Philips DCC900 Digital Compact Cassette deck revived!

[@DRDCC]

Glad it worked out Kevin.

[@wyokaiju992]

So question. Why replace the SMD caps with radial? Can't get the values anymore?

[@doctorrzepa]

Radial are more durable, I presume

[@DRDCC]

The boards are very brittle because of the leaking smd caps and it is easier then (if there is enough room) to be using regular aluminum caps

[@BavarianM]

@@wyokaiju992 Radials last longer

[@peter_aka_hamamass]

Nice to see all these machines from "my time" back in the spotlight. Vinyl, tapes, minidisc etc., so much more feeling to it than a digital file on a tiny digital player.

[@kareno8634]

No Worries when it comes to mentioning a Tech Surgeon. A Life Saved, a Sound to Hear. Thanks Dr. DCC! You made VWestlife pretty happy, And We get to Hear His New Treasures. I think I heard VWestlife Smile. =] Thank You for the Deck 'Life Warnings'. Have Fun *

[@GeorgeGeorge-xj2bc]

Series 900 of audio hi-fi is the top class philips ever made.I own CD951,amplifier FA930, tuner FT930.As a professional electronic repair technician i want to say these were the best consumer hi-fi and affordable budget equipment i ever met.The cd player is able to play scratched disks or extremely difficult to focus that no other player can play them.PHILIPS at its best!!!

[@DanOConnorTech]

Excellent presentation and a great-sounding result. Thanks for it.

[@dennisthebrony2022]

7:23 I just found out a new method on how to skip a song easier on a cassette player with piano keys (No Logic Controls and No AMS). First, put the player on pause, and while it's on pause, then hold down both play and fast forward at the same time, until you reach a spot on the tape with no sound! That indicates you're on the start of the next track! Then, de-press pause, and hit play. If you wanna rewind or go back, same thing, but stop after 2 blank spots.

[@kylehungerford7746]

DCC was a great format i think personally

[@Watcher3223]

3:49 Those special, fragile heads in DCC decks are also why you never attempt to demagnetize them like you would with the heads in a conventional cassette deck.

[@vwestlife]

It says so right on the tape tray, "Warning: Do not use demagnetize cassette"

[@Ramdileo_sys]

@@vwestlife But DCC is MPEG Layer 1..... is after all MP3.. or actually inferior that MP3..... or not..?? ..... i mean.. i understand DAT... but DCC.... what for..??

[@vwestlife]

@@Ramdileo_sys MP1 has the lowest compression ratio, so it was designed for the highest quality.

[@jinky0u812]

I remember thinkin' that my friend made the right choice getting DCC instead of me getting a Sony DAT unit. It was great having backwards compatibility with regular cassettes. And there never really were any commercial released DATs either that I could get of various artists. I did, however, like the long running capability of a DAT deck. I would record hours of radio music with it. Either way, I think both formats are cool, and I dig that there is so much support and love for DCC. Great video! So glad you got your deck working.

[@jtmichaelson]

It plays perfectly (good guitar)

[@aflockofseacowsesquire]

It sounds SMASHING! (A perfectly good guitar)

[@noelj62]

Sound Blaster HD USB has optical digital input and out and grounding for vinyl source recording (analog input). I have one since 2011 and it sounds amazing.

[@breakingbadatron8874]

Techmoan gave you a shoutout recently

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Which is kinda like getting knighted.

[@paul1153]

Twice actually.

[@breakingbadatron8874]

paul but was it recent?

[@farhanatashiga3721]

In what video?

[@nelsonrodriguez2085]

on the sound burger and the clones one

[@NJRoadfan]

USB audio devices with SPDIF coax and TOSLink I/O are readily available for cheap.

[@vwestlife]

Yes, but they don't record from the SPDIF input. For example this one: a.co/5ZiEC9G One reviewer wrote, "Do not expect it to decode input from the SPDIF in or encode audio for the SPDIF out. SPDIF in is simply a pass through to the SPDIF out."

[@NJRoadfan]

Reading reviews of other C-Media based USB devices indicates its a driver issue with the built in Windows driver that is installed when the device is auto-detected. The reviewer may also be dealing with Dolby Digital or DTS encoded sources, which can't be recorded by traditional audio software without decoding.

