Info and forum posts by 'RikD'

RE: back at last.

Sorry to hear that some of you have had major problems. They really seem to have quality issues

On the plus side (for me at least) I don`t have any major problems with DVD playback (no white lines, etc.) and the new firmware has fixed the cropping of 16:9 DivX files.

Overall I`m still delighted with it.

-RikD.

RE: please help! sos

The Ellion DVR-530S is very good - plays back DivX and xvid as well

£153 on scan
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=148969

-RikD

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

Have only tried the "+" variety - i.e. works on +R, and +RW as well as CDR, and CDRW.

-RikD.

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

To put it more correctly - I`m satisifed with picture quality.

On playback of DVDs a lot of CGI/animated scenes seem to be highly saturated - yet skin tones, etc seem to be perfect. Maybe I`m just used to a bad DVD player for the last year or so that had a problem rendering these and I now think they`re over saturated?!

I also felt sky to recorder was very bright - but have isolated this to the Macrovision SCART from sonel (which works a treat :) )

And while I`m at it - some more info on xvid and divx from Ellion...
"1. For DIVX file format ,we support AVI-file-format(*.avi or *.divx) .
2. For video encoder , now support all encoder of DivX-Certification requirement except GMC encoder. And also can support XVID encoder except QPEL.
3. For DIVX audio encoder, we can support mp3,ac3,
4. For external subtitle , *.sub(MICRODVD), *.srt, *.smi. *.txt"

- RikD

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

Sound is MPEG

also some more info - 2hr mode records 675x027[at]spf52 4380kbps

-RikD

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

bradavon78 -> My TV is a 28" Widescreen, and I was the reviewer who complained about picture (colour saturation rather than brightness) - but after running several discs I`m prepared to accept that it`s just me.

One of my memory sticks (Typhoon I believe) registers as 2 disks, disk 1 is only 1Mb and has a password software exe on it, and the 2nd disk is the 128Mb.

KDH ->
No cooling fan.
Haven`t analysed the sound recorded yet - I`ll have to have a look at that later.
I have no use for Videoplus as I have SKY - you may want to check that yourself.

And yes five stars in the review - I think it`s an amazing piece of kit. I`ve now tried many DivX/Xvid titles which all work flawlessly - and recording RGB from Sky is great. The only thing missing is a hard drive - but I have 250Mb in my Sky+ box so I don`t really need it.

-RikD.

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

1. I take it no one else apart from that reviewer has an issue with the brightness on the scart if using RGB?

So far at least... I`m fairly fussy when it comes to picture quality. My wife and others think it`s great, so maybe it`s just me.

2. Can this be bought multi-region or is a handset hack available?

Not really multi-region. But it`s easy to change the region code using instructions on Scan. I usually leave it as Region 0 and if I come across RCE discs just change it to the required region.

3. I see it has a USB port and can read a USB memory stick but what about a MP3 DAP (i.e - Ipod)? Such as the iRiver that assigns itself a drive letter in windows just like a memory stick.

Haven`t tried this as my DAP doesn`t support the USB Storage standard. But documentation states only 128Mb stick and my 256Mb definitely works so maybe it can access more - note: another MP3 stick which has 2 drives didn`t work.

-RikD

This item was edited on Friday, 28th January 2005, 08:34

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

OK - have played a few more DVDs

Strange Days -> very good - DVD kept pace with the fast action, and in Chapter 17 the colours were very well rendered and nicely detailed.

Finding Nemo -> again very good, but I felt at times the colours were a little over saturated, but nothing that would take from enjoying the film. Must try another animated title to see if it`s just me as I didn`t notice it in Strange Days (and yes I went back and checked).

The Fifth Element -> perfect.

All in all very impressive. I still think my original Hitachi (DVP-250E) had a superior picture, but the Ellion beats everything else I`ve used hands down.

Another note - this is the first budget player I`ve used where the menus are actually responsive! Very little delay if any.

- RikD

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

Firstly - can confirm the Ellion does indeed record an RGB signal.

