Ok, quite a few of us have very high hopes for the Sovereign system with all that it can offer. Lets help out Kenwood and list the issues and work around we have found with the Sovereign line.

My hope is that we will be able to help them come up with solutions on the issues because the system is software based. If they know the issues, they can look into them and hopefully come up with answers and resolves.

I do not want this thread to be slam on the issues...but a way for them to be looked at. So, lets make posts in a fashion they can be followed. If you issue is with the Entre...Start you post with ENTRE on a line by itself and then list your finding...be it issues or resolves. Please try not to duplicate already known issues mentioned in this thread.

I still have high hopes for the system and wish to see it made to be the system it should be. I will start by making the first post...Please do not post until after I have done so.

BTW...I was contacted by Kenwood...they know this is happening and are already looking into issues mentioned. Thus this is a way to help. :)

THANKS!!!!

ENTRE

Entre Remote Control - After you have selected a movie to play and the DVD Menu comes ups, you can not use the arrow keys to move around the menu.

Movie Description - Their is no way to view the movie description even though it is in the system can can be read in the EDIT mode. Suggest using the INFO button to toggle the information viewed when in the guild listing.

DVD Lookup - In my case 27% of the movies are not found. After looking into this, I have found that they were stored in OpenGlobe with 4x3 movies and not widescreen. Between the two, they have different code numbers. Work Around - Go to the unknown DVD in the movie guide list, press OPTION, Select Edit Disc. Use the SEARCH FOR Disc option and type in some of the movie name and do the search. It will then look up the title in OpenGlobe and then bring you back to the edit screen where you press REC to save it. Good news is, this disc info is then sent back to OpenGlobe so then next time it is looked up under that disc ID, it should find it.

Internet Radio - Greatly lacking stations. Poor selection. but does work well. Please see that more stations can be added.

Entre to DV-5900M - No title information is passed to the DV-5900M from the Entre when Entre was successful with the DVD lookup in OpenGlobe. So, unless you the disc had Title Text on it, you still need to key in the Title for the changer. This title info should be passed via RS-232 into the player from Entre.



DV-5900M

Layer Change - 3 second layer change is way to long.

Slight Edge Enhancement - Slight edge enhancement on DVD playback. Please note...I see this mainly due to the fact that I run a vary large screen with a CRT projector. I do believe it can be corrected via a menu.

Load Times - The speed of the disk change is somewhat slow. But the READ time of the discs seem to be very slow. I do think this has to do with the fact that the changer also handles MP3's and thus checks the disc for MP3 files. This is just my guess because it is the first player I have owned that will play MP3 files. This is not an issue for me, for I use the changer for DVD's and not CD playback.


VR-5900

PowerTouch III Remote - No Entre codes in it. Software must be updated by the dealer (when they get it) or the remote sent to Kenwood for updating. More or less, just a heads up post. All units now shipping from Kenwood have the updates. Older stock does not. NOTE...DELAERS now should have the tools needed to re-program the PowerTouchIII for the Entre. Contact them if you have this issue.

DV-5900M

Manual - I don't think I need to elaborate further. This has got to be the most confusing manual to follow.

MP3 Playback - If you insert a CD/R with MP3 files, the player really "should" do whatever is necessary to output sound via it's digital coax/optical outputs (my $300 Audiotron can play MP3 audio using digital coax; I expect my $1500 changer to do the same).

ID3 Tags - The ID3 tag information should be displayed on the player; at a minimum Artist and Track Title.

DVD Library - I realize Kenwood is encouraging us to purchase the Entre Hub (I have already placed my order), but why is library management for DVD titles so limited? There's no reason to exclude basic movie genre information from the interface (Sci-Fi, Drama, Comedy, etc). Why limit the DVD title information to 20 characters? The LCD does scroll -- so I'm not sure why this limitation exists.

NetNamer DV Sofware - It took me several application restarts, PC restarts, and DVD changer restarts to finally get it to recognize the fact that I had DVD titles in the changer. It "should" not be this complicated to use. After fussing with it for about an hour, I realize that it will not retrieve DVD information (according the online help documents); I thought that was the purpose of the software. Why would I spend this much money on a CD player? You might want to look at re-designing the interface to be more like Windows Explorer (it's something that most people using a Windows PC will understand).

DV-5900M

Random Play
- There is no way to do random play of discs within a certain music type or user file with the OSD - you have to look at the player display. This should be added to a "library" screen.

Startup
- The last selected disc plays when you turn the unit on which is not very useful.



VR-5090 with DV-5900M

Remote
- There is no way to do a character search for discs by title or artist using the LCD on the remote.
- There is no way to page through the discs. If you want to see disc 200, you have to scroll through 200 discs one line at a time.
- Some indication of currently playing disc on the LCD would be nice.

DV-5900M

- Progressive Display BUG: Unfortunately, I cannot use the progressive output because of a bug in the display stage of the unit: Outside of the 16:9 window, the unit displays strange white line artifacts above the video image. See, I have one of those 4:3 HD-ready sets that "squeezes" to provide a true 16:9 window within the 4:3 screen. So, when in 16:9 mode, there are "unscanned" areas above and below the display area. It seems that the 5900 carelessly displays garbage in the area above the 16:9 area. A real shame. I've taken pictures of this phenomenon: http://home.midi.com/5900m/

- Cannot use the LIBRARY while a disc is playing. Why? Don't you want to select your next CD while the current one is playing?

- On movies such as Being John Malkovich, subtitles are "on" some times, and others not. I've never set subtitles on, but they appear every once in a while

- No ability to update CD TEXT using OSD. You can, however, via NetNamerDV. Should be available in both.

- Pre-defined Genre banks should be rename-able. For instance, to include Christian Contemporary and Spoken Word but not Hip Hop, Metal, or Comedy?

- NetNamerDV software crashes on Toy Story I and Toy Story II DVDs.

- No DVD-Audio title info downloads via NetNamerDV

- Can't turn off analog outputs for movies or CDs. If I could easily set the 5900M to output only digitally for non-DVD-Audio sources, my B&K Ref 30 would have a chance of auto-selecting the digital stream and reset itself from 6-channel mode to stereo or surround mode.

David, thanks for starting this thread! Hopefully, these comments will get into Kenwood's hands and result in software updates to the Sovereign changers and Entre hub. I've had the 5900M for about 3 weeks now and echo the comments above. I have not seen any issues beyond those already reported on my 5900M. I have an Entre hub on order, so no first hand experience with that product yet. However, what about all the lockups people have been reporting with the Entre hub? Seems like that should be reported here as an issue.

Tom

I have not had a lock up yet.(could be related to the USB-Ethernet). I am using dial up for now.

Maybe Kenwood could post a number where to buy this one of kind hub. If they are truly reading this?


So far it has found all my titles 100%.(Cd's only)

What are the name of a few CD's Dave?

As I previously mentioned, I work for CATC, which makes the NetMate adapter that the Entre uses for USB-to-Ethernet connectivity. I talked to our NetMate salesperson today, and have some updates:

1) Apparently, Belkin switched to a different implementation for their USB-to-Ethernet adapter some time ago, so only the early Belkin adapters will work with the Entre. Unfortunately, I don't know how to differentiate old and new Belkin adapters, but I know at one time they were selling adapters that had the CATC logo on the top of the adapter - at least that version should work.

2) We're just not set up for consumer-direct sales on the NetMate adapters - sorry guys, but you'll have to order them from Kenwood online once they make them available.

Wish the news could be better, but I thought it was important to get this info out ASAP, especially regarding the Belkin issue.

Things that kinda bug me:

The player does a "detection" pass every time it wakes up from standby. I don't understand this one and it bugs me that I have to wait for it to stop before I can select a disc. It should only do detection after the door has opened/closed. I now think it does it to try and hide the awfully slow "reading disc" times. At least here it is multitasking (I think). Maybe they can figure out how to do more multitasking and play a disc and display the library as well

It loads the last disc and starts playing when it wakes up. I don't usually want to watch the same movie twice in a row so it bugs me that I have to wait for this.

The Kenwood Sovereign splash screen (like when the unit is in full stop mode) should have a screen saver kick in after some period of time.

There should be a special OSD mode for CD's and DVD-A's that displays the title and time info. This display should move around the screen periodically to prevent burn-in on RPTV's.

You should be able to rename genre's.

Things that annoy me:

The hardware buttons for the rental zone slots don't work as intuitively as I would like. The eject button won't wake up the player and the light only indicates that the disc in that slot is loaded or playing. It would be much better if you could walk up to the box and eject a rental with one push and if you could tell at a glance (with the light) if you had any discs in a rental slot.

This one really gets on my nerves because why put that damn light on the front of the player just to show that the movie is playing? I mean really, if the movie is playing, do you need the red light to tell you so? Wouldn't that red light be really useful for reminding you that you have a rental disc or a borrowed disc that you need to return? Shouldn't it be on all the time so you notice it when you're walking by? Shouldn't you be able to see that red light, realize that you need to return that disc, and push the eject button to wake the unit up and open the door so you can pull the DVD out? Wasted opportunity.

You can't see the Disc titles on the video output. This kinda kills the usefullness of video-audio distribution from this player because you can't see anything on the screen except for slot number. You could use the library, but I've been avoiding that because it only works in stop mode. I'd like to see the OSD show the Title, Artist, and Chapter/Track names.

The stop button doesn't work when the disc is showing the FBI warnings. However, I can move ahead by pushing the "chapter skip" button. I am a DVD newbie - do I just not understand something here? I realize there are portions of the disc where navigation is restricted so you can't just avoid the warnings, but why enable the "skip ahead" to cruise through the warnings but not allow "stop" to work? This combined with the fact that you can only access the library when the player is in stop mode and the "auto-play on wake" feature means you have to wait an inordinate amount of time to get to the library screen.

The library only works in stop mode. This wouldn't annoy me so much except there is a way to use the library through disc select while it is playing. Why can't they enable it through the OSD as well. And since the OSD is doing absolutely nothing useful during CD playback anyways (no track or title info at all!) why can't I use it to select the next disc, or program a playlist?

Alright this might not be the easist solution to the problem but it works.

First disconnect the Entree and then...

To get the CD titles and song list to show up on the DVD changer itself. I used the NetnamerDV software and downloaded all the info and then stored it onto the changer. Then I reconnected the entree and it stayed.

Now when the you use the Entree to the information shows up on the changer, entree and the tv.


It took a while and should be easier than this but hey it works. Until Kenwood/Openglobe get their **** together.

Also my first glitch happened. The changer dropped a cd inside while switching and it would not open and jammed up. I had to physically open the case and correct the problem. I hope this does not happen again. If this becomes a problem I am going to return this pronto.

I may be in the minority here, but I would like to see the discs sorted and displayed on the screen in alphabetical order, like the way I stored them on the shelf. Sorting by genre can be useful, but some movies could be stored in multiple categories and one would have to remember where it is.

Hi All...Great Job...Please remember though, this is not a wish list, but a please fix list. Somethings maybe able to be corrected, but surely, I can not see things being added to the players that were not intended.

What I mean is, we can go on and on with wishlists for any manufacture or changer. I am just looking to get the items I have working as they are suppose to.

My guess would be the next version of the items for the some of the items being listed.

All in all...so far so good. And thanks!

1. There is a disc freeze up that has happened more than once. First the disc stops play, then digital artifacts, then you can't play it. It has happened on two new discs. Others have reported it.

2. The autoplay feature is universally hated. No one wants to have to "wait" to get through the autoplay ritual to start selecting their discs. This needs to get rectified.

3. Kenwood needs to immediately address the issue of multiple changers at work with the Entre. I, for one, scrapped two DVD changers (sold them at a loss), and bought two Kenwood changers, and the Entre Hub--only to find out that the Entre would only work with one changer. I've already pointed out in a separate thread the seriousness of this issue, particularly given the outrightly INCORRECT advertising Kenwood did on this issue--I bought these products on a wrong set of assumptions, which were fostered by Kenwood's advertising. I'm not going to again call it deceptive advertising, but there are plenty who would call me kind in that respect. The reason is simple: I really want Kenwood to get its act together, so that I can have the system I thought I was buying. I will wait for more certain word from Kenwood on this point, but I will only wait days.


Even with all the issues, this ensemble has loads of potential. However, if these issues don't get resolved RIGHT AWAY, there is a risk of word getting out quickly that the ensemble has BOMBED.

At the very least, Kenwood needs to publicly address the issues.

Nick:cool:

Most of my problems have been posted already, but I thought I'd repeat them for emphasis.

1) The autoplay on startup "feature" is extremely annoying and should be eliminated.

2) The manual is astonishingly poor.

3) I have also experienced the subtitle bug. Subtitles should never come on unless explicitly selected.

4) The chapter skip button on the remote is too sensitive in reverse. In other words, if I'm partway into a chapter and I want to go back to the beginning of the previous chapter, I have to press the reverse chapter skip button twice very quickly. The first press takes me to the beginning of the chapter I'm presently in but the second press needs to occur too soon after the first press otherwise it just takes me back to the beginning of the same chapter again. I should be able to be several (3? 5?) seconds into a chapter and be able to have the reverse chapter skip button take me to the beginning of the previous chapter, not the beginning of the current chapter. The delay between presses allows me to have visual feedback that the first keypress has been received and processed.

How many people can be listening to content in the Entre System with the Axcess remote units at the same time? Thanks, Mark

From Entre Spec page... (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/product.jsp?productId=2357&productLineId=2)

MULTI-ROOM FEATURES
- Provides Up to 4 Simultaneous Independent Audio Streams: Internet Radio and/or Compressed Audio Files Stored on Internal Hard Disk
- Requires Axcess Remote Portal: up to 4


Regarding the 3-sec layer change in Davids next post....Tomb Raider was a solid 3 seconds...I rented it so don't have the details (I suppose some of you wouldn't mind watching it to look for the 3 second delay :D ). We watched Proof of Life last night and I only saw a 2 second delay ;) ...again a rental.

Kenwood says that they do not see any 3 second delay in a layer change. So...Lets please give them some examples. Disc, Chapter, Time please (I have not had the chance).

They also said that they only know of me and Nick calling on this issue but they will take another look. (Pondering.)

I have faith in them, I have speken to same real nice people and they are looking to help where they can. So...Lets help them find this issue please.

Thanks

"How The Grinch Stole Christmas" Chapter 13. Right after the Geinch say "Action". (Dressing the dog up as a raindeer.)

PLEASE...Some one confirm this please.

PowerTouch II Remote Codes

The Entre remote codes can now be installed into the PowerTough III remote from your dealer. They should have received programming units or their reps have them. (Of course, your PowerTouchIII might already have them...based on the build date.)

Thank you Kenwood for getting this out so fast.

Entre - DVD Counters Off

Movie mode...Press Options Button. Select "Get Move Info"

Total Movie Discs is incorrect. It shows the combinded total for Known Discs and Unknown Discs.

Free Movie Slots showing a/n when it does know in the Changer Managment area.

Known Discs is incorrect - It should be TOTAL Movie Discs minus Unknown Discs.

Cover Art Count is not correct. If the movie was not found, their is no cover art for it.

In may case the readings are currently like this...(Note..I only have DVD's in the changer and have loaded 228 of them.)