[@bouncybobcat5064]

I have one of those ^ (at least, it has a C-Media chip and looks exactly the same) and it does indeed do optical in and out - yes, you do need the proper drivers or those connections will not work.

[@larrylarry1]

DCC Museum is now in Palm Springs. Great videos too.

[@HyperBiker]

Your thrift stores in the USA sound excellent. I've never seen equipment like the stuff you find in "thrift" stores in the UK.

[@marksmanmichodzi674]

New Jersey

[@joysticktroy]

I don’t know, the best I’ve ever found was just an NAD receiver and also one (not two) Pioneer BS22 speaker ($4).

[@Computist40]

Wow DCC has amazing sound quality.

[@BavarianM]

Not really

[@Computist40]

@@BavarianM I disagree. It's sure better than your original cassette tapes.

[@EddieJazzFan]

At least you didn't get scammed on Ebay. I bought a Nakamichi CR-3A on Ebay advertised as "working condition" and of course it was not. But did get it repaired by ES labs in Connecticut and it has been perfect for over 15 years.

[@EddieJazzFan]

Wow man, that is some sad story. A freakin' ZXL 1000!!!!! Probably could be fixed for less that 300 bucks and then worth 2-3 thousand. I would have lost it too, if I could hear it being crushed. That really sucks... I don't think we have Savers here in NY. I kind of like Goodwill, at least it's a charity. (or at least they say they are)

[@DanDoesYoutube]

4:20. I can’t be the only one who sees a face on that silver cover.

[@taofanarchy96-renzomaracas14]

DanDoesKZbin I'm shitting bricks now...

[@romanbellic2237]

I want to thank you VWestlife, whenever i watch your videos i feel like that im time traveld and my world is back in order. Best regards.

[@shawnaebbeson7882]

I, many times, miss the old days of my recording studio when I used the Optimus DCT-2000 and Magnavox DCC Recorder/Players. I made quite a number of master recordings on those two units before getting my JVC DAT Recorder/Player. Even then, I used the DCC units until I gave the Magnavox to a friend and threw the Optimus in the dumpster (it quit working). I ended up selling the DAT machine to a music store and went digital (at least for recording masters). I use a Tascam DP32SD now for multi-track recording and throw the 2-track mixes to the PC for editing/mastering. Sure, it is easier to record these days, but I still miss the older days many times...

[@connectorxp]

That John Hiatt song is really nice, a new artist to add to my playlist.

[@Complextro93kg]

Amazing tape quality.

[@craigavonvideo]

Interesting to see this video as I actually own a Philips DCC600 deck from new in 1996 (cost me about £200 back then as they were being discontinued - the MiniDisc equivalent was more than twice the price and didn't sound as good!) It still runs fine and I actually used it to make some new DCC recordings just a few weeks ago. Incidently, the Irish country music CD you featured at then end of the video is sold by a company in Dungannon, NI - some 10 miles away from where I live!

[@zuur303]

I really like the Philips designs of this era.

[@grizzlyaddams3606]

2:53 ...wow... Ok. I gotta admin I've never used DCC in any way. However, I have a very wealthy step-brother who did. He had his own studio, very nice, with his own band. They recorded their songs on DCC. The only time I ever even saw one. Now 30 years later... This!

[@dashcamandy2242]

"Save the Best For Last" has never sounded so good... And that Philips deck will look gorgeous atop your Philips receiver, their designers really made nice-looking units in that era. Optimus didn't always make their own products, so I would not be at all surprised to find the mechanisms of both units were both built by Philips. That might explain the similarities under the hood.

[@grlg2]

Congrats on getting a good unit. I had one of these years ago but some idiot damaged the head using a demagnetizer (I think) so i never even had a chance to use it. In Australia they were very rare so I could not get a replacement and ebay was in it's infancy back then.

[@wizmcee8121]

love that Sound.... glad it worked out

[@analogueaddict]

Technics RSAZ 6/7 (analog) cassette decks used the same , thin head as DCC decks and had excellent SQ

[@oldradiosnphonographs]

Ralf has worked on my DCC 900 parts and hopefully I now got a functioning machine. Thing was my PCBs didn’t have much leakage damage so the recap turned out fine, but the loading mech (damage caused by original seller’s improper packing) and tape head were bad on mine!

[@vwestlife]

That's too bad. Hopefully you can get it sorted out.

[@oldradiosnphonographs]

@@vwestlife it’s cool. I got replacement parts for it. I am dedicated to getting this thing to work!

