Recorder: Fostex MR-8 mkII vs MR-8 HD

[sathyan]

I'm trying to decide between the Fostex MR-8 mkII (which uses CF) or the MR-8 HD (which has a 40GB hard drive). I'm interested a portable recording solution for two track recordings - laying down tracks which can be edited later and recording performances of 2 hours. At stereo recording time is not a big deal for me as the HD costs $400 and the mkii $250 I can add 2GB CF cards (3 hours each) for $54 and archive old material. I don't play more than 3 hours at a time.

Am I right to assume the following are the same?
- A/D chip (24-bit Sigma Delta)
- D/A chip for monitoring
- headphone amps
- analogue circuitry
- mic pres
- clean-ness of signal
- software stability

Pluses for the CF model
- can run on batteries
- quieter (no HDD)
- no HD to fail / easy to replace CF cards
- cheaper

Pluses for the HD model
- much more capacity
- Optical out
- twice the inputs

I'm leaning towards the mkII, is there any reason beyond capacity to go for the HD - audio quality I would consider a compelling reason?
Is there another product I should be considering?

thanks
sathyan

[junplugged]

i have had errors on cf cards and all flash card types that don't show up until you reach that parrt of the card that has the defect.

almost every card i ever had messed up my data at some point.

one the sd in my digital camera, i don't empty it out so i can work around the spot where 4 pics are not accessible so i never reuse that area.

i think hdd might be more reliable. not that you can't get data loss with them either, but i've had a lot more trouble with flash cards of all types so far.

i even had a messed up MD on a multitrack once.

[zacanger]

I've got the CF version. Definitely go with the HD. You could put out for a larger CF card but that'll cost a bit, and the extra inputs really are neccessary, I hate not having them on mine.

[daav]

Aren't (at least the CF version) 16bit?
I had the original MR-8 CF version and the difference in quality of recordings when i went to a 24 bit comp interface were huge.

Daav