OK. Now I'm absolutely confused.

Started out in this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/all-things-audio/475599-new-8-ch-field-recorder-tascam-dr-680-a.html

and decided to start a new one so I wouldn't hijack the original posters'.

The P2 says it takes tri-level sync and that the clock resolves to incoming house clock. The Gen10 can output tri-level as well as AES.

My goal is to make it so that 1. my video as well as audio will pull into my NLE and line up without me having to adjust and move things and 2. to have the ability, if needed, to keep the audio from my HD-P2 and video in sync for long periods of time (in other words no drift).

So what is the cheapest in field solution. I need to be able to power it from a portable source. Power is not always available on location so the ability to operate from a battery source if needed is a must. Will the Gen10 do what I want or is there another comparable solution price wise?

Any experience and/or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Garrett

Hey Garrett, I think you're basically all set with your Tascam and your EX3. Check out this piece:

Timecode Products: Ambient Recording GmbH (http://www.ambientaudio.com/products/timecode.html)

I think Steve House has some experience with these boxes, so he would be the goto guy for more info. Whether it's worth the price to you is your call though. My comments in the other thread were coming from a large multitrack setup (say 4-6 8-channel mic strips, converters, PC/Mac interface, & outboard recorders for backup all clocked to one master). Not so sure I would even bother with just stereo recordings, esp if you're not having any real sync problems to speak of...

Thought I'd jump in and add something else that would apply to outboard audio multitracking through an audio interface. RME has a really cool feature called DDS or direct digital synthesizer. Basically, it gives you the ability through wordclock to fudge the clock frequency a bit either up or down, as long as the interface is serving as the master, and then distribute that sync to your entire audio rig. That way, if your cam's can't genlock to an external master clock (e.g., EX1, HMC150?, NX5U?, consumer cams, etc.), you still may be in sync biz. <-- as long as the drift between vid & outboard audio is occurring at a constant rate - pretty safe bet with properly functioning equipment.