sfbp

I actually suggested this to one of my profs (I went back to school for a late Master's degree in my chosen calling, in which till then I had no formal training), and he was quite supportive. On one of these Quad core machines, simply devote an entire CPU to compression (and decompression and encryption). Would probably lead to some radical hardware/software designs.

I will email you a URL or 3 S

<blush> One comment - Sony had to balance the same factors as everyone else coming up with a format. The big advantage of compression is very simple - smaller files. If you've ever tried emailing someone a WAV file, you will know what I mean.

Nope. (he said confidently). I have seen weird stuff with multiple processor CPU's. Especially when things are dependent on a crummy timing loop to poll devices on USB (there's no other way) as in this case. I have seen something similar trying to burn movies onto DVD with a multicore CPU. Turned out I needed an update from Nero, probably because they hadn't ever tried the original with > 1 processor. In Sony's case you aren't going to get one. If you have access to another machine, I would try that. One LESS powerful.

How about MphoneD?

FWIW my RH910 does that. I am stuck because I need a calibrated 1.2 V power supply to calibrate the unit properly. It's the only unit that does so that I possess (I hope!) and it seems to do just the same as you. The BIG difference is that because of the checksums in HiMD, the whole DISK often goes bad very quickly. Interestingly I have had maximum trouble with 1GB HiMD disks, but it sounds eerily like what you are going through. I suspect the power circuits that move the head.

Unless you own one of the less-basic versions of Windows7, that give you a free copy of Windows XP (32 bits) as an XP-compatibility add-on, you cannot run Sonic Stage properly under 64-bit Windows7 (and not at all under Vista-64). Check - you need Professional or Ultimate. Home Premium (the default with most new machines) won't do it for you. There are other work arounds (VMWare, VirtualBox) which are pretty nerd-oriented, but the best one IMHO is to downgrade Windows back to XP, heheheh.

Hear hear. Every single time I have considered plonking down what they wanted for an I**d at the time, I've said to myself, no - I can wait until they get cheaper. And they never have. I got into MD for converting LPs and cassettes, and got an RH1 because of its capability to upload, not the portable aspect. I just spent the day skiing, with my trusty play-only NH700 (it actually has the newest and best sounding hardware of any unit I possess) and an LP4 disk with a pot-pourri of classical music recorded directly to a deck's optical in from the internet. Magic! Even a couple of years ago, I never thought LP4 would be good enough for anything except a dog's breakfast; it all depends on the way the bits get laid down on the disk, and by what recording device, I think.

I always wondered if it had anything to do with environmental details like: FM (or other) carrier frequency AC frequency and/or voltage Line out characteristics (in both directions, to and from the deck) common in UK

note that a System restore or a hard disk reinstall of Windows would likely have knocked them out of the cricket pitch to where they cannot be retrieved. So Avrin's advice is good... do it early and often. Note the initial prompt will keep telling you many hours (as your collection gets bigger and bigger) but this is for conversion TO protected, usually even the re-estimate is high (after unchecking the box). So don't be put off thinking "I don't have time to do this today". Usually only a couple of minutes.

No rocket science here. Work out when there will be some applause (at the end of an aria), stop the recording, switch to LP4. added: tried to send you a PM but you have disabled everything it seems. I might just send you a file for your comments.....

It seems that all your listed models use AA (possibly a wise move!). Earlier seems to be better for the purpose of charging. I think any unit with NetMD may cause trouble as they have to deal with USB which is 5 volts, too, and it perhaps gets under specified for charging (not sure, just a guess). I think I have power problems with my RH910 (same chassis as yours essentially) so I am not in a position to comment on that unit's ability to charge things fully. If you haven't thrown them out, cleaning of the terminals with a very sharp knife can get them started. Also gentle heat may help to break down the resistive mess in a mishehaving battery - say 200F for 20 minutes. But don't quote me in court

To be fair, I don't do opera with it (except a couple of times I knew the piece well enough to know I could squeeze the last 15 minutes on the disk if I changed speeds 9-10 minutes before the end. At that stage it's better to have something than ending mid phrase ) But usually LP2. However non-opera (orchestral, chamber) is surprisingly decent. Even things like piano, which traditionally was the bugbear of any system that didn't cut the mustard back before digital audio. Not any more.

My extremely limited experience seems to indicate that you need to get them and keep them alive ASAP. All the really dubious ones needed my MZ-R91 to do the job. Out of curiosity, how (with which machine or charger) did you get it to work? I think the multiple cycles is always going to be the way. The chemistry has to do with the formation and interconversion of Ni oxide and Ni hydride. IIRC if the battery forms crystals these can prevent the reaction (ie charge/discharge). Probably getting to work a little means that the battery gets naturally hot (as there is some resistance inside it) and the heat breaks down the crystals and the battery appears to recover. Make any sense? I'm soapboxing here, should probably go look it up.