Recorded SKY Service menu in 3 mode
- UHF
- SCART, with Sky setting to PAL
- SCART, with Sky setting to RGB

And each was a large difference - the RGB recording is simply superb!

As for pre-recorded DVDs. I`ve only had the recorder a few days, so haven`t tried eveyrhting yet - but with a few DVDs (Scream 3, Kill Bill & Futurama) I`ve had SM Electronics 2500, Hitachi DVP-250, Hitachi-DVP305E and some model of Alba player from Argos (recent model), and the Ellion (so far) beats everything but the DVP-250 - but the Hitachi was well known for it`s exceptional picture quality. I must throw on a few sci-fi movies to really check it out - Strange Days is usually my standard bearer :)

-RikD

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

AFAIK the tuner is nicam - but I don`t use it anyway as I use the SCART form SKY+ box.

As for RGB Recording capable - it certainly looks to be so - will do a more complete check this evening when I get home.

But if it is recording composite video - then it`s doing an amazing job as there is little difference between the RGB output from playback and S-Video from SKY+.

-RikD.

RE: Advice on DVD Recorders with DivX / XviD playback ..

Recently purchased the 530S and yes it can play most DivX (3.0, 5.0 & 5.1) and Xvid video. Have some problems with some I ripped with SuperDVD Creator - but other than that all downloads have worked flawlessly as with all of my newer rips with VirtualDub.

Some other good points:
Great Looks. That blue light stays on all the time :) and it`s really slim
Recording is dead easy
RGB in and out
Progressive Scan if I ever get the wife to agree to a projector
USB link to put pendrive with pics in works a treat (256MB Stick)
Recording quality is great at 1hr and 2hr modes (4 and 6 acceptable for some stuff)
very easy to make multiregion

Niggles:
Have yet to get codes for my one-for-all remote
DOA - but email to tech support idenitifed loose internal cable which was easily fixed

This item was edited on Wednesday, 26th January 2005, 08:54

Blast From Past - DV-P250E Firmware downloads

Hi,

Anyone know where I can download the firmware updates for the Hitachi DV-P250?

In particular the last R1 and R2 firmwares (have the multiregion).

Tried to see if they were on Irondukes old webpage - but that seems to have disappeared.

Any help would be much appreciated?

TIA.
RikD

RE: Hitachi DV P-250, what can it do?

Check out
http://www.theironduke.plus.com/HitachiSyndicate/Files/files.html

There are a numkber of different updates, MR ,R2, and R1 for the player.

RikD.

RE: Need Hitachi DV-K2 hack

I think the DVP-250 firmware will also work with the K2. Not 100% sure though!

The firmware does mention the K2 in it`s header, so might be worh looking at.

Also I tried the 705 firmware in a 250 which enabled Karoke on it! So maybe that might work also?!

Try http://www.theironduke.plus.com/HitachiSyndicate/ for the files..

RikD.

RE: HITACHI 705 Multiregion Firmware Here!

>At the end of the day the 705 is basically a 250 in a new case with an iproved firmware(128k bigger, probably to fix branching problem with the old 250).

Actually, I think the 128K bigger is for the CD-RW stuff for the DV-W1E. The 250 was fixed with R2 and R1 firmware which didn`t grow. It looks like the 250, 705 and W1 all use the same firmware.

RikD.

Hitachi 505E under investigation

Looks like the 505E does have problems after all...

Sorry Dukey....

Check out home cinema choice new at:
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/news/index.html

Maybe I`ll hold off for a while before buying...

RikD.

RE: I NEED HACK FOR REG 1 IN HITACHI dvp 250e BECAUSE I CAN´T PLAY PATRIOT

Don`t know if this works, as I don`t have an RCE disc, but...

You could try pressing STOP then the DISC NAVI button to move between chapters.

Let me know if it works!
RikD.

Get the Discs for Hitachi DVP250E from here....

http://translator.go.com/cb/trans_entry?input_type=url&lp=fr_en&lo=en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dvdalliance.com%2Fdezonage.php3

Do a search for Hitachi (Afficher).

It`s translated from french, so some wordings are a bit off..

