XMS-888 - Mpeg4 - Firmware?

[andw]

Funny that, I've only used "cheap" cdr discs... Strathfield 30c ones, "media cache" etc.

[malcez]

i have had a few problems with the 44c ones in a 100disc bundle i bought from the disc shop. burned at speeds from 4x-24x on nero.

maybe it is the colour as well as the burn speed as well as the disc quality. who knows.

i have got my system working with this player now. basically i'm just waiting for more audio codec support as my final decision as to a "take-back" or not. but it will have to be quick. brisbane car sound has a 21 day limit i think.

cheers

[The Man]

Yeh well I have 2x 50 piece spindals that wont work with this player. :( If I am going to take it back, I will make sure I do it before the 21 days if that's the limit. If I were to get one of the Lite-On DivX players, would it have more of a chanc of supporting the playback of different cd's than the XMS? I wouldn't be able to test my CD's in the Lite-On before I buy because I would have to order it over the internet as no one in Mackay, QLD sells them, well not that i've seen anyway. I want to keep the player, but 3/4 of my AVI's wont play in it, and if the Lite-On has a better chance of playing them, then I'd rather go that way and take the XMS back.

[mikef]

hmm this issue with cds is very interesting.

I haven't got any troubles with it !!!
And im using some verycheap shit cds from strathfield AKAI i think i bought them like 3 months ago for 26c each !!!
And also i got some prettly old cd with divx (nearly 5 years old) and XMS plays them like a charm.

So far my xms read all cds i throwen into it

[malcez]

the man:

there are two issues with "non playing .avis"
(1) make sure it is NOT a disc problem first - ie try other media (as you have done)
(2) if you get picture but no sound, we are all having this problem, it is because of a lack of audio codec support in current firmware, hopefully fixed in next few days with version 1.2 (waiting for jok11n to do this for us with manufacturers)

i am not familiar with the lite-on divx player, i heard it is the only competitor to the xms888 maybe people can enlighten me on this. i would like a comparative review of the lite-on and the xms888 before there is a panic "mass take-back" of the xms888 in early january. certainly i don't want to be stuck with a player that, like others have said, cannot play the audio streams for so many of the divx's we have downloaded. the xms888 people should hurry i think.

cheers

[andw]

Can't say whether you would have any more luck reading your discs with the Lite-on or not... i know that they do manufacter (or at least badge) pc cd and dvd drives.
However, so far I have had no problem with any discs I've tried. (including some really cheap nasty cdrw's). - You may find that the Lite-on has the same disc problems, and is harder to take back..
Then again, if it's just a case of the particular XMS that you have that has a bad drive in it, you may find that getting it swapped over cures all of your problems (well the reading disc ones anyway)
If you were thinking of driving down there anyway, with the XMS-888 in tow, I would suggest that you take the discs you are having problems with and try them out on another one.
Be a waste to have to pay a lot more money (about $150 extra?) to get the Lite-on, if it just turns out to be a faulty drive.
(mind you, the Lite-on is selling for about $US129 in the US on some sites, that's about $A175. why does it cost $320 - $350+ in Australia?)

[andw]

There are a few divX players on the market (worldwide, not Aus) at the moment.
Most are based on either the EM8500 chipset (Lite-On) or the ESS Vibratto II chipset (XMS-888). Or the Vibratto II MX chipset (not 100% sure if there is any difference betweeen Vibratto II or Vibrato II MX - it may be the same chip - jok11n would probably know.
Samsung I believe has / is producing a DVD / VCR combo that supports DivX that uses the Vibrato II MX chipset. (at least from what I've seen on the internet - ESS's web site)

[Pythonisman]

Just an update, guys :)

XMas day and the parents are thrilled with the player =D

Thanks go to all for their help, suggestions, troubleshooting, etc

Hopefully with another couple of updates they'll iron the bugs out and get the zoom functions sorted (about all I'm concerned with, really)!

Thanks jok11n and andw =D

Pythonisman

Merry XMAS and a happy New Year, All!!

[The Man]

I agree with u 110% andw, I will take it back to Brissy Car Sound and see what they will do about it. A VCR/DVD combo player that can play MPEG4 was what I was after in the first place, but never found one. So I might see what B.C.S do about this player, see if it is my player that wont play my discs, or if it is my discs. But a VCR/DVD MPEG4 player would be wonderful since we have 100+ VHS videos. Is this the site that you were looking at:
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php?ID=8641 or is it another site? Thank you all for your help so far, its much appreciated, and a Merry Xmas and happy new year to you all.

[blakey]

I'm starting to get Disk error too with basically any/every CD I stick in, including the nice tdk silvers.. :(

[jokiin]

I agree with u 110% andw, I will take it back to Brissy Car Sound and see what they will do about it. A VCR/DVD combo player that can play MPEG4 was what I was after in the first place, but never found one. So I might see what B.C.S do about this player, see if it is my player that wont play my discs, or if it is my discs. But a VCR/DVD MPEG4 player would be wonderful since we have 100+ VHS videos. Is this the site that you were looking at:
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php?ID=8641 or is it another site? Thank you all for your help so far, its much appreciated, and a Merry Xmas and happy new year to you all.


I think you will find that the mpeg-4 feature will start to appear in a lot of models starting from about march next year, and you may start to see a bit of range as to what you can get. I wouldn't jump on a samsung just yet (not that they're here yet anyway) you might have a bit more variety soon. I've had a lot of problems with samsung in the past and they weren't very good at dealing with it which was dissapointing.

[jokiin]

I'm starting to get Disk error too with basically any/every CD I stick in, including the nice tdk silvers.. :(

It could just be that you have a faulty player, it happens. Have you tried other typres of discs. I used to use tdk silvers but gave up on them because a lot of players had trouble reading them, try a cdrw and see if thats any good.

