Technical Issues and Questions

Message

davebert · #101 Post by **davebert** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:21 pm

I think so, I put the new firmware on moments after I got it, but since that was this morning and I've been at work most of the day, I haven't had a chance to really play with the features.

subliminac · #102 Post by **subliminac** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:16 am

davidhare wrote:Doesn't the Oppo have a firmware fix for upscaling thru component?

I'm not sure, I've always used the DVI anyway. I just recall this being a major gripe over at the AVS forum.

Multi-Region · #103 Post by **Multi-Region** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 5:59 pm

I have a question about the WB dvd CROSSFIRE (1947), which I hope is not to out-of-place here. Despite the DVDBeaver-info, that there exist just a R-2 transfer, I posses a R-1 transfer (this one).

I have 3 different brands of DVD-players (Pioneer DV380S, Loewe Xemix 5106DO [with many Philips components] and a Denon DVD2910), and all have problems to detect the disc correctly. The Denon DVD2910 shows the biggest problems.

My complaints are: a lot of spindle-hum during the stand-by/menu and chapter sections, and the variable (cursor) info stands above the lines. Sometimes info "disc-error". Fortunately, no troubles during movie-playpack.

I received a replacement and the problems are even worse: 2 dvd-players couldn't even detect the disc. A 2nd replacement is planned, but I have doubts. I own many DVDs, all DVDs are playable, trouble-free.

My question, are my complaints, regarding the R-1 dvd CROSSFIRE, familiar?

porquenegar · #104 Post by **porquenegar** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 10:32 pm

I have the same disc as part of the Film Noir Collection 2 and didn't experience any of the problems you are reporting. It played perfectly on my Toshiba SD4900. Haven't given it a spin on my HD-A1 yet.

Multi-Region · #105 Post by **Multi-Region** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:39 am

davidhare wrote:Could this be an RCE problem?

I am afraid you're right. All my 3 DVD-players are region-unlocked, and the seller of the Loewe Xemix-5106DO added, that his upgrade was RCE-proof too, and this players show less problems so far. At least, the movie is playable.

On the other hand, I posses other "RCE discs" from Warner Bros and Columbia. Like the R-1 GILDA from Columbia, 100% playable on all DVD-players. Maybe pre-RCE (2001).

(My RCE info source.)

denti alligator · #106 Post by **denti alligator** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:54 pm

I'm thinking of upgrading to an 1080p capable LCD. I've got a Denon 1930 with 1080p output through HDMI and am thinking of splurging on an HD-DVD player. I notice that most good LCDs that not only display but also accept 1080p (like the Toshiba 47LZ196, wich looks especially appealing to me) have "native mode" capabilities that give "dot for dot" or "pixel for pixel" the source, so that "overscan," stretching and cropping isn't an issue. That's great, but:

What about non-anamorphic DVDs and Criterion's windowboxed titles?

How have forum members with a similar set up dealt with these? I currently have an HTPC hooked up through VGA to an older model Sharp LCD and use Zoom Player to incrementally zoom. This works beautifully. However, I'd have to invest in a $1300+ new HTPC with HDMI out if I wanted this for my new display, and I don't feel like spending that kind of money just to get the right displays of my non-anamorphic DVDs and those stupid windowboxed Criterions. I understand most HDTVs have various "display modes," but don't these usually distort (stretch or crop) the image of a non-anamorphic DVD? What about the windowboxing? Just live with the extra black borders?

Ornette · #107 Post by **Ornette** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:38 pm

Denti, when are you planning of taking that splurge? All of this HD talk is really itching a hole through my puny human brain, but I think that I've come to the decision that I'll make the dive when combined Blue-Ray/HD DVD Drives become available for more reasonable prices -- that reasonable price barrier depending on how desperate I am -- and also make it the point when I'll buy a 1080p capable TV.

