Test Report: Siemssen(Nero)SCO5000ND

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi Mark,

The three AAC-LC "test file" tracks are actually: -

01 Alanis Morissette - Perfect
02 Alanis Morissette - All I Really Want
03 Aerosmith - Back in the Saddle


Cheers

[tedgo]

I've read that the player only supports 2ch-LC-AAC up to 192kbps properly.
Is it true?
'Cos some posts here claim the siemssen as also supporting 6ch-HE-AAC.
And what bitrates are really supported?
Is the player able to play audio only MP4 with tags from DVD+R/W?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by tedgo
I've read that the player only supports 2ch-LC-AAC up to 192kbps properly.
Is it true?
'Cos some posts here claim the siemssen as also supporting 6ch-HE-AAC.
And what bitrates are really supported?
Is the player able to play audio only MP4 with tags from DVD+R/W? tedgo, please look here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88680).


Cheers

[tedgo]

@SeeMoreDigital
I've read it before. But haven't found answers.
So, what audio bitrates are supported?
And what is with tagged audio only MP4-Files on DVD+R/W?
Btw. there is claimed that the player plays HE-AAC well. But does it mean that it plays as HE-AAC or just as LC AAC with cut frequencies?

[telemachus]

tedgo

it plays all mp3 bitrates i have tried, very low to 320 as well as vbr.

as far as aac stuff, i havent a clue.

i'm sending it off to be "fixed" today, so will not have it to test aac stuff should you want to post a link to some HE-AAC and LC-AAC test files.

till later
mark.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by telemachus
as far as aac stuff, i havent a clue. Well for starters... what does it say in your user manual ;)

But as the Siemssen is NeroDigital certified, it should be able to play the following AAC-LC bitrates: -

2Ch AAC-LC can be set between 16 - 448Kbps
6Ch AAC-LC can be set between 192 - 640Kbps

And even the followng AAC-HE bitrates (but without being able to decode the SBR element correctly): -

2Ch AAC-HE can be set between 16 - 128Kbps
6Ch AAC-HE can be set between 96 - 448Kbps


Cheers

[bond]

i doubt it supports he-aac, cause than it would have been announced (also support for he-aac causes more licenses to have paid, which siemssen surely wants to avoid)

[Skuto]

It will still *play them back*. Not in the best quality, though.

BTW. The one I bought could read DVD+RW...

And playing mp4 from SD cards worked.

[telemachus]

Hello skuto

Can you please test the subtitle text I have pasted below?
I am curious as to whether the problem is with MY SCO5000 or with all of them!

The problem is that you will not see all the text, and if you do see it all, some of them will probably be so fast that you cannot read them.

If you see them normally, I will pay the £26 to send mine back to Germany for repairs or to get a new one...

Please save this as a .srt file and play it with a movie. I would VERY much appreciate your testing it for me. The subs start at 5 mins 25 seconds into the movie.

Thanks!
Mark.

7
00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:26,900
Poorly.

8
00:05:29,100 --> 00:05:30,700
Roger, your muffler.

9
00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:31,800
I've got it.

10
00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:34,000
She tried to
take her life again?

11
00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:42,600
Thank heaven, she's alive.

12
00:05:42,900 --> 00:05:44,000
Butcher...,

13
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,000
I think you've
got a customer coming.

14
00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:49,400
Who's next?

15
00:05:49,700 --> 00:05:50,500
I am!

16
00:05:59,000 --> 00:05:59,600
That for me?

17
00:06:00,100 --> 00:06:00,900
At your service.

18
00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:02,900
Put it on my bill.

19
00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:03,900
We know where...

[Skuto]

Hi,

I gave it to my dad. Won't have access to it for another 2 weeks or so. I didn't notice any problems with subtitles though.

[Skuto]

Originally posted by telemachus
9
00:05:31,100 --> 00:05:31,800
I've got it.

16
00:05:59,000 --> 00:05:59,600
That for me?

19
00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:03,900
We know where...


These will only show for 700-600ms. Wouldn't that just flash by?

