maybe the controller failure is about to strike?

Danny, do you remember any signs before your entre headed south?

As I posted over on the technical thread (by mistake):

I would make the changers only, and market them as being compatible with the Escient DVDM100.

Think of the opportunity. The only real competition for a DVD changer today is the Sony. But Sony has reasons why it won't make a universal DVD player ("DVD-Audio? What's That?").

If Kenwood makes a new changer with DVD-Audio and SACD capability, it will be the only one being marketed. That makes choosing between models fairly easy.

Hmm. . . .

Nick

Nick,
Does the DVDM-100 aggregate movies as well as music?

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Nick,
Does the DVDM-100 aggregate movies as well as music?

Yes. It's very much like the Entre, but lacks audio recording, for which you need a Fireball.

And most importantly . . . it's in production.

Nick :cool:

Slocko, All..... Just before my unit started its constant rebooting here are some signs I can remember seeing:

1. The info button stopped working in music mode.

2. The CDR drive failed to automatically look up disc info when a disc was
put in it.

3. CD Ghosts started appearing in the music guide. After inserting a CD into Entre's drawer, it would never be removed from the GUI. (Multiple listings for disc's, no longer in Entre's internal drive, would appear in the GUI.)

4. Not being able to use the "EXIT" key on the remote to leave certain guide screens.

If I think of anymore I will add them later. Hope this helps.

PS

I did try installling a brand new 20gb seagate and re creating the files with a boot dics and also purchased a high quality IDE cabe and replaced that as well. I can state for a fact it's not the HD or the IDE cable either. It is either a problem with the IDE controller or the "PC on a board" itself.

Originally posted by Nick Satullo
As I posted over on the technical thread (by mistake):

I would make the changers only, and market them as being compatible with the Escient DVDM100.

Think of the opportunity. The only real competition for a DVD changer today is the Sony. But Sony has reasons why it won't make a universal DVD player ("DVD-Audio? What's That?").

If Kenwood makes a new changer with DVD-Audio and SACD capability, it will be the only one being marketed. That makes choosing between models fairly easy. Maybe.

Frankly, I haven't come across any "universal" player other than the Linn that I thought worked well in both of the two high-res formats. In each unit, one format seems to do better than the other. So for optimum sound quality, it might be preferable to have separate didicated DVD-A and SACD players. What I'd most like to see would be an upgrade to the DVDM-100 that would allow it to handle changers from different manufacturers simultaneously. Given that it has separate control for each changer (unlike the Entre which daisy chains the changers), this should be doable if Escient really wanted to do it.

Originally posted by rbienstock
Maybe.

Frankly, I haven't come across any "universal" player other than the Linn that I thought worked well in both of the two high-res formats. In each unit, one format seems to do better than the other. So for optimum sound quality, it might be preferable to have separate didicated DVD-A and SACD players. What I'd most like to see would be an upgrade to the DVDM-100 that would allow it to handle changers from different manufacturers simultaneously. Given that it has separate control for each changer (unlike the Entre which daisy chains the changers), this should be doable if Escient really wanted to do it.

I'm not commenting on what sounds best, and you may be perfectly correct that not all universal players do a great job on both formats. What I'm really talking about is a marketing opportunity for one of the "three" candidates for use with the Escient ("three" because I've only heard of "plans" to update the Pioneer DV-F07 to be controlled by the Escient--which would be a horrible idea, and which, to my knowledge, has not yet been done). If you knock Sony out of the box because of its resistance to DVD-Audio, and Pioneer (because it's just an earlier generation product lacking some essentials for serious consideration), that only leaves Kenwood.

Now, if Pioneer were smart, they'd finally ditch the DV-F07/DV-F727 platform and make changers that are progressive scan and 400 discs, which would be necessary to make them competitive. A 300 disc, non-progressive changer doesn't cut it against a 400 disc progressive scan changer.

If one of them comes out with the full panoply of features, and can leave the control issues to Escient, it would be compelling logic to only consider that manufacturer, at least as measured by existing competition. Besides, it's going to be much easier for customer support to simply say, "call Escient." Hell, Kenwood was doing that with the Entre.

Nick :cool:

It would be nice to see Denon release a 400 disc, multi format, Faroudja based player. Since they now own Escient.

Originally posted by Carbo
It would be nice to see Denon release a 400 disc, multi format, Faroudja based player. Since they now own Escient.

Denon Jeff, or whatever his handle is, once responded to a similar question that I'd posed, indicating that Denon was not interested in mega-changers. While this was before the acquistion of Escient, I would doubt that things have changed.

If Kenwood doesn't do it, Pioneer would be the most likely. They are obviously not averse to changers, and have universal players with progressive scan. All the ingredients are there.

Nick :cool:

or maybe they all recognize that the changer market is a dead-end because the future is VOD, Giant DVRs from the Sat companies, an internet version of netflix, or an affordable version of Klaidescope.

the market for changers is going to get smaller as people like us move on to the digital world.

for the average consumer, this stuff is too expensive. Kenwood tried to make it affordable, but I don't think they hit the right price point.

Originally posted by slocko
or maybe they all recognize that the changer market is a dead-end because the future is VOD, Giant DVRs from the Sat companies, an internet version of netflix, or an affordable version of Klaidescope.

the market for changers is going to get smaller as people like us move on to the digital world.

for the average consumer, this stuff is too expensive. Kenwood tried to make it affordable, but I don't think they hit the right price point.

I don't doubt much that these things will become a reality in the foreseeable future. But I've seen enough of the we-can-do-it-but-copy-protection-prevents-us mentality in consumer electronics, and status quo might remain a bit longer than would otherwise be expected.

Even so, DVD collections have not only continued to grow, but will do so into the next few years, at least. The lack of true HD content will keep DVD in the numbers that make changers logical. The market might not be across the board, but it will be a strong niche market.

Nick :cool:

I think DVD collections are growing and will continue to grow, but the majority of these people are not the ones that will buy a changer.

Even if they sold them at Best Buy for 200 dollars, people would return them once they found out they had to type in all the titles. Probably why Pioneer never released a better model.

Without an entre or escient system you are better off having your movies on a shelf than in a changer.

Originally posted by slocko
or maybe they all recognize that the changer market is a dead-end because the future is VOD, Giant DVRs from the Sat companies, an internet version of netflix, or an affordable version of Klaidescope.

the market for changers is going to get smaller as people like us move on to the digital world.

for the average consumer, this stuff is too expensive. Kenwood tried to make it affordable, but I don't think they hit the right price point.

Slocko,

You may be right, but even the Kaleidscape system can't do DVD-A or SACD (for now it doesn't even do CD-Audio). Plus, with HD-DVD on the horizon, it would seem that changers could compete even more competetively with systems like Kaleidscape due to size issues (assuming HD-DVD's can be decrpyted).

Originally posted by slocko
I think DVD collections are growing and will continue to grow, but the majority of these people are not the ones that will buy a changer.

Even if they sold them at Best Buy for 200 dollars, people would return them once they found out they had to type in all the titles. Probably why Pioneer never released a better model.

Without an entre or escient system you are better off having your movies on a shelf than in a changer.

That's as much an argument for proliferation of changers with Entre-type devices, as it is for no changers at all.

Besides, the changer market was alive and reasonably well even before there was an Entre. That market has to have expanded, and it already was viable enough for Sony and Pioneer to have kept making changers. Kenwood has been the latest of the entrants to the changer market, really.

Good or bad market, changers are here for the foreseeable future. I think the real issue is how far the manufacturers are willing to go in terms of features like an outboard controller (Entre or Escient). It would be regrettable to us if the trend only favored the low-end changers, since we're hungry for even more features. But I think the new features will appear, since the same market that has absorbed six years' worth of DVD changers is still around, and growing.

CEDIA might prove very interesting to this thread, although I'm not sure that Kenwood even appeared there last year (Escient did). If not at CEDIA, then hopefully at CES 2005. I wish they had all these shows in Vegas.

Nick :cool:

I would like to be able to read all of this thread and take notes but insted I will BEG ON MY KNEES that some of you fine gentlemen can help me:

I purchased recently the entre and 2 dv5900m's , after sending the one "floor model" dv5900m and the entre to kenwood they replaced the hard drive in the entre and uploaded the new software (free!). They charged me $ 75 to "upgrade" the 5900m plus return shipping...this ,I believe was to make it read and flip faster and daisy-chain with other changers more efficiently (?)...correct me if I'm wrong.....

Now, the units are working together splendidly and I have used more than 60% of the hard drive's capacity , but I am having a few problems:

1) does not get dvd-a info for most of the dvd-a's off of gracenote...I feel that they just must not be cataloging them, right?

2) can't rip to portables...philips 15 gig mini OR 128mb necklace

3) doesn't recognize blank discs (80minute) for burning

I'm wordering if the firmware upgrade that a tech rep from escient told me about would help? I can't find the friggin' website though....?webshare.escient.com?...get's me nowhere

I have a login and password, but I can't find the right website %&#$!

I also need a link to instructions on backing up files to my computer hard drive (or ghosting) and replacing with the 120gig ....also advice on what might help with the other problems....

I work on the A/V design side but I am not the greatest with computers, but I intend to use the usb and adapt for ethernet in the next few days so i can play with some of the kenwood control and naming software......

Also I have both a MX700 (B&K) REMOTE and a Pronto tsu3000 and was wondering if anyone had some files on the entre for these units that they might be willing to share.......

I know that I am "late to the game " here but I realized just before my company got rid of all it's sovereign that this combo was just what I needed and , having some experiance with escient, I thought I could overcome the negatives......especially for the deal I got.....welcome to the nightmare!

ANY and ALL help would be much appreciated,
Jake

Originally posted by Jake Sm
I purchased recently the entre and 2 dv5900m's , after sending the one "floor model" dv5900m and the entre to kenwood they replaced the hard drive in the entre and uploaded the new software (free!). They charged me $ 75 to "upgrade" the 5900m plus return shipping...this ,I believe was to make it read and flip faster and daisy-chain with other changers more efficiently (?)...correct me if I'm wrong.....

You're right, but the daisy-chaining meant Entre control of more than one unit. They could, pre-upgrade, work as DVD changers while daisy-chained, but lacked the Entre control of more than one changer until the upgrade.

1) does not get dvd-a info for most of the dvd-a's off of gracenote...I feel that they just must not be cataloging them, right?

Yes, that's right. There's no catalogue for SACD either, if you use the same database with the counterpart Escient product, DVDM-100.

This problem has been largely cured with the advent of DVDedit, the superstar program created by Joe Sampo ("Niteowl") who posts here. Joe's program has now been sold, and you'll have to get it from someone on this board.

We were very lucky that Joe was so generous with his time. We received the benefit of an upgrade that many of us would have paid hundreds of dollars for, only Joe did it as a complimentary measure. We owe him serious gratitude.

I work on the A/V design side but I am not the greatest with computers, but I intend to use the usb and adapt for ethernet in the next few days so i can play with some of the kenwood control and naming software......

If you're talking about Netnamer and Media Manager, the consensus on this thread would be to forget it.

Also I have both a MX700 (B&K) REMOTE and a Pronto tsu3000 and was wondering if anyone had some files on the entre for these units that they might be willing to share.......

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files/rcfiles.cgi?area=prontong

I've passed over some of the questions that can easily be answered (or not) by reference to the FAQ at http://homepage.mac.com/jbryer/sovereignfaq.html

Otherwise, happy hunting. I'm still pleased with the system.

Nick :cool:

wow, thanks...the links were great and will be very helpful when my computer guy comes to help!.... the only question still remaining is about the firmware upgrade? .. anyone?

the only firmware upgrade was the one you paid for already. There was a firmgrade and hardware upgrade to the changers so they could be daisy chained and recognized by the entre. Prior to this, the entre would only recognize one changer. to this day, we still can't fathom why Kenwood shipped the product with this serious shortcoming.

in the faq is the key combination you press on the changer to verify if you have the latest firmware.

like Nick said, forget about netnamer and media manager. when you are ready, post here and someone will surely give you the DVDEdit program to edit titles that entre can't find.

if any of your changers begin failing to read discs, there is a ton of information on this thread about the issue. bottomline is that the changer would have to be repaired if you begin to see this problem.

welcome aboard!

Maybe you guys are right, but mega changers just don't seem main stream to me and it's been years since they debuted.

I only know two people outside of the internet that own a mega-changer and they only bought after being exposed to mine. Both thought the Entre solution was way too expensive.

To me the majority buyers of changers is folks like us, technically savy and looking for the most efficient system that is easy to use. I think that this market is ready to abandon the platform for a purely digital experience. The right product or service hasn't appeared yet, but we are getting a taste of it via HD-Tivo, HTPCs, Media players, and for those lucky few, Klaidescope.

I agree you will still need a changer for DVD-Audio and SACD, but that number is even smaller than the changer market.

I guess it depends if we see an inexpensive version of an Entre like system anytime soon and it has to be easy to setup and relatively stable. Without it, I don't see changers going anywhere before the digital services mature.

I now gracefully bow out of this mini-debate :)

Jake,

With regards to not recognizing blank CD media, make sure you are using Music CD-Rs (the Entre will read from but will not write to standard computer writeable CD media).

Cheers,

Mike

Niteowl "sold" DVDedit? Wow, somebody made some money off of Kenwood's discontinued platform?

WTG Niteowl

Any rumors on the DV-5900m's replacement (if any)?

Seems that no-one is selling even the refurbished dv-5900m anymore. One place I called wanted over $700, but said they would have to order it. Is Jamal still selling refurb'ed?

