Philips DVP5960/12 Firmware 12.06.36.24 download it here

[ElToro0571]

I installed the new version, but to be certain i have downloaded it again. 5.1 with HDMI is not working on my set.

I would like to know if someone has working 5.1 coaxial with HDMI with the new Firmware of F-Swed ?

[caspermi]

I have my 5960/37 connected to my 16:9 TV with a HDMI cable. I bought this player mainly for its upscaling capability. This is not a problem when watching letter boxed DVD's. However, I have many home movies burned to DVD in 4:3 as well a photo CD's in 4:3. Problem is that when I watch these 4:3 DVD's on the 5960, the picture is stretched to fit the 16:9 TV. I've read that some other DVD players suffer from the same problem while others like the Oppo, display in the proper 4:3 format over HDMI upconverted to 1080i.

I called Philips support but I knew the conversation wouldn't go far when the tech continuouslly referred to 17:9 displays and said the problem was with my new TV. I checked their support site and their is no firmware update to resolve this issue. Has someone perhaps developed some hacked firmware to fix this issue?

[koulukatu]

philips_dvp5960_12_fw_12.06.36.40_with_pb_support.zip (New)

Downloaded and upgraded with this. Can't play packed bitstream Xvid files like

http://file2upload.com/file/1388/2c-packed.avi.html

[BC1939]

I also had to sign up just to thank F-Swed for the firmware upgrade!!
Bought the 5960 at CC just a couple of days ago. It had a manufactured date of Oct. 2006.
and hitting 1379 while in the General set-up came up with Version 37.06.42.29 already installed.
Did notice the slight?? hesitation beforhand but seems to be corrected as F-Swed stated.
(the hesitation really wasn't that bad, seemed to be most noticeable while watching the
scrolling credits at the end of a film)
Also downloaded the test file that was put up by Koulukatu and tried it out before and after.
With the firmware the DVP came with, the Audio and Video played but with long hesitations, after F-Swed's upgrade file it played the same way, so that was no great loss.
I like others would someday hope to see longer filenames.
Again THANKS........BC

[eugovector]

I installed the 37 firmware from F-Swede and noticed a slight improvement in DIVX stuttering. Every little bit helps. Thanks.

Edit: After watching for a while, the DIVX stuttering is quite noticably improved. Thanks again.

[flowbreak]

F-Swed, thanks for your efforts.. i haven't tried the US firmware yet but i've been seeing soo many EURO ones that it made me sad to have an american dvd player. haha. cheers

if i may, i'd like to suggest like those before me to try to get some longer filenames in a firmware sometime in the future.. no rush, but it would be very kind of you and much appreciated. thanks either way.

[denrock]

Just wanted to say thanks also for the improved firmware. I had the 37.06.42.18 firmware installed on my 5960/37 when I bought it and then I upgraded the firmware to the 37.06.42.29. I then thought that all my xvid and avi files were playing kinda of jerky compared to before but I thought maybe it was my imagination until I read about it on this forum. Thanks for taking the time to mess around with the firmware to fix, enhance, unbreak, or replace what Philips took away in that last firmware upgrade. I upgraded with your fixed firmware and everything plays great again.

[flowbreak]

the firmware F-Swed posted works just as described in case anyone is still wondering. thanks for fixing my xvid playback! i thought it was a little strange after i upgraded to the newer philips firmware.

[shawn67]

To make sure that we are all on the same page:

Has anyone gotten F-Swed's US firmware to work AND continue to continue to receive audio in DD 5.1?

[EmptyG]

I upgraded my 5960/37 (US) with his firmware. Yes - the stutter is almost completely gone (still a tiny bit, but a very noticeable improvement).

However, DTS is gone. 5.1 did work, at least on one disc I tried. But weird thing - I put in disc 1 for "Hannibal" - it went totally silent in the movie and tried to output in 2 ch stereo (again, silent). Usually I can press the "audio" button on the DVP5960/37 remote and switch audio channels, but it gave me the circle with the line through it (a.k.a. you can't do that don't push the button). I had to go back to the menu and switch it from there. It DID output in 5.1 after that, but no DTS.

