XMS-888 - Mpeg4 - Firmware?

[andw]

also from above link:
octocom
Forum Member

Joined: Sep 2003
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Posts: 25
Email from support

Dear Mr.Robinson,
new Firmware will be released within these days.
It does automatically Zoom MPEG4 Files, it supports subtitles with
"SUB" format and improves MPEG4 Playback, most of the problems are
caused by a not supported codec or wrong interleave value.

So check our homepage by end of this week for some news

Best Regards,
Thomas


29-09-2003 17:20

[davidf]

This makes interesting reading, it is about the "Yamada" player based on the ESS chipset. Interesting, thread starts about September, same sorts of early problems. (e.g. turn off OSD, units display stops updating etc)
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?threadid=85884&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
EDIT:
p.s. page 3 - they have the zoom and subtitle support fixed on that player (ESS chipset) (sheridan2000 post - from german website)


The Samsung site clears up alittle about Vibratto II and Vibrato II mx

the mx is aparently for domestic market DVD players

the other chip is also able to record so this also brings up interesting issues if the chip in our player is the straight vibratto II chip

[andw]

Vibratto II, no mention of MX on the chip.

[andw]

Check out http://www.digitalathome.com/cgi-bin/viewthread.php?tid=420

[andw]

Also, for a review on the "Yamada" machine with verrry similar screenshots, http://www.vcdrookie.com/eng/index.php?option=tools&task=viewarticle&artid=9&Itemid=57
p.s. not sure they have fixed the 'aspect ratio' problem (e.g. stretch on Y ratio)
I'm hoping some of the improvements coming in our firmware reflect some of those on the posts for the Yamada.

[Spank]

Hi Guys,
I'm also having troubles with "Disc Error" when trying to play AVI files.
I have read the previous postings, and have tried different types of discs.
Verbatim (blue and silver), Sony, TDK and Laser.
Most of the discs if have put in show "Disc Error" after doing the "Reading Index" phase.
I thought that it may have been the file size, however I made a new AVI and split it (using Virtualdub) into 5 segments each about 100meg. The first 3 worked great, then it skipped over 4 and read 5 fine.
One very interesting thing I have noticed is when it is "Reading Index" if you press the OSD button it will display the correct chapter length.
I thought this was strange as the XMS-888 can read the disc as it displays the AVI file name as well as the length of the file/ chapter.
Does anyone have any ideas??
PS - thanks heaps for setting this up, without it I think I would have blown my top by now, it good to know that I am not the only one who is having problems.
Hi Guys,
I have just gone down to Brisbane Car Sound where I got the XMS-888 and exchanged it for another.
What a huge improvement!!! I now find that most of the Discs which wouldn't play before are playing fine now.
There are still some that won't play however they are now in the minority now.
So it would seem that the failure to play some discs may infact be a hardware issue rather than a firmware issue.
I have noted that if a disc is overburnt then it will not play and then shows "Codec. not supported (QPEL)"
Any how thanks for your help and advice guys, from a very happy DivX watcher.

[malcez]

just a thought

is the yamada internals the same as the xms888?
same ESS chipset?

would the yamada's firmware help us?

anyone game enough to do it?

[andw]

just a thought
is the yamada internals the same as the xms888?
same ESS chipset?
would the yamada's firmware help us?
anyone game enough to do it?
Good Lord No, (I'm a chicken).
My old XMS-150 has the same chipset as a Sampo DVD player with some very nioce features.
- Anyway, it has a removable ROM chip, so I pulled it, and replaced it with one that had the Sampo Firmware on it.
This DID NOT work. All I got was a blank screen.
Thankfully, I could put the original chip back in, and it was all ok.
But... the XMS-888's ROM is a surface mount job, and very difficult to replace.
If you flash onto this the wrong firmware, even if it is the same chipset, you could very likely end up with nothing.
It could have a different front panel or anything even minor (different Remote codes?)that would mean you could not go back again.

[malcez]

well ok

but we are nearing the "take-back" date and this firmware 1.2 is not upon us

the critical update is the audio readability

i keep reading about all these divx players with apparently same hardware as ours in europe which can do much more than xms888 and we are still using crappy beta-testing firmware. no offence to those who had the guts to get 1.1 going.

how could xms and affiliates not know about the OSD problem. how could they not know about the divx audio incompatibilities.

it is not difficult to test a couple of movies before the player hits the market. now even davidf has to do a 1.0 to 1.1 comparison of all the remote control buttons because the manufacturers couldn't bother to test it themselves.

we are now in the era of "BYO technical support"

[confused]

I totally agree with you Malcez. My XMS-888 still wont play Zone 1 DVD's and the menu to change it will not appear anywhere.

This piece of equipment can go back to Starathfield where they should, in future, BETA test equipment before releasing it to the market (especially when it was opportunely released for the Christmas period).

The variety of problems listed in this forum for one particular DVD/MPEG 4 player does not fill a person with confidence about the longevity of such a device for the future or demonstrate much credibility on the part of the manufacturer to handle such operational issues.

