Philips DVP720SA/2 MT1389EE

[Sharro@Home]

Hi Guys!

The below post was in the Digitrex GK-4000 thread: (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78847)

Originally posted by Sharro@Home
I will get my hand on a MT1389EE tomorrow at night:

Philips DVP-720SA (http://www.consumer.philips.com/global/b2c/ce/catalog/product.jhtml;?divId=0&groupId=VIDEO_GR&catId=DVD_CA&subCatId=DVD_PLAYERS_SU&productId=DVP720SA_02) 179,00 € at MediaMarkt in Portugal

Comments at www.videohelp.com (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=4181&Search=Search&#comments) about DVP-720SA

Pioneer DV-575A-S (http://www.pioneer-eur.com/eur/product_detail.jsp?product_id=8533&taxonomy_id=62-84) Not available in Portugal yet.

I'm available for testing.


Zhnujm asked me to test two files:

GMC.avi -> plays with a lot of stops
PACKED.avi -> played well

Subtitles are now centered but they display a strange symbol at beggining of subs, accented characters work ok, font size still the same (whatever you want to call them) midget size.

My Xvid encodes are mostly Animation (Disney's old and new) with:

Default B-Frames,
packed bit. OFF,
AQ OFF
Qpel ON
mpeg or hvs-best quant,
trellis,
chroma optimizer,
cropped and resized to 720 x XXX,
average bitrates from 1.400kbps to 2.250kbps.
Dual AC3 Tracks interleaved with preload 32ms + interleave 32ms

(Yahhh....they look great)

First impression is that on sudden bitrate peaks, where I had problems with my ascomtec 3004 (MT1389DE), things improved a lot. I found improvments also in loading times.

I use mostly DVD+/- R media.

I'm available for testing.

Just don't make me save too much media :D and ask it all at wonce so it deserves a dvd :p but of course I can try a XCD (if I still remember how to save them :cool: )

Oh well.

I wait for you guys.

All the best,


Sharro

[mezzanine]

Hey, i just bought the same player.. I haven't tested much MPEG4 stuff yet but first impressions are promising, very smooth Divx (b,Qpel,GMC) playback.
The question is: How can i skip to a certain point of a divx movie?
(By giving the time like kiss players etc)
Playback buttons available are only Play, Stop, Forward, Backward!

If you find anything please let me know!

thanx
(I really like this player)

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by Sharro@Home

PACKED.avi -> played well


Thats really good to hear. Thanks for testing.

[Sharro@Home]

I can test mp4 or whatever.

@mezzanine: I heard the player has that ability, just the remote control hasn't got the button. Maybe there is some key combination that might do it or they can implement it in future firmw.

All the best,

Sharro

[Sharro@Home]

VERSION 05.00.01.08
SUB-VER 00.00.00.01
8032 05.00.01.08
SERVO 03.13.05.00
RISC 05.00.01.08
DSP 03.09.00.58

All the best

Sharro

[Zhnujm]

If you could check AR settings:
ftp://zhnujm.dyndns.org/arsettings/11.avi
ftp://zhnujm.dyndns.org/arsettings/169.avi

If AR settings do work both files should play different.
If the player is set to 4:3 then 11.avi should look vertically stretched, 16:9 should look ok.

If the AR setting is not working then both files look vertically stretched.

I have also the same files as .mp4 if you want to try:
ftp://zhnujm.dyndns.org/arsettings/11.mp4
ftp://zhnujm.dyndns.org/arsettings/169.mp4

[Sharro@Home]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
If you could check AR settings:
...
If the AR setting is not working then both files look vertically stretched.
...


:( Definetly not working


If you could check AR settings:
...
I have also the same files as .mp4 if you want to try:


:eek: 100% sure I saved on cd still they didn't show up in DVD file list.

All the best,

Sharro

[m99]

Have just bought this too (bundled with The Return Of The King).
Is there some info about the EE-chip somewhere?

[mezzanine]

Anyone found out the way to skip to a certain timepoint ?
Without it divx playability is totally useless.
:(

[Sharro]

Originally posted by mezzanine
Anyone found out the way to skip to a certain timepoint ?
Without it divx playability is totally useless.
:(

Have a look at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ablon/dvp720/#astuces (Hope you understand french)

There is a trick to use the goto under DVD mode, I haven't tested if it works with DIVX/XVid.

All the best,

Sharro

[m99]

Is it possible to disable Macrovision on this?
Have found two remote-codes, is there others?

Firmware: Setup 1 3 7 9
Region: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?select=Philips+DVP+720SA

[m99]

Originally posted by Sharro@Home
Subtitles are now centered but they display a strange symbol at beggining of subs, accented characters work ok, font size still the same (whatever you want to call them) midget size.


Subtitles is the wrong name, Midtitles are more correct ;-) Is it possible to move them down?

[Sharro]

Originally posted by m99
... Is it possible to move them down?

For the time being, I don't know of any trick to move them...

All the best,


Sharro

[CruNcher]

@Sharro
i miss you in IRC where are you :(
i also have samples to test for you :D

[Sharro@Home]

Originally posted by CruNcher
@Sharro
i miss you in IRC where are you :(
i also have samples to test for you :D

Cruncher, they cut IRC access at work :( next week I hope to have a "solution".

For the test files just tell me where they are :) and I will be most happy to try them for you.

All the best

And my best regards to everyone at #xvid.

Sharro

[mezzanine]

Hi all,
anyone having problem with the subtitles (DVD) ?
I get horizontal white thin lines (sometimes dots) with some movies!
Anyone found out the key combination for "GOTO" during divx playback ?

[m99]

I see it's much fuzz about the DVP630 now, but isn't the DVP720SA better (not considering SA)? The DVP630 it's a bit cheaper here in Norway, but not much.

[Zhnujm]

I would choose the 720SA even if it costs twice as much and would not support SACD.
But thats only my opinion :)

[m99]

What about a wish-list to Philips?

1. Subtitles, not Midtitles, and get rid of the strange symbol at beggining.
2. MP4-support
3. Display/Info for Divx/MP4
4. Zoom for Divx/MP4
5. Digital out for SACD ;-)
.
.
.


Just add everything I have forgotten.

[Sharro@Home]

GOTO function for AVI, its on the hardware but the remote doesn't have any key combination for it.

Also a better font for subtitles with black border...as it should be.

m99 edit your post and add this one :)

All the best,

Sharro

[m99]

Just tried a Matroska-CD, it didn't work, as suspected. Is there any player that support Matroska?


re: Sharro@Home, and others

Just keep adding suggestion, then we clean this up and mail it to Philips ;-)

[LightningFire]

Xvid with GMC is a slideshow on the DVP720sa, obviously, as many other users said it would be.

3 consecutive B frames is no problem, but as the chip is rumoured to be capable of 6 it would be intresting to test to the extreme and over.

I have not noticed any problems with an AVR MP3 track in a movie with a max bitrate of 320 kbps, but haven't thoroughly tested it.

Sometimes subtitles vanish in course of playing a movie, not really nice, I haven't looked for an explanation to this.

Encodes at following resolutions suffer from a part of the screen that falls of on the left side: 352*240, 640*360, 640*276. It could be my TV (is 4:3 not that that is related to the problem). I am looking into that but like to hear other user-experiences.

Nice to have MP3 digital output.
Shame for the SACD of course, stupid copyright protections, now I will have to run a 6 cable (for those mutlichannel SACDs) wire over 10 metres to the amplifier at the other side of the room on top of the coax-cable.

Also sometimes the player just stops responding for no apparent reason, no incompatible file opened or anything else, it just hangs and requires a "hard reset" ;).

Greetings.

[LightningFire]

I haven't seen any remark on divx subtitles(-lettres) falling off, after a number of characters, so I think people here have already found a good solution for it. But if not, on the platinesdivx-forum there was a link to this SRT_mod software (http://mapage.noos.fr/cguyome/srt_mod/win_srt_mod.zip). For the DVP720SA modify in the params.ini under common the default. Instead of DX3220 it must say DVP720. Thanks to the author Guyome for this great solution.

Greetings

[at_divx]

Hi everyone!

I have this great machine but, i still have this subtitle disapearing problem ( even after runing them on this srt_sub).

Did anyone managed to solve this problem? its really anoing.

See Ya

[len0x]

So to sum up: at the moment there is no macrovision hack, goto for divx and proper subtitle position (and while last can be corrected first two may never appear as its more hardware issues). Very sad. I wonder how Pioneer is compared in this matters...

[LightningFire]

Not only subtitle position, also, in every DIVX/XVID movie I watched at some point the subtitles stopped displaying. They could be reinitialised by pressing "subtitle" on the remote. This worked with 2 subtitle files numbered x.01.srt and x.02.srt. I believe it didn't work with 1 subtitle file. Aproximate timings when the subtitles dissapeared in a movie of 92 minutes: at 48 minutes, at 1 hour and some minutes, at 1 hour and 26 minutes, and at am increasing frequency thereafter. My subtitle button'll get worn out very quickly at this pace :mad:.

Goto in divx/xvid is not that much missed for me, with the excellent working fast-ffw in divx/xvid.

I am planning on testing DTS in an avi someday, will let it know how that turns out, unless someone tells me this test is a waste of time for a certain reason.

Greetings

[len0x]

I did some research on Pioneer 575 and they don't even have subs atm, but have goto. But no region hack though...

[Sharro@Home]

Originally posted by len0x
goto for divx and proper subtitle position (...may never appear as its more hardware issues)....

Wrong! the goto function is available on hardware (people found it using goto of other remote controls) it's just a Remote Control limitation.

The Subs problem is present AFAIK in all MT1389xx. and for the sake of it's users, I hope they solve it in a near future.

Still I have to say that I'm very happy with it's performance compared to my Ascomtec DVD 3004 (MT1389EE).

All the best,

Sharro

[len0x]

Originally posted by Sharro@Home
Wrong! the goto function is available on hardware (people found it using goto of other remote controls) it's just a Remote Control limitation.


remote control is a hardware itself :) seriously - are we expected to buy other remote controls to get it working ? :D

[Sharro]

Originally posted by len0x
... to buy other remote controls to get it working ? :D

Nahhh... just a key combination that would allow us to call the GOTO function...

...I hope...

All the best,


Sharro

[at_divx]

I read that the function (search/mode) of the remote control
of the SEG DVX88 worked like GOTO on the Philips 720.

