sfbp

Absolutely no on all counts. The HiMD decks don't have optical or coax output. The HiMD portables do not have digital output of any kind. However, you don't need a HiMD device to get digital playback of ATRAC3+, the codec used in HiMD format. 1. You can hook the device to Sonic Stage and play it back through your PC using all-digital means 2. You can upload the tracks on your HiMD disks into the Sonic Stage library and play them on PC with no device connected. 3. Once you have the computer files on your PC, you can play them anywhere with VLC which understands the format perfectly. There are a few limitations, and some copy protection stuff but most of it you don't need to worry about. 4. You can load your ATRAC3+ files into some Sony devices with NO CONVERSION required and experience direct playback of the files. Examples, NW-ZX1, NW-F887, NW-S756. Even your LP4 files laboriously compiled on a standard MD can be played back this way, I do it every day with Bluetooth in my car.

Seriously, guys don't even consider using 70% Isopropanol. You should use only pure (99% or 100% on the label). I dread to think what is in the 30% in the bottle above. And it is almost never the head cleaning problem. There are a gazillion things which can cause failure to read. Most common is (gradual) loss of laser power.

More likely something got bounced around in transit, and finally came loose with use. I'm guessing the ribbon cable between the front panel and the rest of the machine.

Does the Sharp have a hold switch on the remote? The Sony remotes are entirely disabled if HOLD is set to on.

At those prices I think I might be saving my pennies for a 3D-printer.............

That's weird. Anyway you do not need any software except Windows to recognize a valid drive under Windows. HiMD disks are valid Windows drives. Be very very careful, do not try to transfer "stuff" or alter the drive, even by a single byte (or bit) - you will lose all audio files most likely***. So - see if you can see it in the list of Windows drives (J: or K: or whatever). It won't show up unless there is a Hi-MD formatted disk in the player. **** Note: you CANNOT use write protection (tab) on a HiMD disk - all that happens is that Sonic Stage will refuse to load it.

Just the screen. I cannot speak generally, but that has been the perceived point of failure over and over again. A lot of the functionality is built into being able to use that screen. Service mode, for example.

Sorry to say but the initial diagnosis was correct - the screen was simply dead. Sony never even sold the OLED part separately, the only thing listed is the complete (compleat?) assembly.

Unfortunately no. We'd have to get in touch with Eric Woudenberg, I think he's "webmaster" here though has nothing to do with this site (title from when the two were joined). Sorry, I didn't get as far as the last 2 pages. I printed the durned thing out and spiral bound it and was going to look later. I will do some cleanup. In a hurry at the minute.

Thanks for that. It's now posted in downloads: I tried three different sizes of file, original (35MB), On-screen (3MB) and E-book (9MB). The 3MB was a bit fuzzy close up, so I settled on the 9MB version. As the owner of MD-105FX I am personally grateful, since my only manual for that is Japanese. It's not quite the same deck, but I am sure we will find that this version will do for both machines. Cheers

Onkyo (Intec) MD-105FX User manual English View File This is the official manual for MD-133 from Onkyo, scanned by user zzzuppp. It probably is correct for the MD-105FX, which is a different deck. Until now we had only seen manuals in Japanese. Submitter sfbp Submitted 07/09/2017 Category MD Decks User manuals  

You did? How did you manage that? I cannot accept 35MB of email.

If you have, for example, a dropbox link to the file, I will process it and make it a bit smaller. Should be well less than 10M, maybe less than 5. Please don't try to use email (or upload to the site) for this. Thanks Stephen

What a nice unit! And for those of you that are considering features, it has MDLP, which I would consider very important before splurging on such a purchase. The only thing missing (surprising, as nearly every Sony unit still has one) is the lack of a digital (optical or coax) input. But those with a real deck somewhere won't care about that.