[telemachus]

hello skuto

6-700 ms is over half a second, which is much longer than they are up for, and also often they do not appear at all, for example

At 5:43 the word “Butcher” sometimes appears, sometimes not. When it appears it is so quick that you cannot read it. Again, at 5:48, the words “Who's next?” and then “I am!” are so quick that you cannot read it - usually they does not appear on the screen at all. Again at 6:00 the words “At your service“ are missing or too fast to read. If you play the file using BS Player or another Software based player, you can see that the correct display of that subtitle is on screen for at least two seconds…

I bought the player so I dont have to connect my laptop to the TV all the time, but since i enjoy foreign subtitled movies, it looks like i may have a problem with the sco5000, which is why i would like to know if it is "normal" for hardware players to play subtitles so badly.

If you get a spare half hour, i would massively appreciate it if you could test your dad's player for me...

thanks goodfella
mark.:)

[Soulhunter]

Nice, just got this player from the Nero guys... :)

Think I gonna start my own test procedure next week !!!


Bye

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by Soulhunter
Nice, just got this player from the Nero guys... :) Have you got a new toy to play with then?


Cheers

[tpol069]

I also bought this player, but within 1 week i returned it. I could not get the audio and video in sinc. I tried several brands of disc but without fixing the problem.

I tried these brands:

Philips
Sony
TDK
Memorex
Verbatim

According to the Siemssen service center, Sony, TDK and Verbatim are recommended. However they had the same problems, as with all my discs.

BTW, I just got me a Waitek Vision SLX, witch works perfectly.
This one also supports, qp, gmc and b frames.

[telemachus]

After several conversations with Tech support in Germany, it was decided I should send my player in to be "fixed" but then rip off britain prevented it, £26 to send to germany!!!

so i told them about the massive expense to send it back and they said "we will see what we can do!"

i got an email late today and they say they will have a Firmware upgrade in two weeks!!!

YEEEESSSSS....!!!!!

So we will just wait and see what it manages to sort out.

Delighted!
mark.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by telemachus
i got an email late today and they say they will have a Firmware upgrade in two weeks!!!

YEEEESSSSS....!!!!!

So we will just wait and see what it manages to sort out. Well, that's a load off!

So "there will be" firmware upgrades for this player after-all?


Cheers

[tpol069]

Thats nice to hear there will be firmware updates that might (not) fix the audio out of sinc problems. I'm however happy, with my waitec,so i dont have to wait weeks with a dvd playerthat doesnt work properly.

All i'm waiting for now, is a chance that Nero Digital might be supported on the Vision SLX, with a firmware update.

[SeeMoreDigital]

I know I've asked this before, but can any of you "proud" Siemssen SCO5000 ND owners post some more detailed info about this player...

The information on Siemssen's web site is, vague to say the least :eek:

I don't know whether it's just me but they don't seem to be promoting this product as well as they could be!


Cheers

[telemachus]

Hi there seemoredigital

there is no more info and nothing to report
the manual has the same (lack) of info as the site/pdf files

sorry

mark
ooh, btw, i got hold of an sd card with pics on it, which works fine, you can press a button to rotate the vertical pics.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by telemachus
ooh, btw, i got hold of an sd card with pics on it, which works fine, you can press a button to rotate the vertical pics. How much data can your SD card hold? And... do you know how to create a short DVD test file?

If not, and you a willing, I would like to burn some files onto a CD and post then to you, so you can transfer them to your SD card.


Cheers

[telemachus]

hey there seemoredigital

i have the mp4 files which Bond made for his testcd, aren't those good/small enough, or is the bandwidth far too high to transfer via SD card? are you talking about a very small kbs rate?

just email em to me, mark at videoblurb dot com

mark

[CruNcher]

no custom quant support argh really bad :(
have to test this myself can't be mediateks chip has no problems with those tsts

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hi Mark,

The Mpeg2/DVD encode I would like you to test is around 30MB, so it's quite large!

I'm interested to know if this player will allow you to launch the encode by navigating directly to the VIDEO_TS.IFO file.


Cheers

[telemachus]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Hi Mark,

The Mpeg2/DVD encode I would like you to test is around 30MB, so it's quite large!

