Philips 5990 or 5992 Freezing Up?

Lance Uppercut · Member Joined: 07 Jan 2009 Location: United States

I'm not sure if this DVP 5990 is defective or not but i have a large collection of xvid/divx movies burned onto disc and a portion of them are still located on cdr's and this player will completely lock up while playing these discs. By locking up, i mean the power is still on and the discs are still spinning but the picture on the tv is frozen solid and none of the buttons on the remote nor the player will work when pressed. The only way to fix it is to physically unplug the player and replug it.

This happens on every single disc (Maxell cdr's burned at a 40x clip) and when playing the same disc over and over again, there is no specific time frame that it will happen. I can watch 15 minutes of a movie or 45 minutes of the same exact movie before the player hits a wall.

This is all very odd as these discs played just fine on my DVP 5982 and 642 (I'm starting to think this player dislikes cdr's that were burned too quickly but i don't have any extra blank cdr's to experiment with) and too further compound problems, i've noticed the audio/video going out of sync on legitimate dvd's. This alone has me up in arms and RMA'ing for a replacement.

Has anyone else had similiar issues with their 5990 or 5992 or is it just me?

insyder · Member Joined: 19 Apr 2004

the 5990 has many issues with divx. I just returned one today, which I got from bestbuy, thinking it was freezing because the unit itself was defective. But I just have the feeling its the 5990 itself. Not only from cds but also from hard drives. My old dvd player, a 3420 had no problems whatsoever

Oosername · Member Joined: 04 Jan 2009 Location: New Zealand

Lance Uppercut · Member Joined: 07 Jan 2009 Location: United States

neomaine · Member Joined: 09 Jul 2001 Location: United States

Lance,

First, I'd look into getting the mod firmware for the 5990/5992, its been working great for me. Don't think it'll fix any of this issues you listed though... I've had mine for a couple of months, used heavily for both commercial DVDs and divx.

Anyway, I don't think the burn speed is what's causing the problem so much as the media being used.

Have you tried copying the files to a thumb drive and playing them from there? Been working like a charm for me. (Get major kudos from my wife when I download a missing reality show and have it for her in 10 mins.

)
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neomaine

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filmboss80 · Member Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Location: United States

Read this thread: http://forum.videohelp.com/topic362283.html

It is likely a packed bitstream or global motion compensation issue with your divx/xvid videos.

stosh · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Location: Canada

Wow
I have problems with the Philips DVP 5990.
I had thought that the locking up was a defect but this is now my second unit and same problem.
Both units tried freeze pictures and sound or pictures or sound while playing divx. To be truthful, this is the only format I have tried. This is my 3rd Phillips purchase and while they have been great in the past........... The problem seems to happen with disc or usb. The firmware is the most current. I think I will return this one as well and look for a older model.

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

I have never once had my 5990 freeze up.

Some large divx files may take a long time to open. I've heard of (but never seen myself) 2 minute delays before the file starts playing. I think the long delay only happens with corrupt files that are missing the keyframe list.

The OP's problem may be overheating. Don't place the unit above a hot A/V receiver, for instance. Maybe the unit is just defective.

rael20 · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Location: United States

It's likely not defective. I got my 5990 several months ago and had no problems until recently. All of a sudden it does freeze when playing some avi/xvid files, much like you describe. I have been using MPEG4Modifier to unpack the bitstream, which does not require re-encoding of the file. This only takes a few minutes and seems to have been effective so far, though I only just started using this method a few days ago. I usually don't burn discs, I use my 8gb flash drive in the USB port. I have noticed that the freezing happens either way, which makes sense assuming that the problem is the packed bitstream.

I am considering buying a 5992, does anyone know if that model also has problems with freezing upon playback of some divx/xvid files?

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

I created a few dozen short clips using Divx and Xvid. With 0, 1, 2 and 3 b-frames, packed and unpacked. At different frame sizes (most 720x480 and 512x288) and with different DAR and PAR flags. All of them played flawlessly (off a USB thumb drive) on my DVP 5990. I was able to fast forward and rewind without issue. Bit rates were typically around 2500 VBR kbps with 384 kbps AC3 audio.

To make it harder I used GMC (Divx, single warp point) and QPel in a few videos with 2 b-frame packed bitstream. The player put up a warning message about GMC but continued to play the files. They were jerky at times and had occasional A/V sync problems.

Whatever lockup problems you guys are having, it's not a simple matter of packed bitstream not working. If you can make a problematic file available I'll take a look at it...

MJA · Member Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Location: IL

not a single issue since I bought mine over 5 months ago. divx,dvd,HDMI,S-VIDEO,USB all working fine

insyder · Member Joined: 19 Apr 2004

This thing everyone says about unpacking and repacking streams makes no sense. The divx I have are certified and are made by pros. So i cant even come close to making better rips. Plus the problem sometimes appears in a folder (of a show) with 16 files, all the same size, bitrate and format. Some will work and some not. So the problem is with the player and not the files. And I am talking from experience (I have over 800 divx files, ranging from 150mb to 700 mb, none over 1gb).

