Most know EDIROL, Roland’s line of audio production gear, for its portable handheld (and larger) audio recorders and mixers. At the Roland booth, we got a look at the company’s latest in an expanding line-up: the EDIROL F-1 Video Field Recorder, which combines video capture with multi-channel audio.

This small black box with LCD screen fits onto a camcorder via a standard brick battery attachment; the battery then attaches to the F-1. While it adds a bit of weight and length, it seemed to balance well with longer beaked camcorders from Canon and JVC.

In addition to capturing HDV or DV video (there’s no 2GB or 4GB file size limitation as with some other products) the F-1 offers two additional balanced audio inputs for capture of uncompressed linear broadcast WAV (these channels are in addition to the two channels that are already part of the video stream). The two add-on channels offer improved 16-bit/48Hz audio quality over that of compressed HDV audio.

The drive is a removable, allowing the user to swap it out and continue shooting. Afterwards, the drive can also be directly connected to a computer for immediate editing. A built-in RGB output enables a VGA monitor to be connected for quick thumbnail previewing–no need to connect a computer. Run out of battery power? You can replace the lithium pack with a container holding standard alkalines. More at www.rolandsystemsgroup.com.

With SD storage cheaper than ever, new and upgraded hand-held audio-only recorders also are popping up. Look for interesting products from Mayah Communications (Flashman II records to SD cards and USB thumb drives, and now includes Ethernet connectivity, optional wireless, and MPEG 4 HE-AAC v2 recording); Marantz (PMD620 records to SD cards, offers two built-in mics, USB port); TASCAM (DR-1 with twin variable-angle mics for stereo recording, WAV/MP3 recording, SD card storage, USB connectivity); and Sony (lower-price point on the PCM-D50 which offers 24-bit/96kHz recording, 4GB removable storage, USB port, variable-angle mics).

We meet up with Focus Enhancements later today, so look for a posting on their new camcorder storage offering.