[Sovkiller]

Purchased two of them at Circut City today in two different stores BTW, and both had serious problems in the progresive scan, lot of scrolling, and while playing some DVDs the frames skips, both of them, so IMO that is a problem in the design, not sure if they corrected that in other models, so after seen that honestly I strongly encourage you to look to another place for a cheap player to play any region and PAL dvds (the only reason for those as honestly for other purposes you have tons of better players) Tomorrow I will try to exchange them if the stores let me, as today was impsiobile, the stupid black friday don't let them do it....Let's see if in the new 5960 at least those problems are not present...

 

[music_man]

i can no longer recommend this unit! the recent ones are junk.

i do not know at what month they turned to junk unfortunately.

the latest ones have major bugs in the firmware(the smart power for one thing).
they are locked. they do not allow you to reflash the firmware any longer. nor do they allow you to display the firmware info anymore.

the transport now clicks so loud on every one of them(i've sampled) they are unusable for music.

then there is the 5140/5960. i saw that they upsampled. i was like "wow"!

long story short, this is not a meridian or cary. lol. oh, how i hoped it would be for $60.

ahh well, i guess this chapter of audiophile history has come to an end.

music_man

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_man /img/forum/go_quote.gif i can no longer recommend this unit! the recent ones are junk. i do not know at what month they turned to junk unfortunately. the latest ones have major bugs in the firmware(the smart power for one thing). they are locked. they do not allow you to reflash the firmware any longer. nor do they allow you to display the firmware info anymore. the transport now clicks so loud on every one of them(i've sampled) they are unusable for music. then there is the 5140/5960. i saw that they upsampled. i was like "wow"! long story short, this is not a meridian or cary. lol. oh, how i hoped it would be for $60. ahh well, i guess this chapter of audiophile history has come to an end. music_man

Man, that is sad to hear. I have had my DVP642 for a few months and it has logged hundreds of hours (I use it to burn in equipment as well as my nightstand rig) and so far I have had no problems whatsoever.

 

[PeAK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_man /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...i found the toshiba 3990 to be junk. i can no longer get the 3950,60,80. music_man

Could you point me to your post detaling the "junkiness" of the 3990. I picked one up for my friend and it sounds great when used as integrated CDP that I have no desire to feed into any of my external DACs (Art DI/O and Ack! DAck).

The previous generation 3980 seem to be the units with the problems. This unit responds well to some sort of rollerball isolation and the analog outs are fairly esoteric

PeAK

 

[music_man]

i do not know if i ever made an entire post regarding that. you are correct. the 3980 was really bad. when i said the 3990 was junk i meant it is not the legend that the 3950 and 60 were. it is still ok.

the problem has become that as these progress they become cheaper and cheaper. at $40 there is actually the most competition. i doubt we will be seeing any further dvd players for $40 that go against pioneer elite units.
pioneer elite is the minimum quality i like to see in a dvdp. if you can get it for $40(elites are $350+) that is a big bonus. looks like no more.

music_man

 

[Sovkiller]

Exchange it for the 5960, works like a charm, cracked the firmware to make it region free, and is working like a champ, playig now the Pat Metheny "More Travels", Region 2 NTSC DVD from Japan, and till now no problems, no scrolling no frame skipping as the younger brother, sound is decent though, also has USB out (???) and HD ready....

 

[music_man]

i just had a 5140 that also clicked very loudly.
maybe the 5960 is better.

the upsampling on those is pretty cool. it is still no cary or meridian as i mentioned. the fact that it is even present on a less than $100 player is good enough.

music_man

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_man /img/forum/go_quote.gif i just had a 5140 that also clicked very loudly. maybe the 5960 is better. the upsampling on those is pretty cool. it is still no cary or meridian as i mentioned. the fact that it is even present on a less than $100 player is good enough. music_man

I heard the feature, and read it on the box, but I did n't pay too much attention ot it, what is exactly that, is ti only for CDs???

 

[music_man]

it takes cd audio at 16 bit 44.1 khz and upconverts it into 24 bit 176.4 khz.
this makes the brick wall filter easier to implement. thus improving the sound. there are other reasons people claim it improves sound also. the feature is in the firmware settings. there are pages about cd upsampling for you to read about here at head-fi. have fun with the search. i could have said more but it has all been said here(much of it by me). you really should read some of it at least.

it is cool that it is there. truth be told, you will not realise what it does to the sound on a $80 player anyways. on the cary(upsampling) or the meridian(oversampling, same as this philips) it can be heard loud and clear. i still prefer brick wall brute force with 16 bit 44.1khz. ala the lite-dac ah. no oversampling at all. instead multiple dacs in series.

if we can find a stable low jitter xport for $50 to pair with something like the lite-dac we then have a audiophile grade playback system for a pittance.

music_man

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_man /img/forum/go_quote.gif it takes cd audio at 16 bit 44.1 khz and upconverts it into 24 bit 176.4 khz. this makes the brick wall filter easier to implement. thus improving the sound. there are other reasons people claim it improves sound also. the feature is in the firmware settings. there are pages about cd upsampling for you to read about here at head-fi. have fun with the search. i could have said more but it has all been said here(much of it by me). you really should read some of it at least. it is cool that it is there. truth be told, you will not realise what it does to the sound on a $80 player anyways. on the cary(upsampling) or the meridian(oversampling, same as this philips) it can be heard loud and clear. i still prefer brick wall brute force with 16 bit 44.1khz. ala the lite-dac ah. no oversampling at all. instead multiple dacs in series. if we can find a stable low jitter xport for $50 to pair with something like the lite-dac we then have a audiophile grade playback system for a pittance. music_man

It offers two settings 88.2kHz and 176.4kHz...but implemnting them thato nly thing I notices was a considerably reduce of the volume, anyway I di not get it for CD playback...but it will be good to know....


What is Lip Sync? That is the general menu but there is no reference at all in hte manual....

 

[music_man]

it is because on cheap integrated chipsets the dvd video can get out of sync with the audio. it looks like people are talking chinese and it's dubbed english.
it is a bandaid for a less than decent chipset. at least it has that bandaid.

i do not know the 5960. the original 642 was a good redbook player and ok dvd player. if you really enjoy movies and have a good display i think you need to set your sights a lot higher.

music_man

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_man /img/forum/go_quote.gif it is because on cheap integrated chipsets the dvd video can get out of sync with the audio. it looks like people are talking chinese and it's dubbed english. it is a bandaid for a less than decent chipset. at least it has that bandaid. i do not know the 5960. the original 642 was a good redbook player and ok dvd player. if you really enjoy movies and have a good display i think you need to set your sights a lot higher. music_man

I have a far better player, the only reason I got this one, was that I can play PAL, and other Region movies, in my Sony I can only play Region 1 and in NTSC...and many videos I'm after, have not been released yet in US, so I needed to import them...It is band aid till they release them in US, after that I wil notl onger need that Philips...but for 80 bucks is not bad....for movies...

 

[soloz2]

I do have a Philips dvp-642 that is in like new condition. the remote has a ding in it and I received it that way. I am considering upgrading to a Sony CE595 so I would be willing to sell if anyone still wants one