Philips DVD-963SA: SACD, DVD, and 24/192 upsampling of CD, for $400?! (1 Viewer)

[ManW_TheUncool]

What kind of new reviews? I believe I posted a brief one on a separate thread in early/mid-June. And I can confirm that the region-free hack via RC6-capable remote works. I'm just now trying to get Philips to fix my vertical green stripes problem, which shows up in certain grey images. Folks over on AVSForum found a DIY fix for this, but I want Philips to fix it for me. Otherwise, the player's been performing like a champ beyond the generally slow response and what seems to be a slight horizontal stretch in 4x3 mode. 2-channel SACD rocks, but can't speak to multi-channel or BM though since I do neither.
FWIW, there's a 1080i upconversion hack (via firmware) brewing over on AVSForum, if that interests you. It doesn't matter much to me although a firmware hack to enable letterbox scaling would be awesome.
_Man_
PS: Oh yes, mine also exhibits ghosting around the toolbar icons when doing 480p. Maybe this is chroma delay added by the new Faroudja chip since I needed to adjust for chroma delay in 480p.

 

[MaxMenon]

My 963 exhibited ghosting on the menus and I sent the unit to the Knoxville TN center. After two weeks they reported that the unit was not fixable and that I was eligible for a new unit.

The new unit arrived about a month ago. There is no ghosting on the new unit. Also the tray is very quiet when sliding in and out.

I have not had a time to break the unit in so cannot say much .. other than to say that my Phlips DVDR 985 recorder with the 2200 dcdi chip does look superior than the 963 (w/ 2300 chip).

Just my 2c

Max

 

[John*K]

What kind of new reviews? I believe I posted a brief one on a separate thread in early/mid-June.

By other owners.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Max,

Did the new unit get rid of the chroma delay for you? Or do you still need to use the chroma delay adjustment?

What about the vertical green stripes problem?

Thanks.

_Man_

 

[MaxMenon]

ChromaDelay is set at 0.

No vertical green stripes. Maybe(!)

But then again I have not had a chance to closely look for it.

Can you tell me how to look for the green stripe problem ? Thx.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

For (faint) green stripes problem, use AVIA's test patterns, particularly the 10, 20, 30 IRE Windows and Fields. They will reveal it the most.

In actual movie viewing, it hasn't been noticeable, except in a few cases so far all involving mid-to-dark grey images. I could spot it in certain scenes in Citizen Kane (and probably other B&W movies) and also noticed it in a couple night shots in Harry Potter. In all cases, the stripes look very faint, so if you don't know they're there (or are not critical of such), you might not notice them right away.

RE: chroma delay, did you check using AVIA's Y/C Delay pattern (or maybe similar pattern from VE)? I have my player set to +1 to get rid of most of it, but I think there still might be a very tiny amount. In 480i mode, I don't see any delay. Also, there seems to be some EE effect in 480p mode, but I'm not sure.

FYI, I tried 2 different units (albeit probably from the same batch), and both had the same issues.

RE: the better PQ from 985 recorder, can you describe how it's better?

Also, what do you have for gamma setting? I find that I need to boost it +2 to reveal more midtone details on my RPTV. Without that, the picture looks a bit too "contrast-y".

Thanks.

_Man_

 

[MaxMenon]

Where on the screen should I expect to see stripes. I do not own the AVIA disc, so cannot do any of those tests.

The 985 recorders progressive out is very very clean ... much less noise ... one step closer to HD ... but still a long way away

Right now I use the 985 to watch all my DVDs and use the 963 solely for SACD. Perhaps once it burns in ... I will do another compare.

Thx.

Max