[@oldradiosnphonographs]

@@vwestlife and to think if the original seller PACKED it properly it would have been much cheaper to get it going. But I think the head was already bad before the extra damage happened. In the original listing on eBay they said it would play analog tapes but not digital ones. Oh well I still had to pay 70 bucks extra to fix the loading tray damage!

[@oldradiosnphonographs]

@@vwestlife Ralf has repaired my machine and it works great now. The only issue I had is that the A side of a tape had plenty of drop outs while the B side had none. I’m sure it has to do with the tape because I taped a few songs onto a blank NOS tape and there were no drop outs in the audio.

[@CoolDudeClem]

I was going to ask if these can record on to analog tapes, or it they only record onto DCC tapes, but at 15:40 I got that answer and I was right about to post a comment asking that! My SVHS VCR I have will make normal VHS recordings if you use regular tapes, and SHVS recordings if you use SVHS tapes and I was curious if it's a similar deal with this. Now I see it's not.

[@JacGoudsmit]

There's a physical problem with analog recordings on analog tapes: the bias current that a DCC deck would have to send through the heads for the recording would destroy the sensitive Magneto-Resistive heads. Recording in digital on analog tape is a problem because most analog tapes aren't designed for the high frequencies that DCC decks use (about 96kHz on 9 tracks per side). The magnetic particles on the tape are just too big to store that much information. So they used a diffferent tape formula that's similar (or identical?) to video tape.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

@ CoolDudeClem: you can actually use regular VHS tapes as S-VHS tapes in S-VHS machines if you drill a hole into the regular VHS tapes at a certain spot. So you can record S-VHS quality on regular VHS tapes, without having to use actual S-VHS tapes. However this really is just a hack and I would not recommend doing it that way constantly.

[@Columba_Kos]

No, that's not the case. DCC tapes were TYPE II formulation BASF tape. Nothing special, actually. It's a shame that the price of blank tapes were so high. This, doubtless, made the format less appealing to a mass audience.

[@musicman8270]

@@KRAFTWERK2K6 I actually did it constantly with my SVHS recorders, only a slight loss in quality over a "real" SVHS" tape.

[@SudosFTW]

Techmoan mentions you, and you likewise mention him within the course of a week -- this must me some sort of record :D You're also reminding me I have two IIvx boxes I need to recap.

[@Killzilla6]

Hey, I found the same player in a dumpster at my friend's work last week!

[@simontay4851]

Unbelievable what people throw away. Does it work OK?

[@RedShift5]

EEVBlog intensifies

[@Killzilla6]

Oh Damn this is two years ago already. Unforntunaly it stopped working as most of these machine do. I gave it away to someone who repairs these machines.

[@TomReinerDE]

„At that point I knew I needed professional help.“ That is always the start of something good. 😉

[@savagemadman2054]

The line input on your pre-unibody Macbook Pro is an analog/digital combo jack. It accepts an optical TOSLINK connection via miniplug adapter.

[@markleuck]

I had that exact Radio Shack DCC recorder, paid $200 right after the format died. Don't remember what happened to it but I ended up recently buying a Technics deck similar to your Philips

[@TheHitmanAgent]

I bought one of this exact Philips 900series model from a thrift store, and it was also suffering from bad capacitors. The deal breaker for me was the second issue with it: it was constantly switching between DCC to analog cassette mode and back to DCC. It had a mind of it's own. Returned it, got a refund, but I was MAD because I know what just slipped through my fingers 😡 I'm happy you managed to make it work

[@RandomDude655]

Damn I really wish I had a DCC machine. At least to my ears, through youtube's compression, the DCC tapes sound better than my most well mastered CD's. I should really seek out a machine.

[@alkestos]

If I remember correctly, CD’s have 16 bits of dynamic range and DCC has 14 bits. So it’s just a hair ‘worse’ but in 99% of the times you don’t notice the difference.

[@Plu54f0x]

I have a Philips DCC600. Just replaced the tape drawer belt in it, the capacitors show no signs of leaking *yet*. Will look into a quote for refurb from Dr DCC.

[@vwestlife]

The later generation DCC decks should not have problems with leaking capacitors. But I'm sure Dr. DCC will know exactly which models are affected by the problem.

