Re: SD 744 Reliability ( No Flaming)
- From: "Jon Tatooles" <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:03:37 -0500
Gary,
There is no question that some of the early versions of firmware for the 722
and 744T needed work. The problems we have seen since December of 2004
(first units shipping) have overwhelmingly been related to firmware issues.
Our revision history for the 744T is available at
www.sounddevices.com/download/744t-firmware.htm. Particularly, revision 1.24
was problematic because it could write duplicate audio data due to the way
it handled cached audio from its dynamic pre-record. Time code in revisions
earlier than 1.23 had problems that users quickly pointed out. Again, the
rev history shows most of that. I have talked to customers in recent days
with revision 1.10 (!) on their recorder. We recommend staying current.
Revision 1.42 has been out since late June. We will soon release another
revision of firmware that has no new features (unlike most of the other revs
which added features along with the bug fixes) but again improves the
robustness of FireWire for both Mac OS and Windows. Each OS and bus speed
(Mac/Win 400/800) handle FireWire somewhat differently and we are tuning the
code to accommodate all of theses modes and power up/down/sleep sequences.
This development is concurrent with other FireWire developments to add new
features.
Presently, one focus of 7-Series software development is on FireWire. It is
arguably the products weakest feature (not for long, though). FireWire is an
incredibly powerful protocol and will enable much future functionality.
As is mentioned in this thread, some of first few units have been back to
beautiful Reedsburg for a brief holiday of fishing and biking. We have seen
a similar number of units needing factory service as a percentage of units
shipped as we saw with our 442 field mixer in its first year (2002...wow
does time fly!). There have been continuous, evolutionary improvements to
the hardware since December, and its evolution will perpetuate, just as it
does with all of our products.
Jon Tatooles
Sound Devices, LLC
"Audiomixer" <AudioMixer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:BF37EA69.13B25%AudioMixer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi all,
> First, let me say I'm not trying to start a pissing match I'm just looking
> for good honest experiences.
>
> I'm thinking on buying a Sound Devices 744 for documentary/ film work. I
> recently finished a film shoot 16mm sr with great success. Someone I trust
> highly when it comes to gear lent this unit to me. The experience was
> wonderful I had no problem and it sounded great.
> The other day I was at a rental house in my area and asked if they rented
> the 744 the answer was "we would if they would work". I was stunned
> because
> of my experience with it and asked some more information. The rental/sales
> guy says everyone is having problems with them crashing. I said to him
> this
> is the first I had heard about this.
> Has anyone else here had problems or reliability issues? As I stated I
> would
> love to buy one but I can't afford to be stuck in the middle of a shoot
> with
> a non-functioning unit.
> Thanks
>
> Gary
>
.
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