I have a oneforall universal remote control and i decided to
program this function (went to a store w/ Seg machine and just learned this function w/ the oneforall). It worked, i have now goto on my Philips 720.

The subtitles still disapear. Hope it will be fixed.

See you

[Zhnujm]

@Sharro@Home:
Sorry to ask again, but are you really sure it played the packed bitstream file smooth ?
I now have the Yamaha 550 (seems really identical to the Philips) and the Pioneer 575 at home, both cannot play these file :(

[len0x]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
I now have the Yamaha 550 (seems really identical to the Philips) and the Pioneer 575 at home

Can you comment how does it differ from pioneer (good/bad)?
Is it the same EE chip ?

[Le_Zouave]

Does anyone know what is the "Black Level" option in the video menu?
I also have a little problem, in PAL the video is cristal clear on a Sony KV-21V5 (a 4/3 VCR combo) but when it's NTSC the video is a little parasited like a slash scanning. My Toshiba SD220 didn't got that at all, in PAL or NTSC (I bought the philips for the 108 MHz/12 bit DAC)

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by len0x
Can you comment how does it differ from pioneer (good/bad)?
Is it the same EE chip ?

It should use the same chip, i cannot open it today as it uses some non-standard screws.
In addition to the Pioneer it has random function with MP3, shows MP3 tags on screen and display (scrolling) and more than one ff/rew speed with avi. But no DD/DTS decoder, no DVD-Audio/SACD.

And it seems the MPEG-4 functionality of both is only at the same level as the first firmware release for the DE based players. (no AR setting, problems with custom matrices)
Until now i cannot get subtitles to work.

[len0x]

@Zhnujm

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll be waiting for sigma 86xx based players then. So far I only know of two: Kiss 600 and Bravo D3. Since I won't buy kiss by religion, I'll be trying to get Bravo one from states (that actually have DVI output - THE most wanted feature for me).

[new_age]

Do anybody also have aspect ratio problems? Typically with ntsc frame rates (23,976; 29,970) the avi is vertically streched too much. So the aspect ratio will be bad on TV.

[Le_Zouave]

Originally posted by new_age
Do anybody also have aspect ratio problems? Typically with ntsc frame rates (23,976; 29,970) the avi is vertically streched too much. So the aspect ratio will be bad on TV.
You set the video standard to PAL so the NTSC signal is converted to PAL and as PAL have more line than NTSC it's stretched a little bit. Select multistandard display if your TV support NTSC, if not it's too bad for you.

[new_age]

Originally posted by Le_Zouave
You set the video standard to PAL so the NTSC signal is converted to PAL and as PAL have more line than NTSC it's stretched a little bit. Select multistandard display if your TV support NTSC, if not it's too bad for you.

That's not the problem. I've already tried (ntsc, pal, multi). All the same result. :( I'm using the SCART output.

[Le_Zouave]

new age, when you select you use a NTSC disc and the output is set to PAL, do the image is more stretched than Multi ou NTSC? If it's the same so I have to know if it happen to every NTSC disc you have (try on at least 10 disc, full screen and wide screen one).

[new_age]

Hello!

NTSC DVDs are OK.

I'm talking about NTSC frame rate avis (23.976; 29.970).
Eg:

VIDEO: XVID
B-VOP: No
S(GMC)-VOP: No
QuarterPixel: No
Frame Size: 640 x 368
Frames Rate: 23.976
Color Depth: 16
Total Frames: 64154
SuggestedBufferSize: 68823

If I do a capture (PAL, 768x576) the movie boundary is 768x500.

640/368 = 1,7391304347826086956521739130435
768/500 = 1,536

As you can see it's not the same AR.

The same result if I choose multi or ntsc tv on the dvdplayer menu.
I've choosed 4:3 letterbox in the dvdplayer menu. If I choose 4:3 panscan or 16:9 the avi is more! streched.

I still don't know what is the problem. And I still suspects the dvp720sa because with dvd737 the playback of this file was correct.

NA

[Zhnujm]

Just flashed my Yamaha 550 to a Philips 720 (now it show subtitles at least)
But no more differences, the resizing seems to buggy, no square pixel correction, no zoom with divx, no stretching to 16:9 if you use 16:9 tv setting.
The stretching if you switch between 4:3 letterbox/pan scan/16:9 also seems to be a bug. No matter what you select, if you switch it during playback the picture gets stretched. If you stop the movie and start again its back to normal.

I think the upcoming firmware will change these things, at least all other mediatek based players i have seen dont have these bugs. (including the also EE based Pioneer)

[m99]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
I think the upcoming firmware will change these things, at least all other mediatek based players i have seen dont have these bugs. (including the also EE based Pioneer)

Do you know if they have done something with the others faults?

[Zhnujm]

Someone posted this in another forum, its all i know about it:


Some of our Dutch forum colleagues, of which one works at Philips, tracked down some contacts within the company. Lucky enough, the actual developer of the firmware came by on their forums (Dutch) and answered about a Firmware Release soon being ready.

Most likely, a couple of weeks.

By MAD Palace 10 August 2004 (Software Architect Philips)
Source: Gathering Tweakers

Released as "Unofficial" information

1) Subtitling:
-a- Subtitling second line sometimes not 100% shown. After a while the complete subtitling might disappear (75%, 50%, 25% etc.).
Quote:

This truncation is known problem and it has been improved with the latest released SW, though for some languages like Hungarian.. it still exists.
The disappearing subtitles is in the priority list to solve.

-b- Subtitling has strange characters at the beginning of each line (sometimes a comma, sometimes a sometimes a block, sometimes "@")
Quote:

This has already been solved.

-c- Font for subtitling is not positioned on the bottom of the screen but a few lines too high (almost in the middle).
Quote:

Another known problem - solution is known, to be in the next running change.

-d- Font for subtitling is white without black borders. This is very hard to read on licht parts of a movie.
Quote:

Tricky problem - Don't think this will be solved in this running change.

-e- Font for subtitling is very small.
Quote:

This has already been solved.

2) Menu:
-a- The multichannel/2-channel setting is not stored. It switches back to multichannel automatically.

-b- The CD-Upsampling settings is not stored. Is back off when player is powered off and on.
Quote:

This is the behaviour as requested, so not sure if the Pdt Manager wants it changed....

3) Audio:
-a- 4x CD-Upsampling gives less low frequencies (bass) and some distorted audio for high frequencies (trebble). 2x CD-Upsampling sounds great.
Quote:

Yeah, this is an IC limitation....maybe some workaround will be done...not too sure. For the later models, x4 upsampling was removed.

-b- Audio volume on audio output is pretty low compared to a Philips CD player (when using stereo output and stereo setting)
Quote:

Really ? Not sure abt this.

4) Questions:
-a- SACDs are automatically played in multichannel. Stereo tracks should be selected manually via a menu on the TV. Is this the way it should, or is this to be improved?

Quote:

This is the behaviour. It is dependent on the SACD disc - if it has both the 6ch and 2ch folders, then it has to be selected manually.

-b- Is it possible to disable the equalizer, or should a user really select settings like jazz, concert etc. I can imagine that no equaliser settings are wanted (normal default audio).
Quote:

Well, the default sound mode is ROCK...we allow the user to have the choice in customising their sound mode...so, if you want cancel all eq setting, you can choose CLASSIC mode.

[m99]

4) Questions:
-a- SACDs are automatically played in multichannel. Stereo tracks should be selected manually via a menu on the TV. Is this the way it should, or is this to be improved?

Quote:

This is the behaviour. It is dependent on the SACD disc - if it has both the 6ch and 2ch folders, then it has to be selected manually.

Since digital out isn't allowed for SACD stereo should be default.

[Sharro]

Just saw that a new firmware for the above has been posted on yahoo groups:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9/files/Pioneer_Dv575_v1.bin

Text:
"File : /Pioneer_Dv575_v1.bin
Uploaded by : tibrium
Description : NEWS !! New FIRMWARE Mediatek Mt1389FE-2Mb Flash required, Pioneer Dv575 !! new Graphics, new Menu,new Options, new Features . Thank's Stimax By "Tibrium" Attention!! Only for test with MtkTool!! "

All the best,

Sharro

[m99]

Someone dare to try it on the Philips-player ;-)

[Zhnujm]

Does not work with my Yamaha, so i dont think it will work with the Philips.
Even if it would work you would need a Pioneer remote control....

[m99]

Seems like it's all about getting new products on the marked, and forgetting support and updates for "old" products for Philips :-(

[Alexander Maxim]

It seems that the latest 720sa-s do have an upgraded firmware.
http://forum.surdvd.com/viewtopic.php?t=28318&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=250&sid=3cddd3154c904badb1fa31a8bf199dae
In french:
"La dernière version en date du firmware est la V32 (numérotation interne à Philips) qui apporte les corrections suivantes notamment :
- sous titres divx : plus de disparition abrupte
- sous titres divx : plus de caractère étrange en début de ligne
- sous titres divx : police plus grande et positionnement plus bas
- sous titres divx : fond gris transparent à la manière de LG
- SACD : plus de pauses entre les pistes
- DVD : l'icône multi-angles reste toujours présente mais de manière moins visible
Mais toujours pas de mise à jour téléchargeable... il faudra encore patienter icon_frown.gif

En fait toutes ces infos proviennent d'un forum neerlandais, où un gentil salarié de Philips nous donne régulièrement des infos (en interrogeant les bonnes personnes). Il a demandé aux services compétents pkoi une mise à jour n'était pas encore téléchargeable alors que certains lecteurs récents étaient vendus avec une mise à jour intégrée. Pas encore de réponse claire à ce sujet (contrairement à l'indication de septembre que donnait les services clients Philips de différents pays)"
So, there's still hope :D

[Sharro]

Alexander Maxim

Did anybody got hold of this firmware ?

Thanks for the info.

PS: Wrote yesterday an email to Philips Consumer dept. complaining about lack of updates...

All the best,


Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Alexander Maxim

Did anybody got hold of this firmware ?

Thanks for the info.

PS: Wrote yesterday an email to Philips Consumer dept. complaining about lack of updates...

