XMS-888 - Mpeg4 - Firmware?

[andw]

Ok, Another update to the Website, hopefully the last until the new firmware. edit: unless someone comes up with some more interesting key presses :-)
This one has screen shots of the Smart Navi section including pressing OSD on file types. (some files get listed but don't play).
Also pictures in the Equaliser section, Region change section etc.
There is also a hit counter at the bottom of the main screen to keep track of how many hits there have been. Clicking on the counter brings up statistics like unique hits etc.
So here is the link again...
http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~wweb/xms888/index.htm
hopefully all the links work.

[LastActionZero]

For the past few weeks, I had been quite happily playing burnt CDs, burnt DVDs and normal DVDs [on v1.1 of firmware].

But a couple of days ago, the player refused to play my original DVD of "Fellowship of the ring".
I couldn't get it to go at all, even after repeated power resets / ejects, and careful cleaning of disc.

Then yesterday, I borrowed a DVD... "Takeaway", and this one took several attempts before it loaded.

I don't think there is anything strange about the software in these titles.
BUT, I examined the discs themselves and found they had something in common...

The area between the disc hole and where the track normally starts was,
in both cases, completely covered by the disc picture on top,
and on the underside it was 'reflective' (just like the actual play section of the disc). However in both of the problem discs, this inner reflective layer had some discoloration near the hole (probably due to repeatedly taking the disc in and out of its holder).

My theory...

The XMS888 is a pretty good player, and will play discs where the track starts way inside the disc. I'm guessing it is scanning from the centre outwards, getting to this 'discoloration' area, and thinking it is meant to be the start of the disc, but can not read it... and aborts.

To test my theory...

I took the "Fellowship" DVD (did not work at all), and with a marker, blacked out the inner section of the disc.
IT PLAYED first time (on every attempt since then)!!!!
My theory appears correct.

Thoughts?
If you have been having trouble with any original DVDs, please examine the disc centres.
Are they reflective? And is there any damage that may cause the player to think it is a bad start of track? Let us know.

If others are experiencing similar dodgy start up problems with discs, we could ask the manufacturer for a firmware update to correct this behaviour as follows:
If the "disc track start" scan is having trouble, move head to the "standard track start position" and retry.

Cheers,

Laz.

[jokiin]

Hopefully the discolouration that you are refering to is not laser rot, I have a couple of discs that have been affected by this. One disc is so bad it no longer plays in any of my players, it did still play for a while in a couple of them but now none of them will play it anymore it actually skips chapters which is annoying. Laser rot can often be identified by a milky discolouration on the underside of the disc.

[himem.sys]

Also i have a problem with the VCD's (also .vob files) i play have different languages (in this case Mandarin/Cantonese) :P like i can't get it to switch from the default language and i pressed something and it played both of the languages at the same time. Now i have to adjust the balance on the tv it plays one lang on left speaker and the other on the right speaker. I played the vcd's on pc using powerDVD 5 and u had to press the karaoke button on the program for it to work - or on WMP under 'play' -> 'audio and language tracks' -> both, right or left channel.

Any help please? XMS-888 is my first home DVD player -- so i'm not that familiar atm :(

[andw]

Don't know about VCD's with multiple audio tracks, but you could try the 'R/L' button on the remote. This switches between the right / left audio track (or both). It sounds from your description that this is how your pc is handling it. It's just a guess, but it might work.

[davidf]

Jok11n, can you find out if there is some sort of specification for the original chip/bios/firmware. I notice that when you play mpg 1/2 or vcd the OSD will turn on or off. With AVI /DIVX you have chapter options in the OSD i.e. chapter 1 remain time etc. The indication here is that the firmware may have more support for MP4 containers than we are aware of. The more I use the XMS the more I am convinced that it relies on the file extension to initialise the player mode. Its strange how changing file extensions can effect the machine.

one example is when you change the extension of a xvid file between .divx and .avi.

DIVX - more button functions available, wider acceptance of audio codecs, jumping forward in 20 sec increments or 10 sec increments depending on media, adjustment of screen in setup menu without reseting the player.

Also codecs seem to have an effect on player performance there are subtle differences in the players acceptance of remote control signals between xvid/divx. this may be due to several things but it may also mean that there a several MP4 standards supported by the player.

