general question about hard disk recorders

[hollywood_steve]

When evaluating the user interface of hard disk recorders, one of the biggest problems that I run up against is the tiny LED display. For most operations, its not a big problem, but when you are trying to locate one of your files, and you are lost a few levels deep in the folder/file directory structure, a single line LED display is really frustrating. What I need in that situation is a Windows Explorer type folder tree display (Program Manager from the W3.1 days). This is the widely understood interface that allows most of us to easily figure out where we are and where our files are and how to get there from here. Obviously, this will require connecting to a PC (or at least a monitor).

My question concerns whether or not manufacturers provide this basic capability as a standard feature, or whether you are forced to purchase some expensive software package? If you purchase a basic hard disk system from (Radar, Tascam, Mackie, Fostex, Alesis, HHB, Deva, Otari, etc.), can you access a windows explorer type of view of your folder/file tree, or does this require an additional purchase? (this assumes that you have an available PC or monitor, depending on what the system requires) If you have the available monitor or PC, do you need to purchase an extra cost editing package or something else to get the basic folder tree view of your files?

Thanks.

[MCal27]

Steve,
There's not a single answer to this.... it depends on the machine... I only have experience with a few of the machines you mention... but The Radar has a lovely display, and I didnt find it wanting in any area really for what it does... very computer like.. running on Beos though.. but you dont use a seperate PC so its no bigge'
Same goes for the Mackie HDR, The cheaper SDR's dont have the screen capability, and as far as I'm aware its not an option to add either.... so this machine is like the Fostex 2424, and Alesis.. But some of these machines (without monitors) can still be attached in some way to a computer.... some by USB, where you can view their Hard Drives as mountable volumes on your PC's desktop.
Other just write to their hard Drives in standard Win32 format, so you can mount their caddied drives into the PC and view/transfer files this way.

The Tascam MX2424 comes with free software called Viewnet that allows editing and HD managemment of multiple machines!!! You connect the PC (or Mac) via Ethernet, and it works very well.. it also writes its Hard Drives in Standard Mac or PC format, so you can mount them in a computer as well...

You'd have to look in detail at the machine your considering, then see if it has enough PC integration for you....

But there's no 1 set way of doing this...

Al

[Rab]

Maybe look at Mackie HDR24/96 The software is part of the system... you simply attach a VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse to the recorder and get a nice GUI for editing, file management etc. You also have session compatibility between the recorder for location work and Pro Tools "back in the studio". I/O options are ADAT/AES/TDIF/Analogue.

If you don't want to go to the expense, the cheaper SDR doesn't have the GUI option, but you can pull out the drive caddy and pop it into a firewire receiver attached to a mac or PC and read the file data directly into a DAW system that way.

I've had a whole bunch of issues regarding firmware/OS revisions relating to this. But if you make sure everything is the latest version it's very straightforward, so don't be put off if you hear horror stories from users with older systems who may have been through the mill.

[SaxonSound]

The alesis HD24 can function as an FTP server, so you can log into in from your computer, and use the interface of whatever ftp program you like to move files around and such.