[@JacGoudsmit]

They used classic through-hole capacitors in the second generation (DCC-300, DCC-600, DCC-450, DCC-91). When you get one of those, the belt to open the drawer is usually the only thing that needs replacing. Unfortunately they went back to SMT capacitors for the third generation (DCC-730, DCC-951).

[@DRDCC]

Jac and Kevin are correct. Your dcc600 should be fine if you replace the belts.

[@Plu54f0x]

DR DCC Thanks guys. Have replaced the draw belt.

[@DRDCC]

Steve That is the number one concern with the second gen decks. On the 600 it is at least a doable job. The same mechanism in the 300 is a bit more tricky. Hope you enjoy your dcc player.

[@rrpiva]

That music in the end of the video reminded me a record from Mark Knopfler named Golden heart.

[@mspysu79]

That is a very nice deck, all of those 900 series components are very nice, always liked the look of them as well. I need to do capacitor replacement on my Magnavox DCC-600, will be replacing the surface mount electrolytics with Aluminum Organic Polymer. Will probably do a video series on that. Some time after I am done with working on my Sony VO-9600, which is taking up my bench right now.

[@DRDCC]

Your Magnavox DCC-600 does not have/suffer from leaking smd caps. it is a second gen dcc player. So there would be no need to change any caps in my opinion. The only thing that would need service is the tray belt.

[@Appleboy78165]

3:46 Oh look, the deck is paying respects!

[@AttilaSVK]

I'm wondering if the digital output is active with regular analog cassettes...

[@JacGoudsmit]

As a matter of fact, it is. All stationary DCC recorders have digital outputs that are active when playing analog cassettes.

[@barthonhoff5547]

Yes, but analogue tapes sound crap compared to any Nakamichi or any Sony QS or SE other similar quality recorder.

[@jamiey5779]

+AttilaSVK A lot of people claim the playback of analog cassettes on DDC decks is very good.

[@mikeb5314]

Is it because of the thin film heads ?

[@craigavonvideo]

I agree. The audio quality of analogue playback on my DCC600 was very poor in comparison to a good 3-Head cassette deck. I only ever used mine for digital recording / playback.

[@ramakrishnamishra8179]

Wow!! I never knew of these!!

[@betavidoh7944]

It's a shame that DCC never really took off. I do remember at the time, in the UK at least, a lot of scare stories about how you would be blocked from copying from any source and that the cassettes were going to be a lot more expensive that old the old analog cassettes.

[@vwestlife]

All digital recording formats (DCC, DAT, and MiniDisc) have a system which prevents you from making a digital copy of a digital copy -- Techmoan talked about it in his video about DAT. But there is no restriction on recording from analog sources, so you could just use an analog connection instead, with little or no quality loss compared to using a digital connection.

[@alkestos]

Surprisingly again consumers suffered from the greed of the record companies. Yay…

[@Stoney3K]

The tray loading transport was probably manufactured by Denon/Marantz because they were part of Philips at that time. The only thing they had to change was the head block assembly.

[@vsheehan]

I still have a functioning Optimus DCC player and the Phillips music collection cassette. I bought it new in the mid 90s. I plugged it in a few months ago and it still works. I'm looking for jazz music.

[@mercuryoak2]

Oh wow cool glad you got it working again. I recently got my akai m-8 reel to reel working. Ceiling fan capacitors who knew lol works great. Just needed lubrication and now to get a drive belt and I may make a video of it working in 100% condition.

[@AwlrightProductions]

I've never heard of DCC. Interesting!

[@markmarkofkane8167]

They seem to build electronics to be self destructive. Cool video, and decks!!

[@TheRailroad99]

If you search a Sound card with Digital in, get the Sound Blaster Z, which has the digital optical input. I have one but I never used the Digital Audio in until now. The sound card is modern, drivers are only available for Windows 7 and newer :( But it still sounds great!

[@vwestlife]

That would not fit in my desktop PC because it's a small form factor case and only has room for low-profile cards.

[@TheRailroad99]

VWestlife oh ok. Mhh then it will be quite difficult to find a card. Today , most (high end) sound cards are marketed to gamers, who most likely have a full form factor ATX case.