In my mind, this is a deal breaker. I am much more in favor of 5.1 and DTS vs. stutter fixing.

Wished it fixed both, but it does not

[shawn67]

Are you doing A/V both through the HDMI> I need DD 5.1 going through my digital coax with video going through my hdmi to dvi converter. Make sense?

[Tadejcek90]

Hi I have a million $ question !
Today i bought dvp5960/12 and before i bought it i tryed to play this movie: Miami.Vice.2006.DVDrip.XviD
Nfo:
CD1
File size : 703 Mb.

[Film]
Veljaven : yes [AVI]
lenght : 01:00:57
comlete film : Da

[Video]
Resolution : 672x288
codec : XviD MPEG-4 codec
FPS : 25,00
BitRate : 1486 Kbps
Koeficient of quality : 0,31 b/px

[sound]
Kodek : MPEG 1 or 2 Audio Layer 3 (MP3)
number of channels : 2
Sample Rate : 48000 Hz
BitRate

i had to translate the nfo !
Well the question is now why originaly i could play this movie but when i updated fm i couldn`t any more so i typed google.com and start searching and i found this site and also videohelp.com AND I DOWNLOADED evry FM i could find that support pb_xvid but i couldn`t play that movie any more not even when i downgraded it to xx.xx.xx.24 why ??' please help me so sad sooo saddd


also i wrote this on softpedia

[EmptyG]

Shawn67 - yes, I use an HDMI connection to upconvert the signal to my HDTV. I have the audio output from the digital coax cable.

FYI - I 'downgraded' to the previous version and the DD5.1 and DTS work just fine again - but the stuttering has returned.

[EmptyG]

FYI - I used that MPEG4Modifier program to unpack a file that was stuttering and it does work! Definite noticeable improvement in the video stuttering. Nice and fast too - for a 2 hour + video file, it took about 60 seconds to reencode and save. Hey for now, this is at least a band-aid until a permanent fix comes out

This forum rocks

[Tadejcek90]

FYI - I used that MPEG4Modifier program to unpack a file that was stuttering and it does work! Definite noticeable improvement in the video stuttering. Nice and fast too - for a 2 hour + video file, it took about 60 seconds to reencode and save. Hey for now, this is at least a band-aid until a permanent fix comes out

This forum rocks

-
i downloaded this program tryed to do somethin put it on a dvd-rw it doesn`t work the sound is jerky ! still

[ElToro0571]

MPEG4MODIFIER is working, i have converted several XVID files and they play without stuttering. Simple and fast.
For now this is the best solution playing XVID files (without stuttering ) and DD 5.1 via HDMI/Coax

Thanks EmptyG

[EmptyG]

Tadejcek90 - I have had issues with RW DVDs. DVD-Rs and DVD+R DLs are the ones I have had the best luck with - FYI

ElToro - no problem, glad I could help at all. Yeah I have tested several now and all of them play with zero issues The fact that it only takes a minute to do a full movie makes it viable until a fix is out.

[sfin54]

Using F-Swed's US version of the firmware is still giving me "jerkyness" when videos are played via the USB port from a flashdrive. I have tried to run the files through MPEG4Modifier, unpacked the packed bitstream, and still experience the jerkyness in high bit rate scenes.

When I play files that were never packed bitstream, they seem to play fine through the USB port (using the flash drive).

I am wondering if perhaps I am running the file incorrectly through MPEG4Modifier? Is there another application I can use to "unpack"? Or is this just a limitation of the USB 1.1 port during high bitrate scenes?

Also, when I burn packed bitrate files to CD/DVD the play fine. The problem only occurs using the USB port.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
sfin54

[michel weisnor]

While I enjoy using the USB, DVD playback is finicky at best. With newer DVDs, this player will skip over segments or under other circumstances freeze up after a long viewing time. In the latter, I am unsure if it is the layer break.