It`s version 1.115 which seems to be the only one out there at the moment so expect not to be able to play RCE discs.

RikD.

RE: Which one... So many choices!

Haven`t seen any digital noise on the 250. So if it`s better then great, maybe it`s time to move on...

When I`m done on the 250, hopefully not too long... Then I`ll take the code for the 505 off you. I need to find out it`s processor though. I assume that it`ll be a hitachi proc of some sort. The SH3 was the one they pushed for embedded stuff so I assume it`ll probably be a variant of that.

Disassembling is easy. Each byte/word in the code can be instantly translated to an opcode, e.g. for the SH3 0F32 is STC SSR,R15.
Translating to C is a different kettle of fish. It would be easy to create the functions but working on parameters passed in and returned is not so easy and would take time.

Luckily the instruction opcodes are available. But this will still give only a general understanding of what the CPU does and not the whole player. This would involve a whole lot more....

Will see what we can achieve...

Anyway, looks like the 705 is probably the one to move to, if I don`t go with the Pioneer. Do you know when the 705 is meant to be released?

RikD

RE: Which one... So many choices!

Doesn`t sound so good. Is it often or just the occasional discs? And which discs?



Does it play any CDR of mp3s or do you have to compile to a standard?



But I still prefer my 250....


Find out if you can. Am working on a small C++ program which will read in the binary file and decompile to assembler for the SH3, SH3-E and SH3-DSP. It`s not too easy and I don`t have too much time to give to it.


When I have the program up and running maybe I can get these files off you. I hope to spend some time in the next 3 weeks to get the SH3 up and running. Then work on the others..


And still the best....



I haven`t got the patriot to try, and don`t intend to buy it. I didn`t particularly like the movie, and don`t fancy forking out for it. If stoping the DVD before the menu is possible then the Disk Navi (or digest as you call it) would work a treat, showing every title and chapter... Which I might add is great for getting to easter eggs!

RikD

Pioneer 530D

This is the silver version of the 535D.

Any thoughts on this player?

What`s the picture quality like?
Any problems?
Build quality?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.
RikD

RE: Which one... So many choices!

Am already part of the "Hitachi Syndicate" with a DVP-250E.

My main concern is lask of support for this player in terms of multi-region. It`s been impossible to get hold of firmware to fix the Matrix, and now with the RCE encoding it looks like my R1 days are numbered with this player. I don`t think too many will try to create a new firmware for this player.

To be quite honest, I love the 250E. The picture quality is brilliant and has no problems playing most discs, including R1,R2 and R4. The only gripes where withthe seamless branching and the subtitles flashing up on a layer change. This was fixed for R2, but not multi-region.

My father bought a 305 a few weeks ago and it`s pretty good, but the picture breaks up on some discs. I believe it`s a rebadged Samsung 511.

Is the 505E a rebadge, or is it Hitachi homegrown?

What`s the picture quality like? If you`ve seen the 250E can you compare?
Are there any problem disks with it?

What extras will the 705 have over the 505?

As for the LG...
I`ve always liked LG back when they sold under Goldstar. My stereo is Goldstar!
But I prefer the look of the Pioneer or Hitachi. The LG looks like the old Jap stereo systems, all gaudy and tacky!

The firmware...
What processor is the 505 based on? The chances of getting it back to C are slim. I assume you have the binary firmware file. Am in the process of decoding the 250 firmware (both 1.115 multiregion and 1.364 R2), but it`s slow progress. I think it`s an SH3 proc, but haven`t opened it to be sure.


RikD

Which one... So many choices!

Am thinking of changing my dvd player and am between two players but can find little information on either one and have some questions

The first is the Hitachi 505E (£300).
Is this a clone, or hitachi`s own player?
Are there any know issues, if so what are they?
How does the mp3 work?
What is the picture quality like?
Is it worth waiting on the 705E
Build Qaulity?

The second is the Pioneer 530D (£170). This is the Silver version of the 535.
Are there any know issues, if so what are they?
What`s the picture quality like?
What about RCE?
Build quality?

TIA
RikD