Sony HAR-LH500
 

I've had my Sony hard disk recorder for about a month, and have
managed to load about 200 CD's into it. Tonight it has decided that
all my files are in PCM format when they are actually ATRAC. Hence I
get nothing but white noise.

Obviously it's going back to the shop tomorrow, but I just wondered if
anyone else had this problem with their machine?

I think I'll make my own PC-based solution...
--
Tim Hobbs

Sony HAR-LH500
 

Ouch... that's nasty...

Have you tried accessing the player through the M-Crew software? How
about adding new albums as ATRAC's onto it?

I've had mine for about a month, too. Got around 190 albums on there
with no issues so far... (cue frantic touching of wood...)

I'm generally pretty impressed with mine. I played around with a
PC-based solution prior to this, but couldn't get round the issue of
having at least one fan (in the PSU) running, which spoilt the
listening experience. As a result I've got a Keycorp 12" monitor sat
here doing nothing, if you're interested....?!

GP.

Tim Hobbs wrote in message . ..
I've had my Sony hard disk recorder for about a month, and have
managed to load about 200 CD's into it. Tonight it has decided that
all my files are in PCM format when they are actually ATRAC. Hence I
get nothing but white noise.

Obviously it's going back to the shop tomorrow, but I just wondered if
anyone else had this problem with their machine?

I think I'll make my own PC-based solution...

Sony HAR-LH500
 

Ouch... that's nasty...

Have you tried accessing the player through the M-Crew software? How
about adding new albums as ATRAC's onto it?

I've had mine for about a month, too. Got around 190 albums on there
with no issues so far... (cue frantic touching of wood...)

I'm generally pretty impressed with mine. I played around with a
PC-based solution prior to this, but couldn't get round the issue of
having at least one fan (in the PSU) running, which spoilt the
listening experience. As a result I've got a Keycorp 12" monitor sat
here doing nothing, if you're interested....?!

GP.

Tim Hobbs wrote in message . ..
I've had my Sony hard disk recorder for about a month, and have
managed to load about 200 CD's into it. Tonight it has decided that
all my files are in PCM format when they are actually ATRAC. Hence I
get nothing but white noise.

Obviously it's going back to the shop tomorrow, but I just wondered if
anyone else had this problem with their machine?

I think I'll make my own PC-based solution...

Sony HAR-LH500
 

On 16 Nov 2003 12:19:22 -0800, (GoogolPost)
wrote:

Ouch... that's nasty...

Have you tried accessing the player through the M-Crew software? How
about adding new albums as ATRAC's onto it?

SNIP

As a result I've got a Keycorp 12" monitor sat
here doing nothing, if you're interested....?!

GP.

Yes, the first indication that it was buggered was that the M-Crew
software hung and then wouldn't let me compress the latest added CD.
Then I realised that it was claiming that the first 170 CD's were in
PCM format, when I knew they weren't. When I played them I got white
noise, so the player clearly believed that they were PCM and was
trying to play them as such.

The latest added CD's play fine, but I cannot convert them to ATRAC
from M-Crew because the button is greyed out for some reason.

I may be able to delete all the albums (one by one, because M-Crew
won't let me) and then start again, but as you can imagine I am not
confident about doing that. I figure that right now I've got a good
chance of getting a refund and doing something else. Leave it any
longer and I'll be into getting it repaired (which won't work, because
it seems certain it's a software bug).

There are some motherboards out there without fans, and they can be
powered by external solid state transformers. The Shuttle box I am
getting does have a fan, but it is very quiet. The box will be tucked
away (several feet from the speakers) so I'm hoping it's not a big
problem.

I don't need the monitor thanks - I'm hoping to pick up a decent size
flat telly shortly after Crimbo...

--
Tim Hobbs

Sony HAR-LH500
 

On 16 Nov 2003 12:19:22 -0800, (GoogolPost)
wrote:

Ouch... that's nasty...

Have you tried accessing the player through the M-Crew software? How
about adding new albums as ATRAC's onto it?

SNIP

As a result I've got a Keycorp 12" monitor sat
here doing nothing, if you're interested....?!

GP.

Yes, the first indication that it was buggered was that the M-Crew
software hung and then wouldn't let me compress the latest added CD.
Then I realised that it was claiming that the first 170 CD's were in
PCM format, when I knew they weren't. When I played them I got white
noise, so the player clearly believed that they were PCM and was
trying to play them as such.

The latest added CD's play fine, but I cannot convert them to ATRAC
from M-Crew because the button is greyed out for some reason.

I may be able to delete all the albums (one by one, because M-Crew
won't let me) and then start again, but as you can imagine I am not
confident about doing that. I figure that right now I've got a good
chance of getting a refund and doing something else. Leave it any
longer and I'll be into getting it repaired (which won't work, because
it seems certain it's a software bug).

