The Upgraded Anthem AVM-20 2.1 (1 Viewer)

[Levesque]

I am surprised by all those unprepared for the proper connecting cable to use to update their Anthems.

Is it my fault if after visiting 5 computer stores (even Rat Shack), I did realized that those kind of cables use for the upgrade are not that common?

I'm well informed and always read manuals completely. But serial connection is a thing of the past. I'm all firewire and USB2 on my computer for my 2 digital cams, digital camcorder, even my cable modem, and even put CAT-6 (yes CAT-6 not CAT-5e) cables across my new house for gigabytes ethernet lan in the future! Using a fireware harddisk. Am I unprepared? Don't think so...

Sellers at those stores were looking at me like if I was coming from another planet when asking for a serial cable.

It feel kind of weirds that with a piece of high-end technology full of DAC's and everything like the AVM20, you have to behave like a dinosaur and hunt for an archaic serial cable. Seems odd to me...

 

[Tom Camlioglu]

Guys,

Your kind of missing the point. While you shouldn't "look a gift horse in the mouth" (and be thankful of the great "free" upgrades we have been getting), understand that most of the companies that do offer upgrades, do so via the RS-232 port. Call it what you will, but accept it as more or less, an industry "standard" at this point.

Levesque, I can understand your frustration, but consider yourself ahead of the game (standards-wise).
CAT6 - Gig over copper? Welcome to Levesque's Information Auto-Bahn!!

 

[Levesque]

Thank you Tom, but I ordered a cable from the link Micheal gave me. Should receive it next week.

 

[Brian Fitterman]

The other reason for the RS232 port on the AVM20 is for external control. The industry standard for remote control from other equipment (Crestron, etc..) is RS232. Just take a quick look at all the commands you can do via that port. Its pretty amazing. It would be really neat if the Philips people added Serial commands with a RF module that could send then to the equipment. You could really do some neat stuff with macros then.

 

[Brian Fitterman]

One other thing. Has anyone noticed slower video switching response with 2.10? The audio seems to switch pretty fast, but the video seems to lag a bit more than it used to.

 

[Frederick]

I just noticed this thread. I don't come in this section of the forum often, mainly because I don't have the $$ to upgrade yet . But I auditioned the Anthem at a HT store that I visited, and the person working there told me about the upcoming Director. So I emailed Anthem and got this response:

Hi Frederick,

Thank you for your e-mail.

We're finalizing the software needed to run the Director (officially,
Statement D1). ETA: around 2 months.


This was back on 7/2. So we're looking at late August, early September, maybe? I notice they changed the name as well. Just wanted to share. I now return you to your regularly scheduled Anthem Update thread ...


Freddy C.

 

[wayne p]

Comments above regarding improved sound have convinced me that I can delay my upgrade no longer. I may be the last guy on the planet to be running the original DSP board, but I remain very pleased with the level of performance (60% music, 40% movies). It has operated flawlessly since I bought it at the end of November 2001. The new feature set with the promise of even better sonic performance has got me convinced.

To avoid be without tunes during the install, I have booked holidays and will drive the 900 miles to Southern Ontario. I have made an appointment to bring my AVM 20 to the factory on August 18/03 and it will be ready in three days.

I am looking forward to visiting with family, drinking some great beer in Kitchener and returning home with an improved AVM 20. Holidays don't get any better.

Wayne P

 

[Wayne_T]

Mon Dieu Levesque, where did you move to? Six hours north of Montreal? I didn't think roads went that far. I'm from the Laurentians, not far from Tremblant. Another five hours?? Wow!
Seriously, where the heck are you Levesque?

 

[Levesque]

I'm in Sullivan, north of Val d'Or. Look on the map. I'm not lying...LOL. My in-laws are from Lebel-Sur-Quévillon, 9 hours straight from Montréal...

But look at the view that I have and you will understand...

http://www.pbase.com/levesque/abitibi

Just imagine, my dedicated HT will give on the lake view. Guests will hesitate between the 106 inches FP screen or the view in the window...

 

[jason willder]

Zowie Levesque. Four beautiful pictures. I have to ask how you ended up at the ends of the earth? To fit into the subject better I'll say you will love the upgrade!

 

[JimmyK]

I was going to wait to hear how the update went for other's before doing mine, but I couldn't stand it! So, I did the update last night.

Before loading the update, I wrote down my current settings in case I needed to refer to them. I was also going to use the settings saver program offered by Anthem, but found that their link only downloads an excell document and not the program. The program can be found at this link;

http://www.anthemav.com/NewSitev2.0/...omInstall.html

I haven't had a chance to try the settings saver program, so I'm not sure how that works.

Since I had written down my settings, I decided to go ahead a try the v2.10 update (I also downloaded a copy of v2.09 just in case I wanted to go back to it).

So I hooked up my computer to the AVM20 using a 50ft cable and crossed my fingers. First couple attempts came back "could not find AVM20". I checked my connections and noticed there were two places on the computer with the same type connection. So I tried the other connection.

This time it found the AVM20 right away and did the update without a hitch.

Going through the AVM20 setup menu, I found my settings were still there (yeah!). I went through each menu and made sure everything was set the way I wanted. For now, my Cinema and Movie settings are the same.

A quick check of channel levels showed I only need to adjust a couple channels by .5db. This could just be a case of not holding the meter in the exact spot as last time.

It was getting late, so I only had a chance to try out a couple CDs and a DTS CD. Everything sounded great.

This weekend I hope to have time to do a bit of tweeking using the new features.

