Millimeter (USA)

Fostex Timecode DVD-RAM on the set of NYPD Blue

Sound mixer Joe uses Fostex Timecode DVD-RAM machines for audio acquisition on the ever-popular NYPD Blue TV series. “The big thing for me is that I get a digital file from the beginning, and all our digital editing machines can take those files and begin to work, with less transfer time. We are using a first-generation signal all the way through the chain, which keeps quality high, and it’s quicker, with no conversions involved.”

Read the full Millimeter article here. (PDF file)

AudioMedia (UK)

Fostex DV40

As a company, Fostex has had a commendable reputation for innovation over 20 years. Their ability to take a recording medium and do something meaningful with it has only faltered when they shopped outside the company for R&D. So the arrival of a Fostex-developed recorder using a new format is something that deserves to be taken seriously.

While recordable DVD is not totally unique in professional audio circles, there are no items of equipment to which DVD-RAM is as integral as Fostex’s DV40 Master Recorder. First shown at NAB 2001 in an early form, the DV40 has been gradually refined in hardware and software with the intention that units with Version 1 software should be shipping in early 2002. Comment, feedback and the advance of technology, even over just nine months, has meant that the product first shown has changed in several key areas. This, together with the fact that DVD-RAM is being touted as the replacement for DAT, a product area that is still very important to Fostex, led to an invitation to talk with the R&D team in Tokyo.

The DV40 is a digital audio timecode-equipped recorder that uses DVD-RAM as the recording medium. It has the ability to record up to four simultaneous audio tracks directly to DVD-RAM at most common sampling rates from 44.1k to 96kHz at 24-bit resolution, as well as 16-bit at 44.1k and 48kHz. Operating as a stereo recorder, the DV40 can also record at higher sampling rates, up to 192kHz / 24-bit. The user has the choice of destructive and non-destructive recording modes to suit the type of project in hand.

The Universal Disc Format (UDF) is used for the DVD-RAM with the option of writing data to the disc in BWF (Broadcast .wav file) or SDII (Sound Designer II) file formats. As these are common industry standards, the recorded disc can be removed from the DV40 and easily read by most computer operating systems - Mac, Windows, Linux etc, and both BWF and SDII files can be present on the same disc. There are extra positions on the file format select switch and other file types are in development, to be added with future software upgrades.

R&D
Fostex’s R&D department is under the direction of Motoaki Sano, an engineer responsible for the development of most of Fostex’s digital products, notably the ground breaking D-20 timecode DAT, the PD2 timecode DAT portable and the models that followed. He leads a team of ten electronics engineers and two mechanical engineers that work out of one floor of Fostex’s North Tokyo headquarters building in Akishima.

It was actually two years ago, at a time when the emphasis of product development
had temporarily moved towards the MI end of Fostex’s market, that design work on the DV40 began.

While developing some of the later DAT recorders, Sano had become convinced that the next step for a mastering recorder should be the use of an optical medium such as MO or PD. Aware that Magneto Optical discs were not such a popular format outside of Japan as inside, attention turned to the PD optical disc, a single-sided disc in cartridge type format that had been recently developed by Matsushita (Panasonic). Fostex have a close working relationship with Panasonic who, four years ago, alerted them to the fledgling recordable DVD that used similar technology to their PD format and was almost certainly going to replace it. The DV40’s DVD-RAM drive is also supplied by Panasonic.

That reliability of the media was going to be an issue was recognised early on. According to Sano, they had worked with MO’s, studied the PD format extensively and found optical media, in general, to be very reliable. This was also true for DVD-RAM was confirmed when they managed to test one of the first 2.6Gb discs and this gave the go-ahead for the whole project.

The DVD-RAM format has built-in error correction but on top of that the DV40 adds a Verify/Write process that continuously checks data being written to the DVD disc, in real time. However Verify/Write mode is not possible when recording in 2-track 24-bit/176.4kHz and 24-bit/192kHz, or four-track 24-bit/96kHz modes, direct to the DVD itself, because this goes beyond the current limits of the technology. If you require this extra certainty, you need the optional internal hard drive to act as part of a two-step recording process before the DVD.

The role of the hard disk is one of the areas that has changed in recent months. When the DV40 was first shown at NAB, the hard disk was an integral part of the basic DV40 because, according to Sano, they weren’t certain that the DVD-RAM drive was fast enough to record 4-track 24-bit/96kHz, or the higher sampling rate 2-track signals in realtime. So, to be sure of achieving that, a hard disk was included as a recording medium prior to copying to the DVD. However more recent DVD drives can now record all those sample rates direct to DVD and so the hard drive has been made an option.

