"Data Disc DVD" Audio Problem

[U87]

Hi,
I'm UK based so maybe this will limit the answers to this question...but...

Can anyone recommend a "cheap-ish" multi region player that will play Standard DVDs (Including NTSC with no colour balance problems),(most) DivX/AVI files, but most importantly will also play "Data Disc DVD's" (i.e. VOB's (particularly NTSC Video Files)/MPGS's/VCD's/SVCD's/MP3's that I've downloaded/backed up via Nero).

I purchased a Yamada 7500X 3 days ago (its now gone back),because when I got it out of the box,I was disappointed in a MAJOR way.

It read/played Xvid AVI's from a cheap "Tuffdisc DVDRW" perfectly with no synch issues at all,
and in fairness,the player read pretty much any disc that I put into it,however there is a limitation in the Codec software somewhere,as nearly all of the back up Data Discs that I tried played with NO AUDIO whatsoever.

This was pretty disappointing,but equally annoying was when I tried to play any Region 1 NTSC DVD's,there was a horrible "green hue" to the picture which is particularly noticeable in Black and White Films (such as my entire Ingmar Bergman DVD Catalogue).

I put the Discs into Mpeg Video Wizard to find if I could find any commonality between what would and wouldn't play (Audio-wise) and all I could come up with was this...

Officially Release Region 1 NTSC DVD's will play (with a horrible green hue),
No NTSC Data Disc Files with an Audio ID of 128 or 160 will play with any Audio whatsoever
(regardless of bit rate).....
No PAL Data Disc File with an Audio ID of 128 will play with any Audio whatsoever.
(regardless of bit rate).....
and the only audio that seems to be recognised is any which has an Audio ID code of 129 or 192.

I found out that it uses an old Sunplus Chipset and there aren't/will not be any firmware updates.

Any recommenations/information/opinons would be very gratefully received,

Thanks in anticipation

Tim(UK)

PS.Sorry for the long post!

[Krispy Kritter]

Try a Philips model, particularly the DVP5982.

[jman98]

I really have to 2nd Krispy Kritter's excellent suggestion. Philips players that support Divx will play VOBs burned to data DVDs.

Please note that the following encoding options MAY be problems for Divx/Xvid playback on ANY DVD player that supports playing Divx/Xvid:
1) GMC (Global Motion Compensation) - best to avoid it but if you use it with only 1 warp point, a few players will play it
2) QPel (Quarter Pixel)
3) Packed bit stream (older Philips models won't touch this)
4) Resolutions greater than 720x576
5) If your audio is not MP3, you may have playback problems. You may also need video bit rates to be as low as 1400 Kbps or even less for successful playback with DTS or AC3 audio.

Note that AAC audio is NOT supported at all by any Philips DVD player that I know of, so if your files have this kind of audio, that's why you don't hear anything.

[U87]

Thanks very much for the information Krispy/Jman.
I'll definitely be looking into this more over the next week or so.
I'll post back with anything that is relevant to the thread.
Thanks again folks.

Tim (UK)

PS.Sorry for the felay in replying.
Been away for the weekend!

[U87]

Hey Guys,
Just to report back that in the end I got hold of a Philips DVP5960
(firstly cos I don't need the the HDMI Progressive Scan feature,
and secondly,cos it was only £38/($75) delivered).
It does absolutely everything that I need it to,picture looks great,
no colour balance problems on NTSC DVD's and I've yet to find a file
that it won't play.
I'd just like to say A HUGE THANK YOU for pointing me towards these players,
Thanks for all of your help/replies guys.

Tim (UK)

[Krispy Kritter]

No problem. Enjoy!