H Series Live Recording Guide v1.0

[bugg100]

hello all,

is there an explanation of all the fuctions on the recording screen? Peak meters spefically.... I use Kosh's build which has recently added back in recording patch.... i tried searching but nothing really addresses this (that I find).

Thanks!
Joe

[jwmiv39170]

Thanks for the great tips... They helped tremendously.

[binskies10]

Thanks, good tip.

[nkramar1978]

Excellent thread for those of us familiar with recording but new to the iRiver as a recorder. Bookmarking this one now.

[Muse______]

Originally Posted by framesaver

I highly recommend as a budget option the Skytronic 173.623 lapel mic, also sold under other names such as the YOGA EM-8 from Maplins.

I'm in the US (Berkeley, CA) and my Google searches didn't come up with anything for this. I just bought a used iHP-120 off ebay, and unfortunately it didn't come with an external microphone. The seller said it would have everything but the earphones. I guess there's a chance that when she bought it the mic wasn't included. Anyway, she's not responding to my enquiries, so I don't expect that I'm going to get the external mic from her.

I wonder if I can get recommendations for one I can buy, either online or Radio Shack or similar. I'm not currently thinking of high quality stereo recordings (although some day I might). I just want something for meetings I attend. With an external mic, I can get it closer to the speaker and I can still have control of the device with the remote. The meetings are usually 6 - 12 people, although they can be larger meetings of 50 or more.

[Pétur]

Originally Posted by Muse______

I'm in the US (Berkeley, CA) and my Google searches didn't come up with anything for this. I just bought a used iHP-120 off ebay, and unfortunately it didn't come with an external microphone. The seller said it would have everything but the earphones. I guess there's a chance that when she bought it the mic wasn't included. Anyway, she's not responding to my enquiries, so I don't expect that I'm going to get the external mic from her.

I wonder if I can get recommendations for one I can buy, either online or Radio Shack or similar. I'm not currently thinking of high quality stereo recordings (although some day I might). I just want something for meetings I attend. With an external mic, I can get it closer to the speaker and I can still have control of the device with the remote. The meetings are usually 6 - 12 people, although they can be larger meetings of 50 or more.

1) Forget about that included external mic, it is completely worthless (if you weren't that far away from me I'd give you mine).

2) That SkyTronic mic is indeed cheap for reasonable quality. If you're ever going to record concerts and want better quality, visit http://www.taperssection.com, there's a lot of advice on good quality mics there. I first also got the SkyTronic mic but got myself a pair of cardoids + pre-amp from Chris Church (CHURCH-AUDIO). Expect to spend around $200 or a bit more though....

3) If you haven't done yet, install RockBox, the alternative mp3-player firmware. While it probably voids your warranty, it does fixes various recording bugs and gives you more control over recording (on-the-fly levels checking and changing,...). highly recommended!

4) Beware that if you use the remote to control/monitor the recording, you can/will pick up more interference from sources such as mobile phones.

[Muse______]

Originally Posted by Pétur

1) Forget about that included external mic, it is completely worthless (if you weren't that far away from me I'd give you mine).

2) That SkyTronic mic is indeed cheap for reasonable quality. If you're ever going to record concerts and want better quality, visit http://www.taperssection.com, there's a lot of advice on good quality mics there. I first also got the SkyTronic mic but got myself a pair of cardoids + pre-amp from Chris Church (CHURCH-AUDIO). Expect to spend around $200 or a bit more though....

3) If you haven't done yet, install RockBox, the alternative mp3-player firmware. While it probably voids your warranty, it does fixes various recording bugs and gives you more control over recording (on-the-fly levels checking and changing,...). highly recommended!

4) Beware that if you use the remote to control/monitor the recording, you can/will pick up more interference from sources such as mobile phones.

I haven't been able to find the Skytronic mic Googling (for sale). I installed Rockbox yesterday. Don't know how to use it yet. I was hoping that I'd immediately see % battery capacity, but I see that's not on the default WPS. Maybe in one of the themes, which I've yet to find or access.

What's the best way to get your feet wet with Rockbox? Read the manual? That's what I've been doing, pretty much. I'm a virtual newbie at this point, and merely installed it along with the english.voice file in \langs and the fonts.

[Pétur]

Originally Posted by Muse______

I haven't been able to find the Skytronic mic Googling (for sale). I installed Rockbox yesterday. Don't know how to use it yet. I was hoping that I'd immediately see % battery capacity, but I see that's not on the default WPS. Maybe in one of the themes, which I've yet to find or access.

What's the best way to get your feet wet with Rockbox? Read the manual? That's what I've been doing, pretty much. I'm a virtual newbie at this point, and merely installed it along with the english.voice file in \langs and the fonts.

