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A Beautiful Revelation -- the Epic MZ-RH1 Arrives


Christopher

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Thanks - indeed there are ways to undo auto track marks, but if you want to insert track marks manually at points of interest other than those Sony decides are interesting, they get mixed in with a load of others and there's no way to distinguish wanted from unwanted. For instance, when recording classical music you'll end up with dozens of them, but no way to separate those manually inserted at (say) the start of movements - which may continue directly from the preceding movement with no significant pause - from those that result from the abrupt transition from "ppp" to "fff" during a movement.

It's disappointing that almost all other "if only!" requests have been fulfilled with the RH1 but it's still functionally poor in this respect. The final frontier to be addressed in the RH2? I'm almost - but not quite! - put off from purchasing.

Edited by ozpeter
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How to make one track of a whole series of separate tracks? Pause the LAST track of the series and hit the T-mark button repeatedly. The T-mark off message will appear every time and you are removing those T-marks from the back to the front of the recording.

Is this a new feature?

Ozpeter,

I have found that maxing out the auto T mark to 60mins on my NH1 minimizes the headache.

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I don't know why Mono recording is such a big deal.

Because if you have a mono signal, it's a waste of disk space to record two copies. And there's never such a thing as *too much* disk space. 2h20m in stereo wastes 2h20m worth of disk space--and that's the difference between getting a whole evening on one disc or two.

Ideally, the algorithm would actually *notice* that the left and right signal are identical and automatically record only one copy. That of course is far too much to ask.

This function can NOT be turned off entirely,

That really sucks. Recording from a soundboard, one can get dozens of trackmarks in a few seconds.

I have found that maxing out the auto T mark to 60mins on my NH1 minimizes the headache.

One can hope the auto-trackmarking on the RH1 can be set to some useful time interval.

I guess this isn't a perfect live recording machine, but it's certainly better than anything I've seen since the R30/35.

~ Kiran <entropy@io.com

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Very nice! I am taking my MZ-S1 to a festival in a few weeks to use as a backup for recording sets when I am at the other stage. It will be nice to upload these later down the line! Great news and a miracle indeed!

:D

BTW, what did SS do to the tracks after they were uploaded? Did you convert to WAV or Hi-SP?

Edited by mrsoul
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The miracle has happened!

That's really great news!!! Even mono recordings can be uploaded - I'm especially delighted about that as I own several of them from the pre-MDLP era (extending recording time to double by switching to mono).

Thanks for your great work, MDfreak!

And thanks to Sony for finally allowing upload of our old MD recordings.

Edited by sharpsony
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Does anybody know is it possible to connect Hi-MD unit via USB to new Kenwood USB car units to play mp3 files from Hi-MD discs? Had anybody trayed to connect Hi-MD unit via USB to USB car units or stereos?

Kenwood USB spec.

Kenwood USB car units

USB Stereos

USB equipped auto systems

Totally offtopic! And don't shout at us! Please create a new thread.

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FYI, The Sound Professionals have a page up on their site with the price of $299. They don't state anything about availability that we don't already know (May 2006 for Europe)...

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...tem=SONY-MZ-RH1

BTW, I haven't paid so much attention to anything that has to do with minidiscs since I saw the ad for the MZ-1 in Popular Science some 13 years ago (I was really unimpressed with the read-only nature of audio CDs - so minidiscs immediately caught my attention (however, it was expensive (I was 12... :P) and never gained much popularity (e.g. compared to CD-Rs))).

Now if only they had some flash memory built into it so you could swap discs without interrupting the recording...

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Having a week now to reflect on this new release, I have to say that I probably will go for another NH1 after all: I like the looks and finish of the NH1 better, the three-line remote can't be beaten, and the newer features of the RH1 (MP3 support, uploading of legacy discs, charging over USB, etc) aren't of enough value for me to shell out twice the cash for the RH1. Who knows, though - maybe if they drop below $200, I might bite... :)

I wonder how "available" these will even be in the states? I have to order everything MD-related online nowadays, so I'm not really expecting the RH1 to show up in my local B&M's or electronics shops. I mean, would it kill them to even carry a few 1GB blanks, let alone recorders?