So many questions, so little time.:D

wow/////

Question: I had to send one of my DV-5900M's in for repair. I thought kept all of the cds/dvds in order when I took the out, but last night when I tried to play some music, I found out I did not.

How can I zap my Entre so it will re-lookup everything from scratch?

Thanks!

no need to rezap. Just go into changer management and choose lookup all.

It will probably even be faster because it will do the lookups based on what is cached on the drive.

Does the Dymainc Range Control setting of Wide, Normal or Midnight only pertain to analog outputs, or does it also work out the coax digital output?

Thanks for the quick response, Slocko!

On a related note, how long should it take? The Entre says "Looking up slot maps" for about 10-20 minutes and it went through about 20 discs in 5 hours. I stopped it, and am trying again, but I thought it should be relatively quick... like 3 minutes per disc.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I'd say that is very slow, especially if you're on broadband.

Originally posted by slocko
no need to rezap. Just go into changer management and choose lookup all.

It will probably even be faster because it will do the lookups based on what is cached on the drive. No, No, No, No, No. This is the way that you get duplicate entries unless he puts all the disks back in their original slots.

The way to do this without getting duplicates (Scott, this is a good item for the FAQ) is to turn off the changer. You then get a message saying "Changer KDVDx is not responding, Please check the connection and try again. You are then given three choices, Try Again, ignore and disconnect. Pick disconnect, and then the items from the changer get cleared from the guide. Then when you turn the changer back on, it will do a Quick Lookup and find everyting again. If it doesn't, you can initiate a Quick Lookup and it will find the disks again and use the internal database. You do NOT want to do a lookup all because this will initiate an Open Globe search on all of your titles.

Originally posted by proudx
Does the Dymainc Range Control setting of Wide, Normal or Midnight only pertain to analog outputs, or does it also work out the coax digital output?

anybody know the answer to this?

Originally posted by proudx
anybody know the answer to this? Why do you think it does not? What did your ears say? What did that manual say? What did technical support say?

Sorry Richard, I steered you wrong. I didn't realize you might get duplicates that way and also thought it wouldn't do an openglobe lookup.

Do it Robert's way, the right way!

Originally posted by RichardSP
Thanks for the quick response, Slocko!

On a related note, how long should it take? The Entre says "Looking up slot maps" for about 10-20 minutes and it went through about 20 discs in 5 hours. I stopped it, and am trying again, but I thought it should be relatively quick... like 3 minutes per disc.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have asked this before but never got any responses -- has anyone tried an SDI modification with the 5900M? I am considering it based on how great my momitsu looks on my plasma system connected via DVI. Just an incredible picture, almost but not quite HD. Got me thinking about the changer and what it might look like with an all digital interface. The idea would be to do sdi out into an IScan HD also with SDI mod, into the projector via DVI. Any thoughts?

I tried a scaler (fe cs-1 as I remember) with the dv5900m and a g15u dila projector (analog). I did not like the results-- artifacts, picture size was not correct, brightness issues-streaks,etc. Of course I didn't have it long.
I think some have modified the 5900 for digital-out. Are you going to try it?

my 5900m has been modified with the sdi. it works great. i feed it into a holo3d ii then scale it to 1440x720 and feed it into my barco 808 projector

Originally posted by proudx
my 5900m has been modified with the sdi. it works great. i feed it into a holo3d ii then scale it to 1440x720 and feed it into my barco 808 projector

How much of a difference did it make in PQ? Sounds like you are happy with the results...

I've rearranged my system in a newly constructed cabinet/wall with ready access to the rear panel of each component.

In the process, my system has been down for about a month. Long story short: I could not distinguish which of my DV-5050M units were formerly 1 or 2 in the daisy chain sequence.

As you know, in Entre's categorization of discs, it indicates the location as well, i.e., changer location and slot number.

Now the problem really begins.

I had to fully unload one of these DV-5050M units for reasons chalked up to the "it's a long story" refrain, and now I'm reloading it. The newly reloaded changer will contain the same discs it previously held, but not in the same order, not even close.

So now I'm hooking up the three changers to the Entre. Of the three changers, the only one that will for sure remain in its former slot in the hierarchy is changer 3 (sub 2). The other two might be in their former slot, or might not, but at least one of them has its disc content wildly reorganized.

So the question is, what to do when I restart the Entre. Should I just take a guess at which slot the "rearranged" changer was in, and then do a "range lookup" for those discs so that my Entre guide is appropriately in synch with the changers?

Should I just have Entre re-lookup all 900+ discs, so that a new hierarchy gets set up (and boy won't I then need DVDEdit a lot)?

Suggestions appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick :cool:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by msb212
[B]How much of a difference did

I never looked at the analog out. I got it modded as soon as I bought it. pq is par with a htpc.

Thanks Robert and Slocko for the heads up. I did what you suggested, but now I have a new problem.

When I turned the DVD players off, the Entre let me delete everything, and started a quick lookup when I turned the players back on.

My new problem is that I have about 900 DVDs and CDs in my changers. The Entre says I only have 200 slots full, and I haven't been able to get it to see everything no matter what I do.

Any new suggestions?

Thanks!

Richard,

I'm somewhat stumped here, this may be caused by your previous aborted lookup. Here are a few things that you can try: first, look at your listings and see if they are on the same changer or spread across all three. If it is the former, that could indicate a connection problem. Either way, try doing another quick lookup. Also, and I haven't tested this, so it is just a hunch, but I think that it is possible that the changers should be turned back on in reverse order (i.e., the subs before the main). I have had times where I turned a sub off and it wasn't detected, so it is possible that if you turn the main changer on with one or both subs off, that the subs don't get looked up. One more thing: go into the edit disk menu and click the get info button and see what the player thinks it has in it. If all this fails, I'd try doing the turn-off routine one more time, and if that fails, I think you'll have to do a lookup from scratch.

Thanks Robert.

It doesn't matter now. My main stopped working. I'm going to have to open it up, and take all the disks out. I think it didn't properly remove a disc while it was doing it's look up.

c'est la vie...

great for joe, but i missed the chance to get version 3.0. I use 2.4 and LOVE it. is it possible to get 3.0 and use/test it? WTG Sampo!!.
anthony_margiotta@msn.com

I am wondering if anyone here is accessing the Entre/changer from more than one location, and if so, what the best way to accomplish this might be. I currently have the Entre controlling two changers loaded with 675 dvds in my main theater room. Which happens to be directly below the master bedroom, where I have a very nice system as well with a 50" plasma etc. Currently, when I want to watch a movie upstairs, I have to go down, turn on the whole system, find the movie I want and the slot that it is in, eject it, and play it on theupstairs system. It would obviously be great to be able to turn on the bedroom system, see the entre guide on the plasma, and select a movie (or music) and have it play in that location only. I do not need (or expect to need) to have both systems running simultaneously (though of course that would be nice too, but have to wait for the terrabyte server for that!). I also have a good av recevier in the bedroom and 5.1 spaker system, so all I need is the component video signal, the digital out, and control of the entre/changer, which I expect is the hard part. I have read that some have been able to access the Entre through tcp/ip so maybe that s part of the solution.

Anyway, love to hear from anyone who has done this, or might know how I can! Thanks.

Mine is rather simple. I run the component output from the Sovereign receiver running into an Inday component splitter. One feed goes into the main TV and the other into a panny 50" plamsa in the bedroom. I use a Home Theater Master MX-3000 for the main room and a Home Theater Master 600 for the bedroom (I swear the cheap 600 is more dependable). Component feed #2 off the splitter is fed into the plasma via a 40' coax run. Even though it's being split and run on coax, the picture is perfect. Both remotes have macros for power so turning things on and off is not a problem. I'll usually turn the main tv off and mute the stereo when I got to the bedroom to watch something that was on the main tv. Doing it this way allows me to have a mirror in the bedroom of everything on the main tv, not just the sovereign.

Replacement Entre Received !!

I received my replacement Entre today. I came straight from Kenwood's Long Beach California location. Unlike the units some have received, this unit is absolutely, positively brand spanking new. I set the unit up and it is looking up disc's as I post. I'll post again tommorrow to state unknowns and the look up time. There are about 180 DVD's in changer #1. I removed changer #2 and will probably connect it by the end of the week. (Music Changer)

I have an Onkyo 989 receiver that has two zones I run the zone 2 output to a distribution amp and like Derek I run the component out to an Inday amp. I then run cables upstairs, I don't have a digital out because I don't have a 5.1 system upstairs but I believe that Zektor makes a switcher that would do both, you will need to get the IR from the upstairs room down to the Entre to control it, Xantech makes some good multi zone stuff, with this setup I can watch DVD's anywhere in the house.


Tom

well I have my dvd changer hooked up to a channel plus modulator and put on channel 65 in my house. Turn to channel 65 for stereo MTX sound and video. Quality is good for a tv smaller than 42".

Hey guys, quick question.

Can somebody please post step-by-step instructions on how I get the Kenwood DVD Changer firmware upgrade?

I have a DV-5050 and recently got a DV-5900. Both are at firmware version 1, and I want to chain them to the Entre.

I have spoken to Kenwood support several times and feel that I got nowhere. Most times they had no clue, or told me to email a certain email address (which I never recieved a reply from). Also, they kept asking me for my date of purchase. (This isn't a warranty issue is it? My DV-5050 was bought in 2000 or 2001.)

I have also tried calling the service center in California, but they too were clueless. One guy told me just send it in. Of course I have no desire to send my changers across country with no way to track them once they reach the service center.

Can anybody tell me what the steps are and who exactly I talk to?

Thanks for any help.

--Tzvi

I admit I haven't read through this whole thread, so I apologize in advance if this has been asked.

Two years ago (??) I really wanted to go the Sovereign route (Entre and 5900M anyway). I waited for the final release, but once it came, the price was prohibitive as were the initial problems with the system. I opted for the sony changer and it has performed fine, but is now filling up. I'm faced with purchasing a second sony and it's horrible UI, or perhaps looking at Sovereign again. I want to believe my wife would love the entre interface.

I understand that improvements have been made and the systems perform better than originally, plus I have found a few refurb items available that will bring the cost lower. It is still a pricey set though.

The bottom line is, would you do it again? Does the entre and OpenGlobe do what you wish? Is the WAF there?

Thanks for the feedback.

Originally posted by Tzvi
Hey guys, quick question.

Can somebody please post step-by-step instructions on how I get the Kenwood DVD Changer firmware upgrade?

I have a DV-5050 and recently got a DV-5900. Both are at firmware version 1, and I want to chain them to the Entre.

I have spoken to Kenwood support several times and feel that I got nowhere. Most times they had no clue, or told me to email a certain email address (which I never recieved a reply from). Also, they kept asking me for my date of purchase. (This isn't a warranty issue is it? My DV-5050 was bought in 2000 or 2001.)

I have also tried calling the service center in California, but they too were clueless. One guy told me just send it in. Of course I have no desire to send my changers across country with no way to track them once they reach the service center.

Can anybody tell me what the steps are and who exactly I talk to?

Thanks for any help.

--Tzvi

Things have seemingly become more difficult now that there is no longer a dedicated Soveriegn customer support group. It now seems that they've been thrown in with the regular Kenwood support. I sent my changer in to the Cerritos, CA location and it took about a month to get it back. That's about all I can add.

Originally posted by mike_jensen99
I admit I haven't read through this whole thread, so I apologize in advance if this has been asked.

Two years ago (??) I really wanted to go the Sovereign route (Entre and 5900M anyway). I waited for the final release, but once it came, the price was prohibitive as were the initial problems with the system. I opted for the sony changer and it has performed fine, but is now filling up. I'm faced with purchasing a second sony and it's horrible UI, or perhaps looking at Sovereign again. I want to believe my wife would love the entre interface.

I understand that improvements have been made and the systems perform better than originally, plus I have found a few refurb items available that will bring the cost lower. It is still a pricey set though.

The bottom line is, would you do it again? Does the entre and OpenGlobe do what you wish? Is the WAF there?

Thanks for the feedback.

I think it is a great product, still second only to Escient in my opinion. The only REAL problems I've had with the Soveriegn system have been with regard to MP3's and their management. For that reason I am switching to the Escient line when I move in about a month. As for WAF, mine likes it.

You may want to look into Escient and see if they support your Sony changer so they could all work together.

Static IP Help Needed

Just switched routers due to one dying and the Entre is no longer getting onto the network. After the last software update last year, I had to use a static IP for things to work. I assume that since I switched routers I would need to change some of the numbers for the entre static IP but do not know what to change them to. Any ideas? I'm afraid to call Kenwood now that the sovereign section is gone.

How is the Escient better with MP3 management?

I have been told that while not perfect, their "Pipeline" is not as buggy as our "Media Manager" which would not take much. Additionally, they are announcing next month some type of IP based MP3 management which is "suppose" to make things a whole lot easier. It may not be Audiorequest, but it sounds more promising than the MP3 hell I've gotten from the Entre. Additionally, I like the Escient GUI better.

Now, how about a little router help?

I took a quick browse through the escient PDF manual and it seems to support Sony changers. Hmm, this is a distinct possiblity, pending price, etc. I remember seeing the Fireball back at Cedia in Minneapolis, but haven't really been following since then.

Thanks for the heads up!

Just thought I would post to this long thread with some inputs.

I just purchased a 5900M from Vanns. It was a reconditioned unit, and cheap $699 + $100 for the extended warranty.

It arrived dysfunctional. I would not play regular store purchased DVDs, but stills would work. The PQ on the stills and menu structure was very poor on my PIO 503cmx plasma fed from the 5900M component inputs.

Vanns gave me an RMA number and said they would ship a UPS return label.

