Is this typical? (A recording question)

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NWI_Scanner_Guy

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Did a search, but was unable to find a definitive answer...

Last night before going to bed, I set my 536HP to record the local PD/FD trunking system. Watching for a particular TGID to pop up again, and want to have it recorded when it does show again. I stopped the recording this morning just long enough to transfer the audio files to my hard drive so I could review them.

I figured I'd have one folder with all the files in it, so imagine my surprise when I saw that there were 15 folders with the recordings in them. So my question is this....is this typical of the x36HP scanners, to divide up the recordings into multiple folders? The folders all go in chronological order and all contain differing departments, so my thinking that each department might be in a different folder doesn't seem to be correct. It's no big deal whether it's one folder or 15; was just kind of surprised me is all.

If anyone can throw some light on this for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

:)
 

NWI_Scanner_Guy

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Well, I may have found an explanation/answer to my question, but if someone knows for sure, I'd still appreciate independent confirmation.

While reviewing, and then deleting files and folders, I noticed that each folder (except the last one) had 100 files in each folder. Is one hundred the upper limit for files per folder?

As always, thanks in advance for any information provided.

:)
 

Jay911

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Yes, it starts a new folder after 100 entries. Not sure what the purpose is - if it's related to the old file limits some version of Windows have (IIRC the root folder of a drive could not have more than 255 files/folders, but that was pre-NTFS if I recall correctly).

Forums user theaton made an excellent Excel workbook that, using macros, will read the files your x36 records (including the metadata that says what the system/dept/channel/etc is), arrange them in a spreadsheet, and optionally re-sort the files into folders of your choosing (either copying them or moving them). Check this thread for more info.

I'd recommend moving the files from the microSD card to your PC's hard drive before doing it, because the bandwidth over USB is so much smaller than the bus in your computer (will go much slower doing all the file manipulation on the microSD card).

Note that x36 WAV files seem to be unplayable by certain sound programs. One that seems to play them without fail is VLC.
 

NWI_Scanner_Guy

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Yes, it starts a new folder after 100 entries. Not sure what the purpose is - if it's related to the old file limits some version of Windows have (IIRC the root folder of a drive could not have more than 255 files/folders, but that was pre-NTFS if I recall correctly).

Forums user theaton made an excellent Excel workbook that, using macros, will read the files your x36 records (including the metadata that says what the system/dept/channel/etc is), arrange them in a spreadsheet, and optionally re-sort the files into folders of your choosing (either copying them or moving them). Check this thread for more info.

I'd recommend moving the files from the microSD card to your PC's hard drive before doing it, because the bandwidth over USB is so much smaller than the bus in your computer (will go much slower doing all the file manipulation on the microSD card).

Note that x36 WAV files seem to be unplayable by certain sound programs. One that seems to play them without fail is VLC.

Thanks for the information Jay, I really appreciate it. Thanks also for directing me to the link for that program. It's definitely going to make sorting / viewing the information associated with the files a whole lot easier.

:)
 

troymail

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I'm not happy with the options for reviewing recordings either. Although I appreciate the effort, none of the "tools" people have suggested I have been able to make work (the "excel spreadsheet" nor Media Monkey). Additionally, even though I've asked several times, Uniden doesn't respond to requests for information regarding how the data header labels are applied to the recordings in the header. I've written my own program to look at that info but it's more tedious to do this than I care to use.

The recording feature lacks a good playback tool outside the radio itself. It is certainly far from a usable feature - but then I guess that's what Uniden wanted. Sad.
 

NWI_Scanner_Guy

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I'm not happy with the options for reviewing recordings either. Although I appreciate the effort, none of the "tools" people have suggested I have been able to make work (the "excel spreadsheet" nor Media Monkey). Additionally, even though I've asked several times, Uniden doesn't respond to requests for information regarding how the data header labels are applied to the recordings in the header. I've written my own program to look at that info but it's more tedious to do this than I care to use.

The recording feature lacks a good playback tool outside the radio itself. It is certainly far from a usable feature - but then I guess that's what Uniden wanted. Sad.

So far, I haven't had any problems with theaton's spreadsheet program. Granted, I've only used it on a few folders so far, but it is head-and-shoulders above the program I have been using, MediaMonkey.

The EZ-Scan Digital program has, IMHO, the best playback feature around. To quote a popular insurance company's tag line, "it's so simple a caveman could use it." Depending on how I do with the excel program, I may have to go back to doing more of my recording on my PSR-800s.

:)
 
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