RSP-1098 Firmware 2.1.2 Now Available

[Aussie Geoff]

Hi,

As pointed out by Dr Boom in his OSD thread, Rotel have just (very quietly) released 2.1.2 of the firmware for the RSP-1098 in a change to their H20 update here. If you have succesfuly completed the EEPROM update before you don't need to do it again - just the (much easier and safer) firmware update.

This is specfically intended to deal with the bug that some people have been enountering where, for DPL IIx sources they get no Center Back channel until they press the SUR+ key etc. Rotel have tested this on some affected units and found it fixed the problem. Now it's time for Club Rotel users to try...

Geoff

[Andrew Pratt]

Interesting....Hopefully this finally fixes the surround back channel issue once and for all.

[Aussie Geoff]

Hi,

I've just installed and tested the upgrade (remember I wasn't getting the missing CB channel issue) and it went fine – took 5 minutes just like all the 1.1.2 and 1.1.6 upgrades

My system still sounds great. DPL IIx still works well. From a superficial check so far the only change I can detect is that DPL IIx Cinema seems more predominant as a setting when playing DVD's - IE it switches away from it less to EX or IIx Music as you work through the menus to get to the main track. This is a good thing!

So - who else is going to try?

It would be good to see what Sithlord10, Whmacs or Olaf who have the SUR+ problem with 2.1.1 find with this upgrade since it was directly targeted at their issues!

Geoff

[Andrew Pratt]

I might try it later next week if I still have my 1098 then. I'm having a problem with the amp triggers at the moment so Rotel's asked me to send it in for a checkup... :cry:

[Matt Zielinski]

It works.
Good Job Rotel
No problems noticed and I have try 5 DVD's and SB works like a charm.
Sounds Amazing on 2.12 upgrade.




Matt
Room 11x22x7.5
Rotel-1098/1075/1050
Sony-KF50WE610/DVP-S7700
ExpressVu Dish and HD cable Box
B&W speakers: CDM 9NT; HTM7; CDM SNT

[Azeke]

Installed the upgrade to 2.1.2 sucessfully(approx. 45 minutes with WinXP Pro). I will recalibrate my speakers tomorrow, and perform futher testing, so far so good 8) .

Regards,

Azeke

[Olaf]

Dear All,

The bad thing about living in India is that I have to work 6 days per week (including Saturdays). However we had many bank holidays as well and today happens to be one of those days.

The perfect opportunity to test the new V2.1.2 release!

I have installed V2.1.2 without any problems and just to be sure did a factory reset as well. Following this reset I did have to do some major speaker calibrations especially for my rear speakers (compared to my old settings) which is a bit strange considering that I have calibrated those as part of my V2.1.1 tests as well.

The absolute good news is that the 7.1 rear speaker bug has been SOLVED :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:.

I have tested the new release with the following movies:

- XXX (DD)
- James Bond Die Another Day (DD-EX)
- Finding Nemo (DD-EX)
- Star Wars Episode II (DD-EX, but most likely not properly flagged)
- Italian Job (DD, the recent version)
- Gladiator (DTS-ES discrete)

With all of the above discs the rear speakers worked as expected. There also seems to be less switching between sound modes as mentioned by Geoff in an earlier post.

I however still found some minor flaws.

1. Sound format defaulting for DD 5.1 discs

The standard sound format for regular DD 5.1 discs should be DD+XS which worked for the first disc played.

However if the previous disc played was a DD+EX disc, the format selected by the RSP-1098 remains DD+EX as opposed to DD+XS.

If the previous disc played was a DD 5.1 (and you had selected DD+XS, or it was the first DD 5.1 disc after the upgrade) or a DTS disc the sound mode does default to DD+XS.

To me this implies there is still a minor bug with the sound mode selection routine.

2. OSD bug

When the sound mode is shown on the screen en you change the volume the text shown on the screen becomes garbled (the old text showing the sound mode is not cleared).

Both these bugs are relatively minor and I am sure they will be adressed by a new release in time.

