Quote:JWolf06: I have a 50" widescreen DLP and I set the DVD player to "16:9" (or whatever setting is used for widescreen) under the settings and it will display normal DVDs fine, but with DivX or XviD files if these are in widescreen format the DVD player will treat it as if I had set it to play in "4:3" format, like a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD would.
Therein lies your answer, Divx/Xvid aren't anamorphic. When you set it to 16x9, it stretches the picture as if it were anamorphic creating the distortion. On my Hitachi HDTV I have to set it to 4x3 and then zoom it to fill the screen.
Quote:Therein lies your answer, Divx/Xvid aren't anamorphic. When you set it to 16x9, it stretches the picture as if it were anamorphic creating the distortion. On my Hitachi HDTV I have to set it to 4x3 and then zoom it to fill the screen.
Aaah, so that makes sense. This stinks because, as I had mentioned earlier, I have component inputs from DVD player to TV and my TV for some reason disables the "zoom" feature when using component inputs. Oh well, I guess I'll have to keep converting my AVI files to DVD then.
Quote: JWolf06..Your TV should'nt disable the Zoom on YOUR Player
True, but there's a problem. Remember that the only way for my TV to display the movie in its correct aspect ratio is when I set my TV to 4:3. If I use the Zoom-in feature in this mode on my DVD player, it will only zoom in WITHIN the 4:3 box that my TV encases the image in, which means that while I won't get bars at top and bottom of screen I will still have the ones to the left and right, with a lot of the movie image cropped out and nowhere to be seen.
On the other hand, if I have my TV set to widescreen AND I use the zoom in feature on my DVD player, the image is already distorted, which means that the following will happen: while the image will fill up the screen, it is already a distorted image with the left and right side of it cropped out.
The ideal thing for me would be to set my TV to 4:3 so that the movie is displayed in its correct aspect ratio AND THEN be able to use the zoom-in feature on my TV to fill up the screen with the image properly...but as I had mentioned, this feature is not available for me :(
Quote:I have to do the same for letterboxed DVDs. Luckily there aren't many.
I use DVD Rebuilder to create anamorphic widescreen DVDs out of letterboxed DVDs. Sometimes the quality comes out looking like crap, especially with long movies or those that were originally encoded using a low bitrate, but many do look great. I'm picky when it comes to viewing movies, I won't touch a pan-and-scan DVD if the movie was originally widescreen and I won't watch a distorted movie. Too picky for my own good I guess.
i've read through the thread but i can't find the answer to this question. how do u get firmware off the philips site? is it still there? and wat exactly is it? how does it work? also is it free? srry if i repeated questions but i can't find it anywhere. thanx. :]
This is the most current downloadable firmware, but the 1223 is the only version I know of that's newer and I couldn't find it after a quick Google. Keep in mind that if you have the older 0531 version, this was the Macrovision-less one. Remember, "upgrade" often means "worse". Even this firmware here (1109) has been out for well over a year. Reportedly, however, the DVP-630 firmwares at the Philips site are actually designed for the 642 as well as the 630. See also:
-Do you believe you own your computer and shouldn't be told what you can run and do? Then say *NO* to Microsoft Vista!
-Since half the questions here involve media problems, here ya go: Only use Verbatim or Taiyo-Yuden discs (get your TYs from Rima.com, not Supermediastore or meritline). Forget the rest, no matter what "brand" they sell under. Always burn at 4x speed regardless of the speed rating of this discs or your drive. If you have burn problems with these then you have to update your drive's firmware. For double-layer discs, only use Verbatim DVD+R DL and burn them at 2.4x speed.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29. June 2006 @ 00:26
thanx so much. that helps a lot. i've been contemplating on getting this dvd player and i wasn't sure if it would be able to play subtitles. after reading that thread u recommended it answered my questions. thanx! :] in your opinion how is the subtitle display on this dvd player? that is a main factor since most of my cds contain subtitles. ur feedback would be greatly appreciated. thanx again. :]
Aaah! Actually, this isn't Spanish (I speak Spanish), the site's in Portuguese I believe, and I can barely understand what it says, what's the difference between these hacked firmwares and the official ones?
1. I noticed that it only has 10 bit, 54MHz for the video. I now see that you can can the model DVP3040 for only 50 bucks, and that has 12 bit, 108 MHz for the video (as well as it plays DivX 6.0). (I actually paid around 70 bucks for my 642 at the time, so $50 seems cheap.) Is it worth getting the 3040 for the increased video output? Will my DivX-burned dvds look that much better?
2. I've seen some discussion of the 5140 here, which also has 12 bit, 108 MHz for the video -- but no talk about the 3040. What does the 5140 have over the 3040, other than the Super DivX thing, which I don't think I'd ever use?
