poe

The 45hour figure is for 48kbps and really is only good, as pretty much agreed upon in this forum, for voice. HILP is 64kbps depending on who you ask isn't all that bad to listen to through headphones, and you'll get around 34 hours on a disc. As A440 mentioned you can record in PCM, but you can also use 352kbps which sounds very, very close to CD. If you really can tell differences between compressed and CD give the 352kbps a try. You'll be able to hold 6hrs, 22min in 352kbps on a 1gig disc. Later, POE. Loading your CDs into Sonic Stage is pretty fast. Depending on the bitrate that you put them into your computer determines download speed to your minidisc i.e. the higher the bitrate the slower the download. All in all, it really isn't all that slow. If you've used a mp3 player before, I'll be the first to admit minidisc will seem very slow. I use my MD everyday for podcasts, about 20 min. before I leave for work I throw a disc in setup the transfer then go get ready for work and it's done. So you just can't do it at the very last minute. POE.

I did a experiment for you to answer your main question. I had a CD transfered into my Sonic Stage as WAV, this CD was 47min long. Using my RH910 it took 13min to transfer the WAVs. Bear in mind I was multitasking at the time, I had 2 monster programs Sonic Stage and Itunes and FireFox browser open. This may have effected the transfer time a little. Also, bear in mind if you buy the RH1 it has faster transfer speeds than any other HIMD made. Just a guess on my part but I believe you could probably fill a 1gig disc on a RH1 in less than 25min. I know that's not like a CDR but considering that you can multitask well with Sonic Stage doing this, all the perks would be worth it. You'll just never be able to throw a disc in at the last minute before going to work. Hope this helped, later, POE.

Yeah battery life, I don't know the figures but it will more than likely be better than any portable CD player you've ever owned. If you're use to listening to CDs it's a good choice because you'll get a full 20 min. more than a completely full CDR (with a 1gig disc). You'll pretty much be stuck to using the 1gig disc because you can only get 28 minutes PCM on a reformated regular minidisc. There in lies the other problem 1gig disc avaibility unless your near a Sony store you'll most likely have to get them via the internet. At average of $5-6 apiece this could get expensive. I will say that I use to be a pure audiophile and from my useage of HIMD in PCM it's well worth the cost associated with this product. POE

I'm glad that you got that 8bit thing cleared up. When you made this statement in another thread you also said that DVDA is 24bit. I'll clear this up to. The DVDA standard allows multiple bit word lengths and sampling rates, also in various number of channels. I also stated in that thread that SACD is a 1bit system with a insanely high sampling rate, is this what your research come up with. I would gladly retract any misinformation I have given out. Later, POE.

Wow, I finally won a Ebay auction! Now I'm just worried wether I'll get sent a piece of garbage or sent nothing at all. Oh well thems the spoils. Although this will be the first player unit I own be it MD or HIMD. It has the speaker cradle to boot. I bought it for in my bedroom. I only paid $80 for it shipped, sure beats what MD Boom Boxes go for. Anyways I was wondering if any of you guys have any of these Panasonic Players with the speaker cradles. I was wondering if the speakers will function off the players internal battery or do you have to have it plugged in for them to operate? I ask because I won this from somebody in the UK. So I just wont be able to plug it in to check the operation of the speakers in the immediate future. Also can anybody answer this little question. Ok I know the unit itself is DC and I'm pretty sure DC is the same everywhere, is it possiable to just buy a new AC to DC converter that outputs volts, amps and wattage to the player? Or do I have to buy a AC to AC converter for the UK plug? Thanks for any help you can give me. POE.

The 1st generation HIMD units that being NH600, NH600D, NH700, NH800, NH900, NH1 and NH3D have this ability. The 2nd gen units left this feature out these models where RH710, RH910, RH10 and RH10DP(not for sure about this model#, the one with the built in camera). The RH1 I'm not positive but I believe that it has Net MD recording also. POE

I meant to add this in my last post, you mentioned about swaping music, you may want to go over to the Audio T Board they have really nice MD trade scene going on over there. It's working pretty well over there I've particapate quite a few times in the last 8 months or so. If you go over there also check out the thread about Iggy Pop using minidisc to record the rough tracks to his newest album. Gives hope that Sony may still keep producing some units for a little while even if only for pro side of the market. My opinion, about comparison of MD to LPs, is that Sony when they introduced Minidisc is that it was a digital replacement to the cassette which is absolutely true. You get all the portable benefits of cassette but even smaller. You don't get any of cassettes caveats though, degragation, no random access, no reording of the playlist and no limited dynamic range(and anyother sound limitations of cassette). I will say for the record that Sony even improved cassette tech with its Dolby S, its dynamic range and other sound attributes where improved to point that it surpassed minidisc in this one area(that is until HIMD that is). Who really ownes one of these decks though, I do but I've never meant anybody else who does.

As matter fact try how firm your line in jack is pushed in the player. I had a legacy recorder that had this problem and I would just try jimmy it in the jack until it worked right. I eventually got a new line at Radio Shack that I didn't have to do this with. Must have been a difference in tolerences in the manufacturing. So don't give up hope. If you never really get this to work you may still have a chance if you get a CD player with optical out and use that into your line in, it should not be effected the same way as analog in. POE.