Total Movie Discs: 288
Free Movie Slots: N/A
Know Discs: 228
Unknown Discs: 60
Cover Art Count: 228

Should be...

Total Movie Discs: 228
Free Movie Slots: 175 (403 slots - 228 loaded slots)
Know Discs: 168
Unknown Discs: 60
Cover Art Count: 168

Please note that I would guess thet the counters like cover art could change based on if it has a cover in memory for a DVD that was removed. In this case...none have been.)

Hope this helps.

Kenwood is looking to tell OpenGlobe what DVD's are not being found. So, please add to the list the DVD's that you have put into the DVD changer that Entre could not find in the database from OpenGlobe...My list so far....

12 Monkies
Blue Man Group - AUDIO (DVD Audio)
Cast Away
Thirteen Days
America's Sweetharts
Shrek
Independence Day
Arlington Road
Addicted To Love
Shawshank Redemption
Grosse Pointe Blank
Dark City
Billy Madison
Bone Collector
Cable Guy
Demolition Man
Devil's Advocate
EdTV
Ever After
Fallen
The Fan
Father of the Bride
Fources of Nature
Ghostbusters

That is my current list I have looked up in the slots out of 62 it did not find. I will need to pull the discs from the others slots for the names.

Well I received the usb-Ethernet adapter today. It was easy to set up just plug it in and change the settings in the Entre.

It works nice. Especially on internet radio. And it also makes the Media manager useful.

So far what I have recognized with the Entre. If you have the Entre and have it set to something other then cd's it stops the changer from automatically playing the last cd loaded upon start up.(I have a feeling that when they did testing they had all these puppies set up together, therefore the flaws where not noticed).

The media manager makes it easy to move MP3's from your hard drive to the Entree and makes for easier editing of titles, tracks, and other info.

One flaw is that upon taking two MP3's and sending them to the Entre. They were labelled unk. When I went to manually enter the names of the MP3's they where both changed to the same thing and I could not individually change them to some thing different.(It might be since I haven't played with it long enough)

Anyway I am totally happy with this set up so far. As early adopters we are going to have to hang in with the glitches(none which affect me, but I can see why others would mind) but if fixed this is one of the best setups out there.

I confirm what David said earlier about the layer change.( I am not sure that it was three seconds for me, I had less but it there).
On other movies also, but for some reason the layer change has never bothered me.

He are more DVD's that could not be found in OpenGlobe upon loading into the DV-5900M...(I can look them up manually as with the others above using search.)


Godzilla
Good Will Hunting
Holly Man
The Jackal
Jingle All The Way
Judge Dredd
Last Man Standing
Meet Joe Black
The Mirror Has Two Faces
Replacement Killers
The Music Man
Out of Sight
Patch Adams
The Patriot
The Perfect Storm
The Rainmaker
Ransom
The Santa Clause
The Siege
The Sixth Sense
Spawn
Sphere
Striptease
Stuart Little
True Crime
True Lies
The Truman Show
Vegas Vacation
Volcano
The Whole Nine Yards
Madonna, The Girlie Show
X-Men
Eric Clapton & Friends in Concert
Depeche Mode, The Videos 86>98
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill, Live

From the Kenwood website...

"You can still purchase the USB/Ethernet Adapters (to connect your Kenwood Sovereign Entré Entertainment Hub to the Internet via cable modem or DSL) by calling 1-800-450-6999 between the hours of 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday."

NetMate USB to Ethernet Adapter, $59.95 (plus shipping & handling)

1. IR remote response is TERRIBLE. I have to use an IR repeater system (Xantech) due to obscured equipment. I don't know if that worsens the problem (it shouldn't). However, the Guide is almost unuseable due to the sluggish reponse of the remote. You have to use incredibly deliberate keypresses to scroll the Guide list (press a cursor key, wait for 10-15 seconds, press key again). This will surely frustrate my family to no end. This must be fixed!

2. I need the specs on the IR repeater input on the rear panel of the Entre. Can this interface directly with an emitter output port from a Xantech connecting block, or do I need an interface module? There's no detail provided on this in the manual at all. I'll call Tech Support and see if I can get an answer.

3. A Sovereign changer cannot be operated independently when connected to Entre. When I attempt to initiate play of a disc directly from my 5900M, the disc will play for a few seconds and then stop. I must initiate play of discs through Entre. Should be able to play discs directly from the changer, if I wish.

4. Out of the 20 DVDs I had initially loaded, Entre only found information/cover art for 1 title! Here's the ones it had no info for:

Queensryche - Live Evolution
Blue Man Group - Audio (DVD-A)
Queen - We Will Rock You DTS
Nightmare Before Christmas SE
Shrek (Discs 1 and 2)
Foreigner (DVD-A)
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors (DVD-A)
Grateful Dead - American Beauty (DVD-A)
Deep Purple - Machine Head (DVD-A)
Metallica (DVD-A)
Bruce Springsteen - Live in New York (Discs 1 and 2)
U2 - Elevation 2001 (Discs 1 and 2)
Planet of the Apes SE 2001 (Disc 2, it did find Disc 1)
Sade - Live
Earl Klugh - Jazz Channel Presents
Deep Purple - New, Live, and Rare

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll come up with more. I'm very lukewarm on the Entre so far, considering it's steep cost! I have no 5900M issues to post beyond those previously mentioned.

Tom

Hi Tom...

On #1...I do not have this issue at all with my Entre. I find the menus to move along at an expected rate.

On #2...Give it a try...would not think it would hurt.

On #3...Agree! The Entre even has a passthough button you can press...A lot of good that does if you choose not to use the Entre for whatever reason seeing it stops the changer.

On the lookup of DVD's...Here is a workarrond you can try on the not found DVD's. Note...Audio DVD's I do not think are in the database.

Work Around - Go to the unknown DVD in the movie guide list, press OPTION, Select Edit Disc. Use the SEARCH FOR Disc option and type in some of the movie name and do the search. It will then look up the title in OpenGlobe and then bring you back to the edit screen where you press REC to save it.

Thanks for the list...Kenwood is sending them to OpenGlobe to get on-line.

Hi David,

Thanks for the feedback!

If you're seeing acceptable IR remote response, I may have an issue with my repeater system. Perhaps I have the emitter positioned less than optimally. The Xantech stuff is pretty bulletproof, however, and I've yet to see a component not work with it beautifully once the emitter is positioned properly. Perhaps if I use the IR repeater input on the rear panel I'll get better performance. Hopefully, that doesn't just work with Kenwood receivers. Xantech has no info on their website for interfacing Kenwood components with direct IR inputs. I'm mainly seeing the poor performance in the Guides, which is going to get frustrating really quick!

Thanks for the workaround on title lookup. I tried that a little bit with the titles it missed initially. I input the whole disc title, however. Maybe it works better if you just put in a snippet. If it returns multiple possibilities based on your search string, does it let you select the right one? I just put in 30 more discs. We'll see how it does on these :-) I'll keep posting one's it misses. I have over 300 discs, so it's going to take me some time to load it up.

One last point, the Entre is REALLY slow on title lookup with a 56K dialup connection. I wasn't expecting much here, but it took over an hour to lookup my first 20 discs. If I had the thing loaded with 400 discs, it would probably take days! Unfortunately, I cannot get any broadband access in my area so I'm stuck with dialup :-(

Tom

Hi Tom...

"If it returns multiple possibilities based on your search string, does it let you select the right one? "

No it does not. I so far have 3 discs it gives me the wrong disc info for. Bummer that you do not get a listing to choose from on matches.

I also use Xantech and Niles. Have no issue even upstairs in my office controlling it.

When were you looking up titles? I found the OpenGlobe service to be down most of the day thus not finding anything. Took over 20 seconds to come back wth that result of no DVD's. And that was over broadband. When it is up...like now, I get a result in 11 seconds. I found it to be down from my first attempt at 10am ET to like 5:00PM et.

Here are my latest findings:

1) I am getting a hit rate of about 80% on DVD auto-searches. Using the workaround David mentioned, I managed to get 150 of the 155 DVDs I entered recognized. The five that weren't recognized AND that I couldn't find manually are:

The Godfather (original movie)
Highlander: Endgame
Cheap Trick: Silver
Lolita (Stanley Kubrick Collection)
Cleopatra - Disc 1

The weird thing is that all the other Godfather discs were in the DB, including the bonus features disc, and Disc 2 of Cleopatra was in the DB but not Disc 1. It's also strange that there are DVDs in the database that I know have only been released once (no special edition/collector's edition/etc), but they aren't hashing to the right index.

2) The Entre does seem to hang quite a bit for me during manual DVD editing (about once every 6 or 7 DVDs), but it hasn't hung outside of DVD editing.

3) I hooked up a NetMate Plus I had laying around (one of the perks of being the developer :) ) and it worked fine with the Entre Media Manager software.

Two questions:

1) I don't have a Kenwood receiver; is it possible to configure the Entre to power on my 5900M changer when it is powered on, or do I have to power both on separately?

2) Is there any way to edit in which genre a DVD is placed? It's not one of the manual edit fields. Some of the DB assignments are pretty silly, like "Billy Joel: Live at Yankee Stadium" is in the Educational genre instead of Musical.

I do not have an Entre hub, just the 5900M changer.
I just put all my media in (300+ discs), and ran the netNamerDV software.

Well, after about 3 hours of shuffling and reading, the software gave me an error on disk #372 (grrrr). It wasn't the number that was the problem, it's the reading of a DVD-V disc (in this case, American Pie).

I got an ""Run-time error '13': Type Mismatch."

When I first ran the software on a select few discs, this happened before on Toy Story I and II.

Am I the only one getting this error? I'm running version 1.3.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Jon

1. As Ponziani mentions, the Entre hangs quite a bit during manual DVD editing. It's hung on me at least 5 times this weekend while trying to get my collection cataloged. When the unit is hung, no keypresses from the remote register and the unit must be reset by holding down the power button for 5 seconds. Extremely annoying, and a clear sign of a product that was released too soon before it was fully debugged!

2. I retract my earlier statement about IR remote sensitivity being an issue. I fiddled with my Xantech repeater and am now getting acceptable performance. I also retract my earlier statement about slow access time with a 56K dialup connection. I must have had a bad connection at the time, because today it took about 40 minutes to look up 50 discs. Seems like a reasonable time with a 56K connection speed.

3. The Entre needs a command to drop the call when it's logged on over a dialup connection. There's already been several times I've wanted to use my computer and Entre was still logged on and occupying the phone line. Unplugging the phone line drops the connection, but that's clearly a kludge!

4. You should be able to assign genres from the Edit Disc screen!

5. If you select cover art from the Edit Disc screen it takes you back to the Guide after making your choice. If you've entered any text in the Edit Disc screen it's lost. After making a cover art selection it should return you to the Edit Disc screen. Otherwise, changing title text and cover art selection is a 2 step process.

5. I still think it was a bad design choice to not allow a connected Sovereign changer to operate independently when connected to Entre. Fix this if possible.

6. While playing BRAVEHEART last night the 5900M inexplicably stopped playing in the middle of Chapter 13. I'm not sure if this is where the layer switch is, and it choked on it. After I finished the disc, I replayed Chapter 13 and it played straight through without a problem. I didn't notice a layer change, so I doubt that's what caused the initial problem.

7. More discs that weren't found during auto lookup:

The Corruptor
Perfect Storm
Armageddon (Criterion) Disc 2
Daylight
Diehard (Disc 2)
Diehard 2 (Disc 1)
Die Hard with a Vengeance (Disc 1)
American Graffiti
Being John Malkovich
Spinal Tap (Criterion)
Dream Theater: Metropolis 2000
Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same
Paris Concert: Amnesty Interational
Rolling Stones: Bridges to Babylon
Mickey Hart: Planet Drum
King Crimson: deja VROOM
Dave Matthews Band: LIstener Supported
Sessions @ W. 54th - Vol. 2
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
James Taylor: Live @ Beacon Theater
Steve Vai: Alien Love Secrets
Dawn of the Dead - Director's Cut
AVIA
DTS Demo # 3 and #4
Jacob's Ladder
The Thing
Army of Darkness - Disc 2 (Director's Cut)

Most of these can be found via manual search. However, there's still about 5 discs I've loaded that aren't in the DB at all. I'll post all of my titles that aren't in the DB when I get all my discs loaded.

All of these lockups I'm experiencing are REALLY annoying. This must be addressed (quickly, I hope)! I continue to be thoroughly unimpressed with the Entre, and am starting to really regret it's purchase :-(

Tom

I'm a lucky @home user in a suburb of Chicago. I got the adapter on Friday and was going to hook it up Sat morning but at 8am-ish my internet was/is_still dead!!! Not funny.

Ahh...but the Entre provided me with the promo code for Earthlinks 30 day free search and $19.95 / month access. Yes, indeed-ee.

*After* my account was activated the Entre has worked very well accessing the internet at about 45K (per my computer and guessing what the Entre is getting). *Before* my account was activated (valid phone numbers, connected, just failed because userid was not activated), it acted strange. Would not disconnect!!! Had to pull the 3 prong-plug...ouch.

Someone mentioned it not hanging up and then they couldn't dial up with their computer. This is not happening to me. The Entre appears to hang up ok...as I connected to the computer (to type this) just fine.

Issue 1: Has someone found a way to go to the <text> button/option yet. Bizare. I would have thought the <info> remote button would have gotton you there.

Issue 2: Did they believe a user manual was out of the question? The only thing I got is the overview setup guide that doesn't even appear to show multiple setups (i.e. assumes component is going thru receiver vs my_case of going directly to 10HT) . Try looking up the <text> button in that setup manual!! Perhaps I'm just missing a manual?

Issue 3: The cover art for Garth's CD - Seven - is incorrect. Now that is just not right...on many levels.

Issue 4: Unk DVDs
a) American Presidnet
b) French Kiss
c) World is not enough
d) Gone with the wind
e) Stuart Little
f) Toy Story 1

Overall this cat is cool :cool: and I'm very glad that I got it...very glad. Now I haven't hit the lock up since I haven't tried the manual edit yet...silly silly...shouldn't have to.

Perhaps I missed this but it sure seems that in several places in the Entre hub it refers to "changer 1"...which to me implies that if it does not work with additional daisy chained changer (another 5900M or another 5050M) then it seems they intended it to. Otherwise...why the designation? My gut is telling me (Nick) that this will come in a software upgrade. I hope so to so I can put my CDs in another unit.

Perhaps I missed something else...some one/people said you can't pick another CD/DVD while an existing one is playing?!? I can push the <guide> remote button to pick something else.

Scott,

There's a second manual that was packed in the small cardboard box with all the accessories. It's about the size of a paperback book and around 100 pages in length. It goes into fairly good detail about operation of the Entre. If you don't have this manual definitely call Kenwood as you're short an item. Glad the Entre is working well for you. I remain less than enthused with mine. It locked up on me again (during manual editing) last night after posting my last message. Grrrrr!

BTW I have a Sony 10HT too. The 5900M really presents an awesome picture on our PJ doesn't it? A clear improvement over my previous Sony 9000ES player. Even with all the bugs/issues with the 5900M/Entre, picture quality is the ultimate requirement and the 5900M really delivers there!