[buts]

Hi, guys.
Yesterday I found this thread, read about a new firmware 1.1 etc. Actually I wanted to buy one of those players on a new Mediatek MT1389 chip which completely supports DivXPRO and high bitrates. However, it seems that they will not appear here in the first half of 2004. So I went for XMS888 hoping that this ESS chip is good enough. I should say that after 1 day playing with it I am quite disappointed (even after a firmware upgrade). By the way, a CD tray still comes out about 60% after a firmware upgrade, no complete access to the CD's round base in the tray like in normal CD-roms.
Am I the only having this problem ?

Plenty of my mpeg4 disks don't work. Problems:

-A menu for a couple of disks doesn't show up at all. I get "loading disk" and
then nothing. No "disk error" as some people got, just doing nothing.

-Only disks with "standard" (?) Mp3 work (44Khz, 128kb/s and maybe higher).
22Khz, 32Khz, 48Khz give no sound as well as 44Khz with a bitrate
<128kb/s. Probably it implies that this player can't handle files
with VBR Mp3 which I consider to be quite an important feature.

-I have "The mummy returns" on 2 cds, DivX 4.0, bitrate is about 1500kb/s at 720x320. The second disk is playing fine, the first one gets back to menu after 2 secs and doesn't play at all. That's weird... Obviously they were encoded together, cut into 2 pieces and written on the same type CD's.

-I have plenty of CD's encoded with Xvid (early 2003 version encoded with Vidomi). Those CD's with firmware 1.0 just "rebooted" the player, i.e. after reading index -> no signal on TV -> then again loading disk, reading index, etc. A firmware 1.1 "improved" a situation, now I see separate frames or half-frames with timer showing discrete jumps 2,7,18,25 secs ....

-I have to say that almost all DivX 3.1 files work. Probably it's because Vibratto chip has a better support for DivX3 comparing to Sigma 8500. Unfortunately, manyof them are very blocky with low resolution, plenty of artifacts, double lines etc. Playing much worse than on PC.

So the question: can we hope for a better support of video,
not just audio in the future ? Otherwise, I am thinking about giving it back.

I found a test CD for testing different Mpeg4 players with different formats, encodings and bitrates. We could put here our results of testing XMS-888 and compare with other players. And then send some of the results to the factory for further firmware upgrades. It is on www.dvdboard.de, but you can also have a look at its content on http://forum.ixbt.com/0062/002333.html. There are also e-donkey and http-download links there. The link is in russian but all info in the first message basically.

[andw]

I'm sorry, but the tray will never come out further. It is a mechanical thing, and cannot be altered by the firmware. As for format support I'm having no problems with Xvid or Divx5.1 although I use Xvid generally, as it encodes faster for me.
Perhaps someone with more experience on a lot more video formats could comment for you on that.

[davidf]

Hi, guys.
By the way, a CD tray still comes out about 60% after a firmware upgrade, no complete access to the CD's round base in the tray like in normal CD-roms.
Am I the only having this problem ?

-I have plenty of CD's encoded with Xvid (early 2003 version encoded with Vidomi). Those CD's with firmware 1.0 just "rebooted" the player, i.e. after reading index -> no signal on TV -> then again loading disk, reading index, etc. A firmware 1.1 "improved" a situation, now I see separate frames or half-frames with timer showing discrete jumps 2,7,18,25 secs ....



Some earlier versions of the XVid encoder placed incorrect header settings when encoding this was fixed in the beta2 version but doesnt help you with the older files unless you want to copy them to hard disk change the header then burn them again.

As for the DVD tray on the player you need to move the loader physically forward which is possible,with a drill :) , if you aren't worried about warranty. Even moving the loader forward in the unit only exposes about 10mm more of the tray.

[buts]

[QUOTE=davidf]Some earlier versions of the XVid encoder placed incorrect header settings when encoding this was fixed in the beta2 version but doesnt help you with the older files unless you want to copy them to hard disk change the header then burn them again.

Oh, well, I have few dozens of such CD's :( How can I change the header ?
Reencoding will take an enormous time. Does a "direct stream copy" for video changes the header to the correct one in the Virtual Dub ?

I found another problem with my unit. I can't power up the unit from the Standby mode pressing "Standby" on remote. I need physically push Power button off and on the unit which is annoying. Then standby on the remote works to switch it on and off again. However, after some time in "off" mode a display remains dark after pushing "standby" on remote, only those red lights
(in the manual on p.8 they are referred just as "power lamp"). I did that pointing to the remote sensor from 5 cm.

[lat3ralis]

Ok guys, just some updated information ...

I wanted to see what features of mpeg-4 the player supported. I made some short test files that make use of various mpeg-4 features (all encoded with XviD). I only did a very brief test. These are just my findings from a few simple tests.

