A Beautiful Revelation -- the Epic MZ-RH1 Arrives

[Qwakrz]

MDFreak, can I request a test on the RH1 please.

Can you tell me if there is any noise on the output when you play a totally silent piece of track.

The NH1 is totally silent, even with in-ear earphones

The RH10 has alot of background noise (relative of course).

[garcou]

very long compared to 13 secs on usb 2.0.

i copied 8bg in 15 min!!! that would take me years on md

Just 2h 30 min, but Md must be understood as archiving media

[hobgoblin]

allso, transfering 8GB would require you to swap md about 7 times

[MDfreak]

I have found a portable AA charger similar to those ( www.gomadic.com ) to be indispensible with my Palm T5 on long trips.

But the primary "useability" difference IMHO between the Palm and a minidisc recorder is that the Palm doesn't have a removeable battery, i.e. it MUST be recharged or powered from an external source. The RH1, in contrast, uses a battery that is removeable and replaceable, so for me the best solution will be to bring along a second (and maybe third) fully-charged battery instead of carrying a very clunky (and un-stealthful) AA power source.

Sadly that isn't provided with a standard USB-connector.

now the question is, will the rh1 work with these battery packs without the li-ion battery inserted, if it doesn't you still need to get hold of the li-ion in the future,

by the way thanks for the testing mdfreak,

just a quick question, if i get the rh1 it'll be mainly for playback of mp3s, is the mp3 audio output superior to the ipod and leading mp3 players?

plus

Tested the external powering without Li-ION inserted: works great! Only I don't know how long it will remember it's recording settings and clock without internal powering. That data isn't gone immediately I saw but It will nog be there forever without any powering.

Conclusion: batterypower without the need af a Li-ION: possible.

MDFreak, can I request a test on the RH1 please.

Can you tell me if there is any noise on the output when you play a totally silent piece of track.

The NH1 is totally silent, even with in-ear earphones

The RH10 has alot of background noise (relative of course).

Can't hear any backgroundnoise with the RH1. Probably because it uses the same amplifier as the NH1

p.s. also ordered today the components to make my first "prototype" batterypack. Because I could order via wholesale it just costs me about 3 euro's for an USB-kabel with mini-plug, box for holding 4 AA batteries, a zener-diode and 2 resistors. Adding a bit of love and work.... et viola!

p.s.2. for those who want to try this themselves: accidentally changing the polarity of the USB power will kill the connected device immediately. Therefor I will release an article soon with the detailed plans and some ready made off the shelve alternatives for those who are not very into DIY.

Edited March 31, 2006 by MDfreak

[The Low Volta]

but in all earnest it's game over for mini disc

over and out, :-)

as a 'dedicated portable player' you might be right... but would you care to share the recording alternative (same price range/reliability/ease of use/SQ/...)

[Roamer]

Thanks MDFreak for the testing and planned article on external powering !

I have found a portable AA charger similar to those ( www.gomadic.com ) to be indispensible with my Palm T5 on long trips.

But the primary "useability" difference IMHO between the Palm and a minidisc recorder is that the Palm doesn't have a removeable battery, i.e. it MUST be recharged or powered from an external source. The RH1, in contrast, uses a battery that is removeable and replaceable, so for me the best solution will be to bring along a second (and maybe third) fully-charged battery instead of carrying a very clunky (and un-stealthful) AA power source.

A festival will require quite a lot of batteries, and it should not be that hard to stealth an external power source, because most of them allow digital camera, so having extra power makes sense. And ideally I should find a way to power my JB3 in a similar way (well, 5V with a small jack plug).

[WaywardTraveller]

as a 'dedicated portable player' you might be right... but would you care to share the recording alternative (same price range/reliability/ease of use/SQ/...)

yeah...especially since DAT machines are, I hear, on the out.

then again, for how many years have people been saying the same thing about MD? Just because it might remain forever a niche/music enthusiast market (whatever you wanna call it) doesn't mean it's going to die instantly.

peace

WaywardTraveller

[broox]

They will never brign anything if you shout at them

You dont know how many times it has been asked nicely.. maybe not online .. but it is constantly getting requested - through the right avenues - to sony Australia. deaf ears is all its landing on.. there is DEFINATLY a market for this HIMD unit in oz - and definatly it is for a niche market...

i could easily parallel import but i would like sony australia warranty.

so please mr sony, please the loyal fans (and i'm sure you'll make a buck or 2!)

