cornblatt

Well, from the testing that was mentioned earlier in this thread, it sounds like the RH1 is fantastic if you use it in Hi-MD mode - the uploads and downloads are lightning-fast, plus you can fit tons of stuff on a disc, it's lightweight and stylish, etc. But, for SP mode, there are a lot of limitations that aren't clearly stated by Sony. I find it puzzling that Sony won't fully support SP users with any of the new MD equipment or SonicStage, yet they also won't sell enough new Hi-MD equipment for me ditch my SP equipment and switch over to Hi-MD (there's no Hi-MD for the car, and there are no home decks). What's an SP MD user supposed to do? P.S. I tried importing a CD into SonicStage on another, newer, faster PC, and it took around 7-8 minutes.

I tried SonicStage 4.0 instead of 3.4 (3.4 is what comes in the box with the MZ-RH1). When uploading non-MDLP tracks as Hi-SP(256kbps), the track marks are still transferred wrong. When uploading non-MDLP tracks as PCM(1411kbps), the track marks are transferred properly. So, uploading with correct track marks is possible, but you have to use PCM mode(which makes one MD worth of music take up 725MB of disk space on the PC, instead of 132MB in Hi-SP format). It's great that the people on this forum were able to help find a workaround to this problem, but at the same time, it's unfortunate that this forum is needed in order to get the product to work properly (are you listening, people at Sony?). Thanks again for all of your help...

Thanks for all of your replies and suggestions! I will hold of on returning my RH1 to the store for now (still have a few days left on the return policy), and I will try out SonicStage 4 and PCM mode uploads this afternoon. I'll let you know if it works! I hope it does... I would really like to be able to easily do SP uploads and downloads. Thanks again...

It's set to transfer as Hi-SP (256kbps), using SonicStage 3.4.03.15140 EDIT: I tried SimpleBurner first, but if I remember correctly, it would only transfer as net-MD (LP2 or LP4), not as standard MD.

I own a ton of old-fashioned standard (i.e. non-MDLP, non-Hi-MD) equipment from the 90s (Sony MDX-400, MJ-L1, DHC-MD1, MDX-61, CMT-MD1, MZ-R900, JVC XM-R70). So I was very excited to purchase an MZ-RH1 due to it's alleged ability to upload standard SP minidisc tracks to the PC. However, it seems that the upload feature doesn't work properly. If you upload songs one at a time, they are transferred properly. For example, you can select one track in SonicStage, click 'upload', and it transfers in its entirety. The problem is that if you upload multiple tracks (or a whole disc), track marks are not transferred correctly. Track marks are offset, and once the songs have been transferred to the PC, each track on the PC begins with the last ~0.5 seconds of the previous track. I tried this on 2 separate computers (one USB2.0, one USB1.1) with the same results on both. This isn't that noticeable on tracks that fade out at the end (as the silent faded out end of the last track will be appended to the start of the next track), but it is really noticable on tracks that end more abruptly. My plan was to upload my SP MDs, reorganize and consolidate the tracks, and download them to new SP MDs (so that I can use them in my other 7 standard-MD players). But I can't do this because all of the tracks will contain parts of whatever track came before them on the original MD they were uploaded from. So they will sound ridiculous when shuffled around because they are all missing their last 0.5 seconds, and they all start with 0.5 seconds of the end of some totally different song. Another issue (which came as a surprise to me as a new net-MD/Hi-MD user) is that standard-MD downloading is super-ultra-mega-slow. I tried to copy a CD to a standard MD using SonicStage. First, you have to import the CD to SonicStage. That takes 15 minutes. Then you have to 'convert' it and download to MD, which takes 30 minutes. So, in total, the process took 45-50 minutes. I could have taken the same CD & blank MD to my 12-year-old CD/MD minisystem, put both discs in, hit the 'synchro-record' button, and been done in about the same time, but with much less work. Progress? Hmm... I guess what I'm saying is that people out there who are buying the RH1 for it's old-SP-minidisc support should save their money... my experience with the RH1 was disappointing (especially considering the $399 price) and I am returning mine to the store later this morning. I'm sure it's a fantastic product if you only use Hi-MD mode, but for owners of standard-MD equipment hoping to use it as a way to migrate their old MDs to PC or Hi-MD, it is not a good value and doesn't deliver the features that it promises.

They had 2 in stock at The Sony Store here in Calgary today, so they are available. Mine cost $399 though - you got a better deal!

I just got the RH1 today. I know what you're looking for and I can tell you that you won't be happy with the sound. There's no "mega-bass" like older sony units; just the EQ which can adjust the bass at 100Hz (which is too high of a frequency, in my opinion). I have an older JVC XM-R70 unit which has a much better sounding bass-boost feature. The RH1 just sounds muddy if you adjust the bass on the equalizer. And those virtual surround modes are awful! Do people actually use those? The RH1 is a great sounding product; it just doesn't have the same 'bass boost' as older units.

Hi, I have a Sony MJ-L1 minidisc system that is in need of repair. I have the service manual, and after some testing, it looks like the problem is that the main board is no longer communicating with the minidisc section (but the minidisc section still works). Unfortunately, this system was not very common and it's difficult to find parts. Does anyone have a spare / broken MJ-L1 that they'd be interested in selling? What about a good source for spare parts? http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MJ-L1.html Thanks!