sfbp

But WHY? Can't you do it in less?

I was always last in math Unfortunately there were future prize-winning mathematicians much ahead of me. So if you want X minutes on a Y disk then 2Y-X is at SP. What about the 3x3x3 cube of cheese? How many cuts do you need to make all 27 cubes? Why? (the future Nobel prizewinner got it; none of the rest of us did)

Most remotes are not simple - Sony's are no exception. The biggest tricky thing is for buttons which repeat when you hold them down. But there are lots of other subtle parameters. Stateless buttons are also a problem eg you press a button to turn something on AND select it. But only select it if already on, not turn it off. May I commend to you the Sony RM-VL600, I have had the best luck with this one. Especially to the situations where one button does two things. And Sony designed it no doubt with their MD remotes in mind. One problem which I have never been able to solve myself is where, if you have several MD decks on the wall, one button wakes them all up, or makes them play, or record, or whatever. Onkyo and Panasonic seem to have allowed for multiple devices, I'm unsure if Sony ever did. Merry Christmas anyway Stephen

Those microphones look a lot like my BMC-SP2's.

TBH 352 never sounded that much better than 256. What **is** amazing is how good some of the low bitrate stuff is. I have hundreds of hours of stuff at 66 and 132. For those one wants to record a digital source directly to a deck. Forget pre-recorded disks.

Welcome! For my money, there is absolutely no point at all in using PCM 1411 as a playback format. It's quite useful for recording as there's a wide dynamic range easily coped with which can be edited on a computer. But, IMHO, if you can hear a difference when listening through headphones, you are mainly falling victim to marketing hype and me-tooism. ATRAC (which PCM is emphatically not) is a scalable (logarithmic) 24-bit format, and will nearly always sound better than straight 16 bits. The gem in Hi-MD is not PCM, but Hi-SP. For lower data rates, LP2 and LP4 are still pretty good, especially when recorded starting from a premastered sound source such as a CD or digital radio broadcast. If you really want linear, best to go to the 24-bit-capable PCM-M10.

The mechanical write lock is what (most likely) had to be defeated to get the head that way. Listen, if you think you don't need help, you don't need help. I have tried and tried, but you always know best. Good luck in all your endeavours.

The open door sensor has nothing to do with the mechanical write lock. The latter is to protect whatever data and state has not been written to the disk. The door sensor is simply to allow testing to go on when the machine is apart.

Checked archives and no sign of these "patchwriter" files for HiMD at all. Only the NetMD ones. Strange that you should have such problems with NH700 as it has always presented as one of the most reliable units ever made. I've never failed to get into its service mode either (did you use the 3V power supply?). The head being in a strange position is most often due to someone managing to defeat the interlock that is always triggered when recording. One can do this by attempting to write to the disk, pulling out (or getting a dead) battery and then wondering what to do because it doesn't open (by design). If you open it now, chances are the head is busted (I can't tell from a picture anyway). I'd be interested to take a look but no warranties express or implied. Contact me by PM if interested. Stephen

Here is the recipe: Turn on Hold, close the unit. Holding group down press as follows: FF FF RW RW FF RW FF RW || || (i.e. pause 2x) You should be in service mode. That's all there is to it. To get out remove the battery. CAVEAT EMPTOR!!! If you do a 911 reset it is most unlikely you will be able to make your machine work without at least one more working HiMD unit, as well as a regulated power supply (the fancy lab kind with super accurate output) to use and help you.

There are two obvious ways to get into test mode. One is a series of button presses on the NHF800. The other is a solder bridge (useful when the buttons don't work!) which is on most earlier models. I don't see it there in the manual so it may be they dropped that method with the introduction of HiMD units. It's possible you may have misunderstood the diagnostic thing - there's a file, but it doesn't contain audio, and it's simply some remote commands via USB. Nobody needs this one. I may have the files if you are desperate but I have a horrible feeling the program is stone-age and won't run under Windows 64 bits. The proper diagnostics consist of the right disks introduced into the machine in service (test) mode, at the correct time.