[ZoneRanger]

Hopefully, I'll be thanking you, F-Swed, tomorrow! I'm away from my DVP5960/37, right now, so I can't try it until them, but I'm really hopeful. The jerky playback has been driving me nuts and I was about to take the player back (tomorrow!), but I just happened to find this forum in the nick of time! (I hope) I've got a Toshiba player that plays everything flawlessly, but the USB port on the Phillips is just so incredibly handy, that I really want it to work. The firmware upgrade from the Phillips site was useless.

F-Swed, you should contact Phillips to let them know what firmware they need to have on their website, I'm sure it'll make tons of people happy. I'll post back after I try out your hack. Thanks, in advance.


EmptyG, when you say F-Sweds hack didn't work with 5.1 sound, does that mean it won't play files using the AC3 codec (5.1)?

I'm going to try the MPEG4 Modifier, too. I'm not exactly clear about what I should be doing, though. I've loaded "Employee of the Month" into the programand it shows that it has a packed bit stream. It shows both the Xvid and Divx codecs in the user data area, so I'm first removing the Xvid from the box, and saving the file. Next, I'll probably try checking "Unpack", and try that one. (both, tomorrow) Am I doing the right thing? I'm not even sure what a packed bit stream is. I guess I'll have to do some searching.

Hey, guys, my Sandisk Cruzer Micro U3 drive just started working a little funny (not properly) after installing the Net Framework 2.0. I think it may be causing some problems, is this normal? (it shouldn't be!) When I plug the drive in, it doesn't automatically launch the U3 program like it normally does. Also, as soon as the box comes up with the options of what I want to do with the drive, I get another box opening up saying that the drive is a Music disc at another location (different drive letter) at the same time. (the flash drive was recognized as both drive G *and* drive E, simultaneously) What gives?

Ok, now, it didn't do that, it is working properly. (huh?) (yes, I'm doing several things as I type this post, so if it sounds a bit scattered, you know why) That was strange, I hope it doesn't happen anymore!

[ZoneRanger]

Well, the flash drive isn't being recognized properly. I've tried it a few more times, and the U3 isn't starting up and it's being recognized as both "Audio CD (E)" and "Removeable Disk (G)" If this keeps up, I'm going to have to remove NetFrame 2.0, if that's even possible, cause man, it seemed to install itself and make changes to many, many files (it took a little while to install).

So, any help with this?

Is there another version of the MPEG4 Modifier that uses Net Framework 1.1? EDIT: I found a Java Clone of the program, I guess that will solve my problem, but, tomorrow, though, because it's late and I've got to work in the morning!

[sfin54]

ZoneRanger - remove the U3 software from your drive. Go to u3.com/uninstall/ and you can download the uninstall software. I had a problem with it as well.

I also would like to know the proper method of using MPEGModiffier. Still seem to get "jerkyness" when playing Packed bitstream files via the USB.

sfin54

[Squash]

@ZoneRanger
There is a link to earlier versions at
http://www.moitah.net/
that will work with .net 1.1

@sfin54
To use mpeg4modifier: load the file into it. In the "packed bitstream" section, tick the "Unpack" box, then click the "Save..." button in the upper-right, and you're done.

Good luck.

[sfin54]

@ZoneRanger
There is a link to earlier versions at
http://www.moitah.net/
that will work with .net 1.1

@sfin54
To use mpeg4modifier: load the file into it. In the "packed bitstream" section, tick the "Unpack" box, then click the "Save..." button in the upper-right, and you're done.

Good luck.

squash - Thanks, that is what I have been doing. However, I still am getting the "jerkyness" when playing files via the USB port. All files played via CD/DVD are fine.
Could it be that my flashdrive is not "reading" fast enough to keep up with the bitstream?

Thanks again,
sfin54

[Squash]

@sfin54:

With my 5960/37, I have not seen any constant jerkiness on any packed bitstream files played from the USB port except when I was using the 37.06.42.29 firmware version. Occasionally I will see some stuttering in certain complex scenes which I think is due to transient bitrate spikes.

