davegee

Hi Barry, There were two difference - Vista AND Audacity / XP AND Audition. Not to dwell too much on the quality issues with MP3's but as you state the difference in quality between WAV and MP3 is very little provided that the quality of the MP3 is 128Kbps or above (I use 256Kbps). My arguement is, and always has been, that you do not continually edit/save/edit/save/edit/save MP3s. You SHOULD, for best quality, go back to the WAV file OR original MP3 to do that sort of editing. Same thing applies to TIFF and JPEG files. DaveG

Toke, This might be the sort of thing you are looking for: http://www.photocompviewer.co.uk/ I can't offer any comments regarding performance/quality because we have never used it. We use PTE exclusively. DaveG

Umberto, I'm using XP and Audition. DaveG

What I was suggesting was that if you are going to work on a music file for which you only have an MP3 version file it might be a good idea to save it as a WAV file before editing. That way, any edits and saves you make will not degrade it any further until you finally save to MP3. If the MP3 you save is not what you wanted or requires further editing go back to the WAV version to do the edits - don't edit the saved MP3. By the way, I always use 256 Kbps for my MP3 files - a good compromise between quality and small file size. DaveG

Umberto, I read your original post again and I understand a little better! I have never experienced this - every time I modify the original sound track (in Audition) and export the MP3 it overwrites the MP3 in the PTE Project folder without any error messages (even with the project open). This leads me to think that there is no problem with PTE but rather with something in your computer setup? Yachtsman, When converting tracks from CD to HDD it makes more sense to save them as WAV files if they are going to be edited. If they are going straight into PTE - no problem - go to MP3 immediately. If your "original" is already an MP3 (download etc) then first save it as a WAV (you haven't gained or lost anything) to distinguish it from edited MP3 copies. DaveG

Consider this: An MP3 file is like a JPEG - the more you open it, edit it and resave it the more compressed it gets and it loses quality. I ALWAYS go back to the WAV file to edit and make changes and then save as MP3 to the PTE folder WITH THE SAME NAME. It doesn't matter if PTE is open or not - it will overwrite the previous file. It is quicker, more convenient and it remains at first copy quality with minimum compression. It is "crazy" to do it any other way (my opinion). DaveG

Plays OK on my laptop with 64Mb card but music stutters a little. I recognised the melody but did not realise it was Chet. Igor, you have not only good musical taste but good choice of musicians to play the music!! DaveG

While browsing through Sound On Sound Mag I noticed that another possibility exists for those still wanting to go with the hand-held digital recorder route. YAMAHA have a new model which is priced at around £250. It appears to be so new that there is no mention of it at their UK website! DaveG

Peter, I don't want to hi-jack your thread, but I have a question or two for Yachtsman: 1) Have read the manual for your TV? 2) What is the resolution of your TV? 3) Is there any mention in the manual of a resolution restriction when using the VGA input? Your TV is going to be 1360x768 OR 1920x1080 (PROBABLY) and I'm willing to bet that you COULD be sending a higher resolution imagethan 1024x768 to your TV and viewing FULLSCREEN (or maybe FULL HEIGHT) without any upsizing or stretching etc - that is ACTUAL PIXELS. DaveG

Nice demo Igor!! I think I might find a use for the last version. Well done. DaveG

Brian, I can't disagree with any of that. Perhaps you have some knowledge on different types of mikes which might be useful? i.e. What's the benefit of using a "phantom powered" mike? Are they a) cost effective and/or any better? DaveG

Brian, At £139 plus the cost of a GOOD microphone, wouldn't the EDIROL unit I linked to above be a good alternative to the H4 etc etc for anyone just wanting to do desktop work? Why route a recorder through it? DaveG

Brian, EDIROL also offer a number of USB Audio Capture devices one of which is: http://www.ediroleurope.com/product_overvi...&country=GB I have used a more basic Edirol UA-1D to interface between a variety of optical output equipped devices such as the MD Recorder, the 16 Track Recorder and my PC for many years very successfully. DaveG

Hi Brian, Comprehensive review - if lacking a little in detail (apologies - just saw the expandable bit) - but no mention of the Fostex FX-FR2LE? http://www.scvlondon.co.uk/catalog/product...products_id=673 The Sony also sounds interesting. I know that it is a slightly backwards step, but for anyone wanting a CHEAPER alternative, there must be plenty of the Sony Mini Disc Walkman units out there ready to be snapped up at bargain prices. I have an MZ-R50 which, when used with SUITABLE Mikes, will produce results comparable with the H4. DaveG