Originally posted by proudx
my 5900m has been modified with the sdi. it works great. i feed it into a holo3d ii then scale it to 1440x720 and feed it into my barco 808 projector

New variation to ask -- do you have more than one changer? I am about to install a second, but was thinking baout doing the sdi modification first to it and the first one as well. Then it occurred to me that this implies that i will need a scaler with TWO SDI inputs I think. Is this correct? Not sure how to handle it. I am trying to accomplish an sdi conversion AND the ability to watch the film library form two separate locations (though not simultaneously). My brain hurts.

msb,

you can use a normal RGBHV switcher to switch SDI, but you would want it to be remote controllable of course.

I will soon use two SDI players myself and I will just have two dedicated buttons that will allow to directly go to each SDI input on my scaling solution while the changer is loading the DVD - gives me something to do while waiting for the disc to play :)

Oliver

Oliver -- that is interesting, but since I am also trying to get output to two locations (bedroom or theater), not sure I want to have to guess which changer the disc is in if I am not in front of the units. I have heard that there is a device that is a 2x1 SDI switch that has autosensing...e.g. which ever player outputs, then that is the input that is passed along.

Have you seen the player modded?

Yes I have a modded Kenwood myself.
The picture is up to par with the Panny RP91/RP82 which are considered to have the best MPEG chip for SDI output.

Not sure about the autosensing - in my config both changers have to be turned on for the my software to control them and in this case each of them outputs a signal.

You could determine by collection number which changer is playing if this info is available wih the software you want to use.

Hmmn. I am using the Entre to control the units, and would like to continue to use it. Righ now the Entre handles it because they are daisy chained into the Entre via component. Not sure whether the Entre could be SDI moded as well.

That is great to hear that the mod is worth it with this player -- so it really is worth the $$ to do it?

If it is worth it depends on you - if you want the best and can get it for a few hundred bucks I think it is.

I have had SDI before with a single player and the analog connection does not compare favourably to this, so I bought the changer with SDI in mind.

I would skip the entre and go directly to the Scaler, everything else gets too complicated.

use something like DVDprofiler and as you make the collection number in DVD profiler represent the collection number in the changer. that is what I do. print it out the collection from dvd profiler and have a guide. so collection number 50 in dvd profiler represents 50 in dvd changer #1 and collection number 450 = 50 in changer number 2.

proudx,
I thought you were using DVDlobby ?
I am using DVDlobbyTV and it works beautifully, although it took me a day to get everything running as it should ;)

I thought about DVDlobby at one point but never implemented it. I knew I could get dvdlobby running via my htpc in my theater room but How could I get dvdlobby on my modulated channel 65 for viewing outside the theater room. I kept it simple with the basic kenwood menus. I just matched the dvd changer collection number up with the dvdprofiler menu number. works well for me.

Originally posted by proudx
I thought about DVDlobby at one point but never implemented it. I knew I could get dvdlobby running via my htpc in my theater room but How could I get dvdlobby on my modulated channel 65 for viewing outside the theater room. I kept it simple with the basic kenwood menus. I just matched the dvd changer collection number up with the dvdprofiler menu number. works well for me.

How is the picture quality when using a channel modulator?

very good. obviously you wouldn't wanna use it on your main home theater setup, but it is clean. Much better than cable. On a non HDTV I am hard pressed to see a difference between it and component or svideo hookup. The key is filtering out signals the cable company might send so you have a clear RF area the modulator can operate on. In my house cable comes in----filter blocks channels 60-78---connects to a 2way-spliter with one end going to the channel plus modulator connected to my changer that sets the audio and video on channel 65then it goes to-----cable amplifier-----2 way spliter---1-4way goes to basement and 1 tv downstars--1 4way goes upstairs to bedrooms.

Interesting. Thanks. I am interested in running a feed off my changers to my HD plasma in the bedroom, however, so it sounds like htis is probably not the best option for me. I will likely have to invest in an sdi splitter and a second scaler. hmmn. Or live with component on both.

produx,

This sounds very interesting. Let me see if I understand this correctly. You have one device that blocks certain channels. Then another box that takes some input (presumably s-video or composite with audio) and broadcasts it on the coaxial. As a result you can tune that channel anywhere in your house and watch what is being displayed in your theater. Do I have this right?

Where do you get such equipment? About how much did it cost you?

Thanks,
Jason


Originally posted by proudx
very good. obviously you wouldn't wanna use it on your main home theater setup, but it is clean. Much better than cable. On a non HDTV I am hard pressed to see a difference between it and component or svideo hookup. The key is filtering out signals the cable company might send so you have a clear RF area the modulator can operate on. In my house cable comes in----filter blocks channels 60-78---connects to a 2way-spliter with one end going to the channel plus modulator connected to my changer that sets the audio and video on channel 65then it goes to-----cable amplifier-----2 way spliter---1-4way goes to basement and 1 tv downstars--1 4way goes upstairs to bedrooms.

www dot hometech dot com has great tutorials and products you can buy.

but yes indeed that is what I do. I send the audio and video from my dvd player to the stereo modulator that puts it on channel 65 in my house. Works great for security cameras, PVR stuff, anything you can think of really.

I got the modulator used on ebay for about 100$. all the splitters and filter can be bought from hometech.com

I'm back from a wonderful two week vacation!!!

Derek have you rebooted your entre since switching routers?

I have found the entre needs rebooting whenever you mess around with the router.

Essentially, I think the entre only grabs an ip address once, at bootup. If something happens to upset its connection, it doesn't try again.

Originally posted by DerekFSU
I have been told that while not perfect, their "Pipeline" is not as buggy as our "Media Manager" which would not take much. Additionally, they are announcing next month some type of IP based MP3 management which is "suppose" to make things a whole lot easier. It may not be Audiorequest, but it sounds more promising than the MP3 hell I've gotten from the Entre. Additionally, I like the Escient GUI better.

Now, how about a little router help?

Hi

Well I am closing in on filling another changer, so I am in the market for either a 5050 or 5900, so if there is anyone out here that has one to get rid of PM me. I want one that is Ver. 3 software...Thanks


Tom

A few pages back, several posts mentioned modifying their 5900-M's to a DVI output...

Is this possible, and who can do this... could you provide an email or link?

My 5900-M, with 18 days to go on the warranty (purchased on 9/18/2002) developed the dreaded "unreadable disc" screen of death. Its now in the Denville, NJ repair facility. Since it's disconnected and out of the rack, it might be a good time to fully tweak this guy before I spend a day and a half getting it reconnected and reloaded (man what a pain!!!)

Can anyone give me an indication on the quality of the video between component and DVI? Will it make a noticible difference (I'm projecting onto a 106" screen)

Does anyone here use the multi zone feature of the VR-5900? I would like to distribute the output throughout the house the way proudx describes above.

I did some testing this weekend and figured out that the s-video or composite output will not work with only component video cables (I had only component cables connecting the DVD player). I added s-video cables in addition to the component cables to get both output to work. It appears this is also true for the B zone output as well.

My question is this, does anyone distribute the output throughout the house? If so, how? I think I'd be alright with just cloning whatever is on the main TV to other parts of the house as it is unlikely that both the theater room and another room would be used at the same time.

Thanks,
Jason

Flavorguy,

I only know of an SDI mod to the 5900 and it is substantially better, but only with a dedicated scaler with SDI input.

I think for those who want to connect their Kenwood directly to their Display 480p DVI would be preferable, but I am not aware that somebody does it.

Oliver

Jason,

It just so happens I was fooling around with that very same issue yesterday. I have two 5900m hooked into my entre which then feeds into my Yamaha rx-v1. The rx-v1 has a zone 2 which permits me to send outaudio/video from any source input into the yamaha. I already had three cables running from my directv satellite into the area that the yamaha is located, but only two were being utilyzed for the directv tivo. I attached a cheap radioshack modulator that I found in my parts drawer (must be from another failed project). I fed the zone 2 into the modulator, connected the cable at the directv satellite into my terk splitter (8 output, 3 input), at the end of each remote location I attached a special splitter that splits the satellite signal from cable/attenna signal (got them at bestbuy, for some other previously failed project) and now I get dvd, laser disc, tuner, vcr and whatever else in all my rooms that have the Directv tivo feed. The quality is not as good as the original, but than the other tv's are all of the smaller variety anyway.

One note, I had to hook the audio and video leading to zone 2 from the main dv-5900m, it did not seem to want to work coming from the entre. I don't know if there was no signal because i was using the component and digital out for the main signal to the Yamaha. I wasn't about to spend a lot of time trying to figure out the correct settings on the entre to get it to work. the outputs from the main dv-5900m passed signals from both the changers.

I am currently trying to modulate either my dv-5900 or Entre's video siginal into a home video distribution system but am having not much luck, the video siginal is present but very "snowy" the audio siginals are not present al all. Any Ideas??

I send my component out from the 5900 receiver to an Inday 1:4 component splitter. One feed goes to the main tv and two others go to other tv's via RG6 runs. One of those other feeds is on a 50" panny plasma in my bedroom and looks perfect. No need for expensive cables for long runs. This was my solution to not only watching DVD's in the bedroom but also to watch the HDTivo from the main room as well.

I am using the rca out on the dv-5900m for my secondary outlet. I was unable to get a video out of the entre (it looks like the rca input may be damaged) but, since the outlet works from the dvd player i am not too worried about the damaged entre rca video out.

When I connect the video directly to my tv, the picture is great, but gets slightly grainy, but I attribute that to a cheap modulator. If you are using a modulator - most have some sort of switch or button to change the modulator to "uhf", "Cable", "IR", or "HR." UHF did not work for me, and it is set to Cable.

I use a channel plus four input modulator (channel 66 is entre,68 is directtivo #1, 70 is HDdirecttivo, channel 72 is cctv from my daughters room). I run the output to an amplified 4 in 16 out distribution hub. All pictures are sharp.

I am thinking about modulating the always on GUI from the "For Future Use" composite out so I can have a small lcd screen in the closet with my components and various rooms to show what is on. Anyone have an idea what the composite-in in the "For Future Use" location is for?

Thanks for the info. I can't wait to play around with this some more this weekend. Can anyone recommend a good modulator? Does RadioShack have these?

Thanks,
Jason

Need some suggestions here, I'm having some network problems. I've ran a cat5 cable (straight through, about 50 feet) from one end of the basement to other. At one end is a Linksys wireless router and the other end the Entre. When I connect my laptop to the network cable it works, but the Entre won't connect. I run the test connection in the tcp settings and it fails on getting an ip address from the dhcp server.

I've also tried connecting the Entre end to a linksys switch, in which case the laptop nor the Entre will work. I've tried both the regular port and the uplink port.

Thanks,
Jason

I've had my Entre/5900-M for two years and due to the fact that I'm a computer ****** and that I also live in the boonies with no high speed internet accsess, I've only had my Entre hooked up via its phone modem. Therefore I have never had it networked or used it to manage MP3's etc...

Well its 2004 and Peapack just got digital cable (and high speed internet)...

So I want to hook up the Entre onto a computer network...

Questions:

Are the USB to ethernet converters listed on the FAQ still available? If not, any suggestions where I could pick on up...

What is the main advantage (besides cover art downloading) of having the Entre linked to my computer? Any cool ideas on what it can do?

What does DVD Edit and Medai Manager actually do?

Sorry for the basic questions guys...

Originally posted by flavorguy
Are the USB to ethernet converters listed on the FAQ still available? If not, any suggestions where I could pick on up... All this depends on which software version you have. If you've got the factory default software, then you can only use an adapter from the official list, and I think that they're all obsolete. If you have a later version (i.e., you've downloaded an update into your machine), then you can use most of the popular adapters. But, IMO all of the available usb adapters are problematic, and I would strongly recommend that you consider getting an HPNA to Ethernet bridge. These too aren't too easy to find, but they are sold on eBay pretty regularly. Here's one:

HPNA Bridge (http://cgi.*********/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23777&item=5719336590)

Originally posted by flavorguy
What is the main advantage (besides cover art downloading) of having the Entre linked to my computer? Any cool ideas on what it can do? The real question isn't what you can do with the Entre hooked up to your computer, but you want it connected to the Ethernet. You then won't just get cover art, but track listings, cast and useful inofrmation about movies, the ability to get info related to your content over the web, and internet radio.

Originally posted by flavorguy
What does DVD Edit and Medai Manager actually do? Media Manager allows you to import MP3s and edit the info in the Entre. It is only barely functional, and I wouldn't waste my time with it. DVD Edit allows you to manually edit the Entre's DVD information, and is highly recomended.

This is something new, but the forum software now is somehow stripping URLs, if you click on the link in the message above, you'll get a DNS error. Just type ebay dot com in the place of the ********* that the link takes you to.

I'm joining the ranks of Robert and Flavorguy, I finally pulled the trigger on an Elan system. It's a lot of money, but it's the next logical step for full-on whole-house integration/automation. Hope the applications Elan has for the Sovereign live up to expectations.

Originally posted by rbienstock
This is something new, but the forum software now is somehow stripping URLs,
No it's not really new. It's always been done for certain URL's, or at least for as long as I remember it has. And any URL to a ebay auction has always been one that's been on that "list".
Which in all likelihood, is because it probably helps prevent some people that may only come here into the forums. Just for the sole purpose of "linking" to a auction where they maybe/are trying to sell something.

I really like my Elan VIA integrated with the Entre...

Sorry I can't be more help on the technical side. I'm just not computer/integration savvy...

