storyteller Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Hi all: My next HiMD project is to transfer a bunch of old recordings on DAT to a format that I can use on my HiMD recorder. I'd love to hear any advice you'd have on efficient ways to do this. My constraints are: 1) I have no DAT player anymore, and 2) I don't yet have a decent soundcard for my PC and 3) My PC is an old (500Mhz) laptop. So: I've had the following thoughts:1) Locate a studio/service that will not charge too much money to simply burn CDs or Audio DVDs of all the DAT recordings? It would probably be 40 or so CDs... Then import the audio from CD to HiMD? Does anyone have any tips on finding such a service (I'm in the Boston area)?2) Buy a used DAT recorder off ebay, play all the DATS into the HiMD, sell DAT recorder on ebay.3) Buy a used DAT recorder off ebay, buy cheapest decent USB soundcard (M-Audio Transit?), play all DATS into computer, then transfer to HiMD.3) Buy used DAT recorder off ebay and a standalone CD recorder (or even DVD recorder, which are for unknown reasons far cheaper(!?) and play all DATS directly into CD recorder?4) Invent DAT/minidisc combination deck.If anyone has any experience with this, or any opinions on the most viable/affordable path, I'd very much appreciate hearing it. Thanks!Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobt Posted April 20, 2005 Report Share Posted April 20, 2005 Most recording studios have a DAT deck, maybe you could rent studio time, or deck time, and direct transfer DAT to HI-MD.Other than that, I think finding a cheap dat deck or drive, transferinf, and reselling would be your best option.Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted April 21, 2005 Report Share Posted April 21, 2005 You should be able to rent a DAT deck in the Boston area from an audio or film supply house. I don't live anywhere near there, but that's where I'd look in the nearest centre to where I live, and there are likely [at the least] hundreds more such places in the greater Boston area than there are in Winnipeg.DAT machines tend to still be expensive, so renting one for a few days to just leave running your dubs is probably more effective and cheaper than hiring time somewhere or hiring someone to dub tapes for you.Otherwise, I'm with bobt on this - if you can afford to purchase one used and then resell it, it might be worth doing.Whether you go the DAT -> computer -> HiMD route or simply DAT -> HiMD depends, I'd say, on what you need to do with the recordings.Considering the nature of HiMD and the flux the format seems to be caught in [adding non-backward-compatible functions, and removing backward-compatible function with every generation, and the possibility of larger media in a few years making the 1GB discs obsolete] I would avoid using HiMD as any kind of archival format, as you are likely to find your discs becoming unusable in less than 5-8 years. [Let the future come back and spank me for making a prediction, now.]I, personally, would go the DAT -> computer -> HiMD route, because the computer stage would enable backing up to other formats that are likely to still be usable for a longer time than HiMD will be [i.e. CDR, CDRW, DVDR, DVDRW], even if CDRW [and DVDRW? I need that answered..] is the only format that suggests usability for archival because of the questionable longevity of dye-based WORM formats [CDR et al]. Also, having the audio already on a computer would ease the process of converting to multiple formats at once, including MP3 [MP3 CDs are great for use with most modern DVD players], FLAC [a lossless-packing format that is excellent for making mass-backups to data CDs or DVDs, which are far more reliable than audio CDs], netMD and HiMD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rszasz Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 I'm currently working on a similar project. If you have a PC, get a SCSI card, a CTD-8000 tape drive, Dat2Wav and your dats. You can dump from dat at 2x and it automaticaly tracks out using the track marks on the tape. You can find those drives on ebay for $15-$30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bananatree Posted April 29, 2005 Report Share Posted April 29, 2005 The tape drive can record DAT to your computer?Also, if you are a student, the computer/music/film faculty of your school may be able to lend you a DAT deck/portable for 0 dollars or so I know my school has 2 Tascam DAT recorders, as well as a lab full of eMacs with coaxial in external sound cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rszasz Posted May 3, 2005 Report Share Posted May 3, 2005 Yes, you can transfer the recordings directly to WAV format. No spdif, no aes/bui. just a direct data transfer over scsi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storyteller Posted May 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 Could such a drive be used via an external USB enclosure? My main PC is a laptop...Thanks!Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rszasz Posted May 4, 2005 Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...3&category=3710PCMCIA would be prefered, this is the cheapest i could find. USB -> SCSI are out there but i dont know how stable they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storyteller Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 [Thanks for the link to the PCMCIA card--it looks like a great solution. One question, though--the CTD8000s I've seen on ebay are internal drives--what do you do about power supply? I do have an old PC (Celeron 300MHz) and could theoretically open it up for its power supply, but that seems unwieldy, and possibly risky.Sorry to need so much guidance on this--Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storyteller Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Oops--found lots of external DAT drives by simply searching for 'external...' Can you let me know what sort of paramaters to look for? Does it have to be 4/8? Here's a sample link to the kind I'm seeing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...5772375822&rd=1Thanks againGreg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rszasz Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 i have a friend with a bunch of these drives that I've been flashing for him. If you can wait a day or so, I can probably get you a drive for his cost + shipping. If you want to go get a drive from ebay, you should get a CTD-8000 drive as they are the easiest to flash and get running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