[bossdak]

is there any way to make sonic stage support ogg vorbis?

i want to have this rh1, but all of my music is now in ogg. i don't want to break my dvd drive swapping out all my cd's just to convert them to hi-md. i just want to fill up a couple of hi-md's from my hard drive depending on what i like to listen.

my alternative is samsung yh-j70/iaudio x5, but the only problem is it won't do gapless playback on ogg files.

[Stuge]

rh-1 will transfert 120MB in 1.5 min . I think it fast enough.

And changing the disc is instantanous or quite!

that is fast but not that fast

Edited April 1, 2006 by stuge

[astranovus]

as a 'dedicated portable player' you might be right... but would you care to share the recording alternative (same price range/reliability/ease of use/SQ/...)

the iaudio x5 can record in mp3 in very good quality, if i am not mistaken

yeah...especially since DAT machines are, I hear, on the out.

then again, for how many years have people been saying the same thing about MD? Just because it might remain forever a niche/music enthusiast market (whatever you wanna call it) doesn't mean it's going to die instantly.

peace

WaywardTraveller

MD is now officially dead according to sony

http://www.minidisc.org/sony_quits_minidisc.html

[Stuge]

http://www.minidisc.org/sony_quits_minidisc.html

Not sure might be an April fool`s Joke

You dont know how many times it has been asked nicely.. maybe not online .. but it is constantly getting requested - through the right avenues - to sony Australia. deaf ears is all its landing on.. there is DEFINATLY a market for this HIMD unit in oz - and definatly it is for a niche market...

i could easily parallel import but i would like sony australia warranty.

so please mr sony, please the loyal fans (and i'm sure you'll make a buck or 2!)

Even I shouted at them(literally ) when i didn`t gave my HD3 back from there service station for more than 2(months )..But I think even after then there Deaf ears couldn`t hear anything

They can`t understand the pain of Consumers (MANY TIMES ) B`COZ ------ IT`S SONY

Edited April 1, 2006 by stuge

[reefbeef]

MD is now officially dead according to sony

http://www.minidisc.org/sony_quits_minidisc.html

I don't think it says MD is dead, just that the electronics division has to get permission from the entertainment division before developing anything from here on out.

[sinus]

is there any way to make sonic stage support ogg vorbis?

i want to have this rh1, but all of my music is now in ogg. i don't want to break my dvd drive swapping out all my cd's just to convert them to hi-md. i just want to fill up a couple of hi-md's from my hard drive depending on what i like to listen.

my alternative is samsung yh-j70/iaudio x5, but the only problem is it won't do gapless playback on ogg files.

I'm a fan of the OGG vorbis format and a native support by Hi-MD is my dream too, but to get OGGs into SonicStage you have to convert them back to WAV by OGGdropXPd for example and then convert them to Atrac or let them be WAVs. It's an easy thing to do I think. They should have made it OGG compatible in the first place. Anyway the RH1 is on my wishlist, damn you Sony vampires

[atrain]

search google for Shigatsu Baka

[The Low Volta]

the iaudio x5 can record in mp3 in very good quality, if i am not mistaken

this is a bit OT (and there are enough threads on the subject already) but it isn't as reliable/ still MP3 is lossy><PCM is CD-quality/what about the inputs (mic)in/line-in) and pre-amps/...

as I said, if it really was an alternative... a lot of ppl here would have switched (including me perhaps, Ilove HiMD as it is a great recorder, not because I 'love the format')

[Stuge]

search google for Shigatsu Baka

I found this --->>http://www.senorcafe.com/archives/000064.html

http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/224530.htm

Hey Shigatsu Baka is called April fool in Japan ......

Edited April 1, 2006 by stuge

[veezhun]

this is a bit OT (and there are enough threads on the subject already) but it isn't as reliable/ still MP3 is lossy><PCM is CD-quality/what about the inputs (mic)in/line-in) and pre-amps/...

as I said, if it really was an alternative... a lot of ppl here would have switched (including me perhaps, Ilove HiMD as it is a great recorder, not because I 'love the format')

i have the iaudio x5 and the recording is ok if you are recording a lecture or a meeting.. for anything else, it is horrible.. the rh10 is unbelievably good

[Terence Kelly]

i have the iaudio x5 and the recording is ok if you are recording a lecture or a meeting.. for anything else, it is horrible.. the rh10 is unbelievably good

I'll have to second that. I too have the X5 and it's a solid player and excellent portable hard drive. As a recorder it doesn't even come close to legacy minidisc recorders and I only use it for voice/non-critical recording. For that it works very well.

