DVD-Audio discs "locking-up" my RDV-1060

[Cracking Oboe]

O.K. after all my praise about the RDV-1060 I have run into a 'glitch' with some DVD-A discs. :cry:

I mail ordered all of the Beethoven Symphonies (BPO/Abbado) on DVD-A. These recordings were rated 9/10 in Absolute Sound Magazine, so I was really looking forward to them.
The problem is none of these discs play on my RDV 1060. The video screen is black with a small white cube in the corner, and the player locks up. I can’t even get to a menu screen. I e-mailed Universal last week to see if there are compatibility problems or if there was a defective batch of these DVD-A’s but they have not replied to me yet. The Dolby Digital track plays fine on my old Pioneer DVD. I had a friend check one of the discs on his Pioneer Multi format player last night and he “thinks” it played the DVD-A track.
In addition, if I select ‘Set-Up’ in The Best of R.E.M. or while the menu’s title song is still playing on Fleetwood Mac’s Say you will, the player locks-up. The only way I can select 2 channel on the REM is start the disc playing in 5.1 and then press Audio on the RDV’s remote.

Has anybody heard or experienced these types of problems with the RDV-1060?? :huh:

Cracking

[Kevin D]

There's a newer firmware that fixed issues with DVDA discs locking the player into SCART mode. Haven't heard of them just locking up. I would suggest giving Rotel a call Monday and have them step you through seeing if you have the latest firmware..

Kevin D.

[Cracking Oboe]

Thanks Kevin, you are likely right that it is a firmware problem.

I took the problem DVD-A discs down to my local dealer and tried playing them on a different RDV-1060.
The R.E.M. disc’s menu worked fine on their deck. However, the unplayable Beethoven disc was still unplayable, and the machine locked-up, just like my deck.
We threw the Beethoven disc on an RDV-1050 and lo and behold… it played the DVD-A disc without a glitch. The store will contact Rotel for me and they’ll get back to me early next week. I’ll keep you posted if you are interested in the outcome.

Cracking!

[Michael Garrott]

Hi,

You're not the only one to have experienced that (or similar) problem with the RDV 1060.

On playing the DVD-A "R.E.M. - Automatic for the People" it locks up if you select any item from the main menu, with a particularly annoying loud pink-noise (but worse) type sound.

However, the actual DVD-A sounds plays ok, and that's primarily what I bought it for.

I would be interested in knowing the outcome of your dealings with the store/Rotel.

Cheers.
Michael.

[w6000]

DVD Audio

I Had the same problem with the 1060. Duetsche Grammophon Discs do not play. The dealer said that Rotel was working on a fix for this but that was 8 months ago. I think it has something to do with MLP Lossless encoding. Anyway they do not work on the 1060

[Cracking Oboe]

A quick update

My Rotel dealer contacted me today. He said that Rotel is aware of the problem and is mailing him a "fix" of some sort. He will contact me when it gets in. Then I can bring my player down to have it upgraded. I'll let you know how successful it is.
Oh, by the way... I did contact the record company ops: (Universal group which distributes Deutsch Gramaphone) here is their reply;
Sorry you are having problems...I am forwarding your email to Emil Berliner Studios where the discs were authored. I suspect that there is a firmware issue with your player that might need to be updated. Please check with your manufacturerer to see if an update is available. In the meantime we'll see what EBS has anything to add.

Regards,
UMG New Formats
Cracking!

[Kevin D]

The update comes on a CDR disc that gets inserted into the player. The problem comes in to play in that the 1060 needs to be in the correct DVD-A mode for the update to work correctly. If any little step is left out, you will lose all DVD-A capability.

The 'best' method in the US is to get Linda Ronstadt's DVD-A disc and allow it to play a few tracks before inserting the CDR disc. Kind of funky, but that's one of the discs that Rotel KNOWS will put the 1060 in the correct mode. I'm not sure what disc they use in other countries.

Kevin D.

[Cracking Oboe]

Thanks Kevin,

I gotta say, you have me a bit worried. :unsure:

May I assume that the Linda Ronstad disc (is there more than one?) works in the unit without any faults? (and that I do not want to use a disc that does not function 100%?). He told me I'd have to bring a disc with the machine, but I thought he meant one of the faulty ones, not a good one. I'm glad you mentioned it. ;x(


Cracking!

