DVP642 and readable subtitles!!

[matthewmalay]

Did anyone read the post by javierperezch in the DVD hacks section for the Philips DVP 642. In case you didnt here it is

Originally posted by javierperezch
Tired of hard to read DivX subtitles???
Try this... it's amazing!!!

1- Insert a disc with a DivX or Xvid movie with subtitles file, and select the subtitles as usual.
2- Press DISC MENU button on the remote. The movie starts playing automatically
3- After the READING INDEX message, press SYSTEM MENU button twice

Doing this procedure, subtitles will be displayed over a semi-transparent gray background, making them much easier to read!!!

Believe me!!! This really works!!!

This only works if the disc has only one movie file and one or more subtitles files. For discs with more than movie file, there is a more complicated workaround. I'll try to explain it in another post.

Another thing you can do is select ENCODING LATIN 2. The font in this encoding is larger than the default encoding one, but some characters like ¿ and ¡ (used in Spanish) show up bad.

I hope all of you can find this "bug" as useful as I do


Greetings from Argentina
Javier

It works great!!!! I got the lastest firmware, v.1109, I can finally read the subs but it would be very convenient if I could do the same with disc that has more than one video file. Please javierperezch or anyone else that knows how to do this with more than one video file please post how to do so

Thanks

[javierperezch]

Hi,
In order to use this trick with discs with more than one movie file, first there is something you all must know.
When the player is set to NO MENU mode (by pressing DISC MENU button
when the menu is on, or by setting it through the preferences
menu `MP3/JPEG Nav' option), it first scans the whole disc to
determine all the recognizable files (movies, subtitles, pictures,
mp3) and assigns them a sequential number, while a PLEASE WAIT…
message is displayed on screen. This numbers are assigned to the
files in the same order they appear on screen when you navigate the
disc directory structure through the menu.
Once you know this, do the following steps:

1-Determine the file number assigned by the player to the AVI file
and the desired subtitle file. You have to do this by navigating the
disc structure in . For example, let's say the AVI file is number 11
and the subtitle is number 10
2-Enter NO MENU mode. After the PLEASE WAIT message disappears, the
player starts playing the first file y finds. Press STOP
3-Enter the number of the subtitle file with the remote (in this
example, 10) and press OK. The `little hand' is displayed on screen.
Then press SUBTITLE button. DIVX SUBTITLE SELECTED message is
displayed
4-Enter the number of the AVI file with the remote (in this example,
11) and press OK. The movie starts playing.
5-After READING INDEX message is displayed, press SYSTEM
MENU button twice. After this, the player usually skips a few seconds of the movie. If this is unacceptable, just STOP and start playing again.

That's it!
It seems kind of complicated, but after doing this procedure a couple
of times you'll get used to it.

Greetings

Javier

[javierperezch]

Note that this tricks work with 0531 firmware

[etab]

The trick should work with 1109 firmware too. Just checked yesterday - was fine!

[skyyblue]

excellent. i had a few problems with this trick at first. i wasn't sure WHEN to press SYSTEM MENU ... i was confused whether to press it WHILE it said "READING INDEX..." or RIGHT after it said "READING INDEX..." but each time i did it, it would screw up the picture and it would flicker with all types of colors. then i finally tried pressing SYSTEM MENU after it had said "READING INDEX..." and AFTER the first frame started. and voila, it plays the text out in a shaded grey boxed area. it does make a significance since the subs are thin and white and it doesnt mix well with the bright video area.

anyways, i also tried changing it to ENCODE IN LATIN 2, but it still plays out in the same size font. in fact changing it to any of the ENCODE doesnt make a difference for me....whether it's in LATIN 1, LATIN 2, CRYLLIC, etc. they all appear the same, but i can live with that since the boxed area helps out.

thanks.

[cosma]

do not play games with remote control and read this!

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251326

[ejp]

subtitles are great, especially with foreign movies. i really love it when the movie's AR is 2.35:1 because the subtitles fall nicely in the bottom black bar, and i don't have to deal with this trick.

however, live isn't always perfect, so i have to use this trick sometimes. work's really nice. however, i have a couple problems; maybe someone has the same problem and can help out.

SYSTEM MENU brings up the gray shaded area, but also skips forward anywhere between 15 and 25 seconds. so i can just press STOP and PLAY, and it should play the movie from the very beginning with readable subtitles?

i also use that trick with some color-bleeding XviDs.

anyway, another problem is that after pressing SYSTEM MENU to add a gray shaded box behind the subtitles, it'll bring it 20 seconds forward (as explained above), it skips the next 2 immediate subtitles AFTER that point. anyone have this problem? will STOP and PLAY fix this too?

[cosma]

subtitles are great, especially with foreign movies. i really love it when the movie's AR is 2.35:1 because the subtitles fall nicely in the bottom black bar, and i don't have to deal with this trick.

however, live isn't always perfect, so i have to use this trick sometimes. work's really nice. however, i have a couple problems; maybe someone has the same problem and can help out.

SYSTEM MENU brings up the gray shaded area, but also skips forward anywhere between 15 and 25 seconds. so i can just press STOP and PLAY, and it should play the movie from the very beginning with readable subtitles?

i also use that trick with some color-bleeding XviDs.

anyway, another problem is that after pressing SYSTEM MENU to add a gray shaded box behind the subtitles, it'll bring it 20 seconds forward (as explained above), it skips the next 2 immediate subtitles AFTER that point. anyone have this problem? will STOP and PLAY fix this too?

install a new FW to your DVD player - find the most suitable charset to your language needs - http://huffyk.hollosite.com/

[etab]

They seem to release modified FW 1109 for each charset separately. But the comments for the Cyrillic version for example on the web page and especially inside the archive in the read_me file are looking very very confusing. Can anybody make sure this is really for cyrillic charset?