Hi Tony, I hope you don't mind if I respond to MD-L too. "Tony Keogh" writes: >I saw your comment to another post on the list ..... > > Problems outside the MD deck that can cause stuttering playback > > are an intermittent source signal or a (very) bad disc. Does the > > time counter increment at normal and proper speed during > > stuttering playback? If not, your deck has created a bad TOC, > > and it needs repair. > ...and thought it might be relevant to a problem I've had with a >Sony 520 during playback of two discs. The effect is as though the >disc is getting physically jammed and stops spinning, then >momentarily frees itself and then jams again and so-forth. > >1. The two discs were recorded (consecutively) on the 520. They're > Maxell MD74's - with plastic shutters. >2. The problem is absolutely consistent on repeat plays. It always > seems to happen exactly the same way and at exactly the same > time into a disc. >3. At first I thought the problem was happening at the same time into > both discs but this is not the case. >4. The countdown timer on the display also stops when the music > "stutters". >5. These discs play fine in my portable Sony MZ-E33. >6. Re-recording over the faulty section of the disc seems to clear the > problem completely. >7. Other discs (including Maxell's) seem to record and play fine (on > the 520). > >Do you think this is the deck's fault? I've recorded about half a dozen >other discs since then and they seem fine. Hope I'm not being too much >trouble. Basically if the timer stops counting, it's because the deck is doing multiple retries and is not able to get any good data (AFAIK). Since it plays fine in your MZ-E33, there is obviously good data there. It sounds like the problem was caused by an alignment problem (perhaps temporary) on the machine that recorded it, or that there is presently an alignment problem on your MDS-JE520. If you are continuing to use the recorder without problems, I wouldn't worry about it. But do be attentive to possible problems, so that you can send it in before the warranty expires if it is indeed faulty. Don't you wish decks gave some way of learning how well the physical recording came out? At the lowest level, the MO pickup is trying to ferret a signal from the noise. What is the SNR of that signal? I have seen some MD equipment that continues to work, but rather poorly, when the disc is not seated properly. Currently we have no way of knowing about such conditions. Agreed, MD equipment should be simple, and either "work" or "not work", but don't you wish there was a user method of investigating intermittent problems further? Actually, if you're feeling brave you can try testing the block error rate for some discs in the recorder in question (see http://www.minidisc.org/mds503_test_mode.html). If you're consitently seeing BER readings over 50 I would send the unit in for repair. Regards, Rick ----------------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