XMS-888 Supported Mpeg-4 Features:

I/P-Frames - Supported (obviously)
B-Frames - Supported (only tested with 1 consecutive BVOP)
GMC - Unsupported
Q-Pel - Unsupported

Considering my test results, DivX 5 users should use the "DivX Home Theatre" "DivX High Definition" profiles when encoding to ensure compatibility with the player. XviD users should ensure that GMC and Q-Pel are disabled when encoding, in order to ensure compatibility with the player.

Regarding video bitrates, most of my encodes are around the 1000 kbit/s mark. I don't really see much point in testing higher bitrates, as I generally don't use them anyway.

In relation to mpeg-4 ISO compliance, I made a short ISO compliant mp4 file (with aac audio + xvid encoded video) and renamed the extension from .mp4 to .avi before burning. However, it showed up as an unknown file in the smart-navi menu.

It would be great if anyone could do further tests to confirm my findings.

lat3ralis

[davidf]

Oh, well, I have few dozens of such CD's :( How can I change the header ?

When you installer the v1 beta xvid codecs a header utility is installed with the codec I don't honestly know how effective this is as I have only used it to switch the header fourcc flags between divx and xvid.

As for the standby problem my first unit had this problem after I installed the updated firmware, maybe coincidence, after about a week nothing would get the unit to wake up so strathfield replaced it.

I think that Strathfield rushed the 888 to market in order to have something that no one else could offer prior to xmas trading. Maybe the 888 stands for 88.8% functional performance :).

Even with the little issues that are obvious I still find the player is reasonable and hope that the majority of these outstanding issues are resolved with firmware upgrades. Hardware issues can be resolved by warranty replacement.

The decision I made was to have mpeg4 now and not to wait any longer. I know that in several months the next generation of players will be out and then I will probably upgrade after they have their problems ironed out. Until then the XMS is doing its job 88.8% of the time and i can live with that.

[davidf]

lat3ralis what software did you use to create the MP4 stream container, also have you tried the ogm(vorbis) container format.

[himem.sys]

thanks andw the R/L worked correct :)

davidf - the standby problem. But with the player when u put it in standby the red lights stay on unless u turn the power button at the front off. When u turn the power button back on the player starts up (not standby)
U had a problem after u installed the firmware? I'm edgy about installing the new firmware. I dl'ed it and it comes up as a real media file (rom) is this ok?

[himem.sys]

Also in the text file of the firmware it says:

"when turning the player back on after the firmware flash be sure and eject the disc immediately, if the process starts again due to the disc still being in the drive DO NOT INTERUPT IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE let it go otherwise you will kill the player."

But i tried doing that with a normal disc (turn on with disc loaded) and the player loads and seems to want to play this disc straight away even tho i immediately press the eject button. Just checking cos i dont want to have to return the player :S

[jokiin]

The player cannot be interuppted during the firmware flash as it will kill the player if you do. In other words when you do the firmware upgrade the player will turn off at the end of the process and you will still have the disc in the player, when you turn the player back on the player will start to load the disc which would start the firmware upgrade again, ejecting the disc before the process is started again is no problem, if however you don't get it out in time for whatever reason just let it run again and make sure that you get it out in time the next time you turn it back on. This process is applicable to the firmware upgrade only, it has nothing to do with the way the player behaves with any other disc. Also the rom file extension has nothing to do with real audio

[jokiin]

It would be great if anyone could do further tests to confirm my findings.

lat3ralis

GMC and Q-Pel are definately not supported, I have that from the factory. Still waiting on info back from the factory on some of the other formats, they are waiting on ESS for some further info, once I get that info I will post here.

[andw]

Wow, someone on Whirlpool just put .tk'd my site,
[+ [w00t] writes... +]
[" i just .tk'ed that website

www.xms-888.tk > is a much easyer than the ABOVE lol "]

http://www.xms-888.tk

[postal]

hey. just attempting to keep up with the thread.

I just want to know if there has been any progress with firmware 1.2, or when we can expect to hear of any?

likely this has been covered already, but I've missed it :)

ta.

[jokiin]

hey. just attempting to keep up with the thread.

I just want to know if there has been any progress with firmware 1.2, or when we can expect to hear of any?

likely this has been covered already, but I've missed it :)

ta.

1.2 is still in progress, the factory is awaiting info from ESS regarding some of the fixes that they have not been able to address themselves. Once it is available it will be posted.