Anyone try the Philips DVP642 to play replay MPEGs?

[jalapeno]

Hi just wanted to find out if anyone had used the Philips DVP642 DVD Player to successfully play Replay MPEGs burned directly onto DVD. This player seems to play almost any format out there.

Philips DVP642 (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=4117&Search=Search&#comments)

[hwengmgr]

I just got my DVP642 and it plays all my AVI's and downloaded MPG's with no problem from DVD+R's.

However, I burned some ReplayTV MPEG2's onto a DVD and tried them. It recognizes the files as MPEG2's but I only get audio, and no video.

Anybody out there have any ideas why this might be?

I remember reading somewhere in this forum that ReplayTV MPEG's are not quite "standard" MPEG's but I can play them just fine on any PC using any number of tools (like VLC or BSPlayer or using the Ligos MPEG2 decoder).

One more note: I have not upgraded the firmware in my DVP642 yet. There is an update available from Phillips. I will try it this weekend and see if anything changes.

[supergenius]

Replay mpegs play fine on my DVP642.....

[pozzy77]

I think your problem could be caused from using the high quality setting on the replay. I dont have the DVD player you do but my rca player will play medium quality replay files just fine.

[supergenius]

Originally posted by supergenius
Replay mpegs play fine on my DVP642.....

I was playing Star Wars: Clone Wars which were recorded at high quality....I do have the newest firmware installed so that may be the trick.

[hwengmgr]

Well, I've tried most things I know how to try and so far no luck.

I did the firmware update which went fine, but no change in behavior.

I have burnt ReplayTV MPG files onto DVD+R disks, in both UDF and ISO9660 format. Except that the player seems to find the file system and list the files faster with ISO, the result is still the same: I get audio, but the screen stays at the blue "Philips" screen.

I have a smaller replayTV MPG on a CD-R and it plays fine.

The file listing on the DVP642 shows the files as MPEG-2 so it knows what kind they are, just doesn't seem to know how to play it.

I have tried at least 12 different disks with both low and high quality ReplayTV files.

The files, recorded on a 5040, were moved to my PC via DVArchive. SOme were run through Revue and RTVTools to cut out commercials. Then I used Roxio Creator Classic (its a very simple tool) to burn them on the disk using 4x Memorex DVD+R disks.

Most of these files are over 1GB so I can;t put them on CD-R without splitting them.

WHat process have others used to get their ReplayTV MPG's to show up on the DVP642? Maybe its a tool or setting I haven't tried.

[Wrecks]

However, I burned some ReplayTV MPEG2's onto a DVD and tried them. It recognizes the files as MPEG2's but I only get audio, and no video. My DVD player does the same thing but If I trim a few seconds off the end of the show with the Elecard player and write it out to a new file, that new file plays fine on the DVD player.

I've found that if I trim the time off the end of the show it doesn't seem to affect commercial skipping playback using the .NDX and .EVT files.

[rm -rf *.*]

Originally posted by pozzy77
I think your problem could be caused from using the high quality setting on the replay. I dont have the DVD player you do but my rca player will play medium quality replay files just fine.

Pozzy77-

Out of curiosity, what model RCA DVD player do you have?

Thanks in advance
-'tater cat

[R.R.H.]

Interesting idea. I never thought of burning the actualy MPEG2 file to a DVD and trying to play it. I have however taken the MPEG2 files off my Replay TV and then using Nero, authored that MPEG as an actual DVD and then they play fine.

[thekid]

I encode all the MPG's to DivX and then burn several on a disc to watch them...

thekid...

[l8er]

Originally posted by hwengmgr
I have tried at least 12 different disks with both low and high quality ReplayTV files. From an earlier post: I dont have the DVD player you do but my rca player will play medium quality replay files just fine. So the question for hwengmgr is, did you try medium quality ReplayTV files?

[twokatmew]

hmmm, hwengmgr, I'm having the same probs as you, and I'm burning to 4x Memorex DVD+Rs, too. Perhaps it's the media??

thekid, I downloaded a trial of Dr. DivX, and I used your ReplayTV profile. It resizes the video to 640x480. This looks fine on letterboxed videos, but 4:3 videos look squished when playing the resulting DivX file. Ideas?

supergenius, would you mind sharing the settings and media you use to burn your ReplayTV mpgs?

