Philips 642 modified FW 1109

[HuffYk]

As far as I know, there are different ways to share your files, and as always, if there is a will there is a way.

If you can read Russian, you can use file sharing services i.e. http://www.webfile.ru
http://www.narod.ru

Otherwise, you can use such free services as Yahoo! Briefcase (share files with "friends") or Yahoo! Groups. The easiest way is to open a Yahoo! Group (if there isn't one yet for 642 fans) and there you can upload files. 2.5 MB per file should not be big deal.

BTW, there is a Yahoo! Group for Philips DVP642 fans: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/philips_dvp642/

well i'm looking for something like webspace, where i can store files and then put links on my web. From yahoo groups i cannot download anything using only link (i have to log on first as i know)

[HuffYk]

Someone who first tried the 1109 Latin2 2.1 version, then tried the 0531 Latin1 2.1 version and he couldn't get some characters like '¿' or '¡' (used in spanish)
May be the new version is not correctly implementing Latin1, or the 'downgrade' messed up something

Huffyk, can you check this?

Thank you

it's because i have to remove some characters because each character takes space. I though this ones are not used anywhere . I released v2.1a firmware for iso-latin1 and iso-cyrillic where in iso-latin1 in section Latin1 is used full lat1 table, and in Latin2 section is used only limited table (but this limited table is bigger then in version 2.1 so there are included also missing spanish characters...).

In cyrillic is used only Latin1 section with full iso-cyrillic table. Other sections are free, because DVDPatcher cannot fit in compressed bitmap (too weak compression mechanizm). It could be patched using some manual steps, but i never tried it, so i left here only Latin1 section.

these firmwares are ready, but i'm waiting for putting them online by my brasil friend (the only webspace for now i can use). Then i will update my webpage...

[HuffYk]

Don't mean to sound dumb (too late for that)! Will the moddified fw make hard coded subtitles font size any bigger and easier to read? I'm thinking not, but I am just curious. Thanks.

what you think i changed firmware for? :P Of course fonts are more readable then the original ones...

[HuffYk]

HuffyK, I would like to thank you and tell you that many of us appreciate your work. I can imagine there is a huge demand for divx/xvid subtitle support and that this demand puts huge burdens on the servers that host your software.

One of Jefferson's friends has a mirror for your 2.1 version

HuffyK modified firmware version 2.1

Below are the CRC-32 details for the 2.1 zip. If the files you download have the same CRC-32 details as these below, then it is most certainly the same.

the brasil friend i mentioned early, who uploads my firmware to his homepage and i use his links on my page, is exactly this one .

[Doomed Space Marine]

Oh, sorry for the dumb question huffy, heh. I knew it would affect srt, sub files etc. I just wasn't sure if the fw would affect Hard Coded subs. Glad to hear it does!

[etab]

Hi.
The friend of mine just bought Philips 642 with f/w 1109.
Hi is complaining FastForward and Rewind arrows (left and right on the remote control) do not work on DivX files. Can somebody having original 1109 f/w confirm or disprove this info?

Thanks!

When people doesn't see it doesn't mean to never exist.

Yes it happens. Tell your friend that this happens sometimes with this player without any obvious reason. I used to come across the thing a few times with all the FW versions. FF and Reverse doesn't work for some file or few of them on a disk and Display button pretends to be dead too. Re-burning of file use to fix the problem.

[teddy_b]

2 HuffYk

In cyrillic is used only Latin1 section with full iso-cyrillic table. Other sections are free, because DVDPatcher cannot fit in compressed bitmap (too weak compression mechanizm).

I've tried your ISO-Cyrillic 630/00 v2.1 - modified 1109 firmware yesterday. Thanks man, you're doing a great work for all of us - poor dvp642 owners 8) ... There are some problems with this release though, which I hope you will fix sometime (oh well, how much can I wish for when it's free?)

First one is really annoying, and it actually made me to revert my Philips back to original firmware. I guess this issue affects not only Cyrillic version but all of them (I actually noticed it on the movie with English subtitles, so it obviously has nothing to do with specific Cyrillic characters), and it's a side effect of increasing the font size. The problem occurs when there are more then 2 lines of subtitles on the screen - after current subtitle turned off it doesn't clean the screen completely, and leaves the part of semi-transparent background on the screen - where the first line of subtitles was. The only way I found to get rid of this narrow transparent gray stripe is to press "System Menu" button twice - nothing else helped. I was trying to watch a movie yesterday with a lot of 3-lines subtitles, and had to clean up the screen every 30-40 secs or so - and finally gave up ...
HuffYk - do you think it will be relatively easy to fix? Maybe there's just a parameter somewhere in the fw indicating what area of the screen should be cleaned up after hiding a subtitle? It always does a good job cleaning after 2-lines subtitle, but not 3-lines or more. Or maybe there's a font size - less then 28 but bigger then original - which will still allow player to clean up correctly while making subtitles more readable... Actually for me the original font size is not a big problem - with semi-transparent background I can live with smaller character size. I also tried the formware available from http://www.link.si/~ezadnik/Alec999/PhilipsDVD630.htm. This one does not have this problem - it always cleans the screen after hiding subtitles, even though the font size is 32 - even bigger then in your version. Unfortunately, this firmware splits the shaded background for each word, making it a little staggered, and actually harder to read. I think the continuous background boxes for each subtitle line (not for each word) are much better. The trick with remote described here: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247794 fixes the issue making background continuous throughout the whole subtitle line - but kind of defeats the purpose of installing modified firmware...