Let me see if this helps you out. My VIA is fed by S video from the Entre. The camera icon is used to switch between the Entre generated library screen and the VIA control screen. Further more my installer placed a "transparent template" over the library screen. This allows me to scroll up, down, across the catagories. A single hard touch to the exact center of this screen will cause a macro to play the highlighted DVD/CD.

Furthermore a touch to the upper right of the VIA will bring me to the Entre's "options menu" screen. By using the same "transparent template" I can move around the options menu to change play mode, edit DVD info etc...

These commands were all written by my installer, although I also thought that Elan and Kenwood had a code sharing policy...

The installer I use is good but expensive. I could possibly hook you up with him. He might be willing to work and/or sell with your integrator the protocol he developed for me...

Flavorguy,
I'll be interested to see what Elan and Kenwood have done together already, if it is too rudimentary I'll be contacting you to get in touch with your installer. Can't wait to get it all hooked up! Looks like we may need to run some more lines however.
By the way, have you checked into the VIA2 wireless touchscreen for the kenwood system?

Adam

Adam-

My installer mentioned the wireless ... my wife has absolutely had it with my HT stuff and I'm on a strict "no upgrade" budget (until her dining room is done - $2000 a chair and she bitches about my theatre stuff!)

I e-mailed a copy of this thread to my install guy. Hopefully he'll chime in...

Let's see $2000 per chair x8 plus the table plus the hutch--yeeooowch! That is a lot of really cool entertainment/automation/integration equipment budget she's cutting into! Too bad you don't know someone in the furniture business who can get you into Furniture mart!

Can someone send me the installer for this program? I'm having no luck with DVDEdit, and I want the ability to FTP to the Entre.

nicksatullo@msn.com

Thanks,

Nick :cool:

has anyone heard from FZ lately?

Originally posted by stickman
Need some suggestions here, I'm having some network problems. I've ran a cat5 cable (straight through, about 50 feet) from one end of the basement to other. At one end is a Linksys wireless router and the other end the Entre. When I connect my laptop to the network cable it works, but the Entre won't connect. I run the test connection in the tcp settings and it fails on getting an ip address from the dhcp server.

I've also tried connecting the Entre end to a linksys switch, in which case the laptop nor the Entre will work. I've tried both the regular port and the uplink port. Thanks, Jason

Jason, Did you get this to work using static IP or cold booting I presume?

From Dave's post here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3768677&highlight=dhcp#post3768677) he mentions support stated DHCP is not working. (FAQ info to add).

Also from Robert's post here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4216674#post4216674) did you see the info to add to the FAQ?

Greetings.

I recently changed my system around, which required me to disconnect and reconnect my Movies Entre, which has 3 changers daisy chained to it.

Initially, changer number 3 was a DV-5900M.

What I began to see--only when using my CRT projector, not my television--was a vertical line running horizontally across the screen, in dark scenes. This distortion only appeared from changer 3. It only appeared when using component video, not s-video.

I swapped out the component video outputs. No change.

I then swapped out the entire changer--moved a DV-5050M (a Jamal refurb) into that spot, loaded the discs, and . . . same problem.

The problem goes away substantially when I change the black level setting on only that DVD changer from 7.5 IRE to 0 IRE. However, that's not a good solution, since the projector was converged with the settings at 7.5 IRE, since the 0 IRE was crushing some of the black level. The "crush" was gone when the IRE was set to default 7.5.

I moved the entire setup from one cabinet to another, as I suspected that some cables were introducing this noise, and, strangely, only to that changer.

Same thing.

It's probably not a coincidence that it's happening only with the changer that's farthest from the Entre. I've even thought of boosting the component signal only from that changer, upstream in the daisy chain process.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Nick :cool:

Nick

I can't believe that you have this trouble, I had virtually the same thing happen with my daisy chained changers, and only on the third changer, when I bought my DVDM-100 and changed the routing of the changers the trouble disappeared, since the signal feeds through all three maybe the problem is further up the food chain in one of the other units closer to the Entre, at the time I did not have the luxury of having another changer to swap out but I did change the component cables to no avail.


Tom

Originally posted by b00bie
Nick

I can't believe that you have this trouble, I had virtually the same thing happen with my daisy chained changers, and only on the third changer, when I bought my DVDM-100 and changed the routing of the changers the trouble disappeared, since the signal feeds through all three maybe the problem is further up the food chain in one of the other units closer to the Entre, at the time I did not have the luxury of having another changer to swap out but I did change the component cables to no avail.


Tom

Hi Tom:

What type of display unit? Because I don't get it on the TV. Of course, it may just be more detectable on a projector.

Thanks,

Nick :cool:

Hi

I noticed it both on my projector and my two tv's . (IF7200, Sony 57" RPTV, Sony 34" XBR)

Tom

I finally got it to work late last week and was going to post my results this morning. I'm seeing exactly what Dave is seeing, I have to use a static ip address for it to work. I feel really foolish for not trying that earlier but I am somewhat comforted in that I'm not alone in having this problem. However, how could this software update get out the door with DHCP not working?

I'll be making some additions to the faq over the next week or so. I just got married and moved so things are just getting settled down. Some people have sent me emails with good info that will be incorporated into the faq.

Jason

Originally posted by ScottF200
Jason, Did you get this to work using static IP or cold booting I presume?

From Dave's post here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3768677&highlight=dhcp#post3768677) he mentions support stated DHCP is not working. (FAQ info to add).

Also from Robert's post here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4216674#post4216674) did you see the info to add to the FAQ?

I guess everyone's seen the posting for the new sovereign prototypes at Cedia?

Originally posted by DannyFresh
I am currently trying to modulate either my dv-5900 or Entre's video siginal into a home video distribution system but am having not much luck, the video siginal is present but very "snowy" the audio siginals are not present al all. Any Ideas??

The reason it is snowy is b/c A) you have a channel within 2 spaces of your modulated channel or B) you do not have a filter at the tap coming into your house blocking out a range of frequencies the cable company is sending. This happend to me as comcast uses just about all freqs and freqs that appear to be snowy on an analog channel like 100 might be a digital channel. bottomline get a notch filter that blocks out channels 50 to 65 or something like that

what post from cedia

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=449163

By the way, using HPNA I found the reverse to be true. DHCP is working, but static was not. Using static I get a message that the HPNA is not working when I do a test connection.

Produx, I too have Comcast, and you are correct there are not many unused channels available to be modulated on. Where can I pick up one of those filters?????

Sorry to post this again, but I never really recieved a response, and I fear that I got lost in a sea of messages.

I have a DV-5900, DV-5050M, and an Entre. My changers have firmware version 1, and to chain them both to the Entre they need 3. I have called Kenwood several times and each time I am told to write an email. Two-months later, still no reply. If I call again, they assure me that I need to send an email and that they can't help me over the phone.

Does anybody know how I go about getting the upgrade for my machines?

--Tzvi

Originally posted by Tzvi
Sorry to post this again, but I never really recieved a response, and I fear that I got lost in a sea of messages.

I have a DV-5900, DV-5050M, and an Entre. My changers have firmware version 1, and to chain them both to the Entre they need 3. I have called Kenwood several times and each time I am told to write an email. Two-months later, still no reply. If I call again, they assure me that I need to send an email and that they can't help me over the phone.

Does anybody know how I go about getting the upgrade for my machines?

--Tzvi

After the free upgrade period during the Summer of 2003, several people reported that they had arranged to upgrade theirs, except that it cost $75 (probably shipping, too). I don't know if they're still even offering the upgrade, though I can't see why not.

Nonetheless, your problem cannot be solved by anyone on this board. Emails don't get responded to, and when you call they tell you to email. Perhaps you should call again and tell them you're not taking no for an answer, since the process you've described is doubletalk.

Good luck. The upgrade is still well worth it.

Nick :cool:

Originally posted by Tzvi
<snip>
Does anybody know how I go about getting the upgrade for my machines? --Tzvi Their point about e-mail seems strange. If they insist again get the e-mail address from the person you are talking to and tell them you are going to cc them and you want to have them follow up on it. ie. get someone to take "personal" responsibity for following up.

Here is an old link with the info including a number I'm not familiar with.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2544920&highlight=upgrade+PDF#post2544920

Star Wars is now in the database. It even found the bonus disc!

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Star Wars is now in the database. It even found the bonus disc!

Is the cover art the same for each disc?

Thanks,

Nick :cool:

Cover art is appropriate for each movie. Do you have a problem with the cover art Nick?

Check this out...

Kenwood VRS-N8100 (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/product.jsp?productId=2608)


Kenwood Fineline Networked Audio/Video Receiver


Available in August, 2004 The VRS-N8100 seamlessly merges your entertainment system with your home computer. The rear-panel Ethernet connector lets you stream audio and video files from your computer to your home theater system, so your entire family can enjoy them with audio performance that you just can't get from a computer. A front-panel PCMCIA card slot accepts media card adapters so you can even display pictures from digital cameras over your home theater, and on-screen GUI operation makes it easy to find and play all your digital media. Plug a game console into the front-panel game audio/video input (complete with digital audio connection) and the VRS-N8100 will detect when you turn the game on and automatically select that input and the proper surround sound processing. Dual-Source/Single-Zone operation lets you listen to your game's sound through headphones while the rest of your family enjoys music through speakers. Dolby Headphone processing creates a totally out-of-the-box 5.1-channel surround sound effect through any pair of ordinary stereo headphones. The included universal pre-programmed remote is ready to go with Xbox and PlayStation2 codes. When you want to watch movies, the VRS-N8100 puts you right in the middle of the action with Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES 96/24 surround sound, and Dolby Pro Logic IIx transforms your ordinary 2-channel stereo music sources like CDs, tapes and FM radio into 6.1-channel surround sound masterpieces. The ADI SHARC 32-Bit DSP processor, high-resolution digital volume control and rigid chassis construction give the VRS-N8100 incredibly accurate performance at all signal levels, from the loudest explosion to the most delicate musical passage. The PurePath digital power amplifier delivers 130 watts to each of six channels, so your games, movies and music will really rock the house. And the exclusive Kenwood Fineline design matches the design of today's popular flat-panel TVs and blends with other entertainment components.


Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price $800.00

Hi, for the person who asked about where to get notch filters. Follow the link below.

http://www.crossbarmedia.com/html/purchase_information.html

look at the section called notch filters to block out ranges of cable tv channels. I use 65 - 80.

How about on satellite, will the notch filters work? I run two modulators from two different locations (one carries the baby's in-room camera and the other comes from my reciever that is the remote zone and carries anything put through the receiver) into the satellite 3X8 splitter (with one of the inputs being for an antenna, which is where i send the modulated signals into).

Zinja, Have you tried a signal amplifier?

This weekend I decided to consolidate my 630 dvds into just one changer. I went through both changers and removed about 250 dvds that I knew I was never going to watch again. I still need to cull the kids dvds. My goal is to get my collection down to around 200. I can't believe I have spent so much money on dvds!!

I followed this procedure and removed both changers from the guide.

I then reloaded all 380 dvds back into one changer in any order. I had to initiate a lookupall for it to begin looking up dvds. What I noticed is that lookupall and lookup range both load the dvd for analysis. It first tries to match the dvd with what is has stored locally on the drive. If there is no match, it then proceeds to connect to openglobe for lookup.

Lookupall found all my dvds and even put them back into my specific groups that I had setup. Only exeception was Brother Bear which I had tricked by putting disc 2 and then swapping with disc 1. So it still can't read disc 1 properly. It told me to clean it.

Before trying this, I tried quicklookup but that didn't do anything.

Not sure what quicklookup is supposed to do. I think it's a manual way of kicking off the automatic process that happens when you insert new discs. It should have worked.

What get movie info seems to do is search openglobe for titles that previously where tagged as unknown. It doesn't matter if these dvds are still in the changer or not. This is why the count never matches up in the changer statistics.

Getmovieinfo occassionally finds my netflix dvds that were not found the first time and that I had since returned.

It was great to get rid of the extra changer and all the extra cables that went with it. Now to sell those dvds. They will probably sit in my basement for a long time.

Originally posted by rbienstock
No, No, No, No, No. This is the way that you get duplicate entries unless he puts all the disks back in their original slots.

The way to do this without getting duplicates (Scott, this is a good item for the FAQ) is to turn off the changer. You then get a message saying "Changer KDVDx is not responding, Please check the connection and try again. You are then given three choices, Try Again, ignore and disconnect. Pick disconnect, and then the items from the changer get cleared from the guide. Then when you turn the changer back on, it will do a Quick Lookup and find everyting again. If it doesn't, you can initiate a Quick Lookup and it will find the disks again and use the internal database. You do NOT want to do a lookup all because this will initiate an Open Globe search on all of your titles.

I had a hard drive crash a couple of months ago and I'm now just starting to get my life back together.

I found a backup copy of DVD Edit 2.4 and I'm trying to run it.

First I ran into a Winsck (SP?) error. I downloaded a file called scripten.exe.
This solved my WinSck error.

Now I keep getting a "Run-time error '429' ActiveX component can't create object" error and then the program shuts down.

I entered the error in google and found some Office 97 conflicts.
I have Office 2003.

I then found a Windows SP2 conflict. I ran the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 164127 fix and this did not solve my problem.

Ugh! Any suggestions?

Slocko,

If you didn't have the Entre check the changer while it was empty, it wouldn't know that you had changed any discs and wouldn't do the quick lookup. Based on what I've seen, the Entre seems to use a difference between the most recent "detection" from the 5900 and the current "detection" from the 5900 to flag whether or not a quick lookup is needed. If you pull a disc and replace it with another, the "detection" doesn't show any change in status of loaded discs so the quick lookup flag (or however they coded this in the software) is not set.

