anont Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 I get the impression most bootleggers are sitting out Hi-MD until Sony upgrades the format. But, has anybody out there used Hi-MD to record concerts? How well does it work, does it sounds as good or work as well as a Sharp MD? I'd be curious to hear general impressions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhesusmonkey Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 I will be able to give some impressions later in the week, as I'm planning on recording a concert tomorrow night and hopefully at least one more over the weekend. I had originally wanted to make PCM recordings, but I know for at least tomorrow night that 1.5 hours isn't going to be close to sufficient. In the battle between switching discs part-way through a concert and just recording in Hi-SP, Hi-SP wins. Hopefully I'll get a PCM recording over the weekend since the shows I'll be seeing should be fairly short. And damn it, let's see some more Hi-MD blanks around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markr041 Posted August 17, 2004 Report Share Posted August 17, 2004 I do not know what is meant by "upgrades the format". This is the upgraded format! I have just recorded two concerts using PCM on Hi-MD 1GB disks. I used manual recording mode so I could set the levels. The results were fine. This is much better than using DAT - no tapes to break, and instant access. The Hi-MD devices are smaller than DAT devices (the only previous device that was portable to get PCM recordings) and get better battery life. I also used to use a Sharp minidisc recorder (to get compressed recordings, of course); the quality on the Hi-MD seems just as good in terms of the mike pre-amps, and almost as easy to use now that one can change recording levels on the fly (no pause necessary) with a genuine dial It's nice that you can just press t-mark while recording to get track marks where you want them for later editing and listening. I played the resulting disks via SonicStage into Total Recorder to get bit copies of unencrypted wave files on my computer. I edited the files and I have nice, uncompressed recordings. I do not know what anyone is waiting for who records. (I do also not know of too many concerts in which the artists play for more than 1.5 hours without a break.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anont Posted August 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 I do not know what is meant by "upgrades the format". This is the upgraded format! Thanks for the info Markr041. By "upgrade", I meant the converter program to upload recordings to a format the PC can use. Having to use sonicstage and total recorder is enough of a pain that I'd rather put off the purchase and make sure reviews are positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 I've used my Hi-MD sparingly to record live music so far [it seems like a waste to bootleg a folk festival to me]. The results were quite good [my expectations were open as it was also the first time out using my new mics]. Compared with my previous experiences using MD, Hi-Md has only a few real advantages - they're important ones, though. 1) PCM recording. PCM recording. PCM recording. 2) The option of choosing high-quality compression to give record lengths that are quite long [2:20 for 80min discs and 7:55 on a 1GB Hi-MD] 3) all-digital transfer if you're willing to put a little effort into it As far as using the unit for listening, mine [the NH700] is rather unimpressive as far as its headphone amp goes, but it more than suffices as a portable for everyday use. The recordings I have made so far [mostly weird things like going down to the trainyard to get some good screetch and boom sounds] have all exceeded my expectations in this $300CAD unit. They have also blown the recordings I spent the last two years making with an MZ-R90 right out of the water in terms of dynamic range and signal to noise ratio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnetor Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 Hey Dex, Could you elaborate a bit on point #3--all digital transfers. You've already given me some advice in another forum on this issue, but maybe you could tell me a bit more about how the process works on a PC. Then I can figure out of it will be possible to do the same thing on a Mac. Thanks, Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 It won't be possible on the Mac unless someone writes USB drivers and access utils for it - which would require reverse-engineering Sony's encryption et al. Current method requires a utility called Total Recorder, which acts as a proxy to a PC sound card, letting you record what you're playing on the puter straight to a wav file. Which depends utterly on SonicStage, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefbeef Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Dex, What about a Mac with Virtual PC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 See this thread: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=4207 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefbeef Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 dex, This thread doesn't appear to have come to any concrete conclusions... It sounds as though SS should work with Virtual PC but noone has truly verified? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 I can't fully attest to anything, as I'm not a Mac user. That's the relevant thread to the topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anont Posted August 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 http://forums.macgeneration.com/vbulletin/...8386#post808386 says it works under Virtual PC, but only under OS 9. Seems me, with the cost of Virtual PC and the bother of having to run it under an alternate OS, it's too much a time and bother to be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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