ONKYO MD105FX/MD133 (Hi-MD) English Manual pdf - anyone interested?

[zzzuppp]

I've just bought an Onkyo MD105FX, one of the only two bookshelf Hi-MD machines ever made (the other was the ONKYO MD133). It's a great machine despite having a few minor drawbacks (eg no headphone socket).

In the process of buying one, I tried to find a Instruction Manual in English and after hunting high and low gave in and bought one on eBay for the crazy sum of £16.

It seems to me immoral that anyone should be charging this much for a few photocopied sheets taped together.

So if anyone out there would like an Instruction manual for the MD133 or MD105FX in English (the same manual works for both), I can make it available as a free pdf to users of this forum. I'll also throw in a free summary that I've made of it, which cuts out the 'Engrish' and reduces the instructions to a few simple algorithms of which buttons to press when for various functions.

So register your interest below and I can PM you a copy. :-) or if there's enough interest, I'll upload the pdf here.

[KJ_Palmer]

Yes please, I'd like a copy of the manual very much. I have the MD105FX.

Thanks.

[trott3r]

Yes i would like one also.

I have thought about the Onkyo but this is one thing that has put me off.
The other is you have to import from japan

[th77]

Yes, please! Thank you.

 

[PhilippeC]

Anyway, the user and the service manuals are missing here 

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-105FX.html

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-133.html

so yes, members who have an interest will be glad to have any of them.

And if you have still (a lot of) money :  http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Hi-MD-Minidisc-/282359555901?hash=item41bdf0e73d:g:3IkAAOSwA3dYGeF5

 

[Fender-MD]

I don't need the manual, be it's still pleasing to see nice guys thinking about the community ! :-)

[zzzuppp]

12 hours ago, PhilippeC said:

Anyway, the user and the service manuals are missing here 

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-105FX.html

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-133.html

so yes, members who have an interest will be glad to have any of them.

And if you have still (a lot of) money :  http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Hi-MD-Minidisc-/282359555901?hash=item41bdf0e73d:g:3IkAAOSwA3dYGeF5

 

OK the pdf is ready - it's 35Mb, so a lot to send as several PMs.

I'm wondering if it would be better to upload it to the pages PhilippeC mentions above? but I have no idea how to go about that - anyone know?

[PhilippeC]

Stephen (sfbp) will help you. Send him a PM with the file or a link to the file. Thanks.

http://forums.sonyinsider.com/profile/101758-sfbp/

[sfbp]

If you have, for example, a dropbox link to the file, I will process it and make it a bit smaller. Should be well less than 10M, maybe less than 5. Please don't try to use email (or upload to the site) for this.

Thanks

Stephen

[freddyjollo]

is it true these  decks dont have digital out? One reason I  stopped considering them. Otherwise  would be a dream machine

[zzzuppp]

They don't have optical out, no.

Other minuses (for me)

- no headphone socket (but if you have it wired into a hifi that isn't a problem)

- no PC transfers (but for those of us with Macs that's an issue we learnt to live with years ago, even with the MZ-RH1 after OSX Leopard)

- it's 100v so you have to get a good converter or transformer if you're on a different voltage

- no mic input (a pity but hey, there's portables for that)

- no Auto level for recording (not really a problem)

- my 105FX can take an age to read a disc, sometimes a few minutes, and similarly can occasionally take a long time to write the TOC.

This last issue is the worst for me, because every once in a while it fails to write the TOC and maybe your long recording session was a waste of time. So the long wait for the writing is a little nerve-racking.

In all other respects it's great - editing, eg is much preferable without tiny fiddly controls. And it's really nice to have sitting amongst your hi-fi rack. But they are expensive now unless you're prepared to take a risk on a Japanese auction site in the hope that you don't get a lemon. 

Meanwhile I've sent sfbp my pdf file, so hopefully he can concentrate it and upload it to the community.

[sfbp]

You did? How did you manage that? I cannot accept 35MB of email.

[zzzuppp]

No, I sent a link via a message on your feed - I've just sent it again as an actual PM

 

[sfbp]

Thanks for that. It's now posted in downloads:

I tried three different sizes of file, original (35MB), On-screen (3MB) and E-book (9MB). The 3MB was a bit fuzzy close up, so I settled on the 9MB version.

As the owner of MD-105FX I am personally grateful, since my only manual for that is Japanese. It's not quite the same deck, but I am sure we will find that this version will do for both machines.

Cheers

[zzzuppp]

That looks fine, sfbp. There was never an English manual for the 105FX but it's always been said that the controls were identical to the MD133, and so it proves in practice.

Two things -1) perhaps you could add that the last 2 pages are a quick guide that I made, not anything official? Actually I should have uploaded them in colour, I could still do that, it makes it all clearer.

2) Can you add a link to the English manual in the pages below?

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-105FX.html

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-133.html

[bluecrab]

Even though I have neither of these machines—the lack of either S/PDIF or USB is the deal-breaker for me—it's good to see this kind of community spirit!

[sfbp]

7 hours ago, zzzuppp said:

That looks fine, sfbp. There was never an English manual for the 105FX but it's always been said that the controls were identical to the MD133, and so it proves in practice.

