MDX-400

Hmm, did she put it through the X-Ray machine? I wonder if that buggered it up??? Anyhow that code isn't an error code--according to the service manual (which I just downloaded and am looking at) it is the error readout for play and record. Since you get "00" and "00" that means that there is a zero error count. However that will only display if you press the PLAY button when in test/service mode!!! So it looks to me as though somehow the unit inadvertently got into service mode... It looks like she must have somehow got into Test Mode #2 (the one acheived by pressing buttons) as #1 requires soldering points on the board... She should turn off the power to the unit and remove all power sources. Press PLAY when the unit has no power (to remove any residual power) and then wait about 10 minutes. Then put a battery back in and try again. If the unit remains in Test Mode, then you are in a bit of trouble. In that case she must have also inadvertently entered the "electrical adjustments" settings of Test Mode which means those adjustments MUST be completed for the unit to come out of test mode!!! :? If the unit is stuck in test mode because the "electrical adjustments" were started you will pretty much have to take it to be serviced by Sony. This is because although the unit has an automatic adjust mode there are several items that must be adjusted manually to do the automatic adjustment. These adjustments require disassembly of the unit and the use of a voltmeter in order to set them correctly. I am unsure if there is a way to do the manual adjustments by leaving the values as is and continuing to the automatic section as I've never used test mode on a Sony portable... Perhaps someone else may have some insight into this??? Anyhow, do the power removal and then get back to us. Roland M.

Try cleaning both the lens and over write head (OWH). This can be done either with cleaner discs (usually one for lens cleaning and one for head cleaning), or by simply using a cotton swab (Q-tip) and some isopropyl alcohol. However if you do the latter you should know what you are doing before attempting it. The pickup block is very sensitive and you must clean them gently. If after cleaning the problems are still present then you might have either a ailing (weak) laser or an out of alignment over write head, or maybe a combination of both. If the unit playsback discs recorded on another unit without any problems, then I'd suspect the OWH to be the problem. It could actually be neither the OWH or the laser but those are the two I'd suspect first. Clean them and see what happens. (It is always better to at least try a cleaning before paying for an expensive repair/diagnosis that you may not need.) Roland M.

Well there is the no volume knob but you seem to be okay with that. Also I think it should be pointed out that in the past Sony car MD units have been available with some of the "better" features at least in one of the few models that were offered. There used to be at least one "lower end" model and one "higher end" on with better features. However '03 leaves us with one car MD offering from Sony and while one would think they would give it the higher end features the unit is really a low-end model if you ask me. Given, the CA680X was pretty lacking in the HU features department as well, but at least they did have the M690 then (at least for a short time), which was a much better unit. Anyhow, just to give an example of this, the CA790X as the CA680X has only F/R preouts, 2 sets instead of 3 and also has only an 8-character display. Also most of the Sony CD units have DSO and EQ7 but the CA790X MD unit has DSO and EQ3 (though that is better than the CA680X which only had the "MBP" crap). But it does have some features like group support that was previously unavailable on Sony car units. It also displays ID3 tags from a Sony MX (MP3 CD) changer which is nice as well. I guess if you like it, it will be okay. I just hope that Sony had improved on the quality we've seen in the last few years...

Bazirker, I'm going to post this answer to the check-in/out business as I just answered this question and think that lots of people might have the same question... (PS: If anyone thinks I've made any mistakes or omissions in my answer please let me know!) Q: (teknosuicide asks...) There is one thing I still dont understand though. The NetMD talks about being about to "check in" and "check out" songs to your MD. "Open MG Jukebox is SDMI compliant and allows up to 3 track 'check-outs' from PC to MD, tracks can subsequently be 'checked-in', deleting them from the MD." What does this mean exactly? Can someone clarify please? Thanks! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A: What the "consequences" of this means is that you can only have any one song copied to a maximum of 3 discs at any given time. Say you put the same song on 3 different MDs and you want to put it on a 4th--you can't do that. However if you wanted to delete that track from one of the 3 MDs then you would be able to put it on another disc again. So you have a "counter" that has a maximum of 3 check-outs per song/file and checking something in simply decreases the counter by 1 and deletes the track from the MD. The check-in/out thing usually doesn't affect most people because most people never have the need to have the same song on more than 3 MDs anyhow. Personally I never record the same song to more than ONE MD, myself...

