JVC's new player: XV-NP10S

[jggimi]

This is a progressive scan player with DivX Home Theater certification. I've had this player for a couple of weeks, and have a preliminary report. I'm unable to determine the chipset in use, and have assumed ESS. QPEL and GMC are expressly unsupported. There are some additional undocumented features that work, such as: AC3 audio in AVI files
XviD (it may fall under MPEG-4 ASP, as described below) But then, I could not get full D1 (720x480) DivX video to work, even though it is documented as functional, and should have been part of the player's certification testing. Even at half the Home Theater max bitrate, it would not work for me. 704x304, on the other hand, works fine.

Most of the manual states MPEG-4 Simple Profile. However, it also describes being able to play Advanced Simple Profile (buried in one line on page 23), which probably accounts for XviD playback.

I have tested DVD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-R media. I have tested DivX, Xvid video, and MP3 files. I also tried six different formats of external subtitles for AVI. I was unable to get any external subtitle to be recognized. Not surprising, as the manual doesn't mention subtitles outside of DVD / SVCD playback.

According to the manual, this is what's supported.

Media: DVD
DVD-R
DVD-RW
CD
CD-R
CD-RW
SD card
Multi Media Card
SmartMedia Card
Memory Stick
xD-Picture Card
CompactFlashData: DVD
SVCD
VCD
Audio CD
DivX on DVD-R / DVD-RW in UDF format
MP3, WMA, JPEG, MPEG-4, DivX in ISO 9960 format
MP3, WMA, JPEG, MPEG-4 from memory cards

[bond]

do .mp4 files work?

[jggimi]

I haven't tried that container, I can certainly do so and report back. I would hazard a guess that the answer would be "no" but I'm certainly willing to test it.

[bond]

plz use 3ivx or mp4box for muxing, as the other muxers might not create always a 100% correct output

[jggimi]

will do.

[jggimi]

As expected, nope. I used MP4Box, and it could not read the .mp4 file. Sorry.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi jggimi

How well do Mpeg4/Mp3 or Mpeg4/AC3 in AVI encodes work... Have you done any more tests?

Would you like some ncodes to try?


Cheers

[jggimi]

I've not tried any additional video tests. As I mentioned, above, both MP3 and AC3 soundtracks in AVI containers work fine.

I may do some additional testing with D1 resolutions on different media, just in case it was a media problem ... but I tend to doubt it as the bitrate should have been low enough.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by jggimi
...I may do some additional testing with D1 resolutions on different media, just in case it was a media problem ... but I tend to doubt it as the bitrate should have been low enough. I would be very surprised if the player can't spin 720x480 or 720x576 Mpeg4 material.

I'll provide some short XviD Mpeg4 720x480/576 test clips in both .AVI and .MP4 if you wish?

I wonder too if the JVC's spec is similar to the Panasonic DMR-E100 (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71470)which is also supposed to be able to spin Mpeg4 media...


Cheers

[jggimi]

I would be very surprised if the player can't spin 720x480 or 720x576 Mpeg4 material.I was, too.I'll provide some short XviD Mpeg4 720x480/576 test clips in both .AVI and .MP4 if you wish?Not .mp4, as the player doesn't recognize that container. PM sent.I wonder too if the JVC's spec is similar to the Panasonic DMR-E100 (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71470)which is also supposed to be able to spin Mpeg4 media...I doubt it, since that unit is an MPEG-2/MPEG-4 recorder, and not DivX Certified, and this unit is just a player. But the chipset is unknown, though other JVC players have been reported to use ESS.

[SeeMoreDigital]

It looks like the JVC player is available world wide.

I've just found a spec for it on JVC's UK web site (http://www.jvc.co.uk/product.php?id=XV-NP10S) and it's price seems to be in the £150.00 area, which is quite a bit more than the equivalent Philips DVP 642/630 player...

Although I do like the idea of the on-board media card readers.... I wonder if one of these card readers could be converted/modified to plug into a home network?


Cheers

[lordkinbote]

I was wondering if this player has VCD/SVCD Resume capability because I have the model before this, JVC XV-NP1SL, and I also have a one from a few years back, XV-S500BK and the NP1SL does not resume playback on VCDs or SVCDs only DVDs, while the older model resumes all three formats. I love the JPEG handling of the NP1SL though but the non-resuming of the SVCDs is really a problem for me. If the newer one does, I'll probably get that and give the other to my brother. Please let me know if you can test this out.

Thanks.