Two things -1) perhaps you could add that the last 2 pages are a quick guide that I made, not anything official? Actually I should have uploaded them in colour, I could still do that, it makes it all clearer.

2) Can you add a link to the English manual in the pages below?

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-105FX.html

http://minidisc.org/part_Onkyo_MD-133.html

Unfortunately no. We'd have to get in touch with Eric Woudenberg, I think he's "webmaster" here though has nothing to do with this site (title from when the two were joined).

Sorry, I didn't get as far as the last 2 pages. I printed the durned thing out and spiral bound it and was going to look later.

I will do some cleanup. In a hurry at the minute.

[madaradam]

I just bought used Onkyo md-105fx Hi-MD to use for my old collection of MD's...but there is no English manual for it. If you will be so kind and share one with me I would be obligated to share maybe some piece of my art with you. Thank you.

[madaradam]

...and by the way "It seems to me immoral that anyone should be charging this much for a few photocopied sheets taped together."  I agree with you.

[sfbp]

4 hours ago, madaradam said:

I just bought used Onkyo md-105fx Hi-MD to use for my old collection of MD's...but there is no English manual for it. If you will be so kind and share one with me I would be obligated to share maybe some piece of my art with you. Thank you.

See the link to our downloads section higher up this thread.

[madaradam]

Thank you very much for such a quick answer. I downloaded the file.

 I rediscovered my old Walkman MD's players and my old collection of MD. I didn't use it for years and forgot about my stash of this recordings. Some time ago by accident I opened my old box with it and felt in love with the quality of sound from Mini Discs. Do you think I am sort of delusional or there really is some quality to it? 

I just bought this used ONKYO 105FX from Japan since from now on I want to use it for my recordings. I am very exited about  this project. I would like to transfer my CD, vinyl LP's and cassette collection into mini discs. I would like to know more about MD's. I know it's an obsolete technology, but I like it and regret that it's over. MD were so cheap at the end of 90-ties and the beginning of 2000.

I guess you are using this Onkyo105FX. I hope you have no problem with it and you know more than I do now. I wouldn't like to do something wrong with it, so didn't use it yet waiting for the manual.

I am an artist and I can send you a nice copy of my work with gratitude for this manual. I see it on eBay and Amazon for sale and somehow it irritates me. It's not a question of money on some level for me...but a certain attitude.

Thank you very much again,

[sfbp]

The problems with Onkyo Hi-MD decks are twofold:

1. No schematics or proper service manual (which has saved so many Sony creations over the years). When it dies, it dies ...... (sigh). Recommendation: don't use the deck (or portables) to do major editing. Leave that to Sound Forge and save your hardware from wearing out. In turn this means you must learn how to decrypt uploaded files (OMA) using Sonic Stage. I have also an Onkyo FR-X-B8 and it started to show signs of being unhappy with being used to edit.

2. No optical out or USB. However this can be remedied by the parallel use of a HiMD portable which can easily transfer music to/from computer.

Enjoy!

Note that if you stick to standard bit rates (not exactly sure, but 256kbps and 64kbps both work ok), VLC (ffmpeg)  can decrypt the files on the fly for playback (or conversion). AAL (Atrac Advanced Lossless) is unknown to VLC but it hardly matters since the AAL files are never encrypted, making them much more difficult to lose outright if your windows install goes sideways.

[madaradam]

Thank you for your answer. I have Sonic Stage. I know how to convert into WAV format why transferring from my walkman MZ-RH1. I never used Sound Forge. Probably it's possible to use Adobe Soundbooth or Adobie Audition 1.5 for editing. Do you mean decrypting OMA into WAV for example?

[sfbp]

Avoid converting into WAV. ATRAC is a 24-bit format, make the most of it. ATRAC is the magic that makes MD sound good.

Sound Forge is the only one that will DIRECTLY edit ATRAC files - but they need to be decrypted (once only) first.

[PhilippeC]

Stephen remind us the version of Sound Forge to be used fro editing/creating Atrac files.

[sfbp]

9.0 or 10.0

[PhilippeC]

I know we have already talk about it but it could be usefull to remind us which are the Atrac formats that could be import/edit/save in Sond Forge Pro.

Sound ForgePro 12 manage the DSD format : I will be interested to save my music directly in Atrac files (that could be transfer to my MD discs). 

For a real time recording, I have recently ordered this : http://taingheviet.com/topping-d10.html?sort=p.price&order=ASC&limit=100 which is a half DAC half DAC interface (if followed by a better DAC).

[sfbp]

The answer is: all of them. However they must be decrypted (unprotected) using the Sonic Stage File Conversion Tool (FCT) that is within SS. I have no idea what's in 12, you should be able to see from the menus.

One very small caveat, the default extension for new saves of ATRAC is .aa3, not .OMA. This requires a little bit of messing around. However if you edit a file which is already .oma (or .OMA), it will save with the correct extension.

I'm sure you're aware that the metadata for OMA is a minor extension of the metadata for MP3, with MP3 in the signature replaced by EA3.