The second one is a pure wish... The standard firmware uses some weird ISO-8859-5 codepage for cyrillic characters, which nobody uses anymore... So if I want russian subtitles, I have to re-encode subtitle file, and burn both versions (original Windows CP-1251, and 8859) on the disc. If I ever want to play it on the computer, only standard Windows CP will work with any software players. It would be really great if in one of the next releases for Cyrillic f/w you can change codepage to a standard CP-1251.

And while I was writing this message, I've got another idea - how about making and publishing a small guide on how to change fonts in Philips f/w using DVDPatcher? Maybe it will take even less of your time then issuing new releases of modified f/w... I tried to download DVDPatcher and see if I can figure it out myself - but I could not . A guide from somebody who already knows the process might be helpful...

Thanks again HuffYk, and good luck with everything!

[Zisguy1]

Hi.
The friend of mine just bought Philips 642 with f/w 1109.
Hi is complaining FastForward and Rewind arrows (left and right on the remote control) do not work on DivX files. Can somebody having original 1109 f/w confirm or disprove this info?

Thanks!

I had the same problem, & finally figured out the solution. It seems the DVP642 is very picky about disc quality and decides whether it can FFW/REW based on some unknown metric of disc quality (possibly the leadout groove).

Solution is to create a small AVI file (about 1 meg) and name it "ZZZ.avi" or something. Then burn the main movie and the smaller file, with the smaller one at the end of the disc. Works 100% for me. If there's no source for a tiny AVI, you(re friend) could try an MP3 file or something instead.

[cosma]

.........

The problem occurs when there are more then 2 lines of subtitles on the screen - after current subtitle turned off it doesn't clean the screen completely, and leaves the part of semi-transparent background on the screen - where the first line of subtitles was.

......

problem solved in version 2.1b -
Latin1 section Arial Bold 28 transparent background
Latin2 section Arial Bold 28 transparent background except "space" - in case a blank stripe get visible, switch to Latin2 section and it will disappera (disadvatage is that the spaces between words wil not have transparent background)

in this time 2.1b version is just for ISO Latin2 charset!

cosma

[wongnog]

How do these subtitles work on a 16:9 display? I noticed that with original 1609 f/w, subtitles appear below the movie area in the black letterboxed regions. To view widescreen avi's correctly on my tv, I have to press Zoom on my tv set to stretch the image and make it fully utilize my 16:9 display. But then divx subtitles are cut off. Does this modified firmware solve this problem for us non-4:3 display users out there?

[catdaddio6]

it says latin,,,are these english subs????

[cosma]

How do these subtitles work on a 16:9 display? I noticed that with original 1609 f/w, subtitles appear below the movie area in the black letterboxed regions. To view widescreen avi's correctly on my tv, I have to press Zoom on my tv set to stretch the image and make it fully utilize my 16:9 display. But then divx subtitles are cut off. Does this modified firmware solve this problem for us non-4:3 display users out there?

update modifies only the characters (font) of the subtitles

[cosma]

it says latin,,,are these english subs????

what is the exact question????... what says latin?

[giannid]

I think the following is right.

Latin refers to Latin-Roman based characters which are found in Latin group languages as well as english. This would be different than those like Greek, Japanese, Arabic, etc. Therefore Latin characters will work for english.

[HuffYk]

2 HuffYk
I've tried your ISO-Cyrillic 630/00 v2.1 - modified 1109 firmware yesterday. Thanks man, you're doing a great work for all of us - poor dvp642 owners 8) ... There are some problems with this release though, which I hope you will fix sometime (oh well, how much can I wish for when it's free?)

