Justin42

Sounds like your CD burner has dropped into PIO mode, instead of DMA-- which basically means the CPU is controlling everything. It slows down the computer insanely. It is a bug in Windows XP that causes an optical drive to drop down slower and slower if it encounters too many read errors-- copy protected discs are notorious for this. The problem is it never then speeds it back up! Try following these steps-- http://www.cdrlabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7625 And if those don't work, more in depth instructions are here-- http://www.cdrlabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6645 In other words, it's probably not any software's fault specifically, it's just bad timing. (and the kick down to PIO mode can be caused by a million things-- a poorly burned CDR with errors, bad data disc, copy protected music disc, etc) It's a pain, but once you learn to recognize the symptoms it's usually an easy fix. (about 75% of the time just uninstalling/reinstalling the IDE channel works for me, although I've had to use the registry editing in the 2nd link a couple times)

PXEngine is the Sonic/Roxio burning engine. It possibly is what SonicStage uses to burn CDs and is a very good CD burning engine. What the references probably refer to is that it needs to be updated in order for SonicStage to recognize your CD burner as a valid destination. I don't know if that would solve your problem, though, especially if it used to work. Are these the same burners that you used to use? Not quite sure what to recommend that wouldn't make it worse. An update to the Pxengine might help, but probably not. Does your CD burner work properly in other applications? Show up as a drive letter? I'd be tempted to say to try to uninstall and reinstall SonicStage (stick with 4.2) but not sure how that would affect any copy protection issues, but if you're sure you've removed the copy protection it might be worth it. For what it's worth I have Easy CD Creator 8, Nero 6, and SonicStage 4.2 coexisting quite happily on one PC. And my burners are on weird drive letters so that shouldn't affect it either. I'd think the problem is with your SonicStage install more than anything...

I was just curious, with Microsoft releasing Windows XP Service Pack 3 last week, if anyone's upgraded and tried it out-- it seems like every Service Pack brings its own set of problems (and solutions) so before I took the plunge I was wondering if anyone had any experiences to share... (I'm most curious if SonicStage 4.2 will still work properly, as there have been some issues I've read about MDAC compatibility in SP3 and we all know how much SonicStage flips out if MDAC is even slightly non-standard)

Your unit is not a HiMD unit, therefore it will not work with HiMD discs. HiMD units will work with older discs, but not the other way around.

In my experience with my wonky NH1 (which I don't use to record anymore), yes, until you get that final "system file writing" your data is at risk. Most units don't crash, though, so you shouldn't have any problems. I *think* if it knows that it's getting low battery units will shut down gracefully although you can't (and shouldn't!) rely on that. Someone with more bravery than I to test that (or experience) should chime in, though.

As far as I know, the US and Asian ones are pretty much the same physically (they differ in some ways, such as which remote ships with them). Most of them are made in Malaysia although some markets seem to be getting Made in China units. I don't think anyone in the US buying from a US store has gotten anything except made in Malaysia, which is considered superior to a Chinese unit, but I don't know if there have ever been any real tests as to build quality differences.

Yes, my NH1 unfortunately randomly resets itself at times when recording. I have never been able to duplicate the issue, and of course it popped up just at the end of my warranty. I probably should've sent it back to Sony but it is so hard to replicate I could see them telling me it was fine and shipping it right back (or possibly in even worse shape). Others have noticed this issue, but it's been a while. There were a small group of us. Sometimes the NH1 works fine for hours, sometimes it dies after 15 minutes (it just freezes up, turns off, and you lose your recording. It really sucks). Since I had that problem I've done much more extensive tests/recordings with an RH1 and RH910 and have never had similar problems, so I'm kind of mad I never returned it for repair.

