MiniDisc Recorder

J

Jason_H

Member
Hey guys,

Does anybody here use MD recorders for sound. I am looking into buying one for a shoot I'll be doing in three weeks at an expo.

Instead of using a wireless mic setup a friend suggested buying a md recorder and hooking it up directly to the sound system they will have there during the speaker's presentations.

Any links to online stores or advice on a good make and model MD recorder? Thanks alot.

Jason
 
Re: MiniDisc Recorder

Jason,

Check to see if 1. you can plug into the sound board so your getting a mixed audio signal delivered to your camera. You may have to switch it to LINE level on your camera though. 2. You can check to see if they will have a "MULT" box where you can plug into if not the board. I work in TV News and I have to do one or the other all the time for those big press conferences.

I havent heard much about using the minidisc recorder, however I am reading a Final Cut Pro book that I bought last week and it did talk about how you can use a minidisc recorder to record your audio. So I guess it will work if it was in the book. You will probably need the right cables and adapters to make it happen.
 
Re: MiniDisc Recorder


Well it looks like I have some research to do. I'm going to keep reading and surfing the net and see what i can come up with.

Jason
 
Re: MiniDisc Recorder

I heard MD recorders are 8x compressed, whereas DAT and CD's are only 2x. I was told a long time ago (don't know if still valid) that MD recorders were definitely not up to par with DV, CD or DAT, especially the hum level when in a quiet room. I think that makes sense since you are putting 80 min of recording time on a 200MB disc a quarter the size of a real CD. I guess that's where the 4x more compression comes in... PS these are NOT facts, just info gathered from audio guys around here ;)
 
Re: MiniDisc Recorder

Straight MD recordings (as there are now different compression schemes available on newer devices) is actually about a 5:1 compression.  It's basically the same concept of mp3 compression where frequencies inaudible to humans are dropped to decrease filesize.
In the past, the problem with MD was that, even though it was a digital recording, you still had to re-record it to your computer (for editing) via analog methods (unless you had some high end gear).  Thankfully, Sony came out with Hi-MD which allows high speed data upload from the MD to the computer via USB (in fact you can even use MDs as data disks).

If you wanted to record uncompressed, the newest MD format out there is called "Hi-MD".  Newer recorders can record in uncompressed PCM (CD quality) as opposed to sony's ATRAC.  In this mode, these Hi-MD discs, having a storage capacity of 1GB, can record just over 94 minutes of PCM audio.

I would suggest checking out Minidisc.org (link) for more info.

In short, I've done many recordings (both video production and otherwise) and nobody has ever been able to notice any difference.

Keep in mind there are also other options for recording high quality audio to something other than your DV tape such as those hard disc jukeboxes.  I would highly recommend iRiver's iHP-140 that, with its 40GB capacity, is capable of recording over 3 days worth CD quality audio.
 
Re: MiniDisc Recorder

Cool, never knew about that format! I might just get me one of those recorders. ;)
 
Re: MiniDisc Recorder

I use MD on occasion for live speaking events.... has always worked well.
 
Re: MiniDisc Recorder

I've used several minidisc recorders for video productions and they've worked fine for me. Most people think of consumer gear with MD but there is some better stuff; currently I use the rather substantial HHB MDP-500 "Portadisc" which has XLR line/mic inputs with switchable phantom power, limiting etc. I also have a little Sharp MD-DR7-A which fits easily into a shirt pocket, together with an Audio Technica MT830 lapel mic you can get decent quality in a small space, useful e.g. for wedding vows.

I do event video, not dramatic production, and don't claim a golden ear but I've never noticed the MD recordings to be inferior to the DVX100's own sound. The Portadisc has a USB connection which I use to D/L the audio to my PC so there's no analog steps involved.
 
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