Have a Hi-MD question that doesn't need a thread?

[Sbetsho]

how does the 48 kbps atrac3+ sound compaired to LP4 (66 kbps atrac3)?

I know that Sony has estimated it about equal, but I want more opinions

[Christopher]

As far as i know you can't record from the radio built in the remote control.

I think he was just referring to a radio itself. If the radio has a digital out [which I'd be surprised at], then you'd need a digital cable with the appropriate ends [toslink to toslink, most likely]. If the radio has an analog out, then I'd go with a male-to-male stereo cable.

how does the 48 kbps atrac3+ sound compaired to LP4 (66 kbps atrac3)?

I know that Sony has estimated it about equal, but I want more opinions

Here's a simple reminder: double the kbps of an Atrac3plus bitrate and that's the *.mp3 equivalent. Whilst that statement does have some holes in it, I will note that hypothetically, 48kbps Atrac3plus should sound better than 66kbps Atrac3 - it's all subjective, and the only way you'll know if it sounds better or not is if you hear it.

[JD24]

I think he was just referring to a radio itself. If the radio has a digital out [which I'd be surprised at], then you'd need a digital cable with the appropriate ends [toslink to toslink, most likely].

I doubt the radio has an optical output. :rasp:

If the radio has an analog out, then I'd go with a male-to-male stereo cable.

[/qoute]

Well, but you can't listen to it during record

Radio analogue output (Headphones) -> Line in (quality ???)

(Just a guess, anyway i'll buy the NH900)

JD

[nietzsche]

i think that's the best are mz-nh900 and mz-nh1.... the mz-nh1 is veeery cool!! but it cost too much, i prefer the mz-nh700... but i have to know what are the limitation of playlist....! and i think that the only "flat" minidisc in the rear is the mz-nh1..

i hope that in europe the hi-md will be available before the summer....! :smile: but i want to read some US review!

@jadeclaw... do you think that hi-md will be available here in europe at the date estabilished(june-july?)

[jadeclaw]

Hmm, I don't have any information, that Hi-MD is delayed here in Europe.

And for the flatness of the backsides, after reviewing the pics in the equipment browser, it seems, that none of them has the bulge known from the R500.

[nietzsche]

i hope that's true! :smile:

but i think that probabilly the date will be slide forward..... i only hope that the hi-md will be available before the summer...!!

And for the flatness of the backsides, after reviewing the pics in the equipment browser, it seems, that none of them has the bulge known from the R500.

so do you think that they are more flatness than the old R500? :smile:

[MDGB2]

I doubt the radio has an optical output.  :rasp: 

Mine has an Optical output because it's a DAB radio. :grin:

[caledesign]

Hi', I am new to this forum but I have had minidisc for many years and have compiled a library of 300 minidiscs. Currently I don't have a recorder/player, but am anticipating the release of the Hi-MD next month here in the states. The one question that i have is will I be able to upload my old MD into sonicstage or will I be able to copy the files through the USB mass storage drive so that I can have a copy on my computer.

[Christopher]

caledesign + MDGB2, welcome to the forums. :happy:

Anyway, cale, you will not be able to transfer the music back to your computer [at least in this sense]. The only way you could do this would be to get a deck/bookshelf with optical out and a soundcard with optical in and do a 1:1 dub. Unfortunately all prior recordings made with pre-existing MD units cannot be uploaded with Hi-MD equipment, whether it be through Sonicstage or the USB mass storage option.

Let me make this clear - the USB mass storage option will not see any music recorded on a Hi-MD disc that is playable on the unit. It will only see data you've transfered. There are two parts to a Hi-MD disc; the part that contains your music that is playable on the unit, and the data. Each are seperate from each other.

[caledesign]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will most likely just play the recorded tracks on the player for now and get a bookself system in the near future.

[Sbetsho]

I made some math and I'm a bit confused...

Sony states that on a Hi-MD you can record up to 7h55min = 475 min on Hi-SP 256 kbps and 45h = 2700 on 48kbps.. but this doesn't fit.. 256/48 = 5,3333... and 475 min*5,3333... = 2533,3333... = ~42+h

am I missing something here?

[jadeclaw]

Yes. Slack. Or to be more exact, the header-data on each sector written on the disc.

And since you need more sectors on higher datarates, you lose more space.

That means, on lower datarates, the relation between data and header improves.

That's my guess.

Sony states 1GB per disc, let's see, what Windoze reports...

PS: An Iomega ZIP100 disk reports 95.6 MBytes free space, so it wouldn't surprise me if a Hi-MD reports a bit more ore less than the one GByte stated.

[ChoirTech]

I got my first MD recorder last Christmas (bad timing) and then a friend told me a few weeks later about Hi-MD and pointed me here to learn about. This site and it's offspring/parent (minidisc.org) are so amazingly informative.

