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Marantz PMD Thoughts
Seems there are still many users of the old Marantz PMD 570 recorder. This surprises me a lot as the technology has improved so much it is not really worth maintaining these old machines. I admit, we still have a couple in use. Not used much, but still in use.
1. They are obsolete.
2. Even though the update expands your choice on CF card size, the machine will develop issues. One we have is card corruption; randomly at that.
3. Our smartphones have better technology in them.
Let me get to the requests and please be patient. I have a bunch of catching up to do now that trips, NAB, and meetings are complete.
Cheers!
Marantz PMD570 Firmware Update
I had the opportunity to upgrade the firmware of our compact flash recorders this week. All in conjunction with a new morning show and the fact you cannot find many CF cards less than 2GB. Even a 4GB card was not read. After a check of the D-MPro website, I was a bit miffed that the machines needed to be sent in. After a kind email to technical support and a confirmation that I was “tech savvy”, they allowed me to download the necessary files and application to install the update. Thanks!
I proceeded to do the installation. I can tell you right now that the process is not “easy” or for the weak of heart. Actually, it was not too bad, but I can see why they recommend shipping the unit to them as the update application they sent is fairly complex. Out of respect, I am not at liberty to name the application except to say it is a developer toolkit. Just knowing that you may guess at how you can get into trouble.
I followed their instructions to the “T” even when the screen shot was in Japanese! I pushed the two updates, one for the microprocessor and one for the DSP. I did 4 machines and all of them behaved. I also discovered what the little, recessed switch is next to the RS232 DB9. The combination of stuff could get a novice in deep “S”. Each machine took at least 10 minutes to complete as loading the one update, for the MPU, took the most time and the special application. The DSP update was quick and was actually read from a CF card making that portion of the update easy.
Thanks again for trusting I would not screw up D-MPro Tech Support!
PS- if you have the DN-C640 CD players, there is a firmware update that corrects that “disk error” message when one does not exist.
Tech Notes from the Field 