Have you dne the firmware upgrade? You can also see disc error if the file on the disc is the problem, have you tried a variety of files? If all this checks out and it's the player take it back and get it swapped over.

[davidf]

So far I have had no trouble with CDR's or CDRW, I don't use anything that has a gold/greenish gold reading surface, could the dye color be a part of it ?. I know that with DVDR some players have trouble with the overly light dye used in the cheaper DVDR's. The 888 unit doesn't seem fussed over anything I put in it but I have noticed on other players that CDRW and DVDRW tends to read better than the lighter colored write once discs.

On the functional aspect of the player I have noticed the player behaviour is erratic with burnt DVD's since the introduction of the 1.1 firmware. PBC seems to kick in at the wierdest times and it is not a consistent problem. I create a lot of my DVD's with menus now these menu's no longer work and when I try to go back to the title menu the PBC screen comes on. If I try to change chapters the PBC comes on then im back to the begining of the first title when I switch it off.

I know that everyone here is primarily looking at the MP4 functionality but DVD playability shouldn't be sacrificed in the process.

As for other brand MP4 players the open ended standards for MP4 is cuaseing the same issues as found with the XMS. I think all you will get with a different brand will be different problems. THe best way to resolve audio codec issues is to work out what the range is that the player supports and for those avi's that don't work demux them redo the audio remux and all would be cool :).

[jokiin]

I agree with the open standards being a problem, I had a chance to look at a Divx certified player this week and it had similar issues with audio, I think if they want the format to succeed it needs tighter standards.

Do you get the same issues with the pbc on original dvd's or only the ones you have made yourself? Again this could be due to not following the standards.

[malcez]

. THe best way to resolve audio codec issues is to work out what the range is that the player supports and for those avi's that don't work demux them redo the audio remux and all would be cool :).

i did successfully remux one divx audio stream to see if it would work on the xms888. yes it did work. but very time consuming. the best program is VIRTUALDUB i have found. you can change the audio compression as well as the audio frequency if you wish.

You know how long it is going to take me davidf to remux all my divx's. most of my divx's which have no audio on the player funnily enough are in the SAME audio format. if the new firmware can support one, just ONE extra audio codec function, then my problems are solved. that missing audio format is 24000Hz, 56kbs audio which is unplayable in the xms888. if it could just do that then i guess i would be happy enough not to get the machine taken back.

what would be a good "business plan" and forward thinking on the part of the australian distributors of the xms888 would be to see what the next generation of divx players can do, and incorporate that into the new firmware now rather than as a catch-up job later on. those divx players are set to hit the market in march someone said, and when they do, the xms888 will be left behind unless it has an "edge".

people will always buy the unit that can play anything over the unit which comes in fluoro green and pink casings. the members of this thread are a testamant to the fact that we are not interested in multinational corporate control freak's products which are grossly overpriced. i preferentially buy products now which are made in china with strange brand names because i KNOW that they are so much more flexible than the mainstream japanese artillery of junk.

cheers :dD

[jokiin]

Audio issues will be the main focus of the next firmware update, once it is decided that the firmware is sorted the players will be delivered with that firmware in place as a starting point. At the moment it's the loose standards that have been a problem, I tried a bunch of files downloaded from divx.com that had audio issues even in a divx certified player, go figure! If the standards were tighter it would be a lot easier.

[The Man]

I think you will find that the mpeg-4 feature will start to appear in a lot of models starting from about march next year, and you may start to see a bit of range as to what you can get. I wouldn't jump on a samsung just yet (not that they're here yet anyway) you might have a bit more variety soon. I've had a lot of problems with samsung in the past and they weren't very good at dealing with it which was dissapointing.

Yes, I was thinking that there would be more and more starting to come out sometime soon, it's just that i've been waiting so long for one, but I will see what happens, and wait for a better player.(Parents want one too with VCR as well as MP4) Again, thanks for your help.

I'm starting to get Disk error too with basically any/every CD I stick in, including the nice tdk silvers.. :(

Did you do the firmware update? If you did, did it keep telling you it was done when you tried to play the MP4 movie before the update?

I am going to take it back to B.C.S and show them it, and see if I can get them to try my cd's on another player to see if the problem is in my particular player that I picked up. Just hope they havent sold out, there was only a couple left.

[davidf]

The title button wont work on any DVD's original or DVD's I have made myself.

Well I don't really have to worry about the problems anymore the player just died. The lights are on but there is nobody home:). THe main display switched off the player thru up the screen saver and that was it. Switching it off doesn't do any thing seems like the main board may have given up the ghost. Now the decision, to swap it or give it a miss.

[andw]

Yes I agree, title and menu buttons are just bringing up 'the hand' when you try to use them on original DVD's.

[davidf]

As far as the MP4 standard is concerned audio will never be completely covered until the container specification(menus, chapters, video, audio) is standardised. with DVD it is all there, People seem to forget that the trusty DVD had a standard built around mpeg2 now we need to see the same thing happen with MPEG4. THe chipset used in the 888 is one of the latest designs around so I believe that it will be the most prominent in the chinese players (the first batch that went to China was in September and it was 350,000 chips), especially considering the fact that it is an all in one chip which helps the reduction in board construction costs.

So any problems that are we see now will either be fixed or still around when the MP4 players become mainstream here in Australia. In Europe I have found no less than 50 updates for a variety of MP4 players that are available in Europe(from what I have found there is about 30 models available).

THe short term fix by recompressing the audio is not that bad considering that audio compression on modern PC's is blindingly fast. Im sure using a batch conversion process dozens of avi's could be done within an hour or 2.