Philips DVP3040 DivX playback jerky

[mkgordon]

Last week I bought a DivX certified DVD player - the Philips DVP3040.

http://snipurl.com/qqyk

The DVP3040:

12Bit/108MHz Video DAC
192kHz/24-bit audio DAC
Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, (S)VCD, DivX 3.11/4/5/6x


I burned 12 350Mb AVI files to a TDK DVD+RW using Roxio Toast 7.0.2's DivX DVD function on my iMac G5's Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-K05 burner. The files burned without any recoding in Toast in about 12 minutes. The AVIs had played fine on my iMac and my Powerbook G4.

The playback on the DVP3040 was jerky, especially on panning shots. Even some of the still shots seemed to have some stop-motion happening.

I dragged one the files into various coding apps to get the file type info:


ffmpegX's Get Info:

VIDEO: [XVID] 640x352 12 bpp 23.976fps 1109.3kbps (135.4 kbyte/s) audiocodec framecopy (format=55 chans=2 rate=48000 bits=0 B/s=14722 sample-0)


MPEG Streamclip's Show Stream Info:

Stream: aaaaaaaaaaaaa.avi

Duration: 0:39:28
Data Size: 346.52 MB
Bit Rate: 1.23 Mbps

Video Tracks:
Generic MPEG-4, 640 × 352, 23.976 fps

Audio Tracks:
MPEG Layer-3 Audio stereo, 48 kHz


Toast "Edit" info

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.avi
Video: DivX 6.0, 624 x 352, 23.98 fps
Audio: MPEG Layer-3 Audio, Stereo, 48000 Hz


Can anyone suggest a fix? I'm hoping whatever I have to do doesn't involve hours of recoding video - not having to do that was one of the main incentives to buying the new DVD player.

Is there a firmware upgrade, official or not?
Is this a "packed bitstream" issue?
ffmpegX said the file is XviD. Is the problem that the player doesn't play XviD, only DivX?

One thing: I don't know if this is a DVP3040/12 or a DVP3040/37. Anyone know how to find out?


Thanks!


Mike

[Krispy Kritter]

The first thing I would do is try different media. Not all media works with all players. Try a different brand and/or type. I've seen instances where, for example, TDK 8x media works fine, but then TDK 16x media doesn't work at all. It is all a matter or trial and error.

[mkgordon]

An update.

Thanks. Actually, I don't think it's a media issue. I don't have access to non-TDK media just now, but the problem crops up on DVD+RW and DVD-RW disks that played fine with MPEG-2 files in standard DVD format.

I tried converting the file using ffmpegX's MP4 .avi ffmpeg codec. It seemed to me that the files I was using were XviD. The file that results from that operation is DivX. Here's what the ffmpegX webpage says about this:

"This is the codec known as "libavcodec mpeg-4". Compatible with DivX 4 and DivX 5 players and introduced by the ffmpeg open-source project, it's an incredibly fast encoding engine, now Altivec optimized, and also one of the highest quality MPEG-4 codecs around, constantly improved. Use it when speed is your first choice."

So, could it be that my Philips DVP-3040 player simply doesn't play nicely with XviD? Is that possible? The player says it can play MP4 and DivX. Doesn't that cover the range?

I've heard something about the player lacking "packed bitstream" ability. Since the XviD file is played, but jerkily, could there be something to this?

Is it possible to get a firmware hack that will allow the player to play XviD files, saving me the recoding time?

I was happy with the video quality of the DivX file created by ffmpegX. However, the sound lagged the video by a couple of frames, where as in the XviD, it was in sync. Is there a better way to convert to DivX? How about that shareware DivX Converter?

I look forward to any replies.

[burnburnburn]

Memorex CD-R, 48x, 700mb, 80min
Xvid/Divx .avi will playback on the Philips DVP3040
Burning as a CD Data Disc.
ONLY after lowering my burn speed to 8x or lower. (I'm still using Nero 6)

Jerky playback usally occurs when the original video file's (fps) is increased during an encode.
It's like taking a 4x6 photo and blowing it up to a 8x10 use lose alot of quality, but do the oppisite and you get a pretty sharp photo.

BURN SLOW

[Krispy Kritter]

After rereading your original post, it sounds like normal avi playback. You have almost 50 minutes of video compressed into a 350mb file. While it isn't as obvious on a pc monitor, when playing back on a TV, it is easy to see all of the data (quality) that was lost. You will often see jerkiness and macroblocking. MB will be most obvious in dark scenes and in effects such as smoke.

[KiwiKid]

It sounds like a packed bitstream issue to me as you guessed. I own four different Philips players with DIVX support. While they do play packed bitstream unlike some other players it is a little jerky especially evident in panning shots as you have noticed. I have done tests comparing the same scenes packed and unpacked to verify it. The latest GSpot beta is great for quickly checking if a movie is packed and Mpeg4 Modifier appears to be the tool most use for unpacking. I now unpack all movies as it takes less than five minutes.

[jman98]

I second Krispy Kritter's post. I have seen Divx/Xvid files converted to 23.976 fps from 29.97 fps that didn't play without jerking. Something probably went wrong in the attempt to IVTC and/or deinterlace. I sometimes convert 1080i HD TV programs to Divx for archiving and I have come to the conclusion that it's just not worth the effort to go down to 23.976 fps from 29.97 because too much can go wrong. Your opinion may vary. I have read that some HD sources can have crazy mixtures of interlaced and deinterlaced video and if your source files were HD, that could be the problem.

