Is this upconverting DVD player similar to the 5960?

Wal-Mart has it for $44.87. I currently play DVD's through my Xbox 360 but can't upconvert because of no VGA input.

Is this at least a decent upconverting DVD player where I will be able to tell the difference between it and the 360?

It looks (both from the photos and from the specs) like a no-USB 5960...but then, so does the 5140. From the Philips site it is rather difficult to tell the diff between the 5140, the 3960, and the 3040: all are MTK-based players, so should give similar performance. Internally the 3040 uses slightly cheaper components than the 5140 (based on photos).

Another possibility (based on unfounded speculation) is that the 3960 is a special model made for Walmart et al so as to avoid pricematching from the 5140. - DR

So if it is pretty similar to the 5960, how good of an upconverting player is it? I'm just looking for something pretty cheap that will look better than my 360 which only outputs to 480p.

So if it is pretty similar to the 5960, how good of an upconverting player is it? I'm just looking for something pretty cheap that will look better than my 360 which only outputs to 480p.
It should be very similar if not identical to the DVP5960, since both players are based on the same chip.

Ok, so what I'm saying is how good of an upconverter is the 5960? Will I be able to tell a pretty big difference over my 360 non-upscaled 480p signal?

The mediatek-based players do a pretty good job (at the price point!) of decoding, deinterlacing, and scaling; I suspect the real improvement in your setup would be from the first two more than the third. (Resolution is really not the biggest factor in picture quality!)

Some more-expensive players than the Philips with the same chipset do more post-processing or make more adjustments available, so do an even better job. As for how this player will compare to your Xbox, most people who have moved from the Xbox to similar players have reported substantial improvement, others have not. You will have to try it and see. - DR

I'm really happy with mine, at least for the first few days. In another post, I mentioned how I actually preferred it over a Denon 557 and Panasonic S52. Even though I tested it using a 82" projected image from my Panasonic ae700u, I saw little difference between the Panasonic and Philips, whereas the Denon really looked poor. That said, running component to my 34" Philips HDTV (yep, a good old 16:9 tube set), there was really no difference to speak of, except that the Denon again looked really washed out. Don't really understand why the picture looked so bad, but it just stunk.

I'd buy the Philips again in a heartbeat.

A new firmware was recently posted to the Philips website for this player. According to the readme file, the new firmware effects the following change:

YUV output: Upon unplug of HDMI cable, YUV will auto convert to interlace mode

I'm assuming that the YUV output refers to the component video output. However, since I am using the component out to my older Philips set, which only supports progressive scan on its component video input, this would actually be a step backwards for me.

If I am misinterpreting this, please straighten me out.

Bought one last night, set it up, wont work, disc's make a fluttering sound, stuck at loading and thats it, JUNK!!, going back today i wont bother trying another!!
First time after many dvd players i've bought that doesnt even work first time!!!

Exchange it, Bud-man. I bought one last week and it works perfectly.

larc919 i did buy another today,it does work, it plays disc's that pretty much wont play in any other player i own except my trustworthy LG418.

The PQ is nice on a 92" screen using a Optoma HD70.

Setting set at 480i default produces a 4:3 picture, 480p produces a 16:9 size.

Xvid's burned on a DVD-R play but are very skippy more so on panning shots.

DVD's have a audio skip/hiccup problem more so doing chapter changes.

I am using component out and the coaxial out to my Yamaha Surround Reciever.

Seems player lives up to "plays it all" logo on the box.

Maybe mines another lemon, i'll try loading latest software and see if any audio improvements, i have the digital out set to ALL, setting to PCM still has the same audio dropout's during chapter changes and random moments.

I might try out the HDMI setting as i have to unconnect my HTPC for access to the HDMI settings.

Audio hiccups are possibly using PAL DVD-9 Backups, i'll test more media this weekend.

