cfairfowl

I totally agree with Davew on SS, it won’t do the only thing I would like it to do and does everything else I don’t need. There has got to be a better system soon.

I am completely sold on the MD format, it has done everything (and more) I could have wished for, an excellent system for both music and spoken word. I will upgrade just for the sake of it and buy a later model when I have decided on the one I want. I want one with a really good output stage so I can run it through the HiFi until a HiMD top class deck turns up. Any suggestions? I would like some recommendations if possible.

Well done old chap, someone in the store has made a cock-up with the price, I got mine from amzon.co.uk for a fiver each post free. Sony centre 7.99. Guess where I will be going tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fantastic news but Just my luck, as soon is my timer cradle is built Sony bring out new models with buttons in different places. I will have to carry on with my MZ NH-700 for timer recordings in HiSP. I intended to buy a second machine for playback anyway but now I have even more to choose from. Can you guys recommend a machine for play back (mainly) I only record MDs using optical interconnect from the DAB Radio and will continue to use the NH-700 for that. I would however like a new player that has a better quality output DA converter etc. I will be playing back through headphones and HiFi system. I like the sound of the NH-700 but I am sure there are better sounding machines out there now. Thanks in advance.

Please, tell me more. I have yet to find suitable software for my laptop with timer facility. Your help on this matter would be VERY much appreciated. I use an Edirol UA 25 not a sound card. This is USB2 and I record direct to a USB2 Lacie 80GB HDD on an empty partition, I the move it across. Sadly I have no timer facility with this. I am glad to hear from another Late Junction Listener. You obviously like variety too. Thanks in advance for any help with the timer software.

Etotheix, sorry if I sounded a bit short with you old chap. I did use a Phillips High End NICAM VHS (we are talking 1995 High End here). I used the Audio L and R inputs for the FM Tuner and the Audio L and R outputs for the active loudspeakers and like I said it was O.K. It is a pain in the neck transferring stuff in real time, I did that when I copied Radio 4 programs from Reel to Reel to Cassette Prior to me discovering MD. My first portable was Stereo and Mono only, the 2 hours plus recording (mono) from my JBS 940 using a timer was such a convenience. It freed up the Reel to reel machine for music from Radio 3. I have to admit though, I was impressed with that old Phillips (it is still working today) when we played Walt Disney’s Tarzan Video through the SONY Dolby Cinema Sound Receiver (60W x 5). Just to give you an idea, I record Radio 4 for 2 hrs 15 mins. Mon. to Fri., 4 hrs. Sat and 2 hrs. Sun. I listen to the MDs in the car and at work during the day. I also record a lot of music from Radio 3 (again using a timer) on my Studer A807 Mk. II and Hard Disc. I am now using HiSP for Radio 3 because it is excellent. As you can appreciate transferring that lot would be a nightmare! I hardly keep anything I record, I reuse the tapes, MDs etc. because if I kept all the stuff I recorded I wouldn’t have any room in my house. I don’t watch TV and buy few CDs, I prefer Live performances from radio 3 (even though they are sometimes recoded). I have been doing this since 1976 when I had a Revox A77, an old wind-up clock timer and a Pioneer TX9500 FM tuner. I have also had an Akai GX656 (all fur coat and no knickers) and 2 Revox B77’s before the Studer. I have also tried more tuners than I care to remember but still using my Tannoy loudspeakers after all this time (I bought them in 1977) and won’t part with them. The Studer is well OTT for what I use it for but what the hell, it’s a nice to have sort of thing. I love the picture of the chimp by the way, reminds me of one of my daughters.

Simple question really! I record DAB Radio using an optical interconnect direct to my MZ NH-700. Is there anyway I can copy these HiMD recordings to CD. Due to the way I use my MD equipment I rarely use Sonic Stage or Simple Burner. When I did use it last October I tried to copy a Hi-MD to a CD but because the HiMD was recorded using the Optical input it would not give me that option. Have things changed, is there a simple alternative or do I have to wait. I hope you can help me. Thanks…………..

