Huge Electronic companies and their appalling customer support.
This is not only a bashing of Customer "support" services, but also an illustration of how hacking a DVD player - using simple codes on your remote - can unlock its full potential. In this case I had problems getting a Hi-Def (upconverting) Samsung DVD player working properly through Component connections with a Philip's LCD TV.
I don't usually use my blog as a place to vent (reviewing films is a pretty good way to vent anyway), but today I will make an exception because I just have to get this off my chest.
I am a geek, no two ways around that. I've used computers since I was nine and my current job as a digital compositor means I've learnt quite a bit of technical stuff related to television (fields, aspect ratios etc...). I consider myself fairly knowledgeable in these departments, but I have my limits, and when you reach your limits what do you do? You call on the 'experts' right?
Wrong.
I am the happy owner of a Philips LCD TV and just yesterday, I decided it was time to buy a new DVD player (I'd been using my modded Xbox to play DVDs, but my fiancée can't remember what buttons do what, so I thought I'd make things easier on her and it was a good excuse to buy a new toy!). I'd read a bit about HD DVD players - not the real thing of course, the new HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players aren't out yet. Current HD DVD players upconvert an image (like PAL 720x576) to higher resolutions (like 720p, 1080i etc) and it seemed the best option to exploit as much out of my current generation DVD collection as possible.
After looking at a few positive reviews I went down to my local overly-air-conditioned Electronics store and bought their most recent (yet well priced) HD-DVD player available - the Samsung DVD-HD850. It came with the new HDMI cable, but my LCD TV doesn't have HDMI (or DVI, the other input compatible with HDMI). So I inspected the box and found that there was no info regarding whether the Hi-Def images can be carried through Component cables with this player (I already knew Component cables are capable of carrying higher res images because my Xbox has been connected at 1080i to my TV via the HD component inputs). I looked around for a shop assistant and was eventually served by a bored looking, balding middle-aged man, who looked at me blankly as I described my situation. After he faked his way through with half-arse uninformed answers I said that I'd like to look at the manual. He took it out, gave it to me and walked off (he must have had more important things to do other than serving his costumers). Unsurprisingly the manual was utter shit and if anything, made me even more confused.
I looked around and spotted a younger shop assistant who looked like he had potential to have a fully working brain. He saw me and strolled over. Low and behold he actually knew about the products he was selling! He could answer most my questions, but when it came to the Component issue he was honest and admitted he simply didn't know. So he got on the phone to Samsung and after just a few moments they informed him that the component cable could carry up to 720p Res with this model of DVD player. I was relieved to find that out and happy to make a purchase (so that salesman got the commission, not the balding git).
I excitedly took it home and after about four hours of untangling cords and making everything all neat and tidy (as I always do when I get a new toy) I finally turned it on... It was time for disappointment. I went to the menu and selected HDMI through Component option and discovered that only 576p was available and that the other resolutions were greyed out. I fiddled endlessly trying to find a way to change that and realised I couldn't so I thought I might as well check out the image quality. I chucked in The Incredibles (love that film!) and the screen flickered like crazy... great. Clearly this res was not agreeing with my TV.
After much more fiddling the only res that I could get the TV and DVD player to agree on was 480p, which is odd because that's an NTSC res and I live in New Zealand where we use PAL. Anyway, I was happy that I was at least getting a picture and it was a damn good one at that. But I don't give up easy and I was convinced that there had to be a true solution. I hopped on the Net and did a bit of research and discovered that something called HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) may have been the cause of my flickering TV screen. The Samsung player transmitted this HDCP but perhaps my TV came out too early to have the ability to decode it?
So first I thought I'd look at Samsung and Philips' websites to see if I could find any help - unsurprisingly their websites were useless and inaccurate. So I gave Samsung a call and after explaining my entire situation to the operator she informed me that she'd have to put me on to their "Technical Expert" (which is who I asked to talk to in the first place!). I explained my situation again to the "Technical Expert" and this was his enlightening response "You have an incompatibility issue." No shit Sherlock! That's why I'm fucking ringing you, you imbecile! So I thought that maybe, just maybe, I'd have better luck with Philips. I called them and insisted I speak to a technical expert. The lady was helpful and gave me the email address of their "Technical Expert". I emailed him a detailed list of questions and eventually he phoned me (obviously emailing me back was too technical for him). This is an approximation of what transpired:
Firstly the "Technical Expert" called Barry read aloud the email I'd sent him. He read it very, very slowly. He sounded like he was probably in his 60's. After he'd finished reading it he went on and on to me about how S-Video is the best connection type, not Component. Which is A: Incorrect. B: Has nothing to do with my questions. After 5 minutes more of him ranting about S-Video I got in a few questions.