[Budah]

I've been away for a long time... but as far as I can see heaven exists! This new MD seems FIREEEEE!!! Sorry for this silly interruption but I had to confirm this fact. ehe

By the way... Does anybody here can confirm that MD's dead for now on?!

Edited April 1, 2006 by Budah

[Berke]

MD's not dead yet

Those news are just Shigatsu Baka! (check today's date)

[bossdak]

I'm a fan of the OGG vorbis format and a native support by Hi-MD is my dream too, but to get OGGs into SonicStage you have to convert them back to WAV by OGGdropXPd for example and then convert them to Atrac or let them be WAVs. It's an easy thing to do I think. They should have made it OGG compatible in the first place. Anyway the RH1 is on my wishlist, damn you Sony vampires

converting from ogg to wav then to atrac is easy. the problem is that the artist/album information will be lost from converting ogg to wav. so i have to edit them again once they are converted to sonic stage.

[Stuge]

converting from ogg to wav then to atrac is easy. the problem is that the artist/album information will be lost from converting ogg to wav. so i have to edit them again once they are converted to sonic stage.

But there no toher way to do this ...

[Entropy]

SI don't know how long it will remember it's recording settings and clock without internal powering. That data isn't gone immediately I saw but It will nog be there forever without any powering.

That's great to hear.

What would be really cool is if you could switch batteries while the player was recording. Ten seconds would be plenty to swap a battery, and I can certainly imagine a capacitor big enough to run the machine for that long, especially if you could shut down the the display and even the laser in the middle of a write without losing data. With a separate battery charger (maybe even solar-powered) and a pile of gumpacks you could be happy for days. :-)

~ Kiran <entropy@io.com>

[MDfreak]

That's great to hear.

What would be really cool is if you could switch batteries while the player was recording. Ten seconds would be plenty to swap a battery, and I can certainly imagine a capacitor big enough to run the machine for that long, especially if you could shut down the the display and even the laser in the middle of a write without losing data. With a separate battery charger (maybe even solar-powered) and a pile of gumpacks you could be happy for days. :-)

~ Kiran <entropy@io.com>

Remembering some settings is a totally different thing to full operation without a battery. Full operation would require about a 100 mA by 3.7 Volts when PCM recording. If you want to change the battery you need at least 10 seconds so that would be 3.7 Watts of power to store.

When knowing that the charge on a condensator equals its capacity x the voltage over it and that 1 coulomb (unity of charge) equals the energy to generate 1 Ampere for 1 second. This would result in a capacitor of about 2,9 Farad. Then I let you see this picture (which is "only" a 2 Farad condensator):

Would that fit into the RH1????

p.s. you mention disabling a lot of functions to save power but how could the RH1 prepare for a battery-swap when it doesn't know exactly when it would happen. Even more where would you store 10 seconds of music to store later?

So I would say: sweet dreams.

Edited April 2, 2006 by MDfreak

[Stuge]

That thing looks very large

[ZosoIV]

I'm thinking that a 3.7V lithium button cell (aka "watch battery"), along with a bigger RAM buffer, could probably give you enough time to swap out batteries. The bigger, dime-sized ones are rated up to 100mAh, surely enough to last a more than a few seconds under a light load (i.e., while the device is recording to RAM, not the disc).

In fact, I've always wondered why manufacturers never did this. It's definitely more "do-able" than the 2F capacitor shown earlier!

Edited April 2, 2006 by ZosoIV

[hobgoblin]

i have a problem with that image, there is no real size refrence on it...

[Entropy]

Full operation would require about a 100 mA by 3.7 Volts when PCM recording.

Good point. I was thinking about ATRAC recording--my understanding is that the current MDs only write to the disc occasionally, not all the time.

p.s. you mention disabling a lot of functions to save power but how could the RH1 prepare for a battery-swap when it doesn't know exactly when it would happen. Even more where would you store 10 seconds of music to store later?

True. I thought about that. A future unit could have a button, but it would probably be easier to just build it to take two batteries.

~ Kiran <entropy@io.com>

[MDfreak]

Good point. I was thinking about ATRAC recording--my understanding is that the current MDs only write to the disc occasionally, not all the time.

True. I thought about that. A future unit could have a button, but it would probably be easier to just build it to take two batteries.

~ Kiran <entropy@io.com>

That would be easier but for those who don't use the "on the fly" swap of batteries it would only make the unit larger than neccessary.

