This meeting had been on hold for at least the last 18 months - from about the time Nagra announced that they were working on a version of their ARES-C solid state recorder that would be able to work with time code. So it was a largely informed group that gathered on this balmy evening in the Twickenham bar to hear John Owens from Nagra Kudelski in Switzerland bring us up to date with, and demonstrate the latest versions of the ARES-C.
John thought it wise to outline the development of the ARES concept so that we'd have a clearer understanding of why things are the way they are.
The ARES-C has been available for just over two years and was first conceived as a replacement for the Nagra E, and aimed at the radio market. Standard PCMCIA RAM flash memory cards are used as the recording medium, sliding into the holder on the front panel. This means that other than the knobs, there are no moving parts or motors which in turn means virtually no maintenance or servicing. The largest memory cards available now are 64Mb which would store about an hour of stereo or two of mono with the card capacity being used at about 1 stereo minute/Megabyte with MPEG data reduction. Nagra are just in the process of testing 80Mb cards. Cards can be used in pairs with the machine seamlessly switching between them when the first is full. The manufacturers guarantee the cards for 100,000 recordings and they don't require battery back-up. They are however expensive, eg a 20Mb card is 136 although a year ago it was over 300, so costs are falling.
An anecdote about a demo at All India Radio was told to illustrate the ruggedness of the format - where it was left in the sun with a DAT recorder in a 45 degree C heatwave - the DAT refused to work after an hour while the ARES casing may have been too hot to hold, but it functioned normally.
The original version ARES-C had an integral codec board for returning material to the radio studio over ISDN lines. When this machine was first shown at NAB, the film people saw it and asked about timecode versions. This has now been implemented as an optional board and is used in place of the codec board.
In development, the decision was taken to design a machine that retained the traditional Nagra approach to controls - most are still labelled as if it was a tape recorder. All the memory and editing functions are on the top plate and should there ever be a change of format or medium, a newly equipped top plate is all that would be needed to upgrade the machine. A number of the features are borrowed from the Nagra-D - such as mic amps and interfaces, and a hybrid analogue /digital meter.
The top panel has buttons for entering timecode values, an LCD display for machine menus and editing functions, plus a jog wheel.
ARES compatible studio-based systems were shown such as the Nagra C-PP, a rack mount version of the ARES-C with the same range of options. Because the PCMCIA RAM card is a standard PC device it can be used on a suitably equipped computer with editing software such as the Studer Numysis system which was demonstrated. They are also in discussions with SADiE over editing capabilities and there are possibilities with other systems.
Powering is via D cells and a set of 8 will give between 12-15 hours of operation.
The timecode system is 'virtual'. Code is not stored in the valuable RAM space of the card but the full value output by the internal TC generator is recorded every time the record button is hit. The system then counts the samples and can then output timecode as required. Because no actual TC value is written, it is possible to select, after recording, what the TC format should be - and any format can be selected. Also TC can be instantly added to any non-TC recording.
The questions from the floor were varied and explored the varied feelings that people had about the ARES-C and the concept of the medium. There was a similar discussion to that occurring over removable hard disk recording, about how the media would be handled within the standard film production process; and how the quality of a data reduced signal compared with other known media.
Most agreed that this was a fascinating meeting and any interested members are encouraged to listen to the meeting tapes for a fuller understanding.
Out thanks go to Nagra, and to Twickenham Studios for their hospitality.