System Organization

File System

Projects

Projects are a means of organizing ﬁles and settings for a speciﬁc situation or recording. When a new project is created, you have the option to choose the current system settings for the project or use a proj- ect template. These settings control how audio will be recorded as well as what type, if any, of timecode is used. Only one project is active at a time, and all new recordings are saved into that project’s audio folder. Each project uses its own EDL, which is dynamically built in memory when the project is loaded. The EDL

is not saved to the CF media. This is accomplished by examining each audio ﬁle’s timestamp and creation date, with the play sequence of ﬁles ordered by time- stamp and overlapping segments resolved to the most recent ﬁle creation date. When playing back the ﬁles of a project, if any overlap on the timeline exists, you always hear the most recently recorded material.

Projects can be created and changed using the System Menu, which is covered later.

Files

When the Record button is pressed the HD-P2 cre- ates a new ﬁle in the current project’s audio folder. The current timecode timestamp (location on the audio timeline) is stored in the ﬁle header along with a

creation date based on the system clock. The name of the ﬁle is automatically created using the ﬁle naming preferences of the current project. (File names must be unique within a project.)

Markers

Time-based markers are used to quickly identify and locate speciﬁc points in your project. The HD-P2 has dedicated buttons for creating and navigating between markers. Additionally, there are optional project set- tings for automatically placing markers in the case of events like input signal clipping and timecode drop- outs. Markers are not erased during recording.

Markers are part of the current project and not associ- ated with individual audio ﬁles. A marker consists of a project time and a name. Marker names are automati- cally created using the current project’s marker nam- ing preferences.

Settings

The HD-P2 maintains Project and System settings in small XML text ﬁles. While this is a common ﬁle format, it is strongly recommended that you do not edit or modify these ﬁles yourself. This format was

chosen for ease of troubleshooting and also so you can copy them, as a means of back-up, when the HD-P2 is docked to a host computer.

Media Considerations

The capabilities and performance of your HD-P2 will vary based on the speed and abilities of the Compact Flash (CF) media used. Older and some cheaper Compact Flash (CF) cards use slower memory com- ponents and little internal buffering which results in poor recording performance. Newer CF cards, espe- cially those tailored for higher resolution DSLR cam- eras, not only perform reading and writing faster, but also come in larger storage sizes. The HD-P2 supports Type I and II Compact Flash media. Type I cards are typically FLASH-ROM based and provide higher

performance and durability than hard disk cards, while Type II cards are more commonly used for CF hard disks and can offer greater overall storage capacities.

A current list of tested CF cards and their capabili- ties is maintained and available for viewing on the TASCAM website at www.tascam.com

The HD-P2 can test and display the performance of the CF card being used. For more information on this see the Settings Menu in the Disk Management sec- tion on page 19.

6 TASCAM HD-P2 Owner's Manual