Fostex vf160 CD WAV Backup

[bipestuff]

I am using a vf160 to record live where I need a continuous run of up to 90 minutes. I haven't tried it yet, but if a single track goes beyond the size limit of a 700 Mb CD: 1) Will the Fostex automatically split the WAV file when I do a backup? 2) Do I have to split the file somehow manualy before writing it to disk? 3) I'm hosed? I'll need to dump the file through the optical out to a PC or something...

[billisa]

Originally Posted by bipestuff

I am using a vf160 to record live where I need a continuous run of up to 90 minutes. I haven't tried it yet, but if a single track goes beyond the size limit of a 700 Mb CD: 1) Will the Fostex automatically split the WAV file when I do a backup? 2) Do I have to split the file somehow manualy before writing it to disk? 3) I'm hosed? I'll need to dump the file through the optical out to a PC or something...

The answer is 1. You will be prompted for extra CDR disks if the file is too long for one. Sometimes it takes a little while for the prompt to the second disk, but it will happen...

Another option would be to save in the FDMS-3 format. Uses much less space (fewer disks) but can only be read by a Fostex unit, not a PC.

I'm curious if cutting the file into 16 pieces, one for eack track would enable the program to be saved on one disk in the wav format... Probably not, but maybe somebody else knows more.

[bipestuff]

Thanks for the reply, from the manual, it looks like the same answer, but I wasn't sure if the manual referred to multiple tracks (wav file for each channel) that it would split or one track that is too large. I will have a chance to try this out soon and I'll let you know how it goes!

[billisa]

Originally Posted by bipestuff

Thanks for the reply, from the manual, it looks like the same answer, but I wasn't sure if the manual referred to multiple tracks (wav file for each channel) that it would split or one track that is too large. I will have a chance to try this out soon and I'll let you know how it goes!

You CAN save individual tracks via the wav method. You can also restore or add a wav file track to an existing program. But you have to know what track you're taking off the wav backup disk and you need to know what track you're placing it on. The VF160 will prompt you as to which track you're loading on and which tracks it's going on to.

[Paj]

There's no problem with the FDMS3 (FDIO-1) format for disk-spanning saves, but has anyone actually done this for a WAV file in which a single track is greater than the capacity of one CD? What I don't understand is how the WAV file for one track can be automatically reloaded into the VF160 if it spans more than one disk. How do you automatically splice one WAV file to the END of another WAV file (track) on the VF? If both WAV files (part 1 and part 2) have the same name, won't the second loaded WAV file replace the first. Can it actually be done without loading the WAV file parts into different tracks and then editing/splicing them together?

Paj
8^?

[billisa]

Originally Posted by Paj

If both WAV files (part 1 and part 2) have the same name, won't the second loaded WAV file replace the first. Can it actually be done without loading the WAV file parts into different tracks and then editing/splicing them together?Paj8^?

This probably misses your point, but I would assume that the VF160 burns the backup disk with info that says there is a second disk with more info, along with where that data should go.

How is one track being too long for one disk more of a problem than 16 tracks bigger than one disk? A Reload would still involve adding data on a given track to other data previously loaded.

But again, I'm probably not getting your point.

[Paj]

Originally Posted by billisa

This probably misses your point, but I would assume that the VF160 burns the backup disk with info that says there is a second disk with more info, along with where that data should go.

You might also assume that the VF160 can correctly estimate and display the number of disks it will need in a spanning WAV save but, if it's over two disks, don't rely on it. And don't count on it to prompt you for the correctly sequenced disk to insert---it prompts to "Insert Disk 2" when it really wants disk three. I would actually figure that a single-track WAV file that is greater than the capacity of a CD is probably not implemented in the SAVE procedure, since it's probably assumed to be unusual or rare. My rough math on this works out something like this:

(1) A 45 min WAV file is about 230 MB.

(2) For a 700 MB CD-R, that means a 135 min WAV file should be near (but still just under) the single WAV file limit for WAV saves.

We need to hear from someone that has saved a single program over 140+ minutes as WAV files.

Originally Posted by billisa

How is one track being too long for one disk more of a problem than 16 tracks bigger than one disk? A Reload would still involve adding data on a given track to other data previously loaded.

But again, I'm probably not getting your point.

This question is easy to address. The VF160 puts as many whole tracks onto a disk as it can. It never breaks up the individual track/WAV files. This usually results in unused space on each CD-R. For example:

(1) A program that has ten tracks and displays 1500 MB at the beginning of the WAV save . . .

(2) . . . Has 150 MB of WAV data per track/file . . .

(3) . . .meaning that a 700 MB CD-R can hold four tracks as WAV files (4x150=600) with a 100 MB unsued balance.

(4) Disk 1 gets tracks 1-4, Disk 2 gets tracks 5-9, and Disk 3 gets tracks 9-10.

None of the WAV files gets split.

Again, we need to hear from someone that has saved a single program over 140+ minutes as WAV files. Maybe I'll do some copy/pastes on a 45-minute file I'm about to delete. I'll create a single 140-min track and see if I can save it as a WAV file.


Later,
Paj
8^)

[Paj]

Originally Posted by Paj

Again, we need to hear from someone that has saved a single program over 140+ minutes as WAV files. Maybe I'll do some copy/pastes on a 45-minute file I'm about to delete. I'll create a single 140-min track and see if I can save it as a WAV file.

billisa:

I created a 180+ min file and tried to save it. The VF errors and aborts the save. See my other post:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/sho...16#post1253316


Later,
Paj
8^)