The only thing is keeping the 5990 as a backup player, and buy something like the popcorn hour a110 as a main one.

rael20 · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Location: United States

I don't know what to tell you guys, I am certainly no expert on this. All I know is I decided to google freezing issues with the 5990 before I went out and bought another player and I found several cases of this problem here and elsewhere, many citing a packed bitstream as the likely problem. Unpacking the bitstream has allowed my player to play files it would not have played just a few days ago. As I said earlier, I had the player for around 6 months with no problems before this started happening.
The freezing issue happens on approx 10% of the files I feed it, and could happen at anytime during playback. Not all files with packed bitstreams are problematic, the only consistent factor I can point to is the source. I will continue to test potentially problematic files to see what I can figure out, then report back. Thanks for the help/feedback...

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

handyguy · Member Joined: 25 Mar 2003

All my Philips do this. Doesn't happen very often however.

stosh · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Location: Canada

I have sent this to philips

Chints · Member Joined: 08 May 2006 Location: USA

Have played many divx/xvid without any problem. But I have seen some files that did not play properly. It stuck with one file.

mttweeks · Member Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Location: United States

I have a 5990 and i have the same problem when playing divx. i know it is not a GMC or QPel problem. also the bit rate was well under the max. i have tried original, updated, and custom firmware and nothing changed. mine always freezes within 5 seconds of playing the file. the only common thing between the files with problems are the source. every episode of nip/tuck season 2 i downloaded didnt work and casino royale. now i just avoid using the player. i dont know what a packed bit stream is so im not sure if that is the problem.

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

I couldn't find any nip/tuck season 2 divx files. Only xvid. I downloaded one and it played fine from a thumb drive.

Lance Uppercut · Member Joined: 07 Jan 2009 Location: United States

Follow Up:

Replacement player from Philips arrived in the mail today. I've tried 5 of those cdr discs on the new player and all 5 played in their entirety from beginning to end without the player freezing up. Xvid/Divx dvd's also work fine like before. Still need to test the new player for lip sync issues with retail dvd's, the USB functionality on both players (will be using a new 8GB Patriot Xporter drive), and do a audio/video comparison between the two players (new player looks refurbished). I'll post those results in a couple of days but I think it's safe to assume that the previous player was defective.

Btw what is the difference between the 5990 and 5992?

stosh · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Location: Canada

Took over a week but I got a reply to my email from Philips. They told me to check the web site and if the issues could not be resolved to phone them. I tried phoning but the the wait was so long I gave up. Returned it back to BestBuy as my time left to deal with them was running out. Was kind of surprised when she asked if it was locking up. Then went to the department to look for a replacement and was told they were having a lot of issues with this unit.
Will use my kids unit until Philips sorts this out.

jagabo · Member Joined: 09 Dec 2005 Location: none

Try a WD TV Media Player instead.

jman98 · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Location: Freedonia

The following sticky can be useful when trying to diagnose Divx/Xvid playback problems on DVD players:
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic352457.html
The things listed in the sticky can cause playback problems on various players.

Philips doesn't have the greatest quality reputation. If their players work for you, they are a good value for the money. I have an old DVP-642 that has been worth every penny it cost. Many other people bought the same model and had nothing but problems with it. It could just be that the 5990 has quality control issues like the DVP-642 did and some are good and some are bad.

Wanderlustus · Member Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Location: Canada

Wanderlustus · Member Joined: 24 Dec 2008 Location: Canada

MysticE · Dismembered Joined: 17 Nov 2003 Location: United States

4public · Member Joined: 13 May 2009 Location: United States

Hi rael20, Any news from your testing?
I have similar freezing problem and will try to reload bin - may be it will help

rael20 · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Location: United States

@4public

Sorry for the late response, it's been awhile since I last checked this thread. I really don't have much news besides what I posted before. Unpacking the bit stream seems to be the best solution I've come across. I'm not using the 5990 nearly as often these days as I've purchased a WD TV (which is great) since my last post. There have been a few files I've still had some trouble with even after unpacking the bit stream, but almost too few to mention. As jagabo mentioned above, remuxing may also help with some files. Anyway, good luck with your player and thanks to everyone here for the help. I really appreciate it...

oldfart13 · Member Joined: 09 Nov 2000 Location: Canada

Mine has started to give the "no disc" error after only a few months of very limited use, most notably on DVDs burned to Sony +Rs. Works just fine with the USB port though. It's not like are using machines with military spec parts here. They are pretty cheaply made. I can't afford the other solutions mentioned here though (WD TV, etc.) as they are still too expensive for me. Guess I'll just have to wait and see what the future has in store for me...

rael20 · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2009 Location: United States