Gentlemen,

As someone who took a considerable amount of heat for posting here, I feel compelled to come to David's defense. He is only giving you CONFIRMED info. I got some info and shared but because it was uncomfirmed it was also UNRELIABLE he is an admin here so he need to be responsible. I am just a poster so i can say anything:)


I know that Kenwood would love to give us all that we want and more....and I truly believe we will get it and sooner rather than later.

I am not a Kenwood butt kisser but they are in business to keep clients happy and they know that they have a huge opportunity here if they deliver!!!!


Everyone have a great Holiday season!!!!

Originally posted by Bob_422
Press Setup, then 5555

I would like to know exactly what the first and second choices do.

Force Reregistration (restarts unit)
Library Index Rebuild (restarts unit)

Any ideas?

Mr. Integration,

Did you ever find out what these options do? I ask because I have still not found out why my Entre refuses to play any disc in slot 255 of my changer. I really don't want to wipe out my Entre and Changer's entire memory and start all over. It took way too long to correct all of the mistakes on all of my CD's info from CDDB such as spelling and punctuation to lose it all. But my Entre needs some sort of swift kick in the butt or something to get it to play slot 255.

Bob

Bob,

A rebuild does wipe the hard drive and it may be neccesary. I had a problem with disc info getting "stuck" in a slot even though it was not in there anymore....it was painful but I had to do it.


Rebuilding did solve that prob but it did not help with my Entre not working with my USB adapter that had worked for months.....I think I need to send mine in:(

Hi All...

Just a quick reply here. I was one of the first to receive the complete Kenwood Sovereign system when it came out. I was waiting for a year for it and I paid for it as an end user like yourselves. (just so no rumors start.) I love the product and have helped do my part in making it better with feedback and yes, testing. I have great respect for what they have produced.

I am NOT in business with Kenwood...Heck, they do not even run ads on this site (Hint, Hint Kenwood) I was asked by their marketing firm if they could quote me on some of the remarks I have made. Seeing I do love and use the product, and do support it, I said sure. But they were not allowed to use the AVS Forum name in the ad for I was doing ti as an end user and did not want to come off as AVS Forum endorsed.

In any case...I HAVE NO RELATION WITH THEM other than an interest in seeing this idea work. I truly, truly, use it every day.

I will only post info I may receive that I know to have been told in good faith from the right people. I have no issue with Mr. Integration, just stating what I was kindly asked to by Brian at Kenwood.

Thanks all....

Happy Holidays!!!!

Originally posted by Mr. Integration
A rebuild does wipe the hard drive and it may be neccesary. I had a problem with disc info getting "stuck" in a slot even though it was not in there anymore....it was painful but I had to do it. In my case it didn't wipe the drive -- just the opposite. I had a problem with "invisible" files -- two related problems: (1) deleted files that no longer showed up in the guide but that remain on the disk taking up space. Things got so weird that I deleted every file on the disk, and delete files told me that I had 159 files available for deletion. (2) I'd rip certain discs but they'd never show up in the guide, or they would be in the guide for a while and then disapear.

Library Rebuild fixed both these problems by making all the invisible files visible again. I then re-deleted them, and some of them went away and others just got invisible again. But a series of rebuilds whittled the list down until I how have fewer than 30 invisible files. When I get the chance, I'm going to do more to get them down to 0

Originally posted by Mr. Integration
(snip)
I know that Kenwood would love to give us all that we want and more....and I truly believe we will get it and sooner rather than later.
(snip)

It might be later, rather than sooner, I'm afraid... After a back-and-forth exchange of emails with Kenwood tech support (which incidentally happens to be down the street from my office, I found out) about Entre's lack of multi-changer support and a possible upcoming fix, FYI this is the "unappealable" reply I got today:


From: Stage 3 <stage3@kenwoodusa.com>

Thank you for writing to us at Kenwood USA Corporation.

Sorry, we have no further information. We do not want to promise a date, and then fall short of it, or promise that this feature will be released, and then it never is. You will just have to wait. We understand your frustration and are very sorry.

If you have any further questions or need help with anything, please feel free to contact us again.

************************************************************ **********************
Kenwood U.S.A. Corporation
Stage 3 Consumer Services
P.O. Box 22745
Long Beach, CA 90801-5745

[Name Removed by Admin]
Consumer Service Representative
E-mail addresses for Kenwood USA Corporation:
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/support/email_support.jsp
Phone: 800-536-9663
Fax: 310-631-3913
************************************************************ ************************

Had they at least said "A fix is coming, just be patient a few more weeks/months/years/decades...," but noooo! I think Nicholas was smart to invest in an extra Entre after all.

My problem with Axcess apparently solved:
OTOH, the same tech support gentleman was helpful regarding my recent problem with Axcess going into standby mode unexpectedly while playing MP3's or net radio. His suggestion, a hard reboot of Entre' and soft reboot of Axcess, seems to have done the trick, so far no more shutoffs.

--
Umberto
Gardena, CA

Can someone tell me the latest software version? Also, I've been trying to do an update via dial-up and get to "Contacting Openglobe servers", but it never gets any further and eventually times out. Any suggestions? -John

JVS,

If you are using dial up you must change the DNS settings due to a change at Openglobe.


Set them to

DNS 1 is 198.6.1.1

DNS2 is 198.6.1.2


it should be fine.

Has anyone else seen a LARGE, make that VERY LARGE, slow down in movie lookup when the system looks for new DVD you have added? I mean, I go in once in awhile to have the Entre look up missing titles. I do this by...

Going into Movie Mode
Pressing OPTIONS
Selecting GET MOVIE INFO
Press SELECT again.

It then goes to look up the missing titles. Usually, very, very quick. Connecting to the server in the first 8 seconds and then blowing right though the missing titles one after after another. Now, it connects in like 8 seconds, but then just sites on "Getting dvd info from OpenGlobe..." for a long time without moving. Finely, I mean after like 1 min 35 second, it will say something DVD Info not Found and then move on to the next disc for another long wait.

It has been like this for the past 4 days. At first, I had a DNS failure issue for some strange reason. So I put in the OpenGlobe DNS and this slow down started to happen.

Ok...It's now done...12 mins 52 seconds to go though 11 titles. See my issue?

Originally posted by David Bott
Has anyone else seen a LARGE, make that VERY LARGE, slow down in movie lookup when the system looks for new DVD you have added? I mean, I go in once in awhile to have the Entre look up missing titles. I do this by...

Going into Movie Mode
Pressing OPTIONS
Selecting GET MOVIE INFO
Press SELECT again.

It then goes to look up the missing titles. Usually, very, very quick. Connecting to the server in the first 8 seconds and then blowing right though the missing titles one after after another. Now, it connects in like 8 seconds, but then just sites on "Getting dvd info from OpenGlobe..." for a long time without moving. Finely, I mean after like 1 min 35 second, it will say something DVD Info not Found and then move on to the next disc for another long wait.

It has been like this for the past 4 days. At first, I had a DNS failure issue for some strange reason. So I put in the OpenGlobe DNS and this slow down started to happen.

Ok...It's now done...12 mins 52 seconds to go though 11 titles. See my issue?

It happens more often than you'd think. You don't get to nearly 600 discs without buying them regularly, and adding them regularly. There have been several times when this is the way it works. I don't believe it makes a difference how you enter the disc lookup feature (the way you've described, which I also use, or going into changer management and giving it a new "range" for lookup).

Nick :cool:

Originally posted by David Bott
Has anyone else seen a LARGE, make that VERY LARGE, slow down in movie lookup when the system looks for new DVD you have added?
That appears to be about 1 minute 20 seconds for each. Certainly not unheard of in my experience and is more the norm for me. Of course it may depend on how far apart your disc are as well. It takes 40ish seconds I thought for worse case per disc...so your look up may only be taking 30 seconds:D

I just went through this myself. For both scenarios it took over a minute each.
Scenario 1: Took 6 existing DVDs to a relative for Christmas. Brought them back and even put them in the exact same slots. It still took over a minute per one to 'detect' and look them up again. Heck as I recall it was supposed to be a "feature" that disc don't get looked up again if you move them around or take them out and put them back in. I was thinking it would even keep like 420 or so. Anyone else recall this marketing?

Scenario 2: Added 6 new ones that we got for Christmas.
- 007 Tomorrow Never Dies - found but with incorrect cover (silver one)
- 007 Golden Eye - found
- "Speed - Five Star Collection" - it found this Five Star title even but stated it's Disc 1 as (Disc 2). It did not find Disc 2. (reported to dvdtitles@kenwoodusa.com )
- "Monsters, Inc." - not found automatically but found manually and only when I used all the punctuation (manually it found the bonus disc for both disc 1 and 2)

BTW, it also put Monsters in the "Other" category/genre instead of Animated. I think I found a bug when I tried to fix it this way...don't do this: While it was high lighted in the "Other" category I did 'edit group' and over typed 'Other' with 'Animated'. Remember that this category exist already and had DVDs in it. After over typing I did 'select' and it brought up normal interface to add to 'Animated'. That is it lets you scroll through and select more or unselected some already selected. [b] Oh yea the "right" way to do this without it freaking is to start off in the existing 'Animated' category and then do the 'edit group'.[b]

After selecting Monsters and pressing 'rec' I got stuck at a 'Updating...please wait'. It stayed there for a minute and I got out of it by moving left or right to bring up another category. Everything was weird for the 'Animated' Category now. 1 or 2 of 7 DVDs showed up. I couldn't delete them, I couldn't delete the Category even though it was empty, etc. I "fixed" it by rebooting (5 second power button hold down) and having the Entre look up 'The Bugs Life' and automatically add it to 'Animated'. All other functions were normal then...meaning I could add other DVDs to this group/category/genre. (Yes, i reported this to EntreReports@kenwoodusa.com )

Note...The Changer is NOT re-reading the Discs in my case. It is just ENTRE that needs to go look them up. It use dto be...8 seconds to connect...then, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam to look up 5 discs that are UNKNOWN in the movie list. Like 3 seconds a lookup, if found, it slows down for the download, but if not...Bam, Bam, Bam.

Again...It ready read the discs from the changer. I am just asking it to look them again to see if they are now on-line using the method I mentioned.

Thanks!

Originally posted by David Bott
Going into Movie Mode
Pressing OPTIONS
Selecting GET MOVIE INFO
Press SELECT again.


Re: Quick Re-lookup
I just tried the above and it took a total of 16 seconds to look up 6 disc. 8-10 seconds to connect then: Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam, Bam. :D

Apparently what I described before was anytime you add a disc (or rental) or I believe do a range lookup.

Your BAM, BAM, Bam is my Drudge, Drudge, Drudge. :( It use to be Bam, Bam, Bam for me...but for some reason it stop the day after X-Mass.

At least I showed you a quick way to look up discs that were unknown when you loaded it, but may have now been added. :)

This happened right before the last software upgrade, so maybe they are getting ready for another.

Dave you got the in, call someone and find out for us, or maybe you already know:)

Yeah! It is back up to speed this morning!

It there any way to get a printed listing from Entre on your movie collection?

Originally posted by Nicholas
Again, remember these words: Disc 400 will arrive. When it does, Entre becomes the useless tool. I know it, I experienced it.

I searched the forums but can't find any other reference to the "Disc 400". What is the Disc 400?

I'm in the process of assembling a HTPC/DVDLobby/Slinke solution using Sony DVD changers. This is the route I went after being disgusted with Kenwood and returning all my DV-5xxxM stuff.

So I'm fascinated to hear about this "Disc 400" solution...


Mike

Mike,

I think Nick is referring to the 400th disc you collect and add to your changer -- necessitating buying a 2nd changer to add the 401st CD/DVD you purchase. After 400 discs, you need to buy a 2nd changer. As soon as you have 2 changers, the Entre becomes "useless" because it's not managing your entire library anymore -- it's only managing the 1st 400 of the 400+ discs you own.

Once you have more than 400, you may not be able to find the movie/CD you want because it may be in Changer#2.

David, don't worry about the speed of the Openglobe, once you hit 400 disks, you won't need openglobe. :)

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
Mike,

I think Nick is referring to the 400th disc you collect and add to your changer

Ah. I'm stupid.

In a way I'm glad it's not some whiz-bang new system, since I've already got all the stuff for my new setup on order, lol.


Mike

Originally posted by zinja
David, don't worry about the speed of the Openglobe, once you hit 400 disks, you won't need openglobe. :)

And how is that anything but a jab and thus not helpful? Is it really needed? I am sorry, I do not think it is. Come on now.

Ahhh.... let's lighten up a bit! I personally thought Zinja's post was kind of funny -- in a punchy kinda way. It make me laugh.

Anything worth investing in is also worth poking fun at, IMHO. Plus, he did put the :) at the end... doesn't a :) magically remove all ill will from any post?

Just to add some useless trivia to the forum.

My monthly friend the "unreadable disc" visited me again. I didn't want to take the player apart, but I think the disc is actually not loading and that is why it can't read it. The reason is that when i hit eject the carousel turns immediately and I don't hear it eject. If that is true, then there might some truth to the eject mechanism not working and this problem being related. Also, when this problem occurs the eject mechanism doesn't work at all. You press it and nothing happens. Usually when it's working right, you hear a lever moving even if it doesn't push the disc out.

This time instead of turning it off, I just let it continue trying to load the discs, one after the other, which is what it tries to do after it can't read one. I walked away so I don't know how many it tried, but when I came back one was finally playing.

Definetely a defective unit, but I am just in no mood to unload 400 discs and send it in. I wish I would have bought an extended warranty. By the way, I am now doing what Nick used to do. Removing discs I don't think are worthy of watching again. Even though I have an Entre, I am not using at the moment. Tried it but didn't find it added enuff value to switch to it. Maybe when they add descriptions to the guide, I will try it again, unless I am using two player by then.

Mediastorm did you ever get your new unit? Has it been problem free?

Slocko,

One advantage of using the Entre vs the the 5900M interface is that unloading and reloading discs is much less hassle. It was very labor intensive to add discs using the PC application to manage discs in the 5900M directly. The Entre makes it fairly automatic and simple. Maybe that reason alone will get you to get your 5900M fixed (don't forget, it has a 2 year warranty -- it's still covered!) and start using the Entre when you get it back.

Yep I know. I think I am going to wait to see what happens with the upgrade since soon I will need a second 5900 and the entre will become useless at that point. I am running out of movies to prune from the system. thank god I joined Netflix.

I might just go ahead and buy a second one so I can have something while the other one is being repaired. I can't be weeks without my player. I watch a movie every night.

Originally posted by slocko
Yep I know. I think I am going to wait to see what happens with the upgrade since soon I will need a second 5900 and the entre will become useless at that point. I am running out of movies to prune from the system. thank god I joined Netflix.

I might just go ahead and buy a second one so I can have something while the other one is being repaired. I can't be weeks without my player. I watch a movie every night.

Even when Kenwood does provide a fix--yes, it's close enough to New Year's Resolutions that I'll give them the undeserved benefit of the doubt--I'm likely to hang on to the second Entre unit, and move my CD collection over into two changers. Problem there, however, is disc change speed, as "shuffle" play is very quick with the Sony changers I have. However, the Entre UI is very, very good.

Quick Note: Possible Entre improvement. Ability to go to OpenGlobe while a music disc still plays. There is a wealth of information one can access off OpenGlobe concerning discographies, background material, historical info on musical artists. Often, I'm listening to something new and I'm prompted to "check out" the stats on the artist. It's easy enough to go there, but, when you do, the disc stops playing. It should keep playing. If I want to read info on the disc I'm listening to, or its artist, I shouldn't have to wait until I'm ready to stop listening to the music.

Hey, Slocko, I did enough movie pruning. I want the right to own useless discs I wouldn't think of watching. That's what this diversion is all about.

Nick :cool:

Sorry Dave, I thought I was going for an upper cut, not a jab. But, you are right, my comments did not add anything to the thread, other than to continue to voice my frustration with my $5,000 system that is still not complete. If I could locate a really cheap (less than $500 entre) I would simply do what Nick has done, have two entres controlling just two multi-changers. By the way Nick, are you able to connect two entres to the internet using broadband?

Back to David, sorry if you took offense, but once you hit that magic 400, you will understand the frustration we have been experiencing. Once again: :)

Originally posted by aauno
It there any way to get a printed listing from Entre on your movie collection?

Aauno, Not natively that I have heard of. Most probably just use DVD Profiler (http://www.dvdprofiler.com/dvdpro/index.html) and when they get new movies add them to the DV5900M and use the UPC on the then useless case to enter them into DVD Profiler. It has quite flexible printing and customizable reports. Hey another benefit you can point your friends to your DVD list (http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=ScottF200) before they come over to watch a movie and they can pick one out ahead of time reading the description etc. If all that sounds a bit anti-Entre it's not meant to be.

Originally posted by zinja
By the way Nick, are you able to connect two entres to the internet using broadband?



Yes. Had to daisy chain another router because it was out of inputs, but it works fine. I use the D-Link wireless broadband router, although each of the entres have to go hardwire into it.

The better question is remote control confusion. I got lucky because I owned a remote control that can switch between IR and RF, so that I set one to each. A third would be a problem, unless you want to get into IR routing. I understand, however, that the upcoming i-Pronto will have that, on top of internet browsing capability, all for a most reasonable $1699 :mad:

Nick :cool:

I have burned so far about 250 cds on my spare time in mp3 format (non entre) and that has taken up 13 gigs of space using 160 quality. It's a big time investment in both the burning and adding a pc or storage device to your system, but you get unlimited capacity in return and you can easily create a spare backup of all your music so you can give to a friend to hold on to in case your house burns down :) Another 300 to go!!!!!

Hopefully the next version of the entre will allow for either the hard drive to be upgraded, or for it to be able to serve music from the network.

slocko...