Bitrate meter is nice when hitting the info button playing back DVD's

A new firmware was recently posted to the Philips website for this player. According to the readme file, the new firmware effects the following change:

YUV output: Upon unplug of HDMI cable, YUV will auto convert to interlace mode

I'm assuming that the YUV output refers to the component video output. However, since I am using the component out to my older Philips set, which only supports progressive scan on its component video input, this would actually be a step backwards for me.

If I am misinterpreting this, please straighten me out.

LINK???
I just bought one today, i am so upset, my Bravo D1 off of Ebay died before i ever got my hands on it. The seller told me he tested it before shipping and that's what happened. Now of course i will keep my eye on this sellers sales, just to make sure he didn't pull one over on me. I'm the only one who bid on that dvd, perhaps he thought he can get more on it and pulled an okey-doke on me. We'll see. BTW, i won it for $40 .

Hi all,

I did a little digging on this forum and couldn't find this information -- This is probably a silly question, but the Philips spec (http://www.p4c.philips.com/na4/d/dvp3960_37/dvp3960_37_dfu_aen.pdf) doesn't make any specific mention to supporting DTS. I would assume that it does, but I was surprised that it wasn't anywhere in the spec.

Can any owners of this player confirm that it indeed does support DTS output (for DVDs which have the track, of course)?

Rashman it does playback DTS sound thru the coaxial ouput, sounds good too.
the region free settings for the 5960 work on this too, i set mine to region 0.
heres the way to do it....read carefully!

Power Up the unit with NO Disc in the tray.
Open the tray
Press the SETUP Button on the remote control
Navigate to the PREFERENCES page using the Right Arrow Key
Press the DOWN ARROW one time to select
Press the 1 button on your remote control
Press the 3 button on your remote control
Press the 8 button on your remote control
Press the 9 button on your remote control
Press the 3 button on your remote control
Press the 1 button on your remote control
The current Region Code Setting will display
Use the UP/DOWN Arrow Keys to select the region required or '0' for All Regions
Press the PLAY Button on the remote control
NOTE - The 0 (zero) in the above sequence represents the Region Code 0 - Region Free. If you want to set to a specific region, just replace the 0 with the region number that you want.

Rashman it does playback DTS sound thru the coaxial ouput, sounds good too.

Great, thanks!

Hi all,

Noob here.


Another possibility (based on unfounded speculation) is that the 3960 is a special model made for Walmart et al so as to avoid pricematching from the 5140. - DR
The DVP3960 seems to be only available at WalMart so far, but I just noticed that Amazon says they'll have it in stock soon...

Planning on buying this one when it's available... Hope it's more reliable than my LiteOn 2002 which is a piece of junk. :(

Wal-Mart has the player for $40. The Philips site indicates some additional differences between the Philips players, although I don't know if the information can be trusted. I compared the 5960, 5140 and 3960. Here is a link to the Philips infomation:

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/tree/en/us/consumer/home_entertainment_gr_us_consumer/dvd_home_theater_ca_us_consumer/dvd_players_su_us_consumer/ce/dvd_players?proxybuster=L555TDK0QZ4BDJ0RMRCSHQFHKFSESI5P

I sure don't know how HDMI players can be sold for $40 with all of the various licensing fees. I couldn't tell any DTS logo is promoted for the player.

Chris

Hi all,

Finally broke down and bought the DVP-3960 at Wal-Mart.

Don't know why, but I got a $10 discount on the thing, so it cost me all of $35.00.... Sweet.

Not sure how reliable it is, but for $35.00 plus tax, it won't hurt very much if it tanks.

Tried out the Region Code hack and it works as advertised... :)

Wish I had a HDTV to try the 1080i upconvert feature... Maybe I'll take it over to my brother's house for a test drive...

Later.

Just picked one of these up a few days ago. Hooked it up today after getting my hdmi cable from monoprice. The pq is awesome...however, I need to use the digital coax cable for sound since the tv has hdmi in, but my av receiver just has coax and optical for audio. Tried connecting an optical from the tv to pass the sound to the av receiver....didn't work.