Cheers,

Mike

I just picked up a VR-5900 receiver and am having a big problem with the rs232 connection. It seems that the Kenwood setup only works with there specific rs232 cable. I bought 2 different ones and can't get them to work.

Anyone else have this problem? I guess I'm going to have to go on a parts hunt.. The one I may have is somewhere in the attic or gone so I know I'll never find it..

originally posted by sbonaparte -
I just picked up a VR-5900 receiver and am having a big problem with the rs232 connection. It seems that the Kenwood setup only works with there specific rs232 cable. I bought 2 different ones and can't get them to work.

The Entre to VR-5900 and the changer to entre cables are both null modem connections. I would assume the cables you have purchased are straight through.

From the Entre to the VR-5900 you will need:
pin 2 to pin 3
pin 3 to pin 2
pin 5 to pin 5

You can modify an existing cable if you have no other choice. Simply cut the cable and reattach the wires as above. You will need a volt meter set for continuity and a way to connect the wires together.

Fz

Thanks.. fz1234

I got a null modem coverter from Radio Shack and added it to the rs232 cable.. It's worked perfectly.. thanks for the info, I will pullin gmy hair out...

The remote works nice since it has all of the codes already but it's big and the screen sucks. I knew this already.. I just have to spend sometime getting my marantz remote working right with the kenwood codes..

Thanks again...

Quick question for anyone with the VR-5900 remote..

When I hit the main power button on the remote it turn off the receiver and Entre but not the Changer.. Is this the way it works?

Thanks..

Hello, I am a new Kenwood Sovereign owner. I have owned the VR-5900 and DV-5700 for about a month. I just purchased the DVD changer & Entre and would like to upgrade the hard drive on the Entre to an 80GB or 120GB model. I am not very technical at all and fear damaging something or having an inoperable unit. I have read the FAQ and it still makes no sense to me. Can someone send me a CDR with the boot files and file updates so all I need to do is replace the drive and insert the disc? Does Kenwood offer an upgrade through one of their service centers? The new unit is in the mail to me so I would like to do this before hooking it up to my system for the first time. Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks,
Bill

Yes, That is the way it works. Unlike kenwood's CD changers connected to thier receivers, they do not power on when the "System" is turned on. This is a bad design in my mind. When the receiver and entre are powered on so should the DVD changer(s). You could fix the problem with a macro work around. Though there is no way for the remote to know the state of the changer. ie. (on or off).

Can anyone give me some feedback on the VR-5700 and in particular, whether the VR-5900 is a better bet.

Zinja,
I use a vr-5700 and the vr-5700 is basically the same as the vr-5900 with two exceptions. First is it does not come with the powertouch remote (no big loss) it comes with a much more useable remote that is also two way. The second is the lighting on the unit itself is slightly different. It is the same power and everything else internally is the same as far as I can tell.

I have the VR5900. It's a pretty good receiver and the integration with the other sovereign components is nice. But I wouldn't pay anything even close to list for it. I use mine as a preamp, and use standalone amplifiers with it. Made a difference for me. Not sure if it is only the powertouch that is diferent from the 5700. It seems to me there were greater differences than that.

Do both play DVD-Audios?

Click The link below to see a side by side comparasion or the VR-5900 and VR-5700.

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/lounge/comparison.jsp?productTypeId=55&productLineId=2&selectedProducts=755&selectedProducts=756

I have purchased an Axcess and I can't get it to connect or recognize Entre for anything. I have followed the instructions in the manual, but that doesn't get me too far. The entries for the IP address on the Axcess are confusing me, I think. I also have changed Entre's secondary IP settings to Home-HPNA, but the unit then loses its primary settings and goes into a reboot . Anyone with any ideas, I would appreciate it....

OT but I thought interesting since a lot of us here have so much invested in dvds:

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/bluray-has-already-won-023974.php

I could never get my access to work dynamically. I had to use static.

Using the information found in system information in the entre, copy down the ip addresses there.

Configure the access for static and put in the ip address information, except that you change the last octet to a number not being used on your network.

Originally posted by DannyFresh
I have purchased an Axcess and I can't get it to connect or recognize Entre for anything. I have followed the instructions in the manual, but that doesn't get me too far. The entries for the IP address on the Axcess are confusing me, I think. I also have changed Entre's secondary IP settings to Home-HPNA, but the unit then loses its primary settings and goes into a reboot . Anyone with any ideas, I would appreciate it....

Originally posted by slocko
OT but I thought interesting since a lot of us here have so much invested in dvds:

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/bluray-has-already-won-023974.php

Bring it on.

Nick :cool:

My Entre has been working great ever since I got it. A couple weeks ago I transfered over an album of mp3's via Media Manager. Now today anything I do cannot get Media Manager to download the Entre's database. I have tried to reboot the Entre and have uninstalled Media Manager and reinstalled Media Manager. I have windows xp sp2 and it has worked for me up to today under this operating system.

Questions are, is there anything I can delete (via ftp) and have the Entre rebuild upon reboot so that Media Manager can now see the database? Any other suggestions other than stop using Media Manager? I have tried DVDEdit and it works for DVDs! I have tried Escient's Pipeline and it stops because it cannot see my library (on the Entre). I have tried Conduit and it goes nowhere after install.

Is there something that is a proven alternative to Media Manager?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Even though Media Manager sucks, it has been my only option for transferring mp3s from my computer, other than burning a disk and loading them that way.

Any hacks to get the Pipeline software to work? Help please.

No on all counts. Many of us have experienced Media Manager problems where it just stops working.

No one has really figured it out.

The author of DVDedit was working on MediaEdit, but some un-named company bought his development efforts and that was the end of that.

Copying via cd is the only sure way to transfer your mp3s.

Sorry about the bad news.

What about a factory reset, then update to 2.0.8 (I have the cd) and then a reload of all of my cds & dvds. Would that build a new database that Media Manager could see?

Also, any ideas on how to get Conduit or Pipeline to work?????

Seriously, compared to the effort of a reset and reload, why wouldn't you just copy them to cd?

No one has really spent the effort and figuring out why it stops working or in making Pipeline or Conduit work. I'm sure there is a logical reason but since there is an alternative that works all the time, no one has bothered.

I think that loading them to cd will have to be the route that I end up going. I really just liked the way I could do everything from my computer.

Don't even bother using Media Manager. While using it, if it hangs up on your PC chances are something becomes corrupt on the Entre itself, and then it starts acting up. It is not worth taking the chance. Burn the CD already!!!

Still no luck with this Axcess. Entre gives me a hard time when I select HPNA as the secondary IP setting. It loses its Primary settings and then goes into the reboot process. I have been nerved up on too many times with the reboot thing....

Originally posted by DannyFresh
Still no luck with this Axcess. Entre gives me a hard time when I select HPNA as the secondary IP setting. It loses its Primary settings and then goes into the reboot process. I have been nerved up on too many times with the reboot thing.... From the following post both my pri and secondary are setup to HPNA. I couldn't tell if your pri was something different.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3596296&highlight=secondary#post3596296

I recently ordered the Sovereign components and have them hooked up. I noticed a couple quick things, wondering if you guys can shed some light on some things for me.

First: with the DV-5900, I noticed that some dvds, the picture looks as though it shakes. I have two 5900 players and both do it on two entirely different setups. Just wondering if it was a setting possibly or if anyone else has this problem.

Second: Again, with the 5900, the remote is extremely unresponsive. I have no problems with any other remotes. I tried new batteries, etc, nothing. Any ideas?

Third: Is there a way to have the DV-5900 start up when the VR-5900 is powered on? I have system controls for all the other devices that are all on when the power is turned on. I have to do it seperatly with the DV-5900.

Fourth: With the Axcess units (the one component I don't have yet), Can I use it as an alarm clock. It would help me justify its purchase. Is there even a clock feature? I have been looking around but can't find much information on the unit.

Fifth: Can the Axcess be used with the Entre in standby? Do I have to actually have it powered on to use the axcess?

Hmmm, I think that is it for now. I only had the setup for about a week in its entirety so gimme a couple weeks and I'll post any followup questions. I appreciate your time and any light you could shed on these topics.

Thanks
James

Also, what is the latest version of the DV-5900 that everyone talks about having to upgrade and how do I find that out?

Thanks again!

Originally posted by JamezHill
Also, what is the latest version of the DV-5900 that everyone talks about having to upgrade and how do I find that out?
Thanks again! Do I have at least v3 firmware on my DV5900M/5050? Check via: With the unit turned on and all recognition over, hold down the Stop button on the unit while pressing 0 on the remote. If the display shows a series of numbers beginning with 3, then you have a V3 (upgraded) unit.

BTW, it does not matter if the Entre is in standby mode. The Axcess still works. No alarm feature. I use it to drive sound in my kitchen, family room, master bath and master bedroom. AUX is hooked to boombox.

James,

1. Your picture should not be shaky mine is rock solid. Could be a cable, or maybe a conflict between devices or defective units.

2. You might have a defective unit since you are having the first problem and a remote problem. Neither my picture is shake or my remote sluggish.

3. You are going to set up a macro for this to work. Unfortunately they do not power each other on. One of my peeves.

4. I would like to no the answer to this along with any place that you can still get one along with a VR5090 receiver. Anyone?

Have fun with the stuff. Once its up and running its one of the best set ups out their for the money.

Should I try a repeater for the remote problem? Do you think that would work? or could it even work?

James,
To which remote are you referring to? The Powertouch III remote (LCD) can be configured to output via IR or RF. If it is configured for RF be sure that you have installed the RF antenna to the rear of the VR5900.

This would be the remote for the DVD Changer

Welp, funny thing (well not so funny actually). While watching a movie on the DV-5900, the left hand side of my display (shows minutes, disk info, etc) on the unit went dark. The movie still played but I have no way of knowing what is going on as far as what disk is playing etc. I have reset the microchip, unplugged, restarted, etc and still no luck. <sigh> This is my second DV-5900 due to problems. Does anyone know if this has happened in the past and any way to remedy it? I dont want to be another month without a unit :(

James

does the display come back when you stop the movie?

there is a setting to turn off the display once a movie starts playing.

No it does not come back on. It has yet to come back on since then. I also started playing the movie with the display lit, and everything was off when it was all said and done.

I've decided I'm going to send the unit back and get a refund. I'll see what happens down the road.

See the manual p. 23.

The DISP button on the remote switches the display brightness in the following sequence:
"Brightness" "Dimmer" "Auto Off" "FL Off".

If your 5900 has "FL Off" selected, the display will always be off.

Yeah, I saw that and tried pressing the buttons for about 10 min. The unit is being returned, it has 2 other problems as well. Thanks very much for your help though.

I'm thinking of buyiing up to four axcess'. My questions to those who have them (ScottF, Slocko,Dannyfresh,etc.) are;
1. Are you happy with them?
2. Are they as quirky as the entre'?
3. What is the quality of the sound?
4. Can they be mounted on the wall?

To tell you the truth, I put mine away. I just didn't use it enough. But it may have been because it didn't behave properly with my hpna bridge.

For some reason, with my linksys bridge and dlink router, the entre and the axcess would lock in to each other and the entre would stop responding via tcpip. Not a big deal, but if I added a movie I had to go reset the entre and disconnect the Axcess.

One of these days I'll pick up a new bridge and try it again.

I guess I'll have to buy one and see for myself. They would work great for distributed audio throughout the house, just wish I could mount it on the wall. Thanx slocko

Anyone else notice that there are now closeouts everywhere on the Entre and 5900M's -- Vanns has the Entre, brand new for under $500! I am guessing this means that KW is either completly done with the line, or will be announcing new models shortly. I'm trying to decide if it makes sense to have an extra Entre for my Bedroom system.

I'll be buying a back-up entre also, maybe a dv5900m.
Rumor has it new models are coming out early dec.

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
I'm thinking of buyiing up to four axcess'. My questions to those who have them (ScottF, Slocko,Dannyfresh,etc.) are;
1. Are you happy with them?
2. Are they as quirky as the entre'?
3. What is the quality of the sound?
4. Can they be mounted on the wall? Definately get one and try it out before commiting to 4. The way it is designed does not really lend it to being wall mounted. From the picture of them you can see how they tilt and how that works well for a flat surface but not for a vert. Media Manager still works very very well from me so that lets me build favorite groupings (using * as the first char of the group name). Those with wireless keyboards could do it with the Entre but I never bothered with that. The quality of the sound seems to be as good as the quality/compression of your mp3s. It has plenty of power. I use one to driver speakers in my kitch, bath, bedroom, familyroom.

I was hpinh someone could help me out. I still can't get my Entre and axcess to find each other. When I follow the directions in the manual, nothing seems to work the way it is supposed to. I am trying to connect my Axcess directly to Entre, but have had no such luck. I set up my network connections on Entre as follows.

Primary: Ethernet
Secondary: HPNA

I enter my primary settings, and assume the secondary settings are the same. After doing this Entre loses its ability to connect to the internet via the primary settings. (Using the TEST Connetion). The secondary setting are the same and testing that connection proves successful.

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!!

Originally posted by DannyFresh
I was hpinh someone could help me out. I still can't get my Entre and axcess to find each other. When I follow the directions in the manual, nothing seems to work the way it is supposed to. I am trying to connect my Axcess directly to Entre, but have had no such luck. I set up my network connections on Entre as follows.

Primary: Ethernet
Secondary: HPNA

I enter my primary settings, and assume the secondary settings are the same. After doing this Entre loses its ability to connect to the internet via the primary settings. (Using the TEST Connetion). The secondary setting are the same and testing that connection proves successful.

