Philips DVP5960 and USB

[ivanovsky]

I need your help guys.

Really need to connect my external drive to Philips dvp5960. I see that many of you guys succeded without a problem.

I use Hitachi 200GB disk and Digitus 3.5" external enclosure usb 2.0. I formated it to Fat32, disk has its own power supply...everything that has been said on this forum...but still i get "Device is not supported"

I can't tell where I went wrong.

Any suggestions?

BTW: I called Philips Customer Service and there they said that it's possible to connect a NTFS formated drive to Philips dvp5960!! WTF?!?

Can someone confirm this?

[TBoneit]

Following up a post about a ME 300 USB case I was trying with the Phillips. It would randomly go to unsupported device.

http://www.xpcgear.com/35525exthdd3.html

I do not recommend this link having never used it. I include it to show and example of what the the case looks like. The one I'm using is a Generic ME 300 case. I like this case since it has a colling fan in the back and the power supply is built in and it only needs a standard computer power cord.

It turns out that the old 80Gb I had in it is going bad. I found out that it was the drive when I suddenly had troubles transferring to it with the computer.

I have since swapped a different HDD 80 GB into it and no more problems.

Cheers

Afraid to try the firmware upgrade since I'm having no problems with stuttering and now that I know why the USB drive would go out no problems at all. It has played everything I've thrown at it so far.

[michel weisnor]

I purchased the Philips 5960/37 after owning the Philips 642 for the last few years. Aside from a video codec not supported message on a few AVIs, this player is a step up from the 642. It plays many different avi files the 642 refused. So far, I have updated the firmware with no problems and the other day purchased a WD My Book Essentials 500GB. The hardrive is pre-configured as a FAT32 drive, so I just plugged the USB into my computer and copied some video files over. Then, I plugged the USB into the Philips 5960 and powered on the dvd player. This harddrive turns on with the DVD player; was recognized, and the player ran the video files with ease. However, mpeg files stutter through the USB 1.1 on the 5960 but the same files play through the USB 2.0 on my computer. The same can be said of DVDs. Overall, I am pleased with the 5960 although, it would be nice if the USB was 2.0 compatible.

[OCat]

Passat25, I experienced a similar problem when upgrading firmware and resolved it.

I upgraded my model DVP5960/37 from version 37.06.42.18 to version 37.06.42.29. The process seemed to go OK, but I had no video via either the HDMI or Components outputs when I was done. I had audio (via the analog RCA outputs) and the player appeared to function in that it recognized disks and played them.

After reading related posts, I tried several ways to burn the upgrade CD-ROMs (I also used Nero the first time, which defaulted to multisession). It seemed to go through the upgrade process each time, but there was no improvement.

After several frustrating calls to the horrible automated voice response system at Philips, the solution boiled down to this: the "HD Upscale" button on the front of the unit had to be cycled. This was preceded by unplugging the unit, which may or may not have contributed to the fix.

I hope this helps someone from having to deal with Philips support.

[Squash]

I can confirm OCat's solution. I upgraded my 5960 yesterday. Burned the upgrade file as "Data CD" in Nero Express 7 with the multisession option unticked. The upgrade appeared to go well, but player did not work. I unplugged it for a few minutes, turned it back on. Tried playing a disc, but although the player loaded it and started playing it, I had neither video nor audio and the remote would not do anything. I figured I'd bricked it for sure. In desperation I tried hitting the buttons on the front of the unit. When I hit the "HD Upscale" button (for no reason other than that it was there) I suddenly had video, sound, and the remote was working again.

I've got my player hooked up to the TV with an HDMI-to-DVI cable with RCA audio.

I got a little concerned last night when I started watching an AVI playing from a flash drive on the USB port and the video was jerky. I checked out the file with Mpeg4modifier and saw it had packed bitstream with 4 consecutive bframes. I unpacked it and then it played smoothly. I'm sure this file would have been a problem even before the upgrade, but I had never encountered one with this many bframes before I updated. Very rare. Everything else I've watched has worked without a hitch.

