Topic: Minidisc Recorder with Optical Out

[Scuba Jeremy]

I've taped over 25 shows on MD, and have only had a dropout once from bumping the deck in REC mode. Only one dropout! What are you people doing with your decks?

[zhianosatch]

It's the home deck having trouble reading the bumped spots.

[Scuba Jeremy]

Ahh, yeah, that problem I've had. But only when I'm playing back tapes on my car's Sony in dash recorded from my Sharp portable. It must be some kind of Sony thing, I'd assume. The MDs play back perfectly on the Sharp portable and my Pioneer MJ-D707.

[kennedy]

FRIENDS DONT LET FRIENDS USE MINI DISC.......

[Simp-Dawg]

ok, just read back through this whole thread...armen, i have never heard of such problems with dropouts!  maybe i have been out of the MD game for too long, but it's really only been 1.5 yrs since i was strictly taping on MD, and only a patcher then...i don't recall any dropouts (at least i can't remember right now) from moving the deck in the field, of course i only tape taper friendly bands and usually have a place on the ground to stash the deck, so movement is minimal when checking levels or time remaining.
i only did md transfers on this weird japanese sony md station...it has a removeable deck similar in size to the larger md decks (not the squarish ones) and docks in a little station, about the size of a cable box (on top of your tv) but shaped very oddly....i'll have to take a pic of it.  i think the model is mzr4st.  anyways it has an optical out and i went into my soundblaster live 5.1 with digi/opti i/o module (yeah i used sb live but it frikkin worked fine at the time and was relatively cheap!) and, as i said before, i don't recall EVER having any dropouts.  maybe because it was another "portable" type machine i was going out of and not a home deck.
anyways, just wanted to drop my .02 in the bucket.  
that does sound like a LENGTHY LENGTHY process for you, but your supreme dedication to quality fixing those dropouts earns you a +T and mucho respect.  that's more patience than most have.

[Scuba Jeremy]

The dropouts only occur between two different decks. You'll rarely hear those errors played back on the same deck you recorded it on, unless it was a laser jump type of skip, then you're screwed. Even then, I only get weird drop outs when I play a disc back on my Sony deck, so it might just be a Sony problem. Too bad. They created the medium, Sharp perfected it!

[Sean Gallemore]

FRIENDS DONT LET FRIENDS USE MINI DISC.......

then I must not have many friends here!  The reason I get drop out on my MDs is because I get ball sweat all over the discs before I use them.  But it's weird, I recorded 4 hours at a rave one time, I was dancing had the mic AND recorder in the air in my hand and not one dropout all 4 hours.  Then I go to a "tame" show, not much movement of the deck and I'll get 4 dropouts in a show.  weird...

[dklein]

This dropout thing is crazy!  Never heard of such a thing.  I've got over 40 md masters and maybe had 3 dropouts from bumping the recorder (and they were always audible on the Sharp portable as well as the Sony deck used for playback).

Now I did get dropouts during the digital transfer process because my soundcard setup (Nightingale) seemed fussy.  So I shut other apps down, turned off virus protection and things like the power management feature that turns off your hard drives after x minutes.

Then I'd do every transfer twice, line 'em up and paste invert one on top of the other in Cool Edit Pro.  If I didn't get perfect cancellation (0 signal) I'd do another transfer and paste invert onto the two I had.  Occasionally it would take 2 or 3 tries but that's how I knew I had a perfect transfer.

Shit,  I would have given up a long time ago if I had to do that splicing routine!

[zhianosatch]

I almost did... I guess I attribute my dedication to youthful optimism or something... either way, it should end soon, although my mfin' sound card won't get a fuckin' signal from my nearly-new D8 and active 7pin!
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!

[Sean Gallemore]

you took away the butterfly power, now it's acursed

[Mic D]

Has any one ever seen one of these? It's the only portable MD with an optical out I have ever heard of.

[Mic D]

.

[zhianosatch]

hmmmmmm

[dklein]

Hey - I think a buddy of mine in Montreal has one of those that he bought in Japan many years ago!  You wouldn't want to use it for recording because it has the early (and supposedly nasty) version of ATRAC compression, which has been dramatically improved upon.  It also weighs a ton and only goes for an hour on batteries I think.

But...it would be fine for playback and transfers!  The ATRAC decompression algorithm hasn't (and can't) change, so if you record with a newer player you're good.  If you're going to use it for that, keep in mind that you can buy a full size used minidisc deck with optical or coax out for $50-150 on eBay, so pay accordingly.

david

[Mic D]

I knew it was very old but that's about it. I bought it from a friend of mine a while back (VERY cheap) but never used it to record a show because of the battery issue. Transfering was the only use it got until I bought a D8. It's been collecting dust for about 3 1/2 years now. Thanks for the info. +T