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Thursday April 26, 2007
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Journalists know how important taping an interview can be, and there are plenty of really good digital recorders with decent built-in microphones. But the audio from a digital recorder is often far from ideal; few are really good enough for radio-quality interviews or even podcasting. That's what makes the new ZFR800 Handheld Digital Audio Recorder from Zaxcom so desirable. Rather than a mic in the recorder, the recorder is in the microphone, making for a camera-friendly form factor as well.
The ZFR800 features a miniSD card slot and can record up to 8 hours of uncompressed audio on a 2GB card. An RF receiver is built in for remote time-code synchronization and remote control, and an ergonomic keypad allows for single-handed operation of recording functions. At $1,850, this isn't the recorder you'll want for recording lectures, but if you need broadcast-quality this solution is hard to beat.
Post by Peter Suciu
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April 26, 2007 2:36 PM
The form factor here is great, and I'm surprised it hasn't been done before. But for what it is, the price is outrageous. Essentially the guts of this thing is a couple-hundred-dollar voice recorder slapped inside the housing of a couple-hundred-dollar (maybe) microphone.
There are alternatives for a lot less. Zoom has a nice digital recorder with XLR mic inputs for under $300.
I'm not sure how useful the other features of this thing would be. What the heck's the point of a remote control on this thing that you're always going to be holding in your hand.
Then again, it might be good for Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, so he could cut people's mikes himself when they say things he doesn't agree with.
Me, I'll stick with a much cheaper alternative: a digital recorder with an XLR input and a decent microphone--at least until someone makes one of these for less than $300.
May 8, 2007 10:47 AM
The HHB Flashmic's been around for two years now and looks much nicer than this one. HHB was first.