[andw]

Yes - malcez, you have to wonder if the firmware guys in China said "It's not ready", and the sales guys said "I don't care, get it out for Christmas, you can fix it up later"

[jokiin]

well ok

but we are nearing the "take-back" date and this firmware 1.2 is not upon us

the critical update is the audio readability

i keep reading about all these divx players with apparently same hardware as ours in europe which can do much more than xms888 and we are still using crappy beta-testing firmware. no offence to those who had the guts to get 1.1 going.

how could xms and affiliates not know about the OSD problem. how could they not know about the divx audio incompatibilities.

it is not difficult to test a couple of movies before the player hits the market. now even davidf has to do a 1.0 to 1.1 comparison of all the remote control buttons because the manufacturers couldn't bother to test it themselves.

we are now in the era of "BYO technical support"

Firmware 1.2 is not upon us, not because the factory are not supporting the product, quite the opposite, they have been more supportive than any that I have seen before, but because we would like more specific issues addressed. We had two firmwares within the space of a few days and they have been very helpful. No offence is taken (by me anyway, some others that have put a lot of time into this may feel differently) but this is by no means beta software or BYO tech support, the original firmware was the base firmware as supplied by ESS, changes since have been based on the wants and needs of the consumer. The firmware supplied has no trouble with the standard run of the mill mpeg-4 movies that are sold on the streets of China, which is what they have used to test the players.

Last week I tested a new player which has just received Divx certification and it had exactly the same issues with audio as this one, trouble is the standards are so loosely defined and there are so many variables that it is not a straight forward process to get it sorted. Read through the forums over at divx.com every player has some sort of issue with files of some types.

If you feel the need to take it back and you end up with something else you need to weigh up the chance that you may not get a player that has the right level of support to get sorted correctly, I think we are still a while away from one that has it right straight out of the box. By the time we are at that stage I think you will see mpeg-4 support from the likes of Sony, Pioneer, Toshiba etc

[andw]

I totally agree with you Malcez. My XMS-888 still wont play Zone 1 DVD's and the menu to change it will not appear anywhere.

Are you pressing
"setup"
"stop"
"|<<" prev
">>|" next
to get into the hidden menu?

[andw]

.... the original firmware was the base firmware as supplied by ESS, changes since have been based on the wants and needs of the consumer. ....
aaahhh, this would explain why the "Yamada" listed above had almost exactly the same issues at it's release stage.

[jokiin]

aaahhh, this would explain why the "Yamada" listed above had almost exactly the same issues at it's release stage.

I think you will find most of these clones are the same in that respect, as to how fast the manufacturers or distributors do something about it may be a different issue

[postal]

I've been sort of skimming this, because this thread has gotten... large :)

I'm using v1.1

but, has anybody else noticed that occasionally, the audio sync messes up after a while, you can fix it by rewinding and playing and it fixes itself up. but it gets incredibly annoying. It's very encode dependent though, because some play perfectly, others mess up every 5 minutes.

I had a quite interesting bug with the first firmware, I had an encode of Monty Python Live At The Hollywood Bowl with AC3 sound, DivX 5.0.2, and for some obscure reason, the screen would be black, and it would play the video in the OSD space. lol it was quite amusing, since fixed though.

this is a fantastic player, and the 1.1 firmware has made me happy enough to keep this, out of the box it's atrocious though.

has anybody else noticed that it also plays divx 3.11 (!) files, which to my knowledge definately dont support mpeg4. I was stoked at that.

[confused]

Just wondering if I can get a copy of version 1.0 firmware again (so I can go back to the original firmware) to give it one last try before I take it back as I bought this unit to be a player that would play most formats and all zones.

Many Thanks if you can help

[andw]

PM jok11n, with your email address, he can sort it out for you.

[davidf]

I think confused has the same remote control problems I have. You need to be right beside the player when trying to get into the hidden menu. Dont take to long between key presses and if at first you don't get the menu keep doing the 3 key combination until the menu comes up. STOP - PREV - NEXT. Dont have a DVD in the player and if you have switch the player off and on before you go back up into setup.

As a last resort try SKIP - STOP - PREV - NEXT

don't use the forward and back buttons use the chapter buttons |<< >>|

[basshead]

Thanx ppl for this wonderful thread. As a result I bought an XMS888 from Strathfield Car Radios last Saturday, downloaded & updated the firmware & have been happily watching DivXs:- until today.
Powered up the machine today for my son to watch a movie & couldn't get any video output (CVBS or S-Video). Discs & files load fine, movie plays, audio output is fine but TV screen remains blank - not even a boot screen. Tried a different TV - same result, so back to SCR tomorrow for a swap.
All my DivXs are ripped with SmartRipper or DVDDecrypter (DeMacrovision etc) & encoded with Vidomi using DivX3 (Hybrid 2 - 1 Pass) & the audio encoded @ 128Kb constant bitrate (Lame MP3). These are burned to either Laser Gold, Verbatim Datalife (white ones) or TDK silver CD-Rs.
These have all played faultlessly until today's video output disaster, so Yes, this machine handles DivX 3.11 with no problems. For all those who've posted problems re: audio/video formats I'd strongly recommend Vidomi as a consistently reliable encoder.