All the best,



Sharro
Not yet, unfortunately.:( Let's hope that the guys from the tchech site of the player (http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/) will get their hands on an upgraded machine and will extract the firmware; they did it once with the firmware of origin (1.08)

[Le_Zouave]

Even if the new firmware is not available the fixes listed are a little disapointing...
I mean I have the problem of the multi-angle icon on some DVD, it says it's not fixe, it's just that the icon is less visible.
And I don't know if I'm the only to have this problem on DVD subtitle as it's not listed, on most of my DVD (retail or not retail) subtitles are time to time not correctly displayed, I mean sometime subtitles don't form one bloc, it's hard to explain but it's like it's scrambled, not totaly but only some line.
It's only subtitles for DVD.
I don't know if I'll switch back to my good old Toshiba SD220 ES

[Alexander Maxim]

It seems that the digital out was enabled for SACD too in the latest firmware of Philips DVP720SA :cool: :D
I've just read it on a french forum (http://forum.surdvd.com/viewtopic.php?t=32624)

[ChristianHJW]

Originally posted by m99 Just tried a Matroska-CD, it didn't work, as suspected. Is there any player that support Matroska? .... i guess hell must freeze over before Philips would support an open project in their hardware ....

[Sharro@Home]

I'm beggining to get desperate for it...

Anybody ?

All the best

Sharro

[Sharro]

Does anybody of any alternative firmware that could be used on Philips DVP 720sa/02 ?

There is a czech (I think) with the original firmware and I wonder if anybody has used MTKremaker to perform changes on it successfuly.

All the best,


Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Does anybody of any alternative firmware that could be used on Philips DVP 720sa/02 ?

There is a czech (I think) with the original firmware and I wonder if anybody has used MTKremaker to perform changes on it successfuly.

All the best,


Sharro
Not that I know of. I would have liked to do some changes , but I don't have the time.

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
... but I don't have the time.

Damn... I don't have the knowledge to do it :-)

All the best,

Sharro

[new_age]

Originally posted by Sharro
Does anybody of any alternative firmware that could be used on Philips DVP 720sa/02 ?

There is a czech (I think) with the original firmware and I wonder if anybody has used MTKremaker to perform changes on it successfuly.

All the best,


Sharro

Hello!

I did a lot of things:

1) added a new font (Font 3) (original firmware has 2 fonts) with small letters
2) changed the Font 1 to a big easy readable font
3) changed all OSD Language section to use the Font 3


It's working well. However subtitles still hard to read on white backgrounds. :( Waiting for fw update from philips.

[m99]

We are not alone ;-)
http://www.mpeg-playcenter.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1617

Link to MTK ReMaker and old firmware:
http://www.mpeg-playcenter.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1638

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Hello!

I did a lot of things:

1) added a new font (Font 3) (original firmware has 2 fonts) with small letters
2) changed the Font 1 to a big easy readable font
3) changed all OSD Language section to use the Font 3


It's working well. However subtitles still hard to read on white backgrounds. :( Waiting for fw update from philips.
Can you post your modified f/w somewhere? Better yet, can you tell me HOW did you do all that? And WITH WHAT?

[Zhnujm]

You can find tools to modify mediatek firmware here:
http://personal.inet.fi/koti/mabreaker/mabreaker/mediatek

and in this yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9

[new_age]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
You can find tools to modify mediatek firmware here:
http://personal.inet.fi/koti/mabreaker/mabreaker/mediatek

and in this yahoo group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9

Yes, there are the necessary tools.

[Sharro@Home]

Original Philips DVP720SA firmware (http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/stahni.php)

Errr ... Link 4.

I cross my fingers for someone with recently bought DVP720's with firmware V32 to dare extract the firmware (not good but better).

I keep on dreaming.

All the best,


Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Well, I changed the fonts and added one, subtitles look much better now in divx/xvid ;)

[Sharro]

Has anybody tried it ?

I'm about to burn my first DVD+R DL so I wonder if any of the present has any experience/comments or sugestions.

All the best,


Sharro

[new_age]

Take a look in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9_firmware_3 files section... ;)

[Sharro]

New_age YOU got me curious.

Do you have any info about this firmware and any special cd burning instructions ? Or the same as for elta's ?

All the best, and thanks for the link.

Sharro

[Zhnujm]

Looks exactly like the original firmware from my Yamaha.
Big subtitles, but sometimes truncated. No outline.
No AR settings in AVI.

[Sharro]

ehehehe... kidding...kinda...

Worst, I can't find Yamaha for sale in Portugal...

Damn me...

If I find it, I will put my Philips on sale.

When will Philips wake up from their firmware upgrade lethargy?

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Sharro, why don't you update your philips with fw modified by yourself? You don't want to lose your warranty? :D If you decide to, I'll help you with all the info that new_age gave me (thank you, new_age ;) )

[new_age]

Originally posted by new_age
Take a look in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9_firmware_3 files section... ;)

DVP720.BIN must be the filename. The CD format is the same as all dvd players need when upgrading. It works well I can tell. :)

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
Sharro, why don't you update your philips with fw modified by yourself? ... )

Between a marriage, 2 kids, work as hell, some xvid encoding I don't have much time free to get into firmware updating....warranty ? What's that ? Wait a century for a Philips upgrade ?

:-)

All the best,


Sharro

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
... No outline. No AR settings in AVI.

Outline missing very bad...

AR settings in avi... damn ... I never did an anamorphic encoding cause I've never been sure that Hardware players (MT1389xx) would support them... but looks like I've something more to envy Yamaha 550...

PHILIPS UPGRADE WHERE ARE YOU?

All the best,

Sharro

[Zhnujm]

Well, theres also no outline with the Yamaha :(
I dont think it will take long for Philips to release the new version. In fact, Yamaha usually gets hardware and firmware from Philips.

About your DVD+R DL burning, i have to burn them as DVD-ROM otherwise they wont be recognised by my player. (adios 10Euro :rolleyes: )

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Between a marriage, 2 kids, work as hell, some xvid encoding I don't have much time free to get into firmware updating....warranty ? What's that ? Wait a century for a Philips upgrade ?

:-)

All the best,


Sharro
Well, give me an e-mail address and I'll send it to you as an attachment

[Alexander Maxim]

found here: (http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/898534/29)


MAD Palace
software-architect

Door MAD Palace - woensdag 06 oktober 2004 08:49
Voordat er teveel discussie onstaat over wat wel of niet zou moeten zijn gaan werken in v31, doe ik nog maar eens een compleet overzicht van probleempjes die ik gezien heb in een v34 versie (beta, dus eigenlijk meer v33½).

[1] DivX subtitling font is not pure white.
- Play a DivX with subtitling. The font color seems te be dependant on the background color. Maybe the font is a bit tranparant too, while only the font background bar should be transparant. This issue can be best seen with a DivX movie where the subtitling is projected on half the movie / half the black bar. (PREFERENCE -> CYRILLIC = STANDARD).
- Not solved in v34. Very hard to read when background is high-contrast. The font is then also high-contrast. Bbig differences between light and dark video, give light and dark font. Really would prefer one static color for the font, independant from the background.

http://members.chello.nl/~j.rademakers1/DVP720SA/SUB06.jpg
DivX subtitling font is not pure white

[2] DivX subtitling lines are not shown complete.
- Play a DivX with subtitling. The lines are cut to a certain width, which only shows about 35 characters (PREFERENCE -> CYRILLIC = STANDARD). This results in words falling off the line. A different mode (PREFERENCE -> CYRILLIC = SUPER AUDIO CD) already gives a smaller font but still only shows about 40 characters (while about 50 seems required).
- Partially solved in v34. If only we could gain a few additional characters, it would be really perfect.

[3] DVD chapter with multiple angels shows icon during whole chapter.
- Play a multi-angle DVD and an icon on the right top corner appears. This icon stays visible and does not disappear after a few seconds. Logically this icon will disappear after 5 seconds and appear again when the use presses the "angle" button on the remote.
- Partially solved: now only shown with chapters that are multi-angle not through the whole disc. Probably how it should work.

[4] Subtitling issue with DVD.
- When playing a DVD some shifted lines in the subtitling occur. Pictures included.
+ This occurs often on some players and less often on others. Frequency seems to decrease with newer software versions ?!?

http://members.chello.nl/~j.rademakers1/DVP720SA/720SA-01.jpg
Subtitling issue with DVD

[5] DivX subtitling gray background is too transparant.
- Subtitling is still hard to read because the white characters are transparant, but also the grey background could be a little less transparant.

http://members.chello.nl/~j.rademakers1/DVP720SA/SUB07.jpg
DivX subtitling gray background is too transparant

[6] XVID 1.0 movies stammer.

[7] DivX and XviD movies with resolution 768x576 stammer.

[8] A DivX movie in 4:3 format (640x480) in not shown in the correct ration when the player is set to 16:9.
- The movie is horizontally squeezed and the TV does not automatically switch the correct viewmode (because it should not have been squeezed).

[X] Some drives in shops have firmware V22, some have V24, but even V31 has been seen around. Currently under development is around V32. There are no updates available for customers on the website (www.p4c.philips.com). Where does this go wrong?
- The V33 software will probably be released on the P4C website because it has better performance and blocking issues are solved (a.o. subtiling). Target week 42.

[m99]

Is V33/V34 available somewhere? Found V31.

[Sharro]

Originally posted by m99
Is V33/V34 available somewhere? Found V31.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's available.

We keep on waiting, in the meantime I think I will give a try to V31.

I wonder if someone here would have the ability to merge the AR flag in avi and the subtitles support of the Yamaha firmware into Philips firmware.

Posted on MT1389xx thread:

Originally posted by Zhnujm
New firmware for Yamaha 550 (1389EE) is out, now with subtitles (srt,smi,ssa,sub,...). Subs are big and centered, up to 3 lines with many chars but still no outline.
And theres support for AR settings in AVI.

Just an idea.

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by m99
Is V33/V34 available somewhere? Found V31.
It says "target week 42", so...

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Unfortunately, I don't think it's available.

We keep on waiting, in the meantime I think I will give a try to V31.

I wonder if someone here would have the ability to merge the AR flag in avi and the subtitles support of the Yamaha firmware into Philips firmware.

Just an idea.

All the best,

Sharro
Maybe new_age could do it... :D

[new_age]

If someone have a philips 720 with serial cable we can do a try.
I've already found in yamaha and philips firmware the position and size of front button panel table and VFD table. Bad news that remote code is not replaceable but some reported yamaha and philips have the same remote. With a little modification we could try the yamaha V34 in a philips. If someone have a serial interface for philips... :D

[Sharro]

Originally posted by new_age
DVP720.BIN must be the filename. The CD format is the same as all dvd players need when upgrading. It works well I can tell. :)

Any instruction regarding the CD Label ?