See PM (offtopic here!)

[toads99]

three years old and still relevant! I'm running a podcats with a team of 10 and we need a contsant supply of cheap external-mic able irivers...
thanks!

[musichelle]

thanks for the tips..

[KingPenguin]

It's amazing how useful a well made piece of hardware can be with the right people to update the firmware. Thanks for all the tips! Now I just have to get one...

By the way, is there any advantages the 1xx series has over the 3xx series, as far as recording goes?

[Pétur]

Originally Posted by KingPenguin

It's amazing how useful a well made piece of By the way, is there any advantages the 1xx series has over the 3xx series, as far as recording goes?

h1x0 series has bothe analog and digital in/out, h3x0 only has analog. So if you're into spdif, the h1x0 is the way to go.

the h3x0 offers color LCD and usbotg (non-US models only), h1x0 is monochrome, although rockbox manages to give some grey levels thanks to some nifty tricks

[danzz1234]

im desperately searching for h120/h140 or even h320/h340 to sell but i cant find anywhere!!

anyone knows where there are a few ones left?

thanks for the awsome guide by the way

[Pétur]

There was one on sale here on MR some time ago, nobody wanted it (shame!)so it went on ebay...

I would look in the buy/sell area here and on ebay, there are always players popping up. The h120/h140 is also advertized sometimes as iHP120 or iHP-120 (swap 120 with 140)

And do not forget to rockbox it once you have one!

While I'm posting: Much more recording info can be get from this site:
http://www.taperssection.com

The users (and material) range from newbies to professionals.

[danzz1234]

Originally Posted by Pétur

There was one on sale here on MR some time ago, nobody wanted it (shame!)so it went on ebay...

I would look in the buy/sell area here and on ebay, there are always players popping up. The h120/h140 is also advertized sometimes as iHP120 or iHP-120 (swap 120 with 140)

And do not forget to rockbox it once you have one!

While I'm posting: Much more recording info can be get from this site:
http://www.taperssection.com

The users (and material) range from newbies to professionals.

thanks for the tips!
i'll rockbox it for sure

[Pétur]

3 iHP120 on ebay as I'm typing this... range 108 - 119 euro

[melontracks]

Originally Posted by Pétur

There was one on sale here on MR some time ago, nobody wanted it (shame!)so it went on ebay...

I would look in the buy/sell area here and on ebay, there are always players popping up. The h120/h140 is also advertized sometimes as iHP120 or iHP-120 (swap 120 with 140)

And do not forget to rockbox it once you have one!

While I'm posting: Much more recording info can be get from this site:
http://www.taperssection.com

The users (and material) range from newbies to professionals.

There are fewer ihp120's on ebay all the time! I'm tempted to buy another just to put it on mothballs! right now there's only 2 h120s (and NO 140s) on the US ebay site...one at $128 and one at $99, with more than 4 days left on the shortest auction.

yikes!

You could buy broken i120s and part them together.... I'm looking for one with a broken screen or bad hdd (need the circuit board) right now, and have parted them together in the past. if you're even a little mechanically inclined, this is an easy way to save a few $$...

[MoAv]

When I search for mic to go with my H140, unamped, in the specification, there's a request from the line in to give some power to the mic for it work properly : "2-10v DC supplied by external power from recorder"
So how much power exactly does the H1xx series gives in line in ?

[Pétur]

Originally Posted by MoAv

When I search for mic to go with my H140, unamped, in the specification, there's a request from the line in to give some power to the mic for it work properly : "2-10v DC supplied by external power from recorder"
So how much power exactly does the H1xx series gives in line in ?

The iriver h120/h140/320/h340 give around 3,7V mic power.

If you plan to record loud sound (rock concerts,....) a battery box is recommended (or a mic amp). If you plan to record near silence (nature,....) a mic amp is recommended because the iriver gets noisy when you put the gain above +20dB.

More info also on http://www.taperssection.com

[MoAv]

Some stupid questions before I had my way to the big league:
Battery box and mic amp aren't the same ?
Is it possible to amplify the mic with my heaphone amp iBasso d1 ?

[Pétur]

Originally Posted by MoAv

Some stupid questions before I had my way to the big league:
Battery box and mic amp aren't the same ?
Is it possible to amplify the mic with my heaphone amp iBasso d1 ?

err.... nope.

battery box = powers the mic (most do 9V).
mic amp = powers the mic and amplifies the signal coming from the mic

[MoAv]

Originally Posted by Pétur

err.... nope.

battery box = powers the mic (most do 9V).
mic amp = powers the mic and amplifies the signal coming from the mic

So... if I had myself a BB I could use my iBasso amp'ing the mic and save some $ ?