Hi Peter, Maybe I should re-phrase. I have been working with a 16 track digital studio since they first became available and know the pitfalls of having too "hot" an input. My experience is with recording musical instruments and not voice so I bow to the experiences of others. My question, crudely put, was to try to ascertain if the recording level is "automatic" or if it can be adjusted - if it can then I don't see a problem - experience with the machine will tell the user what setup to use. I am not talking about moving the recorder closer or further away from the sound source here. By the way, Peter, back in the early 50's when microphones were sold with instructions that they should not be nearer than three feet from the sound source, a guy by the name of Les Paul started "close miking" his partner and vocalist, Mary Ford. The recordings they made were used by Audio Magazines etc as an example of how things should be done for many years and the quality still holds up very well. Close miking with the correct setup will, I believe, give a far superior result to the other alternative and produce recordings with far less background noise (when recording the voice). Anyone have any experience of the EDIROL or Fostex variants of this type of recorder? The Fostex has: "2 x professional phantom powered XLR mic inputs with precise recording level adjustment control" as well as a built in stereo mic. DaveG

Perhaps it would help if it was explained that CLIPPING is comparable with BLOWN HIGHLIGHTS in photographic terms. What is CLIPPED or BLOWN OUT cannot be recovered. Brian, Is it possible, with this unit, to reduce the recording level to avoid clipping? DaveG

Ray, You said: "given that there are enough pixels in the source images to achieve this" The number of pixels in the source images is immaterial - when making a DVD the images are reduced to fit to 720x576. When playing on ANY TV the 720x576 pixels are INTERPOLATED back up to fill the screen. DaveG

To find the original key, search your old computers PROGRAMME FILES for "reg.txt" If you still have version 4 installed it will find it. Copy the "reg.txt" to a new secure folder on on new computer and when you install v.4 load the key. DaveG

Eric, It is Panasonic's way of saying that the dvd was not formatted on a Panasonic machine and is therefore not recordable to the HDD. All of these machines regardless of make are, to my knowledge, the same. (This is where Brian steps in to say I'm wrong!). DaveG

Hi Ken, I believe that what Eric is trying to do is record two PTE shows of differing aspect ratios onto his Panasonic HDD Recorder so that he can then record them back onto a single DVD. I made the point earlier that on my Sony HDD Recorder this is not possible - it is not possible to digitally transfer a computer burnt DVD onto the Hard Drive of my Sony. Only DVDs originally burnt on the Sony can be digitally dubbed. I suspect that the Panasonic is the same. The only way to do it is via a seperate DVD player in the analogue domain. Eric has not confirmed that his Panasonic is/isn't a HDD model. DaveG

Eric, Is your Panasonic an integrated Hard Disc Drive Recorder or just a recorder/player? If it is a HDD see my post above. You can only "dub" digitally from a DVD made on the Panasonic - a format issue? DaveG

Two thoughts: If the Panasonic is the same as my Sony you won't be able to "dub" from the PTE DVD to the HDD. You will have to use a second DVD player. This will probably involve a loss in quality because you are entering the analogue domain. You are probably right about the VGA (same as HDMI) - you would need to use a seperate lead for the audio. No problem. DaveG

Hi, I haven't tried this, but it MIGHT be possible. The manual for my LCD TV suggests that the scart connections can be used as both input and output. My TV has HDMI and VGA inputs. Using one of these it might be possible to input from a laptop to the TV using HDMI/VGA and output from the scart to my HDD Recorder/Burner and record to the HDD. The resulting recordings can then be edited and burned to DVD - as many as will fill the 4.4Gb. The BIG if is this - does the signal input to the HDMI/VGA input appear at the scart output? DaveG

THANKS XAVER - That's it!! DaveG

I think I have found a bug in 5.52 when using a 1920x1200 monitor. In the timeline, the Customise Slide and Objects and Animation buttons are hiding the Timed Points button making it impossible to access Timed Points. I have reloaded 5.52 - that does nothing. I have 5.52 loaded on my laptop running at 1280x1024 and that is fine. Both versions were installed from the same 5.52 download. I have only had the 1920x1200 monitor for a couple of weeks and this is the first time I have tried to use this feature. DaveG