14 replies to this topic

[NOStlgIC]

Can older units play Hi-MD discs?
I currenlty have two MZ-RH1 recorders and would like to purchase a cheap player to offload the wear from these expesive units. I don't want to spend a lot on this "replacement" but everything I run into below te $150 pricemark is very old (year 2000-2004).

Sorry if this has been answered before.

[sfbp]

Hi-MD came into existence in 2004. There are plenty of HiMD players for less than $150, you merely need to find the models you are interested in, and look for them.

Examples:

MZ-NH600, MZ-NH700, MZ-NH900, MZ-EH70.

Hope this helps.

[Russell Letson]

To answer the crucial question: No, Hi-MD disks play only in Hi-MD units, even though Hi-MD units will play standard disks.

[Azureal]

To add to Stephen's list of potential HiMD units you can include the MZ-EH50, it is a player only like the EH70, I have one and it plays all formats perfectly, a great ''beater" unit to keep my RH1 safe in the house. :-)

It seems like even the units listed here are becoming more difficult to find at a reasonable price. Some folks are listing units on eBay for crazy prices and the sad thing is they are not selling, then they continue to list them again hoping to score big, I think they end up sitting on a shelf and no one wins that way.

As Stephen mentions, just keep vigilant and watch eBay daily to spot the deals.


I would love to have folks share links to their ebay.com saved searches for portable MD players. I had a couple of really great saved searches and then changes ebay accounts and lost them.

[NOStlgIC]

Thank you guys. Unfortunately that was also my experience shopping on eBay for MD hardware. Heck, those two MZ-RH1s cost me close to $1000.
I know I could just go for a cheap MD player but that means carrying more discs and embarass myself using a thick oddly looking gizmo.

[sfbp]

http://forums.sonyin...43-my-new-eh70/

The point being: this is not thick and oddly-looking.

[PhilippeC]

Sony MZ-NH900 here ($60) : http://cgi.ebay.fr/S...=item2c66723167

[NOStlgIC]

I believe that auction has ended but I can only guess (I don't know french).

What do you think about the MZ-NH900? I've never seen one in real life and would like to know if it's close in size with the MZ-RH1.

[PhilippeC]

The NH900 is much thicker than the RH1.
Problems I had got now with mine since 2004 : buttons do not answer anymore (after one repair), characters on the screen tend to fade with time (after changing the screen 4 years ago), charge do not start anymore (contacts???).
Phamcu (like me in Vietnam) who repair all my decks is not equiped (no spare parts) for portable units, meaning only jim.hoggart in U.K. can do the job one day for me.
So if you get one Hi-MD unit in "good order", ask questions.
I have the personnal feeling that Hi-MD units have a more short life than Net-MD units. Anyway I have a NH600 and two RH1 in reserve.

[NOStlgIC]

Good to know. I had an eye on a NH900 but now I'm going to hold off on buying it.

[sfbp]

My NH900 was 100% cured of its problems (similar to Philippe's) by doing the proper power adjustments. It's still not very good at charging batteries but (I suspect) that's mainly because I didn't have quite enough gear to do that part of the adjustment just the way Sony intended.

[PhilippeC]

that is why my NH900 is still in stock waiting for an english trip to jim scheduled for my next - long - trip in France

[Joanne_Chan]

The HIMD NH600/700/900 units were only the market for a short period in the UK at least and didn't really sell when all the attention in personal audio that year was on the iPod so there's not as many about compared to the earlier NetMD models pushied in the early naughties.

[jim.hoggarth]

that is why my NH900 is still in stock waiting for an english trip to jim scheduled for my next - long - trip in France

Interestingly, I have an NH900 in at the moment which is displaying charging problems. Very finicky about what battery is in, and even successive charges can differ on the same battery. As it's not a simple fix I can push out quickly, it's been in a few days now. Hopefully soon, a bit of experimentation with the voltage settings may help the problem. If I can ascertain anything concrete I will report on it further. I may also have other NH900 units in stock which I can use to qualify my findings.

Jim

[PhilippeC]

Be interested with your success experience with your NH900s