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Me, I am totally ready and overdue for another minidisc portable. The uploading and other features is what I'm after. If this minidisc recorder is not enough to convince anyone, I don't know what it is. I have given up with minidisc and I am actually very happy with my iPod with Rockbox implemented on it, but I see as a minidisc as a recorder. So it is unfair to compare this to the iPod. There are things that iPod can't do that minidisc recorder can do and vice versa. Anyways, you all know what I mean....

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....but I see as a minidisc as a recorder. So it is unfair to compare this to the iPod. There are things that iPod can't do that minidisc recorder can do and vice versa. Anyways, you all know what I mean....

Totally agree - if only Sony had understood this circa 2000 or so, they could have capitalized on MD's strengths instead of frankensteining it to be some half-assed "MP3 player" rife with draconian DRM, closed codecs and slow transfer speeds....

MD can still be relevant in 2006, but for it to survive much longer, Sony will have to aggressively market it towards the appropriate demographic. Recordists? Yes. Teenagers wanting a way to listen to their P2P-downloaded crud whilst riding the bus? Not a chance. Hi-MD isn't and will never be trendy; it's way too late for that, so defining what Hi-MD IS good for is going to be crucial to its continued survival. The RH1, with its obvious recordist flourishes, is a nice step in that direction.

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I'd rather have my MD gear look unique and esoterically elegant, than mass-produced and cheap. So I can live with the fact that them kids will not embrace it.

Amen! Besides, being too "trendy" after the age of 25 is seriously creepy; sort of like when I see guys my age (late 20's) wearing Abercrombie and Fitch clothing and those damn yellow bracelet thingys trying to come on to 18 year-old girls. Probably have "My Space" pages and an iPud, too :lol:

Hell, if not for wanting to digitize my LP's, I'd probably still be using tapes - I had a cassette player in the car until just a year ago, in fact.

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Don't have one to test it but probably nothing will happen.

It think it will be possible to upload Prerecorded MDs as you even can copy them (optical) to recordable MDs, so in terms of SCMS it will be possible, but that is not the criteria for uploading with SS I guess.

Edited by sinus
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It think it will be possible to upload Prerecorded MDs as you even can copy them (optical) to recordable MDs, so in terms of SCMS it will be possible, but that is not the criteria for uploading with SS I guess.

A prerecorded disc is easy for the unit to destinguish from a recorded one so it would be an easy selection-criteria.

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Someone else asked what SS did with the SP uploads. Did it automatically convert them? I'm hoping Sony will finally support SP in software going both directions. I still think that would make this product more valuable, especially since the RH1 will be inconvenient as a player unless they fully support the 3 line remote. The added recording versatility is great, but the only point in recording something is to listen to it. I do almost all of my portable listening with minidisc and probably will for quite a while yet. None of my legacy units have failed yet and they've had heavy use. The format has been remarkably durable.

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I'm actually not sure why they would even bother to block the upload of pre-recorded discs - SonicStage lets you rip Sony-produced CD's, right? You'd think they would extend the same privilege with pre-recorded MD's. If anything, I consider pre-recorded MD to be of lesser value than a pre-recorded CD, seeing as how they are compressed (and most were probably stamped with ATRAC 3.5 or older to boot). The couple I had back in the 90's were pretty awful - I quickly replaced them with MD's made from the actual CD and a Type-R deck. :D

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Hi MDFreak,

Thanks for doing all that research for us.

There has been so much posted in the last few days that I can't remember whether anyone has mentioned variable speed playback. This is a feature I really liked in the NH1 which was sadly missing from my RH10.

Can you (or anyone else) tell me if it's back? And apologies if I should have known the answer by now.

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Totally agree - if only Sony had understood this circa 2000 or so, they could have capitalized on MD's strengths instead of frankensteining it to be some half-assed "MP3 player" rife with draconian DRM, closed codecs and slow transfer speeds....