You hit on a good point. I have even suggest using the UBS port with a USB harddrive to be used for backup or even extended storage! It should be able to be done if drivers can be written to use an external USB harddrive. Think of what that would give us in both storage and maybe backup!!!! That would be so cool and something I would pay to have. It does not SEEM like it would be a hard thing to be able to add in.

My fear, with any computer type device, that once you take the time to load all the data (in this case...music) the HD will fail at some point. It will happen, for it is mechanical. Maybe not for years, and years, but you do never know now do you?

Has anyone actually tried to do anything with the standard Entre drive? Such as making a backup, or expanding it to a larger drive, in much the same fashion as is done on TiVo's? I would think that a mirror of the original drive could be easily made, and a larger drive (assuming the Entre OS could recognize it) would not be too complicated.

Kirby Baker,

I was able to perform a unix dd (device dump) of the drive, thereby creating a backup. I tried many, many ways to get it to recognize additional space on the backup drive -- but no luck!

HM

How about a CD-RW swap? If I remember correctly, they're using a Lite-on model. Mine is pretty much fried after 200 CD rips; it won't rip more than one per hour or so without getting read errors. The engineer part of me wants to use this as an excuse to open 'er up (my VFD display is getting pretty weak, too), but the more practical part of me is pointing out that I did get a 3 year extended warranty from The Good Guys for the unit ;)

Originally posted by Nicholas
Quick Note: Possible Entre improvement. Ability to go to OpenGlobe while a music disc still plays. There is a wealth of information one can access off OpenGlobe concerning discographies, background material, historical info on musical artists. Often, I'm listening to something new and I'm prompted to "check out" the stats on the artist. It's easy enough to go there, but, when you do, the disc stops playing. It should keep playing. If I want to read info on the disc I'm listening to, or its artist, I shouldn't have to wait until I'm ready to stop listening to the music.

Nick :cool:

Nick,

Something isn't right, I can have a CD playing and press my OpenGlobe button, browse the Discography and Artist Background and everything else, and my CD keeps on playing. You should be able to do this as well. I use this feature a ton. But then, I have never been prompted to "check out" stats automatically. I have always initiated it manually with the OpenGlobe button.

Bob

Originally posted by Bob_422
Nick,

Something isn't right, I can have a CD playing and press my OpenGlobe button, browse the Discography and Artist Background and everything else, and my CD keeps on playing. You should be able to do this as well. I use this feature a ton. But then, I have never been prompted to "check out" stats automatically. I have always initiated it manually with the OpenGlobe button.

Bob

The only music discs I listen to out of the DV-5900 are DVD-Audio discs. That could be the distinction. They won't continue playing while browsing OpenGlobe.

Nick :

Nick,

Can you elaborate on what you mean by you being prompted to check out the stats of an artist? Is the Entre UI doing this, or your brain?

FYI -- I had no idea that the openglobe button was anything but an on-line shopping cart until you brought this up. I can't wait to go home to do some on-line research on an artist that I'm listening to (on CD, that is).

Is the openglobe screen "context sensitive" -- ie., will automatically display info on the artist/title I'm listening to when I click on the OpenGlobe button?

You are correct Nick. It does not work with DVD-A, would be a nice addition.

John, you are correct as well. A CD must be playing to get the info, but there is a bunch there. Influences, album list and on and on. Neat stuff.

Bob

Edit: Maybe it only needs to be "selected" to get the OG info. I'll have to try it that way.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
Nick,

Can you elaborate on what you mean by you being prompted to check out the stats of an artist? Is the Entre UI doing this, or your brain?

Sorry. Just my brain.

FYI -- I had no idea that the openglobe button was anything but an on-line shopping cart until you brought this up. I can't wait to go home to do some on-line research on an artist that I'm listening to (on CD, that is).

There's a wealth of information. I'm doing some high resolution disc reviews for an online site, and I'm usually doing them for artists I'd not listened to much in the past, because you have to take what's out there. If, for example, you do an artist search, you're going to get a pretty decent bio, discography, history, and with links to items referenced therein. It's really a great source of information.

Is the openglobe screen "context sensitive" -- ie., will automatically display info on the artist/title I'm listening to when I click on the OpenGlobe button?

I don't think so, at least it's not with DVD-Audio discs. I have not tried it with CDs. By the way, the info on movies is just as elaborate. It's far from being another internet shopping place.

Nick :cool:

And now . . . in an absolutely amazing display of timeliness, I am listening to a DVD-Audio disc, and I have successfully navigated to OpenGlobe, and pulled up a search on the artist.

The content that gets displayed can be viewed at www.allmusic.com This is true for both music and movies.

I have discovered the trick. If you are listening to a DVD-Audio disc--which is in the Movies section of the Entre guide-- it stops the disc play when you press the OpenGlobe button. When you're in the OpenGlobe menu, which you are controlling from the Entre remote, you need to press the play button of the DV-5900 remote. That will start the disc playing again, although it will start from track one. You can then fast forward, although blindly, to the place you were at.

This is a major nugget for me. Glad we talked.

Nick :cool:

I found this amusing. Guy so frustrated he is selling his entire kenwood system with the movies inside!!!!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1499&item=1948087401

David it's not you is it??? :)

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
FYI -- I had no idea that the openglobe button was anything but an on-line shopping cart until you brought this up. I can't wait to go home to do some on-line research on an artist that I'm listening to (on CD, that is).

Is the openglobe screen "context sensitive" -- ie., will automatically display info on the artist/title I'm listening to when I click on the OpenGlobe button? [/B]

Why, yes, Jon, it is context sensitive! I've tested this successfully for the majority of my CDs. Have not tested on DVDs yet. The "Now Playing" button provided background info on the artist you're listening to. Very very nice. Used it all day yesterday. Lots of fun.

FYI - I've tried simply "selecting" (but not playing the disc, but the OG page is not sensitive to this. It apparently needs to be playing.

Also noteworthy -- it works for Internet Radio too.

slocko...LOL...Nope, not me! Not even close. Some of those movies I would never watch...and heck...way to many children's movies for someone without kids. :)

Recently, I've had a rash of changer "clogs" that are pretty concerning. It seems like ever since I hooked up the Entre to the 5900M, the 5900M starts trying to put discs back where they don't belong, and as a result, the unit gets "clogged" (for lack of a better term), makes a nasty crunching sound, and makes it very difficult for me to access the problem area with my hand to rectify the situation.

Once I *do* get to the problem area, it seems as though there are 2 discs shoved into one slot. Once I remove the offending disc and put it back where it belogs (sometimes the slot where that disc belongs is taken up by yet another disc), everything goes back to normal.

This has happened about 4 times in a month of light usage.

Anyone else have this kind of problem? I think this happened *once* prior to me having the Entre... maybe... I can't really recall.

Jon,

I have had this happen twice since I bought it in July. The first time was before I had the Entre and NetNamer DV was reading all of my discs for the first time. The second time was about 3 weeks later when I got my Entre and it was looking up all of my discs for the first time. That time it was a very ugly scene. Several places where discs were forced in between 2 others, and a dozen or so got knocked out and were lying flat on the carousel. Everything was jammed up and making awful noises. I finally got it stopped and then the door wouldn't open. I turned it off and back on, heard another big crunching sound as the carousel freed itself, then the door opened. It took an hour or more to straighten out the mess, but no discs were damaged somehow.

Since then I have had it put a disc back in the wrong slot twice, but when it does this, the Entre doesn't realize it and gets confused. It will think the disc is still where it was originally, and the next time I play it, it actually plays a disc one or two slots over, even though it displays the disc info for the one it "thinks" it's playing.

I should take both units in to be looked at, but it's a 2+ hour drive to Colorado Springs, plus unloading 300 discs, and then driving back to get it in a week or two when it's done. I'm waiting until there is an official multichanger fix for the Entre, and a fix for the issues with the 5900 itself before I haul it all in. I just know if I take it in now, there will be a fix that requires me to take it all right back a few weeks later. (I can hear Nick from here saying "Take it in Bob, Take it in...lol :D )

Bob

Take it in, Bob. Take it in.

Nick :cool:

Bob_422 . . . was it you that I exchanged messages with on this subject? Anyway, here's the dilemma.

I've got about 50 DVD-Audio discs in my DV-5900.

With some of these discs, multiple formats/resolutions are available on the disc itself. The Queen A Night At The Opera has MLP 5.1, DTS 5.1 . . . it might have an advanced resolution two channel track, whatever. Point is, lots of discs have these.

One such disc is Alanis Morrissette under rug swept. Problem is, when I select the disc from Entre, it just starts playing, and "chooses" the MLP 5.1 setting. I can't even navigate to the menu portion of the disc which would permit me to make the choice. There are a few discs where I didn't even realize there were alternative formats playable on the disc, for this very reason.

Has anyone run into this problem? If so, anyone know how to fix it? I didn't look at the manual, but I went into the setup menu of the DV-5900 . . .couldn't find anything there that might help.

Suggestions appreciated.

Nick :cool:

Nick,

Check out the "DVD Video Mode" option.

If DVD Video Mode is set to ON, the player defaults to the NON-MLP tracks (ie., the tracks that are DVD-Video compatible: DTS and DD). Set to OFF, and the player will default to MLP (DVD-Audio only) tracks.

Hope this helps.

Also, I have found you can change the audio "track" for DVD-Audio on-the-fly with the OSD. Access the OSD (the strip that displays on the very top of the screen) while the disk is playing and go to the audio settings. The first entry will show the current audio "track" and if you select this it should drop down the various available tracks. This works at least on the latest disc I have and I can switch back and forth between the high-res stereo and surround tracks as the disk is playing.

Nick,

Yep, that was me that had talked with you about multiple audio groups on a DVD-A disc. And Jon hit the nail on the head. In my case, there was a DD 5.1 playlist I could not access. I could only choose between 96/24 Surround or 96/24 Stereo. I turned the DVD Video Option to ON, and it was just the opposite, Only DD 5.1 was available and the two high res playlists were gone. Now I have a receiver with multichannel inputs, so it's not a problem. At the time, 2 months ago, I had a receiver that only had DD, nothing newer.

I still have a "Bonus Group" on that DVD-A that requires a password. It is most likely an "Easter Egg", but I haven't been able to unlock it yet. It is Metallica's Black Album DVD-A in case anyone else here has it, but I'm guessing probably not. ;)

Bob

Originally posted by crbaldwin
Also, I have found you can change the audio "track" for DVD-Audio on-the-fly with the OSD. Access the OSD (the strip that displays on the very top of the screen) while the disk is playing and go to the audio settings. The first entry will show the current audio "track" and if you select this it should drop down the various available tracks. This works at least on the latest disc I have and I can switch back and forth between the high-res stereo and surround tracks as the disk is playing.

I just stumbled on this approach too, and it is by far the best way to control things.

When the OSD strip appears, there is a denomination called "group." The group corresponds to different things on the disc. For example, on the Faith Hill Cry disc, there are 6 groups (you click on the square identified as "group," which is defaulted to number 1, and you see a drop down of numbers, in this case 6 of them). The groups are in the MAIN OSD section (there are three OSD strips, i.e., MAIN, SOUND, and VISUAL.

Faith Hill Groups

On Group 1: 5.1 ch 96k24b high resolution version
2ch 96k 24b high resolution version

On Group 2: Studio Sessions documentary

On Group 3: Making of the Cry video

On Group 4: Cry video (choices between DD 5.1 and DD 2.0)

On Group 5: Interview with Faith Hill

On Group 6: DTS 5.l1 version

On some groups, there are more than one audio option (groups 1 and 4, for example). If you want to select from the audio options, you have to go to the SOUND OSD strip. Click on the first panel, and the drop down will reveal what's "in" it, permitting you to choose.

The damnable part about all of this is that I've been frustrated so far with finding formats and different offerings on DVD-Audio discs, and this system now reveals that the there's an incredibly facile way to do it on the Kenwood, especially as it permits near-instantaneous comparison between formats. Yet, I can't really say that this is made clear at all in the manual.

Doing it this way eliminated any issue with leaving DVD-Video mode on or off. I just leave it off and all are accessed.

Still, I listen to a lot of DVD-Audio, and this is going to make a major difference in how I listen to the formats critically.

Nick :cool:

Nick & Bobb,

That instant back-and-forth "feature" is truly a brilliant way of comparing MLP and DTS/DD tracks very quickly. Very nice -- if unintentional -- feature, Kenwood!

Thanks for sharing guys. I can't believe I've had the 5900M for over a year, and I'm still learning new things about it. Amazing...

Now I have to wonder what else I've missed on the Entre?? I already recently got the revelation of the power of the OpenGlobe button (which I'm still amazed about)... I wonder what else lies just beneath this software engineering feat?

Originally posted by Nicholas
Faith Hill Groups
On Group 1: 5.1 ch 96k24b high resolution version
2ch 96k 24b high resolution version
On Group 2: Studio Sessions documentary
On Group 3: Making of the Cry video
On Group 4: Cry video (choices between DD 5.1 and DD 2.0)
On Group 5: Interview with Faith Hill
On Group 6: DTS 5.l1 version


Pretty cool discussion you guys. No doubt Kenwood is smiling at it and hopefully they add it to their FAQ.

Considering there is audio and video on some of these does it now make more sense that they are in the 'movie' area of the Entre instead of the 'audio'. The Faith Audio-DVD (http://www.currentfilm.com/dvdaudio/faithhilldvdaudio.html) looks like the first I may try.

Scott,

Re: DVD-Audio in the movie menu... NOPE!

DVD-Audio is an audio format that may/may not have other bonus material. It is primarily a high-resolution, more flexible upgrade to the CD.
As such, it definitely belongs in the MUSIC menu of the Entre (and in the manual, they say that as soon as OpenGlobe "supports" DVD-A, it will automatically move to the music menu where it belongs).

However, Scott, I think you've hit on one of the primary problems with DVD-Audio: Since it has "DVD" in the name, people want it to be a traditional DVD-Video with audio-focused content (like a live concert, etc.).

However, DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc -- not Digital Video Disc like 98% of the world thinks it is. DVD-Audio is an audio format that uses video to accentuate the audio.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
Scott,

Re: DVD-Audio in the movie menu... NOPE!
<snip>
However, Scott, I think you've hit on one of the primary problems with DVD-Audio: Since it has "DVD" in the name, people want it to be a traditional DVD-Video with audio-focused content (like a live concert, etc.).

However, DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc -- not Digital Video Disc like 98% of the world thinks it is. DVD-Audio is an audio format that uses video to accentuate the audio.

Doh! After reading your response it cleared my blured view. My logic was certainly flawed. Re: live concerts...lot of cool things about a live concert but optimum sound quality does not seem to be one of them. Sounds like our Kenwood product has a lot of jewels in it. Gotta love this forum. ...back to working on the HT...

On my Movie Guide Screen, on the upper third which shows the cover art etc, I see a small box labeled "text". Does this do anything?

How do you bring up the downloaded description of the movie (which I can see if I go in the "edit movie" box ) to show on the Movie Guide Screen ?

I have been using this method for DVD Movies to set the language. I have the dvd player set to spanish by default and sometimes I forget to change the defaults via the movie menu. So when that happens I use the osd strip to get rid of the subtitles or change the sound track to 5.1.

Since I asked this question when I was a young innocent lad long times ago, I will answer it for you.

Despite the manual showing movie description, the entre does not currently support this. You can only see it in edit mode.

If I remember correctly the box labelled text was for you to type something, even though I am not sure anymore.

Originally posted by flavorguy
On my Movie Guide Screen, on the upper third which shows the cover art etc, I see a small box labeled "text". Does this do anything?

How do you bring up the downloaded description of the movie (which I can see if I go in the "edit movie" box ) to show on the Movie Guide Screen ?

Originally posted by Bob_422
Nick,

Yep, that was me that had talked with you about multiple audio groups on a DVD-A disc. And Jon hit the nail on the head. In my case, there was a DD 5.1 playlist I could not access. I could only choose between 96/24 Surround or 96/24 Stereo. I turned the DVD Video Option to ON, and it was just the opposite, Only DD 5.1 was available and the two high res playlists were gone. Now I have a receiver with multichannel inputs, so it's not a problem. At the time, 2 months ago, I had a receiver that only had DD, nothing newer.

I still have a "Bonus Group" on that DVD-A that requires a password. It is most likely an "Easter Egg", but I haven't been able to unlock it yet. It is Metallica's Black Album DVD-A in case anyone else here has it, but I'm guessing probably not. ;)

Bob

And I've just encountered this as well, so let it serve as a caveat to my prior post.

I own a DVD-Audio disc called Riding With The King by Eric Clapton and B.B. King. On the disc are two high resolution mixes, one a 5.1 channel mix,and the other a stereo high resolution mix.

Also on that disc are a Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation, and a DTS 5.1 presentation. Now here's where the cute stuff that Bob was referring to comes in.

If, in the DV-5900M setup menu, I switch the DVD-Video Mode to "on," then I get one menu option on the disc, which gives me my choice of the Dolby Digital and DTS options. That choice is presented right there in the video from the disc, not as a function of pulling up the OSD strip.

If, however, I switch the DVD-Video Mode to "off," then I get a completely different menu on the video from the disc, only now I can only choose from the high resolution options--no option for Dolby Digital or DTS is presented.

Pulling up the strip on this disc doesn't help, either (as it did on another disc, i.e., Alanis Morrissette's under rug swept). Even when I pull up the strip and click on the Audio "group," it is still limited by whether I've switched the DVD-Video mode button on or off. Interestingly, there is a "bonus" group in the OSD whose contents I'd love to find out, but it calls for a four digit password, and I haven't the faintest idea of what that password might be (an internet search didn't help). I guess, like Bob stated, this is probably an "easter egg" of some sort, but I don't understand the fun and games associated with it.

What I'd like to see, especially given the perilous navigagtion involved in DVD-Audio discs, is a way to switch the DVD-Video Mode on the fly; I know there's a mode button on the remote, but pressing it avails nothing.

