD620 pocket
recorder, and have been thinking about switching to a Sony M10 because
of allegedly better internal mics and pre-amps, and continuous
adjustment of levels with a wheel rather than pushing buttons.
Just did a quick test for startup time (counting not properly timed):
2 GB card: about 2 seconds
16 GB card (fast one): about 5 seconds
16 GB card (slower one): about 5 seconds
Which suggests that, given the crudity of my measurements, this device
is also taking longer to start up with larger cards, and that faster
cards do not seem to make any significant difference (bear in mind the
crudity of measurement).
I guess it depends on what you are using a device for. For what I have
done to date really quick startup times have not been an issue (setup
times being several tens of seconds at an absolute minimum). If you are
in a situation where having something ready to record at a moments
notice is important, but simply leaving the device recording
continuously and sorting out the good bits later is not appropriate, you
can always just run it paused until you need to use it (with solid state
recorders there are not the same problems you would get trying to do
this with tape - just some drain on the battery).
Richard
On Thu, 2011-09-08 at 06:34 +1000, Peter Shute wrote:
>
> I timed it last night. 6 seconds to start up without the card, 15
> seconds with it. The card will have stay out till I need it.
>
> Does this mean an 8GB card will take 24 seconds, and a 16GB will take
> 42 seconds? 15 seconds is on the edge of being tolerable, but a lot
> can happen in 42 seconds.
>
> Someone suggested a faster card might help. The 4GB card is simply
> marked "Sandisk 4GB SDHC". Are there faster ones available, and what
> would they have written on them to identify them? I haven't seen any
> mention of speeds on any of the ads I've seen, so I assumed there was
> no choice.
>
> Peter Shute
>
>
> --------------------------
> Sent using BlackBerry
>
> ________________________________
> From:
> To:
> Sent: Thu Sep 08 00:09:40 2011
> Subject: [Nature Recordists] Re: Start time for Sony PCM-M10 with
> memory card
>
>
>
> This is normal. It scans all available media when first powered up.
> More media, the more time it takes to scan.
>
> Curt OIson
>
> Peter Shute wrote:
>
> > I recently tried adding a 4GB memory card to my PCM-M10, and have
> > found that it adds quite a few seconds to the start up time. It
> > seems to check through the memory before it's ready.
> >
> > Is this normal, or do I need to format the card or something?
> >
> > If it's normal, is the time proportional to the size of the card?
> If
> > so then I might cancel my plans to get a 16GB card to leave in the
> > machine, and get some 4GBs to keep in case the internal memory
> fills
> > up instead.
> >
> > Peter Shute
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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