Although optional, an internal hard disk does extend the facilities of the DV40. The hard disk system is different from the current range of Fostex hard disk recorders, being run in a UDF-related format, allowing the direct backup of the DVD-RAM disk data. As many as four disks can be backed up to a single hard disk at any one time. It can also be used to make multiple DVD-RAM copies, or hold Clipboard data on a project that may be needed to carry over to new DVD-RAM discs.

EDITING AND TIMECODE
While you wouldn’t expect sophisticated editing facilities on the DV40, it does have the basic features that might be needed - Copy, Paste, Insert, Cut, Erase - all non-destructive edit functions with up to 1000 undo’s per file! Edit points can be located using the jog/shuttle wheel in much the same way that you might a tape or hard disc-based machine. While most edit functions are possible on a DVD-only machine, because it edits by recreating a new file, the addition of a hard drive does makes editing faster.

The hard disk also allows the user to rearrange the nature of the recorded files, to convert and separate 4-track and stereo files to create multiple mono files, or recombine them, generally preparing the material for a third party system. The DVD-RAM cartridge can then be removed from the DV40 and placed in another machine for editing or further processing. Alternatively, the DV40 is equipped with an Ethernet port allowing direct FTP file transfers via a network, acting as an audio server.

Timecode is essential for disc-based recording formats and the DV40 comes complete and well equipped. Both the BWF and SDII files formats utilised incorporate provision for carrying a time stamp. The internal timecode facilities will generate, regenerate and externally synchronise through 24 hour run, record run, free run and external run modes at all industry standard frame rates including the 23.97 HD camera mode. Timecode, absolute time, disc timecode, external timecode and remaining time, can all be displayed on the front panel. Each new file can be set up individually for timecode format and any LTC offset, which can be captured on the fly. A full range of pull-up/down menu options provides a high level of flexibility. The DV40 can run as a slave or master.

CONTROLS AND INTERFACES
A full set of i/o’s is provided - 4 balanced analogue XLR inputs - switchable between +4dBu and -10dBv; AES/EBU or S/PDIF digital inputs; digital outputs plus unbalanced analogue monitor outputs; and headphone monitoring that is switchable to cover various track combinations.

The DV40 has both 9 and 15-pin RS-422 connectors for external control, meeting the standard Sony 9-pin protocol and Fostex’s own extended instruction set, and the full complement of timecode and digital clock connections. GPI in and out sockets provide facilities for remote control, fader starts etc.

The front panel looks very familiar with transport controls, a large multi-function fluorescent display, level controls, switching and menu selection all looking self-explanatory. An alphanumeric keypad allows naming of files and direct timecode entry although there is also provision for plugging in a keyboard and mouse via the front panel. An external VGA screen will be offered and the mock-up design I saw included full waveform display for 4 tracks, timecode displays, provision for setting offsets; and comprehensive file management data, and would probably be essential for the heavy duty user.

Software updates will be provided in several ways - by DVD-RAM cartridge, which the system recognises as an update and asks the user to confirm that they want to update; by CDR, or via the ethernet port.

APPLICATIONS AND USES
In marketing terms the major aim of the DV40, and other machines that will follow, is to replace the use of DAT, and 1/4 inch analogue reel-to-reel machines (of which there are still a lot in use in Japan). The prime target market is film and TV post production, and broadcasting, where the ability to move DVD-RAMs, with recorded material and timecoded audio projects, between the different areas of production, both quickly and cheaply, will save time and money. This is particularly true in film but for this to really work really efficiently, surely there is one machine needed quite urgently?

The answer is that there are plans to develop a portable DVD-RAM recorder after the completion of the DV40. Sano was quite open about the difficulty in producing a portable machine and knowing exactly what features might be required.

“When we designed the PD2 portable DAT recorder, we put in too many features and it was considered over-complicated. So we developed the PD4 which was simpler and more successful. We know that we have to be careful when designing a DVD-RAM portable recorder.”

The range of environmental conditions that a portable can face may preclude a direct transfer of the rack mount technology, and the need to consider different types of drive in a portable machine - something they haven’t decided upon as yet.

“Viewed as part of post process, we see the quick movement of material between the different stages as offering potential savings. We wanted a format that could be taken out of the recorder, placed in a Mac or PC and be recognised.”

To prove this compatibility we recorded some music into the DV40, removed the disk, placed it in a Mac G4 with external DVD-RAM drive and replayed the music track through Pro Tools - all within seconds. The process will also work in reverse provided BWF or SDII files are used.

The DV40 has been undergoing extensive beta testing for many months, and the machine I saw had an almost complete feel to it. I’m quite confident in agreeing with R&D chief, Motaoki Sano, that “ this will be a very important product for Fostex”.