Incidentally, while I agree that DVD-Audio discs should be considered audio in nature, my current understanding is that the "digital versatile disc" moniker never stuck, and the DVD Forum has just left the initials without any particular meaing. That's the latest I read, anyway. You can check it out at http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#1.1

Anyone know the four digit password for my "bonus group" on Riding With The King?

Nick :cool:

OK, it happened to me today: a disc (CD: REM Automatic for the People) in slot 255 will not play via the Entre.

The disc is read, registered, and seems available on the Entre, but there's no selecting it via the Entre interface. One must select it from the 5900M to play. Once playing, the Entre still wants nothing to do with it.

I went back in this thread and saw the Bob had the same problem.... and I could not find anyone responding with a solution.

Bob, any luck resolving this? Kenwood? Help?

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
OK, it happened to me today: a disc (CD: REM Automatic for the People) in slot 255 will not play via the Entre.

The disc is read, registered, and seems available on the Entre, but there's no selecting it via the Entre interface. One must select it from the 5900M to play. Once playing, the Entre still wants nothing to do with it.

I went back in this thread and saw the Bob had the same problem.... and I could not find anyone responding with a solution.

Bob, any luck resolving this? Kenwood? Help?

Mine works. Are you saying that Bob had a problem with this disc, with slot 255, or with a DVD-Audio disc?

Ooops! mine is the the DVD-Audio version. In case the CD continues to act up, grab this disc.

Nick :cool:

Nick,

Actually, funn you should mention that. The reason I finally WENT to the CD was to do a back-to-back comparo between my AFTP DVD-A and CD.

(Yes, Bob had a problem with slot 255... not the disc... but it's disc-independent. It's a slot-related bug in the Entre)

First of all -- WOW.. what a difference! The CD sounds like cardboard in comparison. HOWEVER, my Entre does link the CD with the rest of my music, and let's me select tracks, etc. The Entre hasn't brought me the DVD-Audio experience I need just yet.

Second of all, I'll try moving the DVD-A into slot 255, but I get the sense that it won't work for any disc. I'll probably end up putting a CD I don't listen to too often in slot 255 as a lame solution.

DVD Profiler tells me that The Devil's Own is the disc occupying slot #255 in the DV-5900, and . . . it works. So much for a worldwide recall on Slot 255.

Perhaps we have an issue of a music disc, or, at least, a CD in that slot?

By the way, I've now found two of these damned "bonus groups" in DVD-Audio discs, which taunt me with a request for a four-digit password to get in. I mentioned it on Riding With The King, but I just found it on Hotel California as well. I want those bonuses, damn it!!! Looks like no one on the Net has cracked it yet, and that's saying something.

Both REM DVD-Audio discs are great, by the way (the other being Reveal).

Nick :cool:

DVD Profiler tells me that The Devil's Own is the disc occupying slot #255 in the DV-5900, and . . . it works. So much for a worldwide recall on Slot 255.

Perhaps we have an issue of a music disc, or, at least, a CD in that slot?

Nick,

I have tried CD, DVD, and DVD-A discs in my slot 255 and even though the Entre recognizes the new disc and looks up the info, it will not initialize playback of any disc in that slot. One day the Entre just wasn't able to play slot 255 even though it had been able to for 5 months. I find it very interesting that Jon is having the EXACT same problem suddenly. I have gotten absolutely no help on this issue.

Kenwood support suggested disconnecting the serial cable while both units are on, then reconnecting it. That didn't work. Then they suggested resetting the changer back to factory defaults. Still didn't work. Now they want me to wipe out my Entre and start over from scratch. There is no way I am willing to do this for one bad slot. If Media Manager would back up my data to my computer so I could restore it later, then I would try it.

For the past 2 months, I have had a CD that I don't listen to very often in slot 255, and I just use my Pronto to play that disc directly from the 5900. (I have a complete list of all music CDs stored on the pronto with macros for all 400 slots from before I owned an Entre)

I am very sorry to hear that Jon is having this problem now, but now there are 2 of us with the same problem and with the SAME slot. This weekend I might try connecting the serial cable to my computer and see if NetnamerDV will play that slot. If it does, then I will know it's an Entre problem.

Maybe between Jon and I, we can figure what "broke", and how to fix it.

Bob

Bob,

When my Entre simply refused to play my CD, I immediately thought, recalling this thread vividly, "I bet it's slot 255" -- went to the menu, and voila -- it was slot 255. I suspect it's an Entre bug, not a 5900M bug.

FYI -- This happened after I was being fairly aggressive with disc swaps. What do I mean by "fairly aggressive"? Using the Entre, I selected disc 254, then before 254 was even loaded, I selected disc 255.

I am not saying that aggressive disc swaps is the cause of this behavior. I'm just describing what led up to this situation.

Jon,

I was thinking along the same lines because the disc I had in slot 255 was a favorite of mine and was played often. I use my Entre/5900 very aggressively because it's primary use is for music at this point. I only have about 20 movies loaded and I don't watch one every day, more like once a week. But I listen to my music all day/every day and I am always jumping from disc to disc and track to track. I doubt this type of problem would surface itself with most of the other people here because I get the feeling they use it for movies only and a few DVD-A discs.

Bob

Bob,

Agreed. I think we're in the distinct minority as primary music users of the Sovereign system. I also have under 20 DVDs and hundreds of CDs.

The question is: is it aggressive usage that creates this bug, or something else?

Well, actually, the real question is: What is it that you do for a living that allows you to both afford a Sovereign system and stay home all day/every day listening to music!?! :) Seems like the right combination to me!

Just got off the phone with Kenwood support...

They want me to "reinitialize" my 5900M to see if that solves the problem with my 255 slotlessness. However, I do not want to do this, because it will erase all of the programming I've done inside the 5900M to-date (disc names/genres/etc.). Not that I use them anymore that I have the Entre... but that was a lot of work that I don't want to lose.

Also, the tech said that they've never heard of this problem before. And I, of course, responded with "yes you have" and talked about Bob (not by name) and his issues being identical to mine.

*sigh*

Bob, shall we start up the "Sovereign 402-disc changer club"?

I don't blame you for not wanting to re-initialize. If you have to send the entre away for repair, you can still use the 5900 customizations that you have done.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
Just got off the phone with Kenwood support...

They want me to "reinitialize" my 5900M to see if that solves the problem with my 255 slotlessness. However, I do not want to do this, because it will erase all of the programming I've done inside the 5900M to-date (disc names/genres/etc.). Not that I use them anymore that I have the Entre... but that was a lot of work that I don't want to lose.

Also, the tech said that they've never heard of this problem before. And I, of course, responded with "yes you have" and talked about Bob (not by name) and his issues being identical to mine.

*sigh*

Bob, shall we start up the "Sovereign 402-disc changer club"?

That aggrevates me to death that Kenwood just tossed my problem in the trash and kept no record of it. Yeah, maybe it seemed unusual, but now they have 2 people with the same problem with no record of my phone calls and what they told me to try. If you call them again about this, I have no problem with it at all if you want to say that Bob Stanley in Salida, Colorado spoke with them in late October about this very same issue and it was never resolved. I had the guy's name written down that I spoke with, but can't seem to find it right now. (Time to clean the desk :mad: )

If "reinitializing" the changer works for you, I will try it again. Maybe I missed something the first try. I still have all of my CD Artist/Title/Track info on my computer from when I was using NetnamerDV. So I can upload all of that info back to the changer again, even though it's a one disc at a time job.

Until we figure this out, I guess we will be in the "402" club. I just hope it doesn't become the 401 club, then 400, 399 and so on.

Bob

Uh-oh. The 255 problem was in fact reported early in this thread by hmatos. Did I miss mention of it here?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=757506#post757506

Houston . . . we have a glitch.

Nick :cool:

OK... so the 10 million dollar question is: how do we get Kenwood to take this bug seriously (ie., seriously enough to add it to the bug list for fixing)?

When I called, they were not very helpful, and even somewhat dismissive about it. I didn't get the feeling that they were adding this problem to some kind of issue management system, if you know what I mean.

Thoughts? Advice David? Jeff from Kenwood?

Nicholas,

This was what finally put me over the edge :p -- it started with just one DVD that wouldn't play and then it spread to two. I then started running into weird issues where the Entre thought there was a disc in a slot that wasn't actually there and I couldn't get it to the see the light.

Unfortunately, I finally gave up trying after about 10 months and just took it back.

HM

Yikes... it "spread to two"? HM, do you recall which slot it spread to? Were you primarily managing CDs or DVDs?

JonDeutsch,

Actually, it may have been more (I was looking through my old posts). I was using the Entre/5900 to manage mostly DVD titles.

HM

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
When I called, they were not very helpful, and even somewhat dismissive about it. I didn't get the feeling that they were adding this problem to some kind of issue management system, if you know what I mean.

That is the exact attitude I got from them. Made me feel as though it was my fault and that there was no way in the world it could possibly be a "real" problem worth investigating.

Bob

Quick question. I am about to start building my system based on the Sovereign products but i read that if you use the entre, it will only see the first dvd/cd changer. Is this true and if it is, do we know if there are plans to change that? That seems like a big bummer.

mgworek,

Yes, it is true I'm sorry to say. It is a battle that some here have been fighting with Kenwood for well over a year. Every 3 or 4 months rumors pop up that a fix is coming soon. But nothing official has ever come about. At least 75% of this entire thread is based on this subject alone.

Bob

Beisdes that problem, is the entre worth getting? I have about 20 gigs of mp3's right now on my pc and want another way of playing them. I have seen other products but this sounded good and the fact it can interface with your changer. Of course i dont like that it will not play mp3's via digital.

mgworek,

What an excellent question. The Entre is certainly worth getting if you're comfortable with its limitations and bugs.

Since you asked, though, I'm going to open up the discussion to why you should consider the Escient Fireball instead. It seems as though the Entre is a modified Fireball anyway, and the Fireball claims it can currently handle multiple changers (NOW) -- and it'll do most any Sony changer and they claim that the 5900M and 5050M are "coming soon" (??).

In any case, if the Fireball essentially is an Entre, but already has multichanger support, AND has a very cool touch-screen VGA remote control panel accessory, AND comes with a 40GB HD (vs. 20GB on the Entre), AND it will "piggyback" with other Fireballs to double or triple your HD space.... why should I recommend the Entre to mgworek vs. the Fireball?

Anyone?

I was looking at the fireball before but I could never find prices on it for some reason.

Even Intrega has introuduced a music server. It only does music though, doesn't work with changers.

I have leaned towards the entre side because i like the idea of my home theater system being the same brand and style.

But if there is something out there better I am all ears.

mgworek,

Certainly, the Sovereign system has its advantages if you are looking for a system with the same brand and style. In fact, if you go with the Sovereign receiver as well, there are some really nice (and innovative) integration advantages that no one else has attempted. Kenwood is to be commended for their vision and guts in taking this system to market over a year ago.

To that end, if you decide to go all Sovereign, you'll be pleased as punch as long as you are aware -- and comfortable with -- the buggaboos and limitations involved in such a complex, innovative, and multi-functioning system:

- 20GB Max HD for the Entre (no one has been able to figure out how to upgrade, and Kenwood doesn't offer a higher version, nor do they allow you to piggy-back Entres to increase your virtual space)
- Single-changer support. Only 403 discs can be managed under a single Entre. No official word from Kenwood on this ever changing.
- You might want to skip slot 255 in your changer. Some Entres seem to turn a blind-eye to this slot for whatever reason. Someone on this list suggested that this could "spread" to other slots as well.
- You really can't add your own Internet Radio stations, even though Kenwood says you can.
- The Sovereign changers are slow.
- The remote control situation between the changers and the Entre is pitiful -- forcing you to switch back and forth to navigate Entre/movie menus. You better get a universal remote.

Other than that... it's brilliant using the Entre and the 5900M together. I now listen to more music than ever before thanks to the simple, easy, and rewarding user experience the Entre provides.

As far as the 5900M changer... it's slow, quirky, and has the best audio and picture you're going to find in a changer, period. Additionally, it has innovative features like DVD-Audio support with bass management. It also looks really nice on a rack (if you can fit it on a rack -- it's nearly 2ft deep!).

Thank you for your input.

I am going with the dvd changer and the vr5900 reciever for sure. But it sounds like I need to research more between the entre and firebox, if indeed firebox will work with the kenwood changers *soon*.

Keep in mind that some of the really innovative features are specifically integrated between the VR5900 receiver and the Entre. So, if you went with the Fireball, you may gain multi-changer support, but you'll lose other automation features.

It all depends on what your priorities are.

Originally posted by mgworek
I was looking at the fireball before but I could never find prices on it for some reason.

It is no longer being sold. (if I'm not mistaken you could have bought multiple Entre's for the price of one fireball as well). I talked to a salesperson there just a few months back and they said they sold out of the changers and weren't buying another batch. They said they are working on something new but wouldn't say anything about it. perhaps I'm thinking of their PowerPlay that plays DVDs?

Originally posted by JonD
20GB Max HD for the Entre (no one has been able to figure out how to upgrade, and Kenwood doesn't offer a higher version, nor do they allow you to piggy-back Entres to increase your virtual space)
Actually you can have multiple Entres in your network. The Axcess device can pick which one you want to listen to. Similarly the PC Media Manager lets you pick which one to talk to.

Jon, would you kindly stop mentioning how the VR5900 and Entre interface so nicely together....I do not want to hear it...nah...nah...nah (fingers in ear).

Originally posted by ScottF200
It is no longer being sold. (if I'm not mistaken you could have bought multiple Entre's for the price of one fireball as well). I talked to a salesperson there just a few months back and they said they sold out of the changers and weren't buying another batch. They said they are working on something new but wouldn't say anything about it. perhaps I'm thinking of their PowerPlay that plays DVDs?


I think it must be the PowerPlay you're talking about. I don't know Escient from a hole in the wall, but their site seems fairly up-to-date and the Fireball is prominently displayed throughout the site.

The retail for the 40GB Powerplay seems to be $2000 (to be had for about $1600)... not much different than a 20GB Entre for $1800 retail, hmm?

And from what I read, Escient doesn't even sell changers. The Fireball works with almost any Sony megachanger, and they claim future support for the Kenwood line as well.

Originally posted by ScottF200
Actually you can have multiple Entres in your network. The Axcess device can pick which one you want to listen to. Similarly the PC Media Manager lets you pick which one to talk to.
[/B]

True, you can. However, not the same level of coolness as the Fireball -- the Fireball lets you link multiple Fireballs together to create a "virtual 120GB" Fireball. A VERY expensive solution to upgrading a hard drive, but it is a feature that Kenwood left out.

Originally posted by ScottF200
Jon, would you kindly stop mentioning how the VR5900 and Entre interface so nicely together....I do not want to hear it...nah...nah...nah (fingers in ear). [/B]

Scott -- I can't help myself! I'm a natural technology evangelist. So much so, that would you believe that I don't even own a VR5900? I'm just talking about what I've learned about the integration from various sources. I'm actually the very happy owner of a B&K Reference 30 pre/pro and B&K AV5000II amp.

FYI -- with a delicately self-programmed Marantz RC5200, I can pretty much get all the "integration" I need between the B&K and the Entre. I'm quite pleased with my setup now. Err... except maybe I need new speakers....

About the not being able to upgrade the hd in the entre....

Is it a normal HD? Do you know if people have tried just ghosting the image to a bigger drive? Or is it that the software will only see the 20 no matter what the size of the hd is?

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
I think it must be the PowerPlay you're talking about. I don't know Escient from a hole in the wall, but their site seems fairly up-to-date and the Fireball is prominently displayed throughout the site.

The retail for the 40GB Powerplay seems to be $2000 (to be had for about $1600)... not much different than a 20GB Entre for $1800 retail, hmm?

And from what I read, Escient doesn't even sell changers. The Fireball works with almost any Sony megachanger, and they claim future support for the Kenwood line as well.

True, you can. However, not the same level of coolness as the Fireball -- the Fireball lets you link multiple Fireballs together to create a "virtual 120GB" Fireball. A VERY expensive solution to upgrading a hard drive, but it is a feature that Kenwood left out.

Scott -- I can't help myself! I'm a natural technology evangelist. So much so, that would you believe that I don't even own a VR5900? I'm just talking about what I've learned about the integration from various sources. I'm actually the very happy owner of a B&K Reference 30 pre/pro and B&K AV5000II amp.

FYI -- with a delicately self-programmed Marantz RC5200, I can pretty much get all the "integration" I need between the B&K and the Entre. I'm quite pleased with my setup now. Err... except maybe I need new speakers....

I looked into this a few months ago so my memory faded...sorry should have reviewed before posting...it does looking like I was talking about the PowerPlay which played/managed DVDs. The fireball ( http://www.escient.com/fireball.htm ) looks to only deal with CDs, MP3, i-net radio. Since my main focus was for home theater movie viewing the Entre and PowerPlay were what I needed to compare.

I think the PowerPlay worked with "their" DVD changers which the sales person told me they weren't selling anymore.

It seems that instead of linking Entres together to get music in multiple rooms that Kenwood went a different design route. For avg consumer they must have thought 1 Entre plus having an Axcess in multiple rooms was a better solution. For higher end users they still allow mulitiple Entres via the Axcess access. Depending on your perspective the is coolness that the Escient doesn't have.

In this AVI overview of the PowerPlay they state MSRP of $5000. http://avinterior.com/escientpp.html . Additional changers $1,500.

Re: integration
I plan on using the Pronto to marry the Denon AVR5800 Recv to the Entre/DV5900. For a while I was thinking of selling the 5800 to get the KW VR5900.

Originally posted by mgworek
About the not being able to upgrade the hd in the entre....

Is it a normal HD? Do you know if people have tried just ghosting the image to a bigger drive? Or is it that the software will only see the 20 no matter what the size of the hd is?

