HD capable DVD Player

[crusty180]

yeh, theres a few around OzHTfan.  Watched over weekend Gladiator in 1080i on three disks in fact, commercial free..  This is the way. no nonsense from chan 7 when they showed Behind last nite with ads

Ted, care to elaborate, as someone who constantly scans for news on new software and hardware, I'm amazed I have not heard about a Gladiator 1080i disc based version?

I assume he is talking about the movie being a .ts file in 3 parts to fit on 3 DVDs downloaded from alt.binaries.hdtv or similar, not a commercial release.

I currently have Kill Bill Vol1 in 1280x720 .ts files (actually from bit torrent) but there are quite a few good movies and tv shows posted by our friends in the US in the hdtv newsgroup.

Currently there is Monsters Ball (1080), Pulp Fiction (1080), American Beauty (1080) and Braveheart (1080) plus many others.

[Ted1503559509]

yeh, theres a few around OzHTfan.  Watched over weekend Gladiator in 1080i on three disks in fact, commercial free..  This is the way. no nonsense from chan 7 when they showed Behind last nite with ads

Ted, care to elaborate, as someone who constantly scans for news on new software and hardware, I'm amazed I have not heard about a Gladiator 1080i disc based version?

yes, as said in another thread, downloadable from the net. Some other titles include the first 2 Matrix films. These will be a boon when BlueRay comes out later this year or use the new double layer format.

So if you have htpc - away you go. Not really my cup of tea as I prefer computer in other room or in cabinet, but with development in networking and ability to modify AV senders to work in HD, it'll work out.

[OzHTfan]

yeh, theres a few around OzHTfan.  Watched over weekend Gladiator in 1080i on three disks in fact, commercial free..  This is the way. no nonsense from chan 7 when they showed Behind last nite with ads

Ted, care to elaborate, as someone who constantly scans for news on new software and hardware, I'm amazed I have not heard about a Gladiator 1080i disc based version?

I assume he is talking about the movie being a .ts file in 3 parts to fit on 3 DVDs downloaded from alt.binaries.hdtv or similar, not a commercial release.

I currently have Kill Bill Vol1 in 1280x720 .ts files (actually from bit torrent) but there are quite a few good movies and tv shows posted by our friends in the US in the hdtv newsgroup.

Currently there is Monsters Ball (1080), Pulp Fiction (1080), American Beauty (1080) and Braveheart (1080) plus many others.

Thanks for the info guys, most interesting indeed!

As a frequent user of torrents to download the new series I'm after I'm surprised I haven't seen any of these HD .ts files listed in the movie releases. If they are not commercial, where are they sourced from, are they ripped of HD satellite or something? I take it although you can technically burn these .ts files on to 3 or however many DVDs, you have to rely on your HTPC for decoding the HD format. Therefore I guess it would be best to leave them on the HTPC for ease of playback. I take it that using the query of the movie name plus HD or 1080 will bring you up these versions on the various torrent search engines? Also, how many gigs are we talking for these files? At the moment I struggle downloading a couple of gigs due the wireless provider I'm stuck with charging for upload, which seriously erodes my 10gig per $250 (yoowch!).

I'll be taking look around later and see what additional info I can find out there on these versions...This sounds like a new killer app for the HTPC, at least until some stand alone unit can do it.

[hifi007]

As I have found out a much better option than these expensive limited import chinese players (with the older Sigma 85xx chipsets) is the newer Sigma 8620L chipset in the European built chassie. These do HD from WM9 and use the faster higher bandwith wireless system along with HDMI/HDCP DVI.

KISS TECHNOLOGY DP-600 Window Media 9-DivX File/DVD Player

http://www.buy.com/retail/electronics/prod...30&loc=111&sp=1

[OzHTfan]

As I have found out a much better option than these expensive limited import chinese players (with the older Sigma 85xx chipsets) is the newer Sigma 8620L chipset in the European built chassie. These do HD from WM9 and use the faster higher bandwith wireless system along with HDMI/HDCP DVI.

