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RE:OT the best cheap recording solution



Title: RE:OT the best cheap recording solution

>> I'm intriged by the new Hi-MD format, which allows 1GB disc capacity as well as linear PCM recording. There's even an entry-level model in your price range, the MZ-NH600D at $200.<<

I have the nh700. it's a bunch of crap, to coin a phrase.
here's a short list of stuff that is wrong with this line of machines:

they have some adjustment on the mic sensitivity & the agc behaviour, but still can't be used in what I would call a normal live-band environment. you have to pad the mic with tiny resistors, which messes up the plug-in power.

mine skips on playback of it's own recordings.

they eat batteries. sony recommends the use of the mains adaptor when recording pcm-style.

still no optical out.

I thought there was a way to make standard md format recordings on it, but now I can't find it.
it has it's own "normal" mode which is somewhere between lp2 & lp4 on an older md-deck.
 
there's an extended play/record mode that lets you record 10 hours on an 80' disc, & upto 50 hours on the 1Gb discs.
if you can find them. no UK stockist has these blanks yet, so I've just got the one that came with the deck.

the pcm recording mode puts about 28 minutes onto the 80 minute media, & about 90 on the 1Gb
BUT there's no way to get the audio off of the machine except through the line-out, which is the headphone socket.
the supplied software lets you put wavs or mp3s or w.h.y. onto the disc, but doesn't let you export back into y'r computer.

 
that last sucks the most of all, out of all the things that are wrong.

also (I just remembered this one) any/all audio connections to the machine have to have a ferrite clamp around their cabling, adjacent to the md deck. sony supply these with it, like they knew there was an issue but had to fudge it at the last minute.

it wasn't even particularly cheap.

if you are inclined to go down the md route, buy one that's a) not a sony & b) that has (definitely for sure & have the salesman show you what happens when you switch the unit off & back on again) a MANUAL record level mode that stays put when the deck is off, i.e. doesn't reset to auto.

these are getting harder to find, as are decent sales people who know w.t.f. the machine is all about.

I have recorded live material for cd release, by my own band & others, on a sharp md-mt20. it's chunky, & only works in standard (80 minute max) mode, but the results never fail to astonish me (see elsewhere for how atrac actually helps live recordings, while it may not be everyone's cup of tea for absolute fidelity).

I bought the sony so I could retire the sharp, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.
for post, I transfer the audio off of a denon dmd-m31 hifi deck optically into the matching denon cd recorder.

hth-
duncan.



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