There have been a few post on this in this thread. I don't think there was much success by someone who sounded like they knew what they were doing. As I recall they did get a unix dump of the drive to work but other HD copy products wouldn't see the drive properly.

Click on the Thread -> 'Show Printable Version' hyperlink (very top page) and then the 'Show all post in the thread' hyperlink (upper right) and search for ghost or HD or the like. HTH

ScottF200,

How quickly they forget :)

I was the person that tried what you mentioned in regards to upgrading the disk. I was able to make a backup of the drive using standard unix commands. I was able to plug the drive into the Entre and use it with no issues.

OpenGlobe uses some sort of proprietary FAT-like filesystem (overlapping partitions) which I could not figure out and neither could any of the various tools I tried. I gave up and so did a few of the other folks which have tried. You could check out the groups.yahoo.com/ipaqmusiccenter discussion group for more info.

HM

hey HM, I was just reading the yahoo group about this. Did you try using the hack for the tivo systems to see if you could increase the size it sees?

mgworek,

I believe the hacks are specific to TIVO's use of the linux operating system (it's own flavor). I'm not sure about all the details, but I don't believe it will work (Entre uses VxWorks and it's own proprietary filesystem). When you hack a TIVO, you're actually re-mapping filesystem partitions for the TIVO to use. In order for you to do this on the Entre, you would have to understand how their partitions are used and then find a way of re-creating and or re-initializing those partitions.


HM

Ah ok, I thought someone said that tivo uses the same as the entre.

A friend and I have created a website that generates lists of discs in the changer. All you have to do is upload the data stored by the NetNamerDV program. It extracts the disc number, title, and artist, sorts the information in useful ways, and generates several HTML pages with the lists.

http://keystone.stanford.edu/~huster/cddata/

You might find this a useful tool. I print the lists and use them to select a disc to play, because I find all of the user interfaces for the changer, including the front panel, remote control, and NetNamerDV, to be too cumbersome for searching.

A small number of people have visited the site to use the tool, so I know it works for more people than just myself. But it really hasn't been tested very throughly, so be sure to let me know your experience with it.

On last question about the HD in tne entre...

people have been saying ghost doesnt see everything and has errors, what about partition magic? I dont remember that program being mentioned.

I was just wondering cause HM said he was able to do a backup in unix with DD, did u try using partion magic to increase the space of any of the partitions?

Sounds nice. I will check it out when I get home. Hopefully Kenwood spends some money on enhancing netnamer.

Originally posted by huster
A friend and I have created a website that generates lists of discs in the changer. All you have to do is upload the data stored by the NetNamerDV program. It extracts the disc number, title, and artist, sorts the information in useful ways, and generates several HTML pages with the lists.

http://keystone.stanford.edu/~huster/cddata/

You might find this a useful tool. I print the lists and use them to select a disc to play, because I find all of the user interfaces for the changer, including the front panel, remote control, and NetNamerDV, to be too cumbersome for searching.

A small number of people have visited the site to use the tool, so I know it works for more people than just myself. But it really hasn't been tested very throughly, so be sure to let me know your experience with it.

mgworek,

I tried Partition Magic and it didn't work.

Sorry! It really is sad that they don't just let you use a USB Hard Drive ...

HM

Still no luck getting my Entre to play anything in slot 255. Here is what I've tried so far.

1. Unplugged RS-232C serial cable from Entre and reconnected while both were powered ON. (Kenwood Support suggested)

2. Reset DV-5900M Changer back to factory defaults. (Kenwood Support suggested)

3. Connected RS-232C cable to my computer. NetnamerDV WAS able to control slot 255, but after switching back to the Entre....Still no go.

4. Rebuilt Library on the Entre. (Second choice on the hidden Setup 5555 menu)

I guess that only leaves resetting the Entre itself back to factory defaults. I REALLY don't want to do this just yet. It will take me a month to get things back to the way I like them.

Jon, have you tried anything else or does anyone else here have anything they can think of trying? I don't care how silly it sounds. This is driving me nuts.

Bob

Bob,

No, I haven't tried anything you haven't tried. I will keep thinking, though. I want to reverse engineer the issue.... what could cause this to happen in the system, and what could we do to reverse it?

I think JustMike hit it on the head: 255 is FF in hex, and as a result could represent a bug in the slot addressing system. The question is, if this is the case, what would cause the changer to ignore a call to slot FF, and why?

Another question that I asked before: How do we get Kenwood to take this problem seriously? It is certainly something they could address in a software release --- IF THEY LOGGED IT AS A BUG. Unfortunately, the reps are pretty cocksure about their product, and are convinced that it's something *I'm* doing wrong. The nerve.

Bob, I think you and I both have to call Sovereign support tomorrow, and let them know that they have a bug that they need to log and fix through a software update.

Meanwhile, we'll continue to plug away at possible solutions ourselves, while Kenwood addresses it back in software engineering.

does anyone here use pro logic ii music or the neo equivalent to listen to their mp3s or cds? when i use this setting i don't get any sound through the center channel. wondering if that was normal.

also multi-stereo doesn't sound as loud as regular stereo.

sorry of the off-topic.

Slocko,

Using my B&K Ref 30 (with no DPL II or NEO), I have become quite smitten with its "4 channel stereo" mode -- a NON-DSP approach to surround. It simply copies the L and R channels to the rear L and R. Not very fancy, but in my opinion, very rewarding. Because there is no DSP, there is no possibility of the DSP incorrectly interpretting surround information and making people disappear or appear to much in the mix. 4-channel stereo just fills the room with the original signal.

Now, granted, I have di-pols in the rear, so that helps give this straight-up interpretation of the source some dimention in the rear -- almost a surround sound effect just through the physical dispersion that di-poles create by their very nature.

Anyhow, 4-channel stereo is now my default listening mode for ALL music. In my opinion, it's the purist's solution to surround-enabling stereo sources.

I like multi-stereo too, but on my kenwood vr-5700 the sound gets lower the minutes i switch to multi-stereo. just wondering if that is normal.

i finally got a decent external sound card for my pc that has all my mp3s and what a difference. Incredibly enough it works through the usb port (creative blaster extigy). Has an optical out. my pc is integrated so i couldn't just swap out the sound card.

too bad the entre makes you use analog for mp3 playback.

>>> HERE IS THE WORD I JUST RECEIVED <<<

Ok...you heard it here first...I just received this from Brian directly....


Dear David,


Today, Jan. 9th, Kenwood announced that a software upgrade is under
development for the Kenwood Sovereign Entre' Entertainment Hub. Some
highlights of which are as follows;


* Support for 3 Kenwood Sovereign DVD changers, DV-5900M and DV-5050M
in any combination
* Control from external devices via TCP/IP. Control specification
will be made available to authorized Kenwood Sovereign Dealers
* Easier access to DVD information. Owner's will be able to access by
simply pushing the "info." button


The program will also include upgrades for the Changers themselves. In
addition to allowing for Daisy Chain control with Entre', layer change speed
has been improved an astounding 58% and disc change time has been improved
by 20%.


The Entre' software will be available in April of 2003 and will be
downloaded automatically via the Internet. And in what I believe shows
Kenwood's real commitment to not only moving performance and ease of use
forward, but also to not leaving our loyal customers behind, a program will
be put in place to upgrade both hardware and software for current owner's of
Kenwood Sovereign DVD changers. Further details will be announced later
this month.


Thank you once again for you continued support and all of the constructive
discussion on the AVS Forum.


Regards,


Brian


Brian D. Towne
Director, Product Management
Kenwood USA Corporation


I will be seeing him later today to talk about things. This is so great!

Have you tried playing slot 255 with NetNamer? It works fine on my 5900. I don't have an Entre yet, but with the new good news I may have to get one soon (403+ and counting).

That is great news. I am currently holding on buying a second 5900 until I am sure the one I buy will already have the hardware updated.

Looking forward to the layer change speed improvement and the disc access improvement.

DVD info on entre if implemented correctly will definetely make me try the entre again along with the multi-changer support.

The toddler may have began to walk!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by David Bott
>>> HERE IS THE WORD I JUST RECEIVED <<<

Ok...you heard it here first...I just received this from Brian directly....



I will be seeing him later today to talk about things. This is so great!

Wow David! This is indeed excellent news. It almost feels like we will be getting a whole new product if these changes are indeed implemented. Late spring or early summer would be the perfect time for me to pick up a second changer. #1 should be just about full by then. Very exciting!

On an additional note, and I don't want to sound ungrateful in the least, but is there any chance you might be able to get them (Kenwood) to at least take a look into the "slot 255" issue that Jon and I have (and hmatos had)? I mean, if they will be working on a software update to the Entre anyway, it couldn't hurt to poke around and see if there is something strange going on with the code of the 255th slot commands.

Bob

P.S. Hey Nick,
And to think I was almost ready to unload all of those discs last week and haul everything in. I would have been very upset today. ;)

David -- Thank you for sharing this very exciting news!

I wish I had a videocamera on Nick as he read that post. :)

And, to piggyback on Bob's point -- and not to sound ungrateful -- but I hope Kenwood is listening to the other issues that we've posted (like not being able to add your own Internet Radio stations, etc.). HOPEFULLY, many, many fixes will make the April release.

This is a very exciting day for the Sovereign line. Now we can go out like good evangelists and start recommending the system again to our friends and family with no reservations.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
I wish I had a videocamera on Nick as he read that post. :)


Hahaha! It would make a great version of one of those MasterCard commercials.

Buying 3 Kenwood changers.........$1,400 each
Buying 2 Kenwood Entre hubs......$1,500 each
Seeing the look on Nick's face when multichanger support was officially announced almost a year and a half later........PRICELESS!

Just kidding with you Nick. If anything, we all probably owe you a big THANK YOU! You have been the squeakiest wheel of the bunch on this issue, and it looks like it's finally getting some grease.

Bob

i regret to inform you that Nick has passed away.

he had a heart attack while surfing the internet. nobody knows exactly why, but the last page he was reading was avsforum :) !!!!!

Jon,
I just got off the phone with Kenwood Sovereign support (1-800-536-9663-1 ext. 8568). I spoke with a guy named Miguel <sp> this time. He had me swap discs around again with no luck. I told him I had tried that many times and also told him about everything else I have tried. He did find my previous call, it was early November. I told him there are 2 other people on this forum that have the same problem. This time they seemed more receptive to my (our) problem, and said he would start asking questions. He also said he would call me back by the end of the day.

If you get a chance, maybe you should give them another call as well. We'll keep fanning the coals and see if we can't get a little fire started under this issue.

Bob

Bob,

I just called and spoke to a guy named Tony. He seemed quite familiar with this bug (yes!) as he seemed familiar with your and Miguel's conversation.

He first recommended that I reset the Entre back to factory settings. I innocently asked him if that would wipe out all of my customizations. He asked "what customizations?" I went on to explain the amount of effort it takes to really get the library in tip-top shape, what with all the cover art, MP3 file uploads and playlists, group management, etc. He then understood why I was so hesitant to do through with this procedure.

So, he said the best he could do is send the bug request up to OpenGlobe for a future bug fix. I said, that's great... that's really all I (we) can ask for.

So, it seems that we may have fanned the coals enough to get them to stop blaming us for this... which is a great start.

Good job, Bob!

Thank you for calling in again Jon. Hearing that they will file a bug report is great news. I'm sure that is what Miguel will tell me if he calls back, and like you said, that's all we can ask for at this point. Awesome!

I will gladly wait however many months it takes for them to investigate this issue and live with the one dead slot. I much rather wait than spend a month or more rebuilding my Entre to the way I have it now after doing a Factory Reset that may not even be necessary.

I'm still so excited about the news David gave us today, that not much could bring me down. :D

Bob

April? April? What year did you say? April 2003? Only three months away!:D But, what is this about 5900M hardware upgrade? Will we have to unload all 800 disks from two changers? How long will it take for them to uprgrade a unit and send it back, cause I would hate to have 800 disks just laying around on the sofa table for any length of time, my wife might use them as coasters:p

Seriously, if Kenwood pulls this one off, I will be a happy Kenwood camper again.:)

Originally posted by slocko
I like multi-stereo too, but on my kenwood vr-5700 the sound gets lower the minutes i switch to multi-stereo. just wondering if that is normal.

i finally got a decent external sound card for my pc that has all my mp3s and what a difference. Incredibly enough it works through the usb port (creative blaster extigy). Has an optical out. my pc is integrated so i couldn't just swap out the sound card.

too bad the entre makes you use analog for mp3 playback.

Slocko,

When I go into 4-channel stereo (don't know if this is the same as your mulit-stereo mode) I get a slight increase in volume, because I add two more speakers to the mix. Other than that, there's not amplitude difference.

And, my MP3s on my Entre sound pretty darn good. The ones that came with the unit sound the same as the CDs I'm playing digitally through the pre-amp.

Does this help?

Allright, now you have done it!

Been reading the posts regarding the disk 255 problem, and had to go see if I have it. Found disk 255 (Judas Priest Hell Bent For Leather), selected it from the guide, appropriate album screen with tracks comes up on the Entre, but the disc does not play. Switched the remote to direct control of the changer, disc 255 plays fine. While disc is playing, switch remote back to control of the Entre, try to change songs. Skip forward and back do nothing. Using the arrow keys, I move to another song and press play. Changer goes into pause. Press play again, changer stops. Repeated this sequence several times, same result each time. Bottom line - I seem to have the problem as well. Have not tried swapping discs in the slot and doing lookups etc. For now, will probably just burn that disc to the Entre and get on with my life, after a call to Kenwood to let them know I have the problem too.

Mike Kelly

Good news about the software upgrades. I'll add my wish list for upcoming software revisions:

Add discrete control of the Entre pass-through, so macros for TV, HD, SAT, VCR don't require manual turn-off of the Entre GUI.

Add capability in the PC software (or web manager interface) to modify DVD information and add DVD cover art, similar to the existing capabilities for CDs. Alternatively, expand the DVD cover art lookup to allow user to browse thumbnails and select/download the desired art from a comprehensive web library.

Support external hard drives for MP3 storage.

Put DVD Audio in with the music, and facilitate track naming and combined MP3-CD-DVDA groups and playlists.

Mike Kelly

The information Dave forwarded leaves an unopened question:

Does the multi-changer fix require the changer hardware upgrade? All of the "presearch" done on this forum indicates that a changer upgrade is required. However, the information presented from Kenwood leads me to believe that this is not definitely the case?

Do you guys think that it will require a hardware update to the dvd player or the entre? I would assume the dvd player as having two more serial ports on the back of the entre might be tight. My point is that if only the dvd player needs to modified, then us one player owners might not have to send anything out. We just put our current players at the end of the daisy chain.

Jason

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
The information Dave forwarded leaves an unopened question:

Does the multi-changer fix require the changer hardware upgrade? All of the "presearch" done on this forum indicates that a changer upgrade is required. However, the information presented from Kenwood leads me to believe that this is not definitely the case?

KW Brian
<snip> software upgrade is under development for the Kenwood Sovereign Entre' Entertainment Hub<snip>
The program will also include upgrades for the Changers themselves. In
addition to allowing for Daisy Chain control with Entre', layer change speed
has been improved an astounding 58% and disc change time has been improved by 20%.

Indeed their announcement shows they were listening and working behind the scenes for us!! What is amazing to me is they are telling us [officially] early. They should have told us about a month ago when the Christmas list was still open for updates <grin>.

The letter reads to be as software upgrade for the Entre and hardware for the changers. 58% improvement for they layer changes sounds nice as I apparently have a slow one (compared to others). Disc change time will be nice for those playing CDs.

[b]Thanks Kenwood and Openglobe for coming through to us early adopters!!!

FYI, looks like that complete system (mentioned by slocko?) can be had for $4Gs with the buy it now option.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1499&item=1948087401

question. can kenwood open up sealed boxes to fix the changers and still sell them as new? or will the dealers just send them back for new ones?

Hello...

First, so you all know, I HAVE SEEN 3 CHANGERS WORKING from ONE ENTRE!!!!

The upgrade for the Entre is just a software update. The changers will require a hardware update...not just firmware. So...you will need to unload your change, box it up, and send it into Kenwood for the FREE update. They will then ship it back to you the same way you shipped it to them. (if you sent it over night red, they send it back the same way.) You get the same unit back. When will they start this I do not know, so do not ask please.

And before you go nuts (some of you will) complaining you need to unload and send it back...remember...it is a HARDWARE UPGRADE and they are doing this for FREE.

Again...I have SEEN IT WORKING (still in beta) BUT WORKING! Even the INFO button!!!!!!

Originally posted by Mkellyvich
Allright, now you have done it!

Been reading the posts regarding the disk 255 problem, and had to go see if I have it. Found disk 255 (Judas Priest Hell Bent For Leather), selected it from the guide, appropriate album screen with tracks comes up on the Entre, but the disc does not play. Switched the remote to direct control of the changer, disc 255 plays fine. While disc is playing, switch remote back to control of the Entre, try to change songs. Skip forward and back do nothing. Using the arrow keys, I move to another song and press play. Changer goes into pause. Press play again, changer stops. Repeated this sequence several times, same result each time. Bottom line - I seem to have the problem as well. Have not tried swapping discs in the slot and doing lookups etc. For now, will probably just burn that disc to the Entre and get on with my life, after a call to Kenwood to let them know I have the problem too.

Mike Kelly

Mike,

You definitely have the EXACT same problem that Jon and I have. I do hope you will call Kenwood and get your name added to the list. They (Kenwood) didn't seem to take us seriously until Jon and I both called them yesterday. I'm sorry you have the bug, but having a 3rd person call in about it within 2 days can only help our cause.

Bob

Originally posted by David Bott
Hello...

First, so you all know, I HAVE SEEN 3 CHANGERS WORKING from ONE ENTRE!!!!

