Philips DVD's problem

[Hyper Shinchan]

I want to buy a new DVD player, and I want to buy a Philips product.
But on the Philips Consumer Products there aren't a lot of the newest!
Especially the DVP 5500S and the DVP 642, of course I'm talking about the Italian version of the website.
Now what is the problem? Perhaps different names (but I don't think) or these models aren't sold in Italy? I will check it in the stores in the next day, but it's strange!
Anyway can anyone tell me if the DVP 5500 supports SVCD sub and MPEG 5.1?
The DVP 642 support SVCD sub. but for the audio?
There is any other good Philips player (I want full SVCD compliant and the Philip's player are the best in this, I think).
Another little question: what about the file container MP4? All these players support MPEG4, but in MP4 also, or only in AVI?
O.K. thst's all.
Tnx .

[giannid]

I believe in Europe they have the Philips DVP630. This is the equivalent of the 642 which isn't sold in europe. They are basically the same machine except for a few things like power voltage, language of the menus, PAL/NTSC, etc.

I don't know much about SVCD, but I think you may have problems fast-forwarding and reversing with these types of files. I think you would be better off using something like AutoGk to convert to .AVI.

.AVI is a type of mpeg4 file, and the Philips DVP630 and 642 are supposed to be compliant with divx, so it should play about every divx file with some limitations as to how a certain file is encoded. For example, it won't play an .avi file encoded with QPEL. It won't play .wmv nor will it play nero's new codec. It does play most xvid files as well as divx.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Tnx for the replie giannid, but in the DVD list there are both of them 630 and 642, but if they are really the same, it's O.K.!

[jman98]

Philips DVD players are NOT fully SVCD compliant!!! This was a big shock to some of us. I have the DVP 642 and it will only play one audio track (SVCD supports 2) and one subtitle stream (the format allows for up to 4). If you have subtitles on a SVCD, it will only play the first one and you can't turn it off.

MPEG 5.1 is very difficult to make. I have a SVCD with MPEG 5.1 that I used for testing and my player did play it.

I think your terminology is wrong. AVI is a file container and MPEG-4 is not. The DVP 642 does not at this time support containers for MPEG-4 other than AVI.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Philips DVD players are NOT fully SVCD compliant!!! This was a big shock to some of us. I have the DVP 642 and it will only play one audio track (SVCD supports 2) and one subtitle stream (the format allows for up to 4). If you have subtitles on a SVCD, it will only play the first one and you can't turn it off. sad.gif

It's a big shock even for me!
I thougth that they are full SVCD compliant!
For the MPEG 5.1, you use an external decoder or an internal? If I purchase another player and I use an external Philip's decoder, can I play MPEG 2 5.1 ackward compatible used in the SVCD?

I think your terminology is wrong. AVI is a file container and MPEG-4 is not. The DVP 642 does not at this time support containers for MPEG-4 other than AVI.

The MPEG-4 isn't a file container, but the MP4 is a file container, it is used by Nero Digital, and it's the same of the Apple's M4A,
read more here:http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62723
P.S.: tnx to Baldrick for the link and to Bond for the excellent FAQ !

[jman98]

My amplifier seems to understand MPEG 5.1 audio and it decoded the stream, so I used an external decoder. MPEG multichannel audio takes up significant disc space, over 300 Mbps, so keep that in mind if you try to use it. The tool I used, some years ago, only ran under Linux, not Windows, and it didn't work correctly. Someone figured out that there was a problem with the source code where it caused the left rear and right rear channels to be duplicated and I don't think the problem was ever fixed.
I think I one time saw a link somewhere to a Philips software encoder for MPEG 5.1 audio, but I never used it. I consider SVCD a dead end now that DVD recorders and discs are so cheap.

[jman98]

I wanted to follow up on my last post. I tested my Philips DVP 642 last night. I am incorrect. My amplifier do NOT decode MPEG multichannel audio. I had Dolby Pro Logic turned on, which can fake surround sound on non-surround recordings. I don't know if this player can correctly pass MPEG multichannel audio or not. Sorry.

[Hyper Shinchan]

Anway DVD2SVCD use the Philips Multichannel encoder.