Hi guys, I have my first big shoot starting tomorrow and have just been given a late equipment list. We've been given an HHB PDR 1000 TC, has anyone used this before? We'll be using 2 lavalier's along with a shotgun condenser for production sound. Long story short it is not possible to obtain a hard disk recorder and the essential issues are my inexperience with DAT and such a machine and the editor's request for hard disk data. Does anyone know if it's possible to transfer the data from this machine to my computer at home without relying on a company to do it for me? I have a personal h4n which I may rely on tomorrow as there is little dialogue. If anyone has any tips or advice on using this gear It'd be greatly appreciated. I am a noob with this gear so if i've asked something stupid advanced apologies! Also advanced thanks for any help anyone can give, will provide more info if needed. Nick
2 Answers
you can connect DAT to computer via s/pdif. will need to record at 48khz/16bit. mind, the tape tends to stretch at the beginning so best to stay away from recording for the first few minutes. how long does the battery last with p48 on? not sure what will happen with TC once you transfer back to computer, the editor might well be after TC too.. good luck!
The HHB is a really good DAT recorder and it can output via AES/EBU which can easily be transferred complete with timecode if you are using a Pro Tools HD rig, but for home use this is way too expensive. I would use the spdif as suggested above. One thing I would be very careful with is the brand of tape and making sure that you have fast forwarded and rewound it all the way through before 'striping' it. Also give the tape plenty of time to eject otherwise you might find that it gets caught in the mechanism.