md attrac compression limitations??

[Guest Anonymous]

hi, when i record a song that has definate "stereo" attributes, like parts of the song come from just the left speaker and some from the right, it doesnt do that when its recorded on my mz-n707, all the sound is "centralized," therefore my old sony discman was wayyyyyy better sounding

why does the recorder do this? it sounds like the songs are in mono and it doesnt make a difference when i use lp stereo, lp2, or lp4 mode

is this a limitation in the attrac compression? or is my recorder/software configured incorrectly?

also some mp3s i recorded have background sounds which arent present in the recording on the md, is this the "mouse fart and dynamite exploding" theory that i read somewhere?

if anyone doesnt understand what i mean, i will post a sound sample.

thanx

[Andy]

LP4 uses "joint-stereo" which basically works by assuming that the left and right channels are roughly the same and just storing a (small) chunk of information about how different they are. If they are very different, then that chunk of info will not be able to represent it very well and the stereo-ness will be lost.

LP2 on the other hand should not suffer from this as it uses true stereo (left and right channels are totally separate).

I would try making/finding some test sounds to make sure your unit isn't fault. Some things which are hard panned left or right etc.

Also, try doing the recording without NetMD and recording in SP mode. For best results use an optical connection, if you don't have one of them, then use the headphone out on the front of your CD drive in your computer (I've found these to be very noise free).

[Bazirker]

I thought LP2 utilizes joint stereo as well, but I could be wrong. SP mode, however, does not.

How are you recording this music? It might be possible that somewhere in your recording method you're losing stero attributes because you should hear stereo in everything except mono mode even if the stereo is slightly less dynamic. If you're using analog cables, make sure they're all stereo. If you're using optical or NetMD...well then, you likely have a more severe problem, such as (as Andy stated) a bad unit or some other faulty equipment.

[LostChordSearcher]

Unless, you're recording in mono mode, you should definitely still be able to hear the stereo effects recorded in your music. If you use LP4, you may hear some problems, but SP and LP2 should work fine.

[Guest Anonymous]

hey thanx for the replies

i tried every way of recording and it still merged the left and right channels into "one" like it sounded all "centralized" even with digital transfer, so i brought it back to future shop (i bought mine open box special) and they gave me a brand new unit right from the box

it plays all my mds perfectly yay all better

[Andy]

Cool, I'm glad it is fixed.

Bazirker: This is from the MDLP FAQ here:

12. Why aren't there LP monoaural modes that double the recording time?

ATRAC3 in LP4 mode encodes audio in "joint-stereo" mode, encoding the left and right channels in one step (i.e. jointly) and exploiting the similarity between channels to increase compression. Because of this, the capacity increase when encoding a mono signal is not 2:1, but somewhat less. This, and the added complexity of a fractional increase in capacity, apparently disuaded Sony from providing a mono LP4 mode. ATRAC3 in LP2 mode on the other hand could be used to offer double playing time mono, but Sony's current machines do not offer it.

That is what I based my assumption on.

[Bazirker]

Andy, it looks like your right, that certainly does sound like LP2 is stereo. My fault, I thought I had read somewhere that both LP modes were joint stereo. Thanks for the correction!