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That's the A->D GP chip (24-bit to boot). If it turns out that it transforms it twice then you are absolutely on the money. But I am surprised that sending it through (D in, D out) would have that effect. First I need to see if I can reproduce this observation. In the past the D400 always sounded better, into the same optical input of the same amplifier. Stephen

What driver are you using? Are you installing in the XP virtual machine or in native 64? If the latter, did you get the right driver? Are you sure it actually ever transferred ANYTHING? It may look as if it is going through the motions (buffering up second one before first one has completed). My educated guess is you don't have the right driver installed. You will need NETMD760.SYS from our downloads section. Sorry I re-read the thread, mea culpa. I am wondering if you installed onto the Virtual machine. The phrase makes me suspect this (BECAUSE THE DEFAULT DRIVERS DO NOT WORK IN "NATIVE" W64 of any release)

I previously noted that the D400 actually plays most things better, particularly LP4. Weird.

I have a PRS600 (Touch) and I went through the same thing. The problem is that it will only charge from the USB if there is a computer at the other end of the cable. It has nothing to do with the specs of the charger. Let's assume what I say is true for your model too. The RH1 charger is an odd one. I have some devices that need to charge by USB (no dedicated power jack), and they won't work either with the RH1's charger, though they are fine with a $10 pocket charger from the local store. I'm sure there are folks here who can explain this - but I think we have to live with the fact at least for now, or until someone makes a little (adapter) kit. However you can get a $10 charger that will charge the reader through the round charge socket. There's no way to tell what specs will work, so you must go into a store and try it. Or at least buy from someone with a good return policy. Hope this helps.

If only the said bookshelf systems were HiMD with no restrictions and full I/O and USB access.... My most useful unit todate is the MDLP bookshelf unit made almost exactly 10 years ago; but I use it in conjnction with the RH1's upload capabilities. If a single model had both (deck/integrated + HiMD with upload) then I would buy not 1 but several. A sad day but nonetheless probably inevitable.

MSRP = Manufacturers' Suggested Retail Price. You shouldn't have to pay (or expect to get) close to MSRP now or ever in the future. Take a look through ebay's closed listings to see what this deck sells for. On Ebay UK for example (one of the most active for MD equipment) most go for under 40 pounds, but some as high as 70.

the WHOLE THING? switches, sockets and all????

Please don't ever use the word "just" over something technical like this. To make 64-bits work with "legacy" media (NetMD) you will need the NetMD support driver which is called NETMD760.SYS. This will need to be downloaded and installed separately (before or after) from the SS Ultimate ("Ultimate" is just an adjective and has NOTHING to do with the version of Windows you happened to acquire). If you do it before, the manner of installation may differ from when you do it after, since in the latter case, something has already "gone a bit wrong". Fear not, it is in the downloads section here, and we shall assist you on your quest. Some answers depend on exactly which unit you plan to hook to the USB.

You have to use the GROUP button on the NetMD decks. My 980 has a "group on/off" button, and if you turn ON groups you will find there is a new option in the Edit menu. Probably easiest to use the buttons to navigate and the keyboard for text rather than trying to do it all with the keyboard. However there IS a keyboard template filed under the JB940, actually. http://minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-JB940.html Maybe this will do; there's nothing about creating groups in it... makes me think you HAVE to do it as I described above. Maybe the hard concept is that you yourself CANNOT create an *empty* group. The manual explains how you can make a group with (e.g.) tracks 4 through 8. For sure, if you record with groups on, then the tracks will be in a group. Or, as Kevin points out, use Sonic Stage.

To answer my own question, it looks like the first gen (R500,R700,R900,G750) may have NOT had Type-R. Seems once Sony invented a feature they rarely took it out (at least as far as main chip went). I guess your comment about "record only" begs the question: at what point if ever did playback become non-backwards compatible? We know that the MZ-1 for example has trouble with new disks, generally; and maybe even its own disks, recorded, give trouble on new machines. Not sure if this is alignment, or a fundamental incompatibility though. Looks like the JB920/JE520/W1 are all Atrac4.5, the last version before Type-R. So I still don't know whether there's any playback aspect to Type-R.

Type-S includes Type-R..... I am certain that the good results with the MDLP decks have to do with efficient use of bandwidth (bit reallocation). Otherwise there would be all kinds of MP3-like crappy behaviour on a variety of signals. In practice LP2 (and even LP4) cope really well with many if not all types of music. Now, here's the defining question: was there such a thing as MDLP without Type-R? Here's the reference about what bit reallocation is really about: http://www.minidisc.org/type_r_atrac.html

I think the bit rearrangement definitely takes place on the ATRAC3 as well.