I checked on

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9/database?method=reportRows&tbl=5

And there is no info about CD Label.

All the best,

Sharro

[Zhnujm]

You dont need a special label for the Philips, just the filename is important.
And it does not ask you if you really want to update, if you insert the cd theres no turning back.

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
You dont need a special label for the Philips, just the filename is important.
And it does not ask you if you really want to update, if you insert the cd theres no turning back.
Yes, but there's NO NEED for turning back! :cool:

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
If someone have a philips 720 with serial cable we can do a try.
I've already found in yamaha and philips firmware the position and size of front button panel table and VFD table. Bad news that remote code is not replaceable but some reported yamaha and philips have the same remote. With a little modification we could try the yamaha V34 in a philips. If someone have a serial interface for philips... :D
Well, do you know what it would be really cool? to patch the dvp720sa f/w with the ability to play DVD-Audio from Pioneer DV575 :D :D :D
And also the zoom in divx and the outlined subtitles from E-BODA :D

[Sharro]

If they don't go for outlined subs....

The subs a la LG are just awfull.

All the best,

Sharro

PS: Guess I will build a serial cable....

[new_age]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
Well, do you know what it would be really cool? to patch the dvp720sa f/w with the ability to play DVD-Audio from Pioneer DV575
And also the zoom in divx and the outlined subtitles from E-BODA

Yes, dream on... :D

[Sharro@Home]

10/03/2004 - Another good news
The Sigmatek XM-400 Pro! is compatible with audio OGG Vorbis streams!
To be able to listen them, you have to rename the OGG file in AVI (ie: music.ogg => music.avi).
It's weird, but it works!
There is maybe a way to play an OGG Media file (OGM - a different container with regard to AVI), but unsuccessfull (jerks and desynchronisation), always just renaming the OGM file in AVI.
Thanks to PixiesII for its tests and returns on this.

Sigmatek XM400-PRO Unnoficial FAQ (http://xm400.sigmatek-players.com/index.php?page=home&lang=en)

Funny way of making it work...but improvments are being done, we have so many firmwares for 1389EE that if we merged all the good stuff.... I keep on dreaming... :D

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Yes, dream on... :D
:D

[Sharro]

Guys,

I've been looking into V31 firmware with MTK remaker and I got curious about Font 7 cause it looks like an outlined font.

Would there be any chance to use it instead of Font 1 ?

New_age ?? :-)

All the best,


Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Guys,

I've been looking into V31 firmware with MTK remaker and I got curious about Font 7 cause it looks like an outlined font.

Would there be any chance to use it instead of Font 1 ?

New_age ?? :-)

All the best,


Sharro
Do you want outlined menus? :))
'cause that's what the font 1 is for. And even so, I don't think it will show the outlined characters.

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
Do you want outlined menus? :))
'cause that's what the font 1 is for. And even so, I don't think it will show the outlined characters.

What font is used for subtitle display ? OR what is font 7 used for ?

eheheh Sorry Alexander I don't understand a thing about firmwares :-)

But font 7 in firmware V31 does look like an outlined font... doesn't it ?

Sorry for my dumbness...

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
What font is used for subtitle display ? OR what is font 7 used for ?

eheheh Sorry Alexander I don't understand a thing about firmwares :-)

But font 7 in firmware V31 does look like an outlined font... doesn't it ?

Sorry for my dumbness...

All the best,

Sharro
You're anything but dumb, Sharro... :-)
Font 7 is an outlined font, indeed, and it is used for divx subtitling, but the damn firmware doesn't show the outline :mad:
Font 1 is used only for menus

[new_age]

Philips V24 fw: Font1 used for everything with a philips self made lookup table
Philips V31 fw: Font1 for menü and osd, Font 7 normal divx subs, Font8 8 Cyrillic divx subs. Font7 is codepage 1252 and Font8 is 1253.

Philips shows outline _only_ in OSD and menu if the Font1 has outline. It's a damn firmware bug (feature? :D )

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Philips V24 fw: Font1 used for everything with a philips self made lookup table
Philips V31 fw: Font1 for menü and osd, Font 7 normal divx subs, Font8 8 Cyrillic divx subs. Font7 is codepage 1252 and Font8 is 1253.

Philips shows outline _only_ in OSD and menu if the Font1 has outline. It's a damn firmware bug (feature? :D )
I couldn't have put it better myself, new_age :D
By the way, how much costs a DVP720 in your country? (in euros)

[new_age]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
By the way, how much costs a DVP720 in your country? (in euros)

~ 163 - 184 EUR

It's the most expensive mtk player in our country. The cheapest is medion with 61 EUR.

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
~ 163 - 184 EUR

It's the most expensive mtk player in our country. The cheapest is medion with 61 EUR.
Well, in Romania, if it would have been sold in stores, it would have costed ~ 290 euros !!! Can you believe that? I think that's why they gave up on it. Instead, they sell the 630 for 180-200 euros!

[Sharro]

Portugal - Philips DVP720 SA Cost 169,00€.

All the best,

Sharro

[m99]

1695 NOK (around 200€) here, included "The return of the king".

[Sharro]

Does anybody have an idea of what's going on with this page

http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/stahni.php
and
http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/firmware.php

Firmwares show up almost weekly but I can't understand a thing of Czech.

All the best,

Sharro

[new_age]

Nothing important currenty.
V24 and V31 firmware can be downloaded.

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Nothing important currenty.
V24 and V31 firmware can be downloaded.
That's right. They have two versions of V31 (one with the font 7 replaced for central european languages, code 1250)

[Sharro]

So... We still need a firmware guru to have Outlined fonts shown on divx subtitles....

Damn...

:mad:

All the best,

Sharro

[lobster]

I had a little Czech at school :) The 3.15A version contains following:
- Complete Czech OSD
- 1250 code page support
- Enlarged subtitles for DivX
- Zoom icon removed

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by lobster
I had a little Czech at school :) The 3.15A version contains following:
- Complete Czech OSD
- 1250 code page support
- Enlarged subtitles for DivX
- Zoom icon removed
You just convinced me to update my player...:D and that only for the removed zoom icon :D

[Sharro@Home]

I will only update if I get:

-Outlined divx subtitle font;
-AR flag in AVI

:devil:

All the best,

Sharro

[Sharro]

Alexander any news on it ?

Did you tried it ?

All the best,


Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Alexander any news on it ?

Did you tried it ?

All the best,


Sharro
I'm at work right now. Tomorrow I'll have the results you want :D

[Zhnujm]

Has anybody else the problem that the playback is not smooth if you use subtitles ? It seems that sometimes a frame gets repeated in the moment the subtitle is shown, especially when a long subtitle is displayed.

:confused:

[lobster]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
You just convinced me to update my player...:D and that only for the removed zoom icon :D
The icon is not fully removed - just the white square. The number is still there.

[Alexander Maxim]

True. But it's much less disturbing than before. I tried "The last samurai" last night and it's watchable in 2x :D

[lobster]

I wonder if it's possible to remove the numbers (2x, 3x etc.) by deleting them in OSD using MTKReMaker.

[Sharro@Home]

Posted: 15 oktober 2004 @ 12:16 by Madpalace on gathering.tweakers.net forums]:
BAD NEWS

I will have to contact Signapore services on monday if v33 is still not available on the website. This stable and internally released version should have been available this week.

I contacted the Signapore architect today, but she told me that 720 improvements are currently not done. The latest internal beta v34 I once had, will be finalised soon because it had a major fix on line-out. The new problems seen and other old issues will not be solved for now. Maybe in a new version, but it is still unknown when that will be.

I also ordered a 720 player myself now, but the players are not available. It is also unknown when they will be...

Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2004 6:22 am by Feysp on www.mpeg-playcenter.com forums
"feysp"]Hi,

I flashed my DVP720SA with the firmware from Yamaha s550.
My results:
Everything works fine, the only thing is that the multichannel led wil not work anymore. That's normal because the multichannel analog outputs are also not working anymore. So by by SACD option.
The good thing is that the sound for DVD, CD and DiVX are many many many times better because the sound options like CLASSIC, ... are gone in the player settings.
So real flat sound outputs (as they should be) and that is a good thing!

For those of you who will not use the SACD-option, this firmware is the real thing. I tested everithing:

--> DVD's : No more subtitle problems (flikkering is gone)
--> DiVX : Sub's are working fine, sometimes the lines are to short.
--> CD's : The sound is mutch, mutch better (also for dvd & DiVX)
--> audio-DVD : Yes i have a new option now !!!!
--> SACD : The analog outputs will not work anymore, but the SACD
from STING that i recieved with the DVP720sa works via the
coax output on my philips LX710 surround system
(on 7 channels) in real surround !!!?!!
--> remote controller is working just fine (it is the same)

I have only 1 SACD and it will be probably the only one.

How does it work to flash you're DVP720sa: (how i did it)

* First download the DVD-S550 Yamaha firmware.
* Then Rename te firmware to DVP720.BIN
* I replaced the MPEG backgrounds in the firmware with the one's from the
Philips firmware. (i used the MTK Remaker tool for it).
* At last i flashed my DVP720sa.

The only thing that i could not change is when you start the player, now YAMAHA is in the little display (for a second or two) in stead of PHILIPS.

When you want to return to the original Philips firmware, just rename the philips firmware to YDV550.BIN, burn it on a cd and flash you're player.


Sorry for my bad english, but i'm a dutch speaking guy.

Regards Pieter Feys

I cross my fingers....and light up a candle :)

Madpalace is somehow well connected at Philips... I would love to get my hands on the "Singapore services" email...


All the best,

Sharro

[lobster]

Very interesting! And what about the zoom icon?

[Zhnujm]

It disappears after a few secondes.

[Sharro@Home]

Yap.

Read in

Posted by MAD Palace on 12 oktober 2004 @ 15:16
[...]

What is there for me to say. Some high important people make the plans on what will be included in what players. It is up to the buyers to accept it or not. That is one of the reasons why I didn't buy the player: I didn't like the subtitling with DivX. Now with v34 I have seen subtitling that works for me, and I now ordered it.

Philips also develops Yamaha 550 software indeed (with re-used software from 720). The functionality in those players is not planned or defined by Philips however, it is of course defined by Yamaha leadership.

