Hi-MD Equipment Check at Sony Netherlands "Dealer-Show"
by MDcenter.nl
March 2004
Marck Evers and a team from MDcenter.nl went to Sony City Netherlands for their Spring Show 2004
(this is a hands-on showing of new equipment to dealers). They conducted tests,
took photos,
and asked many questions. This is a summary of their
visit:
Uploading Topics (these are direct answers from Sony)
High speed MD to PC uploading can be performed with recordings made from mic, line & optical sources.
All Hi-MD formats that can be recorded with the units themselves can be uploaded (i.e. PCM, Hi-SP & Hi-LP).
Uploaded tracks can [currently] only be played back on the PC by using the supplied SonicStage2 ("SS2") software.
Extended SonicStage software will become available that will be able to burn audio-CD's.
Exporting from Extended-SS2 to WAV is still unknown.
Exporting from Extended-SS2 to MP3 will not be possible (an external WAV->MP3 step is necessary).
The Macintosh is still not supported (even Hi-MD's "USB data storage" mode is reportedly not Macintosh compatible).
Tests with Prototypes of MZ-NH1 and Hi-MD formatted 74 min discs
The speed of a Hi-SP download to MD is 8x (timed).
The usable disc space on a 74 min disc formatted as a Hi-MD medium
is 270MB; extrapolated to an 80 min disc this becomes 290MB (305MB
unformatted).
The transfer rate of a data-mode file copy (200MB video file)
to MD (i.e. download) is 3.55 Mbps (Sony datasheet says 4.37 Mbps)
The transfer rate of a data-mode file copy (same 200MB video
file) from MD to PC (i.e. upload) is 6.22 Mbps (Sony datasheet says
4.37 Mbps)
We did not succeed in ripping CD-audio in PCM format and
transferring it directly to MD. Ripping CD-audio in PCM to hard disc is
possible, but before transferring it it is converted to ATRAC (possibly
to protect CD-audio from lossless copying).
When playing back tracks that are on a Hi-MD formatted disc, the
sound is also transferred back to the PC via the USB bus and will be
heard over the speakers/headphones. (Contrast this to existing NetMD
units where the sound is only available via the Walkman's headphone
output).
While playing back MD tracks over the PC it is possible to
simultaniously record them with e.g. Cooledit 2000 (effectively a
realtime upload).
Using the SS2 program makes the MD inaccessible as a data-drive,
so no simultaneous data/music transfers are possible.
The uploading of existing ("NetMD") recordings (SP, LP2 & LP4) is
not possible (tested with an MD recording made with our own MZ-N10,
and with recordings made with the MZ-NH1 in "NetMD"-mode).
Hi-SP files are stored on the disc as real Hi-SP audio (no
half-baked LP2 to semi-SP kludge as with NetMD).
All recorded audio is placed in a collection of ".hma" files (of
unknown format) in a single directory on the MD. One large .hma file
contains all the audio-data, the other files are for index-data &
titles. These ".hma" files can be freely copied back to the PC hard
drive, but no subsequent playback of them is possible. (They present
fertile ground for further investigation however).
Etcetera (answered by Sony)
A free official update from SS1.5 to 2.0 will be available in April.
The battery cannot be charged via the USB bus.
The Hi-MD equipment shown to date can record in either NetMD
(aka "std-MD") mode to std-MD media or in Hi-MD mode to Hi-MD media,
both via USB downloading as well as via audio inputs. So it's fully
backward compatible with old equipment. Also SP & SP-mono recordings
can be made from analog, mic & optical inputs.
There is no PCM mono or Hi-SP mono mode.
Track, album & artist title information is transferred separately
to the disc and can be viewed separately on your display.
The single-line display on the MZ-NH1 is a pity. One team member liked the MZ-NH900 more
because of this. For people who don't use the remote much the single-line display
does not give much info.
The new LiIon battery of the MZ-NH1 can easily be put in the
wrong way (flipped either vertically or horizontally). Initially one
of the units we tried wouldn't work away from the cradle and we found
it had indeed had its battery inserted incorrectly.
Having both contacts on the bottom of the battery restricts it to
having one orientation that will work out of a possible 4 ways that it
can be inserted (contrast this with the NH14-WM where you get 2
working orientiations out of 4).
The remote of the MZ-NH1 also works on the MZ-N10 but only shows text on the middle
line of the display. Conversely, the MZ-NH1 works with old (NetMD)
remotes.
The MZ-NH1 clicks firmly into place in the docking station. You have to use
the nicely placed release button to get it free (it cannot be accidentally
released, as is possible with the MZ-N10's dock).
In the menu you can choose between a "basic" and an "advanced" menu. We're not
sure what that means, but perhaps for rookies the basic menu keeps
operation simple. Maybe the final menu is so big that for easy
operation only the frequently-used functions are in the basic menu.
It was a little noisy at Sony so we don't know exactly how much noise
the MZ-NH1 made. What we do remember is that we had to look at the flashing
"REC" led to see if it was ready. So we don't expect it will be terribly noisy.
We had the feeling than the MZ-NH1 was a bit heavy and did not have the
same colour as the MZ-N10. Later, upon seeing an old MZ-E25, we felt it
had about the same color as the MZ-NH1. That leads us to believe that the
prototypes where of aluminium instead of magnesium (probably because
aluminium is easier to use for prototypes).
At Sony it was much too noisy to give the HD
digital amp a good auditition.
The MZ-NH1 is thinner that the MZ-N10. Because the MZ-N10 has a big bump to
accomodate its display, the thickness of the MZ-N10 varies a lot between
the display and the edges. The MZ-NH1 does not have such extremes of thickness and is in between the
thickness of the MZ-N10 at its display and at its edge.
Comments from another team member:
The MZ-NH1 itself feels a bit
less sturdy than other units like the MZ-N1, partly because it is thinner, but
especially because the shell is easy to damage. The cradle is, however, the
best I have ever used. It has a nice click-system, looks great, and all
connections are now accessible during playback (which is now possible from
the unit over the PC-speakers, because data can go both ways through the
USB-cable of Hi-MD gear).
(In response to a question:) The unit's noises during operation do
not seem different than previous MD gear, but I have to admit that I
was not really paying attention to this. The "data-save" that is
needed after recording in order to write the data in active memory to
the disc is a bit faster than before. The seek times are the same,
though it seems that in higher bit-rate recording modes (like in PCM
RAW-audio), the disc spins a little longer before the actual "seeking"
starts. This must be due to the extra data that has to be processed
per second.
Furthermore, the other Hi-MD-units feel almost exactly like the
equivalents in the MZ-R5xx range. The casings are mostly plastic, or
partly magnesium. The designs of the remotes seem to be a bit more
clumsy. Subjectively: I hope SONY will hurry to update the design of
the MZ-NH1, because I prefer the design of the MZ-N1 and MZ-N10 above
that of the MZ-NH1.
Connect.com Online Music Service
Local artists will also be made available (e.g. Dutch artists in Holland)
Payments can be made by credit-card as well as other mechanisms.
Music will be assembled from as many labels as possible, not just Sony Music.
References to Original MDcenter.nl Documents (in Dutch)
