Advice needed about seond-hand RH1

[Hungerdunger]

I've just received a second-hand RH1 from a purchase on ebay.

The machine works, in that it plays back, edits and records as you would expect it to, so in that respect it isn't "faulty".

However I did notice that when recording via SonicStage or deleting tracks either on the unit or using SonicStage that it is making a lot of clicks and whirrs. My old machine makes virtually no noise unless you put your ear to it, but this one is quite noticeable. I then did some tests using an old Hi-MD disc and found that for all recording and for editing operations such as moving or deleting tracks, it was taking noticeably longer than my old machine.

I'm not mechanically minded, but the combination of noise and slowness leads me to suspect that something is wrong inside, but before I take this up with the vendor, I wonder whether other users here have had similar experiences. Do you think I would be justified in returning the item even though it still does what it is meant to?

[Avrin]

Unusual clicks and whirrs with a standard MD disc may mean that the laser is miscalibrated. This is common with European RH1s - the read power is set too high, for the laser to wear out quicker, and to make you buy a new unit. Address 0124 in service mode controls that. I've seen values as high as 41 there, and that's about 14% more than needed - the proper value will be 39 (values are hexadecimal). My first RH1, being brand new, even gave READ ERRORs when reading standard discs, then I set it to 39 and see no problems ever since.

But it is normal that gigabyte Hi-MD discs take longer to load or edit when compared to standard ones.

[sfbp]

Before you get too too exercised, try discharging until it basically shows empty, and then recharging (using only the wall unit charger) the battery.

I think that a lot of strange behaviour is down to people who insist on leaving it plugged into the USB the whole time, and never running the battery down, but never charging it either. This might be a relatively simple test case.

Maybe start by swapping in your own battery that you know is good? And simply running on the wall charger with the same disks that were causing clicks and "stuff' you didn't expect.

I don't buy Avrin's conspiracy theory (for that's surely what it is), at least for the moment.

There are a few other things I am going to suggest but for the moment don't try writing any disks, just see if you can get it to read the ones you have "quietly".

Cheers

[sfbp]

Avrin has been on laser calibration for a long while, well before you joined this forum, Stephen, and his advice is to the point.

No problem, Oz.

I checked my own unit, when I got some noises like this. 'Twas not the laser power. And another user recently followed my advice, and got out of the same sticky situation without tampering with the RH1 at all. As you know many people have for a long time suggested avoiding service mode on this machine.

[Avrin]

No conspiracy theory here. Just plain marketing.

No manufacturer wants its units to last for long. They would be glad to pass a law obliging everyone to completely replace their equipment once a year. Since this is not possible (yet?), they are finding other ways to make you replace your units on a regular basis. There are several ways to sell fully working equipment which will be useless in a couple of years:

1. A non-user-replaceable battery. This one is obvious - the warranty is over, then the battery dies, and they ask you the price of a new unit to replace the battery. You either pay (if the unit is dear to you for some reason) or buy a new unit. In both cases the manufacturer is the winner. But this approach won't work for the RH1, since many MD users have had similar experience with their E10s and the like turning into paperweights, and simply won't buy a flagship model to be certainly disposed of in a few years. They did use the proprietary battery for the RH1, but still it can be replaced/refurbished if you really want it. Or the unit simply ceases to be a portable, but can still be used at home.

2. Media limitations. Any modern recorder/player that accepts flash cards can be made to support terabytes of memory at no additional cost (I won't go into details about the fact that these terabytes of memory can be already made available without any additional effort, but they only continue to double the capacity each year - still within a few dozen gigabytes range). But no actual flash card unit is manufactured with this unlimited memory support. The most you can get from the manufacturer is a firmware upgrade allowing you to use memory cards with twice the capacity the unit supported originally. Then - stop. Buy a new unit. But this approach also can not be utulized for the RH1. The media capacity is already fixed at a rather low volume, but potential buyers are quite happy with that.

3. Decreased life of the unit itself. This one is the approach for optical and magneto-optical equipment. But the actual way to make the unit die should be selected very carefully. Unreliable mechanics can lead to trouble by causing units to fail while they are still under warranty. But the laser is the ideal component to manipulate. A good laser, operating at its nominal power, is quite durable. It will last many years (especially the reading one). But a relatively minor increase of power may shorten its life to only a fraction of it. And that's exactly what is being done. They kept doing this for some time - setting laser power above nominal. But they made a mistake with the RH1, by setting the power just a bit too high, so that it was beyond the normal operating range and caused read errors. That's how it was discovered.