I cannot request any features from the software people because they keep on sticking to their plan. I can also not request the way they solve problems. If I tell them that people are unhappy with subtitling on v24 software, they are allowed to add a grey bar in the back, although some would rather have an outlined font.

PS: MadPalace confirmed that he prefers Outlined still Philips will try first to get ALL subs displayed.

[lobster]

So it seems like it is possible to use Yamaha firmware in Philips but not vice versa? If used Philips firmware in Yamaha the player goes right to stand by after switching it on, is that so?

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by lobster
If used Philips firmware in Yamaha the player goes right to stand by after switching it on, is that so?

It was so for me. But i only tried it with the V24 firmware, not with the V31.
If you need a result with the V31 then i can check this.

[new_age]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
It was so for me. But i only tried it with the V24 firmware, not with the V31.
If you need a result with the V31 then i can check this.

If you replace the VFD Button table still goes to standby the yamaha?

[lobster]

I'm much more interested in using Yamaha firmware in Philips. I stick with stereo but the player goes to surround mode each time (it can't remember the chosen mode). I'm curious if the sound quality is really gonna improve. I'll post full Czech translation of the info about using Yamaha firmware in Philips to a Czech forum (http://philips720sa.wz.cz). We'll see if there are more brave man :). Maybe I'll be brave myself :D .

[lobster]

Looks like it's not possible to download Yamaha firmware upgrade from http://www.yamaha-service.de/ any more :angry:. Fortunately, I downloaded it when it was possible.

[Zhnujm]

I just tried the V31 with my Yamaha (and i also tried replacing VFD and Button tables) and its still the same.
If you switch it off and try to start it again it just shows PHILIPS - DISC - LOAD - STANDBY in the display and goes off.
Funny thing, especially as everything if working perfectly - until you switch it off.

[new_age]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
I just tried the V31 with my Yamaha (and i also tried replacing VFD and Button tables) and its still the same.
If you switch it off and try to start it again it just shows PHILIPS - DISC - LOAD - STANDBY in the display and goes off.
Funny thing, especially as everything if working perfectly - until you switch it off.

I guess some kind of protection from Philips preventing using philips firmwares in yamaha...

[Alexander Maxim]

What puzzles me is why Philips does a better firmware for Yamaha than for themselves? :rolleyes:

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
What puzzles me is why Philips does a better firmware for Yamaha than for themselves? :rolleyes:

Put me in on that puzzle....

Let's hope this week brings us better news...

All the best,


Sharro

[new_age]

You can download V33 firmware from various sites now. Hungarian dudes (I'm proud ;)) did it again. :)

[Sharro]

Posted by MAD Palace in forum gathering.tweakers.net on 18OCT04 @ 14:22
[...]


I just heard that the factory for 720 production is in Hungary. Probably they did not extract the software from hardware but just broadcasted their version :-) If this is true, then the v33 is the official release.

If you want the updates/changes you can read back to all my previous reports on v32, v33 an v34.

For the lazy and courageous who want to try it:

http://members.netmadeira.com/carlos.santos/teste/dvp720_v33.zip

EDIT: Where is previous OUTLINED FONT 7 ? END EDIT

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
You can download V33 firmware from various sites now. Hungarian dudes (I'm proud ;)) did it again. :)
Allright! :D

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by Sharro
EDIT: Where is previous OUTLINED FONT 7 ? END EDIT


Well, theres no need for an outline if you use an ugly black square around the subtitles :D, but still better than no outline at all.
And now it supports AR settings.

I still have the problem that the video is not smooth when subtitles are enabled...

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Zhnujm

...when subtitles are enabled...

.SRT subs ?

Have you tried any other format ?

All the best,

Sharro

[Zhnujm]

Already tried ssa and ssi, all the same.
But it seems im the only one who has this problem, i heard nobody else complaining about that.
Its visible with all Mediatek players that i tried (elta 8883,Xoro 400pro, Yamaha 550). I already captured the signal and theres definitly a duplicated frame at these positions :(

[lobster]

I've just tested the V33 version. The stereo mode still can't be stored so I'm gonna try the Yamaha firmware. Let's see if the sound quality is really better!

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
...i heard nobody else complaining about that.

I've posted on http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/898534/32 (using your post) to see if anybody complains.

I will do the firmw. upgd. tomorrow.

All the best,

Sharro

[lobster]

I quickly tested the Yamaha firmare in Philips. Seems to me that the output volume is a little bit louder which is good cause it almost levels with TV loudness and when you switch the player off the TV doesn't go blasting.
Now I have two free buttons on the remote. Would be nice to use them for volume control or goto function :).
The best of what I discovered? The power button on the front doesn't work any more which is great cause my little boy can't switch it on now and tear off the tray after a couple of tests and I don't have to unplug the player every time :D But the open/close button still works.

[Alexander Maxim]

Hello guys,
The V33 displays correctly the .sub (frame-based MicroDVD) subtitles now. Thought you should know.

[nexx]

Hey guys,

I am going to be encoding some movies for a friend who is getting a the Philips player in a few weeks, and I'm just checking to see its XviD compatability.

The movies will be PAL 25fps at 576x240 and 700-1000 bitrates

This is what I have from searching:

Packed bitstream: Not supported
GMC: Not Supported
QPEL: Supported
Trellis: Unsure
Bframes: 2 is safe

That sounds right?

Any help appreciated.

[Leak]

Originally posted by nexx
Trellis: Unsure

Trellis isn't of any concern for the decoder as it's just an optimization algorithm in the encoding process that might yield a different quantization, but it's all the same to the decoder whether it's on or off.

np: David Holmes - Zero Tolerance (Bow Down To The Exit Sign)

[Sharro]

Just to confirm that HVS-Best matrix, trellis with resolutions of 720 or 704 x XXX, QPEL, 2B-frames, Chroma-Optimizer with average Kbps up to 2.000 are my usual "cocktail" for the Xvid encodes that always played flawlessly on my DVP720SA (just updated firmware to V33) audio is usually dual AC3.

Never use Packet-bitstream neither GMC.

All the best,

Sharro

[mezzanine]

Before encoding in XviD get the latest build 1.1 unstable and enable VBV(AS@L5 - 2pass more settings), as for b-frames disable packed bitstream and closed GOV. The player works fine with 2 b-frames and VHQ for b-frames (tested it today with 720x576 and AC3). If you want more compression you can also enable qpel , adaptive quantization and trellis without any playback problems. Player accepts maximum 720 horizontal and 576 vertical resolutions.

I just upgraded the firmware to V33, everything is working ok but i haven't tested divx subtitles yet.

The subtitle problem with DVD's seems to be fixed (the white horizontal bars). Well to my eyes the picture quality is greatly improved, looks more solid and block-free. Is that possible or am i going crazy ?

[Sharro]

Originally posted by mezzanine
... i haven't tested divx subtitles yet.

...

I have tested .SUB (frame based) and .SRT (time code based) and they were both working fine, they are much more readable but I still hope that ... one day ... Philips will go for a outlined font.

Regarding picture quality it did looked better to my eyes (less blocks in dark areas).

All the best,

Sharro

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
Already tried ssa and ssi, all the same.
But it seems im the only one who has this problem, i heard nobody else complaining about that.
Its visible with all Mediatek players that i tried (elta 8883,Xoro 400pro, Yamaha 550). I already captured the signal and theres definitly a duplicated frame at these positions :(

Could you confirm if this problem with subtitles is with single line subtitles or 2 line subtitles cause I think I spoted something with the last.

Looks like the second line of subtitles is not rendered at the same time of the first line so the frame is repeated for the second line of subtitles.

Please confirm.

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
...I still have the problem that the video is not smooth when subtitles are enabled...
I noticed that too last night, but on a single movie

[mezzanine]

I noticed it too, but i think it's only for the first couple of minutes.

[Sharro]

Alexander Maxim and Mezzanine could you two confirm if single or double line subtitles is somehow related ?

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Alexander Maxim and Mezzanine could you two confirm if single or double line subtitles is somehow related ?

All the best,

Sharro
I don't think it has anything to do with that(as I remember from last night :rolleyes: ), but I'll check this evening.

[Alexander Maxim]

Checked, and the answer is "no".
But it doesn't happen with all my movies, and it's not that disturbing.

[Alexander Maxim]

As from this week, the DVP720SA is sold in Romania with the incredible price of 260 euros!!! Why the poor have to pay more? I always wondered that :mad:

[mezzanine]

Mail order it from germany.

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by mezzanine
Mail order it from germany.
I already have one :D , but not one in every room :lol:
Seriously now, ...ah, forget it. We'll see better days.

[Alexander Maxim]

The V33 has just come out officially:
Dear User,

Today Philips officially released its v33 firmware. This is not the
best firmware available, but it is one of the best! You can download it
from:

www.p4c.philips.com

Herewith I provide a small overview with issues we already knew
- DivX with MP3 audio and SURROUND setting (default) gives stange audio
on STEREO and SPDIF output (solved in v34 if available)
- DVD chapter with multiple angels shows icon during whole chapter (not
during whole disc anymore
- DivX subtitling lines are not shown complete (better in v34, but we
are working on a good font release as we speak
- DivX subtitling font is not pure white (transparant
- DivX subtitling font in Cyrillic does not have a border (solved in
v34 or in our own release if available
- DivX with Packed Bitstream does not play smooth.

Most important issue solved
- Subtitling lines are cut to a certain width, which only shows about
35/36 characters.

Greetings,
MADman and Caztricum
http://www.madpalace.nl/mad720sa

[Sharro]

You guys noticed the strange name of the .bin file ?

Yaccchhh...

I've been using V33 modded by Caztricum and MadPalace.

Much better but still for my personal taste OUTLINED FONT for subtitles is the way to GO!

All the best,

KEEP ON TRYING PHILIPS.

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
You guys noticed the strange name of the .bin file ?

Yaccchhh...

I've been using V33 modded by Caztricum and MadPalace.

Much better but still for my personal taste OUTLINED FONT for subtitles is the way to GO!

All the best,

KEEP ON TRYING PHILIPS.

Sharro
Modded how? And where did you download it from?