[@RichardG867]

There's a cheap 5.1 channel USB audio device out there with an optical input, you can find it on Amazon as "Sound Card, VAlinks 6 Channel External Sound Card USB 2.0 External 5.1 Surround Sound Optical S/PDIF Audio Sound Card Adapter for PC Laptop Recording Compatible with Windows 10 / 8 / 7/ XP,Blue". I have one of those (acquired from AliExpress) although I haven't tested its optical input/output.

[@retrotechguy9517]

I loved the video. I have thought about getting one of these machines but have been worried about how well they work or if I can get any tapes for them. I get what you mean about it being a dead format. I have a minidisc player which I've had for years, which was also a format that didn't last as long or have the respect that it should've had. It is Technics SJ-MD150, which unfortunately now only plays back it doesn't record so I bought a Pioneer MJ-D707 and that is still going strong. It would be nice to invest in one of these DCC machines but I know that there are different generations of them so knowing which one to get is a little confusing. Thanks again for the video.

[@vwestlife]

DCC tapes are still in ample supply, and I think DCC sounds better than MiniDisc. (Although I don't have one of the later MD-LP players which are supposed to sound the best.)

[@TottyRops]

Nice video except for one inaccuracy. It's quite easy to find sound cards for the PC with digital I/O, and just in case you want one, try searching for "SEDNA - SE-PCIE-SC-10 PCIe 7.1 Channel Sound card" on Amazon and you should find the "Sedna - SE-PCIE-SC-10 PCIe 7.1 Channel Sound Card (CM8828 + CM9882A) SPDIF Bracket" for around £40. I'm using this card with my DCC-951 over BNC Digital I/O and it's perfect, the sound card even has ASIO support. Myself I love my DCC deck and recording from PC or from my Audio-Technica AT-LP120X turntable is fantastic. In fact I have been using my past skills as an audio technician to make crazy mix tapes for the DCC, which was something I had missed from the old analogue cassette days; the DCC does have the advantage of being able to split the tracks up afterwards by setting markers, which is something I couldn't do on analogue tape as my mixes don't have any quiet spots in-between the tracks. Long live DCC :)

[@maxpowers2168]

@ 11:30 You can use your MacBook Pro to capture Digital Audio. Most Macintosh have Analog and Digital In / Out, you only need the right digital cable.

[@rivards1]

As far as sound quality, since this is digital, is there a way to determine if the data is exactly identical to the CD version of the same songs? Unless songs are mixed differently for different mediums, shouldn't digital recordings sound exactly alike no matter what medium the bits are read from?

[@raabsand]

In theory yes. But that depends on the quality of disk, scratches, dust, etc

[@JacGoudsmit]

DCC uses MPEG-1 layer 1 compression. Philips went through great efforts to make DCC sound the same as CD (the DCC format was invented before people stopped caring about sound quality), but the binary data is not identical, there is some lossy compression, but not as much as with MP3 or later formats. Even if you have excellent ears, you should not be able to hear the difference between a CD and DCC.

[@barthonhoff5547]

I once compared DCC (Marantz) with DAT (Sony SE), Compact Cassette (Nakamichi CR7) and MiniDisc (Sony SE) on Quad Electrostatics. The DCC was just a bit warmer then the rest. No other differences could be heard. My hearing is now not as good as it was then and all the mentioned stuff got other owners.

[@vwestlife]

To my ears the digital compression artifacts of MiniDisc's ATRAC are more metallic than those of DCC's MPEG1 audio. Sony did improve the compression in later generations of MiniDisc equipment, but I haven't had a chance to own any of it.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

@VWestlife. I'm curious. Have you heard all ATRAC revisions yet? The first one really is terrible but the devices since the mid - late 90s really sound amazing. I have 3 different Sony MD walkmen who all came around between 1998 and 2000 and all my recordings sounded rich and wonderful and far from harsch or metallic. It even sounded better than MP3 (no matter if LAME or Frauenhofer codec). I never had a MD decive from other manufacturers like Sharp or Aiwa.

[@sphereintelligence]

I still have the original one DCC900 i bought in NL in 1993 i believe for around 1700 Guilders. Just last year it stopped playing, just no sound. So i will replace the capacitors too, to see if it does the job. I never played analog cassettes on it, because although it can, i know it's not really good for the head. I worked 13 years in a workshop where these devices where also repaired ( only i did TV repair not audio). I also have a dcc170, don't know yet if it is the belt, comes up (pushes the head to the tape) and drops again.