MZ1 is most definitely not Type-R. Perhaps you mean MZ-N1? The Type-R applies to all recordings made ON THE UNIT (not transfers, or playback). R = "bit reallocation" and is a better way of utilizing the available bits in a recording of a musical source.

Do you mean the plastic that clips over the battery? If so, perhaps consider duct tape until you can buy a dead one for spares?

I don't think the output is Control-A1. My 3 year old Onkyo (at the time i bought it) cost me $225 and works like a champ. Why fight the older version of everything? (I'm not suggesting you purchase anything NEW).

Just butting in here to offer a new thought: Yesterday I recovered an old cassette to SP, using Type-R (CXD-2662), and uploaded to WAV with RH1. This is not the first time I have done this. After making perfectly decent CD, I transcoded a bunch of stuff including the stuff from the Cassette from SS to LP2 MD, with an NH600 as the encoding device. Here's the odd part - playback. The resulting LP2 MD sounded not-good on the MXD-D400 (Type-S), but when I put it in the MDS-JE640 (Type-R) it sounded great. Optical to amplifier in both cases. Was I imagining it? Or is there some other explanation about why the earlier deck performs better?

Sorry Brian but I suspect you are largely out of luck. The next generation (PCLK-MN10/20) are available on Ebay but the one you want is probably impossible to find. You might try on yahoo japan, if you can manage to navigate all that. But I had a quick peek and found nothing. Your AV receiver is so old it might be a smart idea to upgrade to something about 10 years younger. I'm not suggesting current by any means - more like something about 4-5 years old. The PCLK-MN10/20(A) series does essentially generate the right control signals but I think they are in a form that is mostly useless to you. There are folks here who understand the details of SIRCS and Ctrl-A1(/II) but the details were never really published properly by Sony. Consequently it never became any sort of standard.

I'm sure that's the intention of the setup. Mostly one only sees something in the control panel to set INPUT levels (and providing control for S/PDIF input level). The Terratec boards seem to be an exception, one gets full control of everything in both directions. The alternative, a USB dongle with opti-out isn't so bad.

If that's the case, most likely complete removal of the sound device, reboot (without sound card physically in the machine) and re-installation should fix the problem. And if the sound card is on the mother board, disable in ROM BIOS before removing all trace of drivers.

Hi. Are both channels both cut out or only one? Either way: a. somehow the insertion into the (external) microphone socket caused the prongs to stay in the "inserted" position; or b. one or more of the ic (IC305,307, Q313,Q515) in the circuit that switches between internal and external blew. This only from casual inspection of the service manual (at page 31) which you can find here. I don't claim to understand that circuit, though. Maybe you do. If not, of all the people who read this board, Jim Hoggarth repairs these MD units professionally, and can probably help you in due course. Welcome to the forums.

I have no idea what you refer to, but ALL versions of Windows 7 can be made to work with SonicStage.

These only work in conjunction with something connected to the Slink/Unilink control bus (the round ?4-pin socket), such as a changer, satellite radio, or Ipod adapter. The audio comes through them but only when the device is selected. This will only be when there is a real device there that communicates with the head unit and wakes up and connects itself. You would need a special IPod adapter. Some head units simply have a 3.5mm "Aux" jack which removes the complication of having to talk to the control bus.

That's exactly what wouldn't work, if they knew that was a French Sony product. Another thought occurs to me: maybe the registration you already did included the site you are trying register on (same database) and so it thinks you are trying to use the code to register twice. I recall something of the sort with Adobe DRM for Sony Reader, if you followed the tram tracks everything was ok, but if one made the mistake of trying to reg at Adobe (as well), now you end up with two different passwords for one account, and essentially one gets bumped but you don't know what it is. The fix was to DEregister at Adobe, funnily enough.

I hope you mean input (not output). The (unmodified) 480 doesn't do output anyway. MD is problematic in this area because of SCMS. You're best with an amplifier that has an optical in. Sound settings are saved between Windows sessions, but it's hard to explain (meaning, I don'r recall how) where they are saved. It's somewhere quite anonymous, and I suggest you look for a freebie download that helps you find that stuff. I think the registry key will have \Enum\ somewhere in it. Another possibility - there's a utility called regmon that will allow you to see where changes get sent as you tweak your IDT sound control panel. That's probably the most general solution. Good luck.

Right, the website does not match your computer's (Windows) idea of date formatting. Probably you have to tell your computer it is French, would be my best guess. Along with the default date formatting for that country.