SONY MZ-R30 FAQ

Last updated aug 30, 1997

Ico Doornekamp
[email protected]

I'm the happy owner of a MZ-R30 for some months, and I'm very often seeking the internet for all kinds of information on this device. There are many sources of information available on the Internet, like the minidisc mailing list and the minidisc community page.

I decided to make a summary of all the info I found so far on the R-30, which resulted in this FAQ. This document will not discuss minidisc technique in general, only subjects related to the MZ-R30. It's probably far from complete, but I'm working on that... When you think you've got something to contribute, mail me.

I tried to mention the original authors of the different sources of information everywhere where possible. If I forgot anyone, please let me know.

There are a few things I would like to include in this FAQ that are still not clear to me. Maybe someone can help me on these questions :

• Does the car kit solve the skipping problem in some cars ?
• I heard rumours about peoply adding digital out to the R30. I'll give more info as soon as I know more...

CONTENTS

1 General information

1.1 Description of the MZ-R30
1.2 Connectors on the R30
1.3 Japanese/International/North american models
1.4 Special accesoires for the R30
1.5 Switch on the LIP-12 battery

2. Tips & Tricks

2.1 Undo-function on the R30
2.2 Entering test-mode
2.3 Ajusting the recording level manually
2.4 End Search button

3. Hacking the R30

3.1 Remote control hacked
3.2 Headphone LCD interface
3.3 Testmode

4. Other sources of information

4.1 WWW
4.2 Minidisc mailing list

5. Thanks to

1. General information

1.1 Description of the MZ-R30

The MZ-R30 is a Portable minidisc recorder, manufactured by Sony. It is small, lightweighted and very complete. It comes with a headphone with remote control, a Lithium/Ion battery, a little bag and an extra battery case. Optionally, one recordable 74 min. MD is included in the package.

Its size is approx. 116,5x26x78 mm (w/h/d), and weights 317g complete with a minidisc, batteries and headphone. The case is made of metal (Aluminium?) mostly, and very solid. Only a few parts like the cap of the battery compartment are made of plastic, but with the same metal-look.

It is powered by a Lithium-Ion cell, which gives it about 8 hours of playback, or 5 hours of recording time. In addition, a battery case (included in the package) can be mounted on the recorder with 2 alkaline AA-cells in it, which extends playing time to 15 hrs and recording time to 8.5 hrs. A rechargable NiHd battary can also be used in this battery case, wich gives a total of 8.5 hrs of recording and 14.5 hrs of playback time when used in combination with the internal battery. (see 1.4 for more information)

It has a 10 second read-ahead buffer which makes it really hard to make the player skip. I used it walking, jogging, riding a bike, and so on, which was no problem at all.

1.2 Connectors on the MZ-R30

The following connectors are on the R30 :

OUTPUTS :

• Headphones: stereo mini-jack, max. output level 5mW + 5mW, load imp. 16 Ohm
• Line out: stereo mini-jack, 194mV, load impedance 10 kOhm

INPUTS :

• Microphone: stereo mini-jack, 0.22 - 0.78 mV
• Line in: stereo mini-jack, 69 - 194 mV
• Optical(Digital) in: optical (digital) mini-jack

REMOTE CONTROL :

• This is a special 4 pin connector, next to the headphone conn. More information in section 4: Hacking the R30

Note that digital-in is optical only, and that there's *no* digital out on the device.

1.3 Japanese/International/North American model

The MZ-R30 exists in a few different models. Basicly there are two types; Japanese and international. The japanese model has japanese labels on the body, the labels on all other versions are english. In all countries except japan the international version is sold, with some customization to the country, like adapter voltage and warranty time.

Overview of the different models

* : Depends on the country.

1.4 Special accesoires for the R30

This paragraph describes some special accesoires available for the MZ-R30 which are commonly asked for in the mailing list.

For ordering articles from Japan, check out Nic Boydes ([email protected]) page on http://www2.gol.com/users/boyde/MDpage.html

1.5 Switch on the LIP-12 battery

You were wondering what the function of the "switch" on the LIP-12 would be for. I assume that this was an indicator you slide manually to remind yourself whether the battery was charged or depleted. I put all the batteries together in a pouch, red dotted are full, no dot are empty so need to be recharged. When one goes down you remove it from the player and slide to no dot. Then put one with a red dot. Simple. My imagination doesn't go beyond this possibility.
(From Antonio Tsuneshige)

2. Tips & Tricks

2.1 Undo-function on the R30

It is possible to undo some destructive actions like erasing a track on the R30. There is no such thing as a undo-button, but it is possible to prevent the device from writing the TOC.

(from the Minidisc Faq)
"The MZ-R30 writes the TOC-Area after pressing the Stop-button or, if batteries are in use, after disconnecting the AC power adapter. After deleting anything,the R30 begins playing the succeeding piece automatically. As long as the R30 is playing, the TOC-Area is not written. To Undo a delete, take away all power sources while the R30 is playing; the TOC-Area will be the same as before the deletion took place. But note, if you use the AC power adapter and LIP-12 or LR6 AA in the supplied battery case, you must first remove all batteries before disconnecting the power adapter, otherwise the TOC-Area will be written right after disconnecting the power adaptor."