I would like to thank Rotel for listening to their customers and for having worked hard to resolve the rear speaker issue especially since it probably was not that easy. I just have some worries about all the stories about old and new EPROMS. Are those stories true? Is there any relation between the rear speaker bug and EPROMS or was it really just a software bug in V2.1.1?

I would also like to thank all the other members (too many to mention all) who have performed may tests and have spoken to Rotel about the bug. I am sure this has helped in getting the new software version so quickly.

Just imagine I started my movie collection a long time ago (+20 years ago) and have over 600 original movies on VCR tape (also have +150 DVDs). Now I have PLIIx which makes those "old" tapes sound much better, brilliant!

Happy listening to all 8) ,

Regards,
Olaf

[Olaf]

Dear All,

Just one more small update. AfterI finished writing the previous post I found my wife watching Sex and the City which is a DD2.0 track.

The RSP-1098 had automatically defaulted to DD+PLIIx Cinema, inclusive of GOOD sounding rear speaker efects.

GREAT STUFF :LOL:

Regards,
Olaf

[whmacs]

Hi All,
Just checked this forum this morning (its Sunday here) and saw Geoff's post. I down loaded v2.1.2 and slapped it into the RSP-1098. I can now confirm my rear speaker problem is solved! I put on 'End of Days' and 'Titan AE', (both DD 5.1) and previously both required me to toggle the SUR+ button to kick in the rear speakers. Now both default to DD + PLIIx C and the rear speakers start working automatically. My EX disks continue to work as expected. Well done Rotel! Also, thanks for the group effort from this forum in bringing this to Rotel's attention.

BTW Chapter 2 of Titan AE is a great chapter to show off rear effects and fly overs with your new found functioning CB channels!

cheers,
Stephen




My Home Theatre

[Olaf]

Dear Stephen,

Interesting.... My DD5.1 discs default to DD+XS. On my system DD+PLIIx C is only used when I play a Dolby 2.0 source. By the way the DD+PLIIx C mode is also frequently used during movie intros and menus which may be because these are not always in DD5+1.

This still leaves me in some doubt, especially since I still think there is problem in selecting the appropriate sound mode. Based on my understanding the selection process should be:

Disc Default mode
DD2.0 DD+PLIIx (this includes VCR tapes and regular TV)
DD5.1 DD+XS
DD-EX DD+EX
DTS DTS+XS
DTS-ES DTS+ES (discrete or matrix)

Can someone please confirm if my understanding is correct.

Regards,
Olaf

[eddyg]

Installed the upgrade to 2.1.2 sucessfully(approx. 45 minutes with WinXP Pro). I will recalibrate my speakers tomorrow, and perform futher testing, so far so good 8) .

Not sure why it's taking 45mins, it only took me 5 minutes all up using win2k. Given that it's sending at the same bitrate I don't see why there should be a difference. Maybe hyperterm does verification and retransmits (via echos) and you are getting bit errors.

Cheers, Edward.

[apotts]

To make WinXP do this in 3 minutes, not 45....

Use Hyperterminal PE, a small download from here:

http://www.hilgraeve.com/htpe/download.html

In device manager, set COM1 properties to a baud of 19200.

Continue as per the Rotel instructions.

Andrew

[Aussie Geoff]

Olaf,

Now your unit is working properly - I suggest you reread my earlier posting here (see the March 15 entries) about "teaching" the RSP-1098 different sound modes to remember for different source types.

I have mine set on the DVD input so that:

• CDs play in 7 channel Stereo
• Dolby 2.0 Plays Dolby Pro Logic IIx Cinema
• Dolby 5.1 Plays Dolby Digital + IIx Cinema
• Dolby EX Plays Dolby EX
• DTS 5.1 Plays DTS + IIx Cinema
• DTS ES Plays DTS ES (you can’t seem to override this with IIx)

If I look at the INPUT screen it shows a default of 7 Channel Stereo - but it knows I want the other formats because I worked through them as per the post.

When I first installed 2.1.1 it was like yours, remembering XS because that was the best mode I had requested. Now - unless I press the SUR+ button - I never see XS.

It works well for me and it remembers it indefinitely unless you change the setting for the sound mode. Try it!