Tom

OK, here are my DV-5900M gripes:

(1) DVD-A digital output: Although there is a menu selection to turn off PCM downconversion, when you play a DVD-A, it is automatically downconverted. This prevents the automatic input selection on any processor or receiver that defaults to digital whenever a digital signal is present (like my Lexicon MC-12) from playing the analog signal. If you have PCM downconversion turned off, it should not put out any digital signal when playing a DVD-A.


(2) You can't input track data for DVD-As, nor can you get any information from the Internet for DVD-Vs or DVD-As.

(3) You can't input information about track artists. Thus if you have a compilation album containing a track by, say, the Rolling Stones, doing a search on Rolling Stones will turn up only CDs by the Stones, and not the compilation track.

(4) You can't edit the disc information for any disc that has DVD-Text.

(5) the disc selection method that requires multiple presses of the 100+ and 10+ keys is just stupid. You should be able to select any disc by entering a 3 digit number.


(6) When loading discs, you can advance the position of the changer by 100 discs by pressing 100+, but with the door open 10+ is disabled, as are the number keys, so you can't dial in a specific position.

Now David, here's the key question: are these or any of the other issues identified in this thread even fixable in current units? In other words, is the internal software upgradeable in these units or does one have to replace ones unit once improved software is available?

Also, can someone please explain to me how the Entre interfaces with the 5900M? Let's say I find the DVD I want to watch on the Entre's display and I select it. I assume that it tells the player to start playing the disc. Does the audio and video for the disc pass through the Entre? I'd heard that the Entre doesn't have digital output, so if one is using an external decoder, this won't work. So does one have to select the disc using the Entre and then switch to another input to watch it?

Finally, the NetNamer software is pretty awful. Is the Media Manager for Entre any better?

rbienstock,

Item#1: And conversely, the dolby digital soundtrack and stereo CD output goes through the 5.1 analog outputs by default. Due to this, my pre-amp cannot automatically switch to the bitstream data vs. the analog.

Item#4 is sort of incorrect: While you cannot alter the text of a CD-TEXT in the OSD or LCD, you can via the NetNamerDV software.

Item#1: And conversely, the dolby digital soundtrack and stereo CD output goes through the 5.1 analog outputs by default. Due to this, my pre-amp cannot automatically switch to the bitstream data vs. the analog.
Right, you should be able to have this control. Are you saying, BTW, that your preamp automatically defaults to Analog where such a signal exists. If so, that is itself a bonehed design choice because in all cases other than DVD-A, the digital signal is the highest quality signal, and thus, IMO, should be the default. That's how the Lexicon works as well as the Pioneer receiver I have in my bedroom.

Item#4 is sort of incorrect: While you cannot alter the text of a CD-TEXT in the OSD or LCD, you can via the NetNamerDV software.
Not quite. Although you can make the change, it doesn't stick. The next time that you access the disc or do an All Disc Read, it reverts back to the DVD-Text. I've not found a CD with CD-Text, so I don't know if that works the same way.

Ok . . . I'm back to the land of the living, and I've got the Entre hooked up. Out of 330+ discs (I just had an eBay sale of over 100), it couldn't find a full 100+ discs.

While I like very much what it does do, I want to see how much of the gaps can get filled. I haven't tried David's workaround yet, but Kenwood alerted me that the Media Manager Software would be a workaround for any of the ills that now plague me.

Well, I downloaded it, but I can't get things going from there. Kenwood explained that my "library" from my Entre will be on the OpenGlobe site (or downloadable from there), and I can make corrections with the Media Manager software, including adding cover art, and doing the disc editing from my PC.

So far, though, the Media Manager software just appears to be a music based software, and when I tried to go to the OpenGlobe website, I get advertisements and career information, but nothing like a file download which is what the "help" section on the Media Manager purports to be there.

Anyone got this up and running? I only need it for movies, so I'm not concerned now about music.

By the way: if anyone ever doubted that Kenwood reads this site, be a believer. I assumed that they knew to call me Nick from a phone number that was registered, but then when I called from my work number and they called me Nick (without me telling them who it was), they know they've got the guy who still always asks about when they're going to make good on their marketing.

Any help on the Media Manager would be appreciated.

Nick :cool:

hello guys. i have had my unit for about 2 weeks. wish i would have found this site sooner and maybe i wouldn't have bought the 5900m, then again maybe I would have :)

here are my complaints.

very disappointed with the interface. when you go into library, it always comes on at the same point. that means a lot of work to get to movie watching. there are at least like 10 button presses to play a movie from a category. the pioneer always remembered where it was so when you brought up the osd, it would be where ever you were last time you used it.

the keyboard defaults to upper case. to type lower case you have to hold down the shift key for every key press. there is no caps lock on the keyboard.

only 8 user defined groups. for me that is not enough. luckily i have the pioneer so i can split my groups between them.

to name a group, a disc, or categorize, you can only do it through the unit. you can't use the osd. even though you can use the osd to rename something you already input. also the interface for naming groups and discs on the unit is horrible. you have a set key and an enter key. in some steps you use one, and in some steps the other. confusing. you need to read the manual to figure it out. can very well be the engineers where counting on people using the serial connection primarly. problem for me is that i just realized my computer doesn't have a legacy serial port.

can't seem to categorize a disc with the keyboard. have to use the remote.

there is no subtitle button on remote. pioneer remote has it which is convenient because sometimes you want to turn them on to decipher what is being said. on the dvd "the band played on" there are scenes where french doctors are speaking. it is so convenient to hit the subtitle button to turn them on.

Picture is great even though I don't have a HDTV yet. That is my next purchase. Waiting to find a buyer for my 61 inch hitachi.

So can discs be recategorized after being downloaded through the entre hub? kenwood told me yes, but hey have lost some credibility after what i have read here.

by the way this player is unusable as a family unit. i still have my pioneer 727 so i am going to move all my animation and family dvds back to the 727 and keep the rest in the kenwood. my next tv is going to have two component video inputs so that should work out fine.

(similar to a post on the other 5900 thread)

In thinking I'm going to keep the 5900M, I finally set up my system so that I was listening to my CDs in my unit via toslink (digital) to my B&K Ref30 pre-amp.

Well.... a new (showstopper) issue has emerged!!

When I change discs, and the new disc begins playing, I loose the first 1-3 seconds of the music due to.... something! I'm assuming that the 5900M is delaying it's TOSLink signal until after the discs starts for some reason. The result is, on only SOME discs, that I loose the first 1-3 seconds of music.

This did not occur when I was listening via the analog outputs.

Because I only have 3 days left until I can return this thing, can someone please perform this test on their unit to see if you can replicate it? Preferably, someone with a B&K Ref30...

Unfortunately, my assumption is that it's an engineering design flaw with all the units.

Any (quick) info GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks for your feedback.

The CATC USB-Ethernet Adapter for the Entre' to be compatible with your cable or DSL modem is available now for sale from authorized Kenwood Sovereign Dealers or off the Kenwood website at http://www.kenwoodusa.com/frame/shop.jsp

Jon,

This problem is almost certainly a B&K issue not a Kenwood problem. Your pre/pro is trying to sort out what kind of signal it is getting and it takes a second or two to do that. This is inevitable when you have one component that is capable of outputting so many different kinds of data. I don't know if the B&K is capable of using "virtual" inputs like my Lexicon, but on my pre/pro I've set up 3 different virtual inputs for the 5900, one each for DVD-V, DVD-A and CD. I've told the Lex what kind of signal to expect and effect to use on each input, so it doesn't have to guess (and guess wrong).

Entre -

Using the PC Media Manager software to transfer MP3 files to the Entre, it appears that the Entre does not recognize special characters (non-english, tilde, spanish "n", etc) in the ID3 tag information. The transfer aborts when it reaches a file with special characters in the ID3.

In other words, I have a CD that has 10 tracks

* track 2 has a special character in the ID3, "Dónde están"

* transfer stops -- you get track 2 on the Entre with either a blank name or garbage in the name

*you get no other tracks.

CD -- Shakira, Donde Estan Los Ladrones

This is not the only CD it's happened on, it just happens to be the one I'm currently fixing.

rbienstock,

I hear ya... and what you're saying makes sense.

I want to add more comments, but I'm going to start a new thread because it may be B&K related and not Kenwood...

See you there!

Re: Entré (<--- notice this forum support of strange 'characters' :eek: ... hmm perhaps they should add UTF-8 support...and if you actually know what that is then I feel sorry for your pain.)

I've hooked up the radio (RCA only output per others help) and I've found that while a radio station is playing that I can *not* press the radio button (nor guide I believe <edit> My memory failed me and Tom (below) corrected me. 'guide' button did work! doh! </edit>) to bring up the list and pick another. I need to pick the 'movie' or 'music' button then hit the radio button. 'Music' doesn't seem to work like this. (BTW, I'm using CATU connection not dialup).


Re: 5900M
I could not get it to play Final Fantasy at all :mad:. The changer display would say 'play' then within 3 seconds say 'stop'. First problem of playing a DVD. It was in the rental slot, BTW, as it was a rental. I then took my old Pioneer DVD player and hooked that up and watched the movie without any problem.

Scott,

Try pressing the Guide button when you're at the player screen for Music, Radio, or Movies. That should take you back to the Guide for the section you're currently in.

On FF, did you try and initiate play directly from the 5900M rather than through the Entre? I had this same behavior when I first connected the Entre to my 5900M. Eventually I realized that when Entre is connected to the 5900M, you must initiate play of a disc through ENTRE (including the rental slots). If you try playing directly from the 5900M the behavior you described occurs (discs play for a few seconds and then stop). Actually, this is something I wish Kenwood would fix. If I know what disc I want to play (especially a rental slot) I shouldn't have to go through the Entre to begin playback.

Anyway, hope these work for you!

Tom

RE: OK. The Guide button takes you to the guide when you are listening to a radio station.

Tom B, Doh! The Guide button did, in fact, work just now. I was sure I tried it before. Just verified now. Seems odd that the Radio button would not ... yet you can press the Music or Movie button.

RE: Final Fantasy (FF)
Tom B, now you have me full of self-doubt...but I almost always select from the guide. In fact, when I put FF in rental slot 1, the Entre automatically went off to look it up on the internet. WHY? Seems like a user interface problem to me. If I have a borrowed DVD case or a rented DVD case in my hand and I take it out and put it in 1 of the 3 rental slots...shouldn't it ask me if I want to look it up. Likely not, since I have the case in my hand <geez>. So, I believe that I did use the Entre guide. I also believe that I have used the dedicated play button to play a DVD that I just put in a rental slot.

I also wholeheartedly agree that if you put a rental DVD in that you should be able to push the dedicated rental play button for that rental slot to play it. Hmmm....they advertise that this is a user interface feature after all (and makes great sense). Seems like the integration for that was not thought out fully?

? Debugging question: The FF was not found by OpenGlobe/Entre. Were your DVD examples found when you experienced the same thing you described (had to use guide)? I ask because what if there is a bug where the logic path (flag set wrong, etc) fails when the DVD is not found by OG/Entre

RE: 1.0.0.2 upgrade ?
I just noticed this '.2' when I'm sure it was '.1' before. Sounds like I got an auto update. Is there "release" notes (fixes / changes) described somewhere?

RE: Problem descriptions to Kenwood developers
I'm wondering who the Entre developers are able to use all this information? Are we providing them enough details/steps that lead up to the problem? Are we describing our setup enough that they can start putting a matrix together to see commonalities between us...where one person does not experience the same problem as another (where not user <me> error)?

RE: Equivalent debug mode showing "WINIPCFG" info?
Why because I'm curious as to what my DNSes look like. The Entre (radio) is currently working but my 2nd computer is not. This after I hardcoded my ISP (ATTBI) DNSes in my Nexland router to get by their current performance problems. Also with this information I may know if the LAN version of ExtraDNS (excellent shareware) is working properly.

RE: ScottF200 setup: I own the Entre and 5900M only. I'm currently hooked up to a Pioneer Rec and a 10HT using component output. I'm using CATU which is connected to a NexLand router/hub (Pro 800 eight port).

ScottF200,

Regarding the winipcfg-like information -- try

* Setup
* Utilities
* System Information

H

RE: Available DNS infor like from PCs WINIPCFG

hmatos, Thanks for the response. I am confused, however. In my question I asked about DSNes. These exist in WINIPCFG. I don't find those anywhere in the Entre. The dynamic IP address (192.168.0.3) I know because my NexLand router assigns it and I can see the Entre's IP by looking at the NexLand router directly. The Gateway is just the the NexLand routers IP (192.168.0.1). Did you find the DNSes? I looked at the manuals as well but didn't see anything. Thanks.

No DNS info can be found. Don't know why you need to see it though. If the Entre acquired the IP and router info via your DHCP server, it would have received the same info that your PC's receive for DNS. I think you need to look at that PC for software issues. Just my guess. (Please do not let this get into a PC fix talk in this thread. :))

Scott,

FWIW, Final Fantasy plays fine on my 5900. I'd guess that you got an abused rental disc.

RE: DNS info
David, thanks for the confirmation. BTW, the hub is a PC <grin>. It is more than just my current kids PC issue. I wanted to use the LAN version for ExtraDNS to point to my main computer (192.168.0.2) as the DNS server. For this I would override the DNSes info in the Hub, although I don't know, if I have to then specify 'everything' as if it was a static IP. In any event, I deal with this in another thread or on my own since it would not likely be a great interest to all. I can understand that.

RE: Final Fantasy
rbienstock, thanks for confirming it worked OK for you. It was either the sequence of steps I took that caused my problem or what Tom mentioned where the Hub wants to be 'in control'. I think think that because if played fine on my Pioneer DVD player.

RE: Rental dedicated 'play' work or need 'guide'?
Can you guys confirm or not if you need use the Hub and guide to 'play' DVDs in the rental slots? Do the dedicated play buttons on the front of the 5900M work, OK? I was sure I've used them in the past? <edit> Oh...I bet what I must be remembering is simply the period of time that I only had the 5900M and the Hub had not arrived yet. </edit>

Thanks much all.

final fantasy was the first disc i ever played on the 5900. played fine. we are talking about the porno edition right :-)

someone mentioned that you can name a disc through the osd on the 5050. has anyone verified that? I can't seem to be able to do it on the 5900 but they should be the same. haven't tried a cd yet.

RE: Rental dedicated 'play' work or need 'guide'?
Doh! It just dawned on me why they are stopping rentals from being played directly from the changer and it's panel play buttons.

WHY? For parental control, of course. You wouldn't want little johnny to come home with his friend jack who 'borrowed' jack's dad's "adult DVD" and come play it on the big screen!!

BUT...it seems like they really errored on the side of caution here BECAUSE I don't have any parental controls set up (yet, I do have two curious boys!). I'm using the first option (named X oddly enough if I recall) which means there are NO parental controls over what the hub can play.

SO...it would seem if I state 'no parental controls' that they should allow the front panel rental play buttons to WORK.

Did you guys already come up with this theory or request and I just missed it?!?

It seems I'm reading everything but there are a lot more questions than answers so that means that either people are not responding or do not know or that there are private conversations going on.

