Technical Issues and Questions

[Michael Kerpan]

Also try 973502

Remove any discs. turn off. turn on. open drawer. do code (witn no long pauses between numbers). (This is what I recall).

[knives]

Thank you very much that works. Going to See Profound later today, so happy. Thank you very much.

[Peacock]

To speed things up, you don't actually have to turn off and on. As long as the disk tray is empty and you enter the code and press enter, you'll have it.

[Michael Kerpan]

To speed things up, you don't actually have to turn off and on. As long as the disk tray is empty and you enter the code and press enter, you'll have it.

Can you do this with the tray closed (and empty) as well as out?

Turning of and back on always seems like a good way to make sure that you are writing on a blank page (so to speak).

(BTW -- once I set my unit to Region B, it stayed set -- until I changed it).

Hoping to get the old firmware by tomorrow evening...

[Peacock]

To speed things up, you don't actually have to turn off and on. As long as the disk tray is empty and you enter the code and press enter, you'll have it.

Can you do this with the tray closed (and empty) as well as out?

Turning of and back on always seems like a good way to make sure that you are writing on a blank page (so to speak).

(BTW -- once I set my unit to Region B, it stayed set -- until I changed it).

Hoping to get the old firmware by tomorrow evening...

I've always just left it closed, does it work open as well? Handy! And yes it stays set on whatever code it was last put on until you change it again, I just had to change to Region B tonight to watch Van Sant's Elephant.

[Michael Kerpan]

Got what was supposed to be older firmware (but date was March 2010) -- installed it -- still no region change ability. ;~{

[Michael Kerpan]

To all Sherwood owners --

Just pray that your unit does not have a mechanical failure that requires a return for servicing. The new firmware that showed up on my repaired unit does not allow playing anything but Region A BRDs. And the only older firmware (from early 2010) they were willing to make available enabled only the playing of DVDs from other regions, not the laying of Region B BRDs.

I understand that they may no longer be allowed to provide any firmware that allows BR region changes -- but I made clear I would accept (not altogether happily) a Region B locked firmware. It does not look like they will accommodate even this modest request.

Unless I get unofficial help, I have all sort of BRDs that I won't be able to watch -- until I buy yet another Blu-Ray player. If my only alternative is a modified Oppo, my BRD pile will gather a fair amount of dust.

I should have kept looking for a budget Region B (only) player -- and passed on the Sherwood.

[fdm]

In case you missed it, the Oppo BDP-83 has been discontinued, along with the BDP-80, the two blu-ray models that for sure could be modified to be region free. The BDP-93 is due out before the end of the year.

[Arn777]

I am experiencing a weird problem with my AV receiver, and wondering if anyone would have an idea of what it may be.
I have a Denon Av Receiver (AVR1910) which has worked very well until tonight. Last night everything worked fine, but I switched it on tonight and although I get the picture displayed fine on my screen, I do no get any sound from any of the devices connected to it (TV box, Blu ray players). I checked the connections and all seem fine, any idea what could it be?

[Michael Kerpan]

Sherwood BDP-5004 problem solved -- no thanks to Sherwood, which would not provide a copy of last year's firmware (which is what my machine had, prior to its failure).

[Minkin]

Sherwood BDP-5004 problem solved -- no thanks to Sherwood, which would not provide a copy of last year's firmware (which is what my machine had, prior to its failure).

Mind me asking how? All these horror stories are having me paranoid about the future of my machine.

Did you happen to find the old firmware online somewhere (I assume you did).. perhaps Chris might be able to host a copy of it here for all of our future reference?

[Michael Kerpan]

[Did you happen to find the old firmware online somewhere (I assume you did).. perhaps Chris might be able to host a copy of it here for all of our future reference?

Someone whose machine failed a few weeks before mine did WAS given a copy of the firmware his player originally shipped with -- and he gave me a copy. Apparently Sherwood changed its policy in between his case and mine (we dealt with exactly the same tech person).

[carax09]

I am experiencing a weird problem with my AV receiver, and wondering if anyone would have an idea of what it may be.
I have a Denon Av Receiver (AVR1910) which has worked very well until tonight. Last night everything worked fine, but I switched it on tonight and although I get the picture displayed fine on my screen, I do no get any sound from any of the devices connected to it (TV box, Blu ray players). I checked the connections and all seem fine, any idea what could it be?

I had a Denon (AVR488) that worked for about a month before it started periodically emitting blasts of white noise that one would expect to coincide with the end of the world. Your model seems to have a better reputation, so maybe there's reason for hope. I did a little research on your issue, and found this response on Fixya:

I had the same problem. You're not doing anything wrong. the thing is you can't (I don't know why but the owner manual says it) have sound going to your tv AND your HT speakers when you're using HDMI. You should try going to input setup, choose hdmi audio out to your TV instead of the speakers, and then run an optical cable from your satellite to your receiver, assigning it to the TV/Cable input.

For the record, I gave up on Denon and picked up a refurbished Harman/Kardon (AVR254), which I've been greatly pleased with.

Good luck!

