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Recording old SP MDs to PC without the RH1

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Anastomosis

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Hi, sorry for the n00b question here. I have been searching the forums for some time and it seems every topic that talks about getting recorded audio from their MD player to a PC is in the context of audio that has been recorded in the Hi-MD format.

I currently have a Hi-MD player (Sony MZ-NHF800). I need to get a lot of music on MDs that I recorded a long time ago, in the period from 1998-2000 (in the old SP format) onto my PC in digital form (wav, mp3, ogg, whatever). Yes, I know how to copy analog in real time with dual 1/8" jacks, but I want a lossless digital copy of what I have recorded. Faster-than-realtime speed and auto-labelling would be nice, but that's not so much an issue as getting the digital copy onto my PC.

Can I do it with the equipment that I have? I don't need to purchase an RH1 do I? Even with the RH1 would it work, assuming I have the newest version of SonicStage? As far as I can tell, Marc's Renderer program is only for audio recorded originally with Hi-MD.

Again, sorry for a dumb question. Thanks for your help.

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Hi, sorry for the n00b question here. I have been searching the forums for some time and it seems every topic that talks about getting recorded audio from their MD player to a PC is in the context of audio that has been recorded in the Hi-MD format.

I currently have a Hi-MD player (Sony MZ-NHF800). I need to get a lot of music on MDs that I recorded a long time ago, in the period from 1998-2000 (in the old SP format) onto my PC in digital form (wav, mp3, ogg, whatever). Yes, I know how to copy analog in real time with dual 1/8" jacks, but I want a lossless digital copy of what I have recorded. Faster-than-realtime speed and auto-labelling would be nice, but that's not so much an issue as getting the digital copy onto my PC.

Can I do it with the equipment that I have? I don't need to purchase an RH1 do I? Even with the RH1 would it work, assuming I have the newest version of SonicStage? As far as I can tell, Marc's Renderer program is only for audio recorded originally with Hi-MD.

Again, sorry for a dumb question. Thanks for your help.

I am firmly of the opinion that the RH1, whilst nice, does *not* give you a lossless copy, and certainly not at high speed. However there is some doubt about this position, and the RH1 does "ok" by most people's standards. Claims are made that it goes at faster than real time, however I have personally failed to do so with any setup I have tried.

If you really want to get it out digitally, I think your best option is to get a MD (very very old portable, or something like 75% of all decks made) with optical out, and record into your 'puter equipped with an optical (Toslink) input. You'll still be stuck with titling everything though.

Hope this helps.

Stephen

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Don't know how many discs you have, but the RH1 would save you a lot of time. The transfer will be faster than real time and titles will be retained

The optical out on a deck will not ALWAYS put track breaks in the correct spot, you will go through the conversion from ATRAC to PCM before it goes out the optical link.

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Don't know how many discs you have, but the RH1 would save you a lot of time. The transfer will be faster than real time and titles will be retained

The optical out on a deck will not ALWAYS put track breaks in the correct spot, you will go through the conversion from ATRAC to PCM before it goes out the optical link.

I thought that digital data was simply 1's and 0's and would therefore allow for exact copies? Or is Sony even capable of changing that too?

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It will be an exact copy of whats on the MD as it was recorded, unless it was recorded in PCM, there will be some ambiguity compared to the original, but reality is, unless it was on LP4, you probably won't be able to tell the difference,

Bob

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