Philips DVP630 - DVP642 new firmware version 0112

[PegasoLabs]

Available here:

http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/dvp630_02/dvp630_02_fus_eng.zip

This is the official changelog:

-Support external subtitles for DivX with the following fonts supported - Latin 1, Latin 2 and Cyrillic (Refer to Instructions for use)
-Support DivX Video on Demand (VOD)
-Enhanced performance for DivX/MPEG-4 video files
-Support external subtitles for DivX with the following fonts:
o CP1254 - Albanian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Italian, Kurdish (Latin), Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
o CP1250 - Albanian, Croat, Czech, Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, Irish, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene and Sorbian.
o CP1251 - Bulgarian, Belorussian, English, Macedonian, Moldavian, Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian.

Please post your opinion on this new firmware.

[HyperYagami]

wow old news is so exciting

[giannid]

No, seriously. Has anyone tried out the new firmware. What is it like? Any subtitle support?

Please comment.

Thanks

[Zisguy1]

Grrrr, where is the new DVP642-37 firmware? I don't want to install an unsupported firmware, no matter how well it works (could theoretically void the warranty, for one thing).

[zorro22]

i am sorry but the latest official release is still 1109

English, Zip file (2.50 Mb) ver1109
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?ctn=DVP642/37&scy=&slg=ENG&searchtxt=dvp642

(click on software).

[PegasoLabs]

I'm sorry, probably the new firmware was not yet approved for DVP642 (but usually the 630 and the 642 use the same firmware). Let's wait for official release.

Anyway, HyperYagami, it seems this news is not so old....

[giannid]

Here is a screen shot from the latest "official" firmware from Philips (0112). Latin1, Latin2 and Cyrillic have been renamed to CP1254, CP1250, CP1251. Subtitles now have the semi-transparent background used as the only choice. Font appears to be Arial narrow.



Firmware is for Philips 630 and is compatible with 642/37, though not 642k/78. It likely has macrovision which was introduced in November, and probably isn't any improvement on Huffyk's or Bruno's 0531 modified firmwares

See this thread for modified firmwares

[javierperezch]

When just one text line is displayed, does it show a second empty backgrounded line below the text line as it happens with modified versions and with remote control trick?

[giannid]

Javier, no it doesn't show 2 semi-transparent lines if there is only one subtitle line. It shows only what it needs. However it still doesn't support code for bold or italics, [b] [i]. It just displays it as subtitle text.

[icewill36]

i have a question, is it safe to downgrade to 0531 ? i currently have 1109 installed on my 642. ive read that 0531 shows a better picture quality than 1109, is this true ? and whats this im seeing about modified firmware ? do they only run on 642/78 ???? i believe mine is 642/37. so would i be able to use a modified 0531 safely ?

thanks in advance

[Zisguy1]

It's safe, if your player will let you do it. See here:

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?select=Philips+DVP+642

[giannid]

IceWill, to answer some of your questions.

Personally I don't see any difference in picture quality between the 1109 and 0531 firmware.

As to modified firmware, Huffyk's white font firmware (630) will work on your 642/37 with no problems. It will keep your 642/37 configurations.

Bruno's yellow modified is based on the 642k/78 and can also work. It will set your region code to 4, but this can be changed by opening the loading tray, using remote to key in: 7,8,9,OK,0 which will set it to multi-region. Default menu options (OSD) will be in english with options for spanish and portuguese. I think video output will be automatic or ntsc TV by default. You can change these from the system menu.

Some newer models won't allow to change the firmware, and Jefferson Ryan thinks that they might be "E"-type machines. You can see your model version number by opening loading tray, and with remote dial: 5,6,9,OK

You should get something like 642/37 S 1

The modified firmwares seem to work on S-types and M-types. The 1 stands for the default region code setting.

Personally I have modified two 642/37 (S-type) dvd players with Bruno's 1.1 yellow and had no problems. One I switched back to HuffyK's 2.1a to evaluate it and decided to leave it on. Both work fine.

However make sure the power does not go out or gets unplugged when you are firmware updating or it will totally ruin the player.

[MurphGuitar]

I'm in Ohio, in North America, and I have a DVP-642/17 player which I guess is M-type. I have firmware 1109 on it and there's at least one movie file my player won't play right; the picture is very distorted. It's an MPEG4 file. I don't care about captioning at all, I would just like an upgrade that may have more recent codecs so I could successfully play this file. Could someone recommend a 3rd party firmware that I could use fairly safely? I would consider waiting for an official Philips upgrade, if there was any indication how long that would be. Thanks for any help.