KISS TECHNOLOGY DP-600 Window Media 9-DivX File/DVD Player

http://www.buy.com/retail/electronics/prod...30&loc=111&sp=1

Sounds good in principal, however before you bag the Momitsu too much, there seems to be some pertinent info missing from the Kiss DP-600's specs. From the spec sheet (link),I see no mention of DVD upscaling or DVI outputs. If they do have HDMI with HDCP output that aren't mentioned, how does that help the many of us who own analog HD sets ie. Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic? Those 2 factors alone are the reason I own a Momitsu. If I want WMV-HD playback with the handful of US titles available, I view them via my HTPC, that is if they don't use DRM via the net.

Also, how is buying the Kiss DP-600 from buy.com for $US299.99(who don't ship outside the US) sooo much cheaper than buying a Momitsu 880 or new 880DX model from Hivizone.com for $US219 or $US239 respectively??

BTW, everyone, Hivizone is advertising a new Momitsu 880DX varient described as having improved picture quality via component. With that said it does not state whether they have solved the 50/60hz playback issue for component or not.

[Owen]

I can highly recommend Americam Beauty 1080i, the colour and detail blew my socks off.

Damn good movie as well.

Unfortunately it is a bit beyond your net connection OzHTfan , as it is about 10Gig.

[hifi007]

It is mandatory for every WM9 HD dvd player to have (for licencing reasons) a HDMI/HDCP DVI output. Kiss have just missed it off that spec pdf. It's the HD disc that triggers the copy protection, it is totally optional for any studio to put protection on the encoding. As a point of note the owner of HD-Net in the USA (Mark Cuban) will release the movies and docos that he owns on WM9 at 1080 without copy protection.

Anyone who uses a HD DVB card and has an MPEG4 encoder can use this Kiss player for any HDTV captures and playback in full resolution. Its also worth noting that Microsofts modified WM9 codec called VC-1 is to be used on the new larger capacity Blu-ray discs. We all know that red book discs are going to be popular for many years because of their low cost. When using MPEG4 on redbook it allows enough room for most movies in either 720 or 1080 HD. We will be seeing a lot of these WM9 discs released over the next 18 mths or so. One of Microsofts engineers ("Amir Majidimehr" - Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Division) who posts on AVS forum has said that studio deals for the release of movies has started and many more discs will be released late this year and early next year, this will be similar situation to the original dvd releases back in 1997.

As far as downloads there are plenty of great 1080/720 HDTV downloads from various people. Depending on extras and compresson most are 10Gb-18Gb in size so you do need time and high Gb limits (even with fast broadband). Although if you have cable or a 1500 ADSL its decently quick enough. My last few downloaded HD movies include

Lord of the Rings - Return of the King

The Matrix

The Fifth Element

The Matrix Reloaded

X-Men X2

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Bikini Destinations

No comparision to dvd quality. My only trouble is I have to use my PC until the Kiss player is here as its the only thing that can play the HD discs. I only used Buy.com as a link I found its was not the cheapest or where I was buying it from. Do a google or buy from a Quali-Hifi retailer when they get them here in Oz.

I waited a long time for the Momitsu 880N to be avaliable. Now I am glad it took so long because I found the Kiss. Best thing about the Kiss players over the Momitsu is mass Australian distribution unlike the overpriced garage retail situation that Momitsu has in Oz. Australia now has a big Kiss importer in Quali-hifi

The importer is in Melbourne at Mt. Waverley.

http://www.marantz.com.au/

[Ted1503559509]

It is mandatory for every WM9 HD dvd player to have (for licencing reasons) a HDMI/HDCP DVI output. Kiss have just missed it off that spec pdf. It's the HD disc that triggers the copy protection, it is totally optional for any studio to put protection on the encoding. As a point of note the owner of HD-Net in the USA (Mark Cuban) will release the movies and docos that he owns on WM9 at 1080 without copy protection.