"Could DHCP be producing the 'hand shake' type effect on my TV?" I enquired.
"Mumble, mumble, bullshit, bullshit, mumble, mumble, bullshit." Was his response. I quickly ascertained that this "Technical Expert" also had no fucking idea about HDCP. So I moved on to another question.
"Could it be that my TV is having trouble with the progressive image, even though it claims to be a progressive capable TV?" (my question was better than that, but I'm just paraphrasing here).
He went on to tell me that PAL can't be progressive, only NTSC supports it and he knows this because he is a "Technical Expert". Righttttttt. So even though every single TV at the electronics store says it has progressive scan on the box, it's not really the case? He then went on to tell me about his TV from the 70's that was NTSC and that even that - way back then - could support progressive scan... do I fucking care? No I don't you idiot. What I want is to talk to a "Technical Expert" who actually knows something about these new fangled DVD players and LCD TVs and can actually answer my fucking questions!
As you may be able to tell I was at my wits end. It's like the old saying: "If you want something done right, do it yourself".
After about five minutes of searching on the "Interweb-net" - as Barry the "Technical Expert" would probably refer to it - I found a few hacks that promised to A: Remove the HDCP protection. And B: Remove the region coding (which I was eventually going to do anyway, once I got the image upscaling working first). After trying these codes I discovered that they were probably for the US model (the region 1 model) so I searched a little more and finally found one that referenced the exact model number on my DVD player's remote. After trying these codes the DVD player was region and HDCP free (if you have this DVD model and need help, I'd be happy to share these codes with you, just post a comment).
I was excited. I had made progress and could smell success around the corner. I went into the DVD's menu and turned it back into PAL mode. I left it in the default res of 576p and tried 'The Incredibles' again. No success, the image still flickered... Damn.
I stopped the DVD and pressed the HDMI button (which cycles through different resolutions). What's interesting here is that originally - before I hacked the machine - when I pressed the HDMI button it would tell me in white text that it was changing resolutions but, in fact, it wasn't. This time when I pressed the button, the screen would actually react - it would go black for a moment and then come back with the new resolution. I put it into 720p and tried 'The Incredibles' again. Success. It played and it looked incredible (no pun intended). I tried 1080i and got a black screen (not in the Samsung menu, but when watching a DVD). I'm very happy with the 720p res so it didn't bother me that 1080i wasn't working - but I will continue to fiddle around with it a bit more.
Now after all this crap I finally have a fully working machine, that is actually capable of doing what it promised on the box. Why it can't do this to begin with, is beyond me.
If you've made it this far, congratulations. This has to be officially the most boring post I have EVER made. But I just had to get this crap off my chest - and I thought it may be of some help to people in my position.
"Technical Experts" suck balls in a major way. You should be able to ring them and get detailed and helpful answers. Alas that is not the case. Why can't massive companies like Philips and Samsung get their act together? There is no excuse. Hire some young geek like me and train them up so that they understand every facet of the electronics they sell. Is that really asking too much?
Also Region coding and stupid protection mechanisms suck. Get rid of them companies, just give me a kickarse DVD player that does everything from the get-go. Why should I have to go through a process like this? You promised things on the box and didn't deliver. Shame on you.
If you are in my shoes, good luck and don't give up. If you want something done right, do it yourself (or comment on this post and maybe I can help!).
P.S. The Samsung DVD HD-850 is actually coming highly recommended by me, regardless of my hassles. Once you hack it, it's fantastic. It looks nice, it's very quiet and it has played everything I've thrown at it (DivX, Xvid, crusty old burnt DVDs, DVD+RW, SVCD, VCD etc...). And once you get it upscalling to higher resolutions it looks awesome. Of course if your TV has an HDMI input then none of this is relevant!