Since you're planning on buying a LCD I assume you've heard of the new LED-based backlighting technology, which most importantly will improve black levels, which have been the greatest hindrance for me from buying a LCD. Upcoming DLP TVs also seems interesting since they're also LED backlit, which means no "rainbow effect", and come with some very attractive price tags ($2,399 for a Samsung 50") -- here's where my money goes for the moment anyway. As far as plasma is concerned, many brands are dropping out, leaving Panasonic and Pioneer on the throne. I've done some reading about Pioneer's upcoming G8 line which according to eyewitnesses finally displays the kind of true black that we've all been waiting for and also improves in other areas like reflections etc. I haven't heard anything about price, but I expect it'll be a but too pricey for me. To be honest though I'm still a bit worried about burn-ins, which I'm getting too many mixed reports about to be able make sense of it all. Dave (davidhare), I've been getting the impression that you're an advocate of plasma TVs -- you also own one right? Have your screen been affected by burn-ins and is it still an issue to take into account when buying a plasma?

And Denti, regarding your worries over window- and letterboxed DVDs -- which Zoom Player and ffdshow takes care of like a charm -- and having to spend $1300+ on a new HTPC, I'm hoping this card will find it's way to the market and thus save me at least $500 on my necessary upgrades (CPU and GPU):

MicRacerâ„¢1D-X

Micronas Introduces MicRacer Reference Design to Enable H.264 and VC-1 for Consumer PCs

World's First PCI Express H.264 / VC-1 Decoder Board Supports Emerging Compression Standard for High-Resolution Video on Consumer PCs

denti alligator · #108 Post by **denti alligator** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:40 pm

So the Toshiba doesn't play PAL? Will this change with future models?

I'm thinking more and more that a properly set-up HTPC may be the way to go. Then, when the HD drives hit the market (in a couple months, I'm told), I can just insert and use. I still don't think there's any PC system that can output uncompressed HD sound through HDMI. That should all change soon. As soon as I can get some reputable company to build me a custom HD HTPC I'll start looking seriously at the 1080p LCDs. Then of course I've got to get a new receiver, too. Looking expensive.

No, Ornette, I don't have a Plasma, I have a 30" Sharp LCD. Black levels are fine for me, so with the newer models I'm sure I'll be floored. I'm told the newer Sharps have a so-called "banding" problem, and the Sonys have been torn to shreds in on-line forums for a clouding effect. The Toshiba Cinema Pro models (42LZ196 and 47LZ196) seem to be the best ones out there.

And Ornette, can you give me the lay-person's lowdown on this:

Micronas Introduces MicRacer Reference Design to Enable H.264 and VC-1 for Consumer PCs

World's First PCI Express H.264 / VC-1 Decoder Board Supports Emerging Compression Standard for High-Resolution Video on Consumer PCs

Is this a video card? How would this be integrated into an existing system?

Ornette · #109 Post by **Ornette** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:45 am

denti alligator wrote:Is this a video card? How would this be integrated into an existing system?

The MidRacer is a dedicated hardware decoder card using the PCI Express interface (the same interface that's being used by most of today's GPUs) and which's being recognized by software players like Microsoft Media Center, WinDVD or PowerDVD. When a Blue-ray or HD DVD disc is being played MidRacer decodes the content and then pass it through to your graphics card. Since this will relieve the CPU and GPU much of the hard work demanded by HD content, especially high bitrate movies encoded in VLC and even more so in H.246, you'll make huge savings not having to buy the kind of equipment even an avid gamer would demand.

I'd be happy to give you any advice if your looking to build yourself a new HTPC -- just ask.

Ornette · #110 Post by **Ornette** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:35 am

If what David is suspecting is correct, if you're planning on buying a laptop for this purpose, I'd hold off that purchase for a year or two and buy the Toshiba instead. If building a HTPC wasn't so cost-effective and if I wasn't so darn stingy I'd never build another HTPC in my life again. It's by far the most time-consuming endeavor that I've getting myself into and nothing beats the liberating feeling when I'm seated in front of just an ordinary DVD player. Also, if you're eagerly awaiting an e-mail or something else on the web, it can be very distracting to have the possibility to pause the movie and open your web browser and all this without even the need to sway that ass into some sort of movement, and once you've opened that browser window you never now how long it'll take before you'll continue watching that movie again (of course this depends on how captivated you're by the movie you're watching).

The more I read about HD TVs, the more tempted I am to hold on yet another year to my 19" CRT monitor, which displays pitch-black blacks, high contrasts, sharp pictures, great colours and is definitely watchable if you're, like I am, seated approx. one meter away from the screen.

On Pioneers upcoming plasma line: CES 2007: Impressions of Pioneer's "SED Killing" Plasma

GringoTex · #111 Post by **GringoTex** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:35 pm

Question:

Will an upconverting DVD player make a noticeable difference on a 720P display?

