DAT vs. Minidisc for field recording, specifically D8 vs. Sharp 24bit MD recorders

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SeaOwl

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Hope that reads ok
I've been using a sharp minidisk recorder for many years and after many hours, it's just about fallen apart, splayed.

Still, I was very happy with it, and it lasted far longer than I expected it to, considering the travel, wear, and drops inflicted upon it.

So the time has come to get a new field and demo recording unit and could use some guidance from you good folk.

I've been offered a virtually new Sony D8 dat recorder for a price lower than the new minidisc recorder would cost me and was planning to buy that, however, i am also aware of new Sharp (DR7/DR480) 24 bit minidisk recorders, and was wondering if anyone here has any advice.

the plusses of getting another minidisk is the vast repository of demos and song scraps i already have on minidisk and need to access on a fairly regular basis.

the plusses (i think), of getting the D8 is that some of the magic moments i captured on minidisk could have been released if only they were of a higher fidelity.

has anybody ever done a head to head against the D8 and the new Sharp minis? any words of caution about either unit be it build, headlife, glitches, etc?

Thanks for reading, and as always, help warmly appreciated.
Best,
Dave
 
I don't have any direct experience with these two specific models but, I do own two DAT decks. One is a Sony DTC60ES home unit with super bit mapping and a Panasonic SV-250 industrial field recorder. Both of these machines are capable of making an excellent recording but neither of them offer a true mirror image recording of the analog source's input. Both color the sound in tiny little weird ways.

I also own 2 Minidisc machines. A Sony MDS920 with 24 bit AD-DA converters and a Yamaha MDX-793 with standard 16 bit converters.

Surprisingly, the Yamaha MiniDisc makes the best sounding recording of the bunch in that it offers the truest recording of the source analog input.

Though MiniDisc does use data compression, it shouldn't be compared or looked at with the same distance that MP3's get because it is a smarter and more musical lossy process.

If you have an existing library of music on MD, I would confidently recommend that you stick with that format.

DAT has the potential to sound better then MiniDisc but, in reality, unless you get a super high end one, you may not readily hear the difference.

DAT also has the shortcomings of tape in that it wears out after a number of plays, can get jammed and eaten like a VHS tape sometimes does and it's not instant access for searching and winding.
 
Sony

Sony have some new format Hi-MD recorder which can record linear PCM.

That would give you the best of both Worlds, access to your library and 1GB storage - space to record at higher quality.

Best

Mark
 
Eh??

Are there new Sony MD's that use a standard 16-bit word/44.1Khz/Stereo, CD Standard data format? If that's true, it would make the MD disc record-time frighteningly short,... about ~14min per 140Mb disc.

I may not understand the phraseology, but compressing 1Gb onto Minidisc is not what I'd consider linear PCM, and would [IMO] be going toward lower sound quality, not higher.

Just curious, so I thought I'd hop on this thread, and say so.

/DA:
Sony MDS-JE510
Sony MDS-JE320
Sony MZ-E40 [portable walkman-type MD player]
Tascam 564 MD Portastudio
Yamaha MD8 porta-format MD 8-tracker
 
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Ps:...

The term "24-bit" Minidisc more than likely refers to the resolution of the A/D-D/A converters, not the "data-write" word size.

You guys already knew that, though,... I'm sure. :eek: ;)
 
Hi-MD uses a new media format that is the same size as traditional MD but holds about 1GB of data.

It is also backward-compatible with traditional MD media, meaning it can read your existing MDs as well as write the them in both the old way [for compatibility] as well as using a "Hi-MD" reformatted method that increases disc capacity from +-140MB to +-300MB.

For Hi-MD recording [not MD mode] a new version of atrac is used, called atrac3plus [which should really be called something like atrac 7 or 8 but this is Sony, after all]. This codec is apparently vastly improved over the original atrac. Hi-MD units also support LPCM recording in standard 44.1kHz/16bit format.

Sony has been touting this for months as supporting digital upload via USB, meaning you can take recordings directly from the Hi-MD unit to your computer. Unfortunately, at this time, the software is limited to importing the tracks in an encrypted format that nothing else can use - so no editing yet. They have promised to release a utility to decrypt recordings made from analogue sources in the next couple of months. This would mean they'd be following SCMS standards, essentially. It's all DRM issues, really.

There's a lot of good info on the subject at www.minidisc.org. They also have a forum there which has been keeping me abreast of all the rumours and news concering Hi-MD. [Which is important to me, since I've already ordered one even though they aren't to be released in Canada until next week some time].

Cheers.
 
Yes! YEs! YES!

Thank you! THank you! THAnk you! THANk you! THANK you! THANK You! THANK YOu! THANK YOU! Mr. Dex!

... Yeah,... Atrac3plus,... go figure!
 
Yep, Hi-MD is the way to go...

I've been using my Sharp MS-722 for the last 7 years, and I'm going to upgrade to a new Sony Hi-MD unit soon.

Hi-MD lets you record UNCOMPRESSED 44.1kHz 16bit for a duration per disc of 1hr 34mins!!! Plus other compressed formats for longer durations....

Pretty cool.

Forget DAT, Hi-MD is the way to go...



:D
 
Yeah, Hi-MD is a great advancement in MD-tech,...

but I may not be ready to junk all my Gen-1 MD equipment, yet.

MDS-JE510
MDS-JE320
 
I'm keeping all of my 16 bit, 44.1 KHz digital stuff too.

When they come up with a 24bit, 192Khz mini-disc, I'll put my money into that.

For now, this new format of MD simply brings it up to an old, questionable sound quality standard of regular CD so why bother?

A true, 24/192 would produce close to perfect sound recordings that fully compete with the best of analog open reel standards for depth and density of information. Anything short of that is a waste of my time and my money.

Cheers! :)
 
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