I'm interested to know if this player will allow you to launch the encode by navigating directly to the VIDEO_TS.IFO file.


Cheers

i stuck a few of bond's 10 second mp4 file on the sd card and it played about 2 seconds then went to the next file.

if you have a link i can dl and test it.

so your test is to see if the siemssen will regard the sd card as a DVD medium? WHY would you want to know, i ask!?

mark.

[Sagittaire]

Good player ... ;-)

In fact Custom Matrix is compatible with chip's player:
- XviD-CM in avi with VDM
- ND-CM in mp4 with nerorecode

but mp4creator, mp4box or mp4ui are unable to make mux with MPEG4-ASP custum matrix in mp4 (mp4UI is unable to make mp4 ISMA compliant). Perhabs possible with 3ivx muxer and certainely with Nero AVC muxer ... ??!


Complete test in progress with personnal CDR test.

1) ISO 14496-1 (Container)
Chapters
Subtitles
Anamorphic
multistream audio: 2.0+2.0, 5.1+5.1 and 5.1+2.0

2) ISO 14496-2 (Video)
MPEG4 ASP +
1 Bframe
3 bframe
1 bframe + PQ
3 bframe + PQ
AQ (psy)
GMC 1WP
GMC 3WP
Qpel
CM

3) ISO 14496-3 (Audio)
LC AAC 2.0 32 KHz 64 Kbps CBR
LC AAC 2.0 44 KHz 80 Kbps CBR
LC AAC 2.0 48 KHz 96 Kbps CBR
LC AAC 2.0 44 KHz 80 Kbps VBR
HE AAC 2.0 44 KHz 80 Kbps CBR
HE AAC 2.0 44 KHz 80 Kbps VBR
LC AAC 5.1 44 KHz 192 Kbps CBR
LC AAC 5.1 44 KHz 192 Kbps VBR
HE AAC 5.1 44 KHz 192 Kbps CBR
HE AAC 5.1 44 KHz 192 Kbps VBR

perhabs + PNS if possible ...

[BoNz1]

Hi, I got my player today. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work right :( and I'm not exactly sure why. Basically what happens is when I hook it up to my tv it outputs a cascading staticy grey screen with no colour. It isn't a problem with the connections, I've checked them like a hundred times. I fear that it got broken when it got shipped :(. I looked like it may have got handled quite roughly since the power converter was smashed into two pieces. Hopefully this isn't the case though. Maybe someone else has this problem and fixed it? BTW I am in North America (Canada) maybe that makes a difference.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Have any of you guys tried playing any of the new DivX Media Format encodes, with this player, such as this (39.8MB) Last Man Standing (http://download.divx.com/labs/LastManStanding.zip) clip?

For more information about why the encodes are so different to normal DivX .AVI's, please look here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88988) and here (http://www.divxlabs.com/)!


Cheers

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by telemachus
..so your test is to see if the siemssen will regard the sd card as a DVD medium? WHY would you want to know, i ask!?

mark. Although some players can navigate directly to VTS_xx_1.VOB, VTS_xx_2.VOB, VTS_xx_3.VOB, etc files, they can't navigate to the more important VIDEO_TS.IFO or VTS_xx_0.IFO files!

Both files (along with some others others) are required, in order to preserve the DVD's chapter, audio, subtitle language and menu information.


Cheers

[telemachus]

Originally posted by BoNz1
Hi, I got my player today. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work right :( and I'm not exactly sure why.... I looked like it may have got handled quite roughly since the power converter was smashed into two pieces. Hopefully this isn't the case though. Maybe someone else has this problem and fixed it? BTW I am in North America

hello bonz1
hell, if something is smashed in the box, it was obviously very badly treated in transit. I would get hold of them asap and see if they will pay for a replacement.
mine did not hae a power adapter, i guess because you are running 110volts?

later
mark

[telemachus]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Although some players can navigate directly to VTS_xx_1.VOB, VTS_xx_2.VOB, VTS_xx_3.VOB, etc files, they can't navigate to the more important VIDEO_TS.IFO or VTS_xx_0.IFO files!