[@AdamEbelgccengineering]

I am so disappointed that I never got to own one. Back in 1992 to the present time I am still listening to analog cassettes. It seems there wasn't too many prerecorded DCC cassette tapes. DCC never made it to boomboxes, mini shelf systems, many walkmans, and in the car, even in new cars back in 1992.

[@vwestlife]

There was one model of DCC boombox, but it was only sold in Japan. They also had several models of portable DCC players and recorders, and DCC car stereos, but they were all very expensive when new.

[@TechGorilla1987]

I used to have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 that had digital inputs. Excellent card! This picture is of the front input panel. The card had it's own selection of in/outputs. www.ixbt.com/short/2k2-09/Audigy2_Drive_Topview_right.jpg

[@vwestlife]

I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS and it only has an optical digital output, not a digital input.

[@TechGorilla1987]

The picture I included was of the card that I had. Clearly, on the front panel, there is a digital/optical input. I am not sure why another version of the card would not include this input. I used to patch my TASCAM DA-20mkII in to my sound card to rip the live Grateful Dead concerts I had recorded to CD/R. If I remember correctly, the two jacks on the far left are also S/PDIF in and out jacks as well.

[@trippmoore]

I used to live in Beautiful Redondo Beach California. The location of this museum is North Redondo, which is the scummier party of town, practically Lawndale.I used to live on Catalina Ave, 1 block from the beach, and near the pier. Man I miss Old Tony’s and Naja’s bar.

[@vwestlife]

The DCC Museum will be moving to Palm Springs in 2021: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eJ21i4uXr9ilsMU

[@garyvanbuskirk7014]

good sound quality listening on my ADS & sony even through youtube

[@DeutscherRitterorden]

very cool! I have a Technics system which is still running great

[@LanceCampeau]

In 1992, I was 18 years old and faced with a choice.... do I buy DCC or HI-FI VHS to act as a 2 track master recorder for my multi track recordings? I went with the HI-FI VHS (affectionately known as "the poor man's DAT machine") and thank good I did... I transferred my masters to 16 bit /44.1 kHz in 2004 but I still have the original tapes... even now, they still play well after close to 30 years.

[@Ivo--]

Might be the angle but a few of those red capacitors in the Philips looked like they were bulging.

[@alanheady6829]

VWestlife What is the software you are using that shows the waveform on the monitor in the background? Thanks!

[@simontay4851]

Audacity. Its free to download.

[@vwestlife]

No, I was using Adobe Audition 1.5, which is commercial software.

[@craigavonvideo]

Thought it was Cool Edit Pro (the forunner of Abobe Audition).

[@markokrieger6324]

How did you fix it @ 6:38

[@y0utubeu5ername]

The potential market for new releases on DCC must be incredibly small. I can't believe that studios would find it financially viable in a world where mp3 and other formats dominate.

[@nickwallette6201]

Indie release. IIRC he released the album in a few esoteric formats. Must be as crazy as the people who find these videos entertaining. :-)

[@vwestlife]

Jeremy Heiden's claim to fame is releasing his album on almost every audio format. He's even planning to release it on 8-track tape!

[@dashcamandy2242]

Then it's worth getting around to replacing the belt on my Panasonic RS-803US! I'd love to have a known-good tape to check head alignment. :-P

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

It's kinda a shame that DCC decks use the same head for DCC and Compact Cassettes. I would probably only play DCCs on it and not wear out the very fragile head too much when playing regular cassettes. 2 separate heads would have been better but I guess that would have caused some mechanical issues and probably lead to azimuth problems and also made the deck even more expensive. Looks like you now need to get a DCC cleaning tape as well, Kev :] By the way that brand new album seems really well mastered. I guess that dude is a DCC fan himself.

[@DRDCC]

KRAFTWERK2K6 the Jeremy Heiden tape was a also a production of the dccmuseum. We are truly honored that Jeremy Heiden asked our help and becoming a first time producer. Your compliments prove that we all did our job.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Oh hey there Dr. DCC! :D Let me congratulate you again personally this time to this incredible job. You really made this format shine brighter than ever and just as much as it deserves. Lots of respect for all the hard quality-work. Yeah, I think Kevin uploaded a video a little while ago where he went into detail with this Jeremy Heiden release where it was also explained how this release was produced and mastered and to be honest it sounds just as good as i was hoping it would. Even through the youtubevideo audio. :)

[@markcovington8159]

Hey VWestlife. Any idea of the price range for the home or personal size DCC decks on ebay today? :) Thank you! :)

[@TheWardog1369]

I feel bad that this format didn't have a better chance, but also so many formats at the time like MD. I also liked how DCC had a chance with Ford. And I would had liked the backwards compatiblity and digital spdif connections. I think it's amazing the Dolby chips made by Sony lol.