Actually the following statement is untrue. The CMT-M333NT (or 373) and CMT-C5/7MD all use a special USB version of M-Crew. I have it for the M333NT. So the only connection is a standard USB cable into the unit, the functionality of the keyboard port is encapsulated into the Minidisc (bookshelf) unit. There is also a DVD bookshelf unit the CMT-M700DVD which has MD. A neat unit but I feel sure Sony locked down the DVD fairly tight so it will not be very useful outside its original area (region) of deployment. Some or all of the same units will ALSO (alternatively) do NetMD. The function button switches roles from PC (netMD) to PCLK (M-Crew). So you do NOT need a PCLK-MN10.

Sure. It could easily be that something is loose. It could also be that a cable is cracked. Your latest description does sound like an intermittent connection (electrical).

Not "one chance only to copy" rather "one generation only". That's the nature of SCMS, too. What the limit means is that you can make a copy (as many times as you like), but you cannot make a copy of a copy. There used to be control over the number of copies in your database that you could check OUT to a device. But you're worrying about the opposite, copying things FROM a device (the RH1) to a computer. In point of fact the limit on the number of copies is completely gone. Sony abandoned monitoring this when they closed the CONNECT store, which relied on this mechanism for distribution of copyrighted material (like iTunes or Amazon). However there are still some vestigial bits of the (software) mechanism floating around - eg if you look up the properties of a track it will state the "Transfer count". The point is, it no longer matters.

More likely a lube job. Stressing it gets the gears etc going for a bit. Disassembling and reassembling very carefully may help. Most likely there's congealed grease making the mechanism stick.

That is, as we say, a blinkin' lot of money.

There is no such word as "just". Hopeless word, it merely hides the actual technical difficulties. WHAT YOU WANT CAN NOT BE DONE. End of. Sorry.

One comment: any time a MD recorder makes noise, the battery playing time will be significantly reduced. On the super light weight models (eg my E909 and on the E10 I imagine) this can prevent playback completely especially in MDLP modes. There is no service procedure specifically - just engineering common sense as to how you reassemble it, which take patience and practice to get right. Kind regards

Probably the most *modern* unit to use AA is the MZ-RH710. However I don't see one for sale anywhere so far. Here's one that sold recently: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Walkman-MZ-RH710-Personal-MiniDisc-Player-/302339788134 The only thing is, compared to the RH910 or M10 (same thing), it does NOT have a microphone input, only line/optical and NetMD download. I concur with the recommendation for NH700. Don't expect too much of the in-the-remote radio of NHF800, otherwise same as NH700. Stephen

You did miss the point. There is NO way to get the encoded data (for original SP format of minidisc) off an MD, unless you write the software yourself and replace the chips in the device ***. The hardware in the MD will produce the CD-format data which it then sends out the optical channel or coax cable. For what it's worth, there is NO SUCH THING as a perfect copy of an audio CD, either (ignore all the so-called experts who bleat on about "exact copy"). It's always a matter of how good is the reader, how many passes are made over the data, and exactly how the dithering is applied. CDs are actually about 20 bits in resolution, but we only see 16 bits when we play them (or copy them digitally). This may account for the fact that a "good" copy to MD often sounds better than the original CD, depending of course on exactly how the original is reproduced. So an MD copy is as good as it gets, and in my experience you'd have to copy 3 or 4 times (may be more) before you lost any of the clarity. Having said that, there are formats which are reproduced bit-for-bit (and can be saved as files) when you lift them off the MD. MDLP formats (LP2,132k and LP4,66k) are of this kind. So are all the Hi-MD formats (eg Hi-SP, 256k). But there is no accepted equivalent to MD-SP format on hard disk because there is no hardware commonly available that will actually read it except for MD units made by Sony and others. It's probably possible to tweak NetMD units into transmitting that form to a computer but you will still have a mammoth problem, at least in part (we think) because of copyright agreements between Sony and Dolby which will never be violated. There IS a way to get an exact digital copy of an MD, It's called the MDS-W1 dual MD deck. But you only get another MD *** Actually there are indications it may be possible on some units to get the raw data through an undocumented feature

Particularly i like the control of playback and editing with mouse and keyboard. Windows 7 is fine PROVIDED you use Win7/32-bits. But most people (quite sensibly) get Windows 64. There's even a 32-bit version of Windows 10 - I use it every day.