Fostex DV-824
A two-rackspace location recorder that writes eight tracks of 24-bit audio to DVD-RAM and a hard drive at once. Production sound mixers liked the redundancy.
Overview
The DV-824 is a multitrack production recorder built on one stubbornly useful idea: record the same audio to two different media at the same time, so a stomped disc or a corrupted file doesn't end your shoot day. Fostex America billed it as "supreme quality 8-track recording to standard-size DVD-RAM discs and internal hard drive," and the pitch landed with working mixers because of that dual-write setup.
The core spec is simple. Eight channels of 24-bit recording at up to 48 kHz, or four channels at 96 kHz. That's a fair tradeoff, since high-resolution work on a documentary or a music date rarely needs eight simultaneous inputs. Mix (April 2006, p.103) laid the machine out the same way: eight channels of 24-bit/48kHz recording, or four channels at 96 kHz, in a two-rackspace chassis, storing to DVD-RAM or an optional hard disk. Note the word optional. The internal drive was not universal, so check what's actually installed in any used unit before assuming the dual-record safety net is there.
Connectivity is where the DV-824 separates itself from a plain multitrack. It carries Ethernet, FireWire, and USB ports, plus an LCD display and linkable operation, so multiple units can be tied together for higher track counts. On a production cart, the Ethernet and FireWire combination is what lets the recorder move files into an editing workflow without shuttling physical media around. A pair of DV-824s can also handle a larger session than a single box's eight tracks would allow.
How it was used shows what it was for. Mix (October 2009, p.?) described a sound cart centered on a DV-824 for its ability to record simultaneously to DVD-RAM and hard drive as a backup. The operator quoted there admitted to being "a little excessively paranoid about backing everything up," and the DV-824 let him indulge that. It wasn't bought for its converters or its feature count. It was bought because losing a take on a film set is not an option, and two independent copies written in real time solved that.
Fostex's own advertising in Mix (March 2007, p.?) leaned on the "next generation of multitrack recorders" framing and pushed the DVD-RAM-plus-hard-drive combination as the defining feature. It's marketing copy, not an independent verdict, but it describes what the box does and who it was aimed at: production sound mixers and post facilities who needed a transportable, redundant, file-based recorder before that category was crowded.
The price tells you the market. Pro Audio Review (August 2006, p.?) listed the DV-824 at $7,495. That's serious money, squarely in dedicated professional location gear territory rather than project-studio multitracks. It competed against other high-resolution master recorders of the moment, not consumer portastudios.
The media is where the DV-824 shows its age. DVD-RAM was a rewritable format well suited to field work, and the cartridges and bare discs held up better than early flash workflows. It is now a dead-end format, though, and drives and blanks are the practical limit on keeping one running. A used DV-824 is only as useful as the DVD-RAM media and the internal drive you can still source for it. The recorder itself is the easy part. The media supply is the real question.
Anyone who already has a stock of DVD-RAM and needs a redundant eight-track location recorder will find the DV-824 still capable. The 24-bit/96 kHz four-channel mode, the linkable multi-unit operation, and the simultaneous dual-media write are the same features that made it worth $7,495 when it was current.
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