Anyway, it's working great now. Thanks for the tip, OCat! Should save a lot of people a lot of anxiety.

[ivanovsky]

I have heard from many sources, that Philips 5960 CAN indeed play files from NTFS formated drive. You just need to own a WD disk drive :)

[John667]

Hi Ivanovsky,
Not true, I have WD My Book Essential Edition(External Hard Drives 500 GB, USB 2.0) formatted to NTFS and player can't see it.
But if there is something we need to do to "enable it" please let us know.

[krylon419]

my wd ntfs drive does not work. hopefully they can fix this and the long filename support with a future firmware update.

[QubyB]

After reading this thread I took the risk to get a Lacie (designed by Porche) 250GB disk and gave myself a 50/50 chance if it would work. And it did! Right out of the box it comes formatted in FAT32 and it worked without any further tweaking or reformatting. Lucky me.

So ... I guess tis type of Lacie disks can be added to the list of disks that interface ok with the 5960 USB port. Don't know if this will hold for all Lacie drives though.

As far as the filenames are concerned, the 5960 does not sort alfabetically. After having performed several tests it seems that the 5960 lists the files in the order they have been put on the disk. So .. if you number your files or directories sequentially and keep a list of the numbers and the corresponding names you may be able to find your files (even blind)
Yeah, I know, it sucks.

Regards, QubyB

[expertie]

Hello,
This is my first post here.
I would like to know if 5960/37 works with a PAL tv in europe.
Thanks
Metin

[TBoneit]

I would assume so since you can choose PAL or NTSC ar Auto for TV Type. This tells me that it can output NTSC or PAL or Auto. IOWs NTSC Tv Type locks output to NTSC and PAL locks it to PAL output and Auto should switch to whichever the source is.

Can be set regionfree too.

So far it has played anything I've thrown at it in the MPG and AVI family with one limitation. To high a resolution and it throws an error message. I beleive anything beyond 720 by xxx

[OCat]

Has anyone figured out the limitations on how much content can be accessed via USB drive?

I've got a FAT32 400GB drive with MP3 and AVI content. When partially loaded, it works fine. If I load all of my content to the drive, I can see the folder names via the Philips unit but it won't display file names and I can't play files. If I delete folders and files, I can get back to the point where I can see and play everything.

I saw the post about powering up the drive before turning on the DVP5960. I thought that perhaps inconsistency in how I powered up the unit was the root cause. I have now eliminated that as a possible cause - the problem seems to be completely driven by the contents of the drive.

There are apparently some limitations to the amount of content, number of files and/or number of directories that the Philips unit can access. Does anyone know what those limits are?

[nitr8]

I have toasted 8 CD's now. Please would someone be so kind as to make an iso image if they have got the upgrade CD working?

you could email me @ sulph8 at gmail dot com

best regards,
--me

[mvillada]

I clearly wasn't thinking. My DVP5960/37 would previously connect to my video iPod with no problems. However after y'day automatic update (to iPod 1.2) the DVD player cannot longer see it.

Is anybody experiencing the same problem?

Thanks,
MV

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

I have a MAJOR Problem with my DVP5960/37 that I just bought 2 days ago ... PLEASE HELP ME ...

I have AVI file (made by XviD) and it's SRT file ... when I play this chinese movie ... the movie plays perfectly ... problem is 15 minutes into the movie the "Subtitles" freeze on the last posting and NEVER changes. Now, I have played the same AVI & SRT files on my desktop with Windows Media Plasyer and I have DirectVobSub (VSFilter.dll) and it plays Perfect.

What is the Problem? And how to fix the Unit?

Thank You in advance,
G!

[FulciLives]

Hi folks,

I have a MAJOR Problem with my DVP5960/37 that I just bought 2 days ago ... PLEASE HELP ME ...