[Kevin D]

I beleive it was the only Ronstadt disc she has, or any other disc on the same label. "What's New" is the title. I don't have the disc handy, but according to the web, the distributor is Warner-vision I beleive. Look through your collection and see if you have any other discs from them.

I don't think it's a huge deal, but with the possible complications, Rotel just wants to make sure you have a correct type of disc.. For all I know, 90% of the discs out there could work..

Kevin D.

[aud19]

Don't feel bad my Denon 1600 wouldn't play a Duetsche Grammophon copy of Carmina Burna DVD-A in multi-channel unless I had EVERY speaker set to on, so I couldn't listen with no sub or as some people like, no centre.

Seems DG might be utilizing some features of DVD-A that some players might not be compatible with perhaps...?

Jason

[Vicente]

Hi, Cracking Oboe. Did you install the upgrade in the 1060? Did it work?. Did you notice any other changes in the unit with the new software? Which is the release number of it?

You can check it this way (thanks Kevin D. for your quote):

"Power On the unit. Off by remote unit and On again. Then open the door.

Press cursor down, up, right and left. Then you have the version display on TV monitor. Read the version number, issued date, region number and PIC IC version number. When accessing any other button, the display will disappear."

Where can we get this upgrade in Europe?

Why Rotel has not posted this new version in the web?

So many questions... I wait for some answers from you Rotelians.

It would be good if this version could also correct the black and white images in S-Video while using Scart (RGB mode) as the main connection between the DVD and the TV. Marcel 54 did you fixed this bug?. I'm still having this problem :M

Thanks to all. Regards

Vicente

[Cracking Oboe]

Upgrade completed today!

I just finished trying out my RDV 1060, after performing the upgrade this afternoon.

The upgrade disc had Ver. 2.1.2 written on it, and my display on the 1060 confirms that the upgrade was successful (code ver: 212). Thanks for the advice on how to check the version number, Vicente & Kevin.

The upgrade did not go as exactly as instructed, but it appears to have worked. The procedure was supposed to be:

1. Play a properly operating DVD-A for more than 10 seconds (I used Diana Krall’s – Love Scenes on surround mode? -I could not get the Ronstad disc, thanks anyways, Kevin)

2. Eject the DVD-A and insert the upgrade disc, close the drawer and let play until the player goes off, onto standby mode.
3. Turn power off, and then on. - At this point, the deck was supposed to automatically install the software and then open the disc platter. Instead, the drawer opened as soon as we turned the deck back on before it had a chance to load anything. (We closed the platter, and the program seemed to load.)

The Deutsch Gramaphone discs now work great :clap: . However, the menu problems my unit had with the R.E.M. discs and others, (which the dealers RDV 1060 did not have) are still there . I am assuming there was an earlier upgrade that this version did not include, which my dealers display unit already had installed. This is not a big problem to me. It is the sound I am interested in, not discographys, but it could be a really frustrating problem for other people.

As far as changes I’ve noticed in the hour long testing of many discs (may be my imagination?):
Slower initial disc reading and recognition.
I thought that before the upgrade, when I had selected 2 channel mode DVD-A the display read DVD-A 24-69 MLP. Now it reads DVD-A 24-96 PCM. :wtf:
Two discs had noticeably strange/loud steering effects towards the back left channel, almost as if the left main channel was now playing out of the left sur. speaker, and the right channel was playing out of the left main speaker or right surround? ... and before you ask... No, I did not get the interconnects mixed up! Oh well… I listen to mainly 2 channel DVD-A, and at the very least... the Beethoven recordings sound exceptional in both 2 ch and surround formats! (if I do say so myself ops: – geez, I love my system).

Vicente, Region 1 before Region 2???? I don’t believe it! Region 2 always seems to get the cool stuff first. Surely Rotel must have the upgrade available for you by now? Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers,
Cracking!

[Kevin D]

Cracking,

Same thing happened in the one update I've performed. Drawer opened right when the player came on. I closed it before even thinking.. The worst case went through my head that I had just killed this customers 1060! But like yours, it appears this is the correct procedure.

As far as the menu problems, the upgrade should include all previous fixes. Since I do home automation programming, I can tell you it's really easy to break things while fixing others. Please let Rotel know that it works on X.X and not on 2.1.2. Maybe they can figure it out.

Is MLP even applied on 2ch mixes? Maybe it was a display bug that has been fixed? Not sure on the weird steering effects.