Is there a way to have the hdmi and coax work at the same time? I'd like to have a 720p picture and DD5.1.

flakbait did you go in the audio settings and turn on digital audio out?, i've always have hdmi and either coax or optical audio work on all opf my dvd players.
I'm using this thru component to a PJ, my hdmi connection is used by my htpc.

Yes, and that's what perplexed me. I know that the Philips DVP-5960 had the same issue until a firmware upgrade was released. I'll recheck my settings however.

I bought this at Wal-mart for $44.00. I'm just waiting for the HDMI line from monoprice to come in. I can't wait to see my movies on here, darn xbox is horrific with anything less then a game.

These are selling very well though, I had to take a rain check the first time I went because their entire stock of 20 was gone in one day.

just watched'' Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' on this player. I saw detail that I never noticed before.Very clear and colorful on and old tv show. Blew away pq on my old dvd player.Cant imagine what it would make modern movies look like.Used hdmi cable to panasonic lcd flat panel.So far excellent value for low price.

I'm starting to get frustrated with the black crush I'm seeing on my philips dvp642. Is the black crush problem solved in the newer philip dvd players (3960 or 5960)?

I got one of these the other day for a few reasons: HDMI, DivX, and region-free. I already have a Panasonic S42 for DivX (which is great), and a cheap region-free player plugged into my Philips 32" LCD, but I thought it might be good to consolidate everything in one unit.

Bottom line: after comparing a number of discs on the 3960 and the S42, I think I will return the 3960 and look elsewhere for the upscaling, even if I have to give up the DivX or region-free capabilities.

The picture has an over-all processed look to it, not at all film-like, and is very interlaced, even on 480 and 720p. This is really noticeable on stillframes and menus, where jaggies abound, and any cel animation.
I have the Theatrical and Extended Editions of all three LotR films, so I used them for one comparison. I put the EE in the S42 (480p) and the Theatrical in the 3960 (480p, 720p, 1080i) in order to balance the comparison: higher bitrate in the lower-res unit, and lower bitrate in the higher-res unit. In every scene I checked, the S42 had a much nicer, natural-looking image, with better processing on fine detail. There's a lot of stringy, sweaty hair and beards in those movies, and armour with scratches and dents, so it provides a lot of areas for inspection.
And to make sure there wasn't an unfair advantage with the S42 having the better transfer of the film, I ended by putting the EE in the 3960, and it still looked interlaced and processed. To some eyes, this may be more pleasing, as it does filter out or smooth some minor noise and grain in large areas of colour, but there was no improvement in close detail.

I tried a few other discs I use as benchmarks: Monsters, Inc., Casino Royale, and Arrested Development (no, really). The results were the same across the board. The 'smoothing' effect was actually helpful with Monsters, Inc. as the film is a few years old, and texture mapping has advanced quite a bit. So this cleaned up some of the backgrounds and prop detail. But comparing back to the S42 it still looks very sharp and clean, so there's no real advantage. Casino Royale performed about the same in both players; I watched certain scenes, and focused on fabric detail, skin texture, and some digital element (PDA, computer screen, etc.) and could see no improvement in any of the 3960's resolutions.
Arrested Development uses a handheld digital camera style of photography, which allows for a number of close- and extreme-close-ups. You get right up into the actors' pores and wrinkles, and hair and fabric. Once again, the S42 produced a much better, more filmic image than the 3960, with visibly more detail. There were pores on one actor's nose that I could see clearly with the S42, and were kind of blurred with the 3960. (Sure, there's not many times I really need to see those pores, but it's indicative of the overall performance.)