storyteller Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 I'd be VERY grateful not to go to ebay on this...I just looked at the Dat2Wav website & saw their recommendations as to which drives to get, & was ready to ditch the whole idea at the mere mention of updating firmware and inserting EEPROM chips & whatever, plus the diciness of the ebay auctions ("we have not tested this but why don't you buy it sight unseen anyway"). Let me know if you do indeed have a drive, & what the cost might be. Also, any suggestions you'd have about the power supply issue, if it's an internal drive.Thank you again,Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arb226 Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 (edited) I'm currently working on a similar project. If you have a PC, get a SCSI card, a CTD-8000 tape drive, Dat2Wav and your dats. You can dump from dat at 2x and it automaticaly tracks out using the track marks on the tape. You can find those drives on ebay for $15-$30.←I have done what this guy has said before. But if you were to get say, a CTD-8000 (I have a black one in a black external SCSI case to match my black system), you need to make sure that the drive is flashed with the correct firmware for reading/writing audio DAT material to the tape. Also, use data DAT tapes, as they are supposed to be better than audio DAT tapes (and work just the same). Finally, a program called VDAT (which is a windows program for those that aren't too DOS/command-line savvy) is very good for this purpose, but the author wants $100 USD (well worth it though) for a full version of the program. He has a trial but it is limited. This method is cheaper, and much more user friendly than getting a DAT deck (personally, I rather see what's going on with my PC screen than some 2 or 3 line LED display and a bunch of cryptic buttons on a DAT deck. Plus shipping of a DAT deck isn't cheap compared to a DAT drive. Good luck Edited May 6, 2005 by arb226 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jammin72 Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 I have done what this guy has said before. But if you were to get say, a CTD-8000 (I have a black one in a black external SCSI case to match my black system), you need to make sure that the drive is flashed with the correct firmware for reading/writing audio DAT material to the tape. Also, use data DAT tapes, as they are supposed to be better than audio DAT tapes (and work just the same). Finally, a program called VDAT (which is a windows program for those that aren't too DOS/command-line savvy) is very good for this purpose, but the author wants $100 USD (well worth it though) for a full version of the program. He has a trial but it is limited. This method is cheaper, and much more user friendly than getting a DAT deck (personally, I rather see what's going on with my PC screen than some 2 or 3 line LED display and a bunch of cryptic buttons on a DAT deck. Plus shipping of a DAT deck isn't cheap compared to a DAT drive. Good luck←By the time you do all of that you can get a Panasonic SV-3800 from e-Bay for about $200 bucks from a seller that has a good rating and Run optical into your Hi-MD... no configuration, no jumpers, no nada. Just Record and Play...That's what I would do personally!YMMVThe DAT is actually a decent archival medium and if you can score a decent DAT deck for not a lot of money (I got a 3800 with 25 hours on it for $225) you can keep the deck till it croaks and use it for playback and other purposes. The analog output stage of that thing will make the Hi-MD sound pretty thin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rszasz Posted May 10, 2005 Report Share Posted May 10, 2005 By the time you do all of that you can get a Panasonic SV-3800 from e-Bay for about $200 bucks from a seller that has a good rating and Run optical into your Hi-MD... no configuration, no jumpers, no nada. Just Record and Play...That's what I would do personally!YMMVThe DAT is actually a decent archival medium and if you can score a decent DAT deck for not a lot of money (I got a 3800 with 25 hours on it for $225) you can keep the deck till it croaks and use it for playback and other purposes. The analog output stage of that thing will make the Hi-MD sound pretty thin.Yhea, dat is nice, having a portable dat recorder is great. But if all you want to do is pull from dat, an audio capible drive is best. Even if you want to trade in dat, the 2x transfer beats the pants of a 1x optical.So, if you can afford a portable dat, go for it, they are great. But if you are using a MD deck, you probably arent all that interested in the cost. I now have an utter butload of these things coming in, I'm sure i can get a few (I'm flashing them myself) set aside if you are interested. They will be tested, in the $20-$30 range including shipping. Bounce me a PM if you are interested in one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdudeman Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 A little off topic, but not really... Does anybody know where i can find the full version of DAT2WAV? I've tried emailing the people on the website, but no response...anyone?bueller?bueller? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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