RE: 1.0.0.2 upgrade ?
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 Insallation section of the Kenwood USA Web site at:

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

This is where I would have guessed the description of the new releases would be. Anybody ever get to that site?? I get 404 error message. Now either I can not type or the author of that halfsheet can not. Potentially they will read or get wind of this and perhaps remember that task item on the project plan. :confused:

okay, i know most of you are using the entre or netnamer to name your discs, but finally figured out how to do it via the osd.

you can't select a specific userfile when you go into library, you have to select all and from that menu you can name them.

My 5900 changer is having problems reading a CD-R I made. Any insight into why this may be happening?

I'm not sure if this will work . . . attaching a ProntoPro image. We'll see.

Anyway, I've been quite frustrated with either my stupidity at needing both the Entre and the DV-5900M remote (select with the Entre, but then control with the DV-5900), or Kenwood's stupidity. I can't figure out if it's because I'm dumb, or they just made stupid remotes.

In any case, I've figured out the essential--for now--keys from both remotes that would go on one Pronto page. I've attached it. Don't remind me of its lack of subtlety, but it's getting the job done for now. The top half is the Entre, the bottom is the 5900.

I'd encourage any Pronto users out there to improve on what I've done, and help us to cure the problems that Kenwood stupidly created (there, I've blamed Kenwood).

Hope this attachment appears, or works.

Nick :cool:

Hi All...

Well I am happy to say I have been in close contact with the people at both Kenwood and OpenGlobe. I can assure you that they do read the site and the issues being raised by us great early adopters are being looked at. Now I am not talking to just the support line...but product managers and the people who can really answer the questions we have had. The great news, is they approached me because of this site.

I say early adopters because this it is just that. This is the first consumer product that has such interconnectivity with such great potential. Yes, it has some issues...and yes, some of the issues can be taken care of via software updates. In fact, some already have as a direct result of the members of this forum with more to come!

Some are quick fixes that can be made. Some take a lot more time and requires both companies to work together. The relationship is just that...a relationship. Kenwood and OpenGlobe are in a relationship for this product. So, if Kenwood wants feature X in the Entre, then OpenGlobe being a provider for Kenwood needs to work with them to see if it can be done and iron out things like costs. Just like any business relationship.

Some items slipped though the cracks as with almost any product being put to market. However, they are being resolved and they are committed to working on the issues. How quick will this happen? Some things quickly as has already taken place. Others require....well you know.

What I can say right now...It WATCH for the reports from CES on where OpenGlobe is going with all this. It should be great news. I will be at CES as well as some of you...so, looking forward.

Ok...Down to some things I do know...

OpenGlobe Related....

The database is being worked on to be able to find more of the DVD's that ARE in their system. They are cross linking the 4x3's with the widescreen which will help a great deal.

The Movie Description Information that you can see in the edit screen should be, down the road, able to be pulled up via the INFO button. Please note however, items like this will take a back seat to bigger issues like the random lockups.

Random Lockups....This is being looked into as a network issue...seeing it is so random, it is very hard to locate. I for one can not make it happen all the time and I am one heck of a tester.

Push the OpenGlobe Button and you will see that it is going to be used for some great things to come down the road. It works now, but is said be be even better soon. (not a bug, just mentioning.)

The Auto STOP when trying to use the DVD Changer without Entre....Being looked into and considered the reason for it. (I hated this as you know.)

DVD nav controls not passing through with the Entre remote when you have selected a DVD...Not sure on this one I am sorry to say. :(

No way to edit the Genre. It is being looked into is all I know.


Kenwood Issues....

The 3 second layer change....It is being looked into overseas by the engineers. How long will this take to get a response on it...I do not know but I am surely looking for one.

Data not being passed from the Entre to the Changer for changer panel TEXT display. Not considered a bug, for it was not intend to have done so. Pity. However...it maybe looked into to be added down the road.

Entre Multi Changer Support....This is also being looked into and plans are being made to make this work as intended. However, this will not be a short process for it involves, from what I can see, both hardware and software. I would think they want this to work for it would only drive more sales for both the people who need to add a unit or two and to people on the "fence" with large libraries.


So all-in-all we are being heard. So, lets keep the information constructive vs destructive, for things are getting done.

BTW...OpenGlobe is a stand alone company providing OEM services to several vendors. It is a relationship between them and their customers...thus please do not say things like look at the Compaq and you will see nothing will get done. That is not the case for it is a two way street between the companies. Kenwood is working very hard with OpenGlobe on these issues and concerns and things are getting done.

Here to the future!

Originally posted by David Bott


Entre Multi Changer Support....This is also being looked into and plans are being made to make this work as intended. However, this will not be a short process for it involves, from what I can see, both hardware and software. I would think they want this to work for it would only drive more sales for both the people who need to add a unit or two and to people on the "fence" with large libraries.


So all-in-all we are being heard. So, lets keep the information constructive vs destructive, for things are getting done.


Here to the future!

Well, ok, as far as this goes. But there is a limit to this notion of constructive criticism. And, while I will not burden the Forum with anything but the highlights of what I do from here, some things need to be pointed out.

It is one thing for Kenwood to say that things aren't working as they intended, and that, on the changer issues, it will take time and it could be hardware, could be software. While that could be the ruminations of the manufacturer that's willing to tackle the issues, it also could be the evasiveness of a manufacturer that's not willing to commit to anything.

At the same time, as of three days ago (and possibly today) it was still up on Kenwood's website that the Entre controls "up to 3 . . ." (the word changer is cut out . . . but the meaning is clear).
So Kenwood is still telling the unwary that the Entre hub will control more than one changer, even though they now undisputably know that it doesn't.

A cynical person would say that Kenwood is permitting these misrepresantations to persist, because, hey, not many fanatics out there really own over 400 discs, and they'll never really care, or even discover the misrepresentation.

A cynical person would say that Kenwood is telling you, David, the things it wants us to hear, but that Kenwood won't come out and say it themselves. A cynical person would say that Kenwood realizes it can't be reproached for misrepresentations that it didn't publicly make, but told to someone on the q-t, to "pass along" to the public.

I'm all for maintaining a cooperative relationship with the manufacturer, but I've reached the end of my rope with the multiple changer issues. I'm using the DV-5900, I'm using the Entre Hub, but I didn't get what I paid for, and what Kenwood advertised. Sure, Kenwood can say that it made an honest mistake, but it continues to mislead people with its website advertisements, and all the marketing materials out there.

So, Kenwood will hear from me. If they want to send me a PM, and obtain my phone number (although they have it--they know me when I call before I announce my name), I'll certainly be willing to listen to anything they have to say. But I, for one, will not be appeased with the continued noncommital of Kenwood, and these messages of hope whispered to others. I want to know now whether I bought this menagerie in vain.

Sorry, had to say it.

Nick :cool:

Nicholas,

You are not alone in your frustration in dealing with Kenwood! Since Kenwood does appear to be reading this forum, maybe someone there could respond to my detailed mail message regarding the various issues with my DV-5900M & Entre. In all fairness, I did email OpenGlobe a list containing issues that were specific to the Entre -- they responded within 2 hours.

I expected a lot more when I purchased Kenwood top-of-the-line equipment. At the very least, problem-report/trouble-ticket follow-ups from technical support. While I understand that most of the issues can't be addressed immediately -- it would have been nice if Kenwood would simply acknowledge the fact that they exist.

Since, I cannot reasonably use CD-R or DVD-R (see http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=99343 ) media to expand the storage capacity of the Entre, the multiple changer control has also become a hot item for me. I cannot understand how this "feature" continues to be promoted, when everyone acknowledges it does not work.

Heroildo

Guys...

"I cannot understand how this "feature" continues to be promoted, when everyone acknowledges it does not work. "

I think they can do this for they are fully intending to have this function supported as indented. The product was released, the product did not have all the features intended due to one reason or another...but that does not mean it will not. Can they say when it will? Sure...but if they miss that date people would again complain. So instead, they say it is being looked into and continue to say it will be able to support this feature. For I have to believe they will want it to for it would offer increased sales for adding on more changers.

I guess my question is...if it is removed from the website will that make you happy? My guess is NO. For you still want it (as do I). I for one like it on their site...for they must still be looking for this to be part of the system. It is possible from what I know.

They are not leaking info to me to post...unless I am wrong, you have also been told the same thing...that it is being worked on.

David,

You've made excellent points -- the fact that it's still on the website is irrelevant. I'm sure if they removed it, I'd probably be even more upset. :)

I guess I'm angry at myself for setting such high expectations.

H

Don't get me wrong here....this is one of the reasons I also bought the complete system. I have every intention of adding another changer in the future. The fact that I was told it would do just for what I was looking for it do to was one of the main reasons I bought it.

So...I still think they WANT to make sure this works. For it can only increase sales for additional changers and make it a reason to buy the Entre hub.

I feel it was harder to do then they originally thought...thus the delay... but still wanted to get the product out. Right or wrong, don't know. But I am glad I have what I have right now.

If you think about it, it would be quite and undertaking. Not only does the Entre need to be able to "talk" with each changer independently, but then the changers need be able to know to pass the audio and video though. Now they already can do this, but in this function needs to be able to be controlled by the Entre. All in all, quite an undertaking. There is a lot more to it than that, for the changers only have 1 RS-232 port, thus no pass though. So, is hardware then needed? Would think so. Maybe a USB to RS-232 hardware device or something. This would have been easier I would think if the changers had pass though ports for RS-232. Oh well. We will see. But no small undertaking I would guess. But should be doable nonetheless. So...will we see the "Entre MCU" (Media Controler Unit)

I talked to Kenwood tech support last week. The guy I talked to said they are definitely working on a fix to make the Entre work with multiple changers. He said hardware would be required and mentioned an RS-232 to USB adapter, exactly as David has suggested. I'm confident Kenwood is working on this. I just hope it's not an insurmountable technical hurdle!

I'm still having lots of random lockups with the Entre. VERY annoying! However, I've received one software update already so hopefully the system will become more stable over time.

Tom

I also hope they get it to work and will be adding another changer if they do. I would like to have one full of Cd's and one of with DVD's.

I have the current one full of cd's only and hopefully in the next six months when they get the entre to detect and notice all the DVD's and Kenwood gets it to work with a second changer I will add it.

Originally posted by David Bott
I guess my question is...if it is removed from the website will that make you happy? My guess is NO. For you still want it (as do I). I for one like it on their site...for they must still be looking for this to be part of the system. It is possible from what I know.Instead of removing any mention of this "vaporware" feature from their web site, just clearly mark it with an asterisk, footnote, or something that says "*available via future software update".

This is what Compaq did on their web site after their Music Center shipped with several advertised features missing, after quite a few complaints about deceptive advertising. Kenwood's not the first OpenGlobe OEM to find themselves missing some planned features...

Any word if they plan to fix (disable) the extremely annoying "auto play last disk at power up" feature on the 5900M?

Ken

Ken...Do not think that one is fixable or that they consider it a bug. If it is a software thing in the 5900 firmware...not sure if they would "fix" it.

It also bugged me. The unit does not really draw much power if not used...thus, I leave mine on all the time. It might even go into a low power state if not used. (though not sure.)

Seeing that the Entre does not turn if off as it does the receiver, it just might be intended to be left on.

I am still holding out for the possiblity of an advanced code that will turn it on in stop mode. The Pioneer mega changer also does the same thing, but there is one advanced code for an exit command that turns it on in stop mode. That exit command is not on the receiver or on the remote.

Have you noticed that if you hit play from the player it powers on from standby, but if you hit play from the remote, it does not.

I have now had 3 separate instances of the 5900M inexplicably stopping playback in the middle of a DVD disc. This glitch has not happened at a layer change point, so it's not related to that. The 3 discs it's happened on are:

BRAVEHEART
THE SCORE
QUEENSRYCH: OPERATION LIVECRIME

The disc is playing fine, and all of a sudden playback stops and you are unceremoniously dumped to the 5900M background screen. Re-initiating play through the ENTRE starts the disc at the begining (the spot where playback ceased is not memorized). In all 3 cases, when playback was restarted the disc played fine through the point playback stopped before. THIS GLITCH IS INCREDIBLY ANNOYING!! By the time play is restarted and you find the point where you left off, you're completely taken out of the movie. I've never had a DVD player that did this, and I've owned many. I never noticed the 5900M do this before I connected the Entre. So, I guess this could either be an independent 5900M or Entre issue, or perhaps something related to the way the pair interfaces. In any event I regard this as a CRITICAL defect and one that Kenwood MUST address. Is anyone else seeing this, or might have a defective unit?

Tom

I had the same thing happen over this weekend on two DVD's. Armageddon and Mission Impossible 2. Just stopped for no reason at all.

I think this stoppage is coming directly from the Entre. Meaning that the Entre is sending what the changer thinks is a stop command.

If you press play on the changer (or remote) from the stopped point, it tries to restart at the same point and then does a stop again. This is the same behavior as when you try to play a DVD without using the Entre.

I also could play the disc without issue so it was not either disc and must be coming from the Entre.

David,

If you saw this behavior too, it looks like a real bug rather than a defective unit on my end. I agree it's probably due to the Entre as well. I never saw this happen when I ran the 5900M on its own prior to adding the Entre. I cannot even begin to describe how annoying this glitch is. KENWOOD (if you're reading), THIS MUST BE FIXED!!

Tom

*Minor Issue -- If you create a playlist with songs from various albums and play the list. You do not get the correct cover art or song information displayed.

Originally posted by Tom Blake
David,

If you saw this behavior too, it looks like a real bug rather than a defective unit on my end. I agree it's probably due to the Entre as well. I never saw this happen when I ran the 5900M on its own prior to adding the Entre. I cannot even begin to describe how annoying this glitch is. KENWOOD (if you're reading), THIS MUST BE FIXED!!

Tom

It's happened to me two nights in a row. When I try to get things going again by pushing the play button on the 5900, I get the "reading" box in the upper left, but then it stops again.

The only way to get back to the movie, that I've found, is to back to the Entre movie guide, and select the movie all over again. Then of course you need to set the disc up all over again, and figure out where you were if you're fortunate enough that the dics has chapter selections (though nearly all do).

If the three second layer change really bothered people as much as they posted, then better paste Suicide Hotline Number on the Entre Hub for this "layer change." Funny, it happened deep into two different movies, nearing their end (i.e., the worst possible time).

Nick :cool:

The lock-ups that some are seeing sound very familiar to me. I have had several disks lock-up or worse( Player seems to completely freeze). I am running the 5900 without the Entre. When I described this problem to Kenwood and my dealer(Crutchfield) both agreed that I had bad unit. Crutchfield(to their credit) mailed me out a new unit within two days. Now the really bad news, it's happening on the second unit.

One disc I have, Fantasia, seems especially jinxed, although it plays fine on my Computer's dvd drive. Today I took the disc to my local Tweeter's to try it on some players there. It worked fine. When I asked the salesperson at Tweeter to try it on a 5900, he said that they previously had one but he wasn't sure where it was. After checking, he reported that it had been sent back for repair.

I also just discovered a problem with a music CD. The CD skips at the exact same place repeatedly on a certain disc. Sounds like a scratch right. Well, the disc plays perfectly on three other cd players that I own including a $40 Walkman and a 15 year old Sony single disk player. Right now I am not sure what to think.