The big finale, the be-all, end-all test: Fifth Element Ultimate Edition. This one has it all - unique interiors, digital exteriors, digital and practical effects, close-ups, wide colour palette - the works, all in a fantastic transfer. The menus looked terrible on the 3960; navigation tools were jaggy blotches, and the backgrounds looked like grainy low-res jpgs. In playback it performed fairly well, but there seemed to be a thin sheen of pixelation across low-light scenes, and close-up detail was no better than the S42. There was also a visible bit of juddering in one camera pan, that should be a smooth pull-out.

As for DivX, the menu reads only about 12-character filenames, and playback must be stopped to access it. The S42 has an overlay on-the-fly menu which is my gold standard. It did seem to process the files about the same as the S42, no better or worse. It features an automatic zoom for 16:9, which is better than having to manually adjust the zoom for each file (I'm lookin' at you S42).

It also played my region 2 discs properly with the region-free code input.

But I already have a region-free player, and a good DivX player, and the DVD playback was no better and sometimes worse than my current machine, so back it goes.

**Also, Canadian consumers are kind of being ripped off: this unit sells for $44.87 USD, but it's priced at $68.84 CDN. At the current exchange rate it should be $48.08, but instead we get a whopping 35% increase.

I just bought this DVD player...

I want to use HDMI cable and upconvert to 1080i..

I am getting a 'twitch' in the image every minute or so.. Is this because I have the HDMI setup wrong?

Does anyone know how to properly set up the DVD player to produce the full 1080i upconvert.. Thanks.

Well, i am no guru by any means. I just went and purchased this DVD player at wallyworld for $45, and hooked up via HDMI. And let me tell you, im very impressed. Upconverts really well. Im watchin KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, and its pretty dang clear. Not bad for the price. Very satisfied so far.

I know this sounds weird, but I've seen it upconvert full-screen movies I owned and I just can't put myself to watch because people are stumpy looking, and it looks a bit weird. If you have any tipes or anything else let me know, would appreciate it.

I know this sounds weird, but I've seen it upconvert full-screen movies I owned and I just can't put myself to watch because people are stumpy looking, and it looks a bit weird. If you have any tipes or anything else let me know, would appreciate it.
Possibly you're not doing the 16:9 unsqueeze at the display but I know I see something similar with my 5960.
Th Mediatek chip it employs does do a little bit of vertical squeeze. You might notice a little more black bar area above and below the image. This is a known effect and some are not bothered by it. I have gotten used to it. But I prefer the image from my Bravo D1. It does not affect the AR in any way. The 5960 plays EVERYTHING I throw at it. The D1 balks at times.
The Bravo D1 is very difficult to find now.

Try reading THIS (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=675600&page=10&pp=30&highlight=vertical) page from the other 5960 thread.

Just picked up a 3960/37. I noticed that it had the .13 firmware so I tried to upgrade to .14
I did everything according to Philips' instructions. Player says UNKNOWN disk for everything that I have burned.
burned to CR-RWs with NERO set according to Philips' instructions.
Their 2nd level tech support (the supervisor) had no clue.
Has anyone tried to upgrade this machine's firmware???
Did it work??
Is something wrong with the player??
I have upgraded the 642/37 before with NO problems.
Otherwise it seems to be a find player for the money.
thx

Possibly you're not doing the 16:9 unsqueeze at the display but I know I see something similar with my 5960.
Th Mediatek chip it employs does do a little bit of vertical squeeze. You might notice a little more black bar area above and below the image. This is a known effect and some are not bothered by it.

Actually, I can change the aspect to the 4:3 anytime, but I had full-screen movies when I was still on SD TV set and really hate the idea of having to buy my movies in WS to get the best picture. On full screen 32" btw it just looks bad, nothing to make it look better, thats with my HDMI line.

It's alright I guess, just have to deal or buy them again, which aren't a lot, just blah!

I have the SAME problem with the firmware upgrade: unknown disc. after 4 CD-R burned by Nero.
I wonder if anyone has got it working?

I also burned 3 coaster but no luck upgrading the firmware. I tried Nero with exact same specs as mentioned by Philips. I also tried Sonic. But seems nothing works. Was anyone able to pull this off?