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!! Did you try HPNA for both per my previous response? I don't recall you saying. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4594843#post4594843 Why are you trying to use both [ethernet and HPNA? Why not just use HPNA for both.]

After about a year of reliable use, my 5900 seems to be jammed/stuck now. When I press the open/close button, the carousel turns one direction for a few disks, then the other, then stops and then nothing happens.

Any idea on how to get the unit unstuck - I can't even get the door open and there are about 300 disks inside.

Originally posted by ptrubey
After about a year of reliable use, my 5900 seems to be jammed/stuck now. When I press the open/close button, the carousel turns one direction for a few disks, then the other, then stops and then nothing happens.

Any idea on how to get the unit unstuck - I can't even get the door open and there are about 300 disks inside. Try USER or LIBRARY BUTTON trick. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3392061&highlight=library+user#post3392061

If that doesn't work either remove cover and test or squeeze sides in the center (top 1/3 area) while someone presses open.

This old FAQ is down.... http://homepage.mac.com/jbryer/sovereignfaq.html

Scott, I am using a usb hub adapter for my internet access I don't have an HPNA hub. I didn't really plan to use the Axcess for internet radio, I just wanted access to my mp3 library In another room. The instructions say It's okay to set the unit up this way, but as of yet I cannot get it to work. Also, if there was something wrong with yhe Axcess, would I be able to tell?? It says in the manual something about not pressing any buttons during setup, something about screwing Axcess's ROM???

Scott - thanks for the pointers - I ended up banging the sides of the unit and that seemed to free something up and it now works OK. Sometimes hitting it really does work!

Originally posted by ptrubey
Scott - thanks for the pointers - I ended up banging the sides of the unit and that seemed to free something up and it now works OK. Sometimes hitting it really does work! Wait I said squeeze like HUG not beat like a rug <grin>. Tight tolerance in that unit. I have redneck engineered the constant HUGging of the unit that gave me the trouble. I tried other more civilized ways but it kept acting up. Glad you are working!

did you try both dynamic and manual on the axcess?

Originally posted by ScottF200
Did you try HPNA for both per my previous response? I don't recall you saying. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4594843#post4594843 Why are you trying to use both [ethernet and HPNA? Why not just use HPNA for both.]

Well, just took the plunge and bought another Entre for my bedroom. at $499 its hard to pass up! Not sure if anyone has experience with multiple Entre's, or if there is anything I need to be aware of, but I am thinking it's cheaper than a media center PC, and if I can replace the hard drive with a bigger one it will be flawless....(until it crashes of course).

Originally posted by DannyFresh
Scott, I am using a usb hub adapter for my internet access I don't have an HPNA hub. I didn't really plan to use the Axcess for internet radio, I just wanted access to my mp3 library In another room. The instructions say It's okay to set the unit up this way, but as of yet I cannot get it to work. Also, if there was something wrong with yhe Axcess, would I be able to tell?? It says in the manual something about not pressing any buttons during setup, something about screwing Axcess's ROM??? I understand now that you provided those details.

My hookup seems to match there's doc'd as "Connecting the Entré to a Network Using Your Existing Home Phone Line (HPNA Pri and HPNA Sec)" on the tips and install page ( http://www.kenwoodusa.com/group_info.jsp?categoryTypeId=130&productId=2358&productTypeId=147 ) . That doc however states Media Manager would not work with this hook up. Mine does.

Sorry I don't know about your situation.

Anyone know if you have two Entres hooked up to the same phone line whether one can then have up to eight axcess' hooked up?

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Anyone know if you have two Entres hooked up to the same phone line whether one can then have up to eight axcess' hooked up? It appears so. You can "name" your Entres and then when the Axces starts up you actually pick which one you want. In my case it still has me pick one but there is only one!

That's cool, I suppose the question might be 'How many Entres can be on the system?'. Too bad their is no wall-mount option. These are awesome for distributed audio with the amount of feedback from the Entre. Too bad I will have to run a line back to my distribted audio amp to really integrate it properly. Anyone know if a preamp output from an axcess for example can be carried by one twisted pair of cat5 wire?

Question about the axcess unit -- do you have to choose by the little display on the unit, or is there a video out for a GUI on the tv? Is it annoying to have to scroll through all your music on the little display?

Originally posted by msb212
Question about the axcess unit -- do you have to choose by the little display on the unit, or is there a video out for a GUI on the tv? Is it annoying to have to scroll through all your music on the little display?
Axcess manual available from a link here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3761126#post3761126

As I am almost sure the Axcess unit has no video GUI out ( the only connection it has to the Entre is through two thin telephone or cat5 lines), then you must consider what the Axcess is; To me the Axcess is a distributed audio interface with it's own amp and secondary input. With most distributed audio interfaces you have only a volume control, some are more elaborate and have source input selection,macros, etc. but usually no readout feedback from the system (keypads-$250) and high end systems have a touchscreen but the cost is prohibitive. So as you can see the price-point for the axcess with all it's features as compared to other systems is appealing. Not to mention the ease of hookup--no dedicated line to your system--you simply piggyback on an existing telephone line.
I honestly think that Kenwood did not do a very good job marketing this.

if they couldn't market the entre, the axcess was doomed.

So true!

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
As I am almost sure the Axcess unit has no video GUI out ( the only connection it has to the Entre is through two thin telephone or cat5 lines), then you must consider what the Axcess is; To me the Axcess is a distributed audio interface with it's own amp and secondary input. With most distributed audio interfaces you have only a volume control, some are more elaborate and have source input selection,macros, etc. but usually no readout feedback from the system (keypads-$250) and high end systems have a touchscreen but the cost is prohibitive. So as you can see the price-point for the axcess with all it's features as compared to other systems is appealing. Not to mention the ease of hookup--no dedicated line to your system--you simply piggyback on an existing telephone line.
I honestly think that Kenwood did not do a very good job marketing this.

makes sense. I have been debating the best way to get my music collection upstairs to my bedroom system, which is fairly sophisticated (VR5900 receiver paired with lexicon/bryston amps, kef 9000 ace speakers, etc.). I looked at the new momitsu dvd player which can stream from a computer on the network, and the axcess. Finally decided that I will just buy another Entre for $499, and rerecord my music to the hard drive. It's a bit redundant, but given the price and the user interface, I think (hope) the best option and bang for buck.

another reason to have all your music on mp3 cds!!!!

or mp3's on hard drives!!!!

msb212.
What is your other/main system? I am also thinking of a second entre but I am hesitating because I understand the Sovereign system is being supersceded next month. Decisions decisions.

My main system is the following:

Anthem D1 (arrives next week)
Lexicon NT225 amp for R+L front
Anthem A5 amp for center and surround channels
2 DV5900M changers
Entre
Kef XQ5 front R+L
KEF ci200Qt center
Sonance in ceiling surrounds (don't remember model #'s, but top of the line
DefTech Supercube reference subwoofer
Rane THX44 Equalizer
SE20HD projector
DaLite HiPower Electrol 119"screen

I was going to use one of the zones on the Anthem to run the changers and Entre to the bedroom system, but this may just be too complicated to accomplish right now. But my gf loves the interface of the Entre, so I decided it would be simpler for her just to add another Entre for the bedroom and copy the music over. It may become redundant if I manage to link the downstairs system with the bedroom, butI figure for $500 I can't lose that much if I decide to sell it later.

Now, if KW radically improves the Sovereign line (which is doubtful) then i would take a look at that, but it would likely be much more expensive, as the current line was when it first came out. My feeling is at the closeout prices now available, the sovereign line is an incredible bargain compared with the alternatives which are few to begin with.

LOL, I meant so you can easily copy your music to a new entre.

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
or mp3's on hard drives!!!!

I am now using a Dlink Medialounge for my music and Photos. I think that every manufacturer should head in this direction. Most people already have their stuff on a PC. We don't need to relocate it, we just need to stream it.

Anyway I hated having to recopy my mp3's from PC to Entre after the 2nd time and gave up. I also think the Entre runs better when it doesn't have any mp3's on it.

do the photos look hi-res? i have had my eye on that unit.

They look alright. But they are only being displayed at 480p. Not bad but not great.

I like the way it works so far. I've had it for a couple of weeks. I was thinking about trying the Roku. But it cost more and doesn't play WMA(protected) files. These Dlinks are only about $150. and for me personally I don't use the photo part a huge amount, it's just nice to have. Also the video part works nice. It's also just 480p but so far has worked flawlessly. It looks no worst than a good videotape or LD.(depending on material)I am still playing around on it, but so far MP3 playback is perfect.

where did you find it for $100? at that price i will pick one up.

Sorry about that, here is the new link http://homepage.mac.com/jbryer/SovereignFAQ.html

I have a tone of info to add to the FAQ but I have been so busy lately. Working full time and taking 3 graduate classes is occuping all my time.

-Jason

Originally posted by ScottF200
Try USER or LIBRARY BUTTON trick. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3392061&highlight=library+user#post3392061

If that doesn't work either remove cover and test or squeeze sides in the center (top 1/3 area) while someone presses open.

This old FAQ is down.... http://homepage.mac.com/jbryer/sovereignfaq.html

Sorry,

I meant $150. Damn typos.

Just got my axcess. Looks cool. Connected it directly to Entre but it can't find it. I'll mess with it tomorrow.

Switching today to Escient. Anyone want an entre at a good price?

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Just got my axcess. Looks cool. Connected it directly to Entre but it can't find it. I'll mess with it tomorrow.

I tried a bunch of times to set up this way Adam. I was finally successful last night. I don't know what kind of router you are using, but if it's a Netgear, be sure to keep the Axcess's IP (Final numbers of the IP) below ".33". If you use any number above 33, the routers setting will have to be edited. I.E. 192.168.000.XXX. Where XXX is noted, that number must be below 33 with a Netgear router. I am not using an HPNA hub for my particular setup, so I cannot use the Internet Radio option. I just wanted the capilibility of accessing my Entre's MP3 library in another part of the house.

Danny, I had to call tech support at kenwood to set my axcess up. They switched me to a static IP and had me manually input the IP,gateway,mask,dns, etc. Now it works great. It sounds better than I expected. The bad news is the entre is no longer connecting to the ethernet. I keep getting a message saying my usb adapter is not recognized. I decided to buy an ethernet bridge but it looks like netgear is the only one making them unless you get the linksys router/bridge and I am afraid that would slow down the rest of my network. The rest of the bad news is my wife doesn't like the way the axcess looks (thinks it's too retro) ??? and doesn't think she'll need to listen to music in her home office.
No matter, I'm going to put one in the gameroom, the Dining room, the master bath, and maybe even my daughter's room. When I'm done I'll be able to tune her out of every room in the house almost. Then comes Entre number 2. On a side note anyone know if it is possible to get a subscription to sirius for the entre?
P.S. Glad to see you finally got yours up and running!

Adam that is the problem I was telling you about. Once the axcess and entre begin communicating, the entre cannot connect to the internet.

I thought maybe it was an hpna bridge issue, but you are having it also.

Stranger.

I'm hoping it's just an IP address conflict with the static IP they gave me. Slocko you are using the HPNA bridge but I forget which incarnation and which model you have.
And just when I was beginning to feel comfortable about using the usb keyboard and adapter together. Well they worked together for the most part. Like when you didn't use the keyboard too much.

Originally posted by DerekFSU
Switching today to Escient. Anyone want an entre at a good price?

I will soon be down to one Entre (with three Escients). The DVDM-100 is a bit more elegant than the Entre, and is better than the Entre at large disc lookups, as there seem to be more errors (double entry of titles, stopped disc lookups--things usually related to entry of titles) with the Entre. The Entre is still a very nice product, but more finicky in comparison to the Escient.

Of course, the Entre remains a much better value, as you need to add a Fireball to replicate the versatility of the Entre. But that costs (retail to retail comparison) about as much as 2.5 to 3 Entres.

Nick :cool:

Originally posted by slocko
Adam that is the problem I was telling you about. Once the axcess and entre begin communicating, the entre cannot connect to the internet.

I thought maybe it was an hpna bridge issue, but you are having it also.

Stranger.
Isn't this issue why there are primary and secondary IP addresses in the Entre? I dimly recall that with an Axcess, these are supposed to be different.

I think I played with all the options I could think of, but I will try again. Maybe I forgot to make the ip addresses different. hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Originally posted by Nick Satullo
I will soon be down to one Entre (with three Escients). The DVDM-100 is a bit more elegant than the Entre, and is better than the Entre at large disc lookups, as there seem to be more errors (double entry of titles, stopped disc lookups--things usually related to entry of titles) with the Entre. The Entre is still a very nice product, but more finicky in comparison to the Escient. Since you haven't been here in a while, I figured that you had moved on from Sovereign. The demise of DVDEdit was the coup de grace, I guess.

Please refresh my memory: you have both audio and video systems, right? What changers are you using? I recently removed all of my DVD-As from my changers. Without the ability to directly access individual tracks, I find that the jukebox paradigm breaks down, and central storage actually becomes a detriment, rather than an aid. I find I play my SACDs (which I keep on a shelf right next to my equipment) all the time because there right there at my fingertips. I almost never listen to my DVD-As because they're buried inside the changer and the Entre, and I can't mix things up. I never listen to more than a few tracks on any album, and until I took the DVD-As out and put them on the shelf next to the SACDs, it was very hard to do that. It still isn't so easy on those discs where you have to go through the menu to access specific tracks.

I'm actually a bit peeved at the high-resolution scene at the moment. I now own 6 multi-channel Elton John discs, of which I really only want to listen to a total of about 10-15 tracks. It really steams me that there is no way to burn those tracks onto a single disk.