Hee Hee Well apparently, though, from what I am reading on the T-forum, Zyan seems to have it narrowed down... He says that the transfer to SP is (like my second assumption) actually done over USB not in ATRAC3 format but in some linear form of digital audio already decoded from ATRAC3, similar to PCM. The MD recorder then encodes that linear (decoded) digital information to ATRAC (MDSP). If this is the case, which it very well may be, then there IS a possibility of transferring TO SP over NetMD in full quality. The only thing would be to get the software (via hacking it or writing new software) in order for it to send that same data, but instead of from a decoded ATRAC3 file, directly from a superior format (such as full quality .wav or even a high bit-rate (decoded) MP3 file). If this were possible then you make SP tracks with SP quality all while the recorder thinks it is getting decoded ATRAC3 over USB as in the standard "transfer" of "SP" via NetMD. Still no ATRAC is going over USB, but a full quality, faster than real-time recording MIGHT be possible. For more on this I should direct you to Zyan's thread (sorry about linking off this forum but the thread is quite informative) on the T-Station: http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showthread....=&threadid=4748

Perhaps you might think about posting in the right section!!! :roll: Sorry, I don't mean to be the "post in the right section Nazi" but this seems to be happening a lot lately... Off this goes to the correct section... Roland M.

I'm not exactly sure what this means... What good would formatting a NetMD track do? Do you mean that you would use that to write-protect a non-NetMD generated track/disc or are you trying to do something else? Roland M.

Are you sure about that Me??? I'm pretty sure almost all Sony ATRAC 4.0 and above utilise "Wide Bit Stream" which is either in 20 or 24 bit versions, right? In any case, this is just like CD... The MD can only record ATRAC in 16-bit (right?), but the 20 and 24 bit business is all about the ATRAC encoder/decoder, right? Then you have the D/A converter which can also be either single bit or multi-bit and in 16, 18, 20, and 24-bit varieties. I understand the basics of the digital filter and quantisation and all that and how multi and single bit D/As operate but I'm not so clear on how these more-than-16-bit ATRAC converters work. I'm thinking it is somewhat similar. But Sony does boast that "Wide Bit Stream" has better sound quality... Roland M.

Wow, I guess I erred here a bit! Sorry. Here is a small correction: For one thing the standard Sony HU display has 10 characters (normally), not 8. I just I just got a bit confused. However it does appear that the CA790X does have an 8-character display which IS a bit pathetic/dumb considering 10 is supposed to be the standard. As for the MDX-400's extended display, it does have two more than the standard making 12 characters, not 10 instead of 8 like I originally mentioned. Also it isn't the only one. The MDX-U1, MDX-100, MDX-400, all have the 12 char. display. It also looks like the MDX-C800REC can display 12 but I'm not 100% on that. The WX-5500MDX also does 12 and I guess perhaps a few more of the JDM (and non-Can/US) units would as well. Even more strange is that the CA790X isn't the first with less than 10 either! The MDX-CA680X only had 8 as well, and that also goes for the MDX-C8500X and even the "mighty" MDX-C8970 had only 8! Well at least the C8970 had an SA which justified taking up the space of two characters--the nearly identical C8900 w/o the SA had 10. I suppose 8 is the minimum then for Sony HUs (that support Custom File, which is pretty much all of them), but you'd think that they'd make a point to make the MD ones (particularly the newer ones) at least 12 or something. It seems the opposite is true, though. The first MD HU, the U1 started out with 12 and then they slowly went to 10 (same as non-MD units) and then now they've gone down to 8 Sorry about my initial mistake. I was thinking that 8 was the standard before but now that I've thought about it I guess 8 is below average for the display, particularly on an MD deck. Roland M.