Speaking of which, has anyone tried out the LFE crossover bypass feature? I noticed the manual said that they recommended only using this feature in certain custom installations since the higher LFE frequencies going to the sub might be easily localized. What's been your experiences?

Thanks!

JimmyK

PS - Big thanks to the beta testers who posted! Your information was very helpful!

 

[Mifr44]

Jimmy,

Speaking of which, has anyone tried out the LFE crossover bypass feature? I noticed the manual said that they recommended only using this feature in certain custom installations since the higher LFE frequencies going to the sub might be easily localized. What's been your experiences?

My experience is that I have not been able to localize our sub even after our family has viewed 10+ movies. It could be a simple matter of the LFE channel in most movies having frequencies @ 80Hz and below, or it could be the placement of our two subwoofers in the room.

I think anyone who is using crossovers below 80Hz should try turning the LFE Crossover Bypass on and see if they like it.

Michael

 

[Levesque]

I have to ask how you ended up at the ends of the earth?

I just bought 2 phamacy there. People are getting older everywhere, and are taking more and more pills, so I can work virtually anywhere I want. So why not choose to work 5 minutes from my house, on a lake, and going fishing, hiking and sailing on wild lakes and in the wild forest in my spare time?

I'm getting anxious to do the upgrade...

 

[Joe Ar]

I just upgraded last night and things look pretty cool so far. The weekend looks like rain here on L.I., so it looks like I'll have some time to play with the new software.

My question is with the upgrade. I have been using my Dell Inspiron 7500 laptop to do the upgrade and with every upgrade including last night's 2.1 I get an error message saying verify failed. After unplugging the serial cable and starting the unit up, it always has the correct version listed. I have no weird problems with my AVM20 or anything and the unit always works great. Has anyone else had this problem or is it just me?

 

[Mifr44]

Joe,

After you get the "verify failed" message, do you rerun the installer? If not, you should execute the installer until it finishes without an error.

If you are saying that you have been executing the installer multiple times for each install but are still getting the "verify failed" message, I would send that information to Anthem along with the fact that your AVM-20 seems to be operating properly.

Michael

 

[Mifr44]

Brian,

One other thing. Has anyone noticed slower video switching response with 2.10? The audio seems to switch pretty fast, but the video seems to lag a bit more than it used to.

I am reposting your comments here because I missed them the first time and maybe most everyone else did too. I am not using any video switching with the AVM-20, but maybe other users who are can respond to your question. Have you asked Anthem about this? It would be useful to know whether this is isolated to your setup or is common to all AVM-20s.

Michael

 

[Wayne_T]

Levesque,
That is truly a beautiful location. I've been to the area long ago, but don't remember it taking that long to get there. In any case, its a darn cold place in the winter, as I'm sure you know. You'll be lucky if it ever gets above zero deg F in Jan and Feb. A good time to enjoy your system!
Val D'Or is big enough to have a few clone computer shops. I'm surprised they don't have the cable, or at least some combo of serial cable and adapters that you could make work. Last time I used some old stuff I found in the basement - with 15 pin connectors and 15 to 9 pin adaptors and male to female adaptor. Worked just fine. I'll have to dig it up again this weekend.

 

[keith fox]

I have reported the following bug/anomoly to SFI.
---------------------------------------------------------
From: Keith Fox
Date: 2003/08/02 Sat AM 11:02:47 EDT
To:
Subject: AVM20 V2.10 Notch filter and Bass Peak limiter problem

I just installed V2.10 and found a Notch filter and Bass Peak limiter problem.

At first when I tried both of these no sound was coming from my sub, in fact all the sound was coming from the other 5 speakers. I then deduced that these two features were using the Music Configuration.

I had set my Cinema config to 5 small speakers and 1 sub, but my Music Config was set to Large Fronts, no everything else.

When I reset the Music config to match my Cinema config the Notch Filter and Bass Peak limiter started only producing sound from the sub as anticipated originally.

Ok - that is an easy work around but I do have one worry. Was this a 'settings' only bug or does it apply to run-time?
i.e. if I change my Music config back to only 2 Large speakers and no sub, will the settings I made in the notch filter and peak bass limiter not apply to my Cinema settings?

Thanks.
Keith Fox

 

[jason willder]

When I did my upgrade I noticed that all of my settings were saved. My speaker settings were saved under the cinema settings. The music settings must be a default.

I did the initial setup of the notch filter yesterday. I found that I had to use it at the widest point to get the best results. I have it centered at 45. Unfortunately my system has to live in what I call my 13'x13' standing wave machine. I am not sure if I will continue to use it or not.

 

[Brian Fitterman]

Michael,

Becuase of the new feature of being able to asign multiple inputs to each componenet video input, I did change my setup a bit.

Old Setup:
- SVHS - used SVideo switching and output to monitor on AVM20
- DVD - used component switching on AVM
- Tivo - went through iScan+ then component switching on AVM20
- HD Sat - went directly to TV.

New Setup
- SVHS, DVD, Tivo, Svideo out on HD - all go through Svideo switching in AVM-20 then the monitor output goes to iScan+, which then goes to component video switching on AVM-20.
- DVD 480p output - goes to other component video input on AVM20
- HD Sat - HD output goes directly to TV.

This new setup gives me OSD on all inputs if I need it. That used to only happen with SVHS (never used). I had to make macros that switched my TV to that input to see what the settings are (I cannot read the AVM from where I sit).

Now I do not know if it is this new setup (the Tivo really did not change, it always went through the iscan and then the avm) or is it really slower or is it my imagination.

Anyone else notice the video switching takes a bit longer now?