Adieu. Farewell and good luck.
DVD hacks here
I don't usually use my blog as a place to vent (reviewing films is a pretty good way to vent anyway), but today I will make an exception because I just have to get this off my chest.I am a geek, no two ways around that. I've used computers since I was nine and my current job as a digital compositor means I've learnt quite a bit of technical stuff related to television (fields, aspect ratios etc...). I consider myself fairly knowledgeable in these departments, but I have my limits, and when you reach your limits what do you do? You call on the 'experts' right?
Wrong.
I am the happy owner of a Philips LCD TV and just yesterday, I decided it was time to buy a new DVD player (I'd been using my modded Xbox to play DVDs, but my fiancée can't remember what buttons do what, so I thought I'd make things easier on her and it was a good excuse to buy a new toy!). I'd read a bit about HD DVD players - not the real thing of course, the new HD-DVD/Blu-Ray players aren't out yet. Current HD DVD players upconvert an image (like PAL 720x576) to higher resolutions (like 720p, 1080i etc) and it seemed the best option to exploit as much out of my current generation DVD collection as possible.
After looking at a few positive reviews I went down to my local overly-air-conditioned Electronics store and bought their most recent (yet well priced) HD-DVD player available - the Samsung DVD-HD850. It came with the new HDMI cable, but my LCD TV doesn't have HDMI (or DVI, the other input compatible with HDMI). So I inspected the box and found that there was no info regarding whether the Hi-Def images can be carried through Component cables with this player (I already knew Component cables are capable of carrying higher res images because my Xbox has been connected at 1080i to my TV via the HD component inputs). I looked around for a shop assistant and was eventually served by a bored looking, balding middle-aged man, who looked at me blankly as I described my situation. After he faked his way through with half-arse uninformed answers I said that I'd like to look at the manual. He took it out, gave it to me and walked off (he must have had more important things to do other than serving his costumers). Unsurprisingly the manual was utter shit and if anything, made me even more confused.
I looked around and spotted a younger shop assistant who looked like he had potential to have a fully working brain. He saw me and strolled over. Low and behold he actually knew about the products he was selling! He could answer most my questions, but when it came to the Component issue he was honest and admitted he simply didn't know. So he got on the phone to Samsung and after just a few moments they informed him that the component cable could carry up to 720p Res with this model of DVD player. I was relieved to find that out and happy to make a purchase (so that salesman got the commission, not the balding git).
I excitedly took it home and after about four hours of untangling cords and making everything all neat and tidy (as I always do when I get a new toy) I finally turned it on... It was time for disappointment. I went to the menu and selected HDMI through Component option and discovered that only 576p was available and that the other resolutions were greyed out. I fiddled endlessly trying to find a way to change that and realised I couldn't so I thought I might as well check out the image quality. I chucked in The Incredibles (love that film!) and the screen flickered like crazy... great. Clearly this res was not agreeing with my TV.
After much more fiddling the only res that I could get the TV and DVD player to agree on was 480p, which is odd because that's an NTSC res and I live in New Zealand where we use PAL. Anyway, I was happy that I was at least getting a picture and it was a damn good one at that. But I don't give up easy and I was convinced that there had to be a true solution. I hopped on the Net and did a bit of research and discovered that something called HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) may have been the cause of my flickering TV screen. The Samsung player transmitted this HDCP but perhaps my TV came out too early to have the ability to decode it?
So first I thought I'd look at Samsung and Philips' websites to see if I could find any help - unsurprisingly their websites were useless and inaccurate. So I gave Samsung a call and after explaining my entire situation to the operator she informed me that she'd have to put me on to their "Technical Expert" (which is who I asked to talk to in the first place!). I explained my situation again to the "Technical Expert" and this was his enlightening response "You have an incompatibility issue." No shit Sherlock! That's why I'm fucking ringing you, you imbecile! So I thought that maybe, just maybe, I'd have better luck with Philips. I called them and insisted I speak to a technical expert. The lady was helpful and gave me the email address of their "Technical Expert". I emailed him a detailed list of questions and eventually he phoned me (obviously emailing me back was too technical for him). This is an approximation of what transpired:
Firstly the "Technical Expert" called Barry read aloud the email I'd sent him. He read it very, very slowly. He sounded like he was probably in his 60's. After he'd finished reading it he went on and on to me about how S-Video is the best connection type, not Component. Which is A: Incorrect. B: Has nothing to do with my questions. After 5 minutes more of him ranting about S-Video I got in a few questions.