Edited August 27, 2009 by Avrin

[Hungerdunger]

Thanks to Avrin and sfbp for your observations.

I did what you said, sfbp, but the problem is as bad as ever. Today I transferred 4 podcasts (in mp3 format) onto a new Hi-Md disc which I only took out of the wrapper yesterday. After the tracks were transferred (along with a lot of clicking and whirring), I tried to play the tracks in SonicStage and after the first one the RH1 showed "Access Error". I disconnected it from the computer and tried to play the tracks and found they weren't there any more!! I then repeated the operation on my old machine and it did it with no problems. Next I transferred the same tracks again onto the new machine, and this time it worked.

The odd thing is that although the transfer finished some five minutes ago, the display is still showing "Access", which on my old machine disappears as soon as the transfer finishes. I've tried pressing the Cancel button on the RH1, but it doesn't stop the "Access" message; it just flashes up "PC - MD" momentarily.

I also timed the transfer of the tracks. On my old machine it took 1 min 10 secs; on the new one 2 mins 15 secs.

So all in all I've had enough of it, and am about to contact the vendor. If anyone has opinions on what might be wrong with it, I'd be pleased to hear them.

[update: when the RH1 was still clicking away after 10 minutes I tried to shut down SonicStage without success. I then disconnected the RH1, and eventually had to remove the battery before it would function normally again.]

Edited August 28, 2009 by Hungerdunger

[Abby Normal]

3. Decreased life of the unit itself. This one is the approach for optical and magneto-optical equipment. But the actual way to make the unit die should be selected very carefully. Unreliable mechanics can lead to trouble by causing units to fail while they are still under warranty. But the laser is the ideal component to manipulate. A good laser, operating at its nominal power, is quite durable. It will last many years (especially the reading one). But a relatively minor increase of power may shorten its life to only a fraction of it. And that's exactly what is being done. They kept doing this for some time - setting laser power above nominal. But they made a mistake with the RH1, by setting the power just a bit too high, so that it was beyond the normal operating range and caused read errors. That's how it was discovered.

I don't doubt that the laser was set above nominal, but you've not offered any evidence that it was done deliberately. Unless I missed something, your logic sequence is as follows:

Premise: Manufacturers don't want their products to last forever.

Premise: The laser diode is an ideal component to manipulate to enforce maliciously planned obsolescence.

Premise: Some RH1s have the power set above nominal, which sometimes causes read errors and theoretically shortens lifespan.

One possible conclusion: Sony did this deliberately. (the one you chose)

Another possible conclusion: Someone at Sony or the factory made a mistake. (another conclusion, and the one to choose if we use Occam's Razor)

[sfbp]

Thanks to Avrin and sfvp for your observations.

I did what you said, sfvp, but the problem is as bad as ever. Today I transferred 4 podcasts (in mp3 format) onto a new Hi-Md disc which I only took out of the wrapper yesterday. After the tracks were transferred (along with a lot of clicking and whirring), I tried to play the tracks in SonicStage and after the first one the RH1 showed "Access Error". I disconnected it from the computer and tried to play the tracks and found they weren't there any more!! I then repeated the operation on my old machine and it did it with no problems. Next I transferred the same tracks again onto the new machine, and this time it worked.

The odd thing is that although the transfer finished some five minutes ago, the display is still showing "Access", which on my old machine disappears as soon as the transfer finishes. I've tried pressing the Cancel button on the RH1, but it doesn't stop the "Access" message; it just flashes up "PC - MD" momentarily.

I also timed the transfer of the tracks. On my old machine it took 1 min 10 secs; on the new one 2 mins 15 secs.

So all in all I've had enough of it, and am about to contact the vendor. If anyone has opinions on what might be wrong with it, I'd be pleased to hear them.

[update: when the RH1 was still clicking away after 10 minutes I tried to shut down SonicStage without success. I then disconnected the RH1, and eventually had to remove the battery before it would function normally again.]

Couple o' things:

1. Does this happen with 80m disks formatted at HiMD, or with transfer/play of regular LP2 to an 80m (well 160m) disk? (the reason for asking this is that any laser power errors, and also vertical positioning errors, are different for HiMD 1G from any other mode, because on the 80m disks there is only one layer)

2. The tracks that "eventually" (pace Fawlty Towers) got loaded onto a disk - will they play elsewhere?

The sentence that interests me most is this: "Next I transferred the same tracks again onto the new machine, and this time it worked. " Because if it works even one time, there may be NOTHING wrong, but just some unfortunate combination of circumstances. Hence question #2.

