philips dvd963sa player: issues & solutions?

[Billie]

i got my 963sa player for 6 days now. there are some issues i would like to have resolved...any solutions out there?

potential major issues:

1. output: 2-channel analog cables, if dvd-v disk loaded and removed, then place sacd disk in (contains sacd & cd) would not recognize sacd format.

2. tray: after a few hours of playing, the disk is hot (much hotter than sony or panny i used b4)

annoyance issues:

1. remote: not responsive & sucks (big time)
2. menu: poor design & not intuitive compare to sony's.
3. flimsy tray
4. bright stand-by led
5. not available in black

good things about 963sa:

1. up-sampling regular cd to 192khz (this is a big +++)
2. has good size and weight for $<500 player

[Billie]

anybody?

[zoro]

No one COULD RESOLVE it for 2 years man!! I did tell, u not to buy it, and 3 years warranty..well..

[Billie]

uh, zoro! i should have heeded your warning about this player. :( do u know if good guys store would refund the money for the player + the extended warranty?

[zoro]

Ofcourse, with in 30 days, I believe

[Grubert]

1. Try newest firmware

2. Yes, it really cooks the disks.

If you don't like the 963SA, many Frenchmen would be ready to give up an arm for your player. I'm not kidding.

[Billie]

zoro, i went to good guys at lunch time today. i saw the 2900. it even looks sweeter in person and as sexy as britney spears' behind. now, i regretted of not having a patience waiting for the backordered 2900.

[Billie]

grubert, thanks for the reply & hint.

1. where do i get the firmware?

2. the disk is almost too hot to touch. is this OK for the disk & player AND not shortenning the life of player?

3. do you know any player(s) out there that UP-SAMPLE cd signals to 192khz like the 963sa?

Thanks.

[Abq-Pete]

Try here:

http://www.ianc.net/philips/downloads.shtml

Regards, Peter

[Hal1dru]

i bought the the philips 963sa from one call and have no problems. How can you tell which firmware the dvd player has?

[Billie]

peter, thanks for the link. does the firmware upgrade only solve format recognition issue and NOT the hot disk problem, right? thanks.

[chico_d]

Hi!
Sorry I bumped in ur thread Billie. I have a problem too with mine which was my doing the other day. I hope somebody here can help me out. I was trying to watch a region 2 dvd and I key-ed in a code. Now I want to get back to the US region 1 but I forgot what was the original code. My player couldnt be flashed with the new firmware and make it multi-region. But right now all I want is to get back to normal--watching US region dvds. Can somebody tell me what code to key in? I tried the "play 159 1110 1000 play" but it just showed videos in interlaced no progressive and a couple of submenu is missing like the unprocessed/480p opttion. Pls help... appreciate it. Many thanks!

[Abq-Pete]

Checking firmware information is in this post...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1977242&highlight=check#post1977242

Hot disk is "normal".

Original region P codes can be found at...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=360686&perpage=20&pagenumber=2

Regards, Peter

[Billie]

peter, thanks again!

mine has this firmware version, can u tell if it can be upgraded or not?
©PHILIPS ’01-02’ 5580 4.81.22 030326P11101100 7.12.0

[Abq-Pete]

You have 4.81.22 and 7.12.0. The latest is 4.81.24 with 7.12.0. Follow the link mentioned above and install the latest firmware.

Regards, Peter

[Billie]

peter, u da man. thanks again!

[Hal1dru]

i also have a philips 963sa with 4.81.22 and 7.12.0 firmware. I have not run into any problems with this dvd player as of yet. by upgrading to the newest firmware 4.81.24 . what fixes does the newest firmware take care of.
thanks hal

[tortie]

Originally posted by Hal1dru
i also have a philips 963sa with 4.81.22 and 7.12.0 firmware. I have not run into any problems with this dvd player as of yet. by upgrading to the newest firmware 4.81.24 . what fixes does the newest firmware take care of.
thanks hal

Same firmware here. I have the 963 since december, no problems also. I thought about upgrading to the newest firmware, but I would not want to risk it. I see no point in upgrading the firmware...yet.

Some guys seem to have problems with the new firmware:

http://forum.ianc.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=204&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

What new benefits does the newest firmware have? I'd also like to know.

BTW the hot disk is normal.

[soundman38]

Hi

The latest Firmware is known to fix some 'hybrid' sacd compatybility issues.
Not that i encountered these yet :)

Greetz Soundman

[tortie]

Originally posted by soundman38
Hi

The latest Firmware is known to fix some 'hybrid' sacd compatybility issues.
Not that i encountered these yet :)

Greetz Soundman

Ok thanks. I haven't encountered any hybrid issues either. So I guess I don't need to install a new firmware.

[noelm]

Originally posted by Billie
i got my 963sa player for 6 days now. there are some issues i would like to have resolved...any solutions out there?
...
annoyance issues:

1. remote: not responsive & sucks (big time)...
4. bright stand-by led...


Billie,

Richard Wood in the UK has posted a very entertaining & well illustrated modification to improve the remote control sensitivity and to dim the airport runway led light of the Philips 963SA on his website at:

http://www.ukrm.co.uk/963ir.html

Noel

[Dah-Dee]

I've been reading up on the 963A in this forum and am still not sure about one possible feature of this player, so I'll just ask:

Does the 963A upscale to 1080i over component cables?

Thanks for any input.

[Burtz]

Yes, it does - but you need a hacked firmware. You should be able to find the site address if you do a 963SA search on this forum.