Both files (along with some others others) are required, in order to preserve the DVD's chapter, audio, subtitle language and menu information.

Cheers

aah, kapish!

i am dl'ing that zip file and will test it later tonight.

ciao
mark.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by telemachus
... i am dl'ing that zip file and will test it later tonight. This must be the "Last Man Standing" DivX clip... yes!

If you want me to post you a short DVD test file on CD, please PM me your address.


Cheers

[telemachus]

will do...

[telemachus]

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Have any of you guys tried playing any of the new DivX Media Format encodes, with this player, such as this (39.8MB) Last Man Standing (http://download.divx.com/labs/LastManStanding.zip) clip?

Cheers

YEEE HAAA...

I tested that Last Man Standing clip, and the Siemssen plays all this off one avi clip:

3 different stereo audio tracks, two music and one with narration and fx

5 different subtitle tracks, english, french, spanish, italian and something else... im not sure of the order.

They played smoothly and the quality was great.

Mark.

[plonk420]

Originally posted by telemachus
The tray is very flimsy and the CD only comes out about 75%, and there are no indents to lift the CD out, so you have to poke it out from underneath the tray - very stupid design!

it *does* feel a little flimsy, but i have no probs lifting the disc out as is.

my only issue is that it doesn't play AVIs (or anything for that matter) off DVD-Rs, or at least mine. oh, and that it defaults to PAL so that NTSC users have one hell of a time setting it to their system (picture rolls so quickly you can't figure out where to go in the menu)

Originally posted by BoNz1
Hi, I got my player today. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work right :( and I'm not exactly sure why. Basically what happens is when I hook it up to my tv it outputs a cascading staticy grey screen with no colour. It isn't a problem with the connections, I've checked them like a hundred times. I fear that it got broken when it got shipped :(. I looked like it may have got handled quite roughly since the power converter was smashed into two pieces. Hopefully this isn't the case though. Maybe someone else has this problem and fixed it? BTW I am in North America (Canada) maybe that makes a difference.

hey bones, hook it up to different TVs or video cameras until you find one where the picture doesn't roll. then go into Setup > Video > and set System (or whatever it is) to NTSC.


LAST question/edit: how can i tell if i'm testing a 3WP Xvid file? i've encoded with all beneficial checkboxes checked and assumed i was using 3WP GMC... are there any common movies that make use of it during specific spots of the films? i've tried a fair number of my encodes and they all have played just fine (Finding Nemo, Dreamcatcher, all of Brother Bear, all of Super Size Me (which fell out of sync on the second disc and didn't recover until i turned it off for a few mins) and a random anime fansub or two)

[BoNz1]

Originally posted by plonk420

hey bones, hook it up to different TVs or video cameras until you find one where the picture doesn't roll. then go into Setup > Video > and set System (or whatever it is) to NTSC.


Lol, I do believe that is the first time anyone has *ever* called me bones :p. BTW did you have this same problem? You are located in the US right? Anyway, I can't find a TV where the picture doesn't do this. So I guess I will just have to play with it till I get set to NTSC. Cheers :).
EDIT: Wups, I didn't read the first part of the post where you said you had the same problem.
EDIT2: Could plonk or someone else tell me which buttons to press and in which order to set it to NTSC? I have managed to set it to a different output now so now I get no picture at all :(. And if someone could tell me how to reset the factory defaults (so the output is right) that would be great too :).

[Sagittaire]

Nero use special feature (tag perhabs ... ???) for LC-ACC 5.1 ... if you don't use mp4 nero container for LC-AAC 5.1 Siemenss can't play correctly multichanel ...

