If your Apex player is having problems, read this!

[KRomeleoN]

If you open up the player and remove the ide dvd rom, and put in a standard cd-rom, your player will play VCDS extrememly well. Only problem is, you wont be able to play DVDS. then again, who buys an Apex for DVD?

[valzuniga]

I did!

[kinneera]

Ummmm, following that line of reasoning, why not just put in a new IDE _DVD_ drive that was intended for computer use...you can be sure those will play all CD formats just fine as well.

[homerpez]

I'm trying to do just that, there is a guy who swapped his Apex drive for a Toshiba 6x, and it improved performance DRASTICALLY! So, obviously I now want to do the same thing...

I guess theoretically if you take any all-region IDE DVD-ROM drive, it should work the same as doing it with the CD-ROM drives... only you get enhanced DVD performance too! Most good PC DVD-Rom's use 2-laser pickup, vs. only 1 on the Apex crapola.

Now I just have to track down the right drive to use... I can't find the exact drive this guy used (Toshiba 1202 or something like that)...

[Betaman]

A Hitachi GD7500 DVD drive will work fine in the Apex. I have a 600A that had a dead drive so I took my drive out of my PC and installed it.Works great. Better than before.

[SlicknPick]

WAit Wait Wait..Is there anychance that if I do this to my Apex 660AD, that I would be able to also view DivX movies I have made in the past? Just wondering that..

[next]

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On 2001-08-26 09:19:48, SlicknPick wrote:
WAit Wait Wait..Is there anychance that if I do this to my Apex 660AD, that I would be able to also view DivX movies I have made in the past? Just wondering that..

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No chance at all.

[Greg12]

no, sorry but it won't play your divx movies.

[SlicknPick]

And does this also mean that whatever plays ok on the PC, will play on the IDE Drive just the same? Like for instance..movies that didnt skip frames on my PC but did on my Apex 660AD..Now will work as if from my PC?

[patrickm]

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On 2001-08-26 09:28:05, SlicknPick wrote:
And does this also mean that whatever plays ok on the PC, will play on the IDE Drive just the same? Like for instance..movies that didnt skip frames on my PC but did on my Apex 660AD..Now will work as if from my PC?
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not necessarily. if the bitrate is still too high for the apex decoder chip, that's still your bottleneck. but if you're talking about read errors that the apex has the computer doesn't, say on a standard vcd/svcd, then yes, it should play better.

[SlicknPick]

Well yes..I am talking about a standard NTSC FILM VCD..23.976fps.. it plays on my PC fine..but skips about ever 6 minutes..(it slows down, then speeds up to catch up w/ the audio) on my Apex 660AD


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SlicknPick on 2001-08-26 09:52:44 ]</font>

[homerpez]

This is true... it's important to tell the difference between a problem with the rom drive, and the player hardware decoder...

If you swap the drive, you will improve on problems caused by the cheap Apex drive (like if you put a label on a working VCD, and it suddenly starts to fail). Some problems, like my bbMPEg-muxing glitches that won't die.. this almost looks like it's a read or write problem from the disc, but it's really all in the encode/multiplex process...

[patrickm]

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On 2001-08-26 09:51:53, SlicknPick wrote:
Well yes..I am talking about a standard NTSC FILM VCD..23.976fps.. it plays on my PC fine..but skips about ever 6 minutes..(it slows down, then speeds up to catch up w/ the audio) on my Apex 660AD
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i wonder if it's actually playing it back as 24fps or PAL 25fps and doing a pulldown from there. if so, every 6min is offset by about 6 frames (1/4 sec). that would be a decoder problem, not a drive problem. maybe try encoding something at 24.00 fps and see if it has to catch up.1

[pier8]

Just to let everyone know, I have an Apex 703 (3 disc) and all of my vcds, svcds and DVD's have all played fine so far. I realize that Apex isn't the greatest brand in the world, but at one time they were one of few brands who supported CDR and MP3. I hope the performance keeps up, I've had it for about 5 or 6 months.