Geoff

[eddyg]

Hi Geoff,

To be clear, what you are saying is that the "default" sound mode as selected from the Menu "Input->Default Mode" only actually applies to the type of input being played when the default is actually selected, is that right?

And so when playing a CD on my DVD player I should change the Default input to 7 channel stereo, and then I should play a DD ES DVD, and change it to DD ES etc.

Is that right?

Olaf,

Now your unit is working properly - I suggest you reread my earlier posting here (see the March 15 entries) about "teaching" the RSP-1098 different sound modes to remember for different source types.

I have mine set on the DVD input so that:

• CDs play in 7 channel Stereo
• Dolby 2.0 Plays Dolby Pro Logic IIx Cinema
• Dolby 5.1 Plays Dolby Digital + IIx Cinema
• Dolby EX Plays Dolby EX
• DTS 5.1 Plays DTS + IIx Cinema
• DTS ES Plays DTS ES (you can’t seem to override this with IIx)

If I look at the INPUT screen it shows a default of 7 Channel Stereo - but it knows I want the other formats because I worked through them as per the post.

When I first installed 2.1.1 it was like yours, remembering XS because that was the best mode I had requested. Now - unless I press the SUR+ button - I never see XS.

It works well for me and it remembers it indefinitely unless you change the setting for the sound mode. Try it!

Geoff

Cheers, Edward.

[Aussie Geoff]

EddyG,

Exactly!

There may be some other easier way to do this as well - but this way works for me. Try it!

Geoff

[Olaf]

Dear Geoff,

We have had a short discussion on this topic before, and while I do not dispute that this works for you, I cannot seem to get this method to work.

I only play DVDs on my DVD player as I have a dedicated CD player.

When I play for example "XXX" which is a normal DD5.1 disc and select DD+XS as the format, the RSP-1098 remembers this the next time I put in a DD5.1 disc. So far so good.

When I however play a DD+EX disc in between the sound mode remains DD+EX when I re-insert the "XXX" DVD.

Regards,
Olaf

[Azeke]

Yes, I was contemplating doing the hyperterminal upgrade, to minimize the file transfer time, but I didn't want to take the chance. I only had one computer this time and I knew that the download worked with this one.

Thanks for the heads up.

Regards,

Azeke

[whmacs]

Hi Olaf,
First off, great to hear that the updated sorted out your rear speaker issue.
As far as default sound formats go, I'm like you and only play DVD's in my player as I have a CD player for music. I have the default sound format set to PLIIx Cin on the DVD input. I was under the impression that it remembers the last format you set it to for a particular type. For example if I put in a DD 5.1 disk, based on your default format, it should go to DD5.1 + PLIIx C (which mine does). I haven't tried this yet since the upgrade, but if I put in an EX disk, the format would change to DD5.1 + EX, the next time I put in a DD5.1 disk it would stay at DD+EX unless I switched it back to DD5.1 + PLIIx C using the SUR+ button. So from what I've seen, it seems to remember the last format type it used and defaults to that.

On the Hyperterm issue, I use XP Pro and it takes about 15 minutes to do the upgrade.

cheers,
Stephen




My Home Theatre

[Sithlord10]

Just put on 2.1.2 and the problem has gone away . I've only had time to try Matrix Revolutions and X-Men 2 and both times the back rear channels engaged. I will do more testing but I'm confident that all is well. ;b>'> Thanks go to everyone who has helped me and others it's very much appreciated.

[whmacs]

Hi Sithlord,
It's great to hear that everything worked out in the end. With the v2.1.2 software in place, PLIIx really shines. I actually watched "Children of Dune" the other night on the VCR. This is the first VCR tape I've watched since upgrading the RSP-1098 to PLIIx. It actually sounded really good, PLIIx did a fantastic job on the stereo sound track.

cheers,
Stephen




My Home Theatre

[Henk]

[I'm having a problem with the amp triggers at the moment so Rotel's asked me to send it in for a checkup]

Andrew, I am having trouble with the 12v triggers from the RSP1098 - the signal gets interrupted at random, causing all 12v connections to switch off. Is this your problem too? Its driving me up the wall.