[fiddlesticks]

I have an HP laptop (Pavilion dv9700) running Windows Vista, and my display adapter is NVIDIA GeForce 8600M. Lately, these two things don't seem to play well together; the system occasionally will spontaneously crash, usually when I'm trying to stream some video (especially from ESPN3.com), and when it restarts, Windows blames NVIDIA and tells me to update the driver. However, the NVIDIA driver is completely up-to-date. My question is, am I locked into this display driver, or could I perhaps download some other brand? Is this the only software which will work with my display hardware (graphics card?); i.e. am I asking if I can start a VW with a Ford key? If it seems like I have no idea of what I am saying, that'd be correct. Any advice comprehensible to a technoninny would be appreciated.

[Arn777]

Thanks Carax09, I reseted the Microprocessor last night, still couldn't get any sound, but this morning it worked fine, very strange, thats the first issue I had with the Denon in 15 months.

[Zaki]

For a short while I was quite happy with my new Sherwood BDP-5004 player, until I noticed a strange and annoying pattern: frequently, while playing blu-ray discs, it freezes up for a second (or even a fraction thereof) and then resumes playing. This pattern could not be observed while playing region 1 & 2 DVDs, and I do not believe it may have anything to do with my TV (Samsung LN46C630). I would really hate sending it to the manufacturer for repair and get the unwanted firmware... I wonder if anyone has had a similar experience, and if there is any known solution to it.

[TechNoir]

So I have a stupid question that isn't exactly technical, and certainly isn't about gear. I have always heard that writing on a DVD-R disc is bad for the content. Any truth to this? Thank you for any answers.

[mfunk9786]

Just use a soft-tipped marker and don't press down too hard.

[fdm]

I thought I read that the ink itself could cause problems.

[Paul Moran]

I've written the Disc ID and film title(s) on over 1900 DVD-R's in the last four years. No problems, as far as I can tell! I'm using pens marked as "CD-ROM Marker 0.7 mm. Permanent".

[Gregory]

I didn't know they made special pens for writing on CDs and DVDs. For years I've used regular Sharpie markers to write on large numbers of CD-Rs, which I want to last as long as possible. Now I read that this ink can cause degradation. *Sigh* Time to start getting external hard drives to back up most of this stuff, which I'd been putting off doing anyway.

[Jonathan S]

I've read several articles about this and my understanding is that CD-Rs are much more susceptible to this problem than DVD-Rs, which have extra protective layers. The Media Sciences experiment doesn't sound very scientific, at least as explained in that brief article.

A brief study by Media Sciences used various CD-R discs that contained both Sharpie and Dixon Redisharp Plus! markings on the label surface. All discs degraded after accelerated aging for 100 hours at 60°C and 85% relative humidity, conditions that are within allowable limits for CD-R discs.

Was there any control sample where discs that hadn't been marked at all were subjected to the same process? If not, the degradation could be due to the discs themselves, an issue which concerns me (and I think most people) more. Did they use high quality media like Taiyo Yuden? But I wouldn't really expect even those to withstand such adverse conditions, despite the claim about "allowable limits".

I do prefer using "full face" (opaque white) discs on which I can write legibly on the inner ring as they recommend. But it's often difficult to find these at a reasonable price with a trustworthy media code (and even media codes are faked, especially Taiyo Yuden's). If I write on a transparent inner ring, the title becomes very difficult to read. Another possibility, if the disc isn't full, is to write on the outer edge where there's no data.

[ianthemovie]

While we're on the topic of disc degradation: I recently had a conversation with somebody who insisted that CDs will naturally decay and become unplayable over a long enough period. Assuming that they're well stored and kept free of scratches, is there any reason to worry about this happening to discs (CDs or DVDs)? The oldest discs in my collection are about 10-15 years old and I don't seem to have any problems playing them now; the thought of eventually having to replace them due to something like decay/degradation makes me want to cry. Hoping someone can dispel this as a myth.

[MyNameCriterionForum]

There are no long-term studies of digital media decay - at least not-long term relative to paper and other analogue storage systems - so there's no evidence either way. Personally, I've had scores (out of thousands) of discs go bad in the 15 years I've been using them (this includes, by the way, factory pressed, unrecordable media); I've never had a single book (of thousands owned) suddenly lose its text or information (despite many of them being more than a century old).

I recommend the book Double Fold by Nicholson Baker for an interesting and troubling look at the consequences technological trends have had and will have on our libraries (though admittedly the book focuses mostly on microfilming).

[Jonathan S]

I'd like to hear the views of anyone who sometimes watches low quality DVDs, off-air DVD-Rs, bootlegs and especially VHS (or VHS-sourced) material on a High-Def set-up, ideally a projector. Do they appear significantly worse (even after adjustments) than on a SD system? I'm not concerned about print flaws, but things like video noise and digital artifacts being much more exposed. I know good quality DVDs can be "upscaled" but does that apply to the type of material described above?

I'm especially thinking of silents from sources like Grapevine, though I've also read that any silent film with interlaced transfers (which most of them are because of the frame rates) may look worse on a HD display.

I ask because I have to replace my current projector but there are now no decent LCD machines (I can't watch DLP) sold new in the UK that are anything less than 1080p. So it looks like High Def or secondhand. As I'm unlikely to ever own many Blu-rays (I collect mainly pre-1960 films and even then avoid most popular classics) but have hundreds of DVD-Rs and tapes of rare films, the latter are more important to me. On my current projector, my better VHS transfers look almost as good as commercial DVDs of comparable titles but I fear their flaws won't stand up to HD, especially as the machines are much brighter.... Thanks for any input.