[@michvod]

I just remembered, I have the same deck that isn't in use since the early 2000s. Luckily I have a lot of experience with replacing the SMD electrolytics aka the plague of the early 1990s electronics, so this would be a challenge.

[@michvod]

I caught it right on time, as there was already a lot of corrosion and a few broken traces and vias, but now it works again. Used tantalum capacitors instead of electrolytics so it will last a very long time

[@KingHenryVR4]

my old PowerMac G5 has optical audio in/out jacks on the back but I never used them for anything

[@JacGoudsmit]

17:06 Noooo don't wind your tape in the wrong direction!

[@jamesveach6918]

I would say that this unit matches your Philips receiver that you have they probably go together pretty good

[@zetecfiesta]

$4.50 was probably a replacement pinch roller

[@calvinchong2772]

Sounds good same as CD

[@20035079]

Would a DCC casette be able to store data the same way as a DAT tape could?

[@vwestlife]

DAT uses a rotating head and DCC uses a stationary head. In order to store uncompressed digital audio like DAT, it'd need to run the tape a lot faster, which would give you less recording time.

[@DRDCC]

On the last player, the dcc175 portable you could backup 250mb of data

[@JacGoudsmit]

Yes. But 384 kilobits per second is not a very impressive speed to store data. It would easily be outperformed in every way by QIC-80 drives that were popular at the time. As Dr. DCC already mentioned there was a recorder (DCC-175) that could do it with the special "PC-link" cable and Windows 3.1 software (so it only worked with short filenames too!). Both DCC-175 and PC-link cable were only available in the Netherlands and are extremely rare.

[@giuseppelavecchia775]

Bel modello.una cosa non capisco,perché i 2 dolby funzionano solo in playback?,se ho un DCC900 e devo registrare una cassetta,non la posso codificare,che senso ha?

[@Fuzy2K]

9:54 -- That DCC deck is imitating the beginning of Where Is My Mind by Pixies

[@Kuberniccus]

i ved seen sintrilium software at background?maby?or cool edit pro ?

[@vwestlife]

Adobe Audition 1.5, which is based on Cool Edit Pro.

[@paianis]

Some sound cards with the CMI8768 chipset have digital inputs.

[@RobertWCrouch]

Can’t you use the digital audio in on your Macbook with the correct cable? I’ve used one for digital audio out, but I haven’t tried recording yet, but I’ll give it a shot.

[@69uremum]

I'm curious what a cap job cost, I geared up with all jbc and edsyn etc gear, about to start a repair business.

[@Lachlant1984]

After watching a video about portable DCC players from DataBits a few years ago, I was somewhat interested in getting a portable DCC player, but when I did some very brief research I found that portable players are few and far between, and I think they all use rechargeable batteries which you can't get now, unless of course someone's manufacturing new battery packs for these portable players. Actually I think maybe it was Techmoan who talked about portable DCC players.

[@vwestlife]

Dr. DCC also rebuilds the battery packs for the portable players.

[@Lachlant1984]

Ah, that's great, well maybe I may consider getting one then, if I can find one at a good price and that works.

[@DRDCC]

Plenty of portable players available. Better get the 2nd generation like a DCC170, that is 18bit and allows recording. Most of them are broken, and even if they work, belt replacement is a must.

[@Lachlant1984]

I see. Do you have customers sending units to you from outside of the US? I live in Australia.

[@Lachlant1984]

The other thing is I'd need to get an appropriate AC Adaptor for the player if I should get one, do you know if the AC Adaptors for these players could work on different voltages? We use 240 volts here.

[@packratswhatif.3990]

Good stuff .... and remember to clean those properly and never de-magnetism them.

[@superhavi]

The high end Soundblaster Audigy and XFI have optical in and out.

[@mavekohime]

I have a DCC 300 by Philips. The only problem i have with it sofar is the tray for the tape being sticking, probably due to a loose belt. It plays analog tapes just fine, i haven't tried an actual dcc tape with it yet.