I definitely recall some hairy stuff when my RH1 was new. Once I got used to it, it never did it again. I know that you, like me, are an RH1 habitue. But I thought I would say that, anyway. Just in case it rang any bells to way back when you started with the first RH1.

Finally, anytime you get an unexpected blank disk, you know to expect the absolute worst, a busted overwrite cable/head. I hope my RH1 never sees this day.

You didn't say whether you used the other machine to fully discharge and charge the battery, or the new one.

Last question: when you put the "new" machine's battery in the old machine, does the old machine work perfectly? Sorry for not asking that first, might have saved some messing around.

I'm certainly leaning towards the Avrin adjustment - however if you think that negotiation with the vendor is better, don't want him (or you) believing you messed it up in service mode. Rather an expensive experiment it might be?!

Totally off-topic... I finally twigged what the three metal points on the outside of every machine (except the B10) are - they are connectors where the repair facility can instantly fake out a remote and hence get into test mode with a single button press. Perhaps Avrin already knows this, and/or can confirm.

(one more comment to add: the slow transfer tends to make me think even more that this is a power issue, not a LASERpower issue)

[Avrin]

Premise: Some RH1s have the power set above nominal, which sometimes causes read errors and theoretically shortens lifespan.

Not some, but just too many of them. All RH1s we've actually checked at a Russian forum (and there are quite a few RH1 owners there) had laser power set way above nominal. Some had errors, some didn't. Most second-generation Hi-MD units also had laser power set a bit higher than needed. First-generation units were OK.

And there's nothing theoretical about lifespan shortening - just plain old applied quantum electronics.

Another argument here is that too many other devices sold today have similar or other misadjustments to make them break sooner. This is nothing special - just a common trend.

[update: when the RH1 was still clicking away after 10 minutes I tried to shut down SonicStage without success. I then disconnected the RH1, and eventually had to remove the battery before it would function normally again.]

This is definitely NOT NORMAL even with a miscalibrated laser. Is the laser lens clean?

Edited August 28, 2009 by Avrin

[Abby Normal]

Yes, I knew you were going to attack the word "theoretical". The possibility that the setting was a mistake is still there--unless, of course, you're prepared to produce evidence that it was deliberate.

[Hungerdunger]

Couple o' things:

1. Does this happen with 80m disks formatted at HiMD, or with transfer/play of regular LP2 to an 80m (well 160m) disk? (the reason for asking this is that any laser power errors, and also vertical positioning errors, are different for HiMD 1G from any other mode, because on the 80m disks there is only one layer)

2. The tracks that "eventually" (pace Fawlty Towers) got loaded onto a disk - will they play elsewhere?

1. I've just tried this and the problems did not occur - i.e The loud noises did not occur, and the timings for transferring four tracks and then deleting a track on the RH1 itself were virtually identical for my old RH1 and this new one.

2. Well I had problems playing a couple of Podcasts today, but I can't be sure which machine I used to transfer them. I've just tried some more transfers on the new one, but it has "locked up" again as described in my last post.

You didn't say whether you used the other machine to fully discharge and charge the battery, or the new one.

Last question: when you put the "new" machine's battery in the old machine, does the old machine work perfectly? Sorry for not asking that first, might have saved some messing around.

I used the new machine to discharge / recharge the battery, which appears to behave normally. I have also tried one of my own batteries which produces similar results.

This is definitely NOT NORMAL even with a miscalibrated laser. Is the laser lens clean?

I agree, and it has just happened again! Forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to check the laser without opening up the machine? (I really don't want to go that far at present).

So, given that the machine misbehaves with a Hi-MD disc (and I tried several including a brand new one), yet appears to be OK with 80 minute MDs formatted as Hi-MD, is there any conclusion we can reach?

[Avrin]

Yes, I knew you were going to attack the word "theoretical". The possibility that the setting was a mistake is still there--unless, of course, you're prepared to produce evidence that it was deliberate.

Easily. Units are supposed to be calibrated at the factory. And they are, which is proven by the fact that all of them actually have different power settings. If these settings were randomly distributed around the nominal value, and only some of the units had the power set too high, I would have agreed that this is done by mistake. But when all units checked have their laser power set higher than needed (mostly 3F to 41, while the nominal values are in the 35 to 39 range), this looks like some unpleasant statictical result.

Forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to check the laser without opening up the machine?

You may check the state of the lens just by looking inside the unit. To check laser power settings, you'll need to enter the service mode. No disassembly needed.