Anyway, I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find that answers to.

1. Will the shipping version of Sonic Stage 2.0 be compatible with Win98SE?

2. Will the digital amp on the NH900 be able to amplify the mic-input? My main use is for live recordings of my choir to burn to CD and I'd like to be able to copy directly from HI-MD to PC to disc w/o having to edit it first.

[jadeclaw]

1 = Yes, from the Sony site:

System requirements

  Computer

·  CPU: Pentium II 400MHz or higher (Pentium III 450MHz or higher is recommended.)

·  RAM: 64MB or more (128MB or more is recommended)

·  Hard disk drive space: 200MB or more (1.5GB or more is recommended.)

(The amount of necessary space depends on the Windows OS or the size of your audio files.)

·  USB port: (supports USB 1.1)

 

OS:  Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004

Windows XP Media Center Edition

Windows XP Professional

Windows XP Home Edition

Windows 2000 Professional

Windows Millennium Edition

Windows 98 Second Edition

Others

·  Internet access required for EMD and CDDB services.

2 = No. The digital amp improves the playback-side. The recording side was never a problem on portables.

[Christopher]

I think what jade meant was - a digital amp doesn't enhance the recording process in any possible way.

[jadeclaw]

Correct.

[Sointenze]

Hey Folks,

I've been an MD head since maybe 97, I have a Sony 7900 car deck and a JE470. I am thinkin of going MP3 for the car, but want to better understand HI-MD first.

What I am looking for out of the MP3/CD for the car, is the transfer of files to CD from the PC. I know HI-MD will do this by changing the file type, but what are the devises in play here both for the car and and home.

:wacky:

[efenili]

What are the accesories yall use for MDs and which are expected for Hi-MDs??

[Christopher]

Hey Folks,

I've been an MD head since maybe 97, I have a Sony 7900 car deck and a JE470. I am thinkin of going MP3 for the car, but want to better understand HI-MD first.

What I am looking for out of the MP3/CD for the car, is the transfer of files to CD from the PC. I know HI-MD will do this by changing the file type, but what are the devises in play here both for the car and and home.

:wacky:

Welcome to the forums. So, you're looking for a MD unit [or Hi-MD in this case] and/or disc that will play in the car and at home? If so, there are no Hi-MD car units yet, but if the format gains popularity when it arrives then I have no doubts that we will see a car unit.

What are the accesories yall use for MDs and which are expected for Hi-MDs??

Belt/armband cases, pouches, poor headphones, remotes [maybe], perhaps wireless accessories [doubt it], and much more. The options for accessories are somewhat limited in the first place, so use your imagination and you'll probably come to similiar conclusions.

[Spare Tire]

Can players be used as storage devices? I guess not. Then they should make it noticably cheaper than the recorder right? If they keep up the price proportion like in the old days, that would suck ass.

Perhaps minidisc players should dissapear altogether and be replaced by download players.

Yeah.

[Fray Adjacent]

Can players be used as storage devices? I guess not. Then they should make it noticably cheaper than the recorder right? If they keep up the price proportion like in the old days, that would suck ass.

Perhaps minidisc players should dissapear altogether and be replaced by download players.

Yeah.

They can all be used as USB storage devices. All of the recorders and players can be plugged into your USB port, where Windows Explorer will show them as USB Mass Storage. You can drag and drop files to the disk from there.

[efenili]

I made some math and I'm a bit confused...

Sony states that on a Hi-MD you can record up to 7h55min = 475 min on Hi-SP 256 kbps and 45h = 2700 on 48kbps.. but this doesn't fit.. 256/48 = 5,3333... and 475 min*5,3333... = 2533,3333... = ~42+h

am I missing something here?

Yes. Slack. Or to be more exact, the header-data on each sector written on the disc.

And since you need more sectors on higher datarates, you lose more space. 

That means, on lower datarates, the relation between data and  header improves.

That's my guess.

Sony states 1GB per disc, let's see, what Windoze reports...

PS: An Iomega ZIP100 disk reports 95.6 MBytes free space, so it wouldn't surprise me if a Hi-MD reports a bit more ore less than the one GByte stated.

When computing numbers from hardware to software its very easy to get confused.