First one is really annoying, and it actually made me to revert my Philips back to original firmware. I guess this issue affects not only Cyrillic version but all of them (I actually noticed it on the movie with English subtitles, so it obviously has nothing to do with specific Cyrillic characters), and it's a side effect of increasing the font size. The problem occurs when there are more then 2 lines of subtitles on the screen - after current subtitle turned off it doesn't clean the screen completely, and leaves the part of semi-transparent background on the screen - where the first line of subtitles was. The only way I found to get rid of this narrow transparent gray stripe is to press "System Menu" button twice - nothing else helped. I was trying to watch a movie yesterday with a lot of 3-lines subtitles, and had to clean up the screen every 30-40 secs or so - and finally gave up ...

i've got a lot of responses with these problems. But at last i checked it already, because at least you tried different firmware. Now i see i made misstake with characters offset. I was testing something for 16:9 resolution and changed offset of characters. But i didn't revert it and put it also into 2.1a versions of firmware (also 2.1 cyrillic). I have fixed it to old offset (same uses also you mentioned firmware) so it should be now ok. Now i'm waiting for my friend to putting it online...

2 HuffYk
The second one is a pure wish... The standard firmware uses some weird ISO-8859-5 codepage for cyrillic characters, which nobody uses anymore... So if I want russian subtitles, I have to re-encode subtitle file, and burn both versions (original Windows CP-1251, and 8859) on the disc. If I ever want to play it on the computer, only standard Windows CP will work with any software players. It would be really great if in one of the next releases for Cyrillic f/w you can change codepage to a standard CP-1251.

thats not possible, because windows codepages uses also characters 0x80 - 0xA0 which are skipped by firmware . I have to convert CP1250 to ISO-Latin2 too . I think, philips could fix it easy, but then maybe nobody will buy their newer products, where they reclaim SPECIAL FEATURES "windows codepage"

2 HuffYk
And while I was writing this message, I've got another idea - how about making and publishing a small guide on how to change fonts in Philips f/w using DVDPatcher? Maybe it will take even less of your time then issuing new releases of modified f/w... I tried to download DVDPatcher and see if I can figure it out myself - but I could not . A guide from somebody who already knows the process might be helpful...

Thanks again HuffYk, and good luck with everything!

well i have no time for writing this and i'm also lazy for it . Everyone can read documentation which is included in source code of DVDPatcher or can ask questions in http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mipsx_src/

[HuffYk]

How do these subtitles work on a 16:9 display? I noticed that with original 1609 f/w, subtitles appear below the movie area in the black letterboxed regions. To view widescreen avi's correctly on my tv, I have to press Zoom on my tv set to stretch the image and make it fully utilize my 16:9 display. But then divx subtitles are cut off. Does this modified firmware solve this problem for us non-4:3 display users out there?

well characters have to be shifted up to display them correctly in 16:9. But then 4:3 will be corrupted (as was with 3 lines of subtitles). Well, actualy current versions of 2.1a are for 16:9 , but i will replace them with the fixed ones...

[wongnog]

well characters have to be shifted up to display them correctly in 16:9. But then 4:3 will be corrupted (as was with 3 lines of subtitles). Well, actualy current versions of 2.1a are for 16:9 , but i will replace them with the fixed ones...

Interesting! Is it possible to post two versions of the firmware, one for 4:3 subs and the other for 16:9? Or how about one font, e.g. Latin1 be for 4:3 and Laten2 for 16:9? Are these possible? Thanks!

[JI2886]

on http://huffyk.hollosite.com

you will find unofficial FW for philips dvp 6** (modified1109)

the only difference to official FW 1109 is that subtitles are bigger and better readable (dark transparent background)

i have upgraded 5 players with this FW so far and all work perfectly
cosma

does that firmware work on all dvp 642's? i have dvp 642/37 will that firmware work on mine?

[giannid]

Yes it's fine for the 642/37, but you need to choose the right one: You need HuffyK's 630 firmware. The 630 is the european equivalent to the 642 and is virtually the same machine. You can therefore use the 630 firmware and burn the firmware CD-ROM according to Philips specifications.

I'm not sure exactly which one you want. Versions 1109 has macrovision enabled whereas the 0531 doesn't have it. If you don't care about macrovision, then you should pick an 1109 type. You probably want one of of these 3.

630 v2.1b - modified fw 1109
630/00 v2.1a - modified fw 1109
630/00 v2.1a - modified fw 0531

The 630 for Cyrillic support is for russian subtitle characters.

I wouldn't use the 642k/78 v2.1a as that is for a brazilian version with special support for portuguese fonts and the karaoke function on that specific player.

[JI2886]

Yes it's fine for the 642/37, but you need to choose the right one: You need HuffyK's 630 firmware. The 630 is the european equivalent to the 642 and is virtually the same machine. You can therefore use the 630 firmware and burn the firmware CD-ROM according to Philips specifications.

I'm not sure exactly which one you want. Versions 1109 has macrovision enabled whereas the 0531 doesn't have it. If you don't care about macrovision, then you should pick an 1109 type. You probably want one of of these 3.

630 v2.1b - modified fw 1109
630/00 v2.1a - modified fw 1109
630/00 v2.1a - modified fw 0531

The 630 for Cyrillic support is for russian subtitle characters.