Voila: http://www.partstore.com/SearchResults.aspx?q=1-417-577-11 I recommend the GP gumsticks if you can get them, look around your local battery stores, or on Ebay, My dad in the UK got two with charger, as did I in Canada. Many of the "Sony" replacements are of dubious heritage. The other make that seems to be quite reliable is available from Oz, namely at Newtons of Sale: http://cgi.ebay.com/2-x-VT1450M-1450mAh-Batteries-Replaces-Sony-NH-14WM_W0QQitemZ370306038951

I think perhaps it comes down to this: streams intended for the internet typically have been pre-conditioned, noise-reduced, etc so that they make the maximum use of bandwidth at the extremely low data rates most people can use. For example until very recently XM in this country only offered 32kbps internet radio (they've recently added an option to pay more for better quality, as was in the USA for more than a year I think) but I'm pretty sure the satellite transmission is at 128kbps. The BBC broadcasts outside the UK by default at 48kbps, but their home market transmission, if you have it, is 128kbps. What am I trying to say? There's not too much point recording a 128kbps source at CD quality (yes, I have done it, early on before I "tamed" ATRAC to my liking, back when I didn't trust the LP modes either). And if ATRAC beats the others by (say) a factor of 2 (I'm not sure whether it does), then a 66kbps stream may be adequate for a lot of purposes. I **know** I won't improve on 132kbps for anything transmitted (even the sound tracks of many TV programs are essentially MP3 at 128kbps). In practice I use Hi-SP on a 1GB disk because it's the only convenient way to get more than 2hr 43m without resorting to LP4 (or of course Hi-LP), if I need to record a long opera. So that's a different sort of overkill. At least 256kbps HiMD also gets transferred to the 'puter completely unmodified. Like some previous posters, I really wonder how good 128kbps ATRAC3+ is, since it would double the times, to 4hr 40 on an 80m disk - having seen a reference to it somewhere, but I think it has effectively disappeared now. Just some ramblings....

Thanks for your comments. I'd go further than that. When recorded in real time from a digital source such as internet radio, LP4 is a lot better than almost any source you can find. This is probably because the Type-R bit reallocation kicks in (in the recorder - I always use a deck and have no idea about portables). I have hundreds of hours of classical music recorded this way, and it makes beautiful listening AS LONG AS I DON'T TRANSCODE. I find both LP2 and LP4 are exquisitely sensitive to the quality of the ripping when transcoded from WAV files that started out as CD-quality (1411kbps). I like to rip to AAL, for no better reason than that it works, and the result of transcoding from there to LP2 is acceptable. FYI the source (of my usual internet radio) is probably AAC at 128kbps, and doesn't have any obvious artifacts on live listening to orchestral music. On opera, sometimes (quite rarely actually) it can sound a bit thin on LP4 playback, but it's really a "depth" thing and I attribute it more to the different way that LP4 stereo is captured (mono with difference, aka "joint stereo") than real artifacts. I would never convert anything (except maybe speech) to LP4. But I'm sure you are right, it's almost as good as 128kbps MP3, and LP2 is probably better than 256kbps MP3. (Can't be sure about the last but I'm sure there are MD fans here about to go off and check it out!!!). Stephen

What about connecting it and a second battery IN PARALLEL (not in series) somehow?

Sadly this one has been there for over a year. Not sure why.....

However, I have looked as carefully as I can at those devices for which I have schematics. The JB980 and MXD-D400 being honorable exceptions (don't have the diagrams), I came to the conclusion that possibly the Type-S is invoked in the D->A. Many (if not all) of the units with Type-S, instead of having a separate D->A, have a so-called "D-class" output for the headphones. The implication being, that perhaps optical out is not affected. I recently got a receiver with Optical in made by Onkyo, and so far I don't hear the difference between the JE640 deck (Type R) and the MXD-D400 deck (Type-S). Prior to that, LP2 was almost not worth listening to on the analog output of the 640, and the MXD-D400 was a real step up. If Type-S is part of the analogue signal stream processing, then these observations would make sense. I *do* know that on the 640 the output of the DSP chip goes through NO circuitry on its way to the optical transmitter. I will wait to be proved wrong about my observation Opinions differ. Obviously subjective. You can see that if a given algorithm does a better job if it can actually use more CPU, then the possibility of some new processors "beating" the 10-year old DSP hardware might exist. But that's all speculation on my part. Avrin seems to be quite actively looking into this. Stephen

Looks to me like it's not there. Sorry.

Rusalka - by Antonin Dvorak. 1993 performance from the Met with Gabriela Benackova-Kapova and Ben Heppner. Rusalka is Dvorak's only well-known opera, despite his works in other fields being played with great frequency. This was Ben Heppner's Met debut. Curiously, his opera debut (at UBC when a student) was also in the part of Prinz in the same opera.

I think when you did the "all reset" or whatever, you committed to doing a full adjust. You have probably effectively bricked it, sad to say.

what's a PSU? Do you have the service manual? The correct procedure for exiting test mode on page 11. According to this, if you haven't completed the electrical adjustments then it will automatically start in test mode. See page 18. I can tell you this, you can probably buy 10 MZ-R91's for the price Sony wants for that test disk.

Just follow the directions in the manual.