Tips, undocumented features, and product review

for the 32-minute Digital Recorder, model DR-84

sold by RadioShack^® Corporation

• Records sounds, plays them back.
• Sound recordings are stored digitally, in 8 MB of 'flash memory'.
• 'Flash memory' is named so because it can be erased instantly, all of it at once.   Flash memory does not randomize - or lose data - when power is removed from the device (in this case, that's when the batteries run down.)
• Sound recordings are stored in 2 folders, "A" and "B".   Each folder may contain up to 99 sound recordings, so long as the total sound length per folder is under 16 minutes total.
• Powered by 2 AAA batteries.   These last very roughly 10 to 14 days of ~ 6 minutes of recording and ~ 12 minutes of playback, each day. Estimated totals:   1 hr of recording time & 2 hrs of playback/review/erase time.
• Sound recordings, within folders, are stored by number.   Sound recording # 1 in folder A, is first. Any one sound recording may be deleted individually at any time. But if a portion of a sound recording is not wanted, one cannot edit anything out to make a sound shorter, with this device.
• Voice-activated mode works well enough for voice recordings in an environment quiet in low-pitch noise.   Being near a highway (< 30 feet) or a seashore with surf, are examples of places where this device's voice-activated mode ('VOX') will not be useful. (Near roadways, it isn't very useful in any recording mode.) 1 ½ second pauses will be recorded, before VOX mode stops recording again.
• Has a built-in microphone.   But it is not a very good one (frequency response excludes high-pitched audible sounds), and is distinctly directional (see diagram.)
• Auxiliary mike may be added, but test it before buying - some microphones will not work with the DR-84.
• Earphone jack works fine except for getting an exact stereo rendition:   a random brand of earphone only delivered left-ear sound when jack plugged in all the way. Both sides rendered (in binaural mono) when jack was inserted about 2 millimeters short of fully plugged in.   Advantage: once I found the right range for my earphones, I didn't need to readjust it often, even in field conditions.
• If you're looking for fidelity of sound reproduction, forget it: This device sstores data, not hi-fi sound. Recognizable sounds, speech, and intonation all record well.
• Sound quality improves with earphones. The device's speaker is not good.
• Cuts off audible high-frequency sound, unless it's very loud / right in the microphone.
• (Not having found a good aux mike for this yet, I'm not sure whether one could improve recording pitch range.)
• Has a clock, and an alarm.

• When Beep is on, the button beep on starting a recording is not caught.
• In rewind or fast-forward, when it reaches end or beginning of folder, it will loop around to the other end of the folder - unlike a tape recorder or VCR, it will NOT stop at the beginning or the end. (But 'Intro Scan' does stop after the last sound recording # in the folder.)
• The same goes for forward skip / reverse skip: it loops around from sound recording # 1 to # (last in folder), and vice-versa.
• BTW, forward skip, and reverse skip, are wrongly documented in RS's owners manual (c) 2001:   for either mode, extra pressure on the or rocker button is required.   Not just 'hold'.
• & BTW, in 'beep ON' mode, the forward skip/reverse skip doesn't sound a beep except for the single-skip; When sound recording #s start scrolling, no beep occurs.
• To get maximum free space (possibly in both folders, but esp. in a full folder with many short messages), press RESET - ! -
                       E.g. when free space is indicated but display flashes FULL when you try to record - RESET will 'speed disk' the memory some, to free up space. Evidently.
• "Sector size" in the memory of this digital recording device (by experiment, I found) is about 8 seconds.   So, to make the most of recording space, either
  1. Tend to make recording of 7, 15, 23, 31, 39, 47 (...etc.) seconds long. (Details: 8x - 1   determines optimum length.)
  2. Just avoid short sound recording lengths, where the loss ratio is greater. (Details: For 4-second-long recordings, loss is 50 %. You will only be able to record 120 of these -at most- or 8 minutes total sound per folder.    For 12-second-long, loss is 25 %. Etc. - because 960 seconds = 16 minutes, and 120 8-second sectors of memory = 960 seconds.)
• On the LCD display, "ERASE MESSAGE," after you press the ERASE button once, will flash on 5 times (or sometimes, 6 - esp. if the first flash is brief) before it will stop waiting for a confirm on the erasure.
• There are 5 modes the LCD display can be in.
  1. Clock/Idle mode (and clock settings)
  2. Alarm settings
  3. Play/review/skip/erase mode
  4. Record mode*
  5. Folder/Settings mode
  
  ( * record mode differs only in that no buttons but the REC/STOP and MENU button will affect operation, while recording. In Play/etc mode, all controls work, including REC/STOP...)
  
• Ignoring the battery icon, modes look like this on the LCD:
• How to get into modes from mode 1:
  2. MENU
  3. PLAY/STOP
  4. REC/STOP
  5. hold MENU (- but you have to be in mode 3! if you hold down MENU in mode 1, goes to the time-set.)
• How to leave modes:
  2. MENU
  3. MENU
  4. REC/STOP
  5. MENU repeatedly (until you reach mode 3 or mode 1)
• Alarm will sound in LOCK mode. LOCK can be activated in any mode, including recording.
• In mode 3, the sound recording you currently select(ed) for review/playback, will remain set while the batteries last, until unset, even if mode 1 resumes for hours/days/weeks (apparently).
• When recording, an intial 'click' in the sound may not happen - but since the REC/STOP button is used to stop recording and is very near the microphone, the click at the end is almost unavoidable.
• Odd clicks get into the sound easily if you press the wrong button or shift your grip while recording. (With a working aux mike, these last 2 tips may not happen -?-)

- Page (and 3 associated graphic files) created August 9 & September 21, 2002, by Russell Hess, Webmaster (hess1@bigfoot.com) of 'UpSky2' & 'UpSky'.