Samson R16 Recorder
 

I came across the soon to be released Samson R16 multi-track recorder on B&H, would like to know if something like this would work better than a Edirol R44. It's incredibly affordable at $400, records up to 8 XLR tracks, runs on 6 AA batteries and doubles as a PC interface. For recording audio for of concerts and multiple mics at weddings it seem perfect for video?

Samson - Zoom - R16

Only 44.1KHz sampling rate with 16/24 bit depth.

Edirol R44 goes to 96KHz/24bits for 4 channels. 192KHz when in 2 channels.

However, R16 seems to be an interesting low cost 8 channel solution.

Hmm... as Anthony wrote, 16/24 at 44.1KHz only.

Ouch.

Samson claims "for video applications" on the page, but they really have to support 16/24 at 48KHz. Without 48K support there are many editors out there who will be cursing the technology, the producers, and the location sound engineer. There are so many ways to screw up sync...

The page may be preliminary specs - maybe they already have 48KHz support, but this is a critical issue for video.

Originally it was 48/24 internal or 96/24 if used as an interface on a computer. I suspect that 44.1 is when it is in multi track recorder mode similar to the H4n. The H4n can recored 4 tracks at 48/24 but if you want to use effects it is 44.1. It is supposed to ship in the next couple weeks so I guess we will find out pretty soon. Having a video section in the description makes you think they would know what they are doing and include 48 multi track recording.