Recording to a Sony minidisc from a syncro-recording source

[MFR]

I have just purchased a Pure Tempus-1 DAB radio which I chose because it has optical digital output and timer recording with syncro-recording function. As I already have a Sony MZ-N707 MD I thought that this would be the ideal combination to allow me to automatically record chosen radio programs any time of the day or week.

Initial tests showed that the combined system worked; however when I set it up for real I found that a feature of the Sony MD made it impossible. It was only when I searched through the fine print in the MD manual that I found that the MD switches off automatically if it does not receive a signal after 5 minutes.

It seems incredible that the Sony designers could be so short sighted as to give no choice to the user when the MD is set up in sync. rec. mode. As there is no timer/record facility in the MD itself there seems to be no obvious solution. Has anyone any ideas on this problem? Also is this 'non-function' also a feature of the latest Sony MDs?

[Guest NRen2k5]

Unfortunately, you can't do what you would like to. The N707 is a portable unit so it was never intended to do recordings on a schedule. I imagine that some of the MD *decks* out there can do what you want.

The reason why portable recorders have optical/synch recording is so that you can digitally record from CD/DVD.

[pjruk]

I have just purchased a Pure Tempus-1 DAB radio ...

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I have just purchased the same radio for the same reason! I don't have a minidisc yet, but I was thinking of getting a Sony Hi-MD model. I have tried one, the MZ-NH700, in a shop and found exactly the same problem you describe when operating from the battery. What I don't know is whether it behaves the same when operating from the mains adaptor, but the manual implies that it does. Like you, I couldn't believe this design 'feature'. Looks like I will have to resort to a non-Sony MD and therefore no Hi-MD mode. What a pity! Have you tried yours on the mains adaptor?

[Flying Kipper]

I purchased a Tempus radio and a minidisc player (MZ-NH700) with the same intention, i.e. to use the timer facility on the radio to trigger the synchro record facility on the minidisc recorder, and discovered precisely the same limitation, namely that the minidisc recorder switched itself off after about five minutes (in fact just a little more).

The minidisc was connected to the mains at the time, so the source of power does not appear to make any difference; and in fact, it is stated in the instruction manual that, when the recorder is on standby for more than five minutes, without receiving a signal, it will switch itself off.

I have returned my NH-700 to the shop, in the hope that I might be able to find a model which would do what I wanted. Sony Customer Service, however, tell me that there are no minidisc recorders made by Sony which do not switch themselves off in this way, and I am not hopeful that I will be able to find a suitable model made by another manufacturer.

Needless to say this is very frustrating. The manual for the Tempus I radio (and other blurb I've seen elsewhere) expressly states that the timer function is intended to be used together with the synchro record facility on a minidisc player, but it appears that there are no minidisc players able to work in this way.

I can however suggest a slightly cumbersome solution to the problem of setting the recorder to record programmes when you are not there--namely, simply to set the recorder to record everything up to and including the programme you want, then delete all the preceding material. With a 1 Gb disc on Hi-LP this will mean that you set the recorder to record a programme up to forty-odd hours in advance. This, of course, makes no use of the timer record function.