Glad it's mostly fixed.

Kevin D.

[Cracking Oboe]

Thanks Kevin,
I’ll get the version number from the dealers unit just to see what it is. Unfortunately, I did not see what version was on my unit before the upgrade.
The two discs with the weird steering effects were only played in DD5.1 before the upgrade, so it may be someone’s idea of channel mixing or faulty discs (I heard a rumor that some early releases of DVD-A’s had the front mains playing from the surrounds).
I have since noticed that some 2ch DVD-A tracks read MLP and some others PCM. What is weird is that PCM comes up on the Krall disc I used for the upgrade, and it is the disc I swear read MLP before the upgrade. Maybe it’s working correctly now, and it was supposed to read PCM on some and MLP on others?
Just one of the DVD-A Beethoven Symphonies (DG) was more than worth the work of the upgrade, and there are nine! :dance: Thanks again for your help Kevin.

Cheers,
Cracking!

[Cracking Oboe]

Update

I thought I'd update you all on what has happened since my last post.

I was not going to press the issue of the remaining glitches. However my dealer was not satisfied, and pursued finding a solution to the problem :T . He called me yesterday and made sure I had the correct software version number (212). Yup! He then asked me to check the same screen to make sure it said sum:7 and not 8 or 9. No!... my player stated SUM:21C0. So, from what I was told, it appears to be a bad DSP board that is responsible for the remaining problems, and that I should bring it in for servicing :roll: .

So, I guess a properly playing machine should have CODE VER: 212 and SUM:7. I hope this helps other people with similar problems. Micheal, W6000 and Vicente (or anyone else for that matter), I would be interested to hear if you have tried to have your players software upgraded since I last heard from you. What are your ver. # and sum: #'s ? Kevin, did you unstall ver:212, and does yours read SUM:7 since your upgrade?

Cracking!

[GosonFletchy]

Who did the software upgrade on your DVD player? I have heard that the upgrade is kind of sensitive and if not done exactly in the correct method with the proper discs, etc..., that it can cause problems such as the sum to be off which basically corrupts the DSP board.

G.

:grab:

[Kevin D]

I installed 2.12 on a customer's machine. I'll have to email him and have him run the check to make sure.. But it's been two months and I haven't heard anything wrong..

Kevin D.

[Kevin D]

Well crap.. Customer's machine is at 212,19bc. He hasn't complained about any more issues, but he may not have that many DVDA discs..

I wonder if it's from us closnig the draw after the first install. The instuctions weren't that clear as we both closed the door right after it turned back on.

Kevin D.

[Cracking Oboe]

Kevin,

I asked my dealer if we blew the upgrade for the reasons you mentioned. He told me that Rotel assured him that there is a problem with the board if the sum is wrong.?

It would be interesting to see if your customers RDV will play one of these problem discs I have run across so far: (or maybe it is better not to know, especially if DVD-A's aren't listened to - Ignorance is bliss!)

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (Capitol). Locks-up when selecting bonus materials, or set-up options in the main menu.

Emerson Lake and Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery (Rhino). Unable to get stereo tracks, (the main menu is unavailable to access stereo tracks). If I try to access the tracks directly via the "GO-TO" function on the RDV 1060, I am requested for a 4 digit password to access that section of the disc. However my DVD-A of Chicago's - Chicago also by Rhino Records performs faultlessly.

Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will (Reprise Records). Locks-up when selecting the set-up options, unless selected at just the right moment when the music loop that plays on the menu screen is 're-setting'.

R.E.M. - The Best of R.E.M. (Warner Brothers). Player Locks-up and produces loud white noise if any of the menu options are selected, including the bonus videos.


Cracking!

[Michael Garrott]

Hi Cracking Oboe,

I have identified the firmware version installed on my Rotel as 2.12. This would make sense as I bought it only very recently.

The Version and player data is shown on my screen exactly as below (except for a date reference line):

ESS Code ID: 3146
CODE VER: 212
SUM: 78FA ORG: 12F4 REGION: 0
CPU CLOCK: 27 MHZ
PIC VER: 2.8
CYC: 32 BIT: 24
AUTHOR: LI CHANG TAI

My question is, my SUM says "78FA". You're saying this should be "7"? Hmm... two dodgy DSP boards? Methinks this is unlikely.

As I mentioned the DVD this happens with ("REM - Automatic for the People") plays the sound just fine - it just locks up and plays loud pink(white?) noise if you select a menu item.