The answer to this is simple. Sony keeps ATRAC under "lock and key" relative to their treatment of the ATRAC3 codec. ATRAC3 and ATRAC are pretty much all together different formats entirely. The confusion comes when they decided to start allowing MD recorders to use ATRAC3 in the form of MDLP. ATRAC3 codec is all over the place, relative to ATRAC... You see it on Memory Sticks, portable CD players (now), and other Sony devices. Additionally ATRAC3 is for open computer use via Real Player... ATRAC on the other hand is much more tightly guarded. The licensing fees for its use are likely larger than ATRAC3 and also they don't just license it out for free use on PCs... Given, ATRAC3 via NetMD does have to follow all the rules of check-in/out and that business it is still insecure relative to ATRAC. Sony knows that once something is let out like ATRAC3 on the PC, it won't be that long until someone hacks it and circumvents the restrictions (I'm not referring to the no upload restriction as that it prevented by hardware, however). It may have something to do with the fact that the use of ATRAC still requires some sort of royalty to be paid to Dolby Labs because of the (inadvertent but court decided) incorporation of Dolby technology into it. Also ATRAC was designed under strict copyright intentions and in the "spirit" of SCMS. Letting it out for any Tom, Dick and whomever to use on a computer would be letting ATRAC become much less regulated and Sony won't let that happen. So for perhaps historical, perhaps the Dolby reasons (or maybe a bit of both), and for the reason of Sony's intention to keep ATRAC a tightly regulated codec, I doubt we will ever see Sony allow the ATRAC stream to be "willy nilly" thrown across PCs via USB or anything else. Roland M. PS: There is no "code" to break. There is no way to use ATRAC on the PC and this is a hardware thing, not software. NetMD ONLY allows ATRAC3 data to be transmitted, I'm pretty sure. When you record an "SP" track via NetMD the computer does the ATRAC3 business and still ONLY ATRAC3 is transmitted across the USB. The MD recorder itself encodes the ATRAC data. It is either like that or the PC transmits decoded ATRAC3 in the form of PCM over USB and then the recorder encodes it to ATRAC. I could be wrong on that but I HIGHLY doubt that ATRAC is ever moved over USB either to or from the MD recorder to the PC.

I don't think the R500 had recharging capability... (I could be wrong on that but I'm pretty sure). The R500 was a value (low cost) unit that, unfortunately, was TOO stripped down. In addition to no mic jack, it lacked both recharging and the remote port on the headphone jack. Neither a rechargeable can be charged in the player or a remote be used, even by "adding them at a later date". I believe Sony realised they made the unit a little too featureless and they corrected that in the MZ-N505 low cost unit when they "added" recharging and the remote port to the non-microphone unit in the line. Eventhough in most locales the remote and battery were not provided, they could be added later. So anyhow, it looks like the R500 can't recharge a battery. You can always use a rechargeable but you'll have to charge it with a separate recharger...

Is that the one with the OEL screen & flip down face? If it is I will say that it is a very nice unit. It is also a "9000" level model which must say something. I can't really comment much more than that as that unit was never really sold that much (or at all) in US/Canada. I'm not sure if it does MDLP, but it does seem to be a very nice unit. Pioneer also makes good head units in general especially the higher models like that one. I'd buy one... Edit: Okay now I see which one you mean. Yep it is quite nice, but no it does not have MDLP (don't know if you are looking for that). The MEH-P9100R is the newer model and is a little bit nicer than the P9000R in that it has a knob instead of lever for volume/settings control. However it does not appear to have MDLP either. Both units have a motorised face as well. Roland M.

No I don't think it is the same as any Sony one. As someone pointed out (on the T-Station boards I think), the Aiwa remote port seems to be different than both the Sony remote port and the older Aiwa port. So I guess new Aiwa portables are only compatible with this new type of remote. Roland M.

Thread not related to tips and tricks, and it is also a double post. Please watch the double posting (i.e. don't do it). This thread is locked.

There are a couple threads on this already with some limited information. You may want to check them out. Try: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=19 and also: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=843 Roland M.

A lot of people are saying that the N910 is the more practical unit now. The N910 uses the Ni-MH Gumstick instead of a Li-Ion internal battery and is said to last longer (because the Li-Ion inside the N10 is very small, not because Ni-MH is necessarily better than Li-Ion). Also the N910 offers Joint-Text as this feature has been brought back. Though Joint-Text isn't really the easiest to use feature, still, it is a feature the N10 doesn't have. As far as the rest of the unit goes they are likely very similar (if not the same) in terms of mechanisms and sound quality. The other thing to consider is that the N10 is apparently more available at present moment than the N910. This sometimes makes the price difference between the two very small and in some intances the N910 might be more expensive to obtain than an N10. Roland M.

