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I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't more about megalith Universal twisting the arm of the Mexican government in the same way the RIAA and MPAA would like to in Canada.

Something unfortunate seems to have happened to cross-references. And a lot of links have been reduced to the visible text (containing .... where the reference was simply too long) and don't point anywhere.

In a word, no. This is classic for a broken ribbon cable connecting the overwrite head. If you are nimble and used to soldering electronics, you might be able to fix it. Other than that, you should be able to pick up lots of second hand MDLP recorders on Ebay.

Hi Patti There's still lots of recorders in Japan (yahoo) and the UK (Ebay). NH700 going for under $100 US there. Hope this helps Welcome (back) to MDCF! Stephen

To come right out of "left field" I would say that they made a bad decision over AtracCD's - NOT to make a consumer/hifi unit that plays them. Only some portables CD players, car headunits, and a couple of bookshelf systems (well maybe lots more but I just can't find them) actually play the darned things. Too bad, because they knock the socks off MP3 CD's, effectively giving you MD quality without all the pain of buying MD, if your only need is to listen to canned music. MD is still great for recording, and they acknowledge this by dubbing the MZ-RH1 as "professional". AtracCD's might have saved Sony's proprietary ATRAC format if marketed correctly. But they went on the assumption that MP3 CD's wouldn't ever catch on. Just like VHS (where Sony knew that Betamax was better), eventually someone fixed MP3 CD to sound OK.

There's another thread here where the guy mentioned that he found the card I recommend which has optical IN as well as out, going for $12 + shipping.

Is that before or after switching to 3.5x? I heard some bad stuff about Firefox's new major release and have put off switching until they fixed the bugs. I haven't noticed any problems with the older version which is now at 3.0.13.

Just remember that if you really want SP, sonicstage doesn't give it to you, unfortunately. You get "fake SP" which is LP2 padded by some blanks. Sony probably decided too much of a good thing was enough, or words to that effect. The only way to get SP is with the optical in on your unit, assuming you have something that generates optical out.

Fair enough. If you notice what I said........

Yeah, I found something like that, too. And I looked at circuit diagrams. I actually concluded that any circuit with the Type-S chip may not even need the enhancement provided by the previous generation's Current Pulse. The 940 definitely has the same S-TACT chip as the 980 but with the current pulse part as well shown on the diagram. Unfortunately I cannot prove this difference from the 980 as the 980 service manual is not freely available. But to my ears, the Type-S (in my MXD-D400) more than compensates, by restoring the balance of the sound. We will wait until I see what my new unit sounds like. How is the 980 as a downloader? Can it edit tracks from SonicStage? (I am guessing that it can NOT!)

I won't say "No way" as this is not a constructive means of argument. Instead I will ask "where's the evidence?" Regards (put it this way, we know how to fix the headers on an MD, if this is so, then the MZ-N10 would allow upload of anything at all!!!!!!)

I'm curious how you know this. I have looked at the manuals in vain, both JB940 and JB980 specs talk about S-TACT current pulse DAC's. Then there is this passage from AudioReview.com: As far as I know that exact problem is solved relative to my JE640 (which is the cheaper brother of the 940) by adding Type-S playback for MDLP. I have already witnessed it by playing back MDLP recordings made on the JE640, in the MXD-D400. The difference between Type-S portables and regular, pre-Type-S portables is quite dramatic and known to many here. So please, what is your evidence for the JB980 having not such a good DAC? I'm not doubting you, I am asking to show me the facts because so far I cannot find them (and/or don't know enough to be able to do so). Best regards, Stephen

And you can usually find one on Yahoo Japan for under $100. Forget the FM modulator, the quality isn't as good (assuming you are able to get a Sony headunit into your vehicle). Have you experience of this device, Avrin? I have noticed one oddity - some disks with clear (transparent) upper surfaces, I particularly noticed TDK Poshe and RXG Pro, seem to give my changer playback trouble. The exact same material recorded onto another disk, no problem.

Hi Garcou, very interesting post. Couple of quick comments: 1. I recently found you CAN have HiMD in car, simply by making Atrac3+ CD and playing back on one of the car units that supports it. Equivalent to 4 or 5 80m MD's, or about 3/4 of a 1GB one. 2. Unfortunately there is no way to magically get HiMD on a pre-HiMD box. Two reasons: a. there is no PRML which HiMD uses to compress the format quite a bit b. there is no encryption. Lots of software (firmware) encryption on any HiMD unit, and this includes the car Atrac and the portable Atrac CD players. In a nutshell, there are encryption keys IN THE MACHINE (or I should say, there need to be). As I am about to get my hands on a JB980 I was sad to hear your comments on this unit. The Type-S playing back from my MXD-D400 is truly awesome, and I was hoping the JB980 might be at least as good. Cheers

Gotcha. Never thought of that. Usually if I do any sort of real work on sound files, they get uploaded to WAV to make sure I don't lose anything I don't have to, then burned as CD when I am finished. I can always convert back to MD easily enough. But of course the transformation you are describing is a loss of quality, so I have avoided it ever since I found out about the problem.