I also burned 3 coaster but no luck upgrading the firmware. I tried Nero with exact same specs as mentioned by Philips. I also tried Sonic. But seems nothing works. Was anyone able to pull this off?

I talked to Philips customer support, as expected, they're clueless. Funny that they told me I was the first one who reported this firmware trouble :rolleyes:

I am quite sure that the "readme" file didn't provide correct info at all.

but what is the risk if we didn't upgrade firmware? "HDMI upplugged"?

I was keen on upgrade as i have had issues with some Divx files. They just stop playing some times in the middle of the play and throw me back to the root menu. It may very well be issue withe the files themselves but was curious to see if the upgrade would have taken care of the issue.
Did anyone else had issues with Divx playback?

The update only fixes the lost HDMI signal issue (auto reverts the player back to Component) .

--- Jason

I bought the DVP3960 a few days ago and I have an isuue maybe someone else has come across.

My TV is a 1080i set and I am connected by the HDMI port (with a DVI adapter). When I set the player to "auto" in the menu it plays DVD's at 480 (not 1080?) and shows the players menu fine when you start the unit. When I set the player to 1080i it plays DVD's upscaled and the PQ is nice. The problem is that when it's set to 1080i and you first turn on the player the blueish player menu screen is garbled like the TV can't handle the resolution it's set to, but when I put a disc in and it starts to play the picture shows and all is well.

Has anyone else seen this problem?

Just picked this unit up today after searching a zillion Walmarts that were sold out. I actually had composite cables on my DVD player when I switched to the HDMI Cable with my 1080P Magnavox LCD. What a difference. It's absolutely a no brainer for this price.

Got the last one @ my wallmart had for under $40, hooked up via hdmi, this little player works great on my bedroom 42" lcd, so far it works fine @ 1080i, watched "Day after Tommorrow" last night and the picture was almost has good has my blu-ray for a lot less $ too.

How can I tell whether the DVP 3960 player is outputing an upconverted signal to the TV? I'm using component cables to a Sony Bravia KDL-46s2010. In this set up, would the TV be able to upconvert? Would I notice a difference if I used HDMI cable?

Thanks!

How can I tell whether the DVP 3960 player is outputing an upconverted signal to the TV? I'm using component cables to a Sony Bravia KDL-46s2010. In this set up, would the TV be able to upconvert? Would I notice a difference if I used HDMI cable?

Thanks!

This player only upconverts through the HDMI output.

Rashman it does playback DTS sound thru the coaxial ouput, sounds good too.

I bought one yesterday and returned it later that night. I for the life of me couldn't get it to play DTS and that was a deal-breaker for me. Ended up ordering the Pioneer DV400-V since is specifically states DTS capacity. No problem with DD5.1 though and it did sound good.

Wish I could've figured out how you do it.

Also bought Philips DVP3960 from Wal-Mart yesterday, recoded the region to O as per previous msg. Now 3960 plays both PAL and NTSC and upcoverting to 1080i looks great!

Does anyone have experience playing multiple xvid with subtitles, sub/idx, burned as data on a dvd? I've tried the DVP5140/37 and it has problems playing a lot of sub/idx and also cuts out longer sentences when using the .srt text subs. Any information would be very appreciated.

I have this DVD player connected to my 37" Vizio LCD via HDMI. When I set it to 720p upscaling, I'm having some issues. Widescreen content looks just fine, adding black bars on the top and bottom as necessary. 4:3 content (TV show DVDs) are where I'm having my issue. At the 720p setting, the content comes across stretched, not pillarboxed. The DVD player does not automatically pillarbox as I thought it should and to compound things, my TV will not let me force the picture to 4:3 as it thinks it's a 720p source. I can get around it by switching back to 480p, and then my TV will let me manually select 4:3 or widescreen, however I'd like to take advantage of the upscaling capability of this player.

