sfbp

I'm so sorry to have you spinning your wheels over my error, look at my update.

I have some transmitters (and at least one receiver or receiver/transmitter) almost identical to the ones you show. The problem with all is the largeish lug on the top of them which won't fit nicely inside the case. Probably I used 9V by mistake, then, I really don't remember. The damage was done before I realised. I was quite ticked when I realised that swapping the powersupplies (I purchased a couple of similar things and they arrived that day) didn't work. Yes, I know it was my own silly fault. I measure 9 ohms 500 ohms across R1, but of course that's without removing it hahaha.I cannot read the writing either but it sounds like if blown I need to remove it and substitute a "normal" resistor between (?) the plus of the diode and ground, correct? Or is it still one or more of the modules got blown? Update: I was using the MM before my first coffee. Sorry. So your 470 is right on the money. And there are no non-infinite resistances between the pins of any of the TosLink devices. Or C1.

A few months ago I paid rather too much for a device no one else could sell me but whoever it was on eBay, to take one optical signal and ACTIVELY (as opposed to the passive type of non-powered gadget) split the signal into 2 optical outputs. Unfortunately, I managed to connect it to the wrong power supply (never mind why, but it never occurred to me that the difference between 5V and 6V would make a difference) and after working perfectly when it first arrived, is essentially useless. The LED you see in the pic comes on but rather dimly. As there appear to be only two components, R1 and C1, could some electronics whiz please tell me likely values. You can see the circuit is blindingly simple. Or did I blow up the diode itself? Your suggestions appreciated. Thank you

One more tidbit. In the situation you describe it may be despite contrary inferences that you actually need to turn the read power exactly one notch DOWN. However he should start by looking at the iop number written on the op. Good luck!

I just had my E909 refuse to spin up, not having been used for a while. Is it possible that the motor simply is sticky and the unit won't spin up?

Aha, the prerecorded disk is completely different technology from the MO disks. All pointing towards needing to adjust. However the bad display brightness is very suspicious, coming at the same time as a MO read-write failure. I assume a. the disk gets hot when you succeed in playing it b. if you run so that you can see the overwrite head you will see a lot of oscillation (of the head). These are signs you need to do a servo adjustment (of the laser power and maybe some other things, though usually not unless the system has been physically abused) in my extremely limited experience. These decks are all built like tanks, however once they get slightly off, there is a danger in running the motorbike completely off the road, if you see what I mean. That wobble will do it.

Ha! ( I almost typed "HA!") That might be simple to fix. Try running for 5 minutes without the stepdown? I recall the same situation with my PX3, not realising it was supposed to be on 100V when I first got it. However it was indeed the laser power that needed adjusting. Before I a. fixed the BD (minidisk) unit b. got a stepdown to 100V it did used to get very hot. Maybe you can get proactive and start measuring power supply voltages when it's turned on? Is it possible that your stepdown is not delivering 100VAC? I wonder what it is that all your units seem to go this way? What's the mains voltage in Reading, MA? Stephen

That's a very appealing design. I still don't much like the idea of randomly scraping my OP ;( So probably it's heating up. That's definitely a symptom. You may find it runs better with the lid off, hahaha. You will probably see the OP vibrating as it tries to seek. However the likelihood is it's the laser power at this point. You can certainly haul out the BD unit and check the mechanism to see if there is significant (ie different from normal) resistance to seeking using your fingers to turn the stepper motor manually (with the power off of course). Sadly I cannot help as the drive appears (assuming it's the same as the JA20ES non-Japan model) to be MDM-6A and I do not have a machine with that drive in it. Is that because of the way the disks are loaded? In which case maybe the JA333ES you have may be compatible. You could start swapping bits to see what is actually wrong. They both have the "tray" type of mechanism, correct?