Adam, Slocko, All:
I too am having the same problem. Once Axcess finds Entre, disc lookups VIA Entre are no longer possible. I also experienced the "Incompatible USB Adapter" message. My unit went as far a resetting itself and then welcoming me with the setup screens I saw when I took Entre out of the box for the first time. I then could not get the unit to re-authenticate with OG's server. The unit stated that the adapter was not compatible. I then tried dial-up using KW's EarthLink account, guess what, unless I entered the username and password incorrectly, it doesn't exist anymore. I then removed the adapter and rebooted Entre. After the reboot without the adapter plugged in, I turned the unit on and inserted the adapter into on of the usb ports and wouldn't you know it, It was recognized. I then authenticated with the server, VIA Ethernet and the unit began doing lookup's again. Now Axcess cannot find Entre again. Funny thing is after doing all the things I just mentioned, Entre automatically sets both Primary and Secondary connections to "Ethernet," and the IP's, Mask's and DNS fields are identical. I'll keep you posted If I figure it out, Robert's Idea seems logical, but I haven't had time to try it out yet. I am going to try to set the secondary IP setting to an unused IP address and see what happens. I really like the Axcess and it sounds pretty good. I can do without the Net Radio option. Its just a bummer the unit doesn't function properly, at least not yet.....

Danny, Slocko,
I rebooted the Entre and switched the last digit on the Primary IP address up by one and ran the `test connection` and it worked. Or so I thought. Although it repeatedly tested-out for me it never worked on any lookups(I always got a DNS failure error report. I wonder if some other combination of bridges-routers-usb adapters work better. Researching back to around 8 0r 9 of '02 in this thread when there was someone from Kenwood posting it seems that the linksys hpb200 or the bridge/router combo work the best. I wonder if ScottF is having similar problems?
The secondary IP is static and is working fine with the Axcess.
Oh one more thing that is kind of irritating; when dv5900's are daisy-chained there is no way to export the composite video from the second and third unit to the first. This isn't a big problem when component video is used but when modulating the composite to the rest of your house, you get no video when selecting a disc from changer 2 or 3.

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Oh one more thing that is kind of irritating; when dv5900's are daisy-chained there is no way to export the composite video from the second and third unit to the first. This isn't a big problem when component video is used but when modulating the composite to the rest of your house, you get no video when selecting a disc from changer 2 or 3. Can't you use the S-video connection for that? I'm pretty sure that on the 5900, the composite output merely sums the luminance and chromiance signals, so if you make the s-video chain, the output should show up on the composite output.

Switching today to Escient. Anyone want an entre at a good price?

Go Request

Adam, If you changed the IP in Entre's setup you must save, then reboot. Just changing the digit and then testing will not work. When you run the test connection before rebooting Entre is actually testing with the previous entry.That explains why our connections are successful before the units reset themselves. Another point I have found is after setting the secondary setup to HPNA , DVD edit no longer can find Entre on the network but entering my router's setup screens on my PC it appears as a connected device with an IP address present. For some reason it seems Entre is using the secondary settings to access the internet, when they are no longer present or have been changed the unit wil not do any more lookup's. I can tell you one thing for sure, trying to go back to the original settings proves to be a real pain. The adapter is no longer recognized unless you remove it, reboot, and reinstall it after the reboot. I am wondering if we remove the adapter reboot, set up the unit to "sync" with the axcess then reinstall the adapter, would work. If anyone has a chance to try this out let me know. I am watching my kids today (6mons & 3) and my hands are kinda full.

Danny I've tried just about every IP address under static configuration. I can get the Entre to connect and the axcess to connect, however, never at the same time! I am going to buy a netgear bridge and see if that works.

Did you try two different IP's one for primary and another for secondary? I can only get a successful primary test connection if both primary and secondary are set up as "Ethernet". If I set up the secondary as "HPNA" I can not get a successful test with the primary only the secondary tests successfully.

Well, Looks like after clicking the 'buy' button on Amazon the pe-102 netgear is no longer available. Damn! That leaves only the linksys hpro200 which opens up a whole new can of worms.

Adam,

In my case, I also needed to use the composite connection to run it through a whole-house A/V controller (it only accepted composite video). It seems that whenever you plug an s-video cable into the 5900's (or the Entre, can't recall) the composite is no longer active (at least in my case).

I used s-video from changer 2, to changer 1 -- I then put an adapter on the s-video cable (turns it back to composite -- it's less than $10 at RadioShack), I then ran that cable to Entre -- then Entre's composite out to the whole-house A/V unit. It worked great as a second video source on a 30" tv.

hm

Originally posted by rbienstock
Can't you use the S-video connection for that? I'm pretty sure that on the 5900, the composite output merely sums the luminance and chromiance signals, so if you make the s-video chain, the output should show up on the composite output.

[i]Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Oh one more thing that is kind of irritating; when dv5900's are daisy-chained there is no way to export the composite video from the second and third unit to the first. This isn't a big problem when component video is used but when modulating the composite to the rest of your house, you get no video when selecting a disc from changer 2 or 3.
Can't you use the S-video connection for that? I'm pretty

hmatos,I'll try your solution tomorrow. My composite to s-video cable (in reverse) did not work. I'm very impressed with the Axcess (no stuttering or hang-ups). Ordered a netgear pe-102 on ebay, if it solves the entre/Axcess Primary network connectivity issue I'll get more Axcess'. I think this combination is working for ScottF.

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
<snip> Ordered a netgear pe-102 on ebay, if it solves the entre/Axcess Primary network connectivity issue I'll get more Axcess'. I think this combination is working for ScottF. I had my share of problems with Entre internet/intranet connectivity issues. I originally used the USB adapter and with worked very well w/dyn IP. At some point (.10 release) it stopped and I wasted a weekend on it and finally when to static IPs. Worked ok. I then got the Axcess and wanted Sirius so I got the PE 102. I then had both USB and HPNA working. At some point I ran into wierd connectivity errors. I wanted to use USB because I thought the connection was faster. Too much pain and time for me and I removed the USB and now have used HPNA for pri and sec for at least a year. It has worked very well.

Same as Scott. I have switched to a all HPNA connection and don't have any problems like I used to. With the USb/ethernet I would always have some glitch and I would have to go troubleshooting. With HPNA I haven't touched it at all.

For people looking to switch to a HPNA, if you have a cable modem look on the internet for a Motorola SBG1000. Its a alll in one unit. Cable modem, Wirless router, Ethernet router, HPNA router, etc. It works great and its only downside is its a 802.11b. But you can always plug in and daisy chain another faster wireless router if needed.

Hmatos, I picked up an s-video/composite adapter ($23!!) and will try it tomorrow.
Today I spent half the day trying to work out internet/intranet conflict connectivity issue. Much of the time was spent with Nicholas from tech support who seems to be more proficient and determined at resolving these issues. He duplicated my set-up and my problem and promised to work on it .
To those who are connected with hpna bridge; Are you getting internet radio and if so any problems?

Adam

I honestly don't remember paying more than a few dollars for it at Radio Shack. It was a little black adapter, one side svideo the other composite. Where did you get it and what exactly is it (do you have a link)?

hm

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Hmatos, I picked up an s-video/composite adapter ($23!!) and will try it tomorrow.
Today I spent half the day trying to work out internet/intranet conflict connectivity issue. Much of the time was spent with Nicholas from tech support who seems to be more proficient and determined at resolving these issues. He duplicated my set-up and my problem and promised to work on it .
To those who are connected with hpna bridge; Are you getting internet radio and if so any problems?

Hmatos, I went to Radio Shack. The part # is 15-1238. Have to go to work so I can't look it up right now.


Go Kings!

Looking forward to hearing a resolution.

I thought you got the netgear bridge. I thought that one worked without problems?

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Hmatos, I picked up an s-video/composite adapter ($23!!) and will try it tomorrow.
Today I spent half the day trying to work out internet/intranet conflict connectivity issue. Much of the time was spent with Nicholas from tech support who seems to be more proficient and determined at resolving these issues. He duplicated my set-up and my problem and promised to work on it .
To those who are connected with hpna bridge; Are you getting internet radio and if so any problems?

Slocko, I just got the Netgear bridge today. hooked it up and everything works now including iradio.Apparently having the bridge in the mix seems to solve the connectivity issues. Now the real test--longevity.
Oh yeah, the guy at tech-support (Nicholas) said it was possible to connect the Axcess wirelessly although I don't see how.

only that particular bridge. my linksys hpna bridge behaves the same way.

i doubt the Axcess will work wirelessly. I never saw a wireless hpna bridge advertised anywhere.

only thing I can think of, is the axcess to the hpna bridge, and the hpna bridge to a wireless ethernet bridge. kind of kludgy, but it might work.

FYI, 2Wire makes an excellent HPNA + Router + Wireless called the Home Portal that has worked flawlessly for me from the beginning. It is an excellent all-in-one solution, as it provides wireless (with great range, b+g) and HPNA. I got mine through my ISP, but I have also seen them on Ebay. Highly recommended.

Wow, I don't remember paying that much ... spending way too much on all this stuff ;)

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Hmatos, I went to Radio Shack. The part # is 15-1238. Have to go to work so I can't look it up right now.


Go Kings!

buying things without looking at the recepit again?? then you get surprised when the amex bill is so high????

glad to see i'm not the only one :D

Wow, everything is still working flawlessly. I don't know what to do with myself. Had to pinch myself to make sure I was not sleeping!

Anyone know of an iradio station that works with entre that has Art Bell?

Adam, How much did you pay for the PE-102. I have been looking around and the prices seem a little high, don't you think...

I got a look at this weeks "Comp-USA" flyer , here in NJ this week. They have an "HP" HTPC for $1899.00. The amount of storage on the unit is increbible. I'm gonna hold off for a while. I want to see what Kenwood has in store for 2005.

Question, I have 5700 unit and I am having problems getting burned media to work (DVD+RW/R or DVD-RW/R) has anyone successfully used either one on a consistant basis? If so what type and brand DVD's?

Originally posted by XBRSteve
Question, I have 5700 unit and I am having problems getting burned media to work (DVD+RW/R or DVD-RW/R) has anyone successfully used either one on a consistant basis? If so what type and brand DVD's? FYI, as one option you can use the "Search this Thread:" box at the top of your screen.

You will find a post: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2266466&highlight=burn+dvd#post2266466

and can read several replies. Perhaps there are more people doing it now. I point out a website to help people with this info. See above series of post.

Danny, I paid about $60 (used) on ebay for the PE-102. It may seem high, but no one is making these anymore and the headaches of having to reboot constantly (especially when you are showing it off to some one) are gone! It is definitely money well-spent.

This may not be the right place to post this, but I am at wits end.
When I purchased my Entre it worked with my 425M...then a software upgrade and it now no longer controls it properly...

Anyone out there know how I can get to it to work again, without reverting back to the old software version? Or if not...would anyone like to buy it from me?

brian

Software upgrade to the Entre? Last upgrade was fairly long time ago unless I missed something.

Well, it was a long time ago that krichter1 was having problems with DVDEdit. We had pretty well decided that there was an array issue with the program that showed up around 1000 discs in the Entre's library. Well, tonight I discovered that the actual number is 951 discs.

I see that DVDEdit was upgraded at one point, but now no longer available. Has anyone found out the name of the company that bought it and whether an updated copy can be purchased from them?

BTW, my Entre is just humming along nicely. I had a corrupted library about a month ago, but worked through it by having the Entre look up all of the discs in the changers. It took a while to fix. I'm still using the USB connections to an Ethernet hub and it although it took a while to make it work, it hasn't failed once.

I tried to backup a DVD for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I used DVD-R media. The 5900M had a problem reading it when controlled by the Entre, but had no problems reading the disc when turned to the correct location and played directly. I finally put a dummy disc into the changer to get the Entre to register that a disc was in that slot. I then did a title search and the disc was properly registered.

P.S.

I thought I had an option set where the AVS Forum would email me whenever a post was placed on this thread. Since I hadn't seen any emails from the AVS Forum, I thought that this thread was quiet. Glad to see that there is quite a bit of activity here.

Well I guess it was too good to be true. I'm having problems with the Axcess playing playlists although it plays individual tracks and the rest of the album fine. Whenever I select a playlist it reads 'loading music info' and hangs up there. I just added an Elan telephone controller to the network and physically moved the Axcess to a new location. I also would have this problem once in a while from it's initial position. Anyone else having playlist loading problems?

Originally posted by Adam Mrotek
Well I guess it was too good to be true. I'm having problems with the Axcess playing playlists although it plays individual tracks and the rest of the album fine. Whenever I select a playlist it reads 'loading music info' and hangs up there. I just added an Elan telephone controller to the network and physically moved the Axcess to a new location. I also would have this problem once in a while from it's initial position. Anyone else having playlist loading problems? I normally get 'loading music info' when I first select 'music' after the unit is on AUX. Then I get it by scrolling down for music titles under and built in group OR from a playlist. All my playlist begin with an * as I've previously mentioned to 'help' them be sorted and for quick identification. I've also only built playlist from MM. I do occasionally have problems playing from a playlist (like a few minutes ago). I then stop/restarted the Axcess and played from a normal built in group first. When that worked I just went and played my playlist. It is a bit tempermental.

Originally posted by dwm55
Well, it was a long time ago that krichter1 was having problems with DVDEdit. We had pretty well decided that there was an array issue with the program that showed up around 1000 discs in the Entre's library. Well, tonight I discovered that the actual number is 951 discs.