I just checked a couple of these problematic scenes played back from both the USB and from the same files burned to a DVD+R. On one of them the stuttering was gone when played from the DVD, on the other it was not, so it appears that the USB port may place more limitations on bitrate than playing from a DVD does. I don't know of a good bitrate viewer for AVI files so I have no idea what the actual bitrate was on those scenes.

I read somewhere that the DivX certification requires sustained playback at 4,000kbps and allows spikes up to 10,000kbps for no more than 3 seconds, so the 5960 whould be able to handle at least that when playing from DVD. It's entirely possible that the bitrate limits may be lower when using the USB port.

These types of scenes are very rare in my experience, though, and are probably not related to your situation unless your files are encoded at a really high bitrate for some reason.

One possibility is that your flashdrive may be borderline on how much juice it's using. Apparently if the power consumption is too high the flashdrive won't work. See Phunkyfish's excellent 5960 page here:
http://www.phunkyfish.com/article/4/philips-dvp-596012#usbkey

Good luck.

[ZoneRanger]

I've been wondering... When checking "unpack bitstream," it removes the Divx from the box and leaves the Xvid. Doesn't it make more sense to manualy remove the Xvid and leave the Divx, since our players only say Divx Compatible? Would removing the Xvid from the box and leaving the Divx still be unpacking the bitstream?

[ZoneRanger]

Well, it looks like F-Swed is the man! I updated my player with his firmware and presto(!)-- no more robotic movements of the people and camera! I played, from a flash drive, something that was too bumpy to enjoy last night, and it is now fully watchable! I tried both DVD and USB, and both are now ok! Thank you F-Swed, you're a genius!

This forum put a big smile on my face! I just found it last night, as well as some other link showing me how to turn my DVP5960/37 into an all region player. I'm all set, now!


Hopefully, I won't have to mess with the Mpeg4 Modifier. The link that was given for the previous version that works on Net Framework 1.1 didn't want to work for me. It said to reinstall Net Framework because of some problem (can't remember what it said, and I'm not on my machine, so I can't easily find out). I thought that maybe after uninstalling NF 2.0, it messed with 1.1, somehow, but that doesn't seem to be the case, as it still works with the program I had downloaded it for. I uninstalled NF 2.0, because I still want to use the U3 flash drives on my machine with having any hassle and I really want to keep the U3 software on there. After uninstalling, it stopped being recognized as a music CD at a different drive letter simulatenously (was recognized as two separate drives). The U3 software doesn't autoboot, though, which could be linked to the installation of NF 1.1, yesterday. That's not a problem, though.

I don't have a 5.1 system, so if this firmware hack inferes with that, it's not a problem. Thanks again, guys, for all your help. Hopefully, I'll find the time and interest to keep logging on to this forum, because it's a true gem.

[sfin54]

Squash - Thanks for your input again. I believe the problem with the "jerkiness" is the Memorex TravvelDrive I am using. I emailed Memorex and they informed me that the read spead is only 6MB per sec. I have ordered a new one (Patriot) that can read at 29MB per sec. Perhaps this is my problem.
If that does not solve the problem, I will exchange the 5960 I have. Perhaps it's a problem with the player's USB port.

Again, thanks for your help. I will post my results.

sfin54

[Trac]

F-Swed,
Thanks for your work, everything works great with the US Version.
If Philips were as committed as you are, we'd have USB 2.0 by now.

[kobayashi]

sfin54 - Your problem is most likely the USB 1.1 interface, and not the read speed of your drive. Although the theoretical bandwidth limit of USB 1.1 is 12 Mbps, it does not exceed 5-6 Mbit/sec in reality. Scenes with a lot of motion can easily exceed that bandwidth in xvid/divx. Your drive's 6 MByte/sec read speed is equal to 48 Mbit/sec which is much more than the USB 1.1 limit. So changing your drive probably won't help. For content with a lot of high-bitrate scenes, your best bet with the 5960 is to burn them to disc.