B&H is pretty good, I had some issues with a purchase last year and it was painless to return... I like Minidisco since they support this site... (it's funny, for me in CA, Minidisco charges tax but no shipping, B&H charges shipping and no tax.. there's just no way to get a RH1 for under 299 )

Barring some catastrophic failure, you will not lose recordings made in any way when transferring using the RH1. In fact the RH1 can transfer prerecorded minidiscs even, it really does seem to pretty much ignore any copy protection. I do believe you will need to have the disc as writable, I don't think Sony's changed that although I don't remember now. But I've never lost a recording on disc when transferring using the RH1. (including stuff recorded optically direct from my CD player using my original Sharp MD unit) The WAV Conversion Tool isn't really needed (except possibly in unusual cases) anymore, as you can convert directly to WAV through SonicStage. (which I recommend you do, the one BIG "gotcha" is everything you transfer off the RH1 WILL be copy protected as an OMA file-- it will allow you to convert it to any format, but if your computer ever blows up or your SonicStage database is messed up beyond use, you may not be able to recover the file [of course you could re-transfer off the MD]. Once you convert to WAV you can archive as you please) Some people have noticed if you transfer from SP on your (standard) MD to HiSP mode in SonicStage, the track marks are off a bit, so I always just go to WAV. Odds are, anything I am transferring I am intending to burn to CD and not back to HiMD. SonicStage 4.2 really is pretty good. (don't use 4.3 unless you're on Vista) Simple Burner will stay on your system as long as you don't mess with it. It's not included in SonicStage anymore but it still works fine. I would recommend backing everything up before upgrading. I think I started with SS2.0 and just upgraded everything over itself with no problems, although I wonder about a 3.1 to 4.2 jump in a single upgrade. You may want to upgrade to 3.4 (comes with the RH1), test it out a bit, and then go to 4.2 after a day or so. I don't know if 4.2's upgrading has been well tested over an older version...

You'll have to upgrade to at least SonicStage 3.4 that comes with the RH1, but you shouldn't have to worry about losing anything. I've never had any problems with the original disc being messed up in my RH1. It's quite a nice unit, if you're serious about buying one you kind of need to do it soon since models are disappearing all over. If you end up not liking it, I am sure you'll be able to get 90%+ of your money back (if not make a profit) selling it on Ebay, especially once all the supplies are gone from stores...

Yeah, SoundProfessionals sold out a while back and was pointing to the MZ-M200 but now says that's sold out and discontinued as well. I bought a 'backup' RH1 from Minidisco about a week ago. The legacy upload is too important since I have older decks that I continue to use... which reminds me, I really need to put the new unit through its paces to make sure all is working well before a>the warranty runs out and b> it's impossible to get a replacement! I was hoping to wait a bit (it was a financial stress) but I was afraid I'd wait so long they'd be gone... Last I checked (before I bought from Minidisco) B&H Photo in New York (and online) still had some for sale, as well.

Wow, I hear absolutely nothing unusual, but I'm just using my (fairly decent but not reference quality) PC speakers, but even normalizing the volume up I heard nothing and saw nothing in the waveform (if anything, the left channel had a higher level at the area you described) looking at it in a sound editor. How are you listening back to these? Have you tried burning a CD and seeing if you still hear it? I am not doubting you're hearing something (as I noticed a strange 'ticking' noise listening to my RH1 over the weekend that I haven't gone through the hassle of diagnosing yet [new cables, PC download, etc] so your posts re-caught my eye) but I wonder if it's being introduced by something else in your workflow... do you hear it listening back on the RH1 itself? What about if you plug the RH1 into different headphones, or put it in Line Out mode to a stereo?

I doubt it's the error correction... you wouldn't be able to hear it if it were correcting errors. Did you happen to have the remote plugged in, and using it, while recording? The backlight on the remotes have been known to introduce exactly the kind of audible glitches you're describing... Additionally, having the AC adapter plugged in while recording MAY cause similar issue if your power is glitchy...

Version 1.060, right side was blinking "BEr012000"-- any idea what that means? Unit was bought at the end of June 2006 from Sound Professionals (US). I just got to the blinking part and then popped out the battery.. shouldn't have messed anything up, right? :/ (dunno why, it just freaked me out to see the blinking numbers and such with no other obvious way out)

I love my RH1.. I'm glad I'm not the only crazy person debating buying another one...