I really want this player to work but I'm getting nervous that it may have some serious design flaws.

I too have a 5900m and no Entre. So far, I have not had any lockup on any disc, including Fantasia, though I did not watch that disc through to the end. Does it lock up at any particular spot? Are there any other problem discs that I should check that are believed to be a problem for the 5900 (as opposed to the Entre which seems to have problems with lots of discs)?

The disc has behaved a little differently on the two players. On the first player, it would occasionally not be able to recognize the disc( Format not supported). On the Second player, I have seen this happen twice but the more serious problem is a hang going into chapter 12. If I go into the menu to select a chapter and select chapter 12, the player hangs right there. It does it ever time. I have also seen it hang in the middle of chapter 11 when playing.(Note: this chapter worked fine on the first player)

Again the disc works fine on other dvd players and was brand new when I played it in my first 5900.

Nick,

Well, this phantom stopping of discs by Entre seems like a real issue if 3 people are reporting it now. Like you, the only way I've found to reinitiate play of an aborted disc is to go back to the Entre Guide, select the disc, setup all options again in the disc menu, and restart play at the chapter you were on (if you're lucky enough to know). As you said, this makes the 3 sec. layer change seem like nothing! Interestingly on the 3 discs where it's occurred it happened right at the beginning on one (Queensrych: Operation LIVEcrime), in the middle of the second (Braveheart), and at the end of the third (The Score). On Braveheart and The Score play stopped right around the 1 hour 45 minute point. This is a COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE glitch, and I earnestly request this be put at the highest priority by Kenwood/Open Globe to fix.

My family has grown to DESPISE the 5900M/Entre and wants to go back to the simple and bulletproof Sony 9000ES I had before. I was hoping a mega-changer with the nice Entre front-end would make things easier to operate for them, but so far this is laughably far from the truth. If these annoying glithces don't get fixed fast I'll be tempted to throw the whole lot on eBay (taking a big loss, I'm sure) and move on. The 5900M does have a beautiful picture, however, so that's the only thing keeping me in the game at the moment.

Tom

As I've stated elsewhere, I haven't had any disks that I own lock up the 5900M. It did happen once on a rental, but the disk played fine after I took it out and cleaned it. My Braveheart disk played back flawlessly. I don't have the Entre (or want it) so I would speculate that this is an issue caused by the Entre and not necessarily a problem with the 5900M itself (at least not mine).

Ken

Ken,

I agree that this is likely an Entre issue. I had the 5900M on its own for about a month before adding the Entre. Never saw this problem during that period. Thanks for your input.

I'm calling Kenwood tech support today to see what they have to say. I'll post an update if it's anything of value.

Tom

Originally posted by K_Thompson
As I've stated elsewhere, I haven't had any disks that I own lock up the 5900M. It did happen once on a rental, but the disk played fine after I took it out and cleaned it. My Braveheart disk played back flawlessly. I don't have the Entre (or want it) so I would speculate that this is an issue caused by the Entre and not necessarily a problem with the 5900M itself (at least not mine).

Ken

The 5900 still has the freeze problem, which is when the disc stops playing, but there is an image. Almost like when a disc is scratched. This is true irrespective of the Entre problem.

The Entre problem defaults you back to the Sovereign display, and takes you out of disc playback altogether. So you do have a problem with the 5900 alone, but not in the same league.

The few . . . the proud . . . the early adopters.

Nick :cool:

Nick,

Can you list the DVDs you've had the 5900M alone freeze on so that I may check to see if I experience the same problem - assuming I have those disks you mention. Granted this may not be a disk specific issue, but is seems rather odd that I appear to be in the minority in that I haven't really suffered the random freeze problem.

Ken

The two discs I specifically recall were Owl & The Pussycat, and Blazing Saddles. Each were brand new discs.

It happened about 3/4 way through each. I still have Owl, but I sold Blazing Saddles on eBay, as it remained as not-so-funny as I remembered it.

Nick :cool:

I talked to a very helpful tech support rep at Kenwood today named Sean. He seemed genuinely concerned about the issue regarding Entre randomly stopping playback of DVDs. He took down a lot of information and said he'd file a report with Open Globe. Apparently, Kenwood hasn't heard of this issue yet. Sean also wasn't aware of this forum, so I told him about and he said he'd be sure to check it out. After I hung up he called me back and said they'd discussed the problem in the office. He recommended trying to set the Entre screen saver to off (it's in the Setup menu under Preferences). What the heck, it can't hurt. I'd recommend anyone having this problem with Entre give this a shot and see if it helps. Kenwood also said it would be real helpful to provide them as much data as possible on which discs this happens with and at what time point during playback. Anyway, I was encouraged by how responsive Kenwood tech support was and that they seemed to understand this was a really serious problem. Hopefully, it can be resolved quickly!!

Tom

Originally posted by Carbo
I also hope they get it to work and will be adding another changer if they do. I would like to have one full of Cd's and one of with DVD's.

I have the current one full of cd's only and hopefully in the next six months when they get the entre to detect and notice all the DVD's and Kenwood gets it to work with a second changer I will add it.

This much I will give them. By doing the separate "edit disc" thing that David alerted me to, I now have the cover art for about 350 out of 360 discs. And four of them are the Twin Peaks discs which I got today, and which were only released in the last few days. So that might get a little better.

Couple weird ones, though. Can't get the right cover art for Pink Panther, but it's just the cover from the animated disc. It pulls up The Patriot, only it's the wrong Patriot--an older one with Steven Segall, not the more recent Mel Gibson version. A few others, but, obviously, it's mainly doing the job.

By the way: Assuming you enter makeshift titles with no cover art (like I did with the Twin Peaks discs), does anyone know if the Entre will rewrite the information if and when it gets on OpenGlobe? Or do you have to do something to get it to try and look up the already-entered-but-not-off-the internet disc?

Nick :cool:

I discovered the IR repeater input jack on the rear panel of the Entre can accept the direct output from a Xantech IR connector block (using a 3.5 mm mono plug cable). The remote response seems much better with this connection method vs. using an IR emitter from the connector block stuck to the IR receiver eye on the Entre. Looks better too! I'll try the same experiment with the DVD control input jack on the rear panel of the 5900M. I'm less hopeful this will work, however, as the manual says it only works with Kenwood receivers.

Tom

"By the way: Assuming you enter makeshift titles with no cover art (like I did with the Twin Peaks discs), does anyone know if the Entre will rewrite the information if and when it gets on OpenGlobe? Or do you have to do something to get it to try and look up the already-entered-but-not-off-the internet disc? "

Nick....Yes, it is suppose to override your input when it has data. Also had the same issue with The Patriot. They are getting their though.


"Kenwood also said it would be real helpful to provide them as much data as possible on which discs this happens with and at what time point during playback.

Kenwood should also understand that we have reported this as a Random event with the disc playing fine without issue if you go back to that point. This is NOT a disc issue, it is the Entre telling the player to stop. This does not happen without the Entre hooked up.

I have not experienced the 'stop' issue; I have experienced the 4 second layer change. I have my screensaver set to come on after 5 minutes.

On a related issue, has anyone determined what the best time is to actually get a someone on the Kenwood Technical Support line? I have been sending detailed mail messages of the issues I've encountered with the Entre/5900M combination -- but I've received no acknowledgement of their receipt. Does anyone know what email addresses at Kenwood and OpenGlobe these issues should be going to?

Thanks,

H

David, have they indicated whether/when they will fix the subtitles bug?

Also, how will fixes be disseminated when made? Will we need to get a disk from Kenwood?

I have not heard about any fix for the subtitle bug...I for one have not seen it this bug on my system.

As far as how fixes will take place....I am not sure. Seeing the 5900 can read ROM CD's...that could be the answer...but again, I do not know.

It definitelty replaces your info if it has it's own. The one additional problem I have found is that is has mislabelled a cd. It recognizes Chris Cornell's Euphira Morning for some reason as an Alice in Chains cd. When I enter in the correct info it finds the cover art for Chris Cornell but if you ask it to find album info it sets it back the Alice in chains.

maybe Open globe can address this if they are reading.

Also I have not had the problem of the unit shutting down unless I start a movie not using the entre.

Entre & DV-5900M Integration

I'm currently working with Kenwood Support on this issue, I was hoping someone here had already found a resolution.

** Problem: While playing an MP3 CD that's loaded into the DV-5900M, via the Entre's interface -- I get no audio unless I use the Denon's EXT IN (6/7 CH IN).

If I create a playlist which contains:

* an MP3 stored on the Entre's hard-drive
* a track from a Audio CD stored on the DV-5900
* a track from an MP3 CD stored on the DV-5900

To hear audio from this playlist, I will need to:

* press EXT IN for the MP3 CD Track playing on the 5900
* press ANALOG for MP3 track on Entre's hard drive
* press ANALOG or DIGITAL (AUTO) for CD track on 5900

Audio Hookups (Entre, DV5900M, Denon AVR-5800)

**DV5900M Coax Out to Entre Coax In
**DV5900M Mix-Out to Entre REC-IN Analog L/R
**DV5900M 6 CH Out to Denon 6/7 CH In

**Entre Optical Out to Denon 5800 Optical In for DVD Input
**Entre Analog L/R to Denon 5800 Analog L/R for DVD Input

Entre - Setup/Audio & Video Settings/Audio Input Selections

** Analog Audio, Rec In = Receiver (I have tried settings this to changer)
** Digital Audio Out, Optical In = not used
** Digital Audio Out, Coaxial In = changer

Any throughts?

Thanks,

Heroildo

RE: Subtitle
I'm glad this was brought up again as I didn't seem to recall a lot of people saying this was a 'real' problem. It certainly is and I have it almost all the time.

RE: layer change 3-4 seconds
The grinch that stole Christmas. When he is putting the antlers on the dog for the first time...it was a looonngg delay.

Originally posted by Carbo
It definitelty replaces your info if it has it's own. The one additional problem I have found is that is has mislabelled a cd. It recognizes Chris Cornell's Euphira Morning for some reason as an Alice in Chains cd. When I enter in the correct info it finds the cover art for Chris Cornell but if you ask it to find album info it sets it back the Alice in chains.

maybe Open globe can address this if they are reading.

Also I have not had the problem of the unit shutting down unless I start a movie not using the entre. If you edit the album info, then DON'T ask it to get album info again. It will replace your edited info with the info from CDDB's database (since that's what you just asked it to do).

As for your CD being mis-recognized - keep in mind how CDDB works. It's not like there's a unique serial # or anything on your CDs. The ONLY thing that it can use for lookups is the exact sequence and length of the tracks. This forms a surprisingly unique fingerprint, but there's no guarantee that 2 CD's won't have exactly the same # and length of tracks. It's possible your CD and the Alice in Chains CD have the same fingerprint. More sophisticated software, like many PC jukebox programs, will alert you that there's a conflict, and let you pick which CD you really have. I don't believe any of the OpenGlobe-based products have a conflict-resolver like this - it just picks the first match from the CDDB database.

Also keep in mind that the album info comes from CDDB (aka Gracenote), and the cover art comes from a separate database. The CDDB data was all user-contributed over several years, so it's full of misspellings and mistakes. The album cover art database, on the other hand, I believe was professionally produced by Gracenote. While it has a smaller # of discs, it's probably more accurate. If the CDDB album title is spelled incorrectly, for example, then a lookup of the album cover art will fail. This is exactly why OpenGlobe added the separate "Lookup Cover Art" feature - so you can correct the Artist/Title info so it will find the right cover. This feature was missing in the original OpenGlobe software release we got with our Compaq Music Centers, but was added in a recent software update. Sounds like the Entre shipped with this updated software.

-- Jim (a Compaq Music Center owner)

I haven't seen any subtitle problem yet, and I've watched 20+ DVDs on it so far, including Phantom Menace. There must be some defect that is only on some players, or else there's some particular combination of menu settings that causes it.

I think it is also a menu setting. I will have to look and mine and give the settings I have.

Here's an update to:

** Problem: While playing an MP3 or Audio CD that's in the DV-5900M, via the Entre's interface -- I get no audio unless I use the Denon's EXT IN (6/7 CH IN).

After speaking with Kenwood Technical Support -- it turns out that the unit is working as intended. According to Tech Support, "the Entre will not pass audio via it's Analog REC-In". You will not be able to generate a playlist with multiple sources (MP3 on Entre HD, Audio CD on DV-5900M, MP3 CD on DV-5900m) and expect to listen to the audio without changing the input (ANALOG, DIGITAL, 6/7 CH).

It appears that the only way to accomplish seamless playback would be to use a Sovereign Receiver (which does auto-input switching).

Heroildo

I guess I spoke too soon -- I just experienced the first "stop". Chapter 26, The Princess Diaries (Disney). The movie stopped playing near the end of Ch 26 (1:45) and the player returned to the Kenwood Background.

The only thing different about my setup today versus every other time -- the Audio Video Settings/Rec In on the Entre is set to Changer; it was set to unused -- I'll go ahead and set it to unused again. I don't think this has anything to do with it -- but you never know.

H

hmatos,

Try setting the Entre screen saver to "OFF", per Kenwood tech support. I have no idea yet if this helps. I haven't had time to watch a full disc since making this change. I did phone this problem into tech support and they have it logged as an issue. It's interesting that most instances of the STOP bug are happening at around the 1 hour, 45 min mark during playback. Two of the three times I've seen it, it's occurred around this point. However, the third instance was within the first 5 minutes of the disc.

Tom

Entre & 5900 "Stop Issue"

I've set the screensaver off -- it had no effect. The player stopped on,

** The Firm, after 1:55
** The 6th Day, after 1:47

I also witnessed the subtitle issue. The first couple of times that I played "The Firm", I didn't remember seeing subtitles on -- I did notice that after the "stop", I had subtitles.

Does anyone know whether Kenwood/OpenGlobe have been able to reproduce the problem? In my case it's happened on 3 out of 3 movies that were at least 1h 45m long.

Entre & DV-5900M "Stop Issue"

The movies which stopped (The Firm & The 6th Day) while the DV-5900M was connected to the Entre, played perfectly once I removed the RS-232 cable. Unfortunately, turning the Entre OFF is not enough -- you actually have to unplug it from the 5900.

** Anyone doing this might want to reboot the Entre after reconnecting the RS-232 -- the last time I did this without rebooting -- the Entre thought all the discs were removed from the player and it began deleting them all from it's library.

I've hooked up my Entre as the manual provides. From the "tape out" of my Krell HTS2, it goes to the "Rec in" of the Entre. Also, from the digital output of my Krell, it goes to the digital input of the Entre.

While I've been able to record directly from a cd placed into the Entre (on to the internal HD), I tried yesterday to no avail to record from external sources. The albums I played would not record, nor would cds played from my Sony cd player, but processed through the Krell (which, again, outputs to the Entre).

Has anyone had any difficulty in recording external sources. I followed the instructions on the recording to the internal hard drive, but nothing.

If anyone knows . . .

Nick :cool:

I had the stop problem occur first while watching Planet of the Apes (this is on a BRAND NEW DV-5050). It has just happened to me again while watching The Patriot. The screen will slowly self-destruct, and that chapter becomes unwatchable. The only way around it is to skip to the next chapter. Otherwise, the player will boot me to the main menu.