Simply putting 48 into 256 is not going to give you any real numbers. You can't just look at the quality of the music when determining how much space it is going to take up. I can think of a number of reasons why your numbers are off but im not informed on this kidna stuff..so its just my thoughts

Onto this thing about what windows shows. This has been an arguement for a long time which has a pretty simple answer. Windows uses a binary system of numbers which is different than a lot of mediums. Like your hard drives and memory sticks I guess your zips as well are going to give you a rating where 1,000KB = 1MB, 1,000MB = 1GB. This is where they get their numbers to rate their cards. Windows instead uses the number system where 1,024KB = 1MB aand 1,024MB = 1GB. So you can see why you think you are losing some data. There is also the simple fact that every card/hard drive is different so you can a variety of numbers all around each other. Anyways, just saying that a lot of storage used in windows doesnt use the same number system. Windows should be saying Mebi and Gibi but whatever.

one kibibit 1 Kibit = 210 bit = 1024 bit

one kilobit 1 kbit = 103 bit = 1000 bit

one mebibyte 1 MiB = 220 B = 1 048 576 B

one megabyte 1 MB = 106 B = 1 000 000 B

one gibibyte 1 GiB = 230 B = 1 073 741 824 B

one gigabyte 1 GB = 109 B = 1 000 000 000 B

Not sure why I just wrote all that, but its good info to have none the less:)

[Spare Tire]

So what's the difference between a player and a download only recorder if both have USB and a recording head?

[jadeclaw]

So what's the difference between a player and a download only recorder if both have USB and a recording head?

Well, there are three types:

Players: Don't record anything.

Downloaders: Recording through USB only. the US version of the NH600 and some other NetMDs as well.

Real recorders: Have Analog and/or SP/DIF inputs besides any computer connection. Might not have any computer-connector at all, like most home decks.

And it doesn't matter, what the advertisements say, if it records through analog, its a recorder, even if it is called a 'player'.

Yes, Sony is guilty of that too... *Grmpf*

--------------------------------------

@efenili:

Windows calculates on base 2. And that's what I'm doing as well.

And that's what anyone else is doing as well.

However, Harddisk makers calculate on the base 10 - Result: A 60 GByte drive suddenly has only 55 GBytes...

Too bad, that the courts still allow this type of fraud.

[Fray Adjacent]

Windows calculates on base 2. And that's what I'm doing as well.

And that's what anyone else is doing as well.

However, Harddisk makers calculate on the base 10 - Result: A 60 GByte drive suddenly has only 55 GBytes...    

Too bad, that the courts still allow this type of fraud.

That's not fraud... it's people not understanding the difference between base 10 and base 2. If you counted the bytes up in base 10, you'd get the 'gigabyte' count that the drive is advertised as it is. Then the computer counts it in base 2, which adds up differently.

Being in tech support for a large computer company, I've had to explain that to people a lot. It WOULD be nicer if they advertised drives as their base 2 total in GB.

On this note, I wouldn't be surprised if HiMD discs are actually a bit less than 1024MB.

[LowEnd]

From what I'm reading, the MZ-NH1 (unlike the 900) does not have a way to use AA batteries? It would be nice if it did... I guess I'll have to order another lithon battery for a backup.

[jadeclaw]

Yes and no.

In another thread, that point already has been discussed.

Minidisco says, a battery case is included with the NH1,

MDCenter.nl and the equipment pages here on minidisc.org don't mention it.

I suggest, order it from minidisco and complain, if the battery case is missing...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

@Fray:

I still call it fraud - for a good reason: When you start learning about computers, you learn, that everything is base 2.

And the harddisk manufacturers are fully aware of this.

Time for a lawsuit, I think...

[Spare Tire]

Is it me or Hi-MD units have a battery life notably shorter than old MDs?

N10:

play: 17/20/24 hr

record: 8.5/11/14 hr

NH1:

play: 8/14/16 hr

record: 5/7/8 hr

Both run on LiIon.

Sharp DR400:

play: 33/44/51 hr

record: 8/13/18 hr

R910:

play: 30/38/42 hr

record: 12/17/21 hr

running on gumstick 1400mAh

NH900:

Battery life PCM/Hi-SP/Hi-LP:

play: 5/8/10 hr

record: 4/5/6 hr

Battery life SP/LP2/LP4:

play: 9/10/12 hr

record: 5/7/7 hr

running on gumstick 1000mAh

Well, it's hard to compare 1400mAh and 1000mAh, but if we multiply the specs of the NH900 by 1.4, it's still pretty damn low compared to the old MD units. And it's wierd that the internal LiIon units actually run longer than the gumsticks now. What's up with this? Does it have anything to do with the new way the discs work?

[efenili]

I gots me a question!!

Sound Quality:

CD > MP3 vs. MP3 > Atrac3plus

Now since you are converting from compressed to compressed, is it going to suffer? Obviously ripping from CD to Atrac3Plus is what I want to be doing, but with the MP3s I do have what kind of quality of sound am I going to get using the new Hi-MD devices. Will I lose anymore quality from MP3 to Atrac3plus or with the quality of the sound bit remain essentially the same??