Steve

[SlicknPick]

Im not doing it in PAL..Im doing NTSC Film..But my DVD player (Apex 660AD) is doing skipping..and Im using the standard VCD NTSC FILM template.

[Bartab]

I just put my computers Pioneer DVD-115 (a claimed to be 16x, but smartripper never goes above 7x) and haven't had any change.

I'm having the same problem on my Apex 660 that SlicknPick is having... VCD's will start to have problems with sync a few minutes into the file (6 minutes approx) ...I don't seem to have the timing issue on the computer, or at least not bad enough to notice.

I've got another thread at www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=56453&forum=3&5 with more information

[SlicknPick]

WELL I just did a test last night..instead of using MPEG1, I switched it to MPEG2 and the same settings w/ a 3:2 Pulldown (so it plays at 29.97 frames per second)..Im gonna test out this 1st half of Hannibal and I'll get back to you.

[patrickm]

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On 2001-08-26 21:35:03, SlicknPick wrote:
Im not doing it in PAL..Im doing NTSC Film..But my DVD player (Apex 660AD) is doing skipping..and Im using the standard VCD NTSC FILM template.
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i didnt' mean you encoded it wrong, i meant that the player was interpreting it wrong, because it may not actually look at time code and header information to play it back at the right speed, and it's logic could be as simple as "only play back at 29.97, 25, or 24" depending on which is closest, not taking into accound 23.976.

[SlicknPick]

My test was unsuccessful..my Apex 660AD recognized the video..but couldnt play it Oh well..time to go ahead and work on my new SDVD template..Im doing the 1st half again using 480x480 resolution..looks good so far..1 minute = approx 9.9MB

[next]

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On 2001-08-27 11:57:54, SlicknPick wrote:
My test was unsuccessful..my Apex 660AD recognized the video..but couldnt play it Oh well..time to go ahead and work on my new SDVD template..Im doing the 1st half again using 480x480 resolution..looks good so far..1 minute = approx 9.9MB
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What is SDVD? You gave up on mpeg2 that easy?

[SlicknPick]

SDVD (smooth DVD *meaning not totally as sharp*) is my own thing I call for the template I have. Its for 60Min. of DVD quality on one 80Min CD-R. I didnt give up on MPEG2..just the way I tried for this movie though..I guess MPEG2 at a variable bitrate and 352x240 resolution dont work in a standalone..it wouldnt play..so Im gonna try to get me DVD template to about 65Min while maintaining visual quality.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SlicknPick on 2001-08-27 12:29:07 ]</font>

[SlicknPick]

Im running a test of the 1st half of "Hannibal" now..its 63:33 and so far so good...when its done encoding (later tonight)..I'll post the filesize And let you all know how it plays.

[AntnyMD]

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On 2001-08-27 12:28:13, SlicknPick wrote:
I guess MPEG2 at a variable bitrate and 352x240 resolution dont work in a standalone..it wouldnt play..so Im gonna try to get me DVD template to about 65Min while maintaining visual quality.
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You could do the same thing as miniDVD, and it would be considered a part of the DVD spec (provided your audio is 48kHz; you could even use your ac3 audio from the rip).

[SlicknPick]

Yes, but can I fit 63:33 Minutes..I dont think I can..lol..But thanks man

[RCP]

I noticed while playing VCD's on my 660 that when there's a scene change or some fast movement the sound goes out of sync and slowly gets back in. Is this the same as this six minute problem? I don't notice this on SVCD's.

[SlicknPick]

No..see what happens is when I make a NTSC Film (23.976fps)..Is the audio stays the same..but the video will slow down a lot..falling out of sync, then speed itself back up to catch up w/ the audio..

[AntnyMD]

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On 2001-08-27 13:45:18, SlicknPick wrote:
Yes, but can I fit 63:33 Minutes..I dont think I can..lol..But thanks man
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Actually, yes you can. I'm just about to burn an image of an 83 minute movie onto a 700mb CD-R.

[SlicknPick]

Umm..no, but ok..