Fostex PD-6

[Mix Master Marty]

I was flipping through the "Location Sound Corp" catalogue recently and I came across the Fostex PD-6. It can record 6 tracks onto DVD-RAM. It's still a 1st generation product, which means it has a few limitations (ex. It only supports .WAV, not AIF or SDII). Anyway, I was wondering if anyone out there who is actually using this device could share his/her experiences. :?:

[Steumann Neumann]

I think it's too early to tell if the PD-6 is worth it. I'm a big fan of the PD-4 and Fostex products in general, but from what I hear the PD-6 isn't ready to compete with other such devices. If you're really in the market for a multi-channel DVD-RAM recorder, I suggest looking into a Deva. Zaxcom just introduced the Deva III, IV and V, which support 6, 8, and 10 channels respectively.

Keep in mind the Deva can also record to hard drive.

[Roland Morris]

I think it's too early to tell if the PD-6 is worth it.

Why would you say that. It works perfectly. Considering the software has only just gone to 1.01, it is quite surprising how well it works. The only bad comments I've encountered are regards the menu system. Otherwise it works as advertised.

[Pedro Van der Eecken]

I'm using the PD-6 on a mini-series shoot for the last 5 weeks. I'm really happy with this recorder. I used to work (and still work with them in back-up) with the PD4.

The nice things are the non-linear media type, wich means no worries when playbacking a previous recording, a quick access to them and above all, the six tracks right out of the box. The internal mixer is quite advanced, especially compared to the rather basic but usefull one in the PD-4. I'm using it on my sound-cart, so as a recorder. But I've shot some scenes in car's just on the PD-6 with the build in mixer, and it works well.

The disadvantage of having this piece of fine equipment in Belgium is the fact that no post-house can handle the multitrack files from my PD-6. They all have to convert them to split-files. We are still looking to find an easy way to transfer the dailies without taking 5 steps. Aldough taking those 5 steps is already quicker than it was with good old DAT... so even production companies are (a little bit) happy with the PD-6.

I want to find a plug in or extra program that's capable of transferring all my recordings into a pro-tools session on there original time stamp, that would make the life of a lot of people much easier... so if anyone has an idea.... let me know.

Another disadvantage is the fact that you're on your own to discover all the do's and dont's with this recorder... but I was really surprised by the clearness of the menu-structure. Especially when you are used to 'read' the almost illegible fostex user manuals. ;-)

A nice feature is the file-naming function by an external keyboard... Easy to manage your recordings afterwards...

[thierryd]

The disadvantage of having this piece of fine equipment in Belgium is the fact that no post-house can handle the multitrack files from my PD-6. They all have to convert them to split-files. We are still looking to find an easy way to transfer the dailies without taking 5 steps. Aldough taking those 5 steps is already quicker than it was with good old DAT... so even production companies are (a little bit) happy with the PD-6.
...
A nice feature is the file-naming function by an external keyboard... Easy to manage your recordings afterwards...

We are working together with Pedro on file conversion, auto-syncing of dailies and file management during further postproduction. Currently we are testing Nuendo synced to Arri-code coming from telecine. Nuendo reads the PD-6 BWFp files nicely and is very fast at syncing to the time-of-day timecode coming from telecine.
Going to ProTools will still involve splitting the BWFp's into mono, but this can all be handled by computers.
Meta-data from the PD-6 also transfers easily into Nuendo.

If you want to see Pedro and the PD-6 in action, there are some low-fi pictures on this link (taken with a small Veo camera in a Palm):
http://www.a-sound.com/Matrios.html

Greetings,

Thierry