Thanks for the interest, Like I said the MZ NH-700 (and all the other Hi-MD machines as far as I know) completely shut down after 5 minutes when left in Pause mode. That was the first thing I tried when this project was started. I put the machine in REC mode and recorded from the optical signal for a few minutes then cut the signal (switched off the Tuner). The machine went into Pause mode and after 5 minutes the machine shut down completely. I then fed the optical signal to the machine again (I turned the Tuner back on) the machine would not resume and It would not operate again until the REC+PLAY buttons where pushed again. The Pause Mode route failed. I have also looked at cutting the command unit lead and operating it from timer controlled relays but the command units do not have a record function button. Also my first choice of machine was the NH1 but it has a SLIDER button for recording and this would be difficult to operate with a conventional solenoid. The MZ NH-700 was chosen because it has 2 push buttons. The mechanical cradle is almost complete – slight modifications required that’s all. I shall post some pictures of my Timer cradle when it is ready showing how the NH-700 sits in it. I will post more when the electronics are installed and working. I will test the unit and report my findings to the forum in case others are interested and may have a use for one of these devices. I have to live with the fact that there are no decent HiMD decks on the market and the only deck that is, is not suitable i.e. no timer switch. I like the HiMD format, the system and what it offers me in terms of flexibility and potabiliry. I refuse to be defeated by the lack of ONE function, I will instead find a way round it. Sony knows that they will have to defeat me in my quest or loose the battle……. I shall fight them at the battery, I shall fight them at the signal, I shall fight them on the button, in the off position and in the Pause mode. I shall never surrender……….. Sorry! I got a bit carried away there, too much Winston Churchill on Radio 4. No doubt in the future a HiMD deck will turn up with a timer switch but I want one NOW and I am not going to wait years until a machine turns up. The MD walkman machines are NOT designed for timer operation and cannot be modified to do so. The main reason I use recording equipment is so I cal listen to the radio without having to be sitting next to the bloody thing all the time. I also like live performances of classical music for example - “Through the night on BBC Radio 3” at 2:00 am in the morning. I make no apology for being a boring old fart. I know they are recorded but they still sound bloody marvellous to me.

I have an MZ NH700 HiMD and like it a lot. Admittedly I mainly use it for recording music from BBC Radio 3 DAB but I have played the NH-700 through headphones and the HiFi with pleasing results. Sound quality is subjective, a tricky one to convey and it depends a lot on what you are comparing it with. Here is an example. I was demonstrating a Revox B77 quarter track machine to a buyer, I used a portable CD player direct to the Revox and when switching from Tape to Input it was obvious by a long chalk that the music sounded better to him and me off tape. The chap gave me the asking price for the Revox and he went away chuffed to bits. I would recommend the MZ NH-700 but would also recommend you have a listen to one first. Try recording a favourite CD onto Hi-SP with the NH-700 using the optical interconnect and play it back, if it sound OK. Then you have your answer. If on the other hand you try comparing them switching from A to B then you will obviously hear a difference but then what? What else are you going to use instead of MiniDisc? Are you going to do an A to B test on that too? You should! The thing to do in my view is list the features that are important to you, cost, convenience, editing facilities, storage, what add-ons you may have to add to get your music onto the chosen format, battery life etc.. Listen to the units that satisfy you requirements. If you can live with the sound quality then you will have made an informed choice.

Are trying to compare VHS with HiMD? I have been there, done that, I used a VHS machine, with an FM tuner connected to the cable TV aerial socket and a pair of active loudspeakers for two and a half years when I worked in Norway from 1995. I have to admit it worked very well and I was able to listen to programs I would have missed. Try editing VHS tape? Can you get one to run on 1 AA size battery for 10 hours plus? and just one other minor point, have you ever tried carrying a VHS machine, Battery and tapes around for 6 hours? Come to think of it, I could have used a mule to carry the VHS machine, car battery, power converter and tapes when I went walking in the mountains. We need to be a bit sensible when making comparisons, we should look at ALL the Advantages and Disadvantages and sometime we have to compromise a bit. Listening to a master multitrack taperecording would also be better than HiMD. I don't entirely agree with your views on VHSsssssssssssssssssssssssss v Hi-LP sound quality but I will happily go along with the majority view on this.

Rubber in the end of the push rod tube will prevent damage but I have measured the force required to operate the buttons and the throw of the solenoid required to give a safe operating force. I never use LP2, LP4 or HiLP for music. if I required longer recording times I would use reel to reel or hard disc. I have used LP4 for BBC Radio 4 and it is quite good enough and nono is ok too.

