davidb

Further to my last post I have now installed the SS3.4 that came with my Mz-RH1 on to a different pc with a fresh install of XP SP2 on it. This time SS did recognise the legacy MD - when I inserted the legacy MD Windows reported "new hardware - Net MD" and sucessfully installed it. This never happened with my other pc with SS4.0 so maybe SS4.0 does not include the Net-MD driver?? If so can I just install the driver separately - or is it too late now I've connected the device without the driver installed?

I have just bought an MZ-RH1 and am having problems uploading old MD (i.e. not HiMD or NET MD) recordings. I am using SS 4.0. The MZ-RH1 came with SS 3.4 which I did not install since I already had 4.0. There is no problem with HiMD discs but if I insert a legacy MD SS does not recognise it at all - no track list and after a while the HiMD item in the Transfer drop down list disappears. (Also Windows explorer no longer sees a removable disc which it does with a HiMD inserted - but maybe that's expected) Am I doing something wrong or do I need a different version of SS? I have searched the forums for an answer to this but didn't find anything - it looks like, when using an MZ-RH1, SS should display the tracks of a legacy MD just as with a HiMD My MD recordings were made on a Sony JB920 deck. My PC is a Sony Vaio FE31Z with XP SP2.

Is it really true you can't transfer your Sonic Stage library to a new PC when you upgrade? I am just about to upgrade my PC and the last thing I want to do is re-rip all my CDs - it took weeks to do them. It would be ridiculous if you couldn't transfer the library. I used SS 3.1 and 3.2 to rip the CDs does that make a difference? If you really can't transfer the library this seems a very big issue and deserves much more attention and prominence in this forum. If I had known this I would have ripped all my CDs to MP3 format first and then imported them. I suppose one way out is to convert all the tracks to MP3 or WAV format? But that takes some time and if you use Sonic Stage it seems you can't select your entire library and leave it to run overnight - you can only select the tracks within one album at a time (I think). Does HiMDrenderer allow coverting several albums at once?

Before I got a HiMD recorder I created several ATRAC CDs for my ATRAC CD player by using an early version of Sonic Stage to transfer direct from normal CDs on to the ATRAC CD. As a result the tracks are not stored on my PC only on the ATRAC CDs. Now I would like to get those ATRAC tracks onto HiMD without going back to the original CDs. SonicStage 3.1 can see the ATRAC CDs but won't allow me to transfer the files back up to the PC. Is there any way I can do this?

I am not clear on what SS32_MDCF.exe is. Is it an intaller that can be used offline to install the standard Sonic Stage 3.2 (i.e. the version you get direct from the Sony site) or is a special stand-alone version of Sonicstage 3.2 that does not need installing? Several posts in this topic refer to stand alone but elsewhere it is referred to as an installer. What I am after is the former, so that if Sony stop making SS 3.2 available I can still reinstall it if I need to.

Not sure what you mean by is 24 OK for France? The only problem you might have is that I think you lose the accented characters in the character set (which you do get with A0). This is just from reading the operating instructions manual. You also lose some editing capabilities as noted in previous posts.

You are right that will add gain but it won't increase the max volume because the output just clips at 900 mV p to p into 16 ohms which is the same as the maximum output with no equalisation. See my post #84 (http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=9752&view=findpost&p=57840) BTW changing from A0 to 24 increases the max output from 3 to 6 mW into a 16 ohm load without the need to use the equalisers. Just to clarify the no edit problem with code 24. As a previous post pointed out you can still edit titles for recordings made with mic or line in. I have also found that you can edit titles on old SP recordings which I made by digital CD copy on my JB920 deck.

Are you sure max volume is the same - did you measure it? There is only a 3 dB increase which is not a great deal. Obvious in an A/B comparison but you can't do that because the mod to region 24 takes a while to do. Subjectively you might think there was no increase. See my last post on the measured increase.

I've just changed the code on my RH10 from the as received European setting (A0) to 24 using the procedure described in this thread. All went as described except that the first time it didn't go into service mode. That was without any disc in. For my next try I put a disc in and it worked - but it might be that I was a bit faster pressing the buttons. I think someone mentioned previously that you have to put in the sequence fast. The picture (assuming I've attached it properly) shows the screen just before changing the 0113 setting from A0 to 24 (apologies for the camera shake). There is no sign of the DistFL mentioned in the first post of this thread so presumably only some models show this. I measured the output power before and after the mod. I used a test disc which I made by a digital copy from an old test CD I had. The disc has tracks giving sinewaves at various frequencies and at several levels. I used tracks at 0dB which is maximum peak to peak digital amplitude (-32767 to +32767). I looked at the output waveform on a scope. The results are as follows. 1 On European setting, equaliser at normal, volume at max: 1 kHZ into a 16 ohm resistive load 0.62 V p to p = 3.0 mw into 16 ohms 2 After changing to destination code 24, equaliser at normal, volume at max: 1 kHZ into a 16 ohm resistive load 0.90 V p to p = 6.3 mw into 16 ohms 1 kHz into open circuit 1.9 V (this is equivalent to use as line out) Thus before modification I got 3 mW which is close to the spec of 2.8 mW. After modification I got 6.3 mW which is bit more than the specified 5 mW. Subjectively it was louder after the mod but not by much. This is expected since the increase in power from 3 to 6.3 mW is only 3 dB which is not very much. Bear in mind that 1 dB is roughly the minimum difference in volume that can be easily discerned. (This might explain why some posts report no increase in volume after the mod - its just that they were expecting a large increase, which you don't get.) After the mod I also checked the influence of the 6 band equaliser with volume at max. By pushing all the sliders to max there was no increase in p to p output on a 0dB signal - still 0.9 V p to p. However the output was now a squarewave - obviously the output was clipping. Thus you won't get any more output using the equaliser. However if you have recordings made at too low a level then maximising all the equaliser sliders would probably help - might have a fairly lumpy frequency response though!. I also checked the effect of setting the rightmost (10 kHz) slider to max. I found the following response: 1kHz 0dB 2kHz 0 dB 5 kHz +3 dB 10 kHz +7dB 15 kHz +9 dB 18 kHz +7 dB 20 kHz +2 dB (This was with the volume set at a mid setting so output not clipping) I haven't checked any other equaliser setting but this gives an idea of how they work.

Can I just recap re the destinaton codes for the RH10 to make sure I've understood the previous posts: A0 is Europe. Output restricted to 2.8 mW, no custom equalisers, no missing characters, title editing allowed. 20 or 21* US/Canada. Full output plus equalisers. Missing characters. title editing allowed. 24 Asian African Australian Tourist. Full output plus equalisers. No missing characters. Title editing not allowed. (* Seems to be some confusion about whether the US/Canada code is 20 or 21, or is it different on the RH910and RH10 ? Please could someone clarify.) Is that correct? Its great to see the service manual will soon be available - but will it be in English or Japanese? I haven't yet got up the courage to try service mode on my RH10 (only just got it - European version). It would be nice if someone could post some pictures of the display when in service mode so I know what to expect.