[Shakuhachi]

Hi Chris,

I have up until now been using a Sharp NetMD IM-MT880-S, and have been doing live recordings for the past four years now here in Japan. Since the Sharp is unable to upload anything recorded live into my Mac, and it looks like the new Sony will be able to do so, I have some questions before buying it. Here they are:

I want to know how compatible it is with a Mac...

Is the Mac software in English or Japanese or can it do both?

What format is the music uploaded in? Can it be opened in iTunes? and can these files be converted to MP3?

How long does it take to upload a Minidisc?

Can the uploading still be done for Live Minidisc recordings done with a non-Sony unit, i.e a Sharp unit in MDLP?

Are the minidiscs uploaded with their disc names and song names?

Does the unit allow for on-the-fly recording level adjustment...(While the unit is recording, changing the input level?)

I know it may still be a little early to have all these answers, but if you have some answers, I would be very appreciative.

Thanks.

[MDfreak]

Hi Chris,

I have up until now been using a Sharp NetMD IM-MT880-S, and have been doing live recordings for the past four years now here in Japan. Since the Sharp is unable to upload anything recorded live into my Mac, and it looks like the new Sony will be able to do so, I have some questions before buying it. Here they are:

I want to know how compatible it is with a Mac...

Is the Mac software in English or Japanese or can it do both?

What format is the music uploaded in? Can it be opened in iTunes? and can these files be converted to MP3?

How long does it take to upload a Minidisc?

Can the uploading still be done for Live Minidisc recordings done with a non-Sony unit, i.e a Sharp unit in MDLP?

Are the minidiscs uploaded with their disc names and song names?

Does the unit allow for on-the-fly recording level adjustment...(While the unit is recording, changing the input level?)

I know it may still be a little early to have all these answers, but if you have some answers, I would be very appreciative.

Thanks.

If you read the topic thoroughly you would have had already some of these questions answered but ok, here we go:

1) How compatible it will be with MAC is still unknown. I've seen some "plans" for it at I can tell the support they aim at is much more thorough than we already know from the M10 and M100 model. However it will NOT be a complete MAC-based SonicStage alternative.

2) In Europe we will get the MAC-tool too so an English version seems to be a must.

3) You mean for MAC? As the software isn't ready yet, this question cannot be answered yet. See also the answer to question 1.

4) Yes, there is no difference in recordingformat between Sony and Sharp so a MD-device doesn't know which brand was used to record it.

5) Names are indeed uploaded (I speak for SonicStage on PC however, for MAC still unknown).

6) Yes, on the fly recording-level-adjustment possible.

[Ishiyoshi]

For those interested and fluent in Japanese, AV Watch posted a comprehensive write-up of the MZ-RH1. In addition, there are also some interesting screen captures within the AV Watch piece depicting the "Hi-MD Music Transfer for Mac Ver 1.0" utility - here's one:

[Stuge]

thanks Ishi.I don`t understand Japanese but i can look at the pictures ..

[hobgoblin]

interesting that track one reads mp3, but cant give any info on length or bitrate...

[doomlordis]

Hey the avwatch review says this below a picture : "Various information are indicated in organic EL display, according to usage condition such as spectrum analyzer indication, tune name, information of the stereo and level indication when recording" yeeeeee haaaaaa it can display tune names - maybe!

Edited April 3, 2006 by doomlordis

[matthewricha]

Hey the avwatch review says this below a picture : "Various information are indicated in organic EL display, according to usage condition such as spectrum analyzer indication, tune name, information of the stereo and level indication when recording" yeeeeee haaaaaa it can display tune names - maybe!

You little rippa!! lets hope so!!!

Lion

[Rumz]

For those interested and fluent in Japanese, AV Watch posted a comprehensive write-up of the MZ-RH1. In addition, there are also some interesting screen captures within the AV Watch piece depicting the "Hi-MD Music Transfer for Mac Ver 1.0" utility - here's one:

Is this transferring music TO the Hi-MD unit FROM a Mac?

[Ishiyoshi]

Is this transferring music TO the Hi-MD unit FROM a Mac?

Hi-MD Music Transfer for Mac Ver1.0 is for transferring music from the Hi-MD unit to a Mac. By the way, nice to see you around the forums again, Mike.

[Rumz]

Hi-MD Music Transfer for Mac Ver1.0 is for transferring music from the Hi-MD unit to a Mac. By the way, nice to see you around the forums again, Mike.

Thanks You can count on a new Hi-MD unit to bring me around

'twould be nice if there were a program to transfer music *to* HI-MD from Mac, but I guess we can't have our cake and eat it too eh? Regardless, being able to upload to a Mac will be fabulous.