I wouldn't use the 642k/78 v2.1a as that is for a brazilian version with special support for portuguese fonts and the karaoke function on that specific player.

thx for the help. i used 630/00 v2.1a - modified fw 1109. now i can read the subs. works great

[javierperezch]

Huffyk,

I noticed that in the new corrected 630 Latin1 2.1a version, characters ¿ and ¡ (inverted question and exclamation marks) does not display correctly anymore, as they did in the previous 2.1a

Thank you

[HuffYk]

Huffyk,

I noticed that in the new corrected 630 Latin1 2.1a version, characters ¿ and ¡ (inverted question and exclamation marks) does not display correctly anymore, as they did in the previous 2.1a

Thank you

you have downloaded it before 28.1 or after? . Because i forgot to put there full latin1 ). Download oldest one (maybe i made some mess in versions, but you have to live with it . The best way is to check date if something was changed.

[roxbang]

The new firmware for Latin people (portuguese-Brazil) is great. thanx for your efforts!

Now, just one question: the delay (for the subtitles to reappear) when you fast-foward a divx file can be solved with a firmware-hack? or is it hardware-based?

Cause it really annoys me :/

thanx for any info on that!

[thedivxkid]

If you guys are looking for better subtitle support for your DivX players, check out the labs...

http://labs.divx.com/

The new DivX file format allows for multiple subtitle streams within the file and you can use fuse (which is included in the SDK) to mux in your subtitles into your content.

thekid...

[cosma]

The new firmware for Latin people (portuguese-Brazil) is great. thanx for your efforts!

Now, just one question: the delay (for the subtitles to reappear) when you fast-foward a divx file can be solved with a firmware-hack? or is it hardware-based?

Cause it really annoys me :/

thanx for any info on that!

philips firmware problem probably - cannot be hacked

solution: use display button and exact time for ff or rewinding and you will not be annoyed

[roxbang]

thanks for the tip.

Philips is really a mess, isn't it?
I'm so annoyed with these "little problems".... but the most crappy thing is the "angle icon".Oh how I hate it hehe...

At least we can actually read the subtitles now...but NO thanks to
Philips!

[paddyb]

If i upgrade to this firmware (actually Huffys 0531 sounds like best bet) wll this cause any problems upgrading to a new philips firmware, should they ever release one? I have philips 0531 at the mo.

Thanks.

[cosma]

If i upgrade to this firmware (actually Huffys 0531 sounds like best bet) wll this cause any problems upgrading to a new philips firmware, should they ever release one? I have philips 0531 at the mo.

Thanks.

no the only difference to original is change in size of fonts of subtitles and its background, the rest is the philips original

[flea007]

Hello,

I just bought this player. dvd support is great, tested backups, + and - R, and seems good. Region 3 and 1 so far.

I have dvp642/37 and 0531...

however I can not get support fo divx avi and srt files which others claim to get. I get a red ? mark over the srt file, and I can not do the subtitle trick to get them recognized. Therefore I think I should try to upgrade to the modied firmware, I am thinking of using 630/00 v2.1a 0531, which I read in this thread was compatible. My question is however, I am using a ntsc tv, I tried changing to pal display in the menu and did not read with black and white verticlal lines. Multi however seemed to work in addition to ntsc.

Can I therefore still try to use the 630/00 upgraded firmware with this tv, since that was meant for a PAL setup? I really really want to be able to watch subs, since almost all my files are foreign. I only need english support, although chinese woudl be great, but perhaps downthe road that will also be enabled.

thanks!

[teddy_b]

Hello,
I have dvp642/37 and 0531...
however I can not get support fo divx avi and srt files which others claim to get. I get a red ? mark over the srt file, and I can not do the subtitle trick to get them recognized.

If you cannot get your subtitles recognized with f/w 0531, then most probably the problem is not the f/w but something else. The latest official f/w 1109 does not add anything to improve subtitles support, and the newest f/w 0112 for dvp630 (which also can be used on dvp642) just adds transparent background and includes some codepage changes for non-english subtitles.

First, make sure your subtitles are text files in either .srt or .sub format. These are only 2 formats Philips supports. When you open an .srt file in Notepad, it should look like this:

1
00:00:11,158 --> 00:00:13,820
[ rain pattering ]

2
00:00:29,743 --> 00:00:31,677
I hate TV...

and .sub file should look like:

{1798}{1846}Hello?
{1942}{1990}I'm sorry. So, what happened?

Also make sure you are not using UDF file system when burning your DVDs. For some reason, Philips doesn't recognize subttle files on UDF disks even though it can play AVI files from these disks just fine. If you have files larger then 2GB on your disk, then most probably it's UDF, but some dvd-burning programs might use UDF (or have an option to use UDF) even if you don't have large files. Be careful with Roxio - in my experience it tends to write UDF disks for no reason...