Is this a problem with this player or with the TV? Am I just missing a setting in the player's setup screens?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

I got the Philips DVP3960 some days ago ($40 at Walmart) and I connected it directly to the TV via HDMI, since my receiver has no HDMI.

Most of the times I get an image with rapid flickering (like a strobe light), dividing the image in 2 parts.:mad: This abnormality sometimes goes away by switching the power on and off a couple times.

Anybody else had this problem ?

When it works though, I found it to have an excellent image and upconversion (I honestly could not tell the difference to the Tosh HD-A3, that does a very good job on the upconversion ):)

One DVD that these 2 players displayed differently though, was “Vertigo”, which has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1

The Tosh displayed horizontal black bars top and bottom (expected), *but* also on both sides. So it seems that the image had more room to “expand”, but visually the aspect ratio looked OK. However on the Philips the bars on both sides did not show. Maybe because of this it seemed somehow that the aspect ratio was not maintained, like the image was slightly squeezed vertically.

My system

Toshiba 30HF85 TV monitor (1080i, it has HDMI input)
Kenwood VR 7070 receiver (no HDMI)
Dish receiver

So I have an older Panasonic TH-PWD7UY plasma. I can't get an HDMI blade for it but I can get a DVI blade input.
Does anyone know if this player will still upconvert if I use an HDMI-To- DVI cable???

yup, that's the way I used mine.

Cool, thanks for the reply. Bought two of these this morning at Wally world...$39 each. Hooked one up to my 32" LCD via HDMI and the other to my Panny plasma with component for now. They both look great. Especially the HDMI connection of course.
Both my old Philips 642's died in the last month...
Nice alternative for the money so far!!!

I have this DVD player connected to my 37" Vizio LCD via HDMI. When I set it to 720p upscaling, I'm having some issues. Widescreen content looks just fine, adding black bars on the top and bottom as necessary. 4:3 content (TV show DVDs) are where I'm having my issue. At the 720p setting, the content comes across stretched, not pillarboxed. The DVD player does not automatically pillarbox as I thought it should and to compound things, my TV will not let me force the picture to 4:3 as it thinks it's a 720p source. I can get around it by switching back to 480p, and then my TV will let me manually select 4:3 or widescreen, however I'd like to take advantage of the upscaling capability of this player.

Is this a problem with this player or with the TV? Am I just missing a setting in the player's setup screens?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

I have the same issue. 3960 via HDMI to 42" Olevia 1080i, and it stretches 4:3 dvd's to fit with no option to change, and since the tv is getting a widescreen signal, no way to squeeze it back.

I'm going to try it via component cables next just to see.

I'm fine either way, we bought it to replace our junky old dvd recorder which we hate as a player, not because of the upconversion feature.

Looks great on my Samsung 4071F~! Only paid $31.50 for it too :)

I hooked up the component out this weekend and it's the way I need it for 4:3 content---the tv shows it properly and I can do all the different aspect ratios if I want. The hdmi is still hooked up and looks just as good. I haven't had a chance to compare the 2 back/back yet to see if the upconversion looks better or not. I doubt I'll notice it.

Nice dvd player for $30. I absolutely love the fast forward/reverse and how fast it is.

FYI: You can update the 3960/37 with the firmware from the 5960/37.

phunkyfish.com

FYI: You can update the 3960/37 with the firmware from the 5960/37.

Is there any benefit to using that over the update you are supposed to use?

Is there any benefit to using that over the update you are supposed to use?

sure, but mainly for divx and subtitle playback.

the modded firmware i used had these fixes:


New Changes

Yellow SRT subs
ISO Resume (stores the stoppage point of the video, if stopped by PAUSE, STOP or POWER, then when the video is restarted the first hit to >|| (NEXT) will resume play from stoppage point)
The Cyrillic (1251) version supports Cyrillic file names, subs and ID3 tags.
Old Changes

GOTO Time (hit TITLE button once, if you want to select a file, or twice - if you want to enter the time)
SRT subs Timing Bug fix
SRT subs auto-load
Temi's SRT subs window mod for 3 lines
Temi's fonts
some UOP removal
3 fonts sizes
Long file names on CD/DVD

crawdad62 and Chris West,

Does HDMI connection play DTS, or just via coax only? I only intend to buy it w/ HDMI connection. If it does not support DTS, then it's not worth having extra coax cable connection.