[telemachus]

Originally posted by BoNz1

EDIT2: Could plonk or someone else tell me which buttons to press and in which order to set it to NTSC? I have managed to set it to a different output now so now I get no picture at all :(. And if someone could tell me how to reset the factory defaults (so the output is right) that would be great too :). [/B]

i will do that tonight when i get home from work.

mark

[telemachus]

Originally posted by plonk420
it *does* feel a little flimsy, but i have no probs lifting the disc out as is.

my only issue is that it doesn't play AVIs (or anything for that matter) off DVD-Rs, or at least mine. oh, and that it defaults to PAL so that NTSC users have one hell of a time setting it to their system (picture rolls so quickly you can't figure out where to go in the menu)



you must be one of those mandarins with looonnnnggg fingernails?

i was having some problems with dvd-r's and i changed from 8x to 4x disks (since my burner only burns at 4x anyway) and now there is no problem at all.

i think it is a bit disk fussy, but the improvement in compatibility after changing dvd-r type disks was huge.

later
mark

[telemachus]

Originally posted by BoNz1
And if someone could tell me how to reset the factory defaults (so the output is right) that would be great too :).

ok bonez, here we go:

power up
press setup
right (to video)
center (enter video menu)
down (to pal ntsc choice)
center (to choice menu)
up (to ntsc)
center (to select it)
press setup again. (to get on with life!)

hope it works
mark.

[Sagittaire]

Originally posted by Sagittaire
Nero use special feature (tag perhabs ... ???) for LC-ACC 5.1 ... if you don't use mp4 nero container for LC-AAC 5.1 Siemenss can't play correctly multichanel ...

EDIT: mp4box seem make good mp4 for AAC + 5.1 but not mp4creator or mp4UI ...

[Sagittaire]

CDR test for Nero Digital ASP compatible player (http://jfl1974.free.fr/Download/)

1) ISO 14496-1 (Container)
Mux with Nero Recode
test 01: MPEG4 ASP + LC-AAC + chapter Yes
test 02: MPEG4 ASP + LC-AAC + subtitles Eng & Fre Yes
test 03: MPEG4 ASP + LC-AAC + anamorphic No
test 04: MPEG4 ASP + audio LC-AAC 2.0 Eng + audio LC-AAC 2.0 Fre Yes
test 05: MPEG4 ASP + audio LC-AAC 5.1 Eng + audio LC-AAC 5.1 Fre Yes
test 05: MPEG4 ASP + audio LC-AAC 5.1 Eng + audio LC-AAC 2.0 Fre Yes

2) ISO 14496-2 (Video)
Mux with mp4box
test 01: MPEG4 ASP + LC-AAC Yes
test 02: MPEG4 ASP 1 Bframe + LC-AAC Yes
test 03: MPEG4 ASP 3 Bframe + LC-AAC Yes
test 04: MPEG4 ASP 1 Bframe packet bitstream (DivX) + LC-AAC Yes
test 05: MPEG4 ASP 3 Bframe packet bitstream (DivX) + LC-AAC Yes
test 06: MPEG4 ASP Adaptative Quantisation + LC-AAC Yes
test 07: MPEG4 ASP Custom Matrix + LC-AAC Yes but with Nero Recode mux only
test 08: MPEG4 ASP Qpel + LC-AAC Yes
test 09: MPEG4 ASP GMC 1WP (DivX)+ LC-AAC Yes
test 10: MPEG4 ASP GMC 3WP (XviD or Nero)+ LC-AAC No

3) ISO 14496-3 (Audio)
Mux with mp4box
test 01: LC-AAC 2.0 32KHz 64Kbps CBR Yes
test 02: LC-AAC 2.0 44KHz 80Kbps CBR Yes
test 03: LC-AAC 2.0 48KHz 96Kbps CBR Yes
test 04: LC-AAC 2.0 48KHz 90Kbps VBR Yes
test 05: HE-AAC 2.0 48KHz 96Kbps CBR No SBR -> 24KHz
test 06: HE-AAC 2.0 48KHz 50Kbps VBR No SBR -> 24KHz
test 07: LC-AAC 5.1 48KHz 192Kbps CBR Yes
test 08: LC-AAC 5.1 48KHz 192Kbps VBR Yes
test 09: HE-AAC 5.1 48KHz 192Kbps CBR No SBR -> 24KHz
test 10: HE-AAC 5.1 48KHz 147Kbps VBR No SBR -> 24KHz

[BoNz1]

Originally posted by telemachus
ok bonez, here we go:

power up
press setup
right (to video)
center (enter video menu)
down (to pal ntsc choice)
center (to choice menu)
up (to ntsc)
center (to select it)
press setup again. (to get on with life!)

hope it works
mark.