[twokatmew]

Well I've found that trimming the MPG using Womble solves the problem. Once burned to DVD (in either ISO or UDF format), the MPEGs play fine with video and audio. I downloaded the Elecard player, but you can't try the trim feature. You have to buy the software to try it. That stinks IMNSHO. I'd like to be able to try before I buy.

[gsulliva]

I just got the Philips DVP642 and would love directions on how to get my MPEGS downloaded with DVArchive to play.

I haven't upgraded the firmware yet, required?

I did take the MPG and other files created by DV Archive (NDX, EVT) and burn them do a DVD+RW using ISO but the DVD player just said "loading" for a minute then spit the DVD out.

Tips would be GREAT. The more simple the better. I would prefer not having to run it through 5 programs for 20 hours to get this to work.

[eshwayri]

I have been considering the Philips, but have not bought it yet. I currently have an old Pioneer and a Malata. A friend of mine has an Akai. I have been able to play the Replay MPEG stream on all three without re-encoding or editing. I simply export with DVArchive, then use Ulead to author. I tell Ulead to accept the Replay format and not to re-encode. It generates the ISO and then I use Nero to burn. No problems so far.

[gsulliva]

Don't it take hours to run an authoring program like TMPGEnc? I know the DVP642 will play MPEG, Divx, etc. So I was hoping for near zero editing of the files.

Once again any comments or directions.

Thanks

[twokatmew]

One reason I bought the Philips DVP642 was so I wouldn't have to author DVDs.... It will play a plain old .mpg file, but cleaning the file using reVue is not sufficient, as I get sound but no video. If I run it through Womble MPEG Video Wizard, the plain newly written .mpg file plays fine. MVW is more accurate at editing out commercials, too, since it's a frame editor.

gsulliva, if you burn a .mpg file from your ReplayTV, *do not* include the .evt and .ndx files, which the DVD player can't read and doesn't need anyway. And yes, upgrade the firmware. It will allow the player to read more file formats & media.

I've also used Dr. DivX to create DivX AVIs (from ReplayTV mpgs) that the Philips plays just fine, too.

And finally, I'd read previously that Ulead DVD Movie Factory is the only DVD authoring package that doesn't reencode compliant MPGEG files. Not only do I not particularly like the Ulead interface, I already own Nero 6 (which includes Nero Vision Express), so I don't particularly want to drop another $50. Anyway, I recently noticed on the data sheet for NVE, that it says "compliant files are not re-encoded (SmartEncoding)." I can't find anything on this in the documentation, and there's no flag to set in the software. But I did run a .mpg through it, and NVE authored the file without taking any longer than Ulead did. So I'm inclined to believe that NVE did not reencode the file.

[JJON2121]

Originally posted by twokatmew
hmmm, hwengmgr, I'm having the same probs as you, and I'm burning to 4x Memorex DVD+Rs, too. Perhaps it's the media??

thekid, I downloaded a trial of Dr. DivX, and I used your ReplayTV profile. It resizes the video to 640x480. This looks fine on letterboxed videos, but 4:3 videos look squished when playing the resulting DivX file. Ideas?

supergenius, would you mind sharing the settings and media you use to burn your ReplayTV mpgs? I missed this question the first time through. I have over 300 (and still growing) divx movies from converting medium quality mpegs from a 4k and 5k. I sized every one of them at 512x384.

This size shows perfectly on on my Sony 40xbr800, which is a 4x3 tv. I play them on the dvp642, the matrox g400 video out on my desktops and the ati video out on my laptop.

[gsulliva]

So, is that all I need is Womble? How long goes this take? I don't want to spend a lot of time processing these files.

Have anyone gotten a RAW(unprocessed) DV Archive to play in the DVP642? How?

Originally posted by twokatmew
One reason I bought the Philips DVP642 was so I wouldn't have to author DVDs.... It will play a plain old .mpg file, but cleaning the file using reVue is not sufficient, as I get sound but no video. If I run it through Womble MPEG Video Wizard, the plain newly written .mpg file plays fine. MVW is more accurate at editing out commercials, too, since it's a frame editor.

gsulliva, if you burn a .mpg file from your ReplayTV, *do not* include the .evt and .ndx files, which the DVD player can't read and doesn't need anyway. And yes, upgrade the firmware. It will allow the player to read more file formats & media.

