Record 80m disc on MDS-501 and JA30ES

[Ralf den Hartigh]

Hello

I have two minidisc decks, a MDS-501 and a JA30ES. I am trying to record a 80-minutes CD to these decks. Both decks have problems playing the last tracks although the recording seemed normal. They can play the most of the disc fine but the last tracks give gaps in the played music.

Is it not possible to use 80 minute MD's on these decks or do i have a focusproblem in both decks?

Can anyone help me solving this problem?

Ralf
 

[sfbp]

Does the JA30ES date from before 80m disks were introduced? I looked in the manual and can find mention of 60- and 74- but no 80.

[Ralf den Hartigh]

The manual does not mention the use of a 80 minute disc. I thought it would be possible because when i record a 80 minute disc on my MZ-RH1 then the JA30ES can play him (also behind the 74 minute boundary). So playing is no problem but recording more then 74 minutes on the JA30ES is not possible. I don't know in which year the 80 minute discs were introduced but i think that the MDS-501 and JA30ES both can't record more than 74 minutes on a minidisc.

Ralf

[BearBoy]

I've got an MDS-JE500, which afaik was produced between your two machines, and have never had any issues with 80 minute discs. 

From what I remember, only 60 or 74 minute discs were available when I bought the machine and 80 minute discs came later. 

[sfbp]

5 hours ago, Ralf den Hartigh said:

The manual does not mention the use of a 80 minute disc. I thought it would be possible because when i record a 80 minute disc on my MZ-RH1 then the JA30ES can play him (also behind the 74 minute boundary). So playing is no problem but recording more then 74 minutes on the JA30ES is not possible. I don't know in which year the 80 minute discs were introduced but i think that the MDS-501 and JA30ES both can't record more than 74 minutes on a minidisc.

Ralf

It's quite likely that they simply were not aligned correctly to cope with the increased capacity, since there was no such thing (80m). Doing that properly is going to be a big pain.

[Ralf den Hartigh]

Do you mean with 'a big pain' that i have to recalibrate de Focus Adjustment?

Ralf

[sfbp]

I mean you need, mostly, a laser power meter. And tons of patience and experience. Unfortunately the service manual isn't going to have any specific stuff for 80m disks. However it may be that by adjusting the power you can get a setting which works on both inner and outer tracks.

The following may give some insight:

http://minidisc.org/minidisc_faq.html#r_q5

Good luck!

Stephen

[punkrockaddict]

Ain´t 80m Discs just plain 74 Discs with a modified Toc ?

My 3ES can play/record them as every other  60/74 Discs.

I think your Laser is probably worn out due to thermal problems in that series.The 80m Discs are more precise to read..so an inaccurate Laser will have problems.

Are you having record issues as well ?

[sfbp]

Fabian, look at the link. There are at least 3 differences, the most critical of which is the distance between tracks that changes. There are ways to override the TOC stuff and get 86 minute disks (approximately), but the alignment is a problem. It's like your washing machine has a dual voltage setting but you never tried it because in the country of manufacture the voltage is 220V 50Hz but in your country the voltage is 110V 60Hz. It's not that surprising that when, to save energy the higher voltage is introduced to all green homes, the washing machine doesn't actually work because no one ever tested it to work at 220V 60Hz (they never thought of that one).

A related (true) story was the atrocious support for time zones provided by a certain international conglomerate that made TV's and video recorders. It just so happened that the lab/factory was in a certain state in the USA that does not change its time for Daylight Saving. Consequently all the usual glitches for things that go wrong at 2am on the 3rd Sunday in October (or whatever the changeover point is) had never been tested, and the engineers had no idea about DST because they had grown up without it. "Well sir, it works in the factory here". "But what do you do when the time changes?" "Sorry, sir, but it doesn't - we have been unable to test that feature". Of course it didn't work.