Women in Technology

Article:		Review: Zoom H4 Handy Recorder
Subject:		RECORD TIME GLITCH
Date:		2008-08-16 20:28:07
From:		E-Mon
Has anyone else experienced this problem?? Recording @ 44.1 16bit WAV it comes out very close to 1hr. per GB of card memory. I'm using a 2GB card and got just about 2 hrs @ a recent gig I recorded. Then the other night (a far more "important" gig) The card Maxed out @ about 44 minutes..... I.E. Got the first set and assumed everything was fine for set #2. Only got about 40 seconds of the second set. Of course I didn't know that the memory was full because I was on stage playing my ass off. It's done this a couple of other times. It's like the card started recording about 1/2 way through the card"s memory. One time by chance.... before starting to record, with a fresh card (all files deleted) out of curiosity I checked "Time Remaining" to see how much time I had, and it was showing the card was about half full????? WHY?? What was it "full" with?? It was saying "NO DATA" in the screen. This was quite a while ago and I think I cured the problem by re-formatting the card. You would think you shouldn't need to do that once the card has been initially formatted. From now on I'll be checking "Time Remaining" EVERY TIME I record.... Even with a "fresh" card. Putting this out there as FAIR WARNING for others. You cannot imagine my disappointment (as well as having to face the disappointment of 9 other people in this group) at not getting the second set. Ironically.... What makes it even more disappointing is that I finally found the "magic" spot for placing the H4.... AND what I did get sounds GREAT!!

Showing messages 1 through 1 of 1.

• RECORD TIME GLITCH
  2008-08-24 02:15:43  MLinVA [View]
  
  
  Hi, I am a live sound engineer and have used the H4 for a year to record rock bands live. (try hanging the H4 from something to counteract the body noise)I discovered the same thing you did with the format, it needs to be done each time the card is full. Also you lose any settings you would intuitively think would stay with the machine, and have to be reentered and I use the auto limiting which seems to work well if you are careful when setting it.
  
  I have been having serious problems with memory cards. Severe drop out rendering entire nights recordings useless. The typical H4 recordings have been coming out good enough for some of the bands to consider releasing a live recording CD. Some SD cards will be ok for awhile then suddenly fail, some fail from the beginning, and some partially fail, then completely fail. Zoom has my recorder right now and is checking it out. Does anyone know if the Ultra or Extreme chips are working any better?