[JJON2121]

A 4k mpeg is more standard compliant and will play on the dvp642 as is.

The 5k mpeg needs to be 'fixed'. Opening the file in womble and saving it direct stream copies the file very fast. During the copy, Womble makes some change to the resulting file that 'fixes' it and makes it compliant.

[twokatmew]

Not very long to process files using Womble software. *Much* faster than authoring a DVD. There's a free 30-day trial. It's not cheap software, but then time is money, right? ;) My trial's just about up, so I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy it pretty soon.

If you read earlier in this thread, a couple people say their DVP642s play the RTV's MPEG files without cleaning up. But when asked for details, they have not responded. Frankly I'm skeptical.... InterVideo's WinDVD can't play an unscrubbed MPEG from the RTV either. (Like with the DVP642, I get sound and no video. But Windows Media Player can play it just fine.) Scrubbing the MPEGs with Womble has fixed the problem for me.

[twokatmew]

Thanks for providing that detail, JJON2121. Mystery solved! :D

[Robert Simandl]

If you're looking for a DVD authoring program (other than Movie Factory) that will author Replay mpegs without reencoding, TMPGEnc DVD Author is an excellent choice.

[GreenLantern]

Originally posted by twokatmew
.... InterVideo's WinDVD can't play an unscrubbed MPEG from the RTV either. (Like with the DVP642, I get sound and no video. But Windows Media Player can play it just fine.) ... i may be off base here, but i got CyberLink's PowerDVD XP bundled with my DVD burner, and it plays standard-quality MPEGs imported by DVArchive from my 5040. i don't do any manipulation of the MPEG file at all. (i admit that i have installed a gazillion codecs, like DivX and Xvid and AC3 and etc. so maybe that has something to do with it. i'm just saying, unaltered standard-quality MPEGs work for me.)

oh, by the way, PowerDVD reports video as MPEG-2 around 2Mbps and audio as MPEG 2.0 192Kbps.

[twokatmew]

I've got a fair number of codecs too. Perhaps it's just the difference between Cyberlink's MPEG decoder and InterVideo's?

[jlv]

All of the comments so far are about medium and high quality ReplayTV recordings. What about low quality ones?

[CCCP]

Originally posted by jlv
All of the comments so far are about medium and high quality ReplayTV recordings. What about low quality ones?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JJON2121
A 4k mpeg is more standard compliant and will play on the dvp642 as is.

The 5k mpeg needs to be 'fixed'. Opening the file in womble and saving it direct stream copies the file very fast. During the copy, Womble makes some change to the resulting file that 'fixes' it and makes it compliant.
Bump for more answers to 2 questions:
(1) How about low quality recordings?
(2) Is there a free alternative to playing 5K files on DVP 642?
Just got this player and have sound, but no video. I have latest firware (0531).

Thanks in advance...

[twokatmew]

I have not tried standard quality recordings from the 5040, but my guess is the result would be the same as with medium. (Haven't tried high either.) I have found no free alternative, but I finally did plunk down my $120 for Womble MPEG Video Wizard, as it is *fast* and very easy to use. They update it regularly, too. Although $120 is more than I usually spend for software, this particular program is worth every penny. And it saves *a lot* of time.

[CCCP]

Originally posted by twokatmew
...
I have found no free alternative, but I finally did plunk down my $120 for Womble MPEG Video Wizard, as it is *fast* and very easy to use.
... Can I do the trick with Womble MPEG-VCR V3.14?
What exactly are you doing with files in MPEG Video Wizard?

[twokatmew]

Yes, you can do much of the same stuff with Womble's MPEG2VCR. I edit out commercials, cut beginnings and endings off movies, and write out a clean file. I find these tasks much easier in MPEG Video Wizard.

[JJON2121]

Originally posted by CCCP
Can I do the trick with Womble MPEG-VCR V3.14?
All you need to do is open and save the file. No editing necessary.