[jggimi]

@SMD:
There's no network connection on the player, sorry. I've tested the reader kit with SmartMedia (the only one I happen to own) and it works fine for displaying JPEG and TIFF files via component video. IIRC the player supports .avi files on cards, but the only SmartMedia writer I have is a still camera.

@lkb:
IIRC there's a "multiple disc resume" setting of some kind that I can turn on that will keep track of resume points across multiple DVD discs, not just the one disc in the player. But I've not turned the feature on, nor have I tested even the default "inserted disc resume" of the player. I'll test both with SVCD and report back, but perhaps not for several days.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by jggimi
@SMD:
There's no network connection on the player, sorry. I've tested the reader kit with SmartMedia (the only one I happen to own) and it works fine for displaying JPEG and TIFF files via component video. IIRC the player supports .avi files on cards, but the only SmartMedia writer I have is a still camera. Does the card reader work via an PCMCIA slot?

If so, I don't suppose you fancy forking out for an PCMCIA to 10/100 EtherNet adaptor :D


Cheers

[jggimi]

No, sorry. The PCMCIA slot is on my TV, not the player. It too has a multiple format card reader, including PCMCIA, but it doesn't support SmartMedia, so I've never tried to use it. And neither support USB sticks, which are the de facto standard PC memory cards these days. :rolleyes:

[SeeMoreDigital]

So the JVC has various media card slots then?

Unfortunately there's not much info on JVC's web site about this particular facility!


Cheers

[lordkinbote]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
So the JVC has various media card slots then?

Unfortunately there's not much info on JVC's web site about this particular facility!


Check out the model XV-NP1SL on the JVC website. It's the model that came out before (either earlier this year or last year), without DiVX support and there's more details about it's features.

[lordkinbote]

Thanks for checking for me, jggimi.:)

[jggimi]

Sorry. According to the manual, its a DVD-only feature, and I tested it with both SVCD and AVI.

[lordkinbote]

Ugh, how disappointing.

Thanks again for checking.

[Dimpared]

I had a quick question regarding this player, as I just bought it yesterday. I have some CDs burnt with my PC with xvid encoded avi files on them, which play fine on the player. Unfortunately my CD-R/W drive in my PC has taken a turn for the worse and does not work anymore. So, my only alternative (aside from buying a new drive) has been to burn CDs with my Mac Powerbook.

I burn the CD in Joliet (Windows/MS-Dos) mode and when I insert the CD the player recognizes the file structure and I am able to select the avi file for playback. However, it freezes at the "searching index" screen and freezes the player. The only way I'm able to turn the player off is to unplug it. I thought it may be an issue in how the files were encoded, and tried to burn a Divx 3 file to see if that was the issue. I then had the same issue. I then tried splitting the avi into a small segment, so I could burn on a CD-RW quickly and test, and it played fine, but the "searching index" dialogue remained for a moment after playback began.

Is it possible that the file structure is not being burned correctly by my powerbook? Or is would it be a problem with the avi index itself? I tried rebuilding the avi index with divfix on my pc and then burning with the powerbook, but the same problem occured. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Dimpared

[jggimi]

Sorry, I don't know what the cause of that particular trouble is. I have had the exact same symptom occur for me, too, but I do not recall clearly what the cause may have been, since it was when I first got the unit and was experimenting. It might have been at D1 resolution.

I've not been happy with this unit, nor with JVC. It is apparently based on the ESS Vibrato chipset, but I've not been able to confirm it other than by behavior, such as 4:3 DAR content not being sent to a 16:9 TV in wide screen,

JVC does not offer firmware updates.

When I contacted them about several commonly reported problems, and asking for a firmware upgrade, they replied with a form letter suggesting the unit was broken and that I return it for repair. If that's they case, then they're all broken, as those who have reported returning them to JVC has been no improvements in operation.

This unit has difficulty with high motion scenes at any bitrate, with DVD or MPEG-4. DVD Menus often cause crashes. That's right. Commercial DVDs out of the box, with even simple menus. The only discs that have worked without trouble for me have been VCD/SVCD.

[Dimpared]

Thanks for the input. I actually decided to get rid of the head-ache and returned the unit and bought a Philips DVP642. It plays EVERYTHING better, including DVDs. Some DVDs that would pixelate on the JVC would play on the Philips flawlessly. Every Xvid/Divx file I've thrown at the Philips player plays flawlessly. It's about $30 less too!

I had some buyers remorse with the JVC, but am a happy customer with the Philips DVP642.

Regards,

Dimpared

[jggimi]

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/killbill.php

[SeeMoreDigital]

Jeez,

That bad eh? Try selling it on ebay!


Cheers