Anyone who uses a HD DVB card and has an MPEG4 encoder can use this Kiss player for any HDTV captures and playback in full resolution. Its also worth noting that Microsofts modified WM9 codec called VC-1 is to be used on the new larger capacity Blu-ray discs. We all know that red book discs are going to be popular for many years because of their low cost. When using MPEG4 on redbook it allows enough room for most movies in either 720 or 1080 HD. We will be seeing a lot of these WM9 discs released over the next 18 mths or so. One of Microsofts engineers ("Amir Majidimehr" - Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Division) who posts on AVS forum has said that studio deals for the release of movies has started and many more discs will be released late this year and early next year, this will be similar situation to the original dvd releases back in 1997.

As far as downloads there are plenty of great 1080/720 HDTV downloads from various people. Depending on extras and compresson most are 10Gb-18Gb in size so you do need time and high Gb limits (even with fast broadband). Although if you have cable or a 1500 ADSL its decently quick enough. My last few downloaded HD movies include

Lord of the Rings - Return of the King

The Matrix

The Fifth Element

The Matrix Reloaded

X-Men X2

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Bikini Destinations

No comparision to dvd quality. My only trouble is I have to use my PC until the Kiss player is here as its the only thing that can play the HD discs. I only used Buy.com as a link I found its was not the cheapest or where I was buying it from. Do a google or buy from a Quali-Hifi retailer when they get them here in Oz.

I waited a long time for the Momitsu 880N to be avaliable. Now I am glad it took so long because I found the Kiss. Best thing about the Kiss players over the Momitsu is mass Australian distribution unlike the overpriced garage retail situation that Momitsu has in Oz. Australia now has a big Kiss importer in Quali-hifi

The importer is in Melbourne at Mt. Waverley.

http://www.marantz.com.au/

are you quite certain the Kiss player will play these files?

Heres what HD downloaded I have and I wouldn't mind some more titles. Just mail me.

Fifth Element

Gladiator

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Shrek

Spiderman

The Matrix

The Matrix Reloaded

Tomb Raider

[OzHTfan]

It is mandatory for every WM9 HD dvd player to have (for licencing reasons) a HDMI/HDCP DVI output. Kiss have just missed it off that spec pdf. It's the HD disc that triggers the copy protection, it is totally optional for any studio to put protection on the encoding.  As a point of note the owner of HD-Net in the USA (Mark Cuban) will release the movies and docos that he owns on WM9 at 1080 without copy protection.

Anyone who uses a HD DVB card and has an MPEG4 encoder can use this Kiss player for any HDTV captures and playback in full resolution. Its also worth noting that Microsofts modified WM9 codec called VC-1 is to be used on the new larger capacity Blu-ray discs. We all know that red book discs are going to be popular for many years because of their low cost. When using MPEG4 on redbook it allows enough room for most movies in either 720 or 1080 HD. We will be seeing a lot of these WM9 discs released over the next 18 mths or so. One of Microsofts engineers ("Amir Majidimehr" -  Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Windows Digital Media Division) who posts on AVS forum has said that studio deals for the release of movies has started and many more discs will be released late this year and early next year, this will be similar situation to the original dvd releases back in 1997.

As far as downloads there are plenty of great 1080/720 HDTV downloads from various people. Depending on extras and compresson most are 10Gb-18Gb in size so you do need time and high Gb limits (even with fast broadband). Although if you have cable or a 1500 ADSL its decently quick enough. My last few downloaded HD movies include

Lord of the Rings - Return of the King

The Matrix

The Fifth Element

The Matrix Reloaded

X-Men X2

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Bikini Destinations

No comparision to dvd quality. My only trouble is I have to use my PC until the Kiss player is here as its the only thing that can play the HD discs. I only used Buy.com as a link I found its was not the cheapest or where I was buying it from. Do a google or buy from a Quali-Hifi retailer when they get them here in Oz.

