Small Hard Disk Recorder

mobily

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Hey all,

I am after a piece of equipment that I'm not sure is on the market. I am after a small box which contains a hard disk with the ability to record DAB radio on to it. I currently own Cambridge DAB300 and would like to be able to record broadcasts and then play them back at my leisure. I'm not too bothered about the ability to burn broadcasts to DVD.

Is there a product which would suit my needs?

:thumbsup:
 
the digifusion FVRT200 will record radio stations broadcast on freeview
has an 80GB harddrive, timer etc - also phono outputs so you can conect to hi-fi, which i have done rather than listen through the TV

theres a list of radio stations available from here
http://www.freeview.co.uk/whatson/radio.html

I also have a ES20 DVD recorder with freeview tuner and I dont think that picks up the radio - i need to check that out to be certain

also
http://www.microboss.de/tex_e/main_e/produkte/dab_e/dab_recorder_e.htm
http://www.pvruk.com/
http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/freeview_goodmans.html
 
mobily said:
Hey all,

I am after a piece of equipment that I'm not sure is on the market. I am after a small box which contains a hard disk with the ability to record DAB radio on to it. I currently own Cambridge DAB300 and would like to be able to record broadcasts and then play them back at my leisure. I'm not too bothered about the ability to burn broadcasts to DVD.

Is there a product which would suit my needs?

:thumbsup:

A major limitation is that DAB is MP2, which is not supported by much else, so I suspect you might have to convert to analogue and then back to digital.

What outputs does the DAB300 have?
 
nikyzf said:
A major limitation is that DAB is MP2, which is not supported by much else, so I suspect you might have to convert to analogue and then back to digital.
Why is this considered a "limitation"? Freeview audio is often transmitted at a higher MP2 bitrate than DAB.

You record the transmission on the Fusion and play back on the same unit. IIRC it has analogue and digital audio OUT (the latter transcoded to linear PCM) if you want to feed another piece of equipment, such as a digital amp or recorder.

There may be a few units of the earlier Fusion models around, which would do the same job at a cheaper price. The true "limitation" is whether the radio station you want to record is on Freeview.
 
musukebba said:
Why is this considered a "limitation"? Freeview audio is often transmitted at a higher MP2 bitrate than DAB.

You record the transmission on the Fusion and play back on the same unit. IIRC it has analogue and digital audio OUT (the latter transcoded to linear PCM) if you want to feed another piece of equipment, such as a digital amp or recorder.

There may be a few units of the earlier Fusion models around, which would do the same job at a cheaper price. The true "limitation" is whether the radio station you want to record is on Freeview.

If Freeview transmits at a higher bit-rate then that's not too bad, but MP2 is a much less efficient codec than MP3 and needs that higher bit-rate. Certainly the opinion of DAB in hi-fi circles is not high.

I was under the impression that the request was for a portable device and the Cambridge would still be used as the source, but I'm probably wrong. :suicide:

Do you happen to know if Freeview radio is any better than what you get via NTL cable? I have this but much prefer FM. :)
 
nikyzf said:
If Freeview transmits at a higher bit-rate then that's not too bad, but MP2 is a much less efficient codec than MP3 and needs that higher bit-rate. Certainly the opinion of DAB in hi-fi circles is not high.
Any horrendously lossy algorithm such as MPEG1 will quite rightly have few supporters in the high fidelity arena. Nevertheless, it's possible to think it through a bit more and realise that having more information remaining in the transmission is a small step towards being a better thing. Sometimes "efficiency" is not what people want.

nikyzf said:
I was under the impression that the request was for a portable device and the Cambridge would still be used as the source, but I'm probably wrong. :suicide:
I didn't catch the 'portability' implication either.

nikyzf said:
Do you happen to know if Freeview radio is any better than what you get via NTL cable? I have this but much prefer FM. :)
I'm not sure, to be honest, not having a cable connection. I would find it surprising if it was better than 192/256 kbps.
 
The opinion of DAB in hi-fi circles isn't very high and I think rightly so in some respects as the bitrate on some stations is appalling. For example talksport broadcast at 64kb!

However, as the majority of stations I listen to are broadcast on the medium wave DAB provides a much cleaner sound and I really quite like it. Virgin is probably the best station on DAB broadcast at 192kb and sounds much better than the medium wave equivalent.

The Cambridge isn't a portable device but is hooked up to an amp. I know that there is a DAB out there called the bug which has the facility to record onto an SD card, however I don't really want to buy another DAB at this time. Also I don't think the bug would perform as well as the Cambridge when hooked up to an amp.
 
mobily said:
The opinion of DAB in hi-fi circles isn't very high and I think rightly so in some respects as the bitrate on some stations is appalling. For example talksport broadcast at 64kb!

However, as the majority of stations I listen to are broadcast on the medium wave DAB provides a much cleaner sound and I really quite like it. Virgin is probably the best station on DAB broadcast at 192kb and sounds much better than the medium wave equivalent.

The Cambridge isn't a portable device but is hooked up to an amp. I know that there is a DAB out there called the bug which has the facility to record onto an SD card, however I don't really want to buy another DAB at this time. Also I don't think the bug would perform as well as the Cambridge when hooked up to an amp.
Yes, even poor DAB would be better than MW. I can't listen to speech on MW, let alone music. :)

Yes, I understand how you use the Cambridge. I assume you need a programmable recorder to accept the Cambridge's output, preferably digital. I think however, that the only devices that will do this have Freeview anyway, and you might as well use Freeview digital radio, possibly making the Cambridge redundant. These devices are also as large as an audio separate. ;)

Re The Bug, I recall someone on a smartphone forum looking for a means to play MP2 music from SD, and there wasn't a player available, hence my earlier comment on MP2 being a limitation.

Just a thought: would a minidisc recorder do what you need? There are now 1GB discs available, and depending on bit-rate, you could store a lot on one disc. :D

Do you need to record using a timer?
 
Or you could use a VCR, as long as it has audio inputs (or you could use a SCART-to-phono adaptor cable). Obviously it needs to be a "hi-fi" VCR for decent sound quality, which it will be if it has NICAM. I routinely record from FM in this way and the results are very good.
 

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