[madaradam]

Hi, thanks for your advice and patience.

1.What version of Sound Forge I should have for editing MD and is there any free version which will do the job?

2.What do you mean by decrypting ATRAC files?

3. When I'll transfer my CD into my hard drive through Sonic Stage, what would be the optimal and best format?

4."In turn this means you must learn how to decrypt uploaded files (OMA) using Sonic Stage" - is it complicated or rather easy?

3. I just got the Onkyo Hi-MD 105fx. I've notice it doesn't start the music where it was stopped like my other MD walkmans like RH-1. I can't find in the manual about this function. Probably it doesn't have this kind of memory like the portable does.

 

[madaradam]

Is there a Mac version of Sonic Stage?

[bluecrab]

On 5/2/2018 at 9:20 AM, madaradam said:

Is there a Mac version of Sonic Stage?

Here's what there is for Mac:

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/downloads/Z0005379

This has been reported, though, to not work on current MacOS or any versions near-current. And it's for Hi-MD only.

Some Mac users have worked around the SS Windows-only restriction by running a Windows VM on current MacOS, with success.

[madaradam]

thank you very much but it doesn't work. I have  OS El Capitan.

 

HiMD.tiff

[bluecrab]

2 hours ago, madaradam said:

thank you very much but it doesn't work. I have  OS El Capitan.

 

HiMD.tiff

That's correct. That's much too recent. Last known compatibility was either 10.5 or 10.6. If I were inclined to use SS, I'd go with either a VM on Mac or just use Windows, as I have both. I gave it a try, but for various reasons decided to not use SS. Good luck with whatever path you follow!

[madaradam]

thank you for the answer. It keeps my compulsion at bay. I'll stick to Windows. My best to you.

[sfbp]

On 4/26/2018 at 6:01 PM, madaradam said:

Hi, thanks for your advice and patience.

1.What version of Sound Forge I should have for editing MD and is there any free version which will do the job?

2.What do you mean by decrypting ATRAC files?

3. When I'll transfer my CD into my hard drive through Sonic Stage, what would be the optimal and best format?

4."In turn this means you must learn how to decrypt uploaded files (OMA) using Sonic Stage" - is it complicated or rather easy?

3. I just got the Onkyo Hi-MD 105fx. I've notice it doesn't start the music where it was stopped like my other MD walkmans like RH-1. I can't find in the manual about this function. Probably it doesn't have this kind of memory like the portable does.

 

1. 9.0 or 10.0. You can buy it as part of Video Studio for less than $50; or it comes as part of a LOT of Sony devices such as voice recorders eg ICD-SX750 and similar, also PCM-M10 (the goto recorder for live since it has good onboard mikes and can take a microSD card). You'll need a license key which should come with a new disk or purchased download.

2. When you upload from MD to PC, the file (.oma at least) is always encrypted. WAV are not, but there are two problems with that:

a. you lose the metadata so nicely preserved from the MD

b. WAV takes a lot of space (longer to backup etc)

So, the File Conversion Tool (built into SS) allows the "protection" (essentially locking it to current install of windows on your computer only) to be removed.

3. Use ATRAC Advanced Lossless, high quality, 256kbps (hiSP) lossy part. AAL is an honourable exception to the "no protection, no metadata" rule. So THOSE files do not have to be decrypted/converted.

4. See above. You MUST do it before the next time you do a System Restore, or you will lose the files uploaded since the restore point.

(note that VLC and ffmpeg can now render protected files but not in ALL formats)

5. (you wrote 3. but I get it) Decks do not save the place you stopped. Period. Sorry, but that is the specification it seems.

[PhilippeC]

Due to oma files protection, I decided a long time ago not to have a library on my computer with that format. I just have Flac that I eventually converted to WMA (format & metadatas recognized by SonicStage) when I want to transfer in another format that SP. I would have take a kind look better to the ATRAC Advanced Lossless if it had been more reliable to use as any other lossless format.

[zzzuppp]

Madaradam, I have discovered that in using my Onkyo to play my old MDs on, the only ones that will not play are ones that I transferred using my Mac with the Hi-MD Music Transfer that Sony provided (the Mac equivalent of Sonic Stage). The tracks show up and you can scroll through them but when I hit 'Play', nothing happens. So maybe not such a big loss.

Other Hi-MDs that I recorded (in real time, s -l-o-w-l-y) after Hi-MD transfer became unworkable on later Mac OS, play just fine.

Other than that (and the fact that it sometimes takes a couple of minutes to load an MD) I love the Onkyo.

 

Love your artwork, BTW, let's have some more! makes a change from all the tech-geekery.

[PeterBorromeo]

Thank you so much for uploading the user manual of the Onkyo MD-133 and stopping the rip-off artists on ebay.

[Dini7]

I found this thread because of the manual for MD-133 (no way was I going to fork up the $50 on Amazon -- or anything close to that) and I'm super grateful for the manual. But the thread has otherwise been very helpful. From almost a year ago, but but in 2019, it is nice to see active MD users from 2018! Thank you!

[lyndonsc65]

Thank you so much!