3. Do both the 5140 and the 3040 have 4x video upsampling like the 642?
4. It looks like the 3040 (and possibly the 5140) do not play mpeg4 like the 642, only mpeg 1 & 2 -- is this true? And if so, what effect would this actually have on playing stuff back? How important is mpeg4 playback?
bcounty..can't tell U anything about DVP3040,but the DVP5140/37 PLAYS ALL THAT i'VE HAD TO DATE even [QPEL].tHE ONLY DRAW BACK THAT I'VE FOUND IS NO goto bttn,I would very much like to have this feature.The rewind is really to fast,the FF IS nice up to 32x.I bought mine on 5/26/06 & to date have not turned it off,I continue playing DVD's,its been a durable healthy unit
just looked at the DVP3040,at BestBuy,it has the same remote as 5140
If it does play QPEL then it is probably just as good a player
Incidentely the 642 remote works on my unit
Just no mention of the ULTRA DivX w/the DVP3040 as w/the DVP5140/37 & about 10bucks difference..Go to best buy & take a QPEL/GMC Disc with U & see if it plays
I just read some comparison pgs on these players,seem U are better off spending the xtra few bucks for the 5140..But if I read it right 5140 supporte QPEL but not GMC
Thanks for the answers! Okay, then it must play MPEG-4 and the description is incorrect. So my first three questions remain:
1. The 642 only has 10 bit, 54MHz for the video. The DVP3040 (for only 50 bucks) has 12 bit, 108 MHz for the video (as well as it plays DivX 6.0). (I actually paid around 70 bucks for my 642 at the time, so $50 seems cheap.) Is it worth getting the 3040 for the increased video output? Will my DivX-burned dvds look that much better?
2. I've seen some discussion of the 5140 here, which also has 12 bit, 108 MHz for the video -- but no talk about the 3040. What does the 5140 have over the 3040, other than the Super DivX thing, which I don't think I'd ever use?
3. Do both the 5140 and the 3040 have 4x video upsampling like the 642?
You can do a comparison of all three players at the Phillips site, but it looks like it's TOTALLY INACCURATE:
bcounty..As stated earlier..Frm what I read & understand the DVP5140 will play Qpel,where as the 3040 won't.
Not really a big issue unless U happen to burn a Disc without checking 1st
in all my D/Ling I've only run into about 6or7 Qpel files.I've just never liked the fact,that U have to re-encode them.The 2or3hrs it takes is just inconvient,I'd rather just burn&play..Worth the xtra 10bucks
Also like U STATED,you read more about the 5140 then the 3040,maybe that tell U a little sumthin.All though 5140 might have been available before the 3140,buy the 3140,use it for 3or4 mons then write us a review on it
rick5446 -- thanks for the post, but you still didn't answer my main questions! :)
1. The 642 only has 10 bit, 54MHz for the video. If I get a player with 12 bit, 108 MHz for the vidoe (which BOTH the 3040 and the 5140 have), will my DivX-burned dvds look that much better? Is it worth buying a new player for this? What does that mean exactly? (3 questions there!)
3. Does the 5140 have 4x video upsampling like the 642? Or even better? What does this mean exactly? (2 questions there!)
I read on page 8 of 55 about changing the widescreen AVI to 4:3 to trick the DVD player to show the A/R correctly. However, I need to know how to do this... what software? how long it takes? Is it just changing an AVI header (don't know how to do this)? I read to use dr. DivX but I don't know how.
Can someone lead me to a post that shows me this? Guess I'm lazy, but I did spend some time reading this thread. I know Doug (dx9s) probably has it in here, but I can't search for individual posts on AfterDawn.
Thanks in advance.
By the way...thanks Doug and others for posting info so far.
bcounty, I asked the same DAC question before and I got mixed answers. Most people agree that the importance of DAC greatly comes into effect during Progressive mode, where the deinterlacer is twice as fast (54 vs. 108 mhz). I have heard that DAC is not so important on HD or LCD tvs, because they are digital sources, so there is no need for a converted digital-to-analog signal. In this case you should get a HDMI compatible player. I also heard that DAC becomes very important on bigger CRT TVs (larger than 32'), where you can see artifacts and pixelation more clearly, especially on divx/mpeg encoded movies. Also, remember that a dvd has a data rate ranging from 3–10 bits, which means that a 10bit DAC is sufficient. Generally speaking the higher 108 mhz means that the processing would be faster. This minimizes lag, skips, and synchronization issues. The extra 2 bits should give a slightly better resolution, but again, this is clearly apparent on larger screen TVs.
As for the video upsampling, I think it is the zoom function. This makes a digital image larger by adding pixels. However, since pixels are created by software, no matter how good the algorithms, the larger the increase in size, the softer the resulting image. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know, as I am still not exactly sure what video upsampling is. And yes, the 3040, 5140, and 5960 have 4x video upsampling (according to the Philips website). The 5960 also has video upscaling.
Also, remember that the 642 is the ONLY Philips dvd/divx player with an S-Video out. For people like me, who only have a TV with composite and S-Video outs, this is important.
