Sony Minidisc deck help

[SteveC]

They seemed to have had them for ages - they're an addon for a mini hifi that I guess never sold very well. Supposedly they were once £180 odd (still are at Dabs) but then went to £50 and now are £19.99.

[Colin Morey]

ah, funky if there's any around come payday i'll join you in buying one, (or two depending on how hard the i2c stuff looks)

[SteveC]

Haven't looked that hard into the i2c comms yet - tbh I'm not sure where to start.

I found a circuit which lets you read i2c data over the parallel port so maybe I can suss something out. But it does work fine as is.

[Colin Morey]

hmm, is it http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/sony-mdssp55.asp

if so, coolio, it'll go with the rest of the sony kit.

[SteveC]

Yep. However:

<I>Features
2 x R-CORE transformers </I> There's no transformers inside!
<I>Double top and bottom plate construction to reduce vibration </I>Flimsy sheet metal (brushed alu?) top lid....
<I>Optional MD Deck for CMTSP55TC </I>Obviously
<I>Slanted PCB to prevent standing waves </I>Err nope (maybe 0.05 of a degree or something
<I>Top end ES MD deck </I>Maybe - if so cool!

[Colin Morey]

nah, that looks like the description for the,
MDSJA555ES,
(check it out on sony.co.uk)

[SteveC]

Yeah - I see where they copied it from.

[Colin Morey]

twits ah well, so it doesn't require any mains input? what are you' using to power it?
C

[SteveC]

In the 19 pin connector on the back, two of the wires are the voltage input (pin 17: +UNREG (L) and pin 18: MGND)- I'm using a 7.5v unregulated PSU and it works great. (It has a 5V and 3.3V internal regulator).

[Colin Morey]

any old PSU(wall-wart style) or something else,.. sources of power is one of the few areas i'm very scetchy on.

[SteveC]

Yeah just a plug in transformer - no idea where mine's from (I think it might have once powered an old external modem). They all say what voltage they give out.

[Colin Morey]

gotcha, i'll let you know how i get on.

[WyWyWyWy]

Is this play only or recordable?

Either way I am gonna get myself one of these!!!! (If they still have them in store)

And that's if someone give me a lift to Currys...


EDIT:

OH SH*T!!
They are selling this on eBay for 40 quid!!!
Now I gotta get myself 10 of these...

[SteveC]

Record too!

Just looked on Ebay - only the £2.20 auction mentions it does NOT work without the rest of the hifi (unless you wire it yourself).

[Colin Morey]

guess what, local currys had never heard of it, and even laughed at the idea of a £20 minidisk player wonder how much it would cost to ship.

C