sharkzor Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Hi, i've read somewhere sonicstage transfers music at a lower bitrate than SP even though you set it to SP mode only. When i view the properties of imported music, it states 132kbps for the atrac file which translates to be LP2. This defeats the purpose of transfering my music through netmd in sp mode. When transfering, sonicstage also makes .tmp files in C:Documents and SettingsAdministratorLocal SettingsTemp Can't make sense of the content, but it looks like it does another conversion. How should i proceed? i wan't the best quality possible (SP mode). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJ_Palmer Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Yes, unfortunately Sonicstage exports at (maximum) LP2 quality when doing 'SP mode' transfers regardless of the bitrate of the source file. I think this is (something like) because the recorder has to do the SP encoding as Sonicstage doesn't have the required SP codec. The SP mode is really only for compatibility with pre-MDLP units. Thes best you can do is real-time transfers, preferably via optical (TOSLINK) connection from a PC or CD player to the recorder, or use a CD-MD combo deck or system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azureal Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 The only way to create real SP recordings is on a deck or portable set to record at 292Kbps SP. SonicStage does not have the CODEC required to create SP compressed files, it only exists in hardware through a dedicated ASIC chip or in software loaded into a DSP in later years. I recall hearing it was related to the licensing Sony had with Dolby Labs who they collaborated with on the development of the original SP CODEC and compression technology. When you compress and transfer from SonicStage to SP, what you really get is often referred to as fake-SP and is actually some padded form of 132Kbps LP2. If you want real SP, you have to record in real time or get a deck that transfers from MD to CD at faster than real time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sony_Fan Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 You would also need to make sure that the deck or portable recorder has the last version of ATRAC SP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Very helpful thread for me. I was thinking only earlier today that if I got XP for my Mac, I could then use SS to make MDs @292 faster and easier than I do now. But now I see that can't happen. I guess I am "stuck" with using an MXD-40/0 or going 1x via the Mac's optical out. Funny, though, using the opt.out > MD route results in far less volume on the MD, no matter how high I set the Mac's sound. I tried adjusting the dig. rec. level on the MXD-D40, with the usual erratic results. It's still All Good, though, because MD is still a great format. As long as my decks and discs hold out, I'm good to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 FWIW I did some informal "unscientific" tests a while back, and convinced myself that NO highspeed transfer of SP will ever beat LP2. The great thing about LP2 is that it transfers bit-for-bit to and from (mz-rh1 only, of course) md. There's no support for SP on computer, except to make HiSP and Lpcm. I've taken to uploading (e.g. vinyl recordings) to HiSP lately because it's at least internally a 24 bit format. All that is bye-the-bye except that Sony probably figured that for most practical uses, LP2 is "good enough". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkzor Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) just bought a second-hand je780 for my mac. lucky for me imac has an optical output, but i should get an extra usb > toslink from dealextreme. But i already have a je530 so the je780 is useless... what software should i use on mac os? itunes doesn't have a 2second gap option slightly off topic question, can "music sync" mode only be fired from the remote? i noticed this on several md decks, even not-sony ones. Edited March 5, 2013 by sfbp bad language Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecrab Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Music Sync is not available on any of my decks, other than on the remote. (MXD-D40/0, MDS-JB940, MDS-JA20ES, MDS-JA333ES.) Don't think I've seen it on any previously owned but now departed decks, either. IWBN if that feature were available on a deck's front panel. I have a D400 and a 333ES in the same rack, and unless great care is taken (sometimes even that doesn't help), what you enter from the remote for one of the decks also happens on the other. As bad, when I'm using the CD section of 400, the remote may also affect my Sony CD player, also in that same rack. As for iTunes not being able to insert a 2-second gap, that it is true, but I found two possible workarounds: * You can change iTunes' settings to make the breaks between songs longer, shorter or nonexistent. Click on the "Edit" button at the top of your iTunes <------ Note: In my version of iTunes, it's iTunes > Preferences, not Edit > Preferences screen, then on "Preferences." Click on the "Playback" tab. The button next to "Crossfade Songs" is probably checked. Drag the slider all the way to the right (to 12 seconds) to increase the time between songs. Drag it all the way to the left, or un-check this box, to play songs with no gap in between. http://techtips.salon.com/itunes-adding-gaps-between-songs-737.html * Just in case anyone is still interested in this problem, here is an easy way to add silence between songs in a playlist. First, place some short track that you don't care about between two songs in your playlist. Select the short track and right-click on it to drop down the menu. Click on "Get info." In the "Get info" window, click the "Options" tab. In the "Options" window is a volume control. Slide that sucker all the way to the left, to turn off the volume. Click "OK" at the bottom of the "Options" window. Presto, a silent track. If you want to shorten the silence, go back to the "Options" window and shorten the ending time of the track as much as you like. http://forums.ilounge.com/itunes-related-mac-pc-applications/256111-can-you-make-gap-between-songs-itunes.html There were some other suggestions for 3rd-party software that could be used, but I leave that to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkzor Posted March 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 The first solution, crossfade, doesn't work. 1 sec, 12sec, doesn't make a difference. Making a playlist with silent tracks is a solution, but not very nice i found an itunes plugin, but it's very old and buggy on this version of iTunes.. For your IR problem, you could stick an IR extender on your IR receiver on the MD deck. not very elegant, but should solve the problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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