1kyle Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 I still find it amazing that SP (Old codec although nice high bit rate at 292) can still compete with Hi-SP @ 256 and even at 352 most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Of course Hi-SP on a 1GB disc gives a much longer recording time.It says volumes for the original designers of the ATRAC codec.What a real shame that SONY didn't open up the codec. Anyway finally at the 11th hour SONY are making the whole MD exercise much more user friendly --no check in / outs, DRM crud etc etc.If only .............. What might have been.Cheers-K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sony_Fan Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 I still find it amazing that SP (Old codec although nice high bit rate at 292) can still compete with Hi-SP @ 256 and even at 352 most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Of course Hi-SP on a 1GB disc gives a much longer recording time.It says volumes for the original designers of the ATRAC codec.What a real shame that SONY didn't open up the codec. Anyway finally at the 11th hour SONY are making the whole MD exercise much more user friendly --no check in / outs, DRM crud etc etc.If only .............. What might have been.Cheers-KWhen I bought my Sharp MD player, i was really impressed with the sound quality of SP. When I bought my RH10, I was more impressed with Hi-SP due to it's sound quality and more space available on old minidiscs. Personally, I record all my CDs in Hi-SP, any higher bit rate takes up too much space. It's the closest thing to CD sound I need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebastianbf Posted March 11, 2006 Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 I just love the ability of the hi-sp recordings of being transfered back to any computer now with the new version of SS. About the SP old codec, I was very pleased when I first hear it. The warmth of the sound and the exceptional quality of the recordings had always imporessed me. I think that sound quality (and gapless recordings) is what makes me still love this format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 While I think SP is slightly better than HiSP. I find HiSP good enough. Its an awful lot easier to use HiSP over SP or 352kps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonyslave Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 He He,I've just gone back to recording my discs in SP. Why is it better than HiSP at 256 or 352kbps? Well I can't really say one way or another, I haven't done any comparitive testing. The old SP codec sounds very good to my battered old ears.No my reason was two fold:1. Compatability. I can use SP with all my units, including most importantly my so called portable ZS-M50 with resorting to using a line-in.2. It is much easier to find the album(s). With HiMDs I was always trying to remember which albums were on which disc and I often carried around 2 or more HiMD discs because the albums were on different discs.So in the end I decided that SP was probably the way to go.P.S. Most of my portable listening is done with the Sony HD-5 these days, so my 20 or so 1gb discs, will be used to back up the files from SonicStage now that I am allowed to transfer my music back from HiMDs at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garcou Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 I don't agree: hi-sp sounds best than old sp, especially with difficult music that has a lot of high harmonics like Miles Davis, cymbals etc. transitory is best, sharper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 I don't agree: hi-sp sounds best than old sp, especially with difficult music that has a lot of high harmonics like Miles Davis, cymbals etc. transitory is best, sharper.I only tried with my classical and rock stuff. Maybe I'd change my mind with more testing. I culdn't use SP anymore, its too awkward for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1kyle Posted March 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 (edited) I really like Hi-Sp @ 352 (or even 256) provided it's recorded from an original WAV source.I still like the old SP as well as I use this for "legacy Gear".I tend to have 2 versions of a CD one at Hi-SP and one at SP.For listening I usually use 74 / 80 min discs and religously only ever have 1CD per MD even if it's a 45 min CD on a 74 or even 80 min disc as standard MD disks are cheap enough currently and it's really easy to keep your CD's / MD's in decent order.I use the 1GB discs exclusively for live recording or making "temporary" music play lists if I'm going on a LONG trip and don't want to take a few of the smaller capacity MD's.I've still got about around 800 spare 74 / 80 MD's so I won't run out any time at all and these store nicely in two racks near my main deck one labelled MD and one labelled Hi-MD.Since I get the VAT back (Photographic Business) and as these discs qualify as "Studio equipment" I can get a HUGE discount by buying in lots of 200 (standard MD's) which is what I tend to do.I won't be getting rid of my legacy gear any time soon.If an affordable Hi-MD deck had come out then that would have been a different matter.I'm looking at an Onkyo but for my listening requirements in my house I need 3 Decks for listening in different rooms (Photographic Working Studio, "Music Listening room" that has NO TV in it and the conservatory).3 X Onkyo is not a cheap option considering the current decks I have all work EXCELLENTLY.I also usually HATE listening on computers in any case. After a few hours of using Photoshop etc. (I Am a professional photographer) I've had ENOUGH of computers after working so I'll relax well away from anything that even looks like a computer. I'm usually on the net when I'm making large photographic printouts as these can take AGES and passes the time while waiting for the images to appear. (Never mind A3 --I'm talking about poster size stuff A2, A1 and even A0 etc.)Bog standard legacy SP is not bad at all if recorded from a decent source. I have 2 decks that copy DIGITALLY CD's to MD's at 2X real time (High speed synchro mode). I wouldn't do any live recordings now using legacy gear as Hi-MD is perfect especially in PCM mode now that SS 3.4 allows transfers both ways.The manuals confirm that Digital copies are made (legacy gear) when using the high speed synchro mode and this can be verified by trying to make a 3rd gen digital copy when SCMS rears it's ugly head. Since I have the source making extra copies is actually not a problem anyway.It's a real shame SONY didn't (or hasn't yet) produced Hi-MD decks but so far nothing has made me even think of abandoning the MD format. I'll still be using it when even the world famous Kensington (London) Science Museum doesn't know what an MD is. Cheers-K Edited March 15, 2006 by 1kyle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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