I see that DVDEdit was upgraded at one point, but now no longer available. Has anyone found out the name of the company that bought it and whether an updated copy can be purchased from them?
<snip> P.S. I thought I had an option set where the AVS Forum would email me whenever a post was placed on this thread. Since I hadn't seen any emails from the AVS Forum, I thought that this thread was quiet. Glad to see that there is quite a bit of activity here. That number is nice to know and should be put in the FAQ. I'm not sure I'll ever get to that number or get there very soon. I'd probably sell the DVDs that I never watch. Still wish there was a way to for the Entre to keep track of what movies you watch but it would have to be an explicit selection option as many movies are probably selected but never watched (ie. demoing/testing).

I've never heard of who the company might be but Escients is certainly the likely one.

Regarding your PS. I've on occasion had to unsubscribe and then subscribe again as I've missed changed. No doubt a bug somewhere.

I finally have been successful modulating a converted s-video to composite signal from changers two and three. It turns out I had a bad s-video cable between changer one and two and this would not allow me to see changer two and three. What are the odds?!

Soon to be new Entre user here. I've tried searching the threads and I can not seem to find a step by step hard drive upgrade procedure. The FAQ just lists general steps not exactly what needs to be done. Does anyone have a step by step procedure for a hard drive upgrade or optimally a ISO image of the CDR that is needed? I'd like to put a 120gB drive in the Entre.

Also is the older versions of DVEDIT available anywhere? I can't seem to find that.

Thanks,

Shawn

Just an FYI, to anyone having trouble finding HPNA to ethernet bridges (PE-102's etc.) . With Windows XP you can create a network bridge between your ethernet or wireless primary network card and a secondary HPNA card like the Linksys HPN200. Works great! The only downside is having to have this pc powered up all the time. For me its not an issue as I have one on 7x24, your mileage may vary. If you try this with your network card and it doesn't work, make sure your adapter is capable of running in Compatibility or Promiscuous mode. If you are unsure, you can force it from the command line by executing the following statements...

1. click Start, click Run, type "cmd", and then click OK.
2. In the command window, type "netsh bridge show"
3. Note the number assigned to your primary adapter (wireless or otherwise) and type: "netsh bridge set a 1 e" where you substitute the number displayed in the previous step for the number 1 in this step.
4. To double check your nic card is correctly set with Force Compatibility Mode enabled, type the "netsh bridge show a" command again.
5. Enjoy!

I am running this on a pc with a Linksys Wireless PCI 54g card and the HPN200 and having NO problems accessing my entre.

Hope this helps!

BTW, great place y'all have here. Tons of info and some of the most knowledgable people I've ever had the pleasure to lurk amongst. Thanks for this thread and the info it has already provided. I am a new entre, vr-5900, dv-5050 owner and outside of realizing their changers are junk, I am enjoying the hell out of this system.

Regards,
MikeP

Originally posted by dwm55
Well, it was a long time ago that krichter1 was having problems with DVDEdit. We had pretty well decided that there was an array issue with the program that showed up around 1000 discs in the Entre's library. Well, tonight I discovered that the actual number is 951 discs.

I see that DVDEdit was upgraded at one point, but now no longer available. Has anyone found out the name of the company that bought it and whether an updated copy can be purchased from them?

BTW, my Entre is just humming along nicely. I had a corrupted library about a month ago, but worked through it by having the Entre look up all of the discs in the changers. It took a while to fix. I'm still using the USB connections to an Ethernet hub and it although it took a while to make it work, it hasn't failed once.

I tried to backup a DVD for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I used DVD-R media. The 5900M had a problem reading it when controlled by the Entre, but had no problems reading the disc when turned to the correct location and played directly. I finally put a dummy disc into the changer to get the Entre to register that a disc was in that slot. I then did a title search and the disc was properly registered.

P.S.

I thought I had an option set where the AVS Forum would email me whenever a post was placed on this thread. Since I hadn't seen any emails from the AVS Forum, I thought that this thread was quiet. Glad to see that there is quite a bit of activity here.


I too have had some problems lately with my database on the Entre, where I would get "Internal DVD" as the location of the disc. I edited the entry through the GUI to find the associated XML on the Entre through FTP but it gave me NO additional hints as to where the discs actually reside in which changer. I decided, after scrolling through each entry in the GUI, that I had enough to warrant a complete "Lookup ALL", (it only took 826 minutes for 1129 movies!!). That fixed most everything.

My problem now is that I have two "phantom" entries I cannot get rid of. For instance, one says "MASH Season 3 disc 2" with the location of "internal DVD". Whenever I highlight the entry in the GUI, the header information above shows the name of the previously highlighted entry. When I try and use the GUI edit function the title shows up as blank, and when I find the correct XML after changing the title in the GUI, deleting the XML does NO good as the XML keeps getting recreated by the Entre. Anyone know which file keeps all the references to the XML's because if I can delete the master entry out of there I think the Entre won't attempt a recreating of the XML?? I bet it's something similar to Slocko's past MP# ghosts but I don't want to start hacking too much without knowing where to look.

As far as DVDEdit goes I am using that latest version with no issues on my second Entre, (yeah... I eventually ran out of room on my first system and am now using the new setup for TV, holiday & concert DVD's) but as you all know mine crapped out on the first setup at about 1000 discs (so 951 sounds right). Rumor has it that Nightowl's DVDEdit was bought out possibly by Escient to protect the revenue stream of the Fireball's, (now that the Entre's are so cheap people aren't buying too many from Escient and threads like this are keeping people interested in the Entre). Not sure how much of that I believe but it's what I heard as a potential explaination.

Your workaround for the Entre not reading discs through the changers is something I've been doing for a while on a lot of Disney titles (especially the Disc 2's of the sets). Once the Entre "thinks" its a valid disc it works just fine but does have problems reading initially from the changers for some reason. Most of my DVD-r's come up as "unknown discs" and I just use FTP to make the changes directly in the XML.

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Help!!!!

I have an entre and two 5900m changers, the main is full and the second is almost full. The two changers are daisey chained, using s-video and than connected to the entre through the primary changer also using s-video. The entre is than connected to my older sony projection tv using the only connection possible - s-video. On my primary changer I now have green lines when the changer is the active one. The green lines stay even if i connect directly to the tv using the s-video cable. Strangely, when the second changer is played (remember daisey chained through the primary) no lines, perfect picture and audio. The green lines are there whether a disk is being played or not. If I switch off the changer, the entre picture is perfect.

Any ideas? I hate to take this dang thing apart again.

Originally posted by zinja
Help!!!!

I have an entre and two 5900m changers, the main is full and the second is almost full. The two changers are daisey chained, using s-video and than connected to the entre through the primary changer also using s-video. The entre is than connected to my older sony projection tv using the only connection possible - s-video. On my primary changer I now have green lines when the changer is the active one. The green lines stay even if i connect directly to the tv using the s-video cable. Strangely, when the second changer is played (remember daisey chained through the primary) no lines, perfect picture and audio. The green lines are there whether a disk is being played or not. If I switch off the changer, the entre picture is perfect.

Any ideas? I hate to take this dang thing apart again.

Can you post us a picture? It would help to determine your problem, but with all you described it sounds like it is the internal video decoder board in the changer. Both component & Svideo IN terminals do not go through any processing from the master in the chain, thus if your slave is working fine it tells me it's NOT the cable, and NOT the Entre.

Try making the master machine the slave and visa-versa, switching the cables appropriately and post the results. If the now offending slave machine stills shows the green lines, it has got to be the processing board inside and you'll have to send it in for repair.

Krichter1,

I swapped out the changers, making the bad one the sub1 and the good one the main, same problem, bad one continues to show green lines, the original good one still plays fine. I unplugged the bad one for about thirty minutes, still not good.

How do I add a jpeg?

Anyway to reset the changer?

Try using it in the UK - 147 dvd's, 0 recognised :eek:

Actually to be fair most of these a tv series box sets, so maybe not listed, but I did expect (hope) it to find some of the films even if they are region 2.

Does anyone know how the dvd is 'tagged' for the look up against openglobe. Does it use,
- the volume label you see in explorer is you put a dvd into a computers dvd drive.
- or some computation based on the number and size of chapters similar to how I understand cddb.
- err or something else?

It would be interesting to see how a US copy of the Shawshank Redemption differs from a UK version, so if anyone has the flipper special edition version (sorry don't have all the details with me today) could you post?

Tonight I'll try some audio cd's, that are recognised in the entre's internal drive, in the changer to rule out some connectivity issue.

Looks like I'm going to end up a dab hand and openglobe searches :)

Originally posted by alan_m_2004
Try using it in the UK - 147 dvd's, 0 recognised :eek:

Actually to be fair most of these a tv series box sets, so maybe not listed, but I did expect (hope) it to find some of the films even if they are region 2.

Does anyone know how the dvd is 'tagged' for the look up against openglobe. Does it use,
- the volume label you see in explorer is you put a dvd into a computers dvd drive.
- or some computation based on the number and size of chapters similar to how I understand cddb.
- err or something else?

It would be interesting to see how a US copy of the Shawshank Redemption differs from a UK version, so if anyone has the flipper special edition version (sorry don't have all the details with me today) could you post?

Tonight I'll try some audio cd's, that are recognised in the entre's internal drive, in the changer to rule out some connectivity issue.

Looks like I'm going to end up a dab hand and openglobe searches :)

Hi Alan:

Do you have any region 1 DVDs? If it finds that, then we know the problem. Otherwise, you can test the internet connection in the setup menu.

Nick :cool:

Hi Nick,

All my dvd's are region 2 since the player is the 6050, the European version of the 5050.

I'll try and borrow a region 1 dvd from a friend tomorrow and see if it makes a difference. Similarly I'll try an audio cd in the changer tonight and see if that works.

Internet connectivity is fine, my first thought was either a network problem or the openglobe interface being down, but I did manually look up the shawshank redemption which rules those two out.

Overall I'm not panicing about this, it's a US entre and a European player, I expected there to be some problems and had concidered the worst case scenario of manually keying it all in.

Thanks,

Alan.

Oh just to add it does control the 6050 fine, and that's the main point of the entre exercise :)

Originally posted by alan_m_2004
Oh just to add it does control the 6050 fine, and that's the main point of the entre exercise :)

Sorry, Alan. If you want full Entre functionality, I'm afraid you'll just have to expatriate ;) But Kenwood USA doesn't have the greatest support, so you may want to think twice.

Nick :cool:

Just tried an audio cd in the change and that was looked up fine, so it looks like something to do with the dvds, either the region or their obscurity (I never knew I had such exotic taste).

I'll try a region 1 dvd tomorrow.

Sorry, Alan. If you want full Entre functionality, I'm afraid you'll just have to expatriate

<sigh> - could I not just get a really long lead and run the entre from the US? :D

Just to complete the story for anyone who is interested / has a similar experience....

2 x region one dvds are reported as an unreadable disks by the entre, so the lookup isn't even attempted. Don't think I can justify getting the 6050 chipped but we'll see.

Hmm plan now is to look at a smart way of moving the contents of dvdprofiler onto the entre. If I have any joy, rest assured I'll be sure to mention it on this thread.

Alan.

Originally posted by alan_m_2004
Just to complete the story for anyone who is interested / has a similar experience....

2 x region one dvds are reported as an unreadable disks by the entre, so the lookup isn't even attempted. Don't think I can justify getting the 6050 chipped but we'll see.

Hmm plan now is to look at a smart way of moving the contents of dvdprofiler onto the entre. If I have any joy, rest assured I'll be sure to mention it on this thread.

Alan.

Sorry for the inconvenience, Alan. Although doing the disc lookup separately for each is a pain, you should hopefully get most of the benefit.

Would it be cheaper to sell the 6050, and acquire a 5050? Could you run a 5050?

Nick :cool:

Sorry for the inconvenience, Alan

No need to apoligise unless you work for kenwood :eek: and even then how it's working is a reasonable expectation and I'm quite happy :)

On a more positive note I did manage to manually update a single entry in the entre 'database' from my dvdprofiler export. Bit of a copy and paste fest at the moment, but I think I understand how it works!

Assuming I can automate it and it proves to be stable I'll post up some details on the technical thread; that will be in a couple of weeks though.

Originally posted by alan_m_2004
<snip>On a more positive note I did manage to manually update a single entry in the entre 'database' from my dvdprofiler export. Bit of a copy and paste fest at the moment, but I think I understand how it works!

Assuming I can automate it and it proves to be stable I'll post up some details on the technical thread; that will be in a couple of weeks though. Above krichter1 mentioned "Most of my DVD-r's come up as "unknown discs" and I just use FTP to make the changes directly in the XML."

Perhaps it would be a good idea to talk about what XML entities can be changed in the tech thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=311141&perpage=30&pagenumber=1) for those that are editing the XML. Sounds like you guys are even editting the DVD title...which I would have guessed was a no no. That is I assumed that was part of the key to the database.

Heck I'd probably be happy just editing the Entre title and description to match the DVD Profiler "sort title" (there are 2 types right) and description.

To automate this you need to be able to sync the XMLs up...meaning have a common key. I've considered adding the MD5 value from the Entre files to some field in the DVD Profiler (Features table and "other" field). I've talked to Alan a little off line about how I've experimented a little in building one big XML file from all the little (individual DVD titles) ones on the entre. That is remove the DTD line and put a "wrapper" elements (http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_elements.asp)<alldvds> </alldvds> at the beginning and end. This would allow XML processors to treat it as one big element and break it down into sub elements (me thinks). ie. it could be read into MS Excell or Access and be understood or by a real XML processor/tool.

Mickey Twice Upon A Christmas refuses to be read by the entre. Mark up another stubborn disney title. What in the heck is in particular with Disney?????