Dragon,

Sorry I really can't answer your question since I returned the unit for the very reason I couldn't get it to output DTS regardless of how I used it. Actually I never tried through HDMI because my receiver is incapable of HDMI connections so I only tried through the coax.

It played DD5.1 fine but I couldn't get my receiver to recognize any DTS input.

For those of you having issues with "Unknown Disk" when burning a firmware upgrade to a CDR, the problem is the quality of CD-R you are using. You have to find one that will work with the DVP3960, i had the same issue, i bought maxell cd's from walmart and tried them and they didnt work, ended up using a memorex cdr and worked just fine. good luck!

Only reason i upgraded the firmware to the phunkyfish firmware was because when you put a disk in with divx movies on it and view the menu (filenames), the filenames were cutoff, the firmware extended the filename range so you can view up to 32 characters i believe, worked great!

I just bought a 3960/37. I want to upgrade the firmware for the extend filename browse. I tired to use nero to burn. Set mode 2/XA , ISO 9660 + Joliet, Max 31(level 2), Iso 9660
But "unknow disc" was shown. but I burn a moive by using the same brand of disc. The disc can be play

any could help?

I just bought one of these and for the life of me I can't get a Divx DVD to work. Every time I burn a DVD with a Divx Avi file it only plays for 5-10 minutes. When I load the DVD it shows me a menu with like 16 files or maybe folders. I hit play on the top file and some play for 5 minutes and some up to 10. I try starting one of the other files it shows and they won't play.

I load the DVD back into a PC and it shows just one file that is the full 300-700 meg in size.

I called Phillips and they have no clue. Anyone ever have this problem? I have tried buring the DVD several different ways without luck.

Help!!

Can you set region 0 after upgrade to 5960/37 firmware?

sure, but mainly for divx and subtitle playback.

the modded firmware i used had these fixes:


New Changes

Yellow SRT subs
ISO Resume (stores the stoppage point of the video, if stopped by PAUSE, STOP or POWER, then when the video is restarted the first hit to >|| (NEXT) will resume play from stoppage point)
The Cyrillic (1251) version supports Cyrillic file names, subs and ID3 tags.
Old Changes

GOTO Time (hit TITLE button once, if you want to select a file, or twice - if you want to enter the time)
SRT subs Timing Bug fix
SRT subs auto-load
Temi's SRT subs window mod for 3 lines
Temi's fonts
some UOP removal
3 fonts sizes
Long file names on CD/DVD

I am thinking about buying the DVD player to hook up to my 60" Sony that is full 1080p. Am I selling myself short by thinking about getting a player that only does 1080i?

Bud-man, did you ever figure out the skippy issue playing Xvid's? I have a previous DVD player that played these great but I wanted to go to an upconvert player so I got this Philips model. The Xvid's play but it is pretty annoying with the skippy/jerkiness in the playback. This has been my only complaint so far. Thanks....

larc919 i did buy another today,it does work, it plays disc's that pretty much wont play in any other player i own except my trustworthy LG418.

The PQ is nice on a 92" screen using a Optoma HD70.

Setting set at 480i default produces a 4:3 picture, 480p produces a 16:9 size.

Xvid's burned on a DVD-R play but are very skippy more so on panning shots.

DVD's have a audio skip/hiccup problem more so doing chapter changes.

I am using component out and the coaxial out to my Yamaha Surround Reciever.

Seems player lives up to "plays it all" logo on the box.