I have AVI file (made by XviD) and it's SRT file ... when I play this chinese movie ... the movie plays perfectly ... problem is 15 minutes into the movie the "Subtitles" freeze on the last posting and NEVER changes. Now, I have played the same AVI & SRT files on my desktop with Windows Media Plasyer and I have DirectVobSub (VSFilter.dll) and it plays Perfect.

What is the Problem? And how to fix the Unit?

Thank You in advance,
G!

What does this have to do with the USB port on the DVP-5960 is beyond me ... make your own thread about your issue and do try to sound less pathetic.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jagabo]

I have AVI file (made by XviD) and it's SRT file ... when I play this chinese movie ... the movie plays perfectly ... problem is 15 minutes into the movie the "Subtitles" freeze on the last posting and NEVER changes.

SRT subs are plain text. Open the file with Notepad and look to see if there's something unusual at the problematic line. SRT subs look something like this:

1
00:00:16,056 --> 00:00:20,505
I was going to wait.
For Mom.

2
00:00:24,241 --> 00:00:25,750
Don't worry!

3
00:00:27,073 --> 00:00:28,711
You'll be fine.

line number
starting time --> ending time
lines of text

My guess is you'll find there's an error in the ending time of the sub where the player gets stuck.

[gonwk]

Hi Jagabo,

Thank you for your "Constructive" and "Useful" HELP. I will try that ...

G!

PS - Ful go to your room and behave yourself! :P

[Cobra]

What does this have to do with the USB port on the DVP-5960 is beyond me ... make your own thread about your issue and do try to sound less pathetic.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

If you've got nothing constructive to add, leave it alone.

gonwk - you'd be better off creating a new thread for yourself. I have this DVD player, too, but I am unable to offer any other advice other than re-encoding the video to a DVD.

[191924]

I clearly wasn't thinking. My DVP5960/37 would previously connect to my video iPod with no problems. However after y'day automatic update (to iPod 1.2) the DVD player cannot longer see it.

Is anybody experiencing the same problem?

Thanks,
MV

i finally got my external hdd to work with the 2 usb ports. i plugged one into the dvr for power and its working great.

but yes mvillada i cant get my ipod to work, i just bought an 80gb but it comes with v1.2 and i cant revert back to previous firmwares so there doesnt appear to be much hope for me so far. i have looked far and wide. you should be able to reset yours to factory defaults and then be able to use it thru your dvd player again but that of course is without the newest firmware for the ipod.

i was hoping ytsejam would have tried his ipod with the newest ipod update and maybe have some ideas for us since he seems somewhat knowledgeable. either way im happy with my hdd but would LOVE to use my ipod with its extra space!

[silk]

Bought the DVP5960 2 weeks ago, tried to upgrade the firmware, never know if I actually did it or not (how to tell?), HDMI works without sound (video only).
So I went to CC replace it with a new one, this time, before applying the upgrade, I tried to see if everything works. It did, including HDMI, so I have upscale (1080i) plus HDMI video and sound, before applying any upgrade (won't do it).
What's going on? The new DVP5060 in store already has everything update?
BTW, now that I have HDMI TV and DVD, where can I find a DVD movie that really shows me the 'like real' experience? So far with my HDMI/upscale, I don't see anything different.

[FulciLives]

BTW, now that I have HDMI TV and DVD, where can I find a DVD movie that really shows me the 'like real' experience? So far with my HDMI/upscale, I don't see anything different.

I believe you need to go see a certain type of doctor. The type of doctor I am referring to is called an optometrist.

The optometrist will give you an eye exam after which he may refer you to another doctor known as an ophthalmologist in which case you are pretty much screwed. However the end result of seeing the optometrist will most likely be the selection of your choice of special prescription glasses or contacts. Contacts is short for contact lens which is a miracle of modern technology. If you would prefer not to burdon yourself with such things you might want to then consider a special form of surgery called LASIK that is truely futuristic in the medical field with regard to corrective eye solutions.