[giannid]

Murph,

It seems that the problem is that the film you want to watch probably has an earlier xvid codec (like xvid 1.01 or 1.02). It really isn't a big problem because this can usually be corrected by playing the video, clicking on the System Menu button on the remote and then clicking the same button again to return to the film. It's strange, but it works. It should play fine afterwards.

The latest Philips firmware doesn't improve on this. The only thing I can see that it does is that it has changed for more readable divx/xvid subtitles.

The modified 3rd party firmwares just altered the official philips firmware so that the subtitles could be read and then left everything else alone. They also gave you the choice between bold font with no background, or non-bold font against a shaded background.

The new philips has just subtitles against a shaded background and some people who preferred the shaded background font of the modified firmwares (Bruno's or Huffyk's) might like the new official firmware better. It's a question of preference. Personally I think all three are okay, and hopefully there will soon be a new modified firmware that uses the new philips shaded font as one option and then bold no background for another option.

[leroiv]

@giannid
whem you update to ver. 0112 did you use all three files from the zip? Because Philips recommend only two of them to make update CD?!! Very strange if is not a mistake into the instructions. I have made the update using all three files and everything it's OK. What is your opinnion?
Another question: today for the first time in three weeks my tv screen become blank during a divx movie. i have stopped and play sgain and has solved. any ideas?

[PegasoLabs]

I used all three files too and i've no problems. I think there is a mistake in the instructions. Firmware zip had three files inside since ver. 1109 and in the instructions philips told to write all three files...

[leroiv]

Anyone know if will be possible in the future to be release a firmware which solve Qpel and GMC issue. Or is rather a hardware problem?

Another issue: On my DVP630/02, irespective which type of tv display I choose for divx files (4:3 LB, 4:3 PS), the image keep it's default format 16:9. The only way to increase the image is zoom, but 2x is too much, like a magnifier. Any help? Thanx

[zorro22]

GMC is resolved by 1109 but QPEL is a hardware issue.
The chip just can't do it.

Anyone know if will be possible in the future to be release a firmware which solve Qpel and GMC issue. Or is rather a hardware problem?

Another issue: On my DVP630/02, irespective which type of tv display I choose for divx files (4:3 LB, 4:3 PS), the image keep it's default format 16:9. The only way to increase the image is zoom, but 2x is too much, like a magnifier. Any help? Thanx

[giannid]

Leroiv,

Yes I put in all 3 files on the CD.

Jefferson Ryan has a theory which I think is correct. He says that there are 3 different types of hardware configurations for the DVP630 and DVP642: The M, S, and E types. The E-type was introduced with the 1109.

I initially tested Bruno's 1.0 yellow and it didn't do anything different for me. This was because Bruno only altered the character set in one of the 2 files of the official 0531 firmware (for M-types). Since mine was an S-type, it picked the file, "dvpxxdv.rom" which hadn't been altered, at least not at first.

Bruno then altered the charset on this file too (in addition to the M-type dvpxx.rom) and released his Bruno's yellow 1.1 which worked very well on my S-type 642/37 even though it was based on the 0531 642/78, which supported only the M and S type machines. That is why, according to Jefferson Ryan, newer E-type machines can't "downgrade" to a 0531 firmware (because the E-type needs the file "dvpxxEW.rom" which didn't exist in the 0531 release).

When you load a firmware update disk into the DVD player, it will choose only 1 of the 3 files - the one that corresponds to that specific player. The other 2 won't be used. However, to be sure that it will use the one you need, it is best to include all 3.

[newnews]

Anyone know if will be possible in the future to be release a firmware which solve Qpel and GMC issue. Or is rather a hardware problem?

I think only Divx+GMC was resolved, but not Xvid+GMC. I tested this two types of AVI files.

[leroiv]

[quote="zorro22"]GMC is resolved by 1109 but QPEL is a hardware issue.
The chip just can't do it.

That's not good! And this Qpel way of coding will become a kind of standard one? I don't know to much about encoding
It is any possibility to wattch on the player such a file. What shall be done?
Thanx

[absinthecarolinas]

This player will never be able to play files encoded with QPEL. Zorro22 is right; it's a hardware limitation. It's very unlikely that it will ever play XviD with GMC, either, for the same reason.

It does, however, play DivX files with GMC. In fact, mine always has, right out of the box, though older models might need a firmware UG. The reason for this discrepancy is that XviD uses 3 GMC "warp points," whereas DivX only uses 1 (which is about useless anyway). I think that most people who do encoding are aware of the QPEL/GMC limitations of most players and do take that into consideration.

I'm thinking about getting a Yamaha DVS5750, which I'm told will play "anything with a hole in the middle" . That, or an Xbox Media Center.

-abs

[leroiv]

your Yamaha will not play something with a hole and divx