"Could DHCP be producing the 'hand shake' type effect on my TV?" I enquired.
"Mumble, mumble, bullshit, bullshit, mumble, mumble, bullshit." Was his response. I quickly ascertained that this "Technical Expert" also had no fucking idea about HDCP. So I moved on to another question.
"Could it be that my TV is having trouble with the progressive image, even though it claims to be a progressive capable TV?" (my question was better than that, but I'm just paraphrasing here).
He went on to tell me that PAL can't be progressive, only NTSC supports it and he knows this because he is a "Technical Expert". Righttttttt. So even though every single TV at the electronics store says it has progressive scan on the box, it's not really the case? He then went on to tell me about his TV from the 70's that was NTSC and that even that - way back then - could support progressive scan... do I fucking care? No I don't you idiot. What I want is to talk to a "Technical Expert" who actually knows something about these new fangled DVD players and LCD TVs and can actually answer my fucking questions!
As you may be able to tell I was at my wits end. It's like the old saying: "If you want something done right, do it yourself".
After about five minutes of searching on the "Interweb-net" - as Barry the "Technical Expert" would probably refer to it - I found a few hacks that promised to A: Remove the HDCP protection. And B: Remove the region coding (which I was eventually going to do anyway, once I got the image upscaling working first). After trying these codes I discovered that they were probably for the US model (the region 1 model) so I searched a little more and finally found one that referenced the exact model number on my DVD player's remote. After trying these codes the DVD player was region and HDCP free (if you have this DVD model and need help, I'd be happy to share these codes with you, just post a comment).
I was excited. I had made progress and could smell success around the corner. I went into the DVD's menu and turned it back into PAL mode. I left it in the default res of 576p and tried 'The Incredibles' again. No success, the image still flickered... Damn.
I stopped the DVD and pressed the HDMI button (which cycles through different resolutions). What's interesting here is that originally - before I hacked the machine - when I pressed the HDMI button it would tell me in white text that it was changing resolutions but, in fact, it wasn't. This time when I pressed the button, the screen would actually react - it would go black for a moment and then come back with the new resolution. I put it into 720p and tried 'The Incredibles' again. Success. It played and it looked incredible (no pun intended). I tried 1080i and got a black screen (not in the Samsung menu, but when watching a DVD). I'm very happy with the 720p res so it didn't bother me that 1080i wasn't working - but I will continue to fiddle around with it a bit more.
Now after all this crap I finally have a fully working machine, that is actually capable of doing what it promised on the box. Why it can't do this to begin with, is beyond me.
If you've made it this far, congratulations. This has to be officially the most boring post I have EVER made. But I just had to get this crap off my chest - and I thought it may be of some help to people in my position.
"Technical Experts" suck balls in a major way. You should be able to ring them and get detailed and helpful answers. Alas that is not the case. Why can't massive companies like Philips and Samsung get their act together? There is no excuse. Hire some young geek like me and train them up so that they understand every facet of the electronics they sell. Is that really asking too much?
Also Region coding and stupid protection mechanisms suck. Get rid of them companies, just give me a kickarse DVD player that does everything from the get-go. Why should I have to go through a process like this? You promised things on the box and didn't deliver. Shame on you.
If you are in my shoes, good luck and don't give up. If you want something done right, do it yourself (or comment on this post and maybe I can help!).
P.S. The Samsung DVD HD-850 is actually coming highly recommended by me, regardless of my hassles. Once you hack it, it's fantastic. It looks nice, it's very quiet and it has played everything I've thrown at it (DivX, Xvid, crusty old burnt DVDs, DVD+RW, SVCD, VCD etc...). And once you get it upscalling to higher resolutions it looks awesome. Of course if your TV has an HDMI input then none of this is relevant!
Adieu. Farewell and good luck.
DVD hacks here
posted by Ray_Tango at 11:30 am
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