So, given that the machine misbehaves with a Hi-MD disc (and I tried several including a brand new one), yet appears to be OK with 80 minute MDs formatted as Hi-MD, is there any conclusion we can reach?

Something's wrong with the laser writing and/or reading mode for gigabyte discs. The process of recording and especially reading gigabyte discs is completely different from that for standard ones (even Hi-MD formatted), so separate settings are used.

Edited August 28, 2009 by Avrin

[Abby Normal]

Easily. Units are supposed to be calibrated at the factory. And they are, which is proven by the fact that all of them actually have different power settings. If these settings were randomly distributed around the nominal value, and only some of the units had the power set too high, I would have agreed that this is done by mistake. But when all units checked have their laser power set higher than needed (mostly 3F to 41, while the nominal values are in the 35 to 39 range), this looks like some unpleasant statictical result.

That's not evidence that it was done deliberately. That only suggests that the wrong values were presented to the technicians doing the calibrations. I don't know where you get this "random distribution" scenario--that's a straw man. Under normal circumstances the mistakes wouldn't be random, they'd be consistent with an errant SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) manual.

The bottom line is you are guessing and presenting it as fact. I'm suggesting that an alternative explanation (and the most likely one) is that they made a mistake.

[Avrin]

That's not evidence that it was done deliberately. That only suggests that the wrong values were presented to the technicians doing the calibrations. I don't know where you get this "random distribution" scenario--that's a straw man. Under normal circumstances the mistakes wouldn't be random, they'd be consistent with an errant SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) manual.

Nice! Just a bit too many errant SOP manuals out there. And all leading in one direction - making you buy new units sooner.

Trouble is that a technician actually calibrating a reading laser is not presented with any values. They determine the actual proper setting for each unit using the unit itself. The lower and upper limits of the possible range are given by the unit ceasing to read the disc, and the correct value is in the middle. That's the SOP.

[Abby Normal]

Nice! Just a bit too many errant SOP manuals out there. And all leading in one direction - making you buy new units sooner.

Trouble is that a technician actually calibrating a reading laser is not presented with any values. They determine the actual proper setting for each unit using the unit itself. The lower and upper limits of the possible range are given by the unit ceasing to read the disc, and the correct value is in the middle. That's the SOP.

So you have copies of these SOPs now? I just want you to stop acting like your "educated guesses" are gospel. That's all. I never even said that your explanation was out of the question--I just said it was less likely than "error".

[Avrin]

So you have copies of these SOPs now?

Any other SOPs for laser adjustment will be simply wrong.

I would like to beleive that all this is just an error. But too many similar "errors" are just starting to prove something.

I would also like to believe that disposing of a fully operational piece of equipment instead of replacing its old battery is good for me and the environment. And I would also like to believe that it requires a lot of scientific research to double the capacity of flash cards each year. And I would also like to believe that the more megapixels a camera has on its quarter-inch CCD, the better the quality. And I would also like to believe that modern remastered CDs sound much better than old ones. Believing in all this would make my life a lot easier.

Edited August 28, 2009 by Avrin

[Abby Normal]

I would like to beleive that all this is just an error. But too many similar "errors" are just starting to prove something.

I'm not asking you to change your opinion--I'm simply asking you to qualify your statements so people know it is an opinion. The way in which you present your opinions leaves people thinking that it's established fact and that if asked you could produce documentation. Since you cannot, I'm requesting that you leave it open for debate instead of creating the illusion of "fact" by the force of your personality.

[Avrin]

OK, I have an opinion that the RH1 is not adjusted properly, and this causes read errors. The opinion may be wrong.

Happy?

[Abby Normal]

OK, I have an opinion that the RH1 is not adjusted properly, and this causes read errors. The opinion may be wrong.

Happy?

Not exactly I was referring to the deliberate vs. error argument--but whatever.

[Abby Normal]

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?" the late, great George Carlin

[sfbp]

So, given that the machine misbehaves with a Hi-MD disc (and I tried several including a brand new one), yet appears to be OK with 80 minute MDs formatted as Hi-MD, is there any conclusion we can reach?

Now we're getting down to the wire. There is indeed a special adjustment on the Laser power. IIRC Avrin, you haven't ever actually adjusted that one, correct? But in theory its setting is independent of the Laser power for regular disks (whether formatted as HiMD or not).

Is there anything else silly that affects only the 1GB disks? Like the little sensors (check both kinds of disk and you will immediately see which one has an extra hole) that test the underside of the plastic case of the disk to sense which kind it is. Conceivably for mechanical or electronic reasons one of those might be jammed, yes?