Try Dr. Divx as an encoder. It's pretty easy to use and it's free. I am getting excellent results from it. Despite all the bitching here that Divx is the "suxor" and Xvid "rulez doodz", the fact is that most of the Divx haters haven't used the codec since the old days and the current commercial version of the codec is, in my opinion, as good as Xvid. It's not a big deal to me, so if someone is in love with Xvid, it's fine with me. Oops! Just noticed you're using Toast, which means you're a Mac guy. Dr. Divx is not yet available for Mac.

Audio sync issues are often caused by encoders that default to VBR audio. VBR audio is the tool of Satan and only people who don't know better or are morons use it. Dr. Divx defaults to CBR, as it should. The "space savings" for VBR over CBR are incredibly small and given the fact that VBR audio often falls out of sync, there is no reason at all to use it. Maybe your files have VBR audio, but I can't tell from your post.

Yes, Philips players will play Xvid files unless maybe they have Qpel (quarter pixel) and some other setting I have forgotten about that some players don't like. Play your videos on a PC and if they look jerky there, the problem is with the source, not your Philips player. I don't have any packed bitsteam Divx/Xvid recordings, so I have no way to test whether they are problematic or not.

[Sakuya]

I have some unpacked DivX files that I've burned onto DVD-RW as data discs. The first one is 704x396 and it played with the SSA subtitles. However, somewhere in the middle, it skipped for some reason while the audio still continued playing. Then later on, it synced up on its own. And the subtitles do not recognize my "\n" line breaks. Yes, that is a smaller case "n".

My other DivX file only played the audio and there was no video. I have attached its specs from the latest GSpot here:

[manono]

And the subtitles do not recognize my "\n" line breaks.

Which is why you should make them \N. But you seem to know that already.

[Sakuya]

And the subtitles do not recognize my "\n" line breaks.

Which is why you should make them \N. But you seem to know that already.

I see. It was upper case before but my DVD author GUI does not accept upper case. -_- I have just tested another DivX at 1440x810. The player seems to dislike HD.

[manono]

That's not a Hi-Def MPEG-4 player. There are very few of those as yet. I believe most regular DVD/MPEG-4 players accept only up to 720x480/576, and most don't play those higher resolutions all that smoothly sometimes.

I don't understand. Why mention DVDAuthorGUI in the same breath as DivX playback of SSA subs? Maybe you make a DVD of the AVI. But why do that if your player already plays the AVIs? Anyway, if DVDAuthorGUI it doesn't like /N, then change it back to /n when making the DVD.

I make all mine with /N, but use MaestroSBT on the way to making SUP format subtitles for muxing in Muxman when I make DVDs. MaestroSBT handles the /N fine. You might check if DVDAuthorGUI takes SUP files. I believe it does.

[mkgordon]

Long time later . . . thanks for this.

My player works perfectly now, since I discovered Moitah's MPEG4 Modifier. I run it in CLI, via Mono, in Terminal, on my Mac, and it chews out the packed bitstream in a minute or two. Plays fine afterwards.

http://moitah.net/

Unfortunately, GSpot is only available for Mac. Wish someone would code something like it for Mac.

Does anyone know the preferred bitrate for encoding files to for this player?

Cheers,

mkgordon

It sounds like a packed bitstream issue to me as you guessed. I own four different Philips players with DIVX support. While they do play packed bitstream unlike some other players it is a little jerky especially evident in panning shots as you have noticed. I have done tests comparing the same scenes packed and unpacked to verify it. The latest GSpot beta is great for quickly checking if a movie is packed and Mpeg4 Modifier appears to be the tool most use for unpacking. I now unpack all movies as it takes less than five minutes.

[Sakuya]

It is strange in that some certain AVI files encoded in XviD jumps when played on this DVD player, especially the ones that MPEG4 Modifier detects as "XviD0047C" or something like that. I usually have to re-encode in Virtualdub using the DivX codec for it to work.

[kornsined]

My DVP5960/37 is the same. Jerky playback at times. This includes some DVD-r's (RiData) as well. I was playing Seinfeld Season9 disc2 (Retail legit copy) and during the episode there was some pixels that popped up. Anyone know why?

[jman98]

Unfortunately, GSpot is only available for Mac. Wish someone would code something like it for Mac.

Does anyone know the preferred bitrate for encoding files to for this player?

That first sentence I quoted is a rather unfortunate typo. You surely meant "PC" when you said "Mac" in the first sentence. You Mac guys can always run a Windows Virtual Machine from either VMWare (you want their Fusion product) or you can use Parallels. There is some free VM tool for Mac, but it's very buggy and I wouldn't recommend it. I work with a bunch of hardcore Mac fanboys (honestly, if Apple put a steaming turd in a box and sold it, they'd buy one) and even they use Parallels for various software tools that don't exist on Mac.

My general bit rate recommendations for Divx/Xvid playback on Philips players are that if you use MP3 audio (by the way, please use CBR as VBR does NOT work reliably), you can use a higher video bit rate. You might be able to go as high as 2000 Kbps with MP3 CBR audio. If you use any other audio (DTS, AC3, PCM) then you need a lower video bit rate, perhaps as low as 1400 Kbps. You can do some testing to get a feel for what your player supports. It's not hard to take short clips, say 1-2 minutes, and encode them in various ways to see what does and doesn't work. Note that Philips DVD players absolutely do not support AAC audio, so don't use that whatever you do.

[RabidDog]

I was playing Seinfeld Season9 disc2 (Retail legit copy)

as opposed to all the other illicit stuff you normally play, seems to be your implication :P
Regarding bitrate for avi I would suggest 1000kb as a minimum. Also mp3 sound is inferior to ac3 sound at the same bitrate eg a 192k AC3 TRACK will sound better than a 192k mp3 track IMO.. they will both take up the same amount of Bitrate .. people normally scrap the ac3 sound as its 448k or384k. mp3 surround sound is not supported by any players.