I have designed and am in the process of having made a cradle for my MZ NH-700 which will enable timer controlled recordings from a DAB Tuner to HiMD Walkman when I am out. In the absence of HiMD Decks with a timer switch and with a requirement for long recording times I decided to design a unit that will enable this. The cradle will have a small electronic circuit and two solenoids controlled by a simple 7 day timer, one solenoid will push the REC button and then after a small delay the other solenoid will push the Play/Enter button. The NH-700 will start recording. When the DAB tuner is switched off the signal (optical Toslink) to the MD walkman will be cut and the walkman will PAUSE for 5 minutes and then shut down. When the timer operates again the process will repeat. This is how I intend it to work Start:- Timer will power up the DAB tuner and circuit, this will operate the solenoids then release the solenoids and the MD unit will continue to record until End. End:- Timer will cut power to tuner (optical signal will be lost) walkman will go into PAUSE mode then switch off after 5 minutes. Wait for Start. This will enable up to 7 hour and 55 minutes of HiSP recording or longer using LP. I have been using a Timer and SONY MDS JB940 for timer recordings over the last 4 years but have used reel to reel since 1974. There is some pretty good stuff on the old wireless and now with the arrival of HiMD, a complete concert can be recorded using the higher quality HiSP offers. For example, the BBC Proms, Performance on 3, Andy Kershaw, Late Junction, whispering Bob Harris etc. etc. After recording the whole program it can then be edited and labeled. I normally edit as I listen to the playback but rarely use the labeling feature (I use post-its) as I normally re use the disc. I will post some pictures of the unit when it is finished in the unlikely event someone is interested. If it works as well as I expect (it should) I will supply drawing, circuit diagram and component list should anyone else have a requirement for a unit like this. Has anyone else tried this sort of thing? If so I would be interested to hear about it. There are lots of people out there who when they hear the word MiniDisc screw their faces up and start... the problem with MiniDisc is the compression etc. etc. Not a problem for me, I can't hear the compression I can only hear the music. Has anyone heard the compression coming from an MD by the by? Anyway, I am sure you will agree that the advantages of MiniDisc far out way the disadvantages and MDs are getting better and better. Thanks to MDs I get to listen to so much stuff from the wireless I would normally miss. Reel to Reel is good but try carrying one around all day.

I have to agree, the low output level from the walkman can be a bit of a problem (normally). I got round this by using a spare tape rec/play board in the Quad 44 (I removed the phono (record deck input)) board as I don’t play records now. I adjusted the input sensitivity switches on the spare tape board so it's a bit better. Fortunately due to the lack of background noise from DAB and most digital sources upping the volume won’t punish you with increased background noise tape would. If you have a separate power amplifier you can plug the walkman directly into it (be careful though chaps) make all the connections and turn down the volume on the walkman BEFORE you switch on the power amplifier. I have tried this with my Leak Stereo 20 valve amplifier and it sounds great! Philgood….The STUDER is only 3-4 years old, spares no problem because it's a late serial number mark 2 (one of the last to be made). Servicing! any professional engineer can repair or service a Studer or Revox because they are designed to be regularly serviced - hinged circuit board trays etc. I use a chap called Nigel at Synchrotech in London for servicing. My one was nearly new, virtually unused. They do not require much servicing just head and capstan cleaning. Don’t buy one, A 1G HiMD in HiSP will sound just as good (to most of us who listen to the music and ignor the HiFi) with a good clean source, takes up a lot less space and is a damned site cheaper, will record longer than even a 4200ft tape at 3.75 ips. If you must have a reel to reel machine (and you need to be keen, they and the 10” NAB hub spools are cumbersome) get a Mint Revox B77 half track but talk to Brian Reeves first, he is THE man for Revox. A GOOD late model studer will cost you 1-3 thousand pounds and spares are very expensive. If asked I would recomend HiMD in HiSP instead. Revox B77 much better option, spares are no problem and cheaper. before you buy a reel to reel machine try HiMD in HiSP directly through a good power amp and speakers. As a foot note - DON'T TRY AND DO REEL TO REEL ON THE CHEAP AND DO NOT BUY SECOND HAND TAPES……………….