[Sharro]

Alexander Maxim,

I got it from http://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_messages/898534/34

MAD Palace schreef op 20 oktober 2004 @ 10:49:
Ik heb overigens ook effe gespeeld met de MTKremaker. Echt geweldige tool zeg. Waar elke leek gemakkelijk mee kan hacken.

v33 + font + background (http://home.ict.nl/~jrademak/DVP720.bin)

Ik heb de v33 met font modificatie even aangepast met een leuke vakantiefoto op de achtergrond :D


[...]

Wel als je hem al CD geschreven hebt. Moet je weer opnieuw branden ;-)

@Caztricum:
Kun je eens contact met me opnemen. Het lijkt me leuk om samen met jou de laatste firmware van Signapore the modificeren tot onze eigen stijl. Ik heb webruimte genoeg dus we kunnen er een mooie site bij maken enzo :D
Ik weet niet of je bekent bent met KiSS waar TinyStocks (http://www.tinystocks.com/k/docs/kiss.html) ook gemodificeerde firmware voor maakt :D

Ik heb ook een soortement van toezegging gekregen van Signapore dat ze voor mij eventueel wel wat onofficieele patches willen doen (als er tijd is). Dan kunnen wij ook eventueel onze onofficieele software gaan releasen (die dus duideliijk te herkennen moet zijn als zodanig).

Wie vind dit een goed idee?

[Alexander Maxim]

The link doesn't work annymore; only the fonts and the backgrounds have changed, nothing else?

[Sharro]

If I understood well, nothing else was changed.

I think I have it at home if you need it.

All the best,

Sharro

[Sharro@Home]

We ain't gonna have pure white and pure black on our DVP's 720 so soon.

Simply because any of these are lacking in the fw color index.

Any of the colours there have some level of transparency...

I wonder who had the GREAT :confused: idea :devil: of using light grey transparent instead of white and dark grey transparent INSTEAD OF BLACK :D
...

Does anybody know how to change colors in a FW ?

All the best,

Sharro

[new_age]

Originally posted by Sharro@Home
Does anybody know how to change colors in a FW ?

All the best,

Sharro

Working on it... it needs a lot ot disasm... ;)

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Working on it... it needs a lot ot disasm... ;)
Allright new_age!

[Alxemi]

Sorry to ask again, but are you really sure it played the packed bitstream file smooth ?
What about the Packed Bitstream (in xvid) issue? I´ve search the entire thread but have nothing for sure...

[Alexander Maxim]

MAD Palace schreef op 01 november 2004 @ 09:03:
Hoi Allemaal,

Toevallig heb ik ook eens wat nieuws voor de andere spelers. Ik kreeg dit net via mail van de Product Manager: "We'll continue to release software for 720 to improve but the current priorities are LX3900SA (DivX and other genric issues) and DVP6xx (support ISO fonts which does not match CP especially on Cyrillic) which are causing us a lot of problems."
...

[thop]

I have a quesion about the Yamaha 550 (same as Philips 720 it appears): Does it play "BVOP" (as indicated in GSpot)?

[Sharro]

Originally posted by thop
Does it play "BVOP" (as indicated in GSpot)?

Yes.

EDIT: Doesn't play Xvid 3 warp point GMC or
Doesn't play more than 1 BVOP if PACKET BITSTREAM IS ACTIVE (if packet bitstream is inactive any number of BVops is played).

All the best,

Sharro

[Alxemi]

ok this is very weird.
1389DE only plays more than 1bfame if packed bitstream is NOT active and 1389EE only if it IS active? Maybe 1389EE plays them in any case, could somebody confirm this?

[Alexander Maxim]

MAD Palace
software-architect

Door MAD Palace - vrijdag 29 oktober 2004 10:05
720 Question from Singapore:

People are complaining about the v33 software, that a DVD+R with MP3 files on it does not work. Has anybody seen it, and could explain me what the issue is?

[Sharro]

Problem has been identified and a solution found:

DO NOT PUT MORE THAN 648 MP3 FILES ON THE SAME FOLDER.

All the best,

Sharro :)

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Problem has been identified and a solution found:

DO NOT PUT MORE THAN 648 MP3 FILES ON THE SAME FOLDER.

All the best,

Sharro :)

Who identified the problem? And who found the solution? 'Cause I think that the problem is a little bit more complex. You mean this is the solution FOR NOW, until Philips will release a new firmware, 'cause they are working on it as we speak :D

[Sharro]

For me it's decent enough... I would never put 648 files on the same folder... :)

WHAT I do need is SOLID BLACK and SOLID WHITE on the firmware.

All the best,


Sharro

[thop]

Does the Yamaha 550 have solid white subtitles?

[Alexander Maxim]

yes

[Alexander Maxim]

Hey people, how would you like an outlined font for your dvp720 (and maybe lx3900)players? The font is made by Mtz for Pioneer 575

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
an outlined font for your dvp720 ...made ... for Pioneer 575

It Works ?

Is it the grey outlined font ?

It works ?

3rd Question Does It work ?

:)

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
It Works ?

Is it the grey outlined font ?

It works ?

3rd Question Does It work ?

:)

All the best,

Sharro
Yes it works. I've tried it on my player before posting here. The font has the outline color set to the background color, and the background color set to 0, that's why it works

[Sharro]

Alex Maxim,

Could you post a pic ?

Is there still the grey bar behind ? Did any of the colors became solid instead of having a level of transparency?

All the best,


Sharro

[Zhnujm]

Looks like this:
ftp://zhnujm.dyndns.org/submod.jpg

Not bad, but still transparent.

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
Looks like this:
ftp://zhnujm.dyndns.org/submod.jpg

...but still transparent.

Not a bad semitransparent white with grey transparent outline font at all :).

We must call Mad Palace and Cherry's attention to this.

I guess we have never been closer ...

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Well, here's another one made by Mtz :D

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Not a bad semitransparent white with grey transparent outline font at all :).

We must call Mad Palace and Cherry's attention to this.

I guess we have never been closer ...

All the best,

Sharro
I called their attention already :D

[m99]

What about the Eject-button? There's no Eject-button on the remote.

From http://mpeg-playcenter.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2050&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15


Guest
Wed Nov 10, 2004 08

quote:
Originally posted by loewe:
I flashed my DVP720SA with the firmware from Yamaha s550. It worked fine until i switched the power completely off. Then it does not start anymore.
So be aware that you may lose your player if you dont have a serial interface. Maybe the replacement of front button tables will help that.

Can you turn it on from the remote button?


shemet
New on MPC
Wed Nov 10, 2004 14

It can be turned on by remote. Cannot be turned on by front panel power buton. You need to replace vfd table from philips to yamaha firmware.

[Mtz]

Alexander Maxim said something about Mtz. :D
Hi!

The firmwares are HERE. (http://www.div.xro.us/)

enjoy,
Mtz

[Sharro@Home]

MTZ!

Thanks for existing! :D

All the best,

Sharro

[mezzanine]

Thanx for the firmware. I will upgrade sometime today.
Sharro have you upgraded? The problem is that the firmware is based on V33 and i get jerky playback on xvid, and dvd's stummer before displaying subtitles. ( i am currently using V31 )

[Sharro@Home]

Mezzanine,

I've been using V33 modded by Caztricum and Mad Palace (font and background changed only).

The problem with the repeated frame when subtitles are being displayed is just too aleatory and unfrequent :confused: on my side (self ripped .srt's).

No problems on DVD's :eek: .

I will certainly give a try to MTZ's firmware.

All the best,


Sharro

[filledin]

I got philips new firmware installed on my DVP720SA.
Now, I have the feeling that decoding divx produces more artifacts than before. More specifically, movement of light in front of dark or dark in front of light produces a very blocky "shadow" behind the moving object.

I could be mistaken, and I tried fiddling with contrast and brightness, just in case I had different settings before, and was just not seeing it. I have to check a few older files, to find out if it is so.

Anyway, its a decent enough update, one of the main points for me (subtitle fix is ok, but I need cp1253 support anyway..., but I see Mtz has that in the toDos!) is that aspect ratio works much better now.

Cheers, fi

+

[Sharro]

Hi Guys,

Again, smart people are fixing for free what big corporations can't in a proper way.

My respect for them.

Anybody with a cable here?

For those following http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9/ useless to say that we should pay a lot of attention for whats going there.

Cherry has sorted out colors for subtitles in the firmware.

Now he need someone with a DVP720 or a LX9300 and with a cable (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9/message/1585).

Even though Cherry stated:

"Currently bad news for Philips 720, LX39x0 owners (including me)

I've checked this funcs in LX3900 V36 firmware and it only select the appropriate font and then finish the sub. So there is no magic color settings similar to Eboda and Yamada. It needs a lot more disasm.

regards,

Cherry / New Age"

I believe is on to something as his request for cable is done after this message.

Please ... Anybody ?

Damn... those subtitles on Yamada are looking GREAT (except for the centering that we already have on Philips).

All the best,


ShArRo

[new_age]

And some good news, I patched the LX3900 firmware and I'll patch the same way dvp720sa and I hope it will work. But need someone to try.

[Sharro]

Someone with a cable for DVP720 PLEASE!!!!

[new_age]

Originally posted by Sharro
Someone with a cable for DVP720 PLEASE!!!!

Or a brave men who will try with cd update... :) I'm not brave enough with my LX3900 ;)

[Alexander Maxim]

Seems that you were brave, after all :D

[new_age]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
Seems that you were brave, after all :D

For one test but for more patches I'll wait for someone with serial cable. Until that patched DVP720 and LX3900 firmwares wait on my hard drive.... :(

[Alexander Maxim]

but didn't you send the patched dvp720 to hadows2001?
to try it on his Yamaha 550?

[Alexander Maxim]

you know what, new_age? send them to me too. I'll take a deep breath, and I'll try them tonight :D
but with explanations, please

[Sharro]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
you know what, new_age? send them to me too. I'll take a deep breath, and I'll try them tonight :D
but with explanations, please

Alexander Maxim, even though I'm willing to see the result of New Age's patches... I would never without having the cable around...

All the best,

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

I asked Philips Romania if they can recover my player from an update failure and they said yes, so...
but new_age didn't send me anything yet, and it's time to go now. I guess he'll send me something tomorrow

[thop]

I'm having problem with some .srt subtitles. It plays the avi without the srt, but with the srt it just keps loading forever (i stopped after 5 minutes). There doesn't seem to be anything strange with that srt, other srt files all work perfectly. Is there any known problem about this? The filenames avery short, same name as avi etc. so it should all be good!?