It probably works fine on the Mac if you install the 64-bit driver which is our #1 download. Sorry I can't help (yet). Keep at it, and we'll figure something out. I'm also thinking that there may be a lot of junk that talks to USB on your laptop. Learn, if you can, how to get rid of unwanted (ghost) drivers from the Windows driver system. I won't give you a full tutorial here but there are two variables you need devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices devmgr_show_details Which both need to be added to your SYSTEM environment (Under Computer properties Advanced) and both set to 1. Then you can check "Show hidden devices" in DevMgr. I'll bet there's a load of not-quite-matching USB drivers greyed out there. Good luck!

Hmmm, that's interesting. It sounds like the driver is not installed but under 32-bits it should have been working correctly. Did you check to see if the driver was installed? Did you turn on the NetMD by pressing the button on the front panel? I am assuming yes to both.. However the default (certainly on Windows 8/8.1/10) is to prevent some drivers getting installed. My first thought was: oh, he's got 64-bits and it doesn't work without the driver. I'm more inclined to suspect your USB cable or the port on the laptop. Often laptop USB ports are very under-powered. The next thing you may have to do is to get rid of all the NetMD drivers (it's a tedious process) and install my all-in-one 32-bit driver, overcoming the objections of the OS to allowing it by suppressing the signed-driver insistence. Even then your observations don't make a crushing case for doing that. I think before we conclude anything is wrong I should ask whether you've tried it with 32-bit XP at any time?

What *version* of Windows did Mr. Dell sell you?

Very good point - shorting the output of the speakers might do it. This is easily done, and easily rectified. But as Gyula says, one of the three transistors on the page you posted (Q901,902 or 903) may have failed. These are standard easily available parts (ie you do not and should not have to spend big bucks buying them from Sony).

Fuses blow for a reason. In this case, something is clearly dead. I'm not the guy to ask, NGY would have much clearer ideas exactly how this thing might have died. I'd guess one of the big capacitors. If you unload the PS by disconnecting whatever it's connected to you can check the assumption at the cost of another fuse. Don't even THINK about increasing the fuse thickness (rating). If it passes that test, then there is a dead short somewhere inside the CMT-CP500. (edit) just a quick thought.... it WAS working for long period before? I noticed that this machine has lots of voltage options, and on some models a switch for 115-230 V. You don't say where you are in the world. Is it possible it's being plugged into the wrong mains voltage?

I'm going to lock this topic now. PLEASE USE THE DOWNLOADS SECTION, those reading this.

Aha! I will put the right link in that pinned topic. Obviously it needs to refer to the maintained copy clearly available in our downloads section. Cheers PS I can't help it if someone posts an old copy on youtube. Tant pis!

Huh? It should be there already. Where did you get the file?

Haha missed that. Might give an idea about button presses for service mode, though.

You can hook up your favourite player to be a front end to ffmpeg if your concern is that you don't want all the codecs and baggage that goes with being able to process videos in VLC. Better still write your own, I did, though it's no use to anyone as the proprietors of QHiMDTransfer refused to accept that modification, and instead told me (literally) to fork off. Well, sorry, but I have better things to do than starting a brand new project and maintaining it. They apparently stopped development shortly after that, and you can infer what you like from that observation. I think you'll find that the atrac plugin does/did NOT play HiMD formats, but only LP2 and LP4, if I recall correctly (I remember there was an ATRAC3.dll and it most definitely had this property). None of the players play AAL except Sonicstage and also Windows Media Player which uses the installed SS dll's.

If you get in please let us know; those guys are completely screwed and I cannot register (despite being already a member). We can post the file here, no problem.

Do you mind me asking this: what's so great about Winamp that you can only use it? VLC will do most things these days........

Thanks for the update. Interesting about the OPamps. I had thought maybe the DAC itself was important but you're saying it is what the DAC drives, that matters.