The upgrade for the Entre is just a software update. The changers will require a hardware update...not just firmware. So...you will need to unload your change, box it up, and send it into Kenwood for the FREE update. They will then ship it back to you the same way you shipped it to them. (if you sent it over night red, they send it back the same way.) You get the same unit back. When will they start this I do not know, so do not ask please.

And before you go nuts (some of you will) complaining you need to unload and send it back...remember...it is a HARDWARE UPGRADE and they are doing this for FREE.

Again...I have SEEN IT WORKING (still in beta) BUT WORKING! Even the INFO button!!!!!!

David,

Did you see how they were connected? Do they add a second serial port to the changers? Do they use additional USB serial ports on the Entre? Is there a new part that connects some where in the middle?

Also any word if the hardware (and I assume firmware) upgrades will stop the horrid autoplay on power up issue?

-apnar

Originally posted by apnar

Also any word if the hardware (and I assume firmware) upgrades will stop the horrid autoplay on power up issue?

-apnar

You can count me in as one who would like to see this so called "feature" eliminated. I think 99.9% of us feel the same. I also see no need whatsoever for the changer to go through it's DETECTION phase every time it is powered on from standby mode. What could have possibly changed while the changer was in standby? Nothing. Unnecessary wear and tear on all moving parts in my opinion. If the door is opened/closed, then it makes perfect sense for it to look for changes.

Yeah, I know. I'm getting greedy now. But if they are going to the trouble of cracking these things open for the upgrades that David listed, why not look at removing these two "features" while they are at it. It's a chance to make these changers even better than they already are.

Bob

Originally posted by David Bott
<snip> and send it into Kenwood for the FREE update. They will then ship it back to you the same way you shipped it to them. (if you sent it over night red, they send it back the same way.) You get the same unit back. <snip>
And before you go nuts (some of you will) complaining you need to unload and send it back...remember...it is a HARDWARE UPGRADE and they are doing this for FREE.

Again...I have SEEN IT WORKING (still in beta) BUT WORKING! Even the INFO button!!!!!!

David, Thanks for the quick follow up. This action by KW/OG is outstanding. I hope they sell many more Entres and 3 times as many changers because of this. That's gotta bode well for the longevity of this product line.

The only thing more amazing to me is Nick's silence. You guys don't think that Nick actually owns 1201 DVDs do you...oh my. No doubt he was waiting to see it with his own eyes but somehow I think he trust yours (Davids).

P.S. That autoplay is annoying....would be OK if the last disc played was a CD IMHO but a DVD....heck I just watched it <grin>.

Bob_422,

I'll call them Monday regarding the slot 255 issue.

break-break

I thought of a few other items for the upgrade wish list:

Set up Entre's power on/off commands to put the changer in standby when the Entre/VR-5900 are powered off, and return it to on when the Entre/VR-5900 are powered on. This assumes the changer autoplay on startup has been fixed. Right now I leave the changer on all the time, but it would be nice if the Entre would manage power for the changer in the same manner that it manages power for the VR-5900.

Might also be nice to add some limited library printout functions to the PC software.

On the VR-5900 remote, allow the user to program macros onto the home 1/ home 2 pages. One of the reasons I don't use this remote for day-to-day use is because you have to dig too far to get to the macros for startup.

Mike

Originally posted by ScottF200
The only thing more amazing to me is Nick's silence. You guys don't think that Nick actually owns 1201 DVDs do you...oh my. No doubt he was waiting to see it with his own eyes but somehow I think he trust yours (Davids).

P.S. That autoplay is annoying....would be OK if the last disc played was a CD IMHO but a DVD....heck I just watched it <grin>.

Either Nick is away on Business/Vacation, or David's announcement was just too much for his head, and it exploded all over David's post. :)

And, regarding the the autoplay "feature" -- funny thing... while this was a hassle when I didn't have the Entre hooked up, it seems as though that with my Entre, the changer does NOT automatically play the last disc when I turn everything on.

Originally posted by David Bott
Hello...

First, so you all know, I HAVE SEEN 3 CHANGERS WORKING from ONE ENTRE!!!!

The upgrade for the Entre is just a software update. The changers will require a hardware update...not just firmware. So...you will need to unload your change, box it up, and send it into Kenwood for the FREE update. They will then ship it back to you the same way you shipped it to them. (if you sent it over night red, they send it back the same way.) You get the same unit back. When will they start this I do not know, so do not ask please.

And before you go nuts (some of you will) complaining you need to unload and send it back...remember...it is a HARDWARE UPGRADE and they are doing this for FREE.

Again...I have SEEN IT WORKING (still in beta) BUT WORKING! Even the INFO button!!!!!!

I think I've seen it, too. I was at the CES Kenwood display, and got to meet Jeff. He reveals:

Upgrade will be available in April, and it will require the changers to be sent in, but I don't think the Entres need to be boxed up..

Let's see them worm out of this one ;)

Nick :cool:

Has something changed with dial up. I had to rebuild my Entre(Again) and when I went to use my msn dial up I did the MSN/username@msn.com and I changed the dns settings but I get bad username/password.....have they changed something recently?

website that generates lists of discs in the changer
A friend and I have created a website that generates lists of discs in the changer. All you have to do is upload the data stored by the NetNamerDV program. It extracts the disc number, title, and artist, sorts the information in useful ways, and generates several HTML pages with the lists.

http://keystone.stanford.edu/~huster/cddata/



Glad you made it here Huster!

I can vouch that the program works as I have used it in the past. I use these lists for backup and archive purposes so I know where discs are. As we know, sometimes the 5900 can get confused. Like, "what's in slot 255!"

For example the week of Christmas I had a disc jam problem that required several discs to be, well, removed. The list helped me get them back where they belonged. Now if we could only get netnamer upgraded along with the player and Entre....

BJB

What do you guys make of this:
Escient® Launches New FireBall Line Offering Seamless Additions To Award-Winning, Revolutionary FireBall™ Music Management Product

These latest FireBall "server" products are the first in the to line add full, user selectable, uncompressed audio to the management of MP3, Internet radio stations, and CDs. In addition to managing Sony CD mega-changers, FireBall E models will also provide full CD control and management of up to either three Pioneer DVF-07 or three Kenwood DV-5050M / 5900M changers. These models will also provide expanded dialup ISP support, MP3 to CD-DA recording features, the ability to add individual Internet radio stations to the Escient-supplied stations, client-server music database sharing, and audio streaming capabilities to remote rooms through use of the new FireBall MP-100 player. All existing FireBalls will be offered a free of charge software upgrade adding many of these new features, including compatibility with the new MP-100 players. The existing FireBall will continue to be available until mid-2003.
Scheduled for retail availability in early 2003, the FireBall E-40 will carry a suggested retail price of $1,999, FireBall E-120 will carry a suggested retail price of $2,999, and the FireBall MP-100 player will carry a suggested retail price of $999. Approved international versions of the FireBall E-120 and MP-100 products will be available in the first quarter of 2003. The current FireBall, priced at $1,999 suggested retail, will be available through mid-2003.

http://www.escient.com/releases/escient_jan0903_2.htm

Is the Fireball the same product as the Entre?

AJF,

As brought to my attention on this thread, Escient seems to break out music and movie management into different systems. The Fireball -- even the one that supports the DV5900M changer -- only manages music. And, there seems to be no current Escient product that manages movies.

Yes, it's kind of shocking that the Escient doesn't support DVD management capability despite support for a CD/DVD changer like the 5900M. Maybe it's an agreement they've made with Kenwood so they don't compete? Probably.

Anyway, because of the multi-faced music/video management the Entre provides, I believe there is absolutely no peer to the Sovereign line-up.... well over a year after it was introduced. Amazing, and Kudos, Kenwood and OpenGlobe.

Since Kenwood is watching our conversations (as is obvious now), allow me to share that since the announcement of multi-changer support + other hardware/software upgrades to the changer and Entre...

- I finally feel good enough to officiallly recommend the Entre to a good friend of mine. He bought the Entre yesterday to mate to his 5900M changer (which he bought, like me, primarily for DVD-A w/bass management support).
- I had no reservations on finally recommending the Entre/changer combo to 3 co-workers. All plan on purchasing the system (sans receiver) this year.

Everyone to whom I show the Entre/5900M combo to is pretty overwhelmed, frankly, and many will go out and purchase the system in pursuit of their A/V dreams.

Kenwood, your grass-roots sales force in the Philly region has now hit the pavement. Now, if you'd just put me on your payroll, I could take my home theater equipment and space as a tax deduction! :)

Thanks Jon,

When they came out with Fireball I thought it odd that it did'nt also manage DVD's. I thought for sure that this next generation product would, so I was holding off on the Kenwood system to see what Escient had to offer since they've been at this a little longer. I still can't understand why none of the other manufacturers see the market for such a product, especially with consumers obviously building good sized libraries of DVD's.

BUT, now that Kenwood has finally shown their commitment to the Sovereign line with these new fixes, I think I will finally take the plunge. Anyone know a way to know for sure that the units for sale now have the fixes already, such as serial numbers, manufacture date, etc.? Also, where are you guys currently buying these products?

Originally posted by AJF
<snip>
BUT, now that Kenwood has finally shown their commitment to the Sovereign line with these new fixes, I think I will finally take the plunge. Anyone know a way to know for sure that the units for sale now have the fixes already, such as serial numbers, manufacture date, etc.?

AJF, (reread the offical KW announcement a few post ago by David Bott) you may want to call Kenwood since this has been now offically announced to find out the situation for buying new units up to April or when this becomes available. See what happens to the dealers you go to after that point and if they will only be selling changer units that are fixed. The Entre should not matter if bought now since that is only a software update over the regular internet download.

The 3 changer support has only been seen at CES as far as I can tell.

Let us know as this certainly is on other peoples mind that are in your boat.

Thanks Scott,
Actually. at the risk of scaring Kenwood into wishing they had not decided to upgrade the 5900's , it would probably make more sense for them to recall (hate to use that word) all the units in dealers' stock and do the upgrade. Logistically it should be easier than letting them go out to customers and then having to deal with hundreds (thousands ?) of individuals.

Originally posted by AJF
Thanks Scott,
Actually. at the risk of scaring Kenwood into wishing they had not decided to upgrade the 5900's , it would probably make more sense for them to recall (hate to use that word) all the units in dealers' stock and do the upgrade. Logistically it should be easier than letting them go out to customers and then having to deal with hundreds (thousands ?) of individuals.

Certainly Kenwood has this all figured out. They know how many are sold, how many are in stores and how many in warehouses. Their statisticians figured out how many would be returned...probably a lot less than we think. I think the changers will still be sold between now and April. It would probably scare you if you found out how much thought and effort they put into this decision to UPGRADE existing changers with new functionality and improved performance. Bravo to them.

Dear David,


Today, Jan. 9th, Kenwood announced that a software upgrade is under
development for the Kenwood Sovereign Entre' Entertainment Hub. Some
highlights of which are as follows;


* Support for 3 Kenwood Sovereign DVD changers, DV-5900M and DV-5050M
in any combination
* Control from external devices via TCP/IP. Control specification
will be made available to authorized Kenwood Sovereign Dealers
* Easier access to DVD information. Owner's will be able to access by
simply pushing the "info." button


The program will also include upgrades for the Changers themselves. In
addition to allowing for Daisy Chain control with Entre', layer change speed
has been improved an astounding 58% and disc change time has been improved
by 20%.


The Entre' software will be available in April of 2003 and will be
downloaded automatically via the Internet. And in what I believe shows
Kenwood's real commitment to not only moving performance and ease of use
forward, but also to not leaving our loyal customers behind, a program will
be put in place to upgrade both hardware and software for current owner's of
Kenwood Sovereign DVD changers. Further details will be announced later
this month.


Thank you once again for you continued support and all of the constructive
discussion on the AVS Forum.


Regards,


Brian


Brian D. Towne
Director, Product Management
Kenwood USA Corporation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


My Dear Mr. Towne:

As your greatest customer, and in some respects your greatest fan, I wanted to personally extend to Kenwood the sincere congratulations it deserves, although it is in the better-late-than-never department.

You are no doubt aware of some of my public diatribes on the subject, and be certain that I understand these had no influence on Kenwood's final ability to make good. I am gratified that Kenwood has finally come clean publicly, for no other reason that the Entre Scheme is one of the most visionary products I have seen in Consumer Electronics, ever. I have a reasonably high-end system, and when some cohorts express exasperation at what Kenwood is doing in my system, I have been able to demonstrate that I have capacities that they haven't even dreamed of, because Kenwood is in my system.

I won't waste the opportunity to remind you of yet another longstanding bug, and an opportunity. The DV-5900 is a great piece of equipment, for one reason, because it is an excellent DVD-Audio player. Many don't recognize the bass management features that are built into the player, rudimentary as they are. However, the DV-5900 has a documented bug: It will not digitally pass a 96/24 signal. It will decode it itself, and pass it in the the analog domain, but it is well documented that there are audio drop outs when it attempts to do so digitally. Please fix it. I write reviews for DVD-Audio discs on a different site, and the people who frequent that site would consider this a mortal sin.

Second, work out a cover art download for DVD-Audio discs. I've patchworked a few, but the scheme should offer what the Kenwood manual said it would offer. I don't want to argue that point now, nor do you need to comment. The three changer support is just too good of news. But let it be a little voice in the back of your head.

In all, I'm glad I stuck with Kenwood, I'm even going to keep my second Entre, and, rest assured, all three of my changers will be sent in via overnight, and, equally rest assured, I will call and bug Kenwood everyday that they have them until they are returned.

However, I will continue to advocate that the Sovereign scheme is one of the coolest, most visionary, forward-thinking batch of products in all of Audio & Video. You'll just have to put up with my other prattle as well.

Nick :cool:

Not to rain on anyone's parade, OK, maybe dampen the enthusiasm that now seems to be gushing out of everyone, including the former outspoken but always eloquent Nick.

As I read it, the "entre" software will be downloaded sometime in April (maybe). three changer support will also be made available, after a hardware upgrade to the changers. However, I do not seem to read from Mr. Towne's announcement, that the hardware fix will also be made available in April, or for that matter, anytime in the near future. I am certainly glad that David has "seen" the three changer support in action, but that does not mean that widespread implementation is imminent.

What I would like to hear from Kenwood is a detailed description of when the changer hardware fix is anticipated and how long the fix will take once we send in the changers. In addition, will the factory also fix the humming that many (but not all) are experiencing at the time of the changer upgrade? Or how about the missing disk 255 or the sometimes it ejects, sometimes it doesn't problem. I, for one, do not intend on holding my breath for the promises of impending fixes, which sound a lot like "coming soon"... Call me a skeptic, as an attorney I have been called much worse.

Since Kenwood/OpenGlobe seem content to continue upgrading the Entre software (thank goodness), I would like to add (and summarize) some more bugs that "need fixed:"

- VCDs show up the MUSIC guide. Yes, it's physically a CD, but that doesn't mean it's music, folks!
- DVD-Audios show up the MOVIE guide. Yes, it's physically a DVD, but that doesn't mean it's a movie, folks!
- Entre needs rebooting about once every week. Today, it simply crashed when I was scrolling down my list of CDs.
- CD Duplication isn't a true dupe... it's a track-by-track copy, and it does not do a perfect job for discs that have music run through the track markers. The Entre introduces a break where there is no break in the original.
- Once I set the Entre into a group repeat mode, I couldn't get it out of that mode. When I tried hitting STOP on the changer, it would go load in a random disc from the same group. Setting it back to "normal" didn't set it back to normal -- it continued repeating.
- The Entre's transport buttons for PLAY, PAUSE, and STOP work, but not FF and RW. Awkward, and makes navigation difficult.
- When in PASSTHROUGH mode, send UP/DN/LF/RT/SELECT cursor controls to the changer. This way, we can have one remote for Entre and Movie menu navigation.
- Moving MP3s from the Media Manager PC application to the Entre is really a crap-shoot. It's totally unreliable, and I've spent hours trying to upload a series of songs to the Entre to no avail.
- Let me play the disc in slot 255 again
- Inability to add new Internet Radio stations of any type
- Display Song/Artist data on primary Internet Radio screen (not just on screen saver)

Sure, this is fine-toothed-comb stuff... but at the same time, the Entre is such a fine piece of equipment, it begs to handle these "details" with aplomb.

Thanks for listening and considering.

I called my local dealer to find out what supported USB to Ethernet adapters I could use for the Entre and he did a find job of telling me which ones were discontinued but not compatible. Does anyone have a list of working adapters that I could purchase at the local CompUsa?:rolleyes:

Originally posted by secur1
I called my local dealer to find out what supported USB to Ethernet adapters I could use for the Entre and he did a find job of telling me which ones were discontinued but not compatible. Does anyone have a list of working adapters that I could purchase at the local CompUsa?:rolleyes:

Have you seen the list on the tips site? (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/group_info.jsp?categoryTypeId=130&productId=2357&productTypeId=147)

I was going to start building my home theatre piece by piece this week, starting with the reciever. I was going to get the dvd changers and entre after april. Do you think I should hold off on the reiever untill then as well incase they do anything the recievers as well in april?

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
- Display Song/Artist data on primary Internet Radio screen (not just on screen saver)


I don't use the screensaver because my TV is a direct view CRT, no burn in issue. But when playing internet radio, I get the song title and artist info on my screen and on the front of my Entre. It doesn't catch every single song, but about 7 out of 10 usually. I'm wondering if not all stations send out that info. I am usually on Sirius Mainstream Rock. If a song is playing and isn't being displayed, try hitting the Guide button, wait a second, then hit it again. It won't stop the song, but sometimes refreshes the page and shows the current song info.

Bob

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
Sure, this is fine-toothed-comb stuff... but at the same time, the Entre is such a fine piece of equipment, it begs to handle these "details" with aplomb.

Thanks for listening and considering.

Hey, Jon.

I remember when you were remonstrating over even getting an Entre, and then being underwhelmed when you got it. Grows on you, eh?