Maybe mines another lemon, i'll try loading latest software and see if any audio improvements, i have the digital out set to ALL, setting to PCM still has the same audio dropout's during chapter changes and random moments.

I might try out the HDMI setting as i have to unconnect my HTPC for access to the HDMI settings.

Audio hiccups are possibly using PAL DVD-9 Backups, i'll test more media this weekend.

Bitrate meter is nice when hitting the info button playing back DVD's

I'm having some issues with the DVP3960 through the Onkyo TX-SR606.

If I plug the dvd player directly into the TV, the HDMI seems to work. But if I run it through the receiver, it seems to not know what to do with the HDMI signal. You can see it try to go to DTS mode, then flicker a bit, then eventually give up and say that there is no signal coming from the dvd player.

Is this a problem with the player in general, or did I get a defective one? As I said prior, the player works fine if I plug it directly into the TV (even if it is HDMI->DVI and I don't think my TV does HDCP), but the Onkyo seems to have a problem. I've tried setting the resolution to Auto, Through, and hardcoding it to 720p to no luck.

remee informed he upgraded the 3960 model with the 5960 firmware. 3960 model doesn't support Divx Ultra, but the 5960 does. Does anyone who have upgraded the 3960 with the 5960 firmware noticed if now it accepts Divx Ultra?
I have created some Divx discs with menu and chapters but can't access them in my 3960.

remee informed he upgraded the 3960 model with the 5960 firmware. 3960 model doesn't support Divx Ultra, but the 5960 does. Does anyone who have upgraded the 3960 with the 5960 firmware noticed if now it accepts Divx Ultra?
I have created some Divx discs with menu and chapters but can't access them in my 3960.

Do you mean you can't get them to play at all? If so try changing the FourCC of your videos to DX50 or XVID and see if they'll play.

If you meant you can't get the chapters or menu to work though I have no idea. :(

Just wanted to add my own confirmation that updating my two 3960/37 players with 5960/37 modded firmware worked perfectly.

The instructions don't say you need to unzip the file, you do. They don't say that it has to be the only fine on the disc OR that the number in the name has to match the player model, at least one of which is true.

The modded firmwares to widen the file viewer and shrink the font are well worth the effort. I can actually see what I'm about to play instead of making a best guess!

Just wanted to add my own confirmation that updating my two 3960/37 players with 5960/37 modded firmware worked perfectly.

The instructions don't say you need to unzip the file, you do. They don't say that it has to be the only fine on the disc OR that the number in the name has to match the player model, at least one of which is true.

The modded firmwares to widen the file viewer and shrink the font are well worth the effort. I can actually see what I'm about to play instead of making a best guess!

i've also been using the phunkyfish firmware (Porkupan version) on my 3960 for several months and it's a vast improvement. "Lost" DVDs look very sharp on my 40" 720p screen. obviously had to rename the file to 3960 because it wont burn it with the 5960 name.

now i'm wondering if there's maybe a slot for an USB port on the PCB :D that's what i'd call value for the money ;)

Hello everyone. Want to say I have learned a lot reading the forum and this thread was packed with information.

My question is getting the remote that came with my Dish Network receiver to control the 3960. Per the manual there were only a couple of codes for Phillips DVD player which did not work. I even tried what Dish Network call the power scan which if I understand correctly runs the remote through all its codes. Am I missing something or with the Dish Network remote just not control this DVD player?

On a positive note, the 3960 is the best DVD player I have owned. This is my 6th player over the years. I had a Sony that cost a fortune and was nice to an APEX which sucked (tossed that one in the trash after about 4 weeks) but the 3960 has been great. $40 at Wal-mart was a gret deal for what this thing can do. Have it connected (HDMI) to a 42" LCD and the movies are excellent. Digital Optic out of the TV to my home theater system. I dont even go to the movie theater anymore :)

If I can get it programmed in my Dish remote I will have all my AV devices running off one remote.