[Wrecks]

Just got this player and have sound, but no video. If you have the Moonlight Elecard codecs, use the Elecard player to trim a few seconds off the end of the show and save it. Then try playing that mpeg on your DVD player. This works for me.

[blnt]

Bummer! I bought the player over the week end and did not realize beforehand that it only supports 4K raw mpg files. Same as CCCP, I get only the sound no matter the quality level I use on my 5040.

[jalapeno]

Bump..Did anyone ever get this DVD player to play unedited replay MPEG files?

[twokatmew]

It will play unedited 4K files, but files from 5K machines need to be run through something like Womble.

[rm -rf *.*]

Originally posted by twokatmew
It will play unedited 4K files, but files from 5K machines need to be run through something like Womble.

Probably more like:

Needs to be processed through the RTVTools to strip out the
Non-compliant (MPEG standards, that is) information that
RePlayTV OS v. 5.3 adds in for timing, CC, etc....

Run RTVEdit on the raw file (even if no edits are made), then
run RTVConvert.

Then plop-em on the dvd and give it a a shot...

What is most likely happening is that by opening and re-saving
w/ Womble is that you are removing (some of) the extra information.

RePlayTV OS v. 4.3 - which is current for the 4k line does also
insert inforation into the MPEG file, just differnet info & probably
less of it, hence why the player can handle raw 4k files.

[Brin]

How are those of you with the Philips 642 burning your DVDs?

Anyone using UDF or just burning all files at once as ISO9660.

I have a 642 and if I use UDF (Roxio DirectCD) the 642 sees hundreds of files intead of the just the few that were copied. Each is about 1 minute in lenght (it varies). They play, but there is a short pause (like layer change pause) between each segment. It makes the shows hard to watch with the pauses ... and its near impossible to find start of the mpegs (other than 1st one). The multipart mpeg files only show up on the 642 -- computer sees only complete mpeg files.

If I burn all at once with the software that came with the DVD burner (B's Recorder Gold) everything is fine. Smooth play and proper number of files.

My replayTV 5504 recordings are standard (low) quality and play fine once run through Womble otherwise you only get sound as has been mentioned.

Anyone else try UDF burning or know if it is supported or not on Philips 642.

[Jeff D]

Any of you guys know of a site I'm looking for?

Last week or so I was looking around for info on the 642 and xvid playback. This forum had two or more guys testing different resolution and formats of divx files. There was a lot about the way the "widescreen flag" was used. There were also lots of test files to burn, try and report. One of the guys was refrenced by the TLA for his name and I can't remember what that was. Maybe something like codec god or something else stating they understand the stuff. He didn't seem to have one of these players, but he could generate tests.

If anyone knows what the forum or thread is I'm talking about could you please post it? I'm trying to get the info to philips because they don't seem to understand that divx playback is always letterboxed when it's widescreen and the player is configured for widescreen.

[rlowell]

Wrecks:

Thank you very much. I have a paid copy of the Elecard player and used it to make an otherwise untocuched HQ Replay MPEG2 playable on my DVP642.

I think using this program as a filter is fine. And I don't mind cutting off a few seconds at the end of a clip to do it.

I thought reVue was going to be useful for this process. I tried several times it and was never able to get playable video out of the '5040-recorded MPEG2s I reprocessed with it.

Maybe I'll use reVue as a commercial remover. That might be nice....

rlowell

[majik]

speaking of commercial skipping....a co-worker of mine uses sagetv as his pvr. on a daily basis, he has a program called ComSkip (http://www.sage-community.org/index.cgi/wiki/ComSkip) to strip out the commercials (he then transfers to his laptop for viewing durring lunch). By the sound of it, it does some analysis of each frame as well as audio to detect a commercial spot. He says it works great for him. It very well may work for RTV mpg's. Click on the link above, scroll all the way to the "attachments" section in the bottom, the version he tried was 0.64. I haven't tried it myself though.

[Wrecks]

VideoReDo has a very good commercial detector routine that is configurable. It finds the black spots before and after commercials and then when it finds a "block" of them that is around 3 minutes long it marks those as commercials. If I remember right the 3 minute interval is configuragle.

It also allows you to define an area of the screen that it looks at during the scanning. That way if a show has a watermark in one or more corners of the screen that remains during a commercial you can define a mask that excludes that area.