Views on the LG DNX190 & Philips 5960 ?

[steve1221]

Anyone recommend one over the other ?

I see the LG has the Zoran 888 chipset which I’ve no experience of.

Any issues with Xvid/divx and can the LG be made region free with the remote code without any problems ?

Also the LG comes with two codes at the end of the model number, either MH or UH but the spec reads the same, this some marketing thing for dealers or are there really two models ?

[steve1221]

OK, I've just been down to the local dealers and I see now why there are two codes. One has a usb port and one has a card reader..

[steve1221]

Ok, been out and got the LG. and I have to say a very nice machine, plays everything I've thrown at it so far without a problem.
Haven't tried playing off the usb yet.

One question (to anyone else whoes got one), I've region hacked it and applied the hack to smoth out NTSC playback, BUT after doing the NTSC hack the output from the scart on rgb goes green !!

Anyone else had this happen ? or am I just lucky !?!

[SingSing]

I came across this once on a LG DVD player, it has to do with the setting of progressive or interlace video output.

[steve1221]

Yeah, I can see how that would work, but this player only supports progressive output through the component path and the problems only showing on the rgb path ?
The composite is also fine ?
I’ve not way of testing the component output as the current TV doesn’t have the inputs and pressing the button on the remote doesn’t do anything…

[CrayonEater]

Just my 2 pennies-

I have a Philips DVP-642. While it's based on a different chipset, it plays everything. I understand that the 5960 is kind of the ultimate DVD player, or at least close to it - it plays nearly everything.

I have an LG DVD burner and it's a piece of junk. I've been dealing with lots of people here and Afterdawn who have mucked-up LG products, esp. DVD drives. While I don't know if the drive in your player is a computer-type DVD drive (some manufacturers DO use regular computer drives, at least in their recorders, but maybe players too), based on past experience with LG, odds are you would have done better with the Philips. Now, I know there are folks out there that love their LG product. More power to ya. But I can only go on what I see and read about, and it would seem LG products are of inferior quality to some of their competitors, or at least get more complaints. If the features of your LG DVD player mean that much to you, by all means, keep it. Odds are, you'll get a few years of good service out of it. But if you are still on the fence about which one you wanted to buy, and are willing to return your LG, I'd seriously consider it.

[steve1221]

Thanks for that, I too have had 'issues' with LG kit for pc's, so I know what you mean.

I did look long and hard at both machines and came down on the LG as there seemed some issue with the Philips and xivd/divx with packed bit stream and as most of the stuff I'm going to playing is US TV shows downloaded from the net and as most on these are being coded with packed bit stream files the LG appeared to be the best bet.

I'll work it hard over the next few days and if it fails in any way, it'll go back, if I leave the hack in place they can't really have any problem swapping it if the outputs green ! But if thats the 'only' thing wrong I can live with it, I'll just use the other outputs until I get a better TV and then use the HDMI lead.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Steve

[kv5]

Just purchased the philips 5960 today (Replaced a philips 5100) paid £69.99 from Comet.

Also purchased an external Hard drive from Pc World.... was a bit duboius on which hard drive to buy.... as I have read on these forums about certain drives not working, and others needing external power supplies etc. etc.... Eventually went for the 'FREECOM Mobile 120 gig Drive' @ £129.99

worked straight out of the box!!! - Flawlessly !!!! - No additional power supply needed... just powered from the Philips machine... well pleased

Also tried a 1 Gig memory stick.... again.. perfect !

its played everything I have thrown at it so far... (Divx) with far far better quality than my old 5100 machine...

Very pleased with my purchase.... highly Recommended

[steve1221]

its played everything I have thrown at it so far... (Divx) with far far better quality than my old 5100 machine...

Very pleased with my purchase.... highly Recommended

So you've has no problem with any divx ? Have you tried any with packed bit stream yet ?

I'm not unhappy with the LG, I've hit it with more stuff today and while it's not, not played anything (if you follow), it's replay on some programms is a little odd (ie, long shot with two people in the distance walking across the frame right to left, instead of a smoth walk they jump a little ? I really can't see why ! Big fast panning shots play smoth as silk ?).

I'll give it a blast tonight and decide tomorrow if it's going back or not.

One other question on the 5960. Is it dual format ? I can see nothing on the LG that's say it should play ntsc as ntsc ? It does seeem to (well, now I've stuck the hack in there, it does).

Steve

[TBoneit]

I have the USA model 5960 and I have to say I tried all kinds of Divx/Xvid and it played everyone I tried. It played some, 1 set actually, that didn't play in a new Toshiba whcih plays most things. It plays back NTSC as NTSC and setting it to output NTSC only rather than auto or PAL only it outputs PAl as NTSC and looks good to my eyes when I tested it with TV caps from england that are in PAL Xvid format.

[TrolleyGuy]

Sorry to hijack the thread but it is relevant, honest!

I'm considering either the Philips 5960 or the LG DNX190UH (this is the USB version I think?) with the LG preferred because of DTS and a couple of other things it has over the Philips but can't find information on a couple of things. Can anyone help?

1) I know it's easy to multi-region the Philips but what about the LG? Will the hack for the LG DNX190MH work for the UH? And what's this about NTSC playback smoothing hacks?

2) Does the LG have multi-signal output? ie. NTSC or PAL automatically chosen?

3) Does anyone know if the Philips or the LG work with XviD subtitles? And maybe what types it plays? I'm hoping one does .SRT and .SUB/.IDX.

Thanks in advance.

[TrolleyGuy]

After some careful looking I found the answers anyway! Sorry for wasting message space! Just in case anyone else wants to no the answer, after looking around I found the answers to be (although I still could be wrong) :

1) Yep. Still don't know what this NSTC playback smoothing hack is though.
2) Yep.
3) Yep. Seems to work with just about any subtitle format. Don't know about the actual subtitle quality yet tho.

[IWantPVR]

I've region hacked it

Steve1221, Can you let me in on the hack you used as none I can find work on my DNX190UH.

Thanks

[Neuron]

Anyone recommend one over the other ?

I tried both and finally ended up with JVC TH-C50. Philips 5960 is a good player when it comes to play DivX only on SDTV. If you are planning to use this player with SD TV then go with it, if with HDTV - forget it. Philips has terrible upscaler (up-converter) and USB refused to recognize and playback DivX files from my external HDD. Just my experience with.

[TBoneit]

Maybe my expectations are lower than yours?

I have the 5960 hooked up to a 32" HD via component and the picture looks good to me. All of the powered external hdds I tried worked. The external case with a laptop drive in it did not work. The 5960 didn't provide enough power to spin up the drive properly.

[MoviEBoB]

I owned Phillip 5960 and very happy with it, use the upconvertion to 1080i and picture is extra nice. But what I like most is the USB port, you can use a flash drive that large enough to hold a movie or two (or Three ) in .avi file (divx), then plug it in to USB port, click USB button on the remote then select the movie that you want to watch and enjoy....right off USB flash Drive. You can even watch subtitle movie if you have a .srt file with the same file name as .avi file, just push subtitle button on remote. Amazon got a very good price on it.