GregorMD I'm sorry about derailing your thread but the comment about 8bit was just plain wrong. Now back to your post. I got some bad news you'll only be buying a Onyko HIMD deck, because they're the only one who makes a HIMD deck not even Sony makes one! I've personally have never made a live recording with my MDs(HIMD, Net or legacy I've owned something from every generation), although I'm still toying with the idea of doing a podcast with my RH910. I still like the idea of removable media over being tied to a computer. I think even if solid state mp3 recorders start getting external mikes and larger wordbit/sampling rates, I'll still stick with MDs I just like the removable media. POE

I can't remember off hand if the RH1 can record in Net MD mode, if it does it more than likely does in Type R. Type S is a playback only for LP2/LP4, again if it has a Type R chip it more than likely has Type S. Any device that records digitally has to have a bit word length(bit depth) and sampling rate(the 44.1) and both numbers matter. SACD does not use 24bit word length(bit depth) as far as I know. The way I have always understood SACD is a 1bit system with a insane sampling rate (can't remember the off hand, but I think it's a very large number). DVDA supports multiple word bit lengths and sampling rates. This is conjecture on my part about the Rh1s ability to playback 20 and 24 bit recordings. I think as long as there isn't to dramatic of a difference in word bit length and sampling rate, any 16 bit system can playback it. I believe it will be down res. I based this on the fact that CD players I believe can playback 20bit CDs (quasi 20bit playback) but its down resed. Later, POE.

Even old MD records 16bit, 44.1. Some decks record in 20bit, 44.1(I think even a few record in 24 bit, 44.1). I think that Sharps Auvis are 24bit, 44.1. So where does this 8 bit depth come from? POE.

Try plugging it in to your computer and run Sonic Stage, see if the stop button will work. Or maybe see if you can initialize the disc. POE.

Top left corner of SS goto edit you'll have a divide command in the list. Start the track playing find the place you want to cut it at, pause it there. Use the divide command. You can then playback the resulting track if you don't like the results use the combine command and you can put the two back together and try again. POE

Hey bland1000 I thought 48kbs was HIMD only. Shouldn't it be 66kbps(LP4)? POE

I think that more than one set of values for remote potentials exist in the firmware. The 505, 707...the 0s series use a different scheme than 10s series for remotes, so I contend that these different schemes exist in the firmware, just to be toggled by Sony for a particular line, just like the other features turned on by hacking. I do admit that the value for two line operation maybe exclussive to those units, but I really doubt it. POE.

I would gladly pay up to $100 to have this done to one of my units. Could you imagine a RH1 or RH10 with a optical output? Wow! POE.

Did you get your splitter. If you didn't I have one that I'm not using and would be glad to sell to you. Later, POE.

I would go sleeveless in this case, you should have zero problems with any damage to the disc. These are tuff little things. I would still store the sleeves for future use and keep a small stack around to carry them in when transporting them. POE.

I believe that it's very possiable. I base this on a little bit of evidence from net MD hacks. In the threads for these hacks there is quite a few people who ended up scrambling their buttons on the remotes. I contend that they simply came along alternate setups for remotes, say from a generation before. I find it hard to believe that they (Sony) totally rewrote the firmware for a HIMD, so I believe that these alternate schemes still exist in the firmware. Now figuring them out is a different story. Later, POE.

Or, you can use a remote and never have to take it apart. That is if that unit has a remote port on it, I can't remember. POE

You have a PM. Later, POE.

I'd like to address the cost, durability and reliability issues, of flash memory. Flash is no where cheaper than minidisc, before Christmas I seen a 1gig SD card on special for $15, they normally run around $25 on special most of the time, a 1gig minidisc $6 on average, enough said. I will give them about the same grade in the durability department, they're both pretty tough suckers. Now let's address reliability, it's pretty much accept fact that flash memory is limited to rewrites in the thousands, some, in the know, say even less. Minidisc rewrites are in the millons. I've also have heard far to many horror stories of lost data from flash memory, far more than minidisc. Later, POE.

I have done this quite a few times in the past. For general listening it's not to bad. The results will be better than LP4 or HILP, I'd say maybe like LP2. POE.

Ok a little Atrac history, Legacy Atrac 292kbps, Atrac3 LP2 132 kbps and LP4 66kbps , and finally Atrac 3 plus (HIMD) 352,256(HISP),192,64(HILP)and 48kbps. All HIMD recorders that I know of only record in only 256(HISP),64(HILP) and PCM(WAV) on the unit itself regardless of line or mic input. This is true with second generation HIMD, I own the RH910 and I checked it. 1st generation wise I'm pretty sure that it was the same, although the only 1st generation I own is the NH600D which is a downloader only. There has been discussion here that Atrac 3 did some padding with LP2, but nothing I've heard about the Atrac 3 Plus. So I really don't know where the 48kbps your seeing is coming from. Hopefully my memory hasn't failed me but I'm pretty sure HILP is 64kbps. Although none of this changes the fact that Sonic Stage only uploads at PCM(WAV), 256(HISP) or 64(HILP)kbps. So really you're best option is to leave it in Sonic Stage as 64kbps(HILP) and transfer to your unit as is. The file is only 25% larger and it still isn't all that big. Also, you may want to consider trying Sonic Stage 4.2, it seems to run better for most people. I think it uses the computer resources better it may react better in your laptop. Just a note anytime your using Sonic Stage try not running any other programs while it's running. Later, POE.

Never really tried it myself but yes Net MDs can record in LP4 off the line and/or mic. It's also pretty much agreed that any format recorded direct to a unit sounds better than through Sonic Stage. Assuming you're using a optical input into the unit that is. Later, POE.