Still, it is annoying.

Cheers.
Michael

[Kevin D]

Me thinks we need to question where your dealer got his information.. We have three 1060's here, one new and unmolested. All three give sum: as a two-byte hex value. It's doubtful that any correct sum: value would be a single byte ASCI value..

Now unless the information was refering to the first character of the sum:, in which case the unmolested 1060 is correct (7)8FA.... hmmm.

Kevin D.

[Marcel54]

I ran in the same problem last sunday. My 1060 is a year old and problemfree until now. I bought a new DVD-A by Emmylou Harris and it froze. And here is the catch. After that it wouldn't play all my other, earlier problemfree, DVD-A's anymore. The player was already updated earlier because of the component/scart switching.
This week it will go to my dealer and I'll keep you posted about the solution.

Marcel

[Cracking Oboe]

Now unless the information was refering to the first character of the sum:, in which case the unmolested 1060 is correct (7)8FA.... hmmm.
Kevin D.

Me thinks I'm not going to assume anything at this time. If what I was told was correct and the first number is supposed to be 7, then Michael's unmolested player should be able to play the options on the REM disc (unless it is because it is Region 0, not Region 1, ...hmmm).

Marcel... you have to be kidding ! Did it play normal DVD's or CD'S after the lock-up? Remind me to never put an Emmylou Harris DVD-A on my deck... although, if I get mine back fixed, it would probably be a good test disc to see if it is truely repaired. ...do I dare??
What does your version/player data read? (as per Kevin's instructions in Vicente's earlier posting in this thread)
I wish you all the best Marcel, and hope to hear what your 1060's data is, what happened to your deck, and what the solution was.

Cracking!

[Vicente]

Hi, Cracking Oboe and all.

I'm still waiting to get the 2.1.2 release to update my rdv-1060. My local dealer is doing its best to provide me with the software, but got the info from the Spanish distributor that they should wait till Rotel send it to them from England (European distributor). So you can see things go slower in Region 2 than in Region 1 :Z

One thing my dealer told me was that they would come home to upgrade it, as it's pretty delicate to install. Could be this the reason why you cannot get this release in the web?

If anyone is interested the version I have in my 1060 (still untouched) says

ES CODE ID: 3146
CODE VER 211
26.2.2004 HANEX VER 1.2 EUR
SUM 1183 ORG:AC2B REGION 0
CPU CLOCK 27 MHz
PIC VER 2.7
CYC: 32 BIT 24
AUTHOR LI CHANG TAI

Can anyone explain me what the SUM means and why it is so different in each unit? Thanks.

Regards

Vicente

[Cracking Oboe]

My RDV 1060 is coming home!!

Hi all,

It has been almost one month since my RDV went in for upgrades.
We had scheduled a screening party for the LOR #3 extended version this weekend and we were getting a little worried we wouldn't have the player back in time.
I received this e-mail this morning from my dealer:

Your RDV1060 will be shipping back to us to day from Boston.
I will arrange a loaner for you for the weekend till your player return.

The "SUM" could be different from region to region due to the different region code using on DVD.
And I suspect DVD-A does not have a unify recording standard within the recording industry,
even within the same label (they change from time to time for improvement). That why the hardware
manufacturer have a hard time try to catching up the changes. I understood this problems are not only
happen to Rotel alone! I suspect again this SAGA will be continued till recording industry has find their
own solution. Or the fight play out between DVD-A and SACD multi-channel format!

8)
...sounds like a bit of hear-say and opinion making to me. Some facts would be nice.
Vicente, Marcel: I hope your problems are getting sorted out quickly.
Michael and w6000, do you think you are going to do anything with your players, or just leave it as is?


Cracking!

[Michael Garrott]

Well, I think I'll probably just leave it as it is for the moment. I assume it is a software/firmware and not a hardware issue?

If that's the case, it's a matter of waiting until Rotel puts out a "bug fix".

My only concern is that Rotel is made aware of the problem by as many people as possible, to ensure the "bug fix" comes out sooner rather than later.

Is there some way in which we should inform Rotel? Are there troubleshooting email addresses on their website that we can email?

So Cracking, did your dealer indicate that the "upgrades" your DVD player have undergone will now allow it to play the DVD-A's without fault? And what sort of upgrade - latest firmware revision? Hardware? Something Else?