2.2 Entering Test-mode

It is possible to enter test-mode on the R30 by connecting a 24K resistor to the remote-control pins on the 4-pin remote-control connector. For more information see 3.1 : Remote control hacked. The testmode itself is explained in more detail in 3.3

2.3 Ajusting the recording level manually

When setting the recording level manually its hard to adjust it properly using the LCD-bar in the display. The next part quoted from the minidisc FAQ explains how this LCD-bar can best be used:

"You will have the correct recording level when the level meter is just between 4 and 5 bars. Verified with an MDS-503 from Sony, between 4 and 5 bars on the MZ-R3 record level meter will give you somewhere between -3 dB and 0 dB.

Regarding the 'R30: A user connected a 303 to the R30 using a POC (optical) cable and compared the two meters. The result: Just consider the top bar to be 'digital over' and try to adjust your level in such a way that the second bar doesn't light up too often when recording from an analogue source (even less when recording live). That should do it. Compared to the MZ-1 the R30 meter is not very useful."
(From the minidisc FAQ)

In addition to this information, Mathijs Vermeulen has been testing the LCD level meter to find out the different dB values for each dot in the LCD bar. He has found the following table :

These values are not given by Sony, but found out by experiment.

2.4 End Search button

This is probably the most critisized thing about the R30. When you are about to make a new recording this button must be pushed to go to the 'end' of the MD, else the recording will start from the current position on disc, which is very often somewhere in the middle of this very special recording which was soooo hard to make.

Just the tip : Don't EVER forget to push this END SEARCH before starting a new recording, because you will lose other audio otherwise. (Unless you really want to overwrite a song. In my opinion it's better to erase that perticular song first, and then make the new recording at the end of the MD)

3. Hacking the R30

3.1 Remote control hacked

This information is based on the document from Leon Woestenberg, ([email protected]) The original document is at ....

Remote control commands are issued by switching a resistance between two of the remote control pins (pin 2 and 4). The value of the resistance determines what function is issued. When no button is pressed, the resistance is unlimited (i.e. open switch). The hold button is merely an extra switch that ensures the other switches have no effect. The rest of the remote controls buttons is connected in a resistor network providing a relatively large number of functions with a relatively low number of resistors.

This table shows each of the resistor values, which resistors are used by which functions, and the resulting total resistance for each function.

Other resistor values, as found by Andy James. ([email protected]) These are not present in the RM-MZR30MP remote control, but which understood by the MZ-R30. WARNING: Use on your own risk!!

3.2 Headphone LCD interface

The 4-pin connector next to the headphone output is not only used for controlling the device with the headphone remote control, but also has a digital output for a little LCD-display found on remote controls which come with other MD players/recorders.

For this interface pin 1 and 3 from the connector are used; pin 1 is ground and pin 3 is the digital output signal. The voltage levels are 0 and 2.9V, so the levels are TTL compatible; handy when interfacing to microcontrollers or your PC.

The R30 continuously sends little packets of data to the LCD-display, with information in them like track numbers, time, titles, etc. The data is send with approx. 784 bits per second; a logical 0 is coded as a 425 uS pulse, a logical 1 as a 850 uS pulse.

The exact protocol and description of the data can be found at : http://home.sol.no/htoerrin/md_spek.htm

(Information based on the web page by Havard Torring)

3.3 Testmode

The R30 can be brought into a special state, which is called the test mode. Test mode is a special (mostly hidden) function in which a device can be tested, adjusted an serviced. This test mode is only ment for qualified servicemen, but can be interesting for users who like to do things with their R30 that are not in the manual.

Previous versions of this FAQ contained a description of the testmode, but after looking through the service-manual of the R30, I decided to remove this information from this document. When serviced, the R30 is fully self- adjusting in testmode. Normally a special 'perfect' MD is used to calibrate the device, (laser power, AGC gain, etc etc). In testmode a series of tests are executed, and all the different settings are made automaticly. When these tests are done on a low quality 'bad' MD, these settings may be all wrong, resulting in very unpredictable behaviour of the recorder.

It can be even worse : I've heard from someone who totally messed up the laser unit by changing some parameters in testmode manually. Anyway, playing with the testmode is at your own risk!!

If you really want to know more about the testmode after reading all these warnings, send me some e-mail with your questions...

4. Other sources of information

These list with other information is far from complete. If you think something important is missing, or if you find any outdated information, please let me know.

4.1 WWW

The MiniDisc Community Page
This is the main minidisc page on the web. It is updated almost every day with the latest news in minidisc land. It has links to all other minidisc pages i know of. http://www.minidisc.org

Robert's MiniDisc Site
This site has some general information on minidisc subjects, and has a discussion board online where you can drop your questions and comments. http://www.spudland.com/md/

I know there's much more out there. I'm not going to mention all pages, better take a look at the minidisc communitiy page...

4.2 Mailing list

There is a mailing list for people who are interested in minidisc stuff. The old mailing list at nstn.ca was having some problems, so a new mailing list is started at amulation.com. For information on how to subscribe, take a look at : http://www.jyu.fi/minidisc/minidisc/amulation.html

5. Thanks to ....

I'd like to thank the following people for contributing to this FAQ : (with or without their knowledge)

• Leon Woestenberg ([email protected])
• Andy James ([email protected])
• Nic Boyde ([email protected])
• ([email protected])
• Havard Torring ([email protected])
• Antonio Tsuneshige ([email protected])
• Marc Herbert ([email protected])
• Mathijs Vermeulen ([email protected])

Who's missing??? tell me!!

Sorry for not contacting everybody to thank them...

Last but not least: any corrections or additions to this FAQ are truly welcome. Mail me at [email protected].