MD can still be relevant in 2006, but for it to survive much longer, Sony will have to aggressively market it towards the appropriate demographic. Recordists? Yes. Teenagers wanting a way to listen to their P2P-downloaded crud whilst riding the bus? Not a chance. Hi-MD isn't and will never be trendy; it's way too late for that, so defining what Hi-MD IS good for is going to be crucial to its continued survival. The RH1, with its obvious recordist flourishes, is a nice step in that direction.

...well said.

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Hi MDFreak,

Thanks for doing all that research for us.

There has been so much posted in the last few days that I can't remember whether anyone has mentioned variable speed playback. This is a feature I really liked in the NH1 which was sadly missing from my RH10.

Can you (or anyone else) tell me if it's back? And apologies if I should have known the answer by now.

It is available and it is called DPC (Digital Pitch Control).

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It is available and it is called DPC (Digital Pitch Control).

That title suggests the pitch increases as the speed increase, which would mean on a fast playback people would sound like the chipmunks. I think this is what happened with one of the Net MD models (N1???)

Please tell me that the pitch actually stays the same as the speed increases.

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By the way, was anyone searching for an alternative to the dry-battery-case?

http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main~unit~Son...B-BATADPT01.htm

or

http://www.bixnet.com/usbbatterybox.html

And if you search further you will probably find more.

And for those who want to make a DIY-project out of it: with one resistor and one zener-diode you can fix it yourself. I even tested it with the RH1 and it works!

With 4x 2500 mAh Ni-MH batteries you will get anything from about 33 hours of PCM recording up till 125 hours of LP4 playback out of one simple box.

And the nice thing: it will power all kinds of USB-devices.

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By the way, was anyone searching for an alternative to the dry-battery-case?

http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main~unit~Son...B-BATADPT01.htm

or

http://www.bixnet.com/usbbatterybox.html

And if you search further you will probably find more.

And for those who want to make a DIY-project out of it: with one resistor and one zener-diode you can fix it yourself. I even tested it with the RH1 and it works!

With 4x 2500 mAh Ni-MH batteries you will get anything from about 33 hours of PCM recording up till 125 hours of LP4 playback out of one simple box.

And the nice thing: it will power all kinds of USB-devices.

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

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Very new to MD or HiMD - just got a MZ-NH900 and am very happy with it.

Looking for a friend at this new model and it doesn't seem to have a great deal to recommend it over the model I have already. The add-on AA battery pack is so convenient when travelling and not being able to hook up anywhere. I can't see why they'd lose it. :mellow::blink:

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it's official, I've left mini disc after 8 years of happiness.

just bought sony's NW-A3000, which i really like.

I mainly need an mp3player not a recorder, so the new improved playback on the rh1 was tempting, but the overall package is not convincing and it's far too expensive.

the killer argument against it as a player is the inadequate transfer speed of music files.

they might have increased the speed compared to the 1st and 2nd but it's a far cry from real usb 2.0.

i listen to long dj sets 120mb plus file sizes, so i need the transfer speed to be fast.

anyway peeps i can understand the hype around the rh1 and i hope and am sure that lots of you will be really happy with it.

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

over and out, :-)

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it's official, I've left mini disc after 8 years of happiness.

just bought sony's NW-A3000, which i really like.

I mainly need an mp3player not a recorder, so the new improved playback on the rh1 was tempting, but the overall package is not convincing and it's far too expensive.

the killer argument against it as a player is the inadequate transfer speed of music files.

they might have increased the speed compared to the 1st and 2nd but it's a far cry from real usb 2.0.

i listen to long dj sets 120mb plus file sizes, so i need the transfer speed to be fast.

anyway peeps i can understand the hype around the rh1 and i hope and am sure that lots of you will be really happy with it.

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

over and out, :-)

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

And changing the disc is instantanous or quite!

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By the way, was anyone searching for an alternative to the dry-battery-case?

http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main~unit~Son...B-BATADPT01.htm

or

http://www.bixnet.com/usbbatterybox.html

And if you search further you will probably find more.

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.

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