I guess you'll be looking forward to see if it works...

Cheers.
Michael.

[Vicente]

Cracking Oboe, Marcel 54

I'm going nuts! Tech. service in Spain tells me that they don't know in Europe anything about version 2.1.2, so I made another post to check if anyone in Europa has this version, via a new 1060 or thru an update.

They are doing their best and they are going to check with USA or Japan Tech. Services this item but probably will have to wait for some time.

Please, moderators, are there any way to tell Rotel to have the same service in Europe than in the rest of the world. We are paying much more money for all Rotel equipment in Europe and seems to have the poorest service in the world.

Again if someone in Europe has version 212 in his 1060 please answer the post.

Thanks

Vicente

[Cracking Oboe]

Sorry to hear about your problems Vicente. I got my 1060 back from service just the day before Christmas. Although 2.1.2 fixed up the Deutsch Gramaphone problem, the other problem DVD-A's still didn't work properly, and now it came back from service with a video problem as well as the DVD-A issues (I really wish I had left it alone and just lived with the minor bugs).
Oh well, I get the impression that it will all be sorted out with as little inconvenience to me as possible. Good luck!

Cracking!

[Marcel54]

I received my 1060 back yesterday. They replaced the "readingunit" and reprogrammed the software at least that's what the shop mentioned on the receipt. I've connected everything and played several different discs (CD, DVD-V and DVD-A) and although I have version 211 everything is working fine now. Let's see what is happening in the upcoming weeks. I'll keep you'll posted.

Marcel

[Vicente]

Latest news from Spanish Technical Service told me that version 212 has never been installed in European units and that in the european headquarters don't have either the upgrade, so they have asked USA or Japan to get one.

They told me too, that ver 212 fixes only a bug with Deutsche Gramophon DVD-A disks, but in a while (one or a couple of months), Rotel will distribute a newer version that will cover this and some other bugs, so they are going to give me a new 1060 with version 211 and they will send my local dealer the new version as soon as it is released, to update the player if I wish.

As I expressed in this forum, I feel that Rotel should have a more global vision, and share worldwide and at the same time the updates that fix also wordlwide problems.

Even prices should be considered, so the same unit would not cost almost twice in Europe that in the States.

Well, I don't want to get angry on these dates. Happy New Year to all.

Vicente

[Cracking Oboe]

New player!

I received a replacement RDV 1060 today!

arty:

The new RDV 1060 has Ver. 212 already installed, and although it still can’t access some menu functions on some DVDs, it does play the Deutsche Gramaphonon fine, and there are no discs that I am unable to play the main music tracks from.

I do understand that this is not just a Rotel problem and that even the Linn Unidisc has it's problems with some DVD-A's. The recording industry really needed to standardize menu software to avoid these sort of problems.

I would be happier if I knew that Rotel had some sort of central registry to report and list problem DVD-A's. (I could avoid purchasing problem DVD-A's, and maybe they could see the problem on a grander scale to allow them to fix these bugs)

All in all, no biggy, I’m not going to sweat the little stuff (Obviously, the inability to play the DG discs wasn't "little stuff" to me).

I am really happy to have this piece of kit in my rack!


Cracking! :T

[Noddy]

My wife was watching a dvd this evening (Ronan Keating Live at royal albert hall) and was experiencing audio dropouts intermitently although when i rolled the disk back to hear the drop out repeat there was any.

This would leave me to beleive it wasn't the disk but the rdv1060 dvd player.

Am i right in thinking so?

This happened throughtout the dvd concert, it was extremely annoying.

Is there a fix from Rotel for this problem?

[littlebarberman]

I still have this problem even though the firmware was updated April 2005.
Possibly it was done incorrectly. It may be interesting to note that when
I originally bought the RDV-1060 it played all of my DVD-As perfectly. After
replacement of the DVD drive it has the problems with selecting items from
DVD-A menu.

[TYR]

Sorry for opening this again ... but

Sorry for opening this thread again, but ...
Is there somebody from Rotel on the forum who could possibly help with getting firmware 2.12 to the South African suppliers?
I have contacted them a while ago, but they say they have not received a response from Rotel yet.
The bypass inputs on my RSP-1068 are currently occupied by cables coming from a Samsung universal player until my RDV-1060 can play all my DVD-A’s (Deutsche Gramaphon's as well), which is really sad.
Thank you
Hendrik