Re the display, perhaps it is possible--I guess it just isn't probable because, again, the majority of the mobile industry consumer base still views the flip-down face as a higher end feature and that seems to be dominant to the point at which today many not only the high end units but also the midrange units are not only flip down but motorised flip down. (This might annoy you even more as the motorised faces are usually not that quick at opening up). As for the volume control you do have a valid point. This type of feature is met with decks that are indeed high end though. I think Nakamichi still uses "real" volume knobs and also I think the Denon (VERY high end and definitely not mainstream) decks do as well. Unfortunately decks like the Denon DCT-Z1 are upwards of $3000+ for a simple "no features" deck and for this discussion it becomes relevant to mention that such a deck is a CD deck, and any type of MD equivalent is unheard of. However now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure Nak makes their "45 level" deck in cassette, CD and MD. The MD one is quite rare though. But now I'm realising that the Nak MD deck probably is very close to what you are looking for. I mean the display might not have that many characters but it is a very "classy" looking and straight forward deck. The only problem is that it is not MDLP compatible, being an older deck. MD for car has a constant problem that it is not very popular particularly in the US/Canada. Eventhough there are a fair amount of decks to choose from (that fit many peoples bill)--those decks are from the "past". There aren't many new MD decks being made today for the car and that means there aren't many decks being made with MDLP. I think this is clearly the biggest problem in selecting a deck for the car. There just simply aren't many new MD decks (and therefore MDLP decks) being released nowadays.

I'd say the appropriate forum would be tech support, or reader's topics but I don't think you can move it anyhow--Mystyler will have to do that. Anyhow regardging the XA-300 AUX in adapter, you'll still can't use a miniplug input directly, you have to use a widely and cheaply available "Y-cable" that splits the stereo miniplug output of the portable device into Left and Right RCA connectors. This is the same cable you would use to connect anything with a miniplug output to a home stereo. But yes if you want AUX input on a Sony UniLink car stereo, the XA-300 is what you need. Roland M.

This doesn't have anything to do with "non NetMD recording" really (please pay attention to the section you are posting in). First off, to connect RCA jacks to a miniplug you need a Y-cable, but it isn't that simple to connect an AUX source to a Sony HU (I'll explain in a moment). Also don't fool with the remote port it is for a wired remote control only. If you are wondering what wired remotes work, by the way, look for either the RM-X2S or RM-X4S wired remotes for your unit. Anyhow, to use those jacks as an AUX input--you can't just do that. What you need is either an XA-107 or XA-300 AUX-In Selector that Sony sells for a relatively high $100 US (and you really can't get it for much less than that). The XA-107 is discontinued and the XA-300 takes it's place. Both have CD changer "pass-through" (this is what makes them so expensive--they aren't just "simple" adapters), but the XA-107 only has one analog input. The XA-300 (same price) on the other hand has 2 analog inputs and one USB (digital) input which can be connected to a laptop or in-car PC or other device that supports USB audio output. There is a "ghetto" way to make the in jacks work as an AUX input but you have to have a CD changer to do it and you also have to either give up having audio from the changer (!) or have some kind of (manual) RCA switch to switch between the portable device and the changer. Roland M.

Well I haven't been on in a while due to being out of town and also due to a bit of illness recently, but it was brought to my attention that there were some threads/discussion in the Tips & Tricks forum that had, well, nothing to do with Tip & Tricks! If you posted something here and don't see it, it's because I moved it to the appropriate forum. With all but one of them I did not bother to leave the "ghost" thread because I didn't want a bunch of "Moved" threads at the top of the forum. (You can always search under your own user name to find a thread if you don't know where it is.) As a general reminder, please remember to post in the appropriate forums and don't post the same thing in more than one forum. Roland M.

From Mystler's response, I'll assume that this has been posted elsewhere. So this one's locked.

This one is off to non-NetMD recording. Roland M.

Again, another valid topic but I think troubleshooting is a more appropriate forum than Tips & Tricks as it isn't really a "trick" to use mono mode. Roland M.

While this is surely a valid topic, I'm not sure that tips&tricks is the correct forum... Roland M.

Not sure what this is all about but doesn't look like Tips&Tricks to me. I can't understand the language, but yeah it doesn't seem like it. Moving this to a more appropriate forum...