Now we're getting down to the wire. There is indeed a special adjustment on the Laser power. IIRC Avrin, you haven't ever actually adjusted that one, correct? But in theory its setting is independent of the Laser power for regular disks (whether formatted as HiMD or not). Is there anything else silly that affects only the 1GB disks? Like the little sensors (check both kinds of disk and you will immediately see which one has an extra hole) that test the underside of the plastic case of the disk to sense which kind it is. Conceivably for mechanical or electronic reasons one of those might be jammed, yes? Added: now I have read Avrin's explanation of how the three-layer disk is recorded (not much the wiser but thank you Avrin anyway!), I am scratching my head to try and remember what it was I did that got me out of the hole you are in. I am absolutely certain I had this for a short time when the unit was quite new (and brand new at that!). Can you leave it without all power (battery, USB) overnight? This is all black magic and guesswork at this point, but it sure sounds familiar to me. I do recommend that you try to design experiments which test each function (erase, record, play, upload) as separately as possible, ie where all the other variable are constant. For example you might try reading a "known good" disk. If this fails, then I wonder about my idea of the sensor not working to detect 1GB disk insertion. Or titling one track and then looking at the disk in another machine. And so on. Good luck!

Well there's another argument for Atrac3+ CD in the car. It has to read so much data (often a whole song) at a time in order to decode it, that it's relatively immune to bumps, over and above any "G-protection". Quite apart from the fact there is almost no point in stealing homemade compressed CD's. And back to OP - the point of the non-MD headunit is really that they are very inexpensive, whereas the MD-based headunits are older models and tend to be expensive. The only trick is getting the changer.

Same here.

Huh? Page 57 of the MZ-RH1 Service manual. Part M703 labelled "MOTOR UNIT, DC Overwrite head UP/DOWN" Sony part # 1-477-519-21 Unless I have misunderstood, this controls which of the 3 layers in the multi layer disc is accessed. Go on, explain it to me, I'm sure you have a better way of seeing this.....

A very sad commentary on human nature. That is why you don't buy an expensive item from someone with no feedback unless he has LOTS of items for sale. Thanks for telling everyone how to scam each other. NOT. H.A.N.D.

My personal suggestion: start by getting a Sony head unit (GT510,610 or 710) and the supporting wiring and stuff (which you will have to do anyway) that gives you CD including Atrac and MP3. Now get an MDX-66XLP (there is exactly ONE model which is an MDLP changer and this is it), and it connects very easily indeed, nothing except the two cables. No power requirement, and they give you nice long cables with the changer so it can go anywhere... it's very small. Cheers and welcome to MDCF

Hmmm. Edit, no. Title, and upload, yes. (on the 600D)

Yeah, my NH600D is just fine at titling etc. Can even upload. Cheers

I don't think so. Part of this may depend on exactly what is in the car circuitry (I recall that some resistor is needed to prove to the RH1 that it is/isnot a source or a sink or vice-versa). However when my 600D is connected to the charger left in my car after GPS was stolen, it behaves exactly as it does when I connect to the USB from the computer, namely that if playing, it continues to play until you press stop. However no power is coming from the USB in either case. In both cases, if you now press stop (whilst playing and with the USB already connected), the screen of the 600D now says "PC <--> MD" and in the case of the computer, you get the duh-dih noise from the PC sound system showing that the USB connection came up and online. The 600D has no yellow socket for +3 or you could buy a cigarette lighter charger made by Sony and it would work. I already tried that with the 600, I suppose you could try modification but I have no idea about what's in the electronics inside. I know that they are basically the same and the most likely difference is that (only) the socket is missing. In addition the 600D and 600 have no charging circuitry to recharge the NiMH AA, unlike the 700/800. However you want to talk to someone who has a CDX-GT610UI (with USB port). MDane does, maybe he has some HiMD player that he has already tried or is willing to try. If it doesn't play back through that I guess there's no hope. That's not a bad unit to have, it plays Atrac CD's too, the last (most advanced?) unit that does so, subsequent ones do not.

Couple o' things: 1. Does this happen with 80m disks formatted at HiMD, or with transfer/play of regular LP2 to an 80m (well 160m) disk? (the reason for asking this is that any laser power errors, and also vertical positioning errors, are different for HiMD 1G from any other mode, because on the 80m disks there is only one layer) 2. The tracks that "eventually" (pace Fawlty Towers) got loaded onto a disk - will they play elsewhere? The sentence that interests me most is this: "Next I transferred the same tracks again onto the new machine, and this time it worked. " Because if it works even one time, there may be NOTHING wrong, but just some unfortunate combination of circumstances. Hence question #2. I definitely recall some hairy stuff when my RH1 was new. Once I got used to it, it never did it again. I know that you, like me, are an RH1 habitue. But I thought I would say that, anyway. Just in case it rang any bells to way back when you started with the first RH1. Finally, anytime you get an unexpected blank disk, you know to expect the absolute worst, a busted overwrite cable/head. I hope my RH1 never sees this day. You didn't say whether you used the other machine to fully discharge and charge the battery, or the new one. Last question: when you put the "new" machine's battery in the old machine, does the old machine work perfectly? Sorry for not asking that first, might have saved some messing around. I'm certainly leaning towards the Avrin adjustment - however if you think that negotiation with the vendor is better, don't want him (or you) believing you messed it up in service mode. Rather an expensive experiment it might be?! Totally off-topic... I finally twigged what the three metal points on the outside of every machine (except the B10) are - they are connectors where the repair facility can instantly fake out a remote and hence get into test mode with a single button press. Perhaps Avrin already knows this, and/or can confirm. (one more comment to add: the slow transfer tends to make me think even more that this is a power issue, not a LASERpower issue)