Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format (Read 15200 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Quote
Sony introduces Hi-MD Audio Minidisc format; new media holds 1GB, storing nearly 8 hours of SP mode audio on a single disk. Discuss...


taken from www.minidisc.org

I know it seems audiophiles arent much for Minidiscs, but this seems pretty cool to me... expecially if the discs are at all close to the price of normal minidiscs ($2-3 each).

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #1 –
Interesting!  But it raises many questions.  Seems the folks in marketing are just baiting us.  I am looking forward to reading the whole story. 
Nov schmoz kapop.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #2 –
me too...

apparently the info wasnt supposed to be released until CES.

maybe someone at sony jumped the Gun on this one.

It makes sense though that it would be some sort of CD-rw type media similar to normal MD but using a blue laser rather than a red one.  either that or a miniature DVD type media.

also rumored to be backwards compatible with older MD types.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #3 –
I read somewhere that sony released a High Definition DVD player in Japan that also uses a Blue laser...

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #4 –
This article says Sony developed a new technology that makes 40hours/disc recoding.
Sony proffers their new MD to Panasonic and other makers. They'll sell its recoders and players in this year.

It seems to be released as an alternative to harddisk-based players.

Quote
I read somewhere that sony released a High Definition DVD player in Japan that also uses a Blue laser...

The Register has its article.

edit:grammar

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #5 –
In the thread on minidisc.org, someone mentions that it will "change everything" and that HD based players aren't as good as these...
Am I confused, or is that a little over the top? I mean, even a 20GB will hold far more than 8 hours of music, and not compressed with ATRAC either... the other advantage of HD based units is that they often allow you to store files other than audio files on the disk, which is a huge advantage for some people.
Oh well, I suppose I can't expect more than minidisc zealotry on minidisc.org .
Uh oh, you bwoke it.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #6 –
Quote
In the thread on minidisc.org, someone mentions that it will "change everything" and that HD based players aren't as good as these...
Am I confused, or is that a little over the top? I mean, even a 20GB will hold far more than 8 hours of music, and not compressed with ATRAC either... the other advantage of HD based units is that they often allow you to store files other than audio files on the disk, which is a huge advantage for some people.
Oh well, I suppose I can't expect more than minidisc zealotry on minidisc.org .

keep in mind that batteries on HD based players typically last ~8-10 hrs of playback time (maybe 15 if you're lucky)

MD players usually last upwards of 40 hrs of playback time.

Also, if you need more space, then you just buy another disc.  right now, standard minidiscs are only !2-3 dollars a piece and they can hold 5 hrs a piece.  Also that quotes 8 hours of SP audio, which is probably as good or better than 192k mp3. (it is 292kbps ATRAC).  In theory it would also be able to record and play both LP2 and LP4 audio (~132 and 66kbps respectively) which pushes the playback availability to ~17.6 and 35.3 hrs per disc.

Even if the discs are 5-7 dollars (maybe even 10) a piece then they will still be a bargain in my opinion.  If it is simply a different laser with the same or relatively the same media, it shouldnt increase the price of the media

Plus with this new format one has to expect a new software interface that is easier and or better than the current SonicStage or the old OpenMG Jukebox, as they really arent suited for that amount of music.... It would be far too time consuming to try to use them for that much music.

Also, minidisc players tend to be smaller and lighter and more durable than the HD based players.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #8 –
My relatively large old vinyl record collection is recorded onto MDs.  If hi-MD will allow me to upload and download SP (highest quality MD) tracks on existing old-style minidiscs to and from my computer at high speed and retaining the full quality without further compression, I'll buy into it.  If not, I'll stick with what I've got. 

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #9 –
I would be very happy if SONY would enable a high speed xfer from the MD unit to the PC.  I record live and a real-time xfer in analog(ue) is not as good as a high speed digital xfer.  The only possible way now is to buy an MD deck, which I do not want to do.  SONY, oh please, please, please enable this function. 
Nov schmoz kapop.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #10 –
Quote
I would be very happy if SONY would enable a high speed xfer from the MD unit to the PC.  I record live and a real-time xfer in analog(ue) is not as good as a high speed digital xfer.  The only possible way now is to buy an MD deck, which I do not want to do.  SONY, oh please, please, please enable this function.  

Dream on!
Glauber Ribeiro
Yoyodine Propulsion Systems - The future starts tomorrow!

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #11 –
Come to think about it it seems that in all these years Sony has used the same 140mb MO disks, while, say iomega, has already moved from 100mb to 750mb disks...

