Transferring songs in sp mode (net md mz n10)

[pinkun]

Recently, i've been trying to transfer songs in sp mode using sonic stage 3.4. Interestingly, there is no sp mode in transferring option; only lp2 and lp4 have been found. I decided to use the md simple burner program and found that there is no sp mode option either. If I weren't wrong, I used to use sonic stage (I can't remember which version) to tranfer songs from cds to my md unit using sp mode.

Any ideas how to fix this problem?

Thanks a lot.

[KJ_Palmer]

There's an SP transfer mode button in Sonicstage to click under Transfer mode settings (the icon that looks a little like a black suitcase). Click that and you'll get the pseudo-SP mode that you so desire. Pseudo because it will in fact be LP2 dressed up as SP.

[pinkun]

Many thanks Borat. I'll give it a try.

[mercury_in_flames]

Is there a reason you are transfering tracks in SP mode? You are aware that SP mode when transfering over Netmd is actually 'fake' sp, in that it is the EXACT same bitrate as LP2, just wrapped with some coding that makes the files playable on a minidisc player/recorder without LP2/LP4 playback capability>?

[pinkun]

GregtheRotter,

As to my understanding, sp mode behaves like a more superior sound quality format compared to lp2. It is actually not just a fake sp format which is intended to be used with a md unit without lp2/lp4 function. The bit rate encoded with sp is 292, and I used to achieve this bit rate using md simple burner (selecting sp mode). The program would transfer songs from original cd audios to the md. The sound gained is really better than lp2 (132 kbps).

Please forgive me if what i've known is wrong.

Thanks for your information anyway.

[pata2001]

GregtheRotter,

As to my understanding, sp mode behaves like a more superior sound quality format compared to lp2. It is actually not just a fake sp format which is intended to be used with a md unit without lp2/lp4 function. The bit rate encoded with sp is 292, and I used to achieve this bit rate using md simple burner (selecting sp mode). The program would transfer songs from original cd audios to the md. The sound gained is really better than lp2 (132 kbps).

Please forgive me if what i've known is wrong.

Thanks for your information anyway.

That's true only for SP tracks recorded directly on the MD recorders, not Sonicstage. Oh, this brings back memory. I and some other T-boarders were investigating this in the advent of HiSP introduction.

Conclusion:

1. Sonicstage does NOT know SP. It only comes with Atrac3 and Atrac3+ codecs, not plain Atrac (SP). This also why with the RH1, you have to convert any uploaded SP track to either PCM or HiSP, simply because Sonicstage won't understand SP.

2. In order to provide backward compatibility with non MDLP units, Sonicstage uses a fake SP mode. Since it cannot even understand SP, how can it transfer tracks into SP mode? Our conclusion was that the encoding to SP is done by the MD recorder itself. Sonicstage basically fed the unit an LP2 track, and the MD unit will transcode it to SP. Essentially, you have an SP track with LP2 quality. You may not notice the difference, since not many people can differentiate LP2 with SP in the first place.

We based this on an experiment. Rip and encode a track to HiSP (Atrac3+ 256kbps). Make sure you set Sonicstage NOT to delete any intermidiate files. Transfer the HiSP track to NetMD using NetMD stereo (SP) mode. You'll find that now in the library, there are 2 version of the track, 1 is the HiSP, the other is, drum roll, LP2!

**Here's the old thread at T-board:

http://www.audiotstation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21572

Edited May 3, 2006 by pata2001

[pinkun]

Thanks a lot pata2001. I might go with buying a new hi md to acheive better sounding. The NH1 is what i'm looking for. Is it worth buying compared to recent version of hi md?

[eriktous]

Our conclusion was that the encoding to SP is done by the MD recorder itself. Sonicstage basically fed the unit an LP2 track, and the MD unit will transcode it to SP. Essentially, you have an SP track with LP2 quality.

If your reasoning is correct (and I have no reason to doubt that), then the sound quality of this 'fake SP' is actually worse than LP2.

It is LP2, transcoded to SP, which introduces even more loss of quality, right?