Added: now I have read Avrin's explanation of how the three-layer disk is recorded (not much the wiser but thank you Avrin anyway!), I am scratching my head to try and remember what it was I did that got me out of the hole you are in. I am absolutely certain I had this for a short time when the unit was quite new (and brand new at that!). Can you leave it without all power (battery, USB) overnight? This is all black magic and guesswork at this point, but it sure sounds familiar to me. I do recommend that you try to design experiments which test each function (erase, record, play, upload) as separately as possible, ie where all the other variable are constant. For example you might try reading a "known good" disk. If this fails, then I wonder about my idea of the sensor not working to detect 1GB disk insertion. Or titling one track and then looking at the disk in another machine. And so on.

Good luck!

[Avrin]

Not exactly I was referring to the deliberate vs. error argument--but whatever.

No chance here. I simply know it's deliberate. It's plain statistics, you know. Just too many seemingly erroneous deeds, all of which are aimed at increasing manufacturers' profits.

Added: now I have read Avrin's explanation of how the three-layer disk is recorded (not much the wiser but thank you Avrin anyway!), I am scratching my head to try and remember what it was I did that got me out of the hole you are in.

What? I never gave an explanation of how the disc is recorded, I only explained how it is read out.

A gigabyte disc is actually recorded in absolutely the same way as the standard one, using a single (third) layer. The first two are not used for recording at all. The laser heats up the third layer to its Curie temperature, and the overwrite head modulates the magnetic field to change the layer's magnetic polarization. The idea of high-density recording comes from the fact that it is possible to write pits much finer than what may be read. You can't read such finer pits using standarg methods. That's where the DWDD technology comes in, which uses the second layer as a magnetic "lens" to magnify the finer pits and project them onto the first layer.

Here's the official description with an excellent animation: http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#_q90

Edited August 29, 2009 by Avrin

[Avrin]

IIRC Avrin, you haven't ever actually adjusted that one, correct?

Absolutely. I never had problems reading gigabyte discs, and so never checked or changed any related settings. Or I would have possibly discovered deliberate errors there.

Is there anything else silly that affects only the 1GB disks?

Surely. Addresses 0211-0216 control reading and writing to gigabyte discs (nominal power, temperature coefficients and minimum power). These are described on page 19 of the RH1's service manual. You may try playing with address 0211, which controls nominal read power. But before you change anything, write down the original values your unit has at all the above addresses.

Values at these addresses from my RH10 (for reference, since the unit works perfectly):

0211 - 2E

0212 - 1E

0213 - 8D

0214 - 28

0215 - 22

0216 - 69

And from one of my NH600s (also working perfectly):

0211 - 30

0212 - 1E

0213 - 8B

0214 - 28

0215 - 24

0216 - 6D

All these values are original from the factory.

Edited August 29, 2009 by Avrin

[Hungerdunger]

You may try playing with address 0211, which controls nominal read power.

Thanks for this wealth of information, Avrin. I've now posted back the faulty unit to the vendor, but are you suggesting that by changing the values you listed, it might cure the faults, or is it likely to be too far gone by now?

[Avrin]

At least it may be worth trying. Even a worn laser may still work for some more time if its power is increased.

[Abby Normal]

I simply know it's deliberate. It's plain statistics, you know. Just too many seemingly erroneous deeds, all of which are aimed at increasing manufacturers' profits.

I'll have to ask my brother who is a linguist and actually fluent in our native tongue (and yours), but this must be a cultural thing. I'll attempt to interpret the above for the masses so people aren't misled:

I believe Arvin means: These seemingly erroneous deeds lend themselves to more profit for Sony. Even if the statistics could lead to another conclusion, when profit is one of the choices then it cancels out all other possibilities; therefore, my opinion is that the statistics can lead to no other conclusion. My opinion is so strong that I have convinced myself it is the absolute infallible truth.

[Avrin]

To more profit for all manufacturers, of which Sony is just one. And the statistics leads directly to this conclusion (no chance of misinterpretaion). And this is not only my opinion.

Edited August 29, 2009 by Avrin

[Abby Normal]

To more profit for all manufacturers, of which Sony is just one. And the statistics leads to this conclusion. And this is not only my opinion.

I didn't say it was only your opinion. Others share your opinion as well. I believe the statistics can lead to that conclusion and to other conclusions--so in a way, I share your opinion as well, to an extent.