Thanks, it works now :). Superdump gave me a hand with it on IRC as well. Thanks guys :).

[plonk420]

Originally posted by telemachus
you must be one of those mandarins with looonnnnggg fingernails?


not really, i just stick my finger in the hole until it's stuck to my finger when i bring my hand back up X)


i was having some problems with dvd-r's and i changed from 8x to 4x disks (since my burner only burns at 4x anyway) and now there is no problem at all.

i think it is a bit disk fussy, but the improvement in compatibility after changing dvd-r type disks was huge.

when you say DVD-Rs are you referring to DVD-Video or DVD-ISOs with MP4s or AVIs? all the ones i tried are ISOs with AVIs. none seem to read (most were high quality Ritek G04s before they got shitty on everyone :()

[telemachus]

Originally posted by plonk420
not really, i just stick my finger in the hole until it's stuck to my finger when i bring my hand back up X)



when you say DVD-Rs are you referring to DVD-Video or DVD-ISOs with MP4s or AVIs? all the ones i tried are ISOs with AVIs. none seem to read (most were high quality Ritek G04s before they got shitty on everyone :()

aah plonk, i have fatter fingers than you do!

both dvd-video i have created, single sided copies of disks i have and iso's with 5 different xvid or divx movies or mp3's or images all play fine. A change of disk made a massive difference. I am not even using expensive ones, just 4x ones made by the same Datawrite people as made the ones that did not work.

till later
mark

[alin.selicean]

Hi all

Searched the forum for Tevion, but didn't found an answer to my questions. I bought in Jan 2005 a Tevion DR2004 (Digital Receiver). It seems to be manufactured by Siemssen, although they deny it. The player was bought in Aldi Sud, in Germany, by a friend of mine.

It works just fine, with one exception: don't know how to display DivX subs. I tried various standards: srt, sub, txt. Nothing worked.

I couldn't see what chipset is it using, as it has a cooler stuck on it. I saw an ESS chip, a small one, but I presume that's for sound sys. I presume it uses the Zoran chipset (SeeMoreDigital actually confirmed from what he read in another sources). I saw a firmware update (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=625499#post625499) released by Siemssen by they said that the update was released only for Tevion DVD5000 which I suspect as being the same as Siemssen SCO5000ND. If the chipset is the same, the update shouldn't suite with my player as well ?

I tried to find out what firmware my player is using, but dunno how.

Can someone help me out with these ?

Thanks, folks.

Cheers,
Alin

PS: Although I work in IT, I'm new to DVDs and stuff like this, so be gentle :)

[Lord_KiRon]

Besides chipset there is an "issue" with DVD reader used - if it's not the same it will not work.

[alin.selicean]

Thx, Lord...

I can live with this and wait for an update. But, on the box states that the player plays subtitles with Divx movies. It doesn't so far. Or at least I can't. Maybe it's me. More, on the divx website, the player is not listed as certified, although on the player there's the DivX Certified logo. IMHO, if the player is certified, it should play Divx with subs, with no probs whatsoever. Maybe not Romanian subs, maybe not some fancy stuff (italics, bold, etc), but plain basic subs.

At least that's how I see it.

Suggestions on how to view subs greatly appreciated.

TIA.

Alin

PS: Just found the pic from Aldi here (http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5760027262)

[acidsex]

is there any place online that sellsthis player in the United States?

[alin.selicean]

Hi folks

Just found a solution to my subtitles problem on Tevion DR2004.

The solution might seem a bit childish, but... :)

I was selecting the sub file using the "Ok" or "Select" button on the remote control where I should be using the "Subtitle" button. I know it's a bit weird, but... anyway, now it's working and surprinsingly for a player manufactured in Germany, it's recognizing diacritics and cyrilic letters out-of-the-box.

As it's easy to become more demanding, now I have another question: How can I alter the fonts used to display the subs (color, position on the screen, etc) ?

Thanks.

Regards,
Alin