I waited a long time for the Momitsu 880N to be avaliable. Now I am glad it took so long because I found the Kiss. Best thing about the Kiss players over the Momitsu is mass Australian distribution unlike the overpriced garage retail situation that Momitsu has in Oz. Australia now has a big Kiss importer in Quali-hifi

The importer is in Melbourne at  Mt. Waverley.

http://www.marantz.com.au/

HDMI with HDCP is already feature on a few mainstream upscaling DVD players like the Pioneer 969avi and Denon 5900. HDMI or HDMI converted to DVI by adapter cable is fine for digital displays, however as I mentioned it's unless for people with analog HD displays. That is the strength of the Momitsu and why I use it over my Pioneer 969avi for DVD playback. It's not going magically start playing WMV-HD files but I can't expect it to and nor do I need it to at the moment.

I'm very familiar with Amir's posts on AVSForums. The biggest letdown so far which was still used on the fairly recent US release of Step into Liquid, was web based DRM for the WMV-HD disc. It's an inconvience for US owners, but practically a showstopper for everyone else. I read a lot of industry info on a daily basis and I'm yet read of the widespread adoption of the WMV-HD standard by the major studios. With so much at stake you are not going to find all of the 'majors' jumping into bed with MS on the one to release a ton of WMV-HD titles. With that said I'm convinced WMV-HD decoding with be a standard feature on most new mainstream DVD players by early next year.

As for the Kiss player, I don't think it's going to be unique in it's abilities for long. Not long enough to justify buying it over the next gen mainstream brand players. Regarding price, what certainty is there that the Kiss' price will be that good when sold here retail other than it's being sold through a larger import? That sure didn't help me get a better price on my Castel distributed Toshiba TV for example...

[OzHTfan]

I can highly recommend Americam Beauty 1080i, the colour and detail blue my socks off.

Damn good movie as well.

Unfortunately it is a bit beyond your net connection  OzHTfan , as it is about 10Gig.

Owen what sort of connection do you have, seeing as these files can be as large as 18gig? That would blow a lot of broadband plans out of the water. I'm hoping for another solution that has the good speed that I have now combined with a more flexible bandwidth allocation...

[Owen]

Just an unlimited ADSL account.

It takes days to download the big files, but thats ok, I'm not in a rush.

I have a dedicated PC for the task and it runs 24/7.

[hifi007]

are you quite certain the Kiss player will play these files?

The Kiss 600 with its Sigma 8620 chipset will play all MPEG4 variations of HD sized encodings (divx,xvid,h264,wm9 etc)

Keith Jack from Sigma is on the AVS forum if you want to ask him specifics as he is the chip engineer.

http://www.video-demystified.com/book1/index.htm

That is the strength of the Momitsu and why I use it over my Pioneer 969avi for DVD playback. It's not going magically start playing WMV-HD files but I can't expect it to and nor do I need it to at the moment.

The fact is that the ability to show "real HD resolution" (720/1080) is a vastly different kettle of fish than just the upscaling of Pal/Ntsc resolution (576/480) like the Momitsu 880 and 880N does.

Channel $even can tell you all you want to now about pretend HDTV.

You can see this clearly difference in resolution when watching any of the easily downloadable HD demo material in comparision to the dvd release (upscaled on the same PC).

Not long enough to justify buying it over the next gen mainstream brand players. Regarding price, what certainty is there that the Kiss' price will be that good when sold here retail other than it's being sold through a larger import? That sure didn't help me get a better price on my Castel distributed Toshiba TV for example...

Castel distributed Toshiba TV for example...

Ha-ha it sounds just like the old Maconna coffee advt - you may be "Still Waiting" for a while.

Wait 6mths and everything is obsolete - just take a look at the 880N thats obsolete on launch. For a few more dollars now the Kiss 600 offers a whole lot more, and yes we know that even the new Kiss 600 price will drop no matter what the retail price is on day one.

Although price is all relative to what you value it at, because all things are expensive when at the beginning of their lifespan.