[Fray Adjacent]

I gots me a question!!

Sound Quality:

CD > MP3 vs. MP3 > Atrac3plus

Now since you are converting from compressed to compressed, is it going to suffer?  Obviously ripping from CD to Atrac3Plus is what I want to be doing, but with the MP3s I do have what kind of quality of sound am I going to get using the new Hi-MD devices.  Will I lose anymore quality from MP3 to Atrac3plus or with the quality of the sound bit remain essentially the same??

It's been mentioned here a lot, converting from one compression to another is called 'transcoding' and will result in the loss of quality. I would think that if you went from an MP3 to ATRAC3, you're going to end up with quality a little less than the original MP3's bitrate (comparitively).

Of course, it will be much better to rip straight from CD to ATRAC3.

[The_Stamp]

It's been mentioned here a lot, converting from one compression to another is called 'transcoding' and will result in the loss of quality. I would think that if you went from an MP3 to ATRAC3, you're going to end up with quality a little less than the original MP3's bitrate (comparitively).

Of course, it will be much better to rip straight from CD to ATRAC3.

to resolve that issue i encode my mp3's in 192 kbps. that way, when i do LP2 in the MD, the quality loss wouldn't be nearly as bad, because you would be stepping down the bitrate. (if you encoded at 128kbps, you would be stepping up, which is a no-no, in my books of quality)

my 2 cents.

[The_Stamp]

Is it me or Hi-MD units have a battery life notably shorter than old MDs?

That would (mostly) be because the HI-MD player is constantly writing to the disk when you are listening to music on it (it enlarges a layer on the disk so it could be seen by the laser). That might explain part of the battery life loss.

[Christopher]

Is it me or Hi-MD units have a battery life notably shorter than old MDs?

And it's wierd that the internal LiIon units actually run longer than the gumsticks now. What's up with this? Does it have anything to do with the new way the discs work?

Yes. Touching on what Stamp said, the read and write processes are far more advanced than any previous MD system. Give a good read into the FAQ's and the technical papers on the main site. In another generation or two and the battery life will be a bit more acceptable.

[Spare Tire]

Dunno, from what i saw it seem as if it was just passivly shining a normal laser onto the disc. A true writing would imply modulating the magnetic field too right? Well, i don't really know what i'm saying but i think it's somewhere near that... I guess it must be something between a normal read and a real write... :wacky: Maybe if we used old discs the battery life would be longer??

Anyways, they better be doing something about that battery life because as it is it's a third of the old units. That's inacceptable, even mp3 units now have longer battery life than this. I went with minidisc back then because it's battery life was kick ass but now i don't see why i would opt for minidisc when even mp3 can do better. I hope Sharp can extend that battery life a bit more with their 1bit amp.

[Bugui]

Wich new hi-md will be able to play while recording???

Thanks and excuse my poor english.

Buda

[mAjEsTiC]

did u mean which Hi-MD can record and playback??? or did u mean which Hi-MD can record while playing back??? if u meant the 1st q i asked then basically any of the NH1, NH900, NHF800 and NH700 these units can record as well as playback Hi-MD's...if u meant the 2nd q i asked then i don't think there is any unit out there that can do this (any one correct me if i'm wrong)

[researchALLwars]

sound can be recorded now - but it may only be played back later.

[Bugui]

Maybe i was asquing for someting that dosn´t exist.

It´s able to play what are you recording ?? When you are recording a concert it will be usefull to hear waht are you recording for adjust the recording level or chage the microphone position etc etc etc....

I´m crazy?? :wacky:

Or simply i dont understand you?? :happy:

Thanks

Bugui

[The_Stamp]

did u mean which Hi-MD can record and playback??? or did u mean which Hi-MD can record while playing back??? if u meant the 1st q i asked then basically any of the NH1, NH900, NHF800 and NH700 these units can record as well as playback Hi-MD's...if u meant the 2nd q i asked then i don't think there is any unit out there that can do this (any one correct me if i'm wrong)

i think the question in question is this:

can you listen to what you are recording?

the answer is yes. when you have the minidisc set for line-in record you will be able to listen to what is being recorded from the earphone jack. (ya, so you can hear what is being recorded, and if you hear distorion, it would be time to turn down the recording level)

as for which md can do this: all of them except downloaders.

i hope that this will resolve any issues. :cool:

edit: 50th post! im an amateur now! (even tho i give out some intriguing stuff and helpful help about minidisc. oh well. its just a name :cool: )

[jazmaan]

Will I be able to do a fast digital upload of a mic-recorded WAV file to my computer and then have access to that same WAV file outside of Sonicstage so I can manipulate it in Cubase or Soundforge? Same question for line-input recorded WAV files.