[Avrin]

Making equipment die soon after the warranty expires actually requires some R&D.

[Abby Normal]

Making equipment die soon after the warranty expires actually requires some R&D.

(round and round--getting dizzy)

Even if it were an established fact that Sony deliberately engineered the RH1 to expire sooner rather than later (which is the fulcrum of the disagreement here), it can't be a very practical or cost-effective research effort. If Sony is all about greed, presumably they understand that quality breeds brand loyalty and the focus of their R&D dollar would be put to better use in this area.

Your argument doesn't stand the objectivity test very well. You appear to favor cynical conclusions and ignore all premises that can lead to equally likely innocuous ones. Your statements suggest you are even filtering these premises out in your own mind so that your apparent refusal to qualify your statements results in no internal conflict. This suggests an unknown (to me) personal motive on your part. It is also possible that, at least in this particular case, you have a slight affinity for conspiratorial thinking.

Please note how I've put all my qualifying statements in italics.

[Avrin]

Great!

[Avrin]

I am really sorry, but just recalled another unintentional error in the design of the RH1. Its charging circuitry is made in such a way that if you leave a discharged battery inside the unit for some time (or even outside the unit, but for somewhat longer time), the unit will no longer see it. This is definitely an error, and not a way to make you buy a new battery in place of a perfectly working one (which may be easily recharged using another unit model, e.g., the NH3D, if you have it).

[Abby Normal]

This doesn't appear to be a very common problem. So, what you are saying is that an otherwise healthy battery has dropped below the minimum voltage for the RH1 to detect it as healthy, whereas other units have a lower threshold. Interesting. Well, if it is isolated to the RH1 then that opens up a whole new realm of possible explanations--active and passive.

[conspiracy mode]

If I wanted to get into the spirit of the bash-Sony bandwagon I could imagine that it could be a Sony engineer practicing his or her own form of "hacktivism" by introducing subtle defects into the SOPs. It doesn't matter that the end result only hurts the consumer. Disgruntled employees don't always think these things through.

[end conspiracy mode]

[Avrin]

The problem is not too common, but in no way unheard of, even here. Basically, because not many people fully discharge their batteries on a regular basis, and even if they do, they recharge them soon enough. Some time ago, I was hoping that one can change some service mode setting to eliminate this problem (as is the case with laser power). No luck!

Edited August 29, 2009 by Avrin

[Abby Normal]

Good to know. I just today received a unit that uses the same battery and presumably doesn't have the same problem--a DH10P. I think the battery is showing signs of capacity issues, though. I may be buying some batteries and one or two of those Targus universal chargers soon.

[Strungup]

Not to ruffle feathers or spark attacks , But I have watched and Listened to Avrin ever since I joined this forum ( Some 3 0r 4 years now ) under a different moniker

What I have seen is that Avrin has Check , Rechecked , Double rechecked each and every fact he has posted , before posting it . He is also the one who First did all the direct Frequency analysis on the MD sound files and recording comparisons , he has also done more to Hack the MD;s than anyone here .

Figuring out The RH10 , to get Sp mode out of it , All kinds of other investigations into the service modes that none of you really would dare to go .

Also , the Laser thing as that I have quite a bit of experience in Electronics Avrin is correct , it is a common practice among Portable CD Players , and DVD players

To overclock them so they break down in a years time , Which they almost always do , Your electronics come with a 90 day warranty in a lot of cases and 1 year in others for a reason .

No Conspiration , just basic business practice in the modern age .

i am a repair man . I have done it for a living for the past 30 years .......... I have seen the changes .

Avrin is in My opinion one of the most respectable members here , above and beyond any contribution I have ever made to the board in some 3000 posts

Plus he is Russian , with perfect English , which tells me it isnt the ONLY other language he speaks , probably at least 4 languages , Indicating his intelligence and attention to detail .

Attention to detail ........... To every detail before he posts it .

His history speaks for him ,

[Avrin]

Thanks! But English is actually the only foreign language I still remember. My Japanese and Italian are gone.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Avrin

[Strungup]

Thanks! But English is actually the only foreign language I still remember. My Japanese and Italian are gone.

Ha!!! 4 languages , I nailed it ..

Never underestimate the Russian , I would love to play you chess someday ( I know I would lose BUT ,....... The Vodka , and the Game would be worth it !

[Avrin]

I'm not good at chess at all.

[jmsla]

Interesting "discussion"...Arvin may I ask a question about this laser maladjustment?

I have some ATRAC models, specifically a G755, that makes quite a racket and often can