Great product. It's probably capable of lots more than we're seeing. Let's just hope Kenwood is willing to support it the way it deserves.

Nick :cool:

Originally posted by Nicholas
[b]
I remember when you were remonstrating over even getting an Entre, and then being underwhelmed when you got it. Grows on you, eh?

Great product. It's probably capable of lots more than we're seeing. Let's just hope Kenwood is willing to support it the way it deserves.

Nick :cool:

Nick,

Yes, I fondly recall my humble home theater/listening room before the Entre. It was so quaint and simple. Now, it's an intelligent, gorgeous, organized media center. And, as a result, I listen to much more music. And, my fiancee can listen to music by herself now.

I also learn a lot more now, that I use the "now playing" feature in the OpenGlobe area while listening to CDs. Certainly one of the coolest features for me.

Yeah, it's a "wow" product. But, similar to the PVRs (TiVo/ReplayTV), it's one of the marketing nightmares: you don't know you need it until you have it.

As such, now I need it.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
Yeah, it's a "wow" product. But, similar to the PVRs (TiVo/ReplayTV), it's one of the marketing nightmares: you don't know you need it until you have it.

As such, now I need it.

Best description I've seen. However, therein lies Kenwood's dilemma. You need to see it to believe it.

Nick :cool:

Nick, Jon,

"You need to see it to believe it."

I'd go a little further - you need to use it to know how much you needed it. I find myself listening to music much more often, as I don't have to go pull discs out of the cases (or out of the disc wallets that became necessary when my wife got tired of having shelf after shelf of jewel boxes on the wall). Playlists on the Entre are great for parties, and I don't have to have a PC down in the living room linked to the stereo to get to the MP3s. Likewise, I watch more movies because it is so easy to pick up the remote and page through the guide to find something.

Little things like no input switching on the TV (since the VR-5900 outputs all sources on the component lines) and only one set of video cables running across to the TV just make it that much better, not to mention auto-switching between Pro-Logic for TV, 6-channel for DVD-A, analog for MP3s, and Dolby digital for movies.

While the product has some warts, it definitely is a quantum leap in useability over any previous setups I've used.

Mike

p.s. Jon, good suggestion on the VCD and DVD-A categorization in the libraries - I wholeheartedly second your recommendation

Thanks Scott

Originally posted by mgworek
I was going to start building my home theatre piece by piece this week, starting with the reciever. I was going to get the dvd changers and entre after april. Do you think I should hold off on the reiever untill then as well incase they do anything the recievers as well in april?

Mgworek, I'd think if they were going to do anything with the reciever they would have announced it at CES. I don't honestly recall big ticket items/problems being mentioned about the reciever like the changer/entre. Others with the reciever may have other thoughts... You could also get the Entre now and play with MP3s and i-radio/Sirius to get you warmed up. As stated before the Entre does not get hardware modifications (like the changers) only software updates over the internet as it already does today.


Re: use/need/see it
Remember they did send out the DVD that tried to introduce the entire Soverign line. It did a reasonable job...still is was pretty much an overview/nibble. They could have spent a lot more time showing a demonstation of the Entre GUI. IMO, they should spend a few bucks on cool a flash demo or at the very least put more pictures of the GUI on their site with a logical flow. Imagine an interactive demo of the Entre screen and the Entre remote.

secur1, you are very welcome. Good luck with your system. WAIT. Search this thread for USB adapter or similar because as I recall some of the adapter support came *only* after you were able to download a new version of the Entre software. A little catch 22.

Say I'm wondering if you got this sheet of paper. In other words are they still including it in the latest systems. From a long ago post I made....[the url redirects to the said one]


In the Connect and Setup Guide, there was a single halfsheet of paper called 'Welcome to Kenwood Sovereign'.

"...Entre is a dynamic product. Software udpates will allow Kenwood and OpenGlobe to provide new functions and capabilities. For the latest information and instruction manual updates regarding your new Entre, go to the Tips and Installation section of the Kenwood USA Web site at:

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/sovereign/latest_tips "

Originally posted by Mkellyvich
Nick, Jon,

"You need to see it to believe it."

I'd go a little further - you need to use it to know how much you needed it.

Agreed... hence my original tagline: "You don't know you need it until you have it." :)

It seems curious that convergence products (Entre, TiVo, ReplayTV) seem even more difficult to "get" than most other products. Have we crossed some kind of product threshhold where manufacturers are so in-tuned with our needs that they truly know our needs more than we know ourselves? What else can describe/explain this phenonemon? Can anyone else think of products in another industry that have the same marketing challenges?

To reiterate, I don't think it's like an HDTV... where as soon as you see it in the store, you "get it." -- You're not going to be really able to see the Entre/DV5900M work in the store enough to "get it" -- unless you're really paying attention, the salesperson is uber-educated, and both of you have a lot of time on your hands.

I'll reiterate that a manager at Tweeter told me that the Entres didn't sell well soley because not one sales rep truly understood the product, and as a result, weren't able to sell it. The only sales came from self-educated consumers (i.e., very few).


I find myself listening to music much more often, as I don't have to go pull discs out of the cases (or out of the disc wallets that became necessary when my wife got tired of having shelf after shelf of jewel boxes on the wall). Playlists on the Entre are great for parties, and I don't have to have a PC down in the living room linked to the stereo to get to the MP3s. Likewise, I watch more movies because it is so easy to pick up the remote and page through the guide to find something.

Little things like no input switching on the TV (since the VR-5900 outputs all sources on the component lines) and only one set of video cables running across to the TV just make it that much better, not to mention auto-switching between Pro-Logic for TV, 6-channel for DVD-A, analog for MP3s, and Dolby digital for movies.

While the product has some warts, it definitely is a quantum leap in useability over any previous setups I've used.

Bingo. The Entre/receiver/changer combo really maximizes a home theater, as it removes barriers and maximizes your time with the media...which is really what a home theater is all about... enjoying the media. Too bad Kenwood couldn't make a pre/pro version of the VR-5900, since they're not widely recognized for their aplification prowess.

Originally posted by David Bott

And before you go nuts (some of you will) complaining you need to unload and send it back...remember...it is a HARDWARE UPGRADE and they are doing this for FREE.


Hmmm, David if GM sells me a car the that is missing something critical that they said was there, I expect them to fix it for free and give me a loaner during the time it's missing.....

Why would they not fix it for free? And since they lied aobut the 3-changer support, why should anyone not be pi**ed about having to send the changer in?

I don't have an entre (maybe I'll get one if this works) but I don't see that Kenwood is doing anyone a huge favor by making good on what they said it would do a year and a half ago. You must be using too many Microsoft products and have come to expect lies and deceit. :D

Hummm...maybe I said that because others have already sent me e-mail on..."They better do it for free!". Not to mention also the people that well say..."What do you mean I need to send it in?!?!? That means I have to unload my discs."

They did not have to fix things like 3 second or access speed but did and made it part of the hardware upgrade. Want the updates...you will need to send it in...period.

I, for one, have absolutely no problem whatsoever with unloading my changer to get it updated. These fixes will be well worth the few hours it will take to put all of the discs back in their jewel cases in my opinion. My biggest concern is with the shipping it to Kenwood and back. I am terribly afraid of what FedEx or UPS will do to it along the way. I'm sure they will flip it, toss it, kick it, drop it, smash it and do a dozen other things to it I don't even want to imagine. I hate sending or receiving this type of equipment through these guys. Maybe it's just me, but 75% of the time, my stuff gets broken or lost. I would much rather take the changer all the way to the SoundTrack/Ultimate Electronics service center in Denver (3 hour drive both ways) myself if they can do the work themselves. If it has to go to Kenwood, then I will be forced to ship it. I will insure it for every penny, and hope for the best. But I will worry about that after we get more information in the coming months.

Bob

Originally posted by Floydbob
Hmmm, David if GM sells me a car the that is missing something critical that they said was there, I expect them to fix it for free and give me a loaner during the time it's missing.....

Why would they not fix it for free? And since they lied aobut the 3-changer support, why should anyone not be pi**ed about having to send the changer in?

I don't have an entre (maybe I'll get one if this works) but I don't see that Kenwood is doing anyone a huge favor by making good on what they said it would do a year and a half ago. You must be using too many Microsoft products and have come to expect lies and deceit. :D

I'm not quite ready to take up the role of Kenwood defender, but you've got to cut them some slack. Things happen. As an Entre/DV-5900 owner, I'll be happy to send it in.

Bet you're rough on the waitresses, Floydbob.;)

Nick :cool:

Originally posted by David Bott
Hummm...maybe I said that because others have already sent me e-mail on..."They better do it for free!". Not to mention also the people that well say..."What do you mean I need to send it in?!?!? That means I have to unload my discs."


OK, sorry I read the emphasis on FREE as meaning there was some justification for charging us..

Originally posted by Nicholas
I'm not quite ready to take up the role of Kenwood defender, but you've got to cut them some slack. Things happen. As an Entre/DV-5900 owner, I'll be happy to send it in.

Bet you're rough on the waitresses, Floydbob.;)

Nick :cool:

Heheh, yes over way too many years of travelling I've become more and more intolerant of poor service, wherever it comes from.

I'm one of those that couldn't even get the dealer to fix the buzzing problem (we've never heard of that!).

I will unload and send in my changer. That's an inconvienence, nothing more. I think the time frames are the main issue here. It' doesn't take years to fix a problem like this.

So, yes I'm very happy that they are dealing with the problem. I'm just not ready to stand up and sing their praises for doing it (now if they had done it a year ago, maybe it'd be different).

I have been pretty much a lurker here from the start. I own the Entre along with the VR-5900 receiver and the DV-5900m changer. I am quite happy with the news and will gladly send in my changer for the upgrade. I, and probably others, check this thread daily without posting but paying close attention to everything. I am very grateful to all who do post and make our voices heard and to those who help us along the way. I went to the store to buy the Denon AVR 5803 but was blown away buy the Kenwood system and it's possibilities so I bought it instead. Like the rest of you I have the occassional reboot but all in all I think it's a great product and only getting better.

Now if we could upload MP3s from the Entre and also install a bigger drive I would be much happier.;)

PS Has anyone tried to remove the drive and copy the MP3s over?

I am very happy to see Kenwood is fixing many of the problems with the DV-5900M. I too was having problems with the "Eject" not working. I also have had multiple problems with non disc recognition upon load, or poor error read through. (The DVDs from the rental store had to be meticulously cleaned before it would play w/o errors and or stopping. :( ) I even had the player return the disc to the wrong slot TWICE!

Kenwood, if you're reading this, and you're upgrading the ROM's on the DVD player, would you mind adding a "Sort by" feature. Sorting by Artist, Album Title, and disc # using by using the jog dial would make thing easier for quick look-ups. (Although I do appreciate the entre's graphical interface for additional information and movie sorting, it's just a pain to turn on the TV, wait for warm up, and switch the TV input just to queue up an artist for dinner music.)

Thank you
Don H.

Hopefully Kenwood will test the changer update independently of the Entree. I'd hate to have to buy an Entree to be able to use the changer after the update (though I'm seriously considering getting an Entree and another changer (403+ and counting).

Also anyone know if the update procedure will erase the changer's disc memory? - it would be REALLY nice if it didn't.

Originally posted by DigitalGriffin
<snip>(Although I do appreciate the entre's graphical interface for additional information and movie sorting, it's just a pain to turn on the TV, wait for warm up, and switch the TV input just to queue up an artist for dinner music.)

Don, I'd suggest you buy a $100 or less 13" TV to put near the Entre and hook it up to the RCA jack. All output from the Entre work at the same time. Works well for playing/ripping/etc. First saw this in David Bs system.

May consider the Axcess as well. It has a simple display and allows you to pick your music fairly easily from the room your are in. It was interesting to see in the thread a short while ago that Escient likes that idea now ("...audio streaming capabilities to remote rooms through use of the new FireBall MP-100 player"). Food for thought.

Scott

Eject button? Heck, until I read about it working I hadn't even tried it. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to work. 2 more dumb questions:

1) Anyone know how to download MP3 coverart to the Entre without doing them one at a time?

2) How do I get Satellite Radio on the Entre? When I go to the Radio guide, I am obviously missing it. Thanks as always and thanks to Kenwood for working with us. They are still the best support of ANYTHING I use.

I am not at home to look this up but....

On #2...You need to go into your SETUP area and select the option to get the new Internet stations. This will bring down the most current list of available stations.

Scott...yes, I use my small Sony still for things like that. I also agree with the Axcess...I have one and use it daily. Even has it's own built in 20 watt amp.

I've saved up some of my Entre questions over the past weeks... here they come:

Has anyone successfully added an Internet Radio station to the Entre yet? I've tried many, with no luck.

Has anyone figured out how to reliably upload MP3s and cover art to the Entre using the Media Manager? It's so hit or miss with me (90% miss, 10% hit), it's very frustrating.

Is there some process that I'm missing that would let me create a simple playlist (ie., 2-4 CDs) ad hoc without actually creating a physical playlist? Like, you know, a "CTRL-SHIFT" multi-item-select feature that Windows supports where I could just select 2 or 3 CDs to play in a row.

Why do I sometimes turn on the Entre to find a screen with a black/blank CD cover, with no information on the screen at all? It's the "CD play" screen, but with no CD info on it.

What's the best process for using the Entre when inserting a rented movie? Is the best process not to use the Entre? If using the Entre is feasible, how do I get it automatically recognize the disc, have it add it to the Rental Zone in the movie area, and be able to play it?

What's the best process for adding media to the changer? Right now, I go to changer management and select the slot range that I added the CD to in the changer. This seems awefully manual. I'd think there's an automatic solution?

If I do a Quick Lookup in the Entre, will that erase/remove all the Media Manager customizations I've made with regards to cover art, track titles, CD titles?

I think that's it for now. Thanks in advance for any insight and information.

Hummm....When I open the changer door and add or remove any disc, even the Rental Slot, when I close the door it then auto detects the changes and the Entre goes into action looking up or removing. I have never used the lookup range feature.

Even on the rental it then shows up in the Entre as a Rental category.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
I've saved up some of my Entre questions over the past weeks... here they come:

What's the best process for adding media to the changer? Right now, I go to changer management and select the slot range that I added the CD to in the changer. This seems awefully manual. I'd think there's an automatic solution?

If I do a Quick Lookup in the Entre, will that erase/remove all the Media Manager customizations I've made with regards to cover art, track titles, CD titles?

I think that's it for now. Thanks in advance for any insight and information.

I can only reply to the last 2 questions.

As far as adding a disc to your changer goes, It's like David said. After the changer door is closed, the Entre should do a Quick Lookup of any new discs that were added. Sometimes it takes a while for it to start the Lookup process. Try waiting a minute or two and see if the Entre will do this for you. The same goes for the Rental slots.

I sometimes leave my Entre turned off for Rental discs, but I noticed something. Sometimes, not always, about 2 minutes after the Rental disc was loaded and playback was started, the changer would stop and go to the blue Kenwood screen. I thought I hit stop on the remote by accident. I hit play and watched the movie without giving it another thought. The next day, after the discs was removed from the changer, I was browsing through the DVD cover art stored on the Entre and found covers for several Rentals that were played without the Entre ever being turned ON. Evidently it can do a Lookup while in Standby mode and that is what probably stopped my movie a few minutes into playback.

If you do a quick lookup on the Entre, it should not erase the customizations you made using Media manager. If you do a quick lookup on a particular disc that you already edited and it finds different information, I'm pretty sure you have the option to save or cancel the changes. Maybe that's only in the Edit Disc option though. I haven't added anything new in a few weeks, I'll have to try it to be sure.

Bob

I was curious if anyone is using the DV-5900 changer with an AMX control system. Netlinx in particular? They are partners and are supposed to work together.

If so, I am curious what kind of display data you are able to pull off the changer for display and disc selection purposes. And in what order? By title, artist, disc number?????

Mr. Integration, any experience here?

Thanks,

BJBBJB

I can't seem to find the new location for Openglobe on the web. Help?-John

Originally posted by David Bott
Hummm....When I open the changer door and add or remove any disc, even the Rental Slot, when I close the door it then auto detects the changes and the Entre goes into action looking up or removing. I have never used the lookup range feature.

Even on the rental it then shows up in the Entre as a Rental category.

OK, you're right. Mostly. :)

You see, here's where it doesn't work exactly like that:

- Turn on Entre
- Go to changer and hit OPEN/CLOSE button to turn it on and open the door
- Hit the Rental Zone 1 Eject Button (to center that slot in the open door)
- Insert Disc
- Hit Rental Zone 1 Play Button to play the movie

The Rental Zone buttons seem to skip the automatic detect sequence when you hit the OPEN/CLOSE button to shut the door. But, like Bob mentioned, when I do it this way, after about 2 minutes of watching the disc, the changer STOPS... if the Entre is on or off. I believe Bob when he says that the Entre is doing a lookup either way, and then stopping the changer when it's done.

With the info posted, I tried doing a normal insert.. by closing the changer, and then selecting PLAY from the Entre Rentals Group in the GUI. That worked, but it took more time.

I wonder if there's any way to not have the Entre STOP the changer 2 minutes into playback?

Originally posted by JVS
I can't seem to find the new location for Openglobe on the web. Help?-John

Put "openglobe" in www.google.com - http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Openglobe

Ask and yea shall receive...

Speaking of OpenGlobe, what is still sorely needed is internet interactivity with it. Users could then supplement missing imagery and information regarding discs, and DVD-Audio information could be added. This would be done much in the same way that there is a worldwide contributor base to DVD-Profiler.

We already know that the supplemental content on OpenGlobe comes from the www.allmusic.com database, including its subset of http://www.allmovie.com/

If, for example, we knew how to acess the OpenGlobe database, we could test whether certain information was already available, or whether we were experiencing glitches with our Entres/Changers in the obtainining of disc information. This would eliminate the SOS calls on the forum for "did you find Pink Panther . . ."