[thop]

Ok found it, the player doesn't like unix line endings. But there is also another problem, sometimes the subs are cut off :(

[new_age]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
I asked Philips Romania if they can recover my player from an update failure and they said yes, so...
but new_age didn't send me anything yet, and it's time to go now. I guess he'll send me something tomorrow

I took a lot of big deep breath and tried some patches with my LX3900. The (sad) results are on mt13x9 group.

I need someone with a cable to try about 20-50 versions (changing the four values desribed in yahoo group). And it is fast only with serial cable.

However it seems that black outline white subs is not impossible. So philips programmers suck. (They even with the source code can't find the solution!)

It is interesting how philips service will recover a wrongly fw updated player... They will do the serial cable connection? Or "just" do a mtk board exchange?

[Sharro@Home]

If someone in this world will kill Philips transparency ... it's you C/NA :)

A Million thanks for all your efforts.

Sharro

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
I took a lot of big deep breath and tried some patches with my LX3900. The (sad) results are on mt13x9 group.

I need someone with a cable to try about 20-50 versions (changing the four values desribed in yahoo group). And it is fast only with serial cable.

However it seems that black outline white subs is not impossible. So philips programmers suck. (They even with the source code can't find the solution!)

It is interesting how philips service will recover a wrongly fw updated player... They will do the serial cable connection? Or "just" do a mtk board exchange?
I guess they'll use the serial cable connection, but I don't know for sure, I didn't ask them :D
About the subtitles problem: how does the player show the subtitles now, and how did it show them in v31 and earlier? because I think that there's the problem. I think that now it renders somehow the subs into the picture, like vobsub on a computer, and this involves some kind of post-processing of the frames, which causes the short pause whenever the subs are displayed; I also think the transparency comes from that post-processing. What I'm trying to say is that I think Philips treats subs differently than other players in this f/w, so you don't have to look for similarities, but for differences between, for example, v31 and v33. Maybe all this sounds like mambo-jambo to you, as I don't know anything about programming and I can't do what you do, but I'm trying to do my best to help, so be gentle and don't hit too hard :D
Alexander

[new_age]

Originally posted by Alexander Maxim
I guess they'll use the serial cable connection, but I don't know for sure, I didn't ask them :D
About the subtitles problem: how does the player show the subtitles now, and how did it show them in v31 and earlier? because I think that there's the problem. .... What I'm trying to say is that I think Philips treats subs differently than other players in this f/w, so you don't have to look for similarities, but for differences between, for example, v31 and v33.
Alexander

Philips do a lot of things other way than a regular mtk firmware but also a lot of things the same way.
The subtitle color init part is almost the same way as in others (eg: the color 3 for outline is black and color 2 for text is white; meanwhile in some players color 2 for text is not white etc but in most of them black outline and white text is the 3-2 combination)

I'm wondering that was there any previous Philips firmware that the subtitles were NON transparent? If yes maybe I can figure out what has changed. Anyone could try all official firmwares and tell the changes from one to one:

text background, outline, text -> color, transparency

I think it is not a big job and it could be very helpful.
I have V24, V31, V33; do anyone else have other versions?

[Sharro]

New Age!!!

Have a look here http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/firmware.php

Damn if those don't look like non-transparent white subs....

Original firmware is http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/stahni/DVP720SA-000.zip

But... if I well remember the differences from this original firmware to V33 are enormous.

Hope this can be of any help.

All the best,

Sharro

[new_age]

Originally posted by Sharro
New Age!!!

Have a look here http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/firmware.php

Damn if those don't look like non-transparent white subs....

Original firmware is http://www.philips720sa.wz.cz/stahni/DVP720SA-000.zip

But... if I well remember the differences from this original firmware to V33 are enormous.

Hope this can be of any help.

All the best,

Sharro

This is V24 and I've already checked it without any results.

But I'm investigating LX3900 V36 and I feel I'm on something...

[Sharro]

GOOD HUNTING!!

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Philips do a lot of things other way than a regular mtk firmware but also a lot of things the same way.
The subtitle color init part is almost the same way as in others (eg: the color 3 for outline is black and color 2 for text is white; meanwhile in some players color 2 for text is not white etc but in most of them black outline and white text is the 3-2 combination)

I'm wondering that was there any previous Philips firmware that the subtitles were NON transparent? If yes maybe I can figure out what has changed. Anyone could try all official firmwares and tell the changes from one to one:

text background, outline, text -> color, transparency

I think it is not a big job and it could be very helpful.
I have V24, V31, V33; do anyone else have other versions?
v31 has white non-transparent subs too. only v33 has transparent subs

[thop]

What are the recommended filesystem settings? I noticed that the player cannot read UDF, as it only displays 8.3 files (ISO1). So currently i'm using UDF and ISO2. Anyone knows if the player knows Joliet/RR or ISO4? Hmm it seems ISO2 and UDF is not working anymore. Only of of them. ISO4 and UDF works though.

Ok i've switched to ISO4 (ISO9660:1999) only or UDF only. Works best.

[thop]

Oh and another thing, does the 720 display empty spaces around numbers and - as well? That's kinda annoying, hope it gets fixed some time.

Sth. else i noticed, when you go into a folder the player shows the last ~30 characters of the foldername (at the top), instead of the first. What kind of logic is that? :)

[Leak]

Has anyone tried this tool yet?

http://personal.inet.fi/koti/mabreaker/mabreaker/


20.11.2004

New First public beta release of MTK Subtitle Patcher : That allows you to change colours of DivX subtile font, outline and background. There is also quick overview of this colour selection function in HB & similar firmwares.

This is in Mediatek section again...


np: Fennesz - Menthol (Field Recordings 1995:2002)

[thop]

Excellent! I'd try it, but i'm not sure if it won't fry my player :/
Ok the tool doesn't work with the Yamaha 550, doesn't recognize the firmware.

[new_age]

How about these colors for Philips?

http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/PhilipsLX3900V36_NewAgeSubPatch_V4_B0=00_B=01_OL=03_T=0F_5.jpg

There are more samples:

Pic 1 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/PhilipsLX3900V36_NewAgeSubPatch_V4_B0=00_B=01_OL=03_T=0F_1.jpg)
Pic 2 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/PhilipsLX3900V36_NewAgeSubPatch_V4_B0=00_B=01_OL=03_T=0F_2.jpg)
Pic 3 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/PhilipsLX3900V36_NewAgeSubPatch_V4_B0=00_B=01_OL=03_T=0F_3.jpg)
Pic 4 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/PhilipsLX3900V36_NewAgeSubPatch_V4_B0=00_B=01_OL=03_T=0F_4.jpg)
Pic 6 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/PhilipsLX3900V36_NewAgeSubPatch_V4_B0=00_B=01_OL=03_T=0F_6.jpg)

[new_age]

Anyone wants to try a mpeg4 subtitle patch for philips dvp720sa?

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Anyone wants to try a mpeg4 subtitle patch for philips dvp720sa?
Yes, please

[pancserzso]

Hi, may be it is a bit off-topic, but I think it is the best place to ask:

I read this and other topics, but I am still confused about which is the best high quality player to buy. I would like good built and image quality and decoded sound. For me, Yamada and other noname brands are not a choice, I am thinking about Yamaha S550, Philips 720, and Pioneer 470/550. (Or how about modded Kiss new ones?)

Which of them is compatible with:
1. anamorphic Xvid encodes via MPEG4Modifier
2. latin-2 codepage for subtitles and vobsub support
3. high bitrates + custom matrices (I think generally Mediatek will be OK).

Is Philips 720 with modded Yamaha 550 firmware the best choice?

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by new_age
Anyone wants to try a mpeg4 subtitle patch for philips dvp720sa?
Tried it. Looks exactly like in your picture
Later edit: I changed the outline colour to dark blue(06) and now it looks even better :D (orange and blue are opposite colours or something like that, therefore the contrast between them is better)

[Sharro]

Alexander please satisfy my curiosity, without any background (transparent), how do they look (darkblue / orange).

All the best,


Sharro

PS: Someone who begins to hate transparency...

[Alexander Maxim]

I can't do that until monday cause I'm out of town, but anyway the contrast between the two colours is better so it should look great. new age has posted his patched version here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9_firmware_6/files/1389/
It's the one called PhilipsDVP720SA_V33_NewAgeSubPatch_V4.rar
Enjoy :D
Alexander

[thop]

To my surprise i found out today that the player plays idx/sub subtitles, but only if there is also an ifo file :/

[Sharro@Home]

Originally posted by thop
To my surprise i found out today that the player plays idx/sub subtitles, but only if there is also an ifo file :/

You found because you read ?

You found because you tried it ?

You found ?? HOW?

All the best, :)

Sharro

[thop]

I found because i tried :) I made the ifo/sub/idx into srt, burnt the movie (with idx/ifo/sub/srt) and suddenly there were 2 subtitles available. So i checked it and the other subtitle was yellow and custom font (bitmap). Unfortunately most idx/sub i have have no ifo :/ Is there anyway to recreate it from the idx/sub?

Hmm it doesn't seem to work with all? I tried with another and it doesn't work :( I wonder what's different to the first one (Russian Ark).

[Sharro@Home]

Originally posted by thop
:( I wonder what's different to the first one (Russian Ark).

The .srt file maybe :confused: ?

All the best,

Sharro

[thop]

Nah the other also has the srt. I tried another one, didn't work either. If anyone wants to try, here are the files (http://www.huno.net/cstm/ra.zip). Just use any avi, rename it to ra.avi, same directory and there you go.

I'm using Yamaha 550 Firmware V34.

[new_age]

AND FINALLY!!

NON transparent mpeg4 subtitles for Philips!

Subtitle 1 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/Philips_NewAgeSubPatchV5_Mpeg4Sub1.jpg)
Subtitle 2 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/Philips_NewAgeSubPatchV5_Mpeg4Sub2.jpg)
Subtitle 3 (http://jatekosok.speier.hu/pub/Philips_NewAgeSubPatchV5_Mpeg4Sub3.jpg)

Firmwares can be downloaded from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mt13x9_firmware_6/files/1389/

PhilipsDVP720_V33_NewAgeSubPatchV5.rar & PhilipsLX3900_V36_NewAgeSubPatchV5.rar

regards

C/NA

[thop]

new_age, is there any way you can make those for yamaha 550? i tried with MTK ReMaker, and replaced the solid white subtitle font with an already exisitng outlined font, but the player doesn't show the outlining.