Better than HD? the only thing "better" is either polymer or magnetic RAM, both from IBM. Or maybe they are going to use some 8cm DVD-RAM maybe with their beloved "blue" laser (Matsushita has "purple" already )

Sorry, but 3$ for a 140mb disk is an obscene amount. With that money you can get 10 700mb cdrs over here... That format just never ever made it here.
She is waiting in the air

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #12 –
Sony's official announcement is out!!
http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/4270
http://www.minidisc.org/keep/Sony_Hi-MD_Spec.pdf
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/u...108%2Fsony1.htm
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/u...lp=ja_en&tt=url

OMG, i can't beleive it!
- 100x transfer speed
- ATRAC3plus
- Backward compatible
- Jog Dial navigation system (scroll through playlists and songs)
- Upload function!
- Act as an USB mass storage device
- Finaly making use of USB power...
- Still good battery life, 30 hours of playback using just one "AA" battery (MZ-NH600D and MZ-NHF800)
- Existing MD media reformatted to 300MB! (80 mins disk)

Hi-MD compressions:
Linear PCM: 1.4Mbps [PCM]
ATRAC3plus: 256kbps [Hi-SP], 64kbps [Hi-LP], 48kpbs
ATRAC3: 132kbps, 105kbps, 66kbps

Avalaibility: April
Hi-MD blank: 7$
Devices prices: 400, 300, 250 and 200$

NYTime article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/technolo...gewanted=2&8dpc

ATRAC3/+ vs MP3/WMA AB listening test
http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/tech
Listening test:
http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/tech/lab

No idea of which MP3 encoder they used, but it looks like the frequency is cut hard at 16khz

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #13 –
IIRC in Japan Sony have have used 640MB MD-2 in camcorders for
a long time, so the technology has been around for a while.

If it has the same DRM as NETMD though it won't take off.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #14 –
If this has a microphone input and decent live recording controls, i might buy it, but i won't jump on a new format until it's been around for at least a year.
Glauber Ribeiro
Yoyodine Propulsion Systems - The future starts tomorrow!

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #15 –
Quote
- Upload function!

Yes!!   
Nov schmoz kapop.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #17 –
lol , but they also have standard AB test though...

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #18 –
looks far too good to be true, especially coming from sony

obviously media files will still need to be transcoded to atrac for playback on the devices and i know just how bad sony's software can be

hoping sony come through on this one. portable, changable 1gig discs for a few quid along with a quality digital recorder would be sweet

surely drm has to creep in and mess this all up? (this is sony we're talking about)

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #19 –
So would this be better than, say, the existing mini-DVD's?

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #20 –
This is great news IMHO.

I'm very surprised by the upload function being available. I was convinced that Sony was set on driving minidiscs into the grave with their restrictions on NetMD (based of course on the fact that Sony is also big in the music business). It also didn't help that the NetMD software is pretty awful (currently it refuses to run on both installed Windows OSes on my home computer at all).

In fact, I made the mistake of making a few recordings on minidiscs, discovering there was absolutely no way to digitally transfer them to a PC, and having to shell out big $$ for a deck (as even the cheaper decks also have no digital-out).

If the new MDs do have less restrictions (i.e. can basically act as big hard-drives, which appears to be the case from reading Sony's release, which says uploads of recordings is possible, and also that they'll use a FAT file system allowing storing+transfer of images etc) they would be a great alternative to the mp3-player market. If Sony would enable mp3/ogg/whatever that would be another huge plus, but thats not going to happen (anything stopping partner companies doing this?). In any case, I've always liked minidiscs (bar the above problems) for their robustness, quality, recording quality, battery-life, ease of buying extra minidiscs versus mp3-players' flash memory etc, and this can only make them better.

Another big surprise to me is the ability to reformat old MDs to about double their size - 305mb instead of the old 170mb. Reminds me of punching holes in the old 5.25 inch disks to increase their capacity - never a very reliable process.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #21 –
Quote
So would this be better than, say, the existing mini-DVD's?

From a purely price based standpoint, $7 per gig is pretty good I would say.  Additionally, MiniDiscs are notoriously durable (several tests have been done with dropping from 3rd story windows, running over with cars, etc and they still play) and can be re-recorded on over 1 million times (reportedly).

For $200 I think I will get one when/if they are available.  I need a new portable anyways... my old Sharp non-NetMD just doesn't really cut it anymore.  Plus with backward compatibility, I can put good use to my 15 or so MiniDiscs.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #22 –
Sony knows what's good™

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #23 –
Quote
If Sony would enable mp3/ogg/whatever that would be another huge plus, but thats not going to happen (anything stopping partner companies doing this?).

I wouldn't be too surprised if MP3 winds up being enabled within a year of initial release; Sony is already selling portable ATRAC3/MP3 CD players. Adding MP3 functionality to Hi-MD seems an unavoidable step (if they want their players to be commercially viable), although I would be greatly surprised by Vorbis support. Still, allowing the player to serve as an external USB Mass-Storage device is a great leap forward in Sony's thinking....

    - M.

New Hi-MD Audio Minidisc Format

Reply #24 –
Some sources are even talking about video recording. That might be interesting.