This site is trying to gather any information to help users of the DVP642. If you have any additional information or questions, please use comments at the bottom of the page.

The DVP642 is a very nice DVD, CD player that will play Divx Certified movies. The biggest problem is trying to figure out why some movies will not play.

So far, I have not come across a movie that I have not been able to play on the DVP642/37 by making small changes to the movie ( usually the audio ).

Are Firmware Updates available?

I called Philips, and they said that firmware updates were not currently available for the DVP642/37, but to check the web site periodically. Philips site is  http://www.p4c.philips.com.

Will the movie play on the DVP642?

Is there software to check out the movie and subtitles before burning the cd?

Not that I know of. Running AVICHECK  http://miketeo.net/projects/avicheck/index.html on the movie file will tell some things:

The movie will not play on the DVP642 if:      QuarterPixel(QPEL) = YES. If QPEL, then you will have to encode again with VirtualDub (free)  or DR DIVX.

There may be other indications that you know of, if so, please let me know.

 

Fixing the movie so it will play on the DVP642.

First, use VIRTUALDUB from http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/ to only copy about the first 10 minutes. Use "direct copy" on video and audio. This file should then be used for all testing. ( Saves a lot of time ). Second, uses rewriteable CD's ( Saves a lot of CD's ). VIRTUALDUB may give a message "VirtualDub has detected an improper VBR audio coding". Ignore thismessage, but realize that it may cause the audio to be out of sync, which can easily be fixed later. Right now, we just want to make sure that the video and sound will play on the DVP642. If you have several movies to check out, do this with each, and burn all on one rewritable cd for testing out on the DVP642.

Is there software to check out the movie and subtitles before burning the cd?

Not that I know of. Running AVICHECK  http://miketeo.net/projects/avicheck/index.html on the movie file will tell some things:

The movie will not play on the DVP642 if:      QuarterPixel(QPEL) = YES

There may be other indications that you know of, if so, please let me know.

The Movie will play, but the video is very discolored and fuzzy:

Try going into the system menu and exiting. This often will clear up the picture.

The movie will not play. The disc menu pops back up.

More than likely it is not in a Divx certified format.

Run AVICHECK on the file. If it is in QPEL, Quarterpixel, it will not play. If it is not in QPEL, try running VIRTUALDUB with direct copy being used for both video and audio. This will sometimes fix the problem, even if the original format is DIVD and ACC-3 audio

 If the video shows as XVID it may not play. Running VIRTUAL DUB may fix this. Change the video to DIVX compression, using full processing mode. This will take anywhere from as long as the movie, to twice that time depending on your computer. It would be best to start this at bedtime, and leave it running.

Many XVID movies will play on the DVP642. If the movie audio is AC3, and the DVP642 comes back to the menu after touching "play",it may just be an AC3 audio problem. Get the AC3 Decompressor:
http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/AC3ACM/ After unzipping, read the text files. It will tell you how to install. (to install, right-click on the "AC3ACM.inf" file, and choose "Install" from the popup menu". After installing AC3 decompressor, run VIRTUALDUB with video "direct stream copy", and audio with "full processing mode" and audio compression with "AC-3 ACM Decompressor". This should only take about 3 minutes.

Audio is out of Sync, Lipsync Problem

Try going into the DVP642 System menu and exiting back out. This may clear up the problem.

If still out of sync, run virtual dub on the new file, video at "direct stream copy",audio at LAME-MP3 Compression, and in audio interleaving, delay the audio track about 7800ms. This will take about 10 minutes. It is best to make a small movie file, and play around with the delay.

You can get the LAME MP3 Encoder at:      http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Lame_Encoder.htm    

Also use rewriteable CD's for testing the small files - saves a lot of CD's.

I have been using VLC for testing on my computer, and it seems to give the same audio sync as the DVP642.

ISubtitles are chopped off.

Make sure the subtitle name is not the same as the movie file name. If the subtitle name is the same, it will automatically show up on the bottom, but cut off. Change the subtitle name so it is not the same as the movie, and select the subtitle from the DVP642 menu, using the "subtitle key".

Subtitles are out of sync with the movie:

It may be that the subtitles are for a different frame rate. If the subtitles are getting further and further behind the movie, you can try using software such as SUBADJUST to change to framerate from 23.976 to 25.000.

Subtitles will not play ( "hand" shows up).

First position the screen to the subtitle file. Make sure that you touch the "subtitle key" to select the subtitle. Touching the "OK key" will not work, it will just show the "hand".

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