BDP9700 Latest Firmware upgrade (3.76) has been released

[Gerhard]

Hi,

as nobody from Philips announced that so far, I will "re-use" Rins' post from here to
start a new thread and maybe gather all open issues with this firmware.


Firmware Version 3.76
----------------------------

Release notes:
- Improvement on playback of 3D blu-ray disc “Avengers” (Asia Pacific version only)
- Enhance Blu-ray disc playability
- Enhance SACD playability
- Enhance the performance of HDMI connection
- Enhance playback performance
- Various bug fix

Direct link to the firmware:
http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/d...&slg=en&scy=DE
And don 't forget to choose your language...


In general Alex points out that also this firmware (3.76) includes an update of the MCU unit.
and that it could happen, that the update is not installed successfully.
Perform the following steps to check that:

- remove any disc
- press HOME
- press 8-5-2-0
- take a look at MCU: it should be 0x19 after the 3.76 update.

Please don't hesitate to report any issues. Useful are information about your setup,
disc information and steps how to reproduce a potential problem.

Cheers,
Gerhard

[Gerhard]

Let me use this reply to gather the open issues.
Any input is welcome.

This list continues here for firmware 3.80.

Blu-ray

• 1080p/24 issue - although the player is set to 1080p/24 it claims to play in 1080p mode (press "OK" button while watching the main film)
  
• When using a single HDMI connection (HDMI main, set to bitsream) to the AV amplifier (here Pioneer SC-LX82) and playing a Blu Ray disc, the DTSHD bitstream is sent and detected correctly by the AV amplifier. After switching to DolbyHD, there's no more sound.

SACD playback

• Scenario 1: HDMI centric high quality SACD playback according to manual
  Connections: HDMI AVR to AVR, HDMI Main to Digital TV set.
  Audio Settings BDP9700: HDMI AVR: Bitstream, HDMI Main: Off
  Result: No six channel DSD bitstream fed into AVR. Instead PCM at 88Khz mch. Analog audio not high quality (Probably a PCM derived signal, too many conversions).
  Video: Video available through TV set channel.
  
• Scenario 2: AVR only, AVR connected to TV set via monitor out
  Connections: HDMI AVR to AVR, HDMI Main to AVR, Analog 7.1 to AVR.
  Audio Settings BDP9700: HDMI AVR: Bitstream, HDMI Main: Off
  Result: 6 channel (or 5 since most SACD’s are 5.0) DSD bitstream and /or DSD direct analog sound available in very high quality.
  Video : Not available without interrupting the DSD stream.
  
• Scenario 3: Analog centric to external HDMI TV set (for AVR’s without HDMI input)
  Connections: HDMI AVR not connected, HDMI Main to digital TV, Analog 7.1 to AVR.
  Audio Settings BDP9700: HDMI AVR:Bitstream, HDMI Main: Off
  Result: 6 channel (or 5 since most SACD’s are 5.0) analog sound available in moderate quality. Most likely a PCM derived signal.
  Video (for selection of tracks and progress of the player) available through TV
  
• SACD audio selection (DSD stereo vs. DSD multi-channel) is not possible. Think about adding such a feature to be selectable using the "audio" button on the remote control.

Note: It looks like as if the BDP9700 takes feedback from the HDMI main connection to decide whether to go DSD direct or convert to PCM. In addition when you switch off the TV set the 9700 stops playing no matter if you have connected any of the HDMI outputs or just the analog cable set. (See also below "HDMI CEC/Easy-Link issues").


CD playback

• HDMI CEC/Easy-Link issues:
  Starting to play SACD/Audio CD, forces TV to switch on via HDMI CEC-command and forces BDP9700 to standby when shutting down TV. (NOTE: Need a confirmation on that!)
  
  It should act following way:
  1. BDP9700 started by Power/Eject/Play etc. button -> No CEC command to TV
  2. Craddle open by Eject -> No CEC command to TV
  3. Craddle closed by Eject/Play -> No CEC command to TV
  4. Disc recognition -> If BluRay or DVD etc. videodisc then CEC command to TV to switch it on and select HDMI input automatically. If the disk is audio only like CD/SACD/MP3 etc. -> No CEC command to TV
  5. If TV is on and BDP9700 is playing audio disc then shutting TV down shouldn't send CEC standby command to BDP9700. The idea is that there should be possibility to check audio disc properties via TV and then shut TV while BDP9700 continues to play disk.