Nick :cool:

Jon...Maybe it is because I leave my DVD player on all the time and do not shut it off. :) (I have access to it house wide.)

Dave... possibly, though I do think it has more to do with me hitting the Rental Zone PLAY button directly, vs. hitting the OPEN/CLOSE button to instantiate the changer scan process.

Still, that question has been resolved for all discs... just hit the CLOSE button to start the autoscan on the changer and Entre. Good stuff.

Most of my other questions, though, are still outstanding. *BUMP* on my question list!

And... a new problem: Media Manager sent MP3 files to the Entre poorly, and as a result, the are listed in the Entre, but I cannot play them. Additionally, if I try to play them, then I lose all MP3 playback capability until I do a hard reboot.

THEN... if I try to delete them from the Entre, it crashes, forcing a reboot. And the files are still there.

AND... now Media Manager won't show me any files/CDs on my Entre anymore. It connects, but won't display any data. Help?

So if the supplemental content is from allmovies.com, why is Fast Times at Ridgemont High still a no-show in the Entre five months after I sent the request to Kenwood's MIA DVD e-mail? Fast Times comes up nicely on allmovies. Not that this preys on my mind every time I surf through the movie guide...

Mike

That's one of the points . . . .there should be a complete uniformity from one to the next. That's what prompted my post. As it is, you only get that information if you access OpenGlobe. Accessing Openglobe doesn't always, but often provides the same content. Why they chose to handle it like that is your guess.

Nick :cool:

Originally posted by Mkellyvich
So if the supplemental content is from allmovies.com, why is Fast Times at Ridgemont High still a no-show in the Entre five months after I sent the request to Kenwood's MIA DVD e-mail? Fast Times comes up nicely on allmovies. Not that this preys on my mind every time I surf through the movie guide...

Mike

Sometimes the answer is that there are multiple release of the "same" DVD and with the information that the changer can get from the DVD openglobe can't find a "match". It is not as simplistic as a name search.

I looked at DVD Profiler as a references but in this case I only found one Fast Times DVD. I'd send in your request again. I've had to send them in a time or two and always point to my DVD Profiler entry on the web which gives them UPC info, etc.

I found some language quite a while back on the openglobe site, probably in a PDF, that talked about their matching techniques or perhaps it just talked about how it has was improved. I quoted it in this thread but can't find it.




I didn't find the text I mentioned but something related. FYI. HTH.

Posted by David Bott on 02-19-02 09:30 AM:
Hello From Key West on Vacation....

I got this from Brian (Kenwood)....

Version 1.0.2.6 is posted on the web for manual or automatic download. The main upgrade is the capability to stream most .asx format iRadio streams. This prepares the Entre' for Sirius Satellite streaming. Additionally, .asx is the most popular WMA streaming format on the web, so we are now compatible with a whole nether source of content on the web.

Additionally, several minor problems were fixed, one of which was a problem identified with not being able to recognize the second disc in a two disc boxed set. Sorry to say, that DVD lookup is not yet entirely upgraded. OpenGlobe is working on the fuzzy matching for their server, but it is going to take approximately 4 more weeks before this is fully tested and implemented on their server. OpenGlobe is also putting significant resources towards recapturing some problem discs. I expect gradual improvement over the next several weeks.

Thanks to all who mailed information to dvdtitles@kenwoodusa.com <mailto:dvdtitles@kenwoodusa.com> The
information collected allowed our engineers to characterize the problem and find a way to improve the system.

Best regards,

Brian

I just bought a complete Kenwood setup for my brother and I need an advice.It consists of a VR5900,Enter and 400 DVD changer.
The question is:Do I hook up the component and optical cables from DVD to Entre and then to receiver OR from DVD to Entre and final to receiver?
I am kind of confuse as each manual it shows different ways of doing it.
Also is it better to use the touchscreen remote to control everything or the entre remote?
Thanks in advance for any replies.

I have the DV-5050M changer as I didnt have a need at the time for the 5900M, and I assume that I would need to send in a 5050M as well to get multi changer support, but has anyone confirmed this?

Also, would it seem reasonable that if a hardware fix exists, that at some point prior to April (assuming thats when hardware fixes start) we will be able to purchase a new 5900M and not have to send it in for changes?

I ask because I am looking at getting a 5900M to add to my system and would want to make sure of getting a newer firmware version.

Originally posted by Kirby Baker

I ask because I am looking at getting a 5900M to add to my system and would want to make sure of getting a newer firmware version.

I didn't get any answer on this from Kenwood at CES, but a local retailer that carries the Soverign line seems to think they'll have an updated version of the hardware in February.

I remember downloading the entre manual and there was a specific section on how to hook it up if you had a 5900 receiver.

Basically I believe component goes from 5900 dvd output to entre input then entre output to receiver input and then receiver output to tv input. I think the entre passes on the video signal as soon as you select a movie. Sound should follow the same thing, except you have to also hook up the rca connectons for internet radio and mp3 playback I believe.

The entre remote looks very basic so I imagine using the powertouch would be better. It can probably learn whatever buttons it doesn't natively have for entre use.

Do you want to adopt me :)

Originally posted by jlufas
I just bought a complete Kenwood setup for my brother and I need an advice.It consists of a VR5900,Enter and 400 DVD changer.
The question is:Do I hook up the component and optical cables from DVD to Entre and then to receiver OR from DVD to Entre and final to receiver?
I am kind of confuse as each manual it shows different ways of doing it.
Also is it better to use the touchscreen remote to control everything or the entre remote?
Thanks in advance for any replies.

Hm, I hook my DVD player into the receiver, then out the receiver to the entre and then TV. I've been having difficulty getting my power on pronto macro to always not show the entre screen on startup. I'm getting tired of my friends asking "how do get the tv?"

Jason

jlufas,

I have the Entre/VR-5900/DV-5900M setup. My component cables run from the DV-5900M to the VR-5900, then out from the VR-5900 to the Entre, then from the Entre to the TV. Pretty much the same with the optical digital lines - everything from the changer goes to the receiver, and the Entre gets two optical cables, one to the receiver's digital out and one to the receiver's CD-R digital in.

As for the remote, I use the touchscreen for things like text entry and system management. I use a Marantz programmable remote for day-to-day operation because it is easier switch switch control functions for the desired device and there are tactile buttons for commonly-used commands. I don't use the Entre remote at all.

Hope this helps. BTW, there used to be a PDF file (Entresyscon.pdf) on the Kenwood site that showed a hookup diagram for the DV-VR-Entre configuration - my system is configured per that diagram. If you can't find it let me know, I can e-mail you a copy.

Mike

Stickman,

I have the same issue with the entre screen. Have not yet found a discrete command for the pass-through - that is high on mylist of requests for a future Entre software upgrade. If you solve it, let me know.

Mike

Sorry lufas, I was going by memory so follow what the gentlemen with world experience tell you :)

I am getting the impression that media manager is not very good for transferring mp3s to the entre? I have about 13 gigs that I am thinking of transferring over but don't want to waste my time.

Is that correct Jon?

Kenwood if you are listening, add this to your future enhancements.

Check out a music service called www.musicmatch.com. They offer music for listening at cd quality. You can select by genre, time period, artist match. You can mix and match different stations to customize your own station to your particular taste. Lately they added a new artist on demand feature. You can pick an artist and listen to their music immediately. It's a really great way to listen to music. It's practically become the only way I listen to music now.

Check them out and sign a deal with them to integrate them into the entre interface. There is no way to record so you don't have to worry about people to rip the music. It would be a match made in heaven I believe. Well at least for me :)

Originally posted by slocko
I am getting the impression that media manager is not very good for transferring mp3s to the entre? I have about 13 gigs that I am thinking of transferring over but don't want to waste my time.

Is that correct Jon?

Consider the announcement...
* Control from external devices via TCP/IP. Control specification
will be made available to authorized Kenwood Sovereign Dealers

TCP support might open the door to addressing the Entre as another disk on your computer system for fast transfers or maybe FTP support.

Slocko,

I have had very mixed results using Media Manager to upload MP3s. I'd say about a 40% success rate. Now, unfortunately, I cannot access my Entre via Media Manager at all anymore. I connect to it just fine, but my library is empty as far as the Media Manager is concerned.

I agree with aauno, the TCP/IP control could be the end-all-be-all of Entre control. We'll have to see just how much control we're given over the Entre. The Audiotron folks have been developing cool freeware apps to control the Audiotron via web, java app, VB app, and more for over a year now. It's very nice! I can only imagine what we can do with TCP/IP control over the Entre. Let's pray that they give us more than just transport control...

okay. I guess I will wait to see how that pans out then. It would be nice if I could serve up my mp3s from my pc through the entre.

Originally posted by slocko
okay. I guess I will wait to see how that pans out then. It would be nice if I could serve up my mp3s from my pc through the entre.

This is exactly what the Turtle Beach Audiotron does. Unfortunately, it has no on-screen-display. It DOES do Internet Radio better than the Entre, though. Much better quality and selection.

Entre will not identify 21 DVDs and several covers for Cd's. Tried work around, pressed option, select edit disc,search for disc etc, etc still no luck. Now what do I do? Thanks for any help.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
Now, unfortunately, I cannot access my Entre via Media Manager at all anymore. I connect to it just fine, but my library is empty as far as the Media Manager is concerned.

Jon,

Have you tried going into the service menu (setup 5555) and selecting the Rebuild Library Index option? It's the 2nd option. This will not wipe out your customizations or your CD/DVD list, but it will clean up and remove entries that aren't really there anymore. It also seems to restore MP3s that were not deleted properly. It takes about 30 minutes or more. I thought mine was locked up but kept waiting, it eventually finished. I bet this will fix your problem and let you see your library in Media Manager again.

Also, I wouldn't upload more than 6 or 8 MP3 files to the Entre at once. I know it's slow and a pain in the rear, but I've found that trying to upload anymore than that at once is just asking for trouble.

Bob

Are there discrete codes for selecting the audio input type? The auto detect doesn't work in all cases and if I set the receiver to manual analog or digital everything works great. I've looked all over and even downloaded some other Kenwood receiver ccf files that contain such codes but don't work with sovereign line.

Thanks,
Jason

Originally posted by Bob_422
Jon,

Have you tried going into the service menu (setup 5555) and selecting the Rebuild Library Index option? It's the 2nd option. This will not wipe out your customizations or your CD/DVD list, but it will clean up and remove entries that aren't really there anymore. It also seems to restore MP3s that were not deleted properly. It takes about 30 minutes or more. I thought mine was locked up but kept waiting, it eventually finished. I bet this will fix your problem and let you see your library in Media Manager again.

Also, I wouldn't upload more than 6 or 8 MP3 files to the Entre at once. I know it's slow and a pain in the rear, but I've found that trying to upload anymore than that at once is just asking for trouble.

Bob

Bob, Thanks for the tips. I was just about to do this, but I decided to try Media Manager one more time... and lo and behold, my library re-appeared. Very strange. If it goes away again, I will do the setup 5555 trick.

On a more disturbing note, I seem to have found a situation that often clogs up my changer:

I watch a movie. When movie is complete, I remove the disc from the rental zone. I turn everything off. The next day, I turn everything back on, and go to the music guide and select a CD. BANG! The DVD in SLOT 1 gets put into SLOT 2 and jams everything up before it tries to load the CD I've requested.

This has happened more times than not! What to do?

Stickman,

I have a Kenwood Entre, DV-5900M DVD Player, and VR-5700 Reciever. I have just about finished a CCF for the Pronto Pro remote using these devices with a Toshiba Theaterwide TW56X81 TV and a Hughes Series 2 Tivo HDVR2. I am down to just refining the usability of the button locations on the screens.


If there are any remote codes that I can help with, let me know and I can try to e-mail it to you.

Regards,

Jennifer

Originally posted by vaha
Entre will not identify 21 DVDs and several covers for Cd's. Tried work around, pressed option, select edit disc,search for disc etc, etc still no luck. Now what do I do? Thanks for any help. Nick, thanks for your answer which has seemed to have disappeared. I don't have broadband just dial up. Will broadband make a difference? Also, is there another way to get cover art and disc info other than the edit disc option? Talked to kenwood several times and they don't seem to know either. Some of the movies that it still won't identify are Monsters, Inc disc 1&2, Sherk 1&2,Robinhood Prince Of Thieves,Batman & Robin, Hollow Man, Godzilla. Funny thing is that it did recognize Godzilla 2000. It also identified all of my cds but 21 of them have no cover art. Thanks for any help.

Greetings.. I am getting a new RPTV, a Mitsu with Netcommand 2.0. I am going to try using the TV as the video switching device, rather than my VR-5900 receiver.

My question is this, if I put all my video sources' video feeds direct to the TV, and audio to the proper inputs on my VR5900 and use my Pronto remote to change sources accordingly, how should I handle the Entre and DV-5050M?

I was thinking that I should run the component out of the DV5050M to the Entre, and Entre components to the TV, but maybe this is wrong. Then all the audio hookups get me confused.

I dont really listen to FM/AM, so I could use the VR59000 via the Pronto to tune radio stations. What I want is to be able to maintain the Entre's internet radio, MP3 playback, and DVD changer control. Is this possible?

Vaha said "Some of the movies that it still won't identify are Monsters, Inc disc 1&2, Sherk 1&2,Robinhood Prince Of Thieves,Batman & Robin, Hollow Man, Godzilla. Funny thing is that it did recognize Godzilla 2000. It also identified all of my cds but 21 of them have no cover art. Thanks for any help."


I have several of these movies and have had them identified by OpenGlobe. It is like pulling teeth to figure out how they listed them but here is the way mine read...

Monsters, Inc. Collector's Edition (Bonus Materials) (Disc 2)
Monsters, Inc. Collector's Edition (Disc 1)
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
Shrek - Special Edition (Disc 1) (DTS)
Shrek - Special Edition (Disc 2) (DTS)


As far as adding cover art goes. I have used the Media Manager software from Kenwood's website to update music cover art. I usually use the covers at Amazon.com and save it to my machine. It has been a while since I have needed to do this but I think you either right click or double click on the cover art in the Media Manager that you would like to change. No such luck with DVDs however.

Looking through all the old posts, the answer to this question is not clear.

Ignoring Internet radio, do you have to have an internet connection to use the cover art and other dvd features of the dvd-player/hub setup? I mean, once you have configured your player and downloaded the images, can the internet be disconnected without losing any functionality?

Originally posted by kbarrett
Looking through all the old posts, the answer to this question is not clear.

Ignoring Internet radio, do you have to have an internet connection to use the cover art and other dvd features of the dvd-player/hub setup? I mean, once you have configured your player and downloaded the images, can the internet be disconnected without losing any functionality?

In a sense, yes. Once you have everything you want downloaded to the Entre, you do not need a persistent Internet connection.

However, as soon as you put something new into the changer, the Entre is going to want a connection to download the info for that new media item.

If for some reason you cannot have a full-time internet connection established for your Entre, I recommend using your dial-up ISP as the primary Internet connection for the Entre. In this circumstance, the Entre will only use your ISP (and phone line) when it needs it.

Originally posted by JonDeutsch
as soon as you put something new into the changer, the Entre is going to want a connection to download the info for that new media item.

What happens if it has no internet connection and load a new DVD? I assume that you can play the DVD and enter information, just that you have no images.

I ask all this not because I have a technical problem. I am a networking specialist and do not allow client equipment (even my PC) to have unattended connections to the internet for security/privacy reasons. I don't even like my ReplayTV making it's nightly phone calls, so I have no desire to create an intenet dependency to watch DVDs. I wanted to understand the impact of controlled access to the system.

Seems to me you can always cancel any activity the Entre instantiates by clicking on the "cancel" button. Should be no problem, but since I've never tried that specific scenario (having no Internet connection), I cannot guarantee that this will work 100% of the time.

For the last several days, maybe a week, I have not been able to connect to any or the Sirius stations. The Virgin stations still work. I forced the Entre to lookup all stations again, but the Sirius ones still will not connect. Are they working for everyone else?

Bob

RE: sirius station
I didn't have any luck with them yesterday.

Bob:

Same problem here with Sirius, in fact I was kind of glad to find that I am not the only one not receiving them anymore (I just discovered the problem yesterday.) I did the same thing you did, rebuild the stations list, but still receive non-Sirius internet stations only. Entre attempt to locate the server for several minutes, than the message "Station not available", or something like that, appears on screen.

I checked Sirius' web site and, although there is no mention of any specific problem with their streaming service, their radio stations are currently not available for on-line listening. Uh oh...

Hopefully this is just a temporary glitch. I have a bad feeling though, that the "free" ride with Sirius may be over for us Entre owners. Kenwood's web site no longer mentions anything about Sirius' internet radio stations among Entre's features, and I could have sworn it did until very recently. Plus I heard Sirius is in big financial trouble, so this would not be a big surprise... I wish they had picked XM.

--
Umberto
Altadena, CA

Ditto on Sirius. Anyone find a way yet to get coverart for MP3's without doing them one by one on the Entre?

Originally posted by DerekFSU
Anyone find a way yet to get coverart for MP3's without doing them one by one on the Entre?

One by one is the only way I know of doing it so far. :(

Bob

I have been getting "Station Not Available" on all Sirius channels for the last several days. Virgin working fine (tho 31.8kbps is weak) as are other
internet stations. Anyone else experiencing this?

Sorry for post. Should have read more carefully.

Sirius is changing their channel lineup. So maybe this has something to do with it.

I see that we are all having problems with Sirius, but does anyone know what is really going on?

Per Miguel at Kenwood Support, they think the Serius server is down. I asked if we had been cut off and he said, "No."

Re: Sirius

I just called Kenwood Sovereign tech support. They acknowledged the problem, which they were able to duplicate during my telephone call, but had no additional information at this time as to when Sirius internet stations would be back online.