There are some motherboards out there without fans, and they can be
powered by external solid state transformers. The Shuttle box I am
getting does have a fan, but it is very quiet. The box will be tucked
away (several feet from the speakers) so I'm hoping it's not a big
problem.

I don't need the monitor thanks - I'm hoping to pick up a decent size
flat telly shortly after Crimbo...

--
Tim Hobbs

Sony HAR-LH500
 

When I tried with a PC-based solution I was using a VIA C3 chip - an
800MHz fanless jobbie. It worked well - it was certainly fast enough
for an MP3 player... Maybe I should've tried harder to get a fanless
CPU... Problem I had was that I had a CD writer in there too; they
tend to use quite a bit of power when they're writing and took the
total load over the 55W I could've got from a typical fanless PSU.

Thinking about it - I think if I was to try a PC solution again I'd
try and use mainly laptop components (HD drive, writer, etc) to keep
the load down.

Bit of a shame about the HAR-LH500, though. It's fairly quick, but you
still end up investing a lot of time copying albums to it - not
something you want to disappear at the whim of a bug...


There are some motherboards out there without fans, and they can be
powered by external solid state transformers. The Shuttle box I am
getting does have a fan, but it is very quiet. The box will be tucked
away (several feet from the speakers) so I'm hoping it's not a big
problem.

I don't need the monitor thanks - I'm hoping to pick up a decent size
flat telly shortly after Crimbo...

Sony HAR-LH500
 

When I tried with a PC-based solution I was using a VIA C3 chip - an
800MHz fanless jobbie. It worked well - it was certainly fast enough
for an MP3 player... Maybe I should've tried harder to get a fanless
CPU... Problem I had was that I had a CD writer in there too; they
tend to use quite a bit of power when they're writing and took the
total load over the 55W I could've got from a typical fanless PSU.

Thinking about it - I think if I was to try a PC solution again I'd
try and use mainly laptop components (HD drive, writer, etc) to keep
the load down.

Bit of a shame about the HAR-LH500, though. It's fairly quick, but you
still end up investing a lot of time copying albums to it - not
something you want to disappear at the whim of a bug...


There are some motherboards out there without fans, and they can be
powered by external solid state transformers. The Shuttle box I am
getting does have a fan, but it is very quiet. The box will be tucked
away (several feet from the speakers) so I'm hoping it's not a big
problem.

I don't need the monitor thanks - I'm hoping to pick up a decent size
flat telly shortly after Crimbo...

Sony HAR-LH500
 

On 17 Nov 2003 12:04:13 -0800
(GoogolPost) wrote:


When I tried with a PC-based solution I was using a VIA C3 chip - an
800MHz fanless jobbie. It worked well - it was certainly fast enough
for an MP3 player... Maybe I should've tried harder to get a fanless
CPU... Problem I had was that I had a CD writer in there too; they
tend to use quite a bit of power when they're writing and took the
total load over the 55W I could've got from a typical fanless PSU.

I know one shouldnt do it but the PSU Im using isnt technically up to the job, yet it works fine. it seems theres some margin on these fanless PSUs.

I have an (old!) 3.5" HDD and a full-size DVD player running off a VIA M6000 (fanless) all on a fanless PSU too.

'overload rules', hehehe ;-)

Im going to ass a 32MB USB NAND flash 'key' to it soon so I can spin down the HDD once linux has cached most of the data in its RAM. should be slick.

--
Spyros lair: http://www.mnementh.co.uk/ |||| Maintainer: arm26 linux

Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are tasty and good with ketchup.

Sony HAR-LH500
 

On 17 Nov 2003 12:04:13 -0800
(GoogolPost) wrote:


When I tried with a PC-based solution I was using a VIA C3 chip - an
800MHz fanless jobbie. It worked well - it was certainly fast enough
for an MP3 player... Maybe I should've tried harder to get a fanless
CPU... Problem I had was that I had a CD writer in there too; they
tend to use quite a bit of power when they're writing and took the
total load over the 55W I could've got from a typical fanless PSU.

I know one shouldnt do it but the PSU Im using isnt technically up to the job, yet it works fine. it seems theres some margin on these fanless PSUs.

I have an (old!) 3.5" HDD and a full-size DVD player running off a VIA M6000 (fanless) all on a fanless PSU too.

'overload rules', hehehe ;-)

Im going to ass a 32MB USB NAND flash 'key' to it soon so I can spin down the HDD once linux has cached most of the data in its RAM. should be slick.

--
Spyros lair: http://www.mnementh.co.uk/ |||| Maintainer: arm26 linux

Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are tasty and good with ketchup.