Thanks in advance for the answers.

GringoTex · #112 Post by **GringoTex** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:58 pm

davidhare wrote:Yes! But it always depends on the quality of the scaling chip.

The best players by repute:

Toshiba HD XA1 qand XE1 (Cristallio chip)
Toshiba A1 and E1 (Faroudja)
Denon 2910 and 3910
Oppo

Thanks- I just bought the Oppo.

Ornette · #113 Post by **Ornette** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:00 pm

GringoTex wrote:Question:

Will an upconverting DVD player make a noticeable difference on a 720P display?

Thanks in advance for the answers.

Like David says this is dependent on the quality of the scaling chip of the DVD player, but also on your display -- if it supports 1:1 pixel mapping or not. If it does, it'll keep the signal from the DVD "pure" without any additional scaling by the TV (which'll degrade the picture quality).

Here's an example of what a display without 1:1 pixel mapping might do:

Because some video signals contain image data which is not meant to be seen (Text TV data for example), the TV might decide to hide approx. 5% of each image edge. The digital zoom approach to overscanning involves scaling the incoming video signal.

Quote taken from this page.

Gregory · #114 Post by **Gregory** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:00 pm

I recently ordered a 720p projector and will want to calibrate it. The best I have right now are the THX Optimizers on my DVDs of Night of the Living Dead and The French Connection, but I've read that these don't quite do the job.
I may wait until the end of the month and get the HD-DVD of Digital Video Essentials (which also includes the SD version fortunately) but have read the DVE system is not very user friendly for the layperson. Can anyone make a recommendation between Digital Video Essentials and Avia?
EDIT: I can't believe no one here has calibrated their display.

voiceofanactress · #115 Post by **voiceofanactress** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 8:55 am

I've noticed on a few too many DVDs now an error which I don't know the cause of...

One some DVDs I get flickering lines across the bottom of the screen. This only seems to happen when it's displaying subtitles. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it a problem with the actual dvd? Does anyone know the cause?
Could it be my relatively cheap multi-region player?
(This doesn't just happen when I'm playing region1 DVDs it also happens on region2 DVDs)
It's getting very annoying, none more so than watching my criterion Scenes From A Marriage.
Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks

Kinsayder · #116 Post by **Kinsayder** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 7:57 pm

voiceofanactress wrote:One some DVDs I get flickering lines across the bottom of the screen. This only seems to happen when it's displaying subtitles. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it a problem with the actual dvd?

I get this too when I use a DVI connection between player and projector: short horizontal lines bleeding out from the subtitles. It doesn't happen when I use an S-video connection or the projector's built-in player, so I'm sure it's not a glitch on the discs. My suspicion is that it was being caused by the home-made DVI cable that I bought cheap on eBay; I haven't yet got round to testing it with another cable.

voiceofanactress · #117 Post by **voiceofanactress** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:41 am

Kinsayder wrote:I get this too when I use a DVI connection between player and projector: short horizontal lines bleeding out from the subtitles. It doesn't happen when I use an S-video connection or the projector's built-in player, so I'm sure it's not a glitch on the discs. My suspicion is that it was being caused by the home-made DVI cable that I bought cheap on eBay; I haven't yet got round to testing it with another cable.

Thanks for sharing that Kinsayder.

It could be a lead problem yes. I use a scart lead from dvd player to TV and I don't think there's an s-video output (I'm not at home so I can't check).
Unless a new scart lead will sort this out I'll have to like it and lump it, as they say.

I'll have a play about anyway, trial and error etc.
Anyone else noticed this?

kekid · #118 Post by **kekid** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 10:39 pm

I recently picked up a couple of DVDs of concerts of Indian classical music. The discs seem to have a problem I have not encountered anywhere else. It freezes up every few seconds (not uniformly, sometime after 5 seconds sometimes after 45 seconds), and unfreezes itself. This goes on throughout the disc. I exchanged them for different copies, but found the same problem. Does anyone know what might cause this, and if there is any remedy for it?

scalesojustice · #119 Post by **scalesojustice** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:04 pm

does anyone use a TruTech TT320? I don't need a new dvd player, but i want something that i can make region free and that's cheap, especially since i have a target gift card and don't really need anything.

please, ease my mind about buying a crappy dvd player. i really need to broaden my region horizons and save some cash. so any suggestions of other players are welcome.