[new_age]

Where can I download the latest Yamaha S550 firmware?

[thop]

here :)

http://www.yamaha-service.de/service-download/firmware/audio/DVD_serie/DVDS550/DVDS550V34.zip

thank you for looking at it :)

[new_age]

If I'm correct (getting this info from the firmware)

Yamaha V34 firmware MPEG4 subtitles:

- non transparent
- text color is white and there is no outline & text background

If I'm right I'll make a patch. Will you test it? If yes please send your email address in private message.

C/NA

[thop]

Yes you are right :)

[Mtz]

My version with selectable subtitles size is here (http://www.div.xro.us/component/option,com_weblinks/Itemid,4/) and is based on new_age and MaBraker amazing work.

enjoy,
Mtz

[thop]

Mtz, are the fonts just a .mtf to use with mtk remaker? If yes i'd like to try it with the Yamaha 550 :) Black outlined is probably not gonna work, because there seems to be no black in the firmware, but new_age made a patch that can make yellow/... fonts within half an hour, so i guess the firmwares are basically the same.

[Mtz]

Extact as .mtf from my Philips, the fonts 10-11 or 12-13 and use in your firmware.

enjoy,
Mtz

[thop]

Excellent, they are also fonts 10-11 and 12-13 in Yamaha firmware. Does it work with the umodified as well or do i have to use the modified one?

The fonts are other numbers, 11-12 and 13-14 but it still works. I can upload one with the new fonts and yellow subtitles if someone wants. But maybe new_age will be able to make a white with black outlines one :)

[thop]

Is it possible to display the subtitles a bit lower on the screen? I think with the new fonts they are a bit higher, but that might just be my imagination :)

[Mtz]

The fonts are higher to be readable and narrowed to allow more characters/line. But the position is the same as the original font.
With an 16:9 TV, in mode "Cine" (blackborders removed) and with an 16:9 movie, the subtitle is at the bottom of the TV screen.
Some screenshots HERE. (http://board.softpedia.com/index.php?showtopic=148)

enjoy,
Mtz

[thop]

That makes sense. The best thing with those fonts is that i went from 34 characters per line to 45 characters per line. Although with the old i could display 3 lines, now only 2. I'm using the small ones. And any outlining looks much better with the new fonts, i guess they are finer than the original one. With them the outlining was kinda thick and blocky. So good work! :)

[Sharro@Home]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
Has anybody else the problem that the playback is not smooth if you use subtitles ? It seems that sometimes a frame gets repeated in the moment the subtitle is shown, especially when a long subtitle is displayed.

:confused:

Digging out an old post... Now that subtitles have quantum leaped quality the above problem identified by Zhnujm is evident on the last firmwares by Cherry/NA and MaB.

Playing Star Wars intro (with the letters scrolling towards infinite) made it very evident: only 2 line subtitles caused the stop/repeated frame. EDIT: Looking at other scenes also saw it with single lined subtitles but the effect is less evident END EDIT

I would guess that second line is being drawn in a different process, after the first and refering to a previous frame/timeline.

I also wonder if the background is still being processed (even as transparent) ?

All the best,

Sharro

[thop]

After trying out some color combinations for the Yamaha 550 that's the one i've decided on. Works better than solid yellow, and the blue is actually a bit darker on the screen and the outlining a bit sharper, so it looks pretty nice. Probably not as good as white/black, but decent enough for now :) Thanks to everyone who made this possible! ;)

http://img131.exs.cx/img131/8787/y550.jpg

[thop]

Well as Zhnujm found out the IFO that i posted a few posts back appaears to be some kind of *magic* IFO ;) It works with almost all other idx/sub files. Just copy the IFO to the idx/sub, rename it accordingly and voila the player shows idx/sub subtitles. Only problem so far is that the colors are off for now, it mostly shows them white/green/pink. I guess someone with a deeper knowledge of subtitles and IFOs could probably make an universal IFO, if such a thing is possible.

At least we know that the player can indeed play vobsub subtitles.

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by new_age
If I'm right I'll make a patch. Will you test it? If yes please send your email address in private message.
C/NA

May i ask if you have already done this patch ? If yes, would you also send this to me ?


Originally posted by Sharro@Home
Digging out an old post... Now that subtitles have quantum leaped quality the above problem identified by Zhnujm is evident on the last firmwares by Cherry/NA and MaB.


I recognised this in very rare cases even with original DVDs !
Very annoying.


Originally posted by thop
Only problem so far is that the colors are off for now, it mostly shows them white/green/pink.

It works for me if i edit the colors in the .idx file, just change the original line into this:

# The original palette of the DVD
palette: 108080, 000000, 000000, 000000, 000000, 000000, 000000, 000000, 7d8080, eb8080, 000000, 000000, 000000, 000000, 000000, 000000

Dont know if this works in every case or if its different with different dvds.

[new_age]

Originally posted by Zhnujm
May i ask if you have already done this patch ? If yes, would you also send this to me ?


Send me your mail address.

[thop]

ok some progress with the vobsubs. with the above posted ifo and the following values in the idx:

palette: 0000e1, e83f07, 000000, fdfdfd, 11eb10, 90a126, 90a126, 095d76, ccf516, e0e0e0, 701f03, 077307, 00006c, cc0ae9, d2ab0f, 730972

you get the correct subtitles, with the right shape end everything, just in yellow. but no more pink or green.

http://img62.exs.cx/img62/151/y5502.jpg

[lordyu]

Originally posted by thop
Well as Zhnujm found out the IFO that i posted a few posts back appaears to be some kind of *magic* IFO ;) It works with almost all other idx/sub files. Just copy the IFO to the idx/sub, rename it accordingly and voila the player shows idx/sub subtitles. Only problem so far is that the colors are off for now, it mostly shows them white/green/pink. I guess someone with a deeper knowledge of subtitles and IFOs could probably make an universal IFO, if such a thing is possible.

At least we know that the player can indeed play vobsub subtitles.
Could you explain a bit about the procedure? I don't understand this: "Just copy the IFO to the idx/sub" does it mean replace both .idx and .sub with .ifo?

Say I have subtitles ripped as movie.ifo and movie.vob. I use VSRip to creat movie.idx and movie.sub. Now I have 5 files:

1.movie.avi
2.movie.idx
3.movie.sub
4.movie.ifo
5.movie.vob

The first 3 files are enough for playing subtitles on computer using Gabest's DirectVobSub. For this standalone player, which files do I put on CD? Which files are replaced by which?

Cheers.

[thop]

You need idx/sub/ifo to show subtitles. If you only have idx/sub you can also use the ifo from any other movie (just rename it accordingly). But then you have to play around wih the color index (palette) in the .idx file to get the correct colors. Best is to use the palette that was in the .idx that belonged to the .ifo (from another movie) and put it in the new .idx. The palette is mandatory, if you have an .idx without palette the subtitles will not show.

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by thop
Best is to use the palette that was in the .idx that belonged to the .ifo (from another movie) and put it in the new .idx. The palette is mandatory, if you have an .idx without palette the subtitles will not show.

Does it really work for you with the original color palette ?
I still have to convert them from RGB to YUV to get the right colors.
Or am i missing an option in VobSub Rip ?

[thop]

zhnujm figured it all out :) the color index of vobsubs has to be converted from rgb to yuv, then it works perfect. any ifo seems to work, so vobsubs is basically solved.

makes me wonder if it wouldn't be possible to hack the firmware and make the player expect RGB instead of YUV? new_age did you find anything like that? cause the .idx will show wrong colors with dvobsub after the conversion. instead we could make the same .idx work on both.

PS. Actually i just noticed that the vobsubs cause the player to crap out once like every 5-10 minutes, it will show a garbled white screen overlayed over the actual movie for about half a second. So it's not perfect (yet?).

[Sharro]

Hmmmppfff...

Hi guys,

I've been testing last firmware from MTZ and Madpalace (.

On both I've found that some blocks are showing on video when subtitles are used.

It's not blocks on scenes (like we see in dark areas sometimes) it looks like to me that a buffer/cache is not cleaned up.

I will explain.

On Star Wars movies in the "introduction" (when letter scroll to infinite) when the subtitles are displayed, the next frames leave a trail of small blocks below the letters being scrolled that disappear when next subtitle is shown.

Deactivating subtitles solves the problem.

@Zhnujm: Does te SUB/IDX also cause the frame stop/repetition ?

All the best,


Sharro

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by Sharro
@Zhnujm: Does te SUB/IDX also cause the frame stop/repetition ?
All the best,
Sharro

Yes, same problem :(
But at least they have perfect size,position and color.

[thop]

I never noticed that. What's the error exactly like? Does it repeat the subtitles or the frame (or both)? Anyway i've tried a few movies here and vobsub is working now, shows all vobsubs correctly (even chinese), only thing necessary is RGB->YUV but fortunately there is a tool for that :)

Maybe Yamaha will also get black outline for subtitles one day, then it'd be perfect :)

[Alexander Maxim]

Originally posted by Sharro
Hmmmppfff...

Hi guys,

I've been testing last firmware from MTZ and Madpalace (.

On both I've found that some blocks are showing on video when subtitles are used.

It's not blocks on scenes (like we see in dark areas sometimes) it looks like to me that a buffer/cache is not cleaned up.

I will explain.

On Star Wars movies in the "introduction" (when letter scroll to infinite) when the subtitles are displayed, the next frames leave a trail of small blocks below the letters being scrolled that disappear when next subtitle is shown.

Deactivating subtitles solves the problem.

@Zhnujm: Does te SUB/IDX also cause the frame stop/repetition ?

All the best,


Sharro
is that on dvd or divx mode? the star wars thing, I mean

[mezzanine]

Originally posted by thop
I never noticed that. What's the error exactly like? Does it repeat the subtitles or the frame (or both)? Anyway i've tried a few movies here and vobsub is working now, shows all vobsubs correctly (even chinese), only thing necessary is RGB->YUV but fortunately there is a tool for that :)

Maybe Yamaha will also get black outline for subtitles one day, then it'd be perfect :)

What tool is for that conversion (RGB->YUV) ?
Do i have to give a certain name to the .IFO ?

thanx

[Alexander Maxim]

How on earth can I see the attached files of a post? 'Cause I can't download anything from here! :confused: