Problem - Playback and Fast forawrd/rewind on Philips Dvd762

[buddymann]

I've mastered the art of audio decompression, audio sync, conversion to mpg and burning Vcds but my Philips Dvd762 sticks for a second or two at various points during playback but then continues to play - when I put the same Vcd in and play it again the playback sticks at other points so it's not a fault on the actual disc.
Also - when I first started playing my own homemade Vcds the Philips player permitted fast forward and rewind. Now it goes to stop if I press the fast forward on the remote and the Vcd has to be started again. The pause function still works though.
Anyone know what causes this?

[el indio]

Hi Buddymann!

I've got the same player (Philips DVD762) and experience similar problems:

1) Sometimes (about 1in3) VCD/SVCD plays for about 30secs to 4mins then pauses. Cant unpause. Press stop, then plays disk fine

2) SVCD menu (single screen chapter select) often locks machine up. Need to power off then on to bring it back alive.

3) Tried a couple of DVDs and these stuttered about twice during film (exl layer change)

4) VCD/SVCD ff, rw totally unpredictable as to whether it will work correctly. Often when you come out of ff the image will just pause for several minutes

This player has several design flaws:

1) Cant play XVCD

2) Cant play DVD-R as far as I know. If i had know this I wouldnt have brought it. Philips are pushing the (crap) DVD+RW standard, so delibrately make the player refuse to accept DVD-R

3) Remote control layout is terrible, impossible to hit the right button in the dark (hit the wrong button and player gets confused). Menus are unfriendly.

4) Cant play whilst zoomed

Conclusions:

1) Player prefers silver/blues to silver/silver CDRs

2) Tracking/mechanism of player is poor, hence unpredictable pauses

3) Firmware is buggy and very poor at self recovery (unexcusable on Philips behalf)

Overall, this player has the feeling of a pre-production model. Yes it can play VCD/SVCD/DVD sometimes okay in good quality. But often it has unpredictable problems and feels like the software if full of bugs. It took me along time to choose this player because of my fear of Philips (Ive been stung before by their inferior stuff). Unfortunately, this player puts me off buying Philips ever again.

[buddymann]

El Indio!
Thanks for your reply - looks like we're both stuck with the problem. I've only had my player for about three weeks but it's already too late to get my money back!
I will try burning on silver to blue and see if it makes a difference. Have so far mostly used discs with gold background.
Also - files I download that are already in Mpg format play much better than the files I convert myself. (Monsters Inc from Morpheus played from start to finish without a hitch) Ordinary DvD discs have so far played perfectly.
I also hate the remote control!

[RoopeT]

I have had similar problems with my Philips DVD 622 (I think my findings probably applies to your player too).

VCD: Encoded with Panasonic Encoder 2.51 plays fine. TMPGEnc also works, but you might have to change GOP settings from the ones in the standard VCD template: GOP 1,4,2,1 and disable scene change (http://www.vcdhelper.com/VCD2TK_TMPGEnc.htm). The quality with these settings is far from outstanding, though. Haven't had any luck with VBR XVCDs.

SVCD: Cinemacraft (or DVD2SVCD) does a good job. Also 352x576 and probably 352x288 work, but the bitrate must not go under ~1000 kbs. SVCD FF/REW works only with discs having a playtime of 40 minutes or less (and multiplexed with BBMpg, not TMPGEnc). Disc with SVCD selectable subtitles will hang the player if longer than 40 minutes.

Both VCD and especially SVCD are best authored with VCDEasy, allowing chapters and turning PBC off. If the mpg is encoded with TMPGEnc, select "update SVCD scan offset" option in VCDEasy (or something similar).

PS. I have also tried Philips SVCD Designer, but the problems with SVCD FF/REW and SVCD subtitles are still there

this player puts me off buying Philips ever again.

I think exactly the same way!