netmduser Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Has anyone actually used the MD SP compatibility mode in SS or SB? It is a useful feature for older decks and portables that play SP only. I am glad Sony included this over-looked option in their software for backwards compatibility reasons. A bit slow in transferring but the results sounds fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Don't get too excited... your observation merely proves that LP2 is pretty darn' good. In fact SS transmits LP2 to the unit with a command to pad it out with blank bits to make it "look like" SP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netmduser Posted January 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Yes it is compatibility mode LP2 in SP fantastic quality. But I was so excited that it was there in software for older equipment (gives new life to them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ_Palmer Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 I've used it on some throwaway radio voice recordings and the like, more or less to 'suck it and see'. As you say, the quality's surprisingly good, but proper SP is so much better, and if you have the means to record in full SP, it's no substitute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THIS SUCKS Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 i didnt think you could use "sp" compatiable mode in simple burner? how do you do that? what version do you use? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 i didnt think you could use "sp" compatiable mode in simple burner? I believe you are correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netmduser Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yes you are correct SP compatibility mode is only available in SS. Does anyone know what is actually being transferred in this mode to the portable? A full wav? It does take a long time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yes you are correct SP compatibility mode is only available in SS. Does anyone know what is actually being transferred in this mode to the portable? A full wav? It does take a long time? Without patronizing you in the least, that's a very clever question. However, my spies tell me that in fact SS spews out LP2, which is then padded to SP (by the portable) with blank bits. Would that it actually sent SP... there might be great reason to hope so, as there is some evidence in resource files of SP-NetMD transmission capabilities in very early NetMD gear. But that would require every NetMD unit to have the full WAV->Atrac encoding capability. Some probably do, because they have optical in, which is after all WAV-quality sound. But many do not, which is most likely what motivated Sony's engineering decision here.**** The lowest common denominator must rule in any kind of mass market - we should not forget that, for a while, and certainly in Japan, mass market economics were definitely in play here. Maybe they even intended to, then discovered too late that USB simply wasn't going to hack it, at least the USB they had, which was 1.1. **** the issue of whether the CHIP has the ability to turn WAV into ATRAC is a separate one, and raises the question you effectively pose in a different way. But the connection between PC and NetMD unit is heavily encrypted (Sony paranoia) and there's no way now of engineering such a thing, I suspect. Lots of firmware involved, and no way to update said firmware as far as I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netmduser Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 The way you mentioned is most likely the way it works however I was just thinking in a hopeful way they could have taken a shortcut as follows I see padding technically complex as the codecs are different: SP compatibility mode is LP2 converted to WAV and WAV is sent to the ATRAC chip at 1-2x in some special data mode. The quality is still LP2. I never timed it myself as I just started using this mode recently. USB 1.1 could handle this data rate MB/s? Secondary but more important consideration: If I take a WAV file and import it into SS, and then transfer it in SP compatibility mode, does SS first convert it to LP2 or does it start transferring right away? If it doesn't work this way could this be exploited somehow? ****I never understood the point of the heavy encryption in netmd. I can take a netmd disc and play it on any other portable or deck. Encryption was just to lock down the music file to the PC correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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