Has anyone received any word from Kenwood regarding this? I will place a call tomorrow..but I spent alot of my hard-earned money on this player (just like you all did...especially those with 5900's), and I expect it to play DVD's like my cheaper Toshiba AND my PS2. I verified there was nothing wrong with the DVD's..they play fine in all my other players.

Kenwood?!? Are you reading this?!? There is a definate problem with this line of players...and it's not related to just the Entre system. I don't own an Entre...I have a stand-alone 5050.

What are you going to do??

Udell

"and it's not related to just the Entre system."

You are referring to a different issue to what is being talked about in regaurds to the "Stop" issue.

To me, I read your post as a defective player I am sorry to say.

Originally posted by uh2
I had the stop problem occur first while watching Planet of the Apes (this is on a BRAND NEW DV-5050). It has just happened to me again while watching The Patriot. The screen will slowly self-destruct, and that chapter becomes unwatchable. The only way around it is to skip to the next chapter. Otherwise, the player will boot me to the main menu.


. . . and it's not related to just the Entre system. I don't own an Entre...I have a stand-alone 5050.

What are you going to do??

Udell

This was reported by several people--including myself--in the thread I ironically started, Kenwood 5900 a winner--something like that.

The image will freeze, almost as if the disc is scratched, and then you're lucky if you can fast forward it to "jar" it back into action. It's happened on both the 5900 and the 5050.

It's irritating, but it's very infrequent. There are other issues that bother me a lot more, although they have to do with the Entre.

That said, I must admit that living with the Entre, albeit in its compromised condition, makes me not want to live without it. I'm still getting the hang of some things, but there really is nothing like it around. It's not as if you can dump it and buy the competition's product, because there is no current competition (and boy do I long for the day that changes).

My suggestion is that any problems be taken up with Kenwood directly, and I would do it in writing.

Nick :cool:

The Entre has a new software update!!!! Not sure what all is in it, but their sure the heck is a new update!!!! Ver 1.0.1.0

If it was not auto downloaded to your Entre as of yet, then you can make it happen....SETUP / Utilities / Update Software!

Thanks for the heads-up. The user interface is now *very* responsive! You're no longer waiting and waiting and .... (you get the point). I've started, "The Firm" -- I'll know within 2 hours if it works.

Heroildo

I did not expect this update to fix the auto stop issue when playing a movie...and I was right. Just stoped for no reason. :(

OpenGlobe! Kenwood! Please, please look into this very bad bug and advise.

I didn't expect it to be fixed either -- just wishful thinking I guess. I don't even bother using the Entre to watch a movie; I just unplug it from the 5900. It eliminates most of the frustration!

Of course now all I hear is, "when are you returning that thing". And my favorite, "what exactly does that thing do for $1500?". I just kind of stand there -- like a deer in headlights.

I'm almost use to the pain of being the first one on the block with a new toy. I don't think I own any piece of home theatre equipment that has worked right from day one!

Happy Holidays!

There's also a PC Media Manager software update; use "Help/Check For Update" -- 1.0.4.2038

Heroildo

Version: 1.0.1.0

RE: layer change
Only 1/2 sec or so on Dante's Peak as soon as Grandma passes away. New version or just the DVD me wonders.

RE: sudden stop
Never had this happen after 20 or so disk until watching 'the making of' part of Dante's Peak. Happened while interviewing the kids. My screen saver is on 5 minutes I believe. I have never manually edited a DVD and did a 'new' download after I got the 1.0.1.0 update. HTH

"latest tips" URL I mentioned previously still doesn't work. Would be nice if Kenwood 'officially' told the consumers what they were updating with new versions instead of this annoying guessing game. Should be an option on the Entre to review this.

Happy holidays as well...kids are biting at the bit <sp?> to open gifts. Shh...Santa brought the older one a RIO 600 64M MP3 player to work with dad's Entre Hub.

Still mostly happy, Scott Fauque

Originally posted by David Bott
The Entre has a new software update!!!! Not sure what all is in it, but their sure the heck is a new update!!!! Ver 1.0.1.0

If it was not auto downloaded to your Entre as of yet, then you can make it happen....SETUP / Utilities / Update Software!

I think I know one thing that the new software doesn't affect. As soon as I completed the download, the Entre froze and I had to reset it.

Glad I'm up to date, though.

Nick :cool:

Here, Here!

So far today, I've rebooted 5 times -- I think it's made the lockup issue on the Entre worse. I've played two classical discs using the cdrom drive ... Each disc has caused a lockup.

H

Kenwood Entre

** MP3 discs are incorrectly identified by Entre: I have two MP3 discs which I created and I've placed them in the DV-5900M slots 348 and 354. The discs are by two totally different artists and include a different set of albums. Unfortunately, the Entre has determined that they are the "same disc" because they have the same number of tracks.

The best part is that no matter what I do, I cannot correct the information!

David,
Did you get my PM ?,
Eric

Kenwood Entre

** DVD Disc and DVD Slot are not identified by Entre: It seems that no matter which slot I place, Jurrassic Park: The Lost World, the DV-5900M can play the disc, but the Entre will not recognize that the "SLOT" has any disc in it at all.

I place, "Jurrassic Park, The Lost World" in slot 255

* Entre performs the Quick Lookup

* Entre recognizes a disc was inserted in slot 255

* Entre attempts to identify the disc and continues to do so for at least 90 minutes before I press the Exit button.

At this point, the Entre does not show the disc anywhere in the Guide. It's as if the disc was never inserted.

Internet connection?

Look under Unidentified in the list...you will that that to be in slot order in that area. Thus if you put it in your LAST open slot, assuming in slot order, then it will be last one in the Unidentified section.

Nope .... I have no, "unknown" or "unidentified" discs -- I typed a "U" to get to that part of the guide. The Entre does not recognize the disc and then refuses to recognize the slot.

The disc is in the 5900, I can play it manually (after disconnecting the Entre) -- but the Entre doesn't recognize the fact that there's a disc in the slot; after it tried unsuccessfully to perform a quick lookup of that slot.

I even tried doing a range lookup -- same thing -- it just hangs on the "getting DVD information ...".

Excluding the Entre Hub is this changer worht buying?

billatlakegeorge,

That's a tough question, my reasons for keeping/purchasing the changer,

* the changer provides excellent audio & video
* convenient storage of your DVD collection
* easy access to your collection
* daisy chain capability
* Entre interface

I was using an HTPC for about 2 years and I was really tired of all the little "issues" -- not to mention the fact that I started to run out of space to keep my discs. I still use the HTPC for non-region-1 discs.

There are issues with the Changer and these have already documented throughout this thread; they were not show-stoppers in my case.

Heroildo

RE: DVDs still not found by OpenGlobe/Kenwood

All these are found by DVD Profiler. My DVD Profiler with them on it. (http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=ScottF200)

- Gone with the Wind
- French Kiss
- A league of their own
- Waner Music Group Does DVD Volume 2
- Toy Story 1
- Shrek
- Stuart Little
- Jack Frost

Has anyone had any success with these or is this just an OpenGlobe/Kenwood problem?

I HAD to put SHREK into the rental slot because the Entre would not play it (from slot 37). I could select from the menu (unknown and slot 37 one) but then it would not play. I don't recall if it does this with all the unknowns?!?

Certainly WE should not have to enter these manually and it would seem they could fix their database *very* quickly assuming this is a problem that everyone has with everyones listed of "unknowns".

RE: Sudden Stop
I've had this happen 3 times. Only since the upgrade to 1.0.1.0 but not sure if that is related for my situation. Last night it was on The Mummy and right at the very end after the city sunk itself and they were just standing out on the desert.

Before had this when the 'tech info' of Shrek a couple days ago but when through this with some more people yesterday and it never happened.

RE: Tips and Latest still not working

Kenwood sheet: "...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 Insallation section of the Kenwood USA Web site at:

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/sovereign/latest_tips still gets Kenwood server - 404 error - page not found "

This http://www.google.com search "sovereign tips site:www.kenwoodusa site:com" doesn't find anything either.

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

Boy I bet that Kenwood has lost a lot of business by leaving all these issues "outstanding" and at least not listing what is "fixed" in what upgrade.

Originally posted by ScottF200
RE: DVDs still not found by OpenGlobe/Kenwood

All these are found by DVD Profiler. My DVD Profiler with them on it. (http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=ScottF200)

- Gone with the Wind
- French Kiss
- A league of their own
- Waner Music Group Does DVD Volume 2
- Toy Story 1
- Shrek
- Stuart Little
- Jack Frost

Has anyone had any success with these or is this just an OpenGlobe/Kenwood problem?

I HAD to put SHREK into the rental slot because the Entre would not play it (from slot 37). I could select from the menu (unknown and slot 37 one) but then it would not play. I don't recall if it does this with all the unknowns?!?

Before had this when the 'tech info' of Shrek a couple days ago but when through this with some more people yesterday and it never happened.

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

Boy I bet that Kenwood has lost a lot of business by leaving all these issues "outstanding" and at least not listing what is "fixed" in what upgrade.

Mine found Shrek, A League of Their Own, Toy Story 1, and Gone With The Wind. I don't recall whether I had to do the "edit disc" thing in order for OpenGlobe to figure it out, but they're all there, cover art and all.

The other day, I tried to call Shrek up. I got an "unplayable disc" read, or something like that. It then stated that it was flipping the disc and searching for the ability to play there. Still no luck. I then noticed it incorrectly identifed the slot that Shrek was actually in, and I started over from the Entre Guide. Then it worked.

Nick :cool:

My Entre found, "A League of Their Own" and I'm also not sure if I had to do the "edit disc". I get the "unplayable/unreadable disc" messages every now and then. I just eject the disc (physically remove it from it's slot since my eject button is no longer working) and just put it back in the same slot. It usually works.

The only disc I haven't been able to get to work with the Entre is "Jurrassic Park 2: Lost World". I still have no idea why the Entre will not recognize the disc -- the slot doesn't even show up in my guide as "unknown", it's just not there.

I have been sending Kenwood (inquiry@kenwoodusa.com & hookup@kenwoodusa.com) emails regarding all the various issues I've had with the Entre & the DV-5900M; I figured this was the best way to document the problems. I've only received an answer on one of my questions and I feel it was a cop-out on their part -- I actually got a "real" answer from OpenGlobe.

Heroildo

Thank you guys for the feedback. I will likely try the edit disk thing once the relatives leave for the holiday *but* it will certainly be annoying to do so. It should find every single one of them. It utterly absurd. I hope the edit disk is as simple as adding them to DVD Profiler which is a snap.

We (the family) are watching The World is not Enough and it *does* show up on my Entre menu but when I select it the 5900 goes to the right slot (23) and says 'READING'...then it stops...and then goes to 24...then to 25...then...I finally had to take it out of slot 23 and put it in rental slot 2. Hmm...very impressive jukebox that works like a non-jukebox player <grin/FROWN>.

Thanks for the feedback. I still have hope...but no doubt other readers of the thread have said "forget...'bout it".

i am dying to buy the entre but i am waiting until you guys post some good news. i reread the manual and it had a useful tip for stopping dvds that dont respond to the stop command. you use disc select and choose another disc and right away hit stop. i tried it and it worked. might be useful to create a macro that powers it on, changes disc and hits stop.

hmatos, i reread the mp3 material in the manual and they state that they don't support the id3 tag information. by now you probably have figured it out, but just in case, you can check out the manual.

btw, I'm not sure if anyone was following the issue I was having with the Entre not providing seamless playback of playlists which contained various types of sources (i.e., MP3 on CD in 5900, MP3 on Entre HD, CD Audio, etc).

I did get a response from OpenGlobe and there is a workaround for the issue -- Kenwood pretty much told me that the only way that they knew around this issue was to use a Sovereign Receiver (I don't think so!):

So the issue(s) seems to be that,

(a) the Entre will not pass Analog and SPDIF "concurrently" to the receiver from the connected changer.

(b) the DV-5900M does not pass SPDIF while playing back an MP3 CD

I have re-connected the audio between the Entre, Receiver, and 5900 as follows:

(a) connect the DV-5900 Changer coax digital out to the Receiver
(for Dolby Digital/DTS Playback)

(b) connect the Changer analog L+R Mix out to the Entre REC-IN
(disable the SPDIF on the Entre)

connect the Entre analog L+R play out to the Receiver

(c) connect the Changer 6 CH out to the Receiver

This does allow me to listen to movies via 6 CH or SPDIF and listen to all audio via the Analog. This *DOES* work and God knows, I'm not complaining!


H

First, my turn with the dead horse: Couching Tiger... 3+ sec layer change.

Second: There is no layer change which I'm aware of in Hercules (Disney), but there was a 2 to 3 second pause at about 55:20 (not positive of the exact time - Herc in the temple of Zeus, end of scene). It was the first disc I watched on the Kenwood, and thought "well, that sucks, but I won't send it back yet - it's the layer change bug." My wife shot me an accusatory glance, thinking the player had locked up just like our $99 first generation Apex tends to do on a couple of our discs.

Anyway, I looked up the stats on the disc and it doesn't list a layer change. Anyone else see this? My 5900 is standalone - no entre to screw it up ;-)

Jordan

RE: SKIP DVD-V <edit> Fixed; see my 12-27-01 09:42 PM post </edit>
In a previous thread I mentioned that The World is Not Enough would not play even though it was found by the Entre and was selected from the menu system. What I failed to mention (I forgot the wording....was that it displayed "SKIP DVD-V" on the 5900M display when the Hub told it to play that DVD and it found the slot for it...then it [5900] went to the next slot and the next slot....

RE: unknown
During some downtime with the relatives, I decided to do the disk edit work around to "fix" my unknowns. It is unbelievable to me that they have not resolved that issue yet since we (david) first brought it up AND listed the DVDs. I've listed mine a couple times now. Hard...darn hard to believe they can't handle this ... heck Toy Story [1]!! can't be found. The only one I could not do was Jack Frost since it would only find Jack Frost (Horror) and it's searching is *very* limited compared to DVD Profiler...extremely sad they can't do what shareware does.

RE: cont. SKIP DVD-V <edit> Fixed; see my 12-27-01 09:42 PM post </edit>
After fixing my unknowns I could not get them to play...at least the first 2 I tried. Toy Story and Shrek. I just get this annoying SKIP DVD-V.


Has anyone else gotten this SKIP DVD-V message on their 5900M?!?

What is killing me is that before my 1.0.1.0 upgrade I wasn't having any problems except the "unknowns". Now I'm getting several problems. Leads me to question whether 1.0.1.0 is buggy?!?


I need to use the e-mail addresses given earlier and see if there are some for OpenGlobe as well. I'm trying to remain positive but am starting to get wore down. Thanks all for your help.

ScottF200,

I haven't come across that problem yet ... I do agree with you 100% -- why they haven't fixed the cover art issue, is beyond me. I'm also not sure why they decided not to allow you to manage DVD media the way you manage CD media (Entre Media Manager) -- our cover art issues would be solved if they just let us manage DVD discs with the Media Manager software.

I would try to play the DVD without the Entre and see if you still have that problem -- if you do, it could be a setting on the player -- I seem to recall a DVD Video Mode setting. It could also be a defect in the player.