Playing devil's advocate, Sirius had an agreement with OpenGlobe to provide free internet access to their music stations. OpenGlobe merged with (was acquired by?) Escient at the end of last year. It would be interesting to see if owners of FireBall units are also having trouble tuning into Sirius...(anyone owns one of these?) Would Escient willfully "cut off" Sirius to owners of Entre with the evil goal of making their music servers more appealing than Kenwood's?

Sirius is a nice perk for Entre owners, I'd hate to lose it. The rest of the internet stations pretty much suck, both in selection and quality.

--
Umberto
Altadena, CA

Sorry to ask this again but I didn't get a clear answer. Is there a discrete code that will switch between manual analog and manual digital for the input mode? If so, can someone provide the codes.

Thanks,
Jason

I got this message tonight for the first time ever, as I entered two new discs. The discs were Notting Hill and Married To The Mob.

This actually followed a brief period of non-connectivity. I wasn't getting the DNS error message, I was just getting no movement from the Entre.

I was able to look up both of the discs manually, as the error message suggested. But it is hard to believe that I caught two corrupted discs in the same night, especially since both were brand new. I had never even known about this error before.

Anyone else ever see it?

Nick :cool:

Help needed for networking. I am taking the plunge and I might be converting to Bellsouth Fast Access DSL and at the same time trying to network my 2 computers, directivo (in April, when tivo upgrades and when the Kenwood fix for multi changer support is released), and of course the entre. I already have the USB/ethernet connector (although I have never used it). Currently, the entre is linked to the internet with Earthlink and my primary dial-in is AOL.

I am leaning toward HPNA (hooking the network through the telephone lines) since wireless is difficult at best, I already have enough trouble with my 2.4 ghz phone interfering with my x-10 video senders. If anyone has networked please advise as to what you are using. Several questions come to mind:
1. Will Bellsouth Fastaccess (DSL with no static ISP available) work with the entre, afterall, the entre won't work with AOL.
2. What would be the best router for use with the entre
3. The tips page says that if networked with HPNA that there can not be a connection between the PC and the enter so no media manager (I don't use this now, since 98% of my collection is DVD). How important is media manager for someone whose collection is primarily DVD
4. What are people using for access points
5. Bellsouth says I can network for an extra $10/month - If I set up my own network, will all my devices be able to connect, without me paying the extra $10/month. In other words, do I really need to pay Bellsouth that extra $10/month.
6. Generally, for HPNA, what are the best manufacturers that are compatible with the entre.
7. According the the Tips section, if I run the entre through my router, I have to turn off the Firewall. This seems to me to be leaving a big hole in the network, what is anyone doing on this matter.

Thanks

Mike

Zinja, my Seminole Brother...
1) I use Sprint DSL with no problem.

2) I use a wireless network via a Linksys wireless router and it works great. My former wireless router was a Speedstream which did work with the Entre and had to be replaced.

3) The Media Manager is only for CD's and MP3's. Without a computer connection, you will only be able to add MP3's to the Entre via ripping from a CD. The Media Manager is a pain but I still use it, especially for MP3's.

4) My Entre and PS2 anre hardwired into my wireless router while my laptop is another room with a wireless PC card.

5) I do not know much about networking but do not know why you would need to pay more for networking. That seems to be more about your router and computer settings than anything with BellSouth.

6) No idea

7) I was told the same thing by Kenwood. According to Speedstream (my first wireless router that would not work with the Entre) and also per Linksys tech support, the firewalls on the router could not be totally disabled. I run ZoneAlarm on my computer and have had no problems. However, it is necessary to temporarily disable my ZoneAlarm firewall in order to work with the Media Manager.

GO NOLES!

Originally posted by zinja
1. Will Bellsouth Fastaccess (DSL with no static ISP available) work with the entre, afterall, the entre won't work with AOL.


Thankfully, the Entre is nothing like AOL. :) From the network's perspective, the Entre is more like a standard PC than anything else, so think of it that way as you setup your network.


2. What would be the best router for use with the entre

I use D-LINK. No problems whatsoever.

3. The tips page says that if networked with HPNA that there can not be a connection between the PC and the enter so no media manager (I don't use this now, since 98% of my collection is DVD). How important is media manager for someone whose collection is primarily DVD

I read that too. Made me shy away from HPNA options.

4. What are people using for access points

I believe HPNA is a requirement for the axcess units.

5. Bellsouth says I can network for an extra $10/month - If I set up my own network, will all my devices be able to connect, without me paying the extra $10/month. In other words, do I really need to pay Bellsouth that extra $10/month.

Be wary of ISPs that charge per month for stuff you do inside your four walls. Typically, ISPs want to charge you for additional "IP Addresses." With any standard DSL/CableModem Router, you will only need 1 IP address for all of your devices. The Router gives all of your internal devices their own IP address, but it only communicates with Bellsouth with 1. That's why routers are cool.

6. Generally, for HPNA, what are the best manufacturers that are compatible with the entre.


Dunno.

7. According the the Tips section, if I run the entre through my router, I have to turn off the Firewall. This seems to me to be leaving a big hole in the network, what is anyone doing on this matter.

I didn't have to alter my security settings on my D-link router, so I assume that my firewall security is intact.

You may want to consider going wireless... it's very nice, easy to setup, and fairly reasonable now.

Originally posted by zinja
3. The tips page says that if networked with HPNA that there can not be a connection between the PC and the enter so no media manager (I don't use this now, since 98% of my collection is DVD). How important is media manager for someone whose collection is primarily DVD[B]
4. What are people using for access points


Mike, I use HPNA - via a Lynksys HPB200 ethernet-to-HPNA bridge - and MM works without a problem between my PC and Entre.

Media manager is useless for DVD management (hopefully future versions will address that), but it is quite helpful in arranging CD and MP3 collections, however (downloading MP3's, CD covers, creating play lists, etc.)

I have an Axcess module up in my bedroom, and HPNA is indeed the only way Axcess can connect to Entre.

--
Umberto
Altadena, CA

Re: Sirius

I got the following response today from Tech Support at Sirius. I tried again connecting to their service this morning, no luck. Now what?


Dear Umberto Bonfante,

Thank you for contacting SIRIUS regarding the reception of the streaming audio on our Web site. We appreciate your interest in SIRIUS and our programming. We assure you that our streaming audio is working accurately and efficiently at this present time, and you should be able to access our great music.

For proper assistance in operating your Kenwood Entre Entertainment Hub, please contact Kenwood at:

Kenwood Tech Support 1-800-453-6966

For your convenience, our Customer Care group is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at: 1-888-539-7474 (1-888-539-SIRIUS)

or via email at: customercare@sirius-radio.com

We are dedicated to providing quality service and customer satisfaction.

Sincerely,

Amanda
SIRIUS Customer Care Agent


Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

From: Umberto Bonfante <umberto@sovrana.com>
To: CustomerCare <customercare@sirius-radio.com>
Subject: No more streaming service for Kenwood Entre' owners?

As a Kenwood Entre' owner, I have greatly enjoyed your program offerings via streamed internet connection for over a year, through OpenGlobe's service. For the past week or so however, I have been unable to tune into any of your music stations

Are the servers temporarily down, or is this a permanent interruption of service? I love your radio stations and would hate to lose them for
good... Thanks in advance for your response.

when i had the entre hooked up i used the netgear hpna bridge with no problems. even though you may use a wireless router for your networking, make sure it has hard ports on it, cause the entre doesn't have any usb drivers for usb wireless adapters. You will have to use an ethernet cable with the usb adapter to hardwire it to your wireless router. Or if you go with hpna, you can use the built in hpna port to connect to a hpna bridge that connects you to your router, wireless or otherwise.

INTERNET RADIO and SIRIUS

NOTE...I just had the Entre do a reload of the Internet Channels (Options, Get Radio Info, Internet) All new line up for SIRIUS and it seems to be working for me..

Originally posted by David Bott
INTERNET RADIO and SIRIUS

NOTE...I just had the Entre do a reload of the Internet Channels (Options, Get Radio Info, Internet) All new line up for SIRIUS and it seems to be working for me..

Thank you, David. I had tried to reload the channels myself on Monday, but evidently Sirius was in the middle of switching stations lineup. I'll try again tonight.

Kenwood was looking into this anyway (a gentleman from Sovereign tech support asked me to forward the above email from Sirius to him this morning, since according to them Sirius' servers were still down.)

--
Umberto
Altadena, CA

Has anyone else received a message from Kenwood today promising a free DVD-Audio disk if you complete their survey?

It looks like Kenwood is starting to gather feedback for upcoming product releases.

I have attached a sample of the questions that they are asking.

33. Is your home currently wired for "whole house" audio (music in multiple rooms)?

YES If YES, how many rooms?
1 room 2 rooms 3 rooms 4-5 rooms 6-7 rooms 8 or more rooms

No


34. Do any of the rooms have distributed video (Video in multiple rooms from a central source)?

YES If YES, how many rooms?
1 room 2 rooms 3 rooms 4-5 rooms 6-7 rooms 8 or more rooms

No


35. What features would you like to see on a Kenwood Sovereign product in the future? (you can select more than one)


Additional Search Options More Zones for media distribution
More music storage capacity (larger Hard Disk Drive) Web Browsing
DVD Burning/Making Compilation DVDs E-mail Viewing
More Disc Capacity/Slots Photo Viewing
Video storage and playback (i.e. TiVo) Others (please specify):

Wireless audio and video distribution throughout the home


36. How much would you be willing to pay for an upgraded 80GB hard drive, while still retaining your current media?


Less than $250 More than $400
$250 - 299 No, I'm not willing to pay for any upgrades
$300 - 349 I don't know
$350 - 399


37. How much would you be willing to pay for an upgraded 120GB hard drive, while still retaining your current media?

Less than $350 More than $500
$350 - 399 No, I'm not willing to pay for any upgrades
$400 - 449 I don't know
$450 - 499


38. How much would you be willing to pay for software upgrades (Such as improved graphics, library search functions, .WMA or .WAV files storage on HDD, etc.)

$20 - 49 $150 - 200
$50 - 99 No, I'm not willing to pay for any upgrades
$100 - 149 I don't know

Can anyone post the link to the survey. I got the email today but can't seem to open the link. Darn macs :-(

Originally posted by stickman
Can anyone post the link to the survey. I got the email today but can't seem to open the link. Darn macs :-(

They're listening or interested in listening. Excellent...

PM'ing you the link. Not sure if posting link is approriate since they want genuine feedback from real [or potential] users. We all know there are people who just fill out surveys for the DVD and that won't help them/us (bogus random stats). (Mr I am not refering to you...you obviously are a real user).

FYI, I use a automatic free web page detection tool ( http://www.ChangeDetection.com ) to monitor Kenwood FAQs.

It told me today these two changed. I don't know exactly what but you may recognize something.


Networked Entertainment FAQ (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/group_info.jsp?categoryTypeId=130&productId=2357&productTypeId=147)

Tips and Install (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/group_info.jsp?categoryTypeId=110&productTypeId=147&productId=2358)

HTH, Scott Fauque

Joepp,

I got the same survey and filled it out for the free DVD Audio demo even though I have 3 copies of it already:)

Re: Sirius

I just downloaded the new internet stations. Indeed, Sirius has a brand new lineup (still 60 stations total, but cool new names!) However, I still can't seem to connect to their server tonight. On some of my tries, the status on the screen changed from "Locating Internet Radio server" to "Connecting to server", but then it just froze there (connection speed still appears to be 34.19 kbps). Tried rebooting too, no luck yet. Will try again tomorrow,

--
Umberto
Altadena, CA

Originally posted by Turin2006
Re: Sirius

I just downloaded the new internet stations. Indeed, Sirius has a brand new lineup (still 60 stations total, but cool new names!) However, I still can't seem to connect to their server tonight. On some of my tries, the status on the screen changed from "Locating Internet Radio server" to "Connecting to server", but then it just froze there (connection speed still appears to be 34.19 kbps). Tried rebooting too, no luck yet. Will try again tomorrow,

--
Umberto
Altadena, CA

I have not had any luck either from the Axcess (haven't tried Entre direct) ...although I could see the new names.

New names (old names) listed here:

http://www.siriusradio.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=Page&cid=1019257316797#genre_1

Originally posted by ScottF200
I have not had any luck either from the Axcess (haven't tried Entre direct) ...although I could see the new names.
<snip>

It is now working. No changes done on my end. Just pressed <net radio> and then <play> same as yesterday.

Originally posted by ScottF200
It is now working. No changes done on my end. Just pressed <net radio> and then <play> same as yesterday.

Same here (although I had to reboot Entre once to be able to lock into Sirius' server again from both my Entre and Axcess.) Phew, I was worried there for a second... I got the Axcess unit almost exclusively to play Sirius radio.

Kudos to Ruben and Tony @ Kenwood tech support. They called me back several times, both yesterday and today, first to ask for copies of my emails to/from Sirius, then early today to give me instructions on how to download the new internet stations lineup via the Entre (which i had already done last night), and one more time this afternoon to insure I was enjoying the streaming audio from Sirius again. Very impressive customer service.

--
Umberto

It's all good now. I redid the staion update, got the new names and was able to connect to them yesterday.

Bob

I have just ordered my Entre & DV-5050M (I'll get a 5900 when I need to expand for my movies and keep the kid ones in the 5050 :D ).

I want to use my broadband for the Entre. What are some good recommendations for a hard wired USB to Ethernet adapter?

Thanks in advance for your help !!!

The entre is very picky about what usb adapters you can use. The list of supported ones are at http://www.kenwoodusa.com/group_info.jsp?categoryTypeId=130&productId=2357&productTypeId=147 I personally use the linksys one and it works great. I got it at Circuit City for about $25. Be aware though that you will need a fairly recent software upgrade. I had to use my dial access to update the software before the broadband would work.

Jason

BTW...For what it is worth...I prefer to use the HPNA port off the Entre and just buy a HPNA to Eithernet bridge. You actually get more throughput on it then going though a USB adapter. (So I have heard from somewhere.) You will need it to use an Axcess anyway. I bought the Netgear one. The PE102.... http://www.netgear.com/products/prod_details.asp?prodID=79&view=hm

Take care.

JASON & DAVID -

This kind of info is why I use this site. THANKS !!!! :) :)

After almost 3 months of reading about the Entre, I TOTALLY missed the fact that you MUST use the HPNA interface to support Internet Radio on the Axcess. I plan to purchase an Axcess down the road.

I will be going with the HPNA bridge.

Thanks again for the help !!!

HHEELLPP!
100 pages. This thread is too too long.
Any chance of a kind soul summarizing pros and cons or at least if you are generally happy with your sovereigns? I've tried to start a new thread but it is being ignored. I hope you don't mind if I bump it to get noticed.
Thanks.
Randy

Randy,

Come one, 100 pages is not that bad. I'd say that other than the normal problems of being on the cutting edge of any technology (bugs, problems, normal complaints), it is pretty neat. We seem to get caught up in little, but annoying things with the Entre a bit too often. The "Wow" factor is still pretty cool whenever people see it at my house for the first time. I'd but it over again without a second thought. Now mind you, a bit of that has to do with these postings. I'd be a bit more cautious if I had not benefited from all the others on here.

Well,

My Kenwood DV-5900M just bit the bullet this weekend. First the eject stopped working. Then it was returning disc to random slots. Now it refuses to recognize any disc. All this after 1 year 3 months of frustrated use.

This leaves me in quite a predicament because of the entre which is so full of bugs and problems, I'm sick of that too.

April fix or not, I'll NEVER EVER BUY A KENWOOD PRODUCT AGAIN. I should have known better when I bought $50 pair of Kenwood headphones that the headband busted on after 2 months semi-regular use.

Hey David,

How hard would it be to convert this thread into a Forum like ReplayTV or TiVo?

Originally posted by DigitalGriffin
Well,

My Kenwood DV-5900M just bit the bullet this weekend. First the eject stopped working, then it was returning disc to random slots, now it refuses to recognize any disc. All this after 1 year 3 months of frustrated use.

This leaves me in quite a predicament because of the entre which is so full of bugs and problems, I'm sick of that too.

April fix or not, I'll NEVER EVER BUY A KENWOOD PRODUCT EVER AGAIN. I should have known better when I bought $50 pair of Kenwood headphones that the headband busted on after 2 months semi-regular use.

Have you considered utilizing the 2 year warranty that comes with the Soveriegn products? I would.

Jon...Not the same thing.

Jon,
You are right. Tivo is no more novel than Openglobe. Why shouldn't there be a forum on Sovereign, escient, etc.?
Randy

somebody needs to put together an FAQ for it. that should help most people.

Hummm, lets see...that would mean would need a Kenword forum, and that would lead others along the same line, etc. Let me also then go into the number of users of Replay and TiVo vs. Entre and others. It is not the same and a dedicated forum for it is not what would would want to make.

Sorry...but a lot more to consider.

Originally posted by David Bott
Hummm, lets see...that would mean would need a Kenword forum, and that would lead others along the same line, etc. Let me also then go into the number of users of Replay and TiVo vs. Entre and others. It is not the same and a dedicated forum for it is not what would would want to make.

Sorry...but a lot more to consider.

Not necessarily, at least not Kenwood only. Why not a forum to the openglobe products: Sovereign, Escient, etc. They may not yet be equal in numbers to the TiVo crowd, but if we have our way, they will be. Aside from which, when you started this site, you did not project numbers of users. You saw a need, and filled it. The users came and the numbers grew.

Plus, this an internet based product. There should be a forum for it somewhere. Given the net-saviness of openglobers, it could generate more hits than Tivo sites. If you are worried about a brand-name forum, call it something else, like "Content managers".

Regardless, a place to put a FAQ or summary or something should be found. Whatever you think is best, David, but something should be found. 100 pages. ONE HUNDRED PAGES!

Yours resignedly considering printing those 100 pages,

Randy