How long can a mzh700 record before battery change?

[crevin]

Hi, I have an mzh-700 Hi-MD minidisc player. I am trying to record the sounds of geese migrating over my house, and was hoping I could leave this thing outside for 10-12 hours. How long can it record and what kind of sound quality mode should I put it in to pick up some squawking geese?

Thanks!

[A440]

I use Duracell alkalines and have been able to record a full disc in Hi-SP (7 hours and 55 minutes) without the battery running out. I don't know how long it will run in Hi-LP, but probably overnight. Hi-LP gives you noticeably lower recording quality, however.

But it's not going to be easy to get a good recording unless the geese are really loud. The problem is that because you have to boost the relatively quiet sound of the geese, you are also boosting any noise introduced by the microphone and any noise introduced by the mic preamp--which is pretty quiet until it really has to boost the signal, as it does in this situation.

You'll also record cars going by, the sound of your home furnace going on and off, and all the other noises that you usually ignore.

But give it a try--maybe you have really squawky geese. You'll want to plug the mic into the red mic jack and choose High Sensitivity under Recording Settings. You could leave on AGC--auto gain control--or use Manual Volume at high gain, like 25/30 or even 30/30.

[greenmachine]

For recording longer periods, don't use the supplied 700 mAh battery, but a well conditioned higher capacity one (~2000 mAh+) instead. With a 2300 mAh NiMH rechargeable i once got approximately

8.5 hours in pcm mode [not continuously, disk change every 1.5 hours]

16 hours in hi-sp mode ["," every 8 hours]

17 hours in hi-lp mode [continuously]

these are the maximum continuous recording times per 1GB disk regardless of battery power:

pcm: a little over 1.5 hours

hi-sp: almost 8 hours

hi-lp: approx. 34 hours [limited by battery power]

pcm is the highest quality but not so resouces friendly setting - CD quality.

hi-sp is compressed [256 kbps], but still quite high quality

hi-lp is highly compressed [64 kbps] with audible artifacts, but might be sufficient in your case if you need the recording time, otherwise use hi-sp.

[crevin]

where do i get batteries like that? just any typical electronis place?

thanks!

[greenmachine]

Yes, but you will also need an external charger to make use of their full potential, the internal charger will charge higher capacity ones only partially. If it's just a one-time affair, it's propably not worth the investment - use a disposable high capacity alkaline [like duracell, energizer or the like] instead.

[crevin]

i'll be using it for the next few months! any idea on how much it'll cost me for a good battery + charger? thanks!

[King Ghidora]

You should be able to get a charger and 4 AA batteries for around $20. This particular charger comes with 2700 mah batteries but those ratings can be fudged by companies. There's no real standard for those ratings. Of the many batteries I've bought the ratings don't really translate to better performance in the real world.

I'd look for one with a 15 minute charger. I'd also make sure the charger has independent control over each battery. This one I found was just an example. It doesn't list a charge time and it says it has dual controls which means it controls 2 batteries at once. You might want to do a search to see what is really the best system to get. This example I found is probably not the best choice because of the reasons I mentioned.

Edited October 31, 2006 by King Ghidora