H

hmatos,

Thanks for the reply. I'm sure they have some reason for the look up issue not being resolved promptly and it may be a technical problem we don't know about...I want to try give them the benefit of the doubt (although still frustrating) because I'm a developer as well and I know my users don't always understand some of the technical issues I deal with but can't find a fabulous solution for without a lot of research and effort...anyway...


RE: SKIP DVD-V
I'm reading the 5900M manual while the relatives are watching Caddyshack...I'm on page 34 (3-22 Switching the sequential play mode) and it appears I may have accidently switched Sequential On and that is causing the problem. It states:

The DVD VIDEO playback will be skipped in order not to interrupt the sequential playback.

(The display shows "SKIP DVD-V" to indicate this.) (DV-5900M)

(The display shows "SKIP DVD" to indicate this.) (Other)


I'll check this out when the movie is over...it is probably rude to stop their movie just so I can play with my "toy" :D

Hopefully this is it and perhaps my mistake will help someone else. -- Scott Fauque <edit2> .... wouldn't you think they could make sure the Entre "told" the 5900 to be Sequential Off since I was selecting a movie directly and not playing a bunch sequentially ?!?!? </edit2>

<edit> Indeed setting Sequential Off (via SEQ lower right of remote) fixed my problem of selecting from the Entre guide menu but the 5900M "not playing" the DVD. </edit>

ScottF200,

Glad to hear one problem down! I too was a developer for a while and I'm now a database administrator ... which is probably why I cut them no slack ;)

H

From the National Product Manager of Kenwood...

"The new software addresses several issues, some of them minor, but two of interest that I'd like your forums feedback on. First, our software engineers found a problem with the DVD Edit function that was causing some units to lock up after multiple manual look ups. We also fixed an issue that arose that made the front panel buttons and IR to stop being transmitted from the front panel micro processor and the main IBM set top box decoder chip. This appears to be at the core of many of the lock ups during normal operation.


Your avsforum has been very valuable in identifying problem areas, thus allowing us to focus QC testing and software engineering on specific areas. Please pass on my thanks to all contributors and let them know that I do have people looking at their posts on a regular basis. Both Kenwood and OpenGlobe have had testers dedicated to testing the Kenwood Sovereign Entre', but no amount of resources that we could throw at the problem is going to take the place of real world experience. "

Best regards,

Brian
National Product Manager
Kenwood USA Corporation

Brian, thank you for letting us know what's going on at Kenwood & OpenGlobe! While I haven't been editing very many DVD discs -- the few that I've edited have not caused lock-ups.

David - did Brian mention how they would prefer to see problem reports in the future? I think it might be easier for everyone to deal with all the issues if we could put together one list -- rather than all the various posts. I'd be more than happy to contribute and maintain the list.

Heroildo

Just picked up my Entre the other night and a Kenwood rep assisted me in finding the CATC USB-Ethernet link. I set up the Entre last night and it found 190 of 260 DVD's. Not bad for the first attempt. I will work on manual look up tonight and Saturday. My wife will be able to have her movie night this Saturday! I know from reading there are issues with these boxes, but as for me, I wouldn't trade or return my Entre and changer.

RE: sudden stops after 1.0.1.0
It would seem we all should let them know what locks ups we've had since the latest software update 1.0.1.0. I have had 3 or 4 but only since upgrading but others have had them before upgrading. Also I had them before doing any editing. From the description above from Brian, it seems they have "fixed" stops and those fixes are incorporated in the 1.0.1.0 ?

RE: maintain a list
One thing that may be useful is a matrix / table that has people listed along with the sovereign equipment they are using and what other brand. i.e. David has all three (entre/5900m/rec) where I only have the first 2 (entre/5900m). Others have a 5050.

On the other side of the matrix could be the problems we have encountered (with the version). Just a thought. Sometimes my team and I run into very difficult and random problems and we start a matrix to try to find commonalities. It would seem that Brian and company would want to add to our matrix of question they want answered to try to narrow this down. Food for thought.

that is great news from kenwood. I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on buying the entre.

guys, please keep the posts coming. i want to see if this latest patch has fixed the lockup issue. i don't want to be watching a movie heading toward the climax and all of a sudden it locks up.

thxs again.

The current release has not fixed the issue which causes the Entre to stop playback of a DVD after about the 1:45 mark (at least in my case and I believe David's as well); I don't believe OpenGlobe & Kenwood were aware of this early enough to include a fix for this in the current release.

The 1.0.1 release may have eliminated the issue where the units were locking up while editing DVD Disc information -- I believe "aauno" will be better able to verify this (I'd say by the 10th edit).

H

I have not had one lockup in the 1.0.1.0 software as of yet.

The phantom "STOP" is still their for it has happed twice.

I'm curious, has anyone that's experienced the "stop" issue noticed if it only happens after 1:45 point? I've noticed that if I watch movies that are less than 1 hour and 45 minutes -- they play fine!

If so, I wonder if it's a power saving issue?

H

Pondering....I can not recall one happening before that time...always seems after that amount has passed.

I've had one "phantom stop" occur within the first 5 minutes of a disc. The other times it's happened have all been around 1 hour 45 minutes. On the disc where playback aborted within the first 5 minutes the behavior was identical to where the bug occurred after the 1:45 mark, so I'm sure it was the same thing. I have successfully watched several discs recently that were longer than 1:45 (Godfather Pt. 1 and Princess Diaries) and the phantom stop did not occur on these. Unfortunately, this appears to be a random event which may make it a difficult bug to squash. The annoyance factor it creates, however, is so high that I hope Kenwood/Open Globe have this one at the top of their priority list!

Tom

RE: sudden stop / phantom stop
The 1:45 is an interesting theory but I had it happen *after* watching the Shrek movie. We watched it with one group of relatives and then watched the special features of 'tech info about shrek' then 'technical goofs'. It happened during this. Then with another group of relatives we watched the movie and possibly the 'technical goofs' first then the 'tech info about shrek'. In this second case it never happened.

Point 1 is that it didn't happen during the movie and Point 2 is that the order of watching the special features may have made a difference.

Oh well, so I was grasping ... ;)

I experienced the stop with "Princess Diaries", while Tom Blake did not. I realize it's random, but I am able to duplicate the problem 3 out of 3 times using "The Firm", granted it's probably not at the same exact point in the movie -- but it always stops -- the DV-5900 will read "STOP" on the display and I won't be back at the DVD Menu.

At least I think that's a good way to test it.

H

Just to let you know... I just purchased the 5900M. The only glitch so far is the subtitles popping on. It's the only Kenwood unit so far, so if anyone needs a test done with just a player, let me know. It is good to hear Kenwood addressing these issues.

Pete

The first 5900M I got from Crutchfield had a badly corrupted, destructed image when I put the switch into progressive mode. so I exchanged it for another one. This one has a beautiful picture and so far, apart from slow layer changes, has not had a single freeze-up or subtitle problem. Mine is standalone as well.

Hopefully we can figure out soon whether they are just random defects, or whether there is some particular cause for the problems that some of us invoke accidentally, and others don't.

any chance that if a movie is less than 1:45 let's say 1:00 and you immediately watch something else you will see it at the :45 mark?

that might make it seem random. some of you guys leave the unit on to avoid the annoying initializing and playback feature. so that might make a difference in the timing also.

any way it's good to see kenwood addressing issues and it feels good to know that it can be fixed by a software upgrade.

You all have been GREAT in helping...Here is the latest...

"David,


Please pass along this information in response to current postings of majorissues. DVD stop play at approximately 1:45. OpenGlobe has duplicated this and it is an error in the Kenwood Sovereign Entre' code. We are currently working on a non-scheduled release to address this issue. I will inform you directly as soon as we believe we have it solved.

There was an offer to start a database of discs that could not be found in MovieDB. That would be great. Another alternative is to simply email a list to a special email account I have had set up so that we can track this. dvdtitles@kenwoodusa.com We've put a significant amount of effort into this and believe there are a number of issues, multiple or "special" versions of the same discs, DVD edit being to context sensitive and discs simply not being resident in the MovieDB database. To help us categorize discs, if your members would state whether the disc could be found using DVD Edit, it would be a significant help.


Happy Holidays,


Brian
National Product Manager
Kenwood USA Corporation"

David,

That's terrific news!! I hope the dreaded "phantom stop" issue will soon be behind us. The other nagging issues I can live with, but this one's a major show stopper (no pun intended :-)). It's great to hear that Kenwood/Open Globe are aggressively working on this issue. Hopefully, the other problems will be smoothed out through future software updates.

I currently have a list of about 20 discs that aren't in the Open Globe DB even with manual lookup. I will e-mail the list to the address you provided.

Thanks again for your efforts in coordinating with Kenwood!

Tom

Has Kenwood actually issued a new release of the 5900's software to anyone? If so, what was the medium by which it was distributed and how would I go about getting it?

Originally posted by lhl12
Has Kenwood actually issued a new release of the 5900's software to anyone? If so, what was the medium by which it was distributed and how would I go about getting it?

No...Do not see this coming amy time in the near future.

Then I'm confused. The e-mails from Brian at Kenwood imply that Kenwood is assiduously fixing bugs in the software of the 5900 and the Entre. When should we expect to receive these fixes and how?

David is talking about software updates to the Entre and its interface to the 5900M. The Entre's software can easily be updated over the Internet. Updating the software in the 5900M would likely involve an EPROM swap to upgrade the firmware. Perhaps it could be done via CD-ROM like some more recent players, but I'm not sure. It would be nice to see a firmware update to the 5900M at some point to fix some of it's minor problems, but I imagine that it would be a while until we see it.

Tom

Originally posted by lhl12
Then I'm confused. The e-mails from Brian at Kenwood imply that Kenwood is assiduously fixing bugs in the software of the 5900 and the Entre. When should we expect to receive these fixes and how?

I do not know where you read that in the replies I have posted. Do you ave e-mails from Brian on the 5900 fix? The 5900 is a different beast altogeter that *IS* also being looked at for the issues reported here.

When will a update come? 100% Unknown. How? My guess is in the forum of a CDR.

The latest release of the software does not fix the lockups associated with editing disc information. I performed an edit disc for a DVD that had the wrong description (very long text field) -- I had to "backspace" out the entire thing (is there a better way).

As soon as I went back in to "Select Cover Art" ... it locked up!

Heroildo

Heroildo (hmatos),

RE: phantom stop
Fine job on the 1:45 issue. I'm curious if in your testing you always started the Entre and the 5900M 'fresh' from standby in your testing. i.e. I'm wondering if it is the time that these two are on together from standby and not necessarily the length of a movie ?? Could explain the 'randomness' and differing times for different people.

We watched French Kiss and it suddenly phantomly stopped at about 1:41...but I had started both units right before we played the movie.

RE: 1.0.1.0 features
Is it just my imagination or lack of reading closely your guys post or does the rental play buttons on the 5900M work now even with the Entre hooked up?

Things are looking up!

Ya know when I read the news from Brian yesterday and told it to all my relatives during our cribbage game they did not seem nearly as excited as I was :D

ScottF200,

I never turn the 5900 off; it doesn't have discrete IR codes, so rather than go around in circles trying to turn it on or off with my Pronto -- I just always leave it on.

I think in my case, it didn't matter -- I may have shut everything down and then started everything to perform the "stop" tests; it just sounds like something I would have done -- I can verify this later.

As for the rental zone -- I thought it always worked. The integration of the two devices is a little on the flakey side -- sometimes it'll let me control the dvd player via the 5900 controls and sometimes the entre won't.

Have you used the Media Manager software?

Heroildo

Heroildo,

Tom Blake first told me in his "12-08-01 11:26 AM" entry about the 5900M rental play buttons not working when connected to the Entre. I believe others (David) confirmed this on later entries.

Sure would be nice if they updated that latest/tips page to tell us what they incorporate into the "fixes"...(a' Brian)

Thanks for your efforts.

Scott Fauque

The Entre locked up solid after maual adding about 20 DVD's. This manual add proccess is very time consuming.

For Entre users the fastest firmware upgrade path should be to download the code from the internet and have the Entre burn a cdr to load into the changer.

I had a "phantom stop" occur last night on The Godfather Pt. 2 (Disc 1). As usual, it happened right around the 1:45 point. I'm glad to hear Kenwood/Open Globe have found the cause of this terrible bug. I hope we see the update soon (of course taking into account the fact that it's a long holiday weekend)!!

I hope to finish loading my 5900M with the rest of my DVD collection today. Will total around 300 discs loaded into the changer when finished. Right now I have about 30 Unknowns from my latest batch of disc loadings. I'll certainly be able to test soon whether 1.0.1.0 has fixed lockups associated with manual disc editing!

Scott,

You're right!! I just tested whether I could initiate play of a rental disc slot directly from the buttons on the 5900M's front panel. It worked! I also tested if I could initiate play directly from a regular slot. This worked twice in a row with 2 different discs. Looks like Kenwood listened to us on this and incorporated a fix into 1.0.1.0. Can others try this and confirm? Certainly good news if this issue has been fixed. It clearly proves Kenwood is reading this forum and implementing changes we've requested. Thanks!

Tom

This is probably stretching the limits of the topic, so I'll phrase my question as an issue. My issue is that the promised Axcess modules aren't available yet.

David, the next time you get in touch with Kenwood could you try to get an estimate as to when these will be available?

There's a Diehard Trilogy 3-disc set, all DTS. Like most when given a choice, I still pick DTS, even though it might not make as much sense as I'd like. Call it a whim.

Well, DTS means going into the setup menu, and choosing audio. While that's still true on many discs, DTS or not, it's always true on a DTS encoded disc.

At chapter 46 of Diehard, the Entre failure occurred. As we've now established, that means you have to go into the Entre menu, choose the disc again, and then you've got the disc to contend with. That means going into the audio menu, choosing DTS, and, for good measure, making sure subtitles are off.

Makes you long for those 3 second layer changes.

This is happening more frequently with the 5900 and the Entre. But it reminds me of a different issue, regarding the integration of the dvd software and the players--and this is not just a Kenwood issue.

When in the world are we going to be able to set meaningful preferences in our players, which automatically default to those preferences, to save us the time and hassle of choosing from those menus? If I always choose DTS, then I should be able to program my player to do that, when the option exists. For that matter, when can we just have the FBI warning written on the exterior of the disc, and not have to suffer those warnings that non-copycats don't read, and copycats ignore?

Well, I won't blame all that on Kenwood . . . but, apart from my abiding frustrations with the units, and with Kenwood for that matter, this is getting to be enough a problem that I could easily see people refusing to purchase because of it. I like the Entre, and I am tentatively planning to keep it in my system, but Kenwood will have to make good on its failures . . . soon. This bug, however, should get fixed immediately. I can't think of a bigger problem with the Entre, other than its inability to control more than one changer.

Nick :cool:

Hummm...Nick...Did you miss my post from Brian at Kenwood about the STOP issue? If so, go back a page.

They are working on it right now so they can release an update very soon for they have been bale to reproduce it.

Originally posted by David Bott
Hummm...Nick...Did you miss my post from Brian at Kenwood about the STOP issue? If so, go back a page.

They are working on it right now so they can release an update very soon for they have been bale to reproduce it.

"bale" to reproduce it?