The key here is that this new chipset offers real resolution for both analog and digital displays although we know that only digital imputs can see the encoded / protected WM9 discs. But creating your own mpeg4, xvid, divx, h264 HD encodings can be played back on any analog displays that dont have a HDCP or HDMI input.

If the HD disc doesn't have copy protection it can be passed over the analog outputs

Much like dvd decypter or smart ripper for dvd software this HD software encoding protection is not rocket science for smart people. So I imagine that even Blu-ray VC-1 encoded discs will be lambs to the slaughter for a decripter rip inside a PC. For a few extra dollars even at the peak pricing it makes players like the Kiss 600 hot numbers compared to older players like the 880 that is only ever going to be an upscaled pal/ntsc player.

Boy Castel - what a dramatic example of daylight theft.

But hey Castel is a tiny company.

The big major ones in Oz that are not soley offshoots of the multinational (Sony, Pioneer, Philips LG, Samsung etc) are Audio Products and Amber Technology.

But lest us not forget that all the Castel stuff has some of the worst mark-ups (extra high) that you can get in comparision to other places in the world that sell Toshiba.

An Unlimited fast cable or fast ADSL account is the best . Some of these still take 19hrs or more to download.

If you want to try a download you can find some stuff here.

http://www.newzbin.com/browse/group/p/alt.binaries.hdtv

From these big hdd downloads onto dvd-r - I use microsofts WME9 in the quality VBR mode (a one-pass method). This still takes about 11 hours to finish (2 1/2hr movie) on even a super fast top of the line pc like I am using. Now I can pop these unencoded HD discs into the Kiss 600 and play them on the 86cm Sony Crt Tv.

[OzHTfan]

The fact is that the ability to show "real HD resolution" (720/1080) is a vastly different kettle of fish than just the upscaling of Pal/Ntsc resolution (576/480) like the Momitsu 880 and 880N does.

Channel $even can tell you all you want to now about pretend HDTV.

You can see this clearly difference in resolution when watching any of the easily downloadable HD demo material in comparision to the dvd release (upscaled on the same PC).

Thanks for the lesson on HD, I'm more than well aware that upscaling DVDs is no way 'real HD'. You can't generate new information from nothing, but you can enhance and smoothen the appearence of SD material. However, that was not the point I was making at all! Considering true HD content makes up approx 4 discs out of a few hundred in my collection, I'd still prefer to watch my normal DVDs upscaled than at plain old 576p. I also abhore 7's lack of regard for real HD and foolish multichannel agenda!

Ha-ha it sounds just like the old Maconna coffee advt - you may be "Still Waiting" for a while.

I doubt I'll be waiting that long frankly, development of WMV-HD compatibility by main stream brands began last year. Secondly, we are in another situation here like the early days of DVD's. I'm sorry but with the even narrower market for HD format discs at the moment and DVD still increasing in popularity, don't expect to see dozens of HD discs out by Christmas! Even if every studio was signed on to make WMV-HD, they are not going to start churning out dozens of titles in that format. The main format war for true HD-DVD hasn't even been settled yet. How many people besides affluent enthusiasts, are going to knowingly fork out for a new interim HD format when the real next generation HD-DVD is coming. Sony's already selling there Blu-ray HD recorders in Japan...

The key here is that this new chipset offers real resolution for both analog and digital displays although we know that only digital imputs can see the encoded / protected WM9 discs. But creating your own mpeg4, xvid, divx, h264  HD encodings can be played back on any analog displays that dont have a HDCP or HDMI input.

If the HD disc doesn't have copy protection it can be passed over the analog outputs

Much like dvd decypter or smart ripper for dvd software this HD software encoding protection is not rocket science for smart people. So I imagine that even Blu-ray VC-1 encoded discs will be lambs to the slaughter for a decripter rip inside a PC. For a few extra dollars even at the peak pricing it makes players like the Kiss 600 hot numbers compared to older players like the 880 that is only ever going to be an upscaled pal/ntsc player.

I really think you're being a tad ambitious if you think your going to start ripping WMV-HD content protected discs, at least in the short term. Also, just how much meaningful content do you think studios and production house are going to leave unencrypted for everyone to rip?