I'm in terrible trouble. can anyone recommend a moderately priced, region free dvd player with a 16 mb PAL to NTSC converter that will last more than a year? i also need component video and optical audio outputs (for DTS playback).

i looked at the Toshiba Sd-3990 and Philips DVP-642. but half the reviews report problems after a year or less. Then again, who's really going to go out of their way to talk about something that has worked for years...

thanks for any help, i'm a bit over my head here. i just want to be able to play region 2 dvds

ltfontaine · #120 Post by **ltfontaine** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:27 am

i looked at the Toshiba Sd-3990 and Philips DVP-642. but half the reviews report problems after a year or less.

I've written in some detail about the Philips DVP-642 in the All-Region Player Advice thread and, after two years, still find it to be a very serviceable player. I own three that receive moderately heavy use and they continue to function very well. All three were rendered permanently region free via a simple one-time hack, accomplished with the remote. The first player I bought, an earlier model, was also macrovision-free, and mine remains so, but this hack-option was disabled on later editions.

It's a mystery why no clear consensus has emerged regarding a gold-standard, high-quality, feature-laden region-free player (I needs me some overscan control), but until it does, I'll probably stick with the Philips. If and when that mule breaks down, I'll plunk down another fifty bucks for a replacement.

I don't need a new dvd player, but i want something that i can make region free and that's cheap, especially since i have a target gift card

The Philips is widely available at B&M retailers like Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.

Roger_Thornhill · #121 Post by **Roger_Thornhill** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:51 pm

I'm sure this question has been answered somewhere on here and that this is probably not the right thread for this, but what exactly is the resolution for 35mm? I know it varies and I keep getting conflicting answers. Walter Murch says in his book In The Blink Of An Eye that it's 4,000 horiztonal lines of resolution. But I've heard elsewhere that most theatrical prints range from 800 to 1400 and that the pixel range is anywhere from 6 million to 20 million. Obviously it depends on the film stock, lens, camera, development process, and that applying resolution to a photo-chemcial process isn't exact, but I keep hearing that HD cameras are nearly at the same resolution as 35mm.

If anyone could help clarify this for me I'd be grateful.

Kinsayder · #122 Post by **Kinsayder** » Thu May 31, 2007 8:31 pm

It sounds like the TV was zooming rather than stretching. Did Chico seem to be missing his hat? There's some discussion of this sort of thing here.

davebert · #123 Post by **davebert** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:15 pm

Hey, here's a kind of weird question I hope someone can clear up. So my cat just discovered the joys of surround sound, in that she has learned the receiver is usually warm without being scalding hot, so she likes to lay on top of it. There are cooling holes on top as well. My question is, will her shedding fur, which I'm sure is occasionally dropping into the receiver through the cooling holes, fry or short the receiver?

I guess this question would require a knowledge about hair...

denti alligator · #124 Post by **denti alligator** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:30 pm

davebert wrote:Hey, here's a kind of weird question I hope someone can clear up. So my cat just discovered the joys of surround sound, in that she has learned the receiver is usually warm without being scalding hot, so she likes to lay on top of it. There are cooling holes on top as well. My question is, will her shedding fur, which I'm sure is occasionally dropping into the receiver through the cooling holes, fry or short the receiver?
I guess this question would require a knowledge about hair...

All I do all day long is get my cat off my receiver. "Molly! Off!" "Molly!! Off!!!"

No, you shouldn't let her sit/sleep there. The hair will eventually build up, either way, but this way it will be minimized.

sacredchao · #125 Post by **sacredchao** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:59 pm

Ive got a couple of questions -
Ill be getting a PS3 and a 16:9 HDTV soon, and I'm wandering what will happen with 4:3 discs. I'm specifically thinking of the newer 3 disk edition of Seven Samurai. Will the image be stretched? Or will it sit in the middle of the screen with black bands, ala widescreen on a 4:3 tv? Also, will it be upconverted?

Also, I understand that Blu-ray has 3 regions and all, but what about pal and ntsc. Will the PS3 convert between the two? For example, if I bought the Tartan Seventh Seal BRD from amazon.co.uk, would it work (Tartan having stated their disks will be region-free)?

Thanks!