Your best friend to more information would be wikipedia.org

I wish you well my friend and you are in good company as I have been wearing prescription glasses for the last 21 or so years now.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[jcgamer60]

I plan on getting this model soon. Can anyone recommend a site where i can order this that ships to Canada please?

[silk]

BTW, now that I have HDMI TV and DVD, where can I find a DVD movie that really shows me the 'like real' experience? So far with my HDMI/upscale, I don't see anything different.

I believe you need to go see a certain type of doctor. The type of doctor I am referring to is called an optometrist.

The optometrist will give you an eye exam after which he may refer you to another doctor known as an ophthalmologist in which case you are pretty much screwed. However the end result of seeing the optometrist will most likely be the selection of your choice of special prescription glasses or contacts. Contacts is short for contact lens which is a miracle of modern technology. If you would prefer not to burdon yourself with such things you might want to then consider a special form of surgery called LASIK that is truely futuristic in the medical field with regard to corrective eye solutions.

Your best friend to more information would be wikipedia.org

I wish you well my friend and you are in good company as I have been wearing prescription glasses for the last 21 or so years now.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

That's nice. BTW, when was the last time you checked with your doctor? Don't deny the reality anymore, admit the fact, you are pretty much screwed, denying it will only make it worse. Go get a chicken brain implanted, it might be much better than what you have now. Take care. Hope you get better when you are released from hospital.

[benefarius]

I recently purchased a A-Data PD8 2GB flash drive and it does not work - says device not supported. It was mentioned earlier that the A-Data PD2 flash drive works so it would appear that the dvp5960 is picky about what it accepts. My old Viking flash drive works perfectly, though. Both are formatted FAT32 so I guess some brands/models work and some do not.

Anyone else care to list what flash drives they know work? Both Philips CS people I spoke to had no clue about the USB aspect of the dvd player, and I'd rather not blindly spend more money in the hopes it will work.

[QubyB]

The only thing I can tell you is that my Apacer 1GB stick works well, also all smaller size sticks I have work well and my Lacie 250 GB external drive works too, luckily. My Creatve Zen Nano MP3 player on the other hand does not work. Why? Beats me!

Indeed the 5960 USB port really seems to be picky and although it is a very nice feature, this phenomenon that some products work well with it but others don’t is really utterly annoying. I thought USB = UNIVERSAL Serial Bus … hehe.

QubyB

[TBoneit]

USb is only universal ina broad sense. It has been around since Windows 95 computers. However without software driver support for the device being plugged in the device is useless. I have a DVR that has a usb port on the front. I can plug in a external Hard drive and view pictures and even store them on the on the DVRs internal drive. OTOH right now I can't export to the drive nor can I watch video off of the drive. The ability to store video streams is supposed to come one of these days in a firmware update. My guess is that it will also include encryption as a measure to prevent piracy. It does support putting video on some sort of a PMP for viewing elsewhere. If I was them when I added support for expanding storage via the usb port the drive would either have to come from them and be a propriatary format or it would require wiping a attached drive and installing a propriatary format FS, Speculation right now. But HDTV sure does eat up disc space.

[silk]

Then USB = Useful on Some Brand

[handyguy]

"Bought the DVP5960 2 weeks ago"

Maybe you can price match as its only $54.99AR at CC today.

There is a hdmi to dvi cable under $2 at monoprice.com, maybe itll be useful for those with only dvi connections?
HDMI DVI Cable 28AWG - 3ft w/Ferrite Cores (Gold-Plated)

[Wyntre]

Just picked this up at CC today and I can confirm that a SimpleDrive External Storage 160GB drive sy SimpleTech works fine for divx/xvid files once formatted to FAT32.

I used the link above for fat32formatter, but since this thread is getting long, I will repost the link: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/

Thanks to all who have posted success and results!!!