General issues/Room for improvement

• The screen displayed during playback of SACD, CDDA, USB and DNLA should contain information what kind of decoding/Bitrate is active. (Similar to Marantz and Sony s590) Examples:
  
  • SACD will show: DSD
  • CDDA will show: 1.4kbps
  • Streaming sources might show: 1.4-9.2kbps
• Increase overall responsiveness to user interactions via remote or when pushing the device buttons.
• Make the player usable without TV attached (for CD/SACD).
  When skipping tracks, display current selected track and number of overall tracks - do not show always "PLAY" or "BROWSER" this is not useful
• Add support of streaming FLAC via DLNA. The BDP9700 is able to produce high quality sound. As FLAC is the only lossless format supported by this player, it is a waste of its nice 192/24 DAC and DLNA capability if it cannot receive FLAC stream.
• Properly sort music file in USB drive(e.g sort by file name or track tag embedded in music file). It seems 9700 list file in the order of physical file location on USB drive (i.e. "ls -f", if you are familiar with LINUX command).

I will edit this section regularly and hopefully Philips will try to improve things or at least fix obvious bugs.
BTW: Any sort of feedback from one of the Philips mods is highly appreciated.

- Gerhard

[Rin]

Are any of you having trouble mounting USB3.0 hard drives?
Did firmware 3.76 help? Release notes are so... non-specific


Hard drive is regular portable 640GB NTFS formatted and USB2.0 backward compatible

[Toengel]

Hi,

USB 3 HDDs are supported. However, each partition should have at maximum 2 TB. Be sure to have external power for these devices.

Toengel@Alex

[Rin]

Hi Toengel, thanks for the quick reply

Do you mean specifically USB3.0 drives need external power?

I'm asking because it's a portable drive which normally gets power from the USB-port. That's what makes them so easy to use... Also: a portable USB2.0 drive works fine with power just from the BDP9700 USB-port.

Anyone have experience with USB3.0 portable drives on the BDP9700? I was hoping the 3.76 firmware would fix this.

[Toengel]

Hi,

as far as I know: USB 3 specification allows to use more power... and if the player is only "for USB 2" it could be possible, that the USB port does not provide enough power...

Toengel@Alex

[Gerhard]

...
USB 3 HDDs are supported. However, each partition should have at maximum 2 TB. Be sure to have external power for these devices.

I have to second that. My first thought on that was also that it could be a power
supply problem as USB 3.0 drives are allowed to use up to 900mA, while USB 2.0
is limited to 500mA.

So I would also suggest to use an external power supply as I don't think that
the BDP provides more than the USB 2.0 - 500mA.

- Gerhard

[WillemV]

Hallo Gerhard,

I have a general suggestion for the Room for improvement section:

The screen displayed during playback of SACD, CDDA, USB and DNLA should contain information what kind of decoding/Bitrate is active. (Similar to Marantz and Sony s590) Examples:

SACD will show: DSD
CDDA will show: 1.4kbps
Streaming sources might show: 1.4-9.2kbps

etc.
THis will also help to test the machine.

[Rin]

@ Gerhard & Toengel

That is VERY helpful, I didn't know that !! A little disappointed it therefore isn't fixable by any firmware and I'll never be able to use this portable drive without an external power supply, but still nice to know the probable root cause.

Thanks guys

[hardsoft]

As someone already mentioned the most annoying bug in firmware when playing SACD/Audio CD, is that it forces TV to switch on via HDMI CEC-command and forces BDP9700 to standby when shutting down TV.

It should act following way:
1. BDP9700 started by Power/Eject/Play etc. button -> No CEC command to TV
2. Craddle open by Eject -> No CEC command to TV
3. Craddle closed by Eject/Play -> No CEC command to TV
4. Disc recognition -> If BluRay or DVD etc. videodisc then CEC command to TV to switch it on and select HDMI input automatically. If the disk is audio only like CD/SACD/MP3 etc. -> No CEC command to TV
5. If TV is on and BDP9700 is playing audiodisc then shutting TV down shouldn't send CEC standby command to BDP9700. The idea is that there should be possibility to check audiodisc properties via TV and then shut TV while BDP9700 continues to play disk.