I listen to my MZ-NH700 and MZ-R500 using a 3.5mm stereo Jack to Phono through the HiFi while the MDS JB940 is recording other stuff off the DAB wireless. I use 3** QED 3 way tape switching units, QUAD 44, Leak Stereo 20 Power Amp and a pair of Tannoy Cheviots. I think the sound quality is excellent but it can only be as good as the quality I get from the wireless as I only use my MDs to record programs from the wireless. I don't rip CDs to MDs (no point). Recodings from BBC Radio 3 sound good from a walkman through the HiFi. I record Live and Exclusive and the Bob Harris show every Saturday night from BBC Radio 2 DAB on HiSP and with it's lower bit rate it can sound bloody dreadful most of the time even through the HiFi . If people come in and hear an MD playing they cannot tell if it is Wireless, CD, MD, Reel to Reel or Hard Disc so it must sound OK! I had a Sony DAT machine but it was so unreliable I got shot of it. With the MZ-NH700 on HiSP playing a recorded live performance from DAB Radio 3 @ 192kbps I can honestly say I dont miss the DAT machine, HiMD HiSP sounds just as good (to me anyway). You would have to do an A to B comparison (that sort of thing is for anoraks) to really notice a great difference I think. ** I use 3 QEDs because with - 2 MD walkman machines, 2 DAB tuners, CD player, CD Player/Recorder, MDS 940 Deck, Nakamichi cassette deck, Studer A807, Eurotrack mixer, (Toshiba Laptop, Edirol UA-25, Lacie 80GB USB2 hard disc drive) for hard disc recording. I cannot plug this lot into the Quad 44 without help. The laptop records uncompressed wav files from the DAB wireles via the UA-25 direct to the USB2 Lacie HDD and I can move these recordings to the NH700 using the sound stage. I would not use a sound card for Laptops or PCs, in my opinion the Edirol is the way to go, it's a Professional MiDi interface 24bit 96kHz and is built like a tank. Before I got hold of 1G discs I would record complete concerts 3 hours plus from DAB to hard disc in one go, chop them in half using the roxio sound editor and move them to HiMD formatted MD80s. They sound excellent. One more thing chaps, I have recorded stacks of stuff on HiMD formatted MD74-MD80s and I have had no problems with them.

I have moved to HiMD not so much for the Data handling feature, I have tried listening to Word documents on HiMD and the sound quality is dreadful! Seriously though, I find both MD and the new HiMD perfect for me as I record loads of stuff off the radio (DAB) and listen to it at work on my MZ-R500 and MZ-NH700, in the car etc. 7hrs and 55miutes on a HiMD, fantastic and the best thing of all, the HiMD machine recording in HiSP is probably capable of better sound quality that I am getting from my FM or DAB Radio tuners. Personally I find the quality of BBC Radio 3 on DAB recorded on MD and HiMD excellent. I have recorded thousands of hours (about 16 hours of BBC Radio 4 per week for years) on my Sony MDS JB940 without any problems. As for the Data usage, I have worked on a complicated 3D engineering model in AutoCAD working from the HiMD MZ-NH700 and it worked perfectly and quite fast too. AutoCAD needs to update the file regularly as you work so it was accessing the HiMD disc all the time and it did so with no problems! I have not found it necessary to use HiMD as a storage device but I have used it for moving data files from work to home to laptop etc. without any errors so far. I would also use it for data storage with confidence if I needed to. We can only base our opinions on personal experience, after thousands of hours of use over many years and I can honestly say that MD is as reliable as my Studer A807 Mk 2 reel to reel machine for music, spoken word etc. I have reused my MDs hundreds of times using stereo, mono, LP2 and LP4 and had no problems. In the bad old days I used to record programs longer than 45 minutes on the reel to reel then copy them to Cassettes so I could listen to them on the walkman. I can’t believe I went to all that trouble.

I have 11 HiMDs and I too have encountered a silent section on a track recorded from DAB radio. It is possible that the DAB program (Late Junction BBC Radio 3) cut out for a few seconds. It is also possible that HiMD is not quite ready maybe before it’s time i.e. the technology is not ready yet. Maybe in a few years time this problem will be overcome if indeed it is an inherent problem with the technology. In the absence of a HIMD deck with timer switch I have spent good money having an automatic recording cradle made for my MZ-NH700 and it is almost finished. This will operate the NH700 using a timer to record programs from DAB, if this recording error is an inherent problem maybe I am wasting my money?