Boy Castel - what a dramatic example of daylight theft.

But hey Castel is a tiny company.

The big major ones in Oz that are not soley offshoots of the multinational (Sony, Pioneer, Philips LG, Samsung etc) are Audio Products and Amber Technology.

But lest us not forget that all the Castel stuff has some of the worst mark-ups (extra high) that you can get in comparision to other places in the world that sell Toshiba.

Ok, Castel was probably a poor and too extreme an example of distribution. However, I personally deal with Amber and I know their retail markup. The wholesale prices on all of the products I've looked at actually compare directly to the O.S. retail for many of them I'm afraid. I also own a Denon AVC-A1SR that came from Audio Products via retail and even using a retail contact to get the best price I could, which was $A6500, still made it significantly dearer than OS. Much the same can be said for every Pioneer DVD I've owned as well as my current Sony KVHR TV. In the end let's see what happens with the Kiss pricing, no real point in speculating.

If you want to try a download you can find some stuff here.

http://www.newzbin.com/browse/group/p/alt.binaries.hdtv

Hey, thanks for the pointer, gives a good idea of what's around HDTV-wise.

[michaelf]

Hi all. Its been a while since my last post as I have been flat out busy and wanted to wait till I had some definite info to share.

The wait it finally over. We have recieved a new firmware release for the Momitsu V880. It seems to be working on both the V880 and V880-DX. I have not had time yet to really go through it to see if it has many improvements or added features, and there were no release notes supplied, but I can tell you that the 50Hz options for 576p, 720p and 1080i via both component HD and DVI now work at 50Hz. Whooo!!!

This firmware has not yet been officially released by Momitsu, but I am sure it will be soon. In the mean time, we will be upgrading our website in the next day or so, and will be adding a link to download the latest firmware with the update instructions, so keep checking www.com-tek.com.au Please be aware that although we have done some tests that were positive with the older V880, it is not guaranteed, so if you have problems you may need to revert back to your current firmware version. Let us know if you have any problems.

Add this with the stability of the new V880-DX (we have had no warranty returns of the V880-DX to date) and the great features and flexibility we already know about, makes this player probably the best all round value DVD player on our market. And to add to that, as someone else has already stated in another post, we do have some special Christmas deals at the moment, bringing even greater value.

On another note, we have also been doing some extensive testing with the latest firmware release for the V880N which was posted by Momitsu in their online firmware update section. Please note that the V880N at this stage can only be upgraded online via the player's browser, however we are working on an alternative method.

This firmware release has brought some really great new features. Firstly the support for 1080i @50Hz via component and DVI which works well. However only 1080i 50Hz support was added. The next release will include 576p and 720p 50Hz support.

This firmware has also added the brightness, contrast and saturation adjustments like the V880 has, but the control over these settings seem much better than on the V880.

Although these are great features and most users would jump at the upgrade, this firmware version seems to have introduced a problem with MP4/DivX/AVI/MPG playback. The problem is that when playing some of these file types whether from a disc or over the network, many files that used to play fine, now play slow and choppy, basically unwatchable.

These things can happen from time to time, and this problem will be fixed as soon as possible with a new firmware release. Therefore if you do use your V880N to regularly play these types of media files, and not just DVDs then I would suggest you wait till the next release which will fix the issue, have all these new features, and most likely more. This is due very soon and I will post once I know.

We have also been informed that the video input kit for the V880N only, is almost ready for release. Unfortunalty it will not be in time for Christmas, but should be available not too long after new year.

This optional kit, plus all the new and old features of the V880N makes this player one of the most flexible and feature packed DVD/Media/Network player on the market. And now with the Christmas special pricing like the V880-DX, it is fantastic value too.

Please keep an eye on our website for the updates, and please contact us if you have any problems or queries about anything including the specials.

Thanks

[OzHTfan]

That's awesome news Michael! Just in time for the weekend (hopefully ), wooohooo!