How can a single disk both clean and be read? I have never had one of these so I am speaking from sublime ignorance. What I have seen for CDs is that there is some kind of brush or abrasive rotating CD-shaped material which one moistens. A truly horrible thing to do to one's optical pickup IMO. If seconds are ticking off it probably means timing information is available but that is NOT the same as actually reading a real MD. I *think* that would mean it is not a mechanical problem. Another thought.... does it read a prerecorded MD? This is a less demanding test requiring less adjustment prior to its execution. If not it may well be mechanical problems as per Jim. C13 usually means that IOP is out of whack with the capability of the laser. Fastest way to fix is with a laser power meter (assuming there are no mechanical difficulties). Don't even think about trying to write anything for the moment - the write adjustment is much coarser than the read adjustment, and recording always includes reading back something that was written, so you can have a situation where you wrote something perfectly but the operation cannot complete because in order to write the TOC, it must read it first (after the recording but before the playback, if you see what I mean). If you don't have a LPM the best advice I can give is to open up the drive and see if the IOP number is written by hand in blue ink on the paper stuck to the top of the laser. It's no use trying to get at the one that's printed and stuck to the bottom of the pickup - that means you take the whole thing apart so now you pretty much need to give the unit the Full Monty. But generally someone will have tested the laser and written on it the IOP value (unfortunately for you, without the decimal point but I am sure you can divide by 10 or 100, should be obvious). Now you need to get in to the service mode and see if that is close to the number for IOP that's been set. Maybe it's time to follow Gyula's instructions and build your own LPM !?

For reasons which we don't yet understand, this board is currently sending out emails which will most often (but not always) be rejected by your destination email server as being "unverified". This means that 9 out of 10 people will not be able to register until this problem has been resolved. So sorry for the inconvenience!

I wasn't suggesting that your enthusiasm need to be curbed. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Haha this is the trendy phrase used in comedy shows such as "Curb your Enthusiasm" - Too Much Information.. I see now. I just never worked with large numbers of MP3 files and ATRAC files always naturally GROUPed themselves into albums owing to the nature of MD. The other way to do it is, as kalkie says: view all tracks, sort by file path, select all the ones you want, and set the artist or album as desired. This requires you to find the magic menu that shows the file path in displays, but it's standard WinStuff. Assuming that works with an MP3 file in the SS database. I don't see why it shouldn't.

Doesn't it amount to the same thing if you: 1. Import the tracks in "Album" view. 2. Change the "artist" for the album either to <nothing at all> or some suitable general descriptor? When I do this it always asks me if I want to change all the tracks in the album to have the same metadata or not, IIRC. My point is that by doing it from the list of albums rather than the list of tracks, you don't have to retype anything.

Those of us with 100+ GB of ATRAC might argue that point. The solution is quite minimalist. Don't use Artist Names. Or set an entire album to be by one artist (you can always make a new "Artist" consisting of several artists together) At least SS allows you to keep tracks ordered by the order they were added (or rearranged to). No other librarian will permit that. When you want to transcribe a SS folder to/from some other medium, it's helpful to prefix by <nnn-> complete with leading zeroes. This forces an order but the leading zeroes make sure that dumb software and hardware which only knows about alphabetic string sorting will get it right. When transferring from files, SS knows the <nnn-> notation and hides it in the SS display of information. Play with it - you'll be surprised. Just try to remember that SS file storage is managed by a database.

Don't sort by Artist. It's an option over on the left pane. Use "Album"

1. Does PCLK-MN10 is good for Windows xp? Yes, 2.01E (and 2.01J) update came out for Windows XP. Actually it's not much different from the previous version except **possibly** supporting more hardware. 2. Is there any difference between Japanese version or English version or is it one for all language? Depends if you read and understand Japanese. We have the English versions here on our website. 3. I know there a few M crew models, PCLK-MN10, MN20, PX3, available. PX3 is something else. The MN10 and MN20 are identical, except for software. Maybe this page is helpful: http://minidisc.org/part_Sony_PCLK-PX1+PX2+PX3.html 4. Are they Sony MD HiFi models specific? The hardware will work in every case, however the software is not guaranteed to recognize the M700DVD (see the chart in next link). There should have been a disk with that unit, you would be well advised to check with the person you bought it from. If you get that disk, we should upload it here. I don't think there is any difference between MN10 and MN20 despite what you may learn from this chart, the difference is almost certainly the software. Beware the chart at http://minidisc.org/sony_pclk_compatability_chart.htm It refers to a number of models which do not work with PCLK, except for the Japanese version (of the MD deck). Namely JB940, MXD-D5C, and possibly others. The MXD-D40 and MDS-PC3 definitely DO work with PCLK-MN10 in all versions (of the decks). 5. Any advice for me if I am trying to use M crew? Stick to 32- bit Windows. It won't work with most copies of Windows 7 and later as they are 64-bit. It can be used under 64-bit in a Virtual XP box, but you will lose the ability to rip from the computer's CD drive, which is a good part of the usefulness of this software.