[Dah-Dee]

Originally posted by Burtz
Yes, it does - but you need a hacked firmware. You should be able to find the site address if you do a 963SA search on this forum.

Ah. Thanks.

[Dah-Dee]

So..... Which is the best value out there for a dvd player that upscales to 1080i over component -- the 963A, or the Zenith DVB318 [assuming I can get one with component out, not just DVI upscaling]? Trying to keep it as inexpensive as possible. Thanks for any additional input.

[zoro]

963sa, or wait for replacement

[CKNA]

Originally posted by Burtz
Yes, it does - but you need a hacked firmware. You should be able to find the site address if you do a 963SA search on this forum.

There is problem with that hacked firmware. First of all bottom of screen is darker than rest. The player may switch to 480p during layer switch and it combs in 1080i mode.

I tried it and flashed it back to normal firmware.

[jorkalk]

Originally posted by tortie
Ok thanks. I haven't encountered any hybrid issues either. So I guess I don't need to install a new firmware.

Hi,

Can you send me the latest firmware?

I cant find it on the net anymore?

regards.

[pilotbiffster]

Greetings all,
I realize I'm jumping into the fray a little late here, but just picked up a 963SA on clearance, and I must say I'm VERY happy with the picture quality. The dvd player build date is Jan 2003, and software is 4.81.18 / 7.10.0. I have already downloaded 3 different versions of firmware -- 4.81.22, 4.81.25, and yuv (all seem to include 7.12.0). Is there any good reason to do these upgrades -- everything on the dvd player appears to be working great, and I don't have any desire to do PAL progressive, multiregion, or 1080i over component (picture quality at 480p is about as good as anything I've seen). If so, which of those 3 seem to be the most stable. Also, is there any place to get a copy of the official 4.81.18 firmware, in case I do flash the firmware and want to go back?

pilotbiffster.

[soundman38]

Hi

4.81.25-7.12.0 is the latest official FW.
I have 4.81.18-7.10.0 for you.
But why should you downgrade? :)

Greetz
Soundman.

[jorkalk]

Hi,

I read in a german thread that version 4.81.25 7.12.0 is worser then 4.81.21? Does anyone more about this. Is the latest (4.81.25) stable?

Are there known problems?

Thanks for yre response!

Regards,
Jorkalk

[pilotbiffster]

Soundman,

My only thought about downgrading was that, currently, the 963 is working pretty nice. If the newest firmware made the dvd player "not work right" with my mitsubishi television, it would be nice to be able to change things back to the way they were.

[soundman38]

Hi
I use 4.81.25-7.12.0 for some time and have no problems,
the machine is performing flawless.

Greetz
Soundman.

[AVJ]

anyone found any simple & safe solution to help reduce the "very hot" problem in "cooking" the disks ??! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Niels Nielsen]

Well, is it a problem ? Or, are you sure its causing trouble ? Its normal that it gets hot. Only solution I think, is to drill vent holes in the buttom or install a fan in the rear of the unit. Vent holes isnt gonna help much I guess..

[ltw]

Finally replaced the 963. Had sooooooo many issues with this machine. It hung so often that I installed a dedicated switch in its power chord to enable me or my wife to reset it easily (perhaps Philips should adopt this as a standard feature?). Player would hang or have no audio or refuse to read disks or refuse to open the tray or video would start jumping 1/2 way into a movie. Even after a service my Philips themselves (they upgraded the firmware).

And I now believe that any player that makes the disks *that* hot isn't designed properly. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if the above issues are related to heat.

Note that I also have a Philips DVD-Q50 and it also has many of the same issues (not the hot disk issue however). I suspect Philips has never really sorted their firmware, for either player.

It's a real shame as when they work, images are good, especially with the Farouja DCD-i deinterlacer.

I replaced it with a Sony DVD/HDD recorder and for 2 weeks so far has performed flawlessly. And my family no longer moan at me to get the Philips fixed...

[dstromb]

Decided to bump this thread rather than start a new one, as the topic fits.

My 963SA is developing trouble after just about 15 months of good service. There are a number of discs (both DVDs and CDs) it can't read, which present no problems to other players here. Some discs play all right but produce a troubling mechanical "playing-card-in-the-bicycle-spokes" sound.

I've cleaned the lens with alcohol and a soft swab, which had little if any effect. Not wanting to have the pickup assembly replaced (is that ever worth the money?) I was gearing up the nerve to go tweak the adjustments on it - always a last resort, it's occasionally worked for me, but anyone who's tried it knows you're more likely to kill a marginal player that way than to fix it.

But with the top off getting ready to wreak my destruction, I tested a few of these trouble discs and found that they played fine. In fact I was unable to find a disc it won't play, with the cover off. Others have noted (as in this thread) that this player "cooks" discs. I begin to think the optics in this player aren't really failing, but something nearby has developed a thermal problem. Maybe it's a fluke, and it's not practical to always run it with the cover off, but if it continues to work well that way for a while I'll try to get some extra airflow inside - probably by cutting into the case and installing a quiet fan and grill. Either a 60mm fan on the back or the left side, or a thin 80mm fan in the top. The challenge would be finding the right spot in the power supply to tap off from.

Has anyone done this kind of thing before with any success? I know enough electronics not to hurt myself, and would just like to get some more life out of this player, which I have liked a lot, mostly for its audio.

----------------------

Edit: nope, it was a fluke. It started messing up with the top off too. I don't want to consider a new pickup assembly for this thing and am ditching it.