Finally, component support for 1080i @50hz, I knew it had to turn up eventually.

Have you noticed or been told about any other tweaks in the new firmware?

[michaelf]

No yet. It says something about a power fix but I am still looking and testing through..

[SPDF]

I sent you a private message to advise I too am 'hot to trot'.

Sean in Hobart.

[wxe911]

Hello everyone,

I just wonder what the website is michaelf mentioned a few steps back. I also would like to know where I could buy a v880n in Sydney area or near.

Cheers,

Willi

[speedtriple]

Can anyone tell me if the new-ish firmware is able to be flashed into the original V880 - ie has anyone successfully done this. The Momitsu site states only for later model release which I presume means no 50 hz fix exists for all the original machines out there?

[OzHTfan]

Can anyone tell me if the new-ish firmware is able to be flashed into the original V880 - ie has anyone successfully done this. The Momitsu site states only for later model release which I presume means no 50 hz fix exists for all the original machines out there?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've tried 2 firmwares, a beta supplied by Michael F and the version off the Momitsu site. Dissappointingly, both failed. Frankly, as an early adopter of the Momitsu player and strong advocate of it's performance I am not impressed at all to be denied the 50hz fix...

[michaelf]

Hi all,

I just thought I would let everyone know the latest news regarding the 50Hz issues on the Momitsu V880.

As most people will know, there has been a recent firmware release from Momitsu which adds support for 50Hz via both component and DVI, however this is only compatible with the newer V880-DX and some of the last V880 player (depending on the serial number). This still leaves the older V880 without 50Hz via component. This really is not a problem if using the DVI interface because users can use the custom DVI resolutions setting to achieve 50Hz, its only a problem for users wanting 50Hz when using component video.

Now we finally have come to end end on this topic after a long and frustrating wait.

We have been informed from Momitsu that there will not be a firmware update

supporting 50Hz for the older V880, not because they don't want to, but

because it is technically impossible. The fact it the internal flash memory

on the V880 can not handle the 50Hz support because of space constraints.

The newer main board found in the V880-DX has increased internal flash memory capacity and therefore 50Hz support could be and was developed. Unfortunately from a technical point of view, there is no way around it, and they did try all options.

What we have been offered from Momitsu to help customers with the older

V880 that want 50Hz support is the option to install a new video board,

which basically upgrades the existing V880 to a V880-DX. We are able to do

the upgrades for $150 for Com-Tek customers. This price is the same if we just supply the upgrade kit or if we perform the upgrade, however if we supply the upgrade kit to a user to perform themselves, then we cannot cover thier warranty, so we would prefer if the player was brought in to us to perform the upgrade.

We are expecting stock of these upgrade kits very soon so please let me know if you are interested.

Thanks

Michaelf

[speedtriple]

This still leaves the older V880 without 50Hz via component. This really is not a problem if using the DVI interface because users can use the custom DVI resolutions setting to achieve 50Hz, its only a problem for users wanting 50Hz when using component video.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could the method of using the custom DVI resolutions setting to obtain 50hz on the older models be clarified a little more? thanks.

[OzHTfan]

This still leaves the older V880 without 50Hz via component. This really is not a problem if using the DVI interface because users can use the custom DVI resolutions setting to achieve 50Hz, its only a problem for users wanting 50Hz when using component video.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could the method of using the custom DVI resolutions setting to obtain 50hz on the older models be clarified a little more? thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Having used the DVI out into a projector previously with the momitsu, it's just a matter of selecting the 1080i 50Hz option on the setup menu.

[michaelf]

See http://www.momitsu.com/dvd_880_faq_dvi.html for details about DVI custom resolution settings

[SPDF]

See http://www.momitsu.com/dvd_880_faq_dvi.html for details about DVI custom resolution settings

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you have any specific to the NEC 50"?

Also I note that you loose your custom settings if you cycle through the TV mode button. This seems to be a real shame, given the time it takes to programme the individual settings. Is there any way of saving the settings?