Hahahah. If you did that for the NetMD, be aware that the response of the decks to NetMD is annoyingly slow. But that's a great deck by all accounts. According to guru Jim Hoggarth the difference between JE780 and JB980 is negligible.

I don't always have time to write essays, sorry. It's all there in previous posts but i don't have the time or inclination to summarize right now. The underlying point is that if the power has slipped it's often completely unnecessary to redo everything else. If someone did a servo alignment when the power wasn't up to snuff then yes it may be necessary for the full Monty. Baby steps.....

The service manual always spells it out precisely. Before you start be advised NOT to do a so-called 911 Reset.

Yup, just don't give anyone the idea that they can get optical out FROM the walkman though

http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-SRC2496-BEHRINGER-ULTRAMATCH-PRO/dp/B0002E50J0

I'm not Steven either. Stephen To answer your question, the PLAYER "knows" that an MP3 is a digital format. Sony is wedded to the idea of *no digital copies* as they own about half the world of recorded music (well maybe only 10% but it's a huge stake). So the player outputs the audio in a form you cannot record. You can buy an SCMS stripper. You can use the computer to convert and copy via NetMD. Frankly if you're starting with MP3 I don't see that recording in SP buys you much of anything.

Right on. I was just about to make a comment along the lines of "You have to deliver the charging voltage, whatever that may be, to a battery/portable unit of varying resistance. Therefore an unloaded voltage of 4.9 may be about right once you get the battery and are passing close to the max current). There's some interesting articles in Wikipedia about this. Another factor not mentioned is that wall supplies (which are generally not switching) are often rated 100-240V (Japan has only 100V 50Hz for most of the country and 90V in some of it). So perhaps one might expect the same adapter (if it is indeed that, I didn't look) to produce higher voltage when plugged into 220 than 110. The obverse of this particular coin came when I took a charger rated specifically 110-120 volts and plugged it, unthinking, into a 230V supply whilst on holiday in Europe. BANG! The adjustment I referred to has to do with setting the levels a) of the mainboard supply b. used by the charging circuits to determine start or stop charging. For this you need a regulated power supply (big heavy lump with lots of dials usually) and access to Service mode (we can help with that). This frequently improves many of the characteristics of a portable MD player such as the screen contrast, ability to charge properly, and (maybe) recording ability. The correct way to deal with that is to do an "overall servo adjustment" where the automated testing cycle sets all the parameters (except power) for you. But the observation about the service installed (probably incorrectly, as SB doesn't run in Win64 - it needs to be actually DE-installed) is an excellent one. Thanks.

Yeah but under what value load? More later... I'm on the road. Any battery that puts out more volts than the target "charged" voltage of a rechargeable battery will be ignored.

Rechargeables are fine for playback. I would however use an alkaline every time, especially if you want the machine to last. Another fix is to carefully adjust the power supply (in the service routine for the unit) so that even with the lowest voltage from a rechargeable (around 1.1 volts) things still scrape through. I don't doubt what you say about Simple Burner, but the resident part of that program is, as far as I know, removed when SonicStage runs. I'm not sure what you mean by a "NetUSB Service". How did you detect that, and what was the way you removed it? It's indeed possible that PC->NetMD transfer is affected by "ghost" drivers in the same way that MZRH1->PC is affected, which is that the system wastes time polling the driver for a unit that's not there. It's a while since I used SB since it doesn't run on Windows64. If you're talking about an actual service (SB service) running that affects recording, WELL DONE for a very astute observation!!!! In the HiMD portables, the problem is a lot less bothersome as in all cases except the NH1 (I'm speaking ex cathedra here, and I may well be wrong but certainly someone confirmed that it helps to have a Li battery in the unit) the unit can draw some or all of its power from the USB. So NetMD with them is more reliable, basically because HiMD can use a lot more power anyway (look on the sticker on the bottom of every HiMD unit!). This assumes you understand that every HiMD machine is really two different machines logically - one that reads and writes legacy (Net)MD and one which uses the higher density format. Those two machines present different USB id's on the vBus. All in all a complex picture. At least your N707 has an AA battery which can be alkaline.