[@DRDCC]

Hi, The tray belt usually starts slipping. On the DCC300 it is a tricky repair, but doable. You would have to remove the mechanism to get to it.

[@derozedriehoek]

I still have my Philips DCC portable player with all cassettes. Need a new battery and it’s good to go.

[@craigdavidson2278]

How much to get the capacitors changed on the DCC 900 as I have one that has the same issues?

[@Stoney3K]

Is it possible to cram a DCC in a regular deck when you remove the shutter mechanism? The tape in a DCC is a lot more high-quality than that of a regular compact.

[@vwestlife]

No, the shape of the shell is quite different. The DCC tape is equivalent to Type IV metal tape.

[@mschwemberger]

11:30 my old Soundblaster X-Fi has SPDIF digital audio in and out

[@codykamminga9667]

I don’t need a dcc deck, i am very happy with my denon DRS-640

[@JohnBoonBeanDutchman]

I have the DCC951

[@MultiBrommer]

pc soundcard with both the optical in as well as output: crystal soundfusion for windows xp. i got one myself for a linux system

[@nelsonrodriguez2085]

i have a question dude, what do you do with the many turntables/cassette decks/boomboxes you review? do you keep them/sell them? If you keep them, how many do you have?

[@vwestlife]

If it's a new item, I just return it if I don't want to keep it. Otherwise I keep it, sell it, or give it away, depending on how much I like it and how much it's worth.

[@northernplacecorporation]

Hold it... you have omitted the ending portion of this video, with one of Derek Ryan's songs from an album of his, being used in it.

[@morphshag]

I’m a bit concerned on the use of through hole capacitors being used in places of the SMD capacitors. Was there a specific reason for that? Are they also glued in place to make them mechanically stable? Putting TH caps in place of SMD often puts a lot of strain on the pads/traces and can easily pull them off the board.

[@vwestlife]

Dr. DCC has repaired over 100 machines using this method and I'm sure if there were any problems with it he would've noticed them by now.

[@DRDCC]

Hi, some 6V caps would need to be replaced by 16V caps and those are just bigger. So since you would have to fiddle with making them fit, this is actually easier and in my opinion puts let heat/stress on the board.

[@morphshag]

Hi DR DCC, thanks for the reply. I had assumed there would have been a reasonable explanation for using TH caps in place of SMD. The only reason I asked is, in the retro computing community this practice is kind of frowned upon. But sometimes you just gotta do whats needed to make the thing work. I have an Apple LC II with TH caps in place of SMD. I just didn't tell anyone up until now lol Also, good job in keeping this old hardware going. I completely understand the want to help support and maintain old hardware no matter what it is. I never used DCC before but was a big fan if MINI DISC and am super sad it didn't last longer. Sorry if i seemed rude in my OP, that wasn't my intention.

[@DRDCC]

John-Paul Parker Thanks. You did not seems rude. Just curious. Another reason to be using regular caps is that most boards in the first gen dcc players are so damaged, that the actual pads are gone and you can use the regular caps to connect via the next component or pad. You cant do that with smd.

[@morphshag]

DR DCC yeah I understand that. I'm active in the Commodore Amiga community and unfortunately they suffer the same fate. Bad caps eating the pads and any traces that go beneath them. So many lost computers due to bad caps.

[@zacdior9402]

My PHILIPS 900 tray won't open and it says an the screen cass blocked. Have you come across this problem?

[@vwestlife]

That probably means the tray loading belt needs to be replaced.

[@ccateni28]

Hey man! I recently got a sony ps-lx300usb and its playing my records at the wrong speed. What should I do?

[@vwestlife]

First make sure you have the belt installed correctly, with no twists, and that you have it set to the correct speed for the record you're playing (33 or 45 RPM). If that still doesn't help, you can adjust it using the procedure shown in this video (it's for a Fluance turntable, but yours works the same): kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIKygoRrg8aGiLc

[@ccateni28]

Yep, found the hole and changed the speed. It now works. Thanks alot!

[@HBC101TVStudios]

Can you *compare* the difference between a high quality MD using ATRAC3 compression and a DCC tape?

[@vwestlife]

Yes. I have plans for some comparisons in the future!

[@kutus2491]

Can you provide me a clue from share I can repair my Sony Mini hi-fi CD Cassette Tuner music system FH B900 ??