[hellochishing]

May I add the belows to Gerhard's list.

1) Add support of streaming FLAC via DLNA. We all agree 9700 can produce high quality sound. FLAC is the only loseless format support by this player, it is a waste of its nice 192/24 DAC and DLNA capability if it cannot receive FLAC stream.

2) Properly sort music file in USB drive(eg sort by filename or track tag embedded in music file). As 9700 cannot receive FLAC via DLNA, I copied all my FLAC files to a USB flash drive and inserted it into 9700 as an alternative. I created a folder for each album and copied FLAC files of each track of the album to the folder. There is no way to play the file in track order of the album, as 9700 does not sort the track tag embedded in FLAC nor the FLAC filename. It seems 9700 list file in the order of physical file location on USB drive (i.e. "ls -f", if you are familiar with LINUX command).

Thank you.

[The below is updated on 6.Apr.2013]
For point 2, thank you Toengel suggestion on mp3dirsorter. However, I can't find similar utility for Mac OSX. And some how I find that I could sort directory using simple mv terminal command of Mac OSX. As Mac OSX move files in folder in alphabetical order. Details is as below (It is for those comfortable with terminal command line to manipulate folders and files, wrongly issue command may cause lost of data).

1) Assume the track files in the album folder is already named by track number e.g.
01-WhateverTitle.flac,
02-WhateverTitle.flac
03-WhateverTitle.flac ....

2) Create a temporary folder e.g. tmp

3) use the mv command to move song to the temporary folder and then move back to the original album folder
mv album_folder1/* tmp/
mv tmp/* album_folder1/

4) you can now check the FAT table is in track order now.
ls -f album_folder1/*

5) and if required, remove your temporary folder

[Toengel]

Hi,

2) right, files are sorted to the order you copied them to the HDD. Search for "mp3dirsorter" to reorder the FAT

Toengel@Alex

[Gerhard]

As someone already mentioned the most annoying bug in firmware when playing SACD/Audio CD, is that it forces TV to switch on via HDMI CEC-command and forces BDP9700 to standby when shutting down TV.

It should act following way:
1. BDP9700 started by Power/Eject/Play etc. button -> No CEC command to TV
2. Craddle open by Eject -> No CEC command to TV
3. Craddle closed by Eject/Play -> No CEC command to TV
4. Disc recognition -> If BluRay or DVD etc. videodisc then CEC command to TV to switch it on and select HDMI input automatically. If the disk is audio only like CD/SACD/MP3 etc. -> No CEC command to TV
5. If TV is on and BDP9700 is playing audiodisc then shutting TV down shouldn't send CEC standby command to BDP9700. The idea is that there should be possibility to check audiodisc properties via TV and then shut TV while BDP9700 continues to play disk.

Thanks for this, but one question:
Have changed the settings of the BDP wrt CEC/Easylink. From what I know is, that
you can switch off specific commands sent to the TV. Standby can be surpressed for
example.

But I agree in general, there are some annoying things, even EASYLINK is switched off.
The BDP always appears automatically in my TV menu (a Philips as well) as connected
to HDMI 1, although HDMI 3 is the one directly connected and the other one is routed
through the AVR...

Anyway, I will add your stuff to the list.
- Gerhard

[WillemV]

Hello Gerhard,

SACD 2 versus 6 channel selection not possible:

Well, I tested the selection option potentially provided through the "audio" key on the remote but it does not work during SACD playback. The 2 channel tracks on a Hybrid SACD is a distinct area on the disc so I expect the player to stop and go search for the other section with the multichannel part. So far I could only force the 9700 to read the 6 channel portion of the SACD. Maybe the 9700 derives the setting from the loudspeaker setup but since we go blind with this machine it's hard to test whether it really reads the 2 channel portion if so required.

I therefore suggest to add a requirement under the Improvement header to enable 2 channel versus 6 channelselection.

WIllem

[Toengel]

Hi,

switching between DSD-Stereo and DSD-Multichannel is not possible at the moment...

But switching betwen CD-Stereo and DSD-Multichannel is available via Preferences Setup of BDP.

Toengel@Alex