I didn't read it closely, but I'm very hopeful this one goes away quckly.

Kenwood, keep us posted.

Nick :cool:

David's writing is sometimes like word puzzles :rolleyes: ... I think he meant 'able' in this case. :) Perhaps you knew that and I misread your reply. :D

What, don't you speek Bottinease? LOL

Anyways...As was posted..From Brian, the Kenwood National Product Manager...

-snip-

"Please pass along this information in response to current postings of majorissues. DVD stop play at approximately 1:45. OpenGlobe has duplicated this and it is an error in the Kenwood Sovereign Entre' code. We are currently working on a non-scheduled release to address this issue. I will inform you directly as soon as we believe we have it solved. "

-end snip-

Has anyone got their Entre to download MP3s to a MPS player?

I just got a Rio 600. Hooked it up and then Entre saw it. I then selected songs to dowload and press REC. It went to the download screen but never started a down load. The timer was not going down and the % was not moving.

I then stoped it and tried again...now the Entre will not even see the Rio 600!!! AUGH!

RE: Has anyone got their Entre to download MP3s to a MPS player?

My 11 year old son got the RIO 600 from Santa. I asked him to try to hook it up tonight as he was only doing it from his computer. He was able to add 7 songs to his player and it had 2 on it already. He ripped some "Weird Al" songs (It's all about the pentium baby) from the CD to go along with my Garth songs....strange combo eh?.

He said if you look at your RIO player and it doesn't say 'downloading file' or something similiar then click the <exit> button on the remote. It happened a couple different times to him (Usually when he tried to download multiple songs at once).

At one point he pulled out the USB port and tried to push it in and it froze. He read the manual and saw to reset the Entre that you hold the power button in for 5 seconds and this resolved it (he didn't ask me as I was in conversation with a painter).

He said you may need to also turn your RIO on and off as the Entre will detect that as well.

On an aside the software that came with RIO was not "very good" and seemed to be a 'basic' version for some other device as they wanted you to upgrade. We went the RIO site I think the other day and got the 'device driver' for MS Windows Media Player and that seemed more friendly.

If you are still having trouble let me know and I will try it so that I can describe it better than my interpretion of a bright 11 years who doesn't know the techno-babble...or at least use the same stuff I use <grin>. (BTW, my son just gave me a hard time because I made him look bad and stated it was me who didn't understand his technical jargon...cause I never saw the screens...he is mostly right).

HTH, Scott & Zachary Fauque

I've had some problems writing MP3's to my Compaq PA-2 on the Entre, the one time I tried it. I ripped a CD to the internal HD that consisted of 13 tracks and was about 50 minutes long. I then tried to transfer the entire CD to my PA-2. The Entre found the device fine when I inserted the USB cable in the front port with the PA-2's power on. I was able to delete some tracks I didn't want on the PA-2 anymore. I selected all 13 tracks of the CD for transfer to the PA-2. Entre then proceeded to write tracks 4-13 of the CD without any problem to the PA-2 (it copied them in reverse order - strange). The Entre hung on writing track 3, however. After it was clear the process had stalled I hit the EXIT key (Entre was not locked up), and tried to re-select tracks 1-3 for copying to the PA-2. Entre reported that I couldn't select tracks of 0 KB in size! I tried ripping those 3 tracks to the HD again, but that didn't help. No matter what I did Entre then wouldn't let me select those 3 tracks for copying to the PA-2 :-( I still had plenty of room on the memory card in the PA-2, so that wasn't an issue. I need to try this some more with some other tracks and see what happens. Also, the process for writing to an MP3 player is SLOOOOW. Entre estimated about an hour to copy the 13 tracks of about 50 minutes in length. Not sure how this compares to the speed I'd get from my computer. Seems like this feature on the Entre isn't working properly yet either. Sigh.......

Tom

Kenwood/OpenGlobe,

Lockups during manual disc editing are NOT fixed. I currently have about 30 Unknown discs and was trying to do manual lookups last night. After successfully completing about 5 discs, I was in the Edit Disc screen changing a title when the Entre completely locked up. No remote keypresses would register. Rebooting the unit cleared the fault. I'll keep a close eye on this while I'm fixing all these Unknown discs, and will let you know how many lockups I see and where they occur.

Also, as has been stated before the manual search logic is TERRIBLE! I got the following substitutions last night when trying to do a manual search on Unknown discs:

JAWS => JAWS2
PSYCHO (Original Version) => PSYCHOPATH
THE BIG SLEEP (Original Version) => THE BIG SLEEP (70's remake)

You really need to fix the manual search query such that it returns a list of all possible matches based on the search string, and allow the user to select the correct match. Otherwise, it's a pure guessing game what's in the OpenGlobe database and leads to conflicts like those above.

Finally, a wish list item would be to have the capability of making genre assignments from the Edit Disc page.

That's it for now...

Tom

I posted this a while back ...

Does anyone that owns the Entre/5900 combo, also own a copy of "Jurrassic Park II: Lost World"? I'd like to know if you're having any problems getting the Entre to recognize the disc.

Thanks,

Heroildo

btw, Tom -- I agree 100% on a list which returns the results of a disc search. I'm having similar issues with a few titles.

I just got my 5900 last night from Crutchfield (they had a couple in Scratch and Dent for almost $300 off list. The scratch is so small on the top I can hardly see it. :) ).

Will let you know if I have any problems with the Phantom freeze over the weekend, though I'm only using the S-Video outs right now. Don't know if the problem might be related to the internal DCDi stuff or not if you guys are using the composite outs.

Other than that, so far so good. It actually works great with my VR-510 receiver, even for remote control (despite not having SL-16).

2 questions that the manual doesn't point out well:

1. Why does MP3 data only get played through the analog outs?

2. Is it better to use the 6 channel output into my VR-510, or to use the digital Toslink out? The book doesn't mention which is better, or if it makes any difference. I understand that using the 6 channel out uses the internal processors for video/audio vice the ones in my reciever.

hmatos....I just got it and the Entre did locate it just fine for me. Fun movie.


fireboy92bk...I am not sure if you are referring tothe "Phantom freeze" as the palyback stop or not. But if you are, that only seems to occure with an Entre hooked up.

If you mean "Phantom freeze" as in the 3 second layer change...I have no dought you will see this if you have a disc that has a layer change.

Welcome to the club and to AVS Forum.

I haven't loaded JP2:TLW yet into my 5900M. I'll try it over the weekend and let you know how it goes. Also, I see you live very close (within 20 minutes) to me in Pleasant Hill. Maybe we could get togther sometime and compare systems?

Tom

RE: MP3 ripping
I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming but I think I read that when you rip music from CDs that it rips it "natively" and then compresses/converts it to MP3 in the back ground and may take up to 30 minutes. I think I experienced this because I ripped some stuff pretty quickly then the next CD I did, it slowed down to "listening" speed (read dog slow). Does that mean its "buffer" (memory) got full and had to do the compressing/converting on the fly at a slow speed. I would have guess the "native" format would have just be saved to the harddisk ... or at least for overflow to the hard disk when the "buffer" got full. Just my impression from a user standpoint.

Could this account for some of the experiences where it is not done putting in it MP3 format and we are trying to then put that song on a 'MP3 player'? If all the above is true don't you think it would be nice if they used an icon to show that it is in the process of being 'converted in the background'. Perhaps if you play the MP3 that is being 'converted in the background' *right*away* that is seemlessly does that (i.e. transparent to the user) but if you try to transfer it then it chokes. Food for thought.

A thought would be to RIP <tap tap tap for an hour> then transport to see if that worked.

RE: searching for missing DVDs
I was searching for "Jack Frost" and it kept finding "Jack Frost (Horror)" which was not the same :rolleyes:. I'm not even sure how to search for "Jack Frost". I tried to add a couple spaces afterward like you can do in Windows pgms when searching but this still did not work. They do a STRIP type of function it appears.

Scott...

I ripped a number of CD's one after another. I do think it rips right to the drive and compress on the fly. I have never heard of a "buffered" method for this process. I even have played tracks right after ripping them...thus no conversion can be taking place at that time. (I say this because of your mention of 30 mins.)

Not sure what you might have come across. Hummm

Most of my CD's ripped in under 6 mins.

RE: MP3 ripping

David,

Oh sure now you make me think I'm losing it so early in the year :p. I went back and found what I had read. Here it is:

Entre User Guide on page 37 on the NOTE in the center of the page:

"To maximize compression speed, conventional CDs are first stored to Entre's music storage system in the standard format, and are then compressed into MP3 format "in the background," while Entre is performing other functions. The compression process can take up to 30 minutes per disc. (Entre can also perform this compression while in the Standby mode, in which case the blue 'Music' and 'Movie' indicators on Entre's front panel will flash on and off.)"

Not sure if my logic is sound in my previous entry but I remembered the Entre's technique fairly well. I sure wish this manual was in PDF format...perhaps it is by now and I missed it. Then it would be searchable.

Have you had any luck with the RIO 600?? I can try it myself so I can give you more details next time if that helps.

Scott Fauque

LOL "...the blue 'Music' and 'Movie' indicators on Entre's front panel will flash on and off." Now I know what it does that!


I have been able to get music into my Rio 600. Rebooted the Entre to get it to see it agin and only downloaded like 3 tracks at a time. All seems to be well at this point.

Scott,

I think your theory is definitely correct. Earlier when I had trouble copying a few songs from the Entre's internal HD to my portable, I had just ripped the CD to the HD. Based on the passage you quoted from the manual, Entre was still compressing those tracks in the background. That's likely why Entre wouldn't let me select those tracks for download and reported them as 0 KB in size - they were still in native uncompressed format. I just tried to download the 3 tracks I had trouble with and they transferred with no problem. The process was much quicker than before, I assume because Entre didn't have the overhead of compressing to MP3 going on in the background. I guess the moral of the story is to wait until the blue lights stop blinking before transferring a recently ripped CD to a portable. Good job on coming up with the theory!

David,

The blue lights also blink after a failed software update. That's how I found out about the latest update, 1.0.1.0. I saw the blue lights blinking in the morning, forced a manual call to check for an update, and then it downloaded fine.

Tom

RE: MP3 rip theory

Tom, that'd be "great" if it is true in the sense that we know a little more how to use the product as it was intended. I'd like to think on occasion I can be helpful as well. Could explain why my son had problem as well with his 'Weird Al' ones he would have just ripped and likely not with the Garth ones which I had done days earlier. The passage also indicated the blue lights blink when in standby mode...I haven't tried it again to see if they blink just after ripping in 'on' mode.

I hope Kenwood takes my earlier suggestion on changing the icon of the songs that are currently being compressed and are unavailable. They could use this icon --> :mad: ( :) )

Have a good one guys...

P.S. I suppose someone at Kenwood will 'tap the doc writer on the shoulder' and say "see someone actually read it" :p. I work with doc/technical_writers and they sometimes are discouraged...as well they should be because most of us users are lazy or actually we think we can just 'figure' it out. :rolleyes:

Actually I have a lot of respect of the writers because they have pretty hard goals to meet.

Tom & David -- what version of Lost World do you have? I was just at Best Buy and there seem to be multiple versions (PS2 Compatible, Fullscreen, DTS, Collectors'). I'm guessing there's something specific to the version I have.

*Kendwood* What's really odd is that the 5900 can "see" and "play" the disc, yet the Entre wants no part of it (won't even give me the "unknown disc" slot, the slot the disc is in just disappears from the Entre).

Tom -- good idea, I didn't realize anyone lived nearby.

Heroildo

Scott,

I definitely know of what you mean, as my wife is a Technical Writer!

Back to the Entre - I think that you're right that the blue lights only blink while compressing to MP3 format in standby. I don't remember them blinking while I ripped the CD to the HD with Entre power on. If so, that will make it harder to judge when songs are OK for transfer to a portable with power on! Your icon idea is a great one. Hopefully, Kenwood will come up with something here. Guess I'll start getting in the habit of waiting an hour, or so, before transferring recently ripped tracks to my protable.

I had another phantom stop last night with AVIA. This one was different in that I was doing some calibration work on my projector. I was fiddling around in the IRE windows for about 3 hours. At the "magic" 1:45 point I got dumped to the Kenwood blue screen. Clearly this is a time-based bug as I wasn't playing the disc straight through, but constantly repeating the same set of 11 tracks. Still can't explain how it happened to me in the first 5 minutes of one disc, however.

Tom

Layer change for fast and furious DVD happened only 45 minutes or so into the movie - the layer change is surely a show stopper - have we heard anything Kenwood is doing to fix this??
I also lost lip sync in the movie for about 15 minutes in the last 40 minutes of the movie - Did anyone notice this??
Thanks,
Ash

RE: manuals available on-line

3 Entre Manuals at Kenwood site (http://www.kenwoodusa.com/support/manual.jsp?divisionId=2&productId=2357)

At CES....Just wanted to say WHAT UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT IS COMING FOR THE ENTRE from OpenGlobe!

More when I get backand have the OK to say it. :D

RE: More on OpenGlobe

Doh!!! Teasing us....you should have just waited...you are so mean.


RE: Entre internet access
FYI, I have my DNS cache set up on my main computer as of last night and I noticed that the Entre appears to be accessing info.openglobe.net every half hour (it shows up as a cache hit). Not that it matters just a curiosity thing. In case you are wondering, I use ExtraDNS from ExtraTools and I have the server version. My hub/nat is providing the Entre with DNSes via DHCP.

1. I have had at least 5 instances in the last few days of Entre completely locking up while just cursoring around the Movie Guide. It seems to happen mainly when inputting a character via the remote in order to jump directly to that section of the Guide. It also happened when changing from a genre back to the ALL genre - Entre locked up on the disc that it defaulted to in the ALL Guide. Discs that cause the lockup often seem to have generic cover art assigned (these are unknown discs that I've had to setup manually and choose generic cover art). I can't say 100% that it only locks up on discs like this, however. Needless to say this is HIGHLY annoying as you have to reboot Entre (a 3-5 minute process) in order to continue moving through the Guide! Is anyone else seeing such a high incidence of lockups while just cursoring through the Guides??

2. No matter what I do Entre will not recognize Disc 2 of THE ABYSS SE. My 5900M reads and plays the disc fine, but Entre will not see it. I have tried multiple slots all with the same effect. Has anyone gotten Entre to recognize this disc? This sounds real similar to the problem Heroildo is having with JURASSIC PARK 3.

3. The description in the OpenGlobe DB for the wonderful Criterion disc of FOR ALL MANKIND, is that for FRIDAY THE 13TH. Talk about an odd substitution!

Kenwood/Open Globe - after the infamous "phantom stop" bug, I sincerely hope you're taking active steps to improve the overall stability of Entre. It's INEXCUSABLE for this unit to lockup while merely cursoring around a Guide. I really don't appreciate paying $1500 to beta test this unit for you! Thanks for listening.

Tom

Tom,

I echo your sentiments! I happen to have the Abyss SE, I'll try it tonight. I am having that exact problem with JP II: Lost World. I'm waiting on another copy of JP II to see if it's my particular version of the movie (as there are many).

As for lockups --

KENWOOD,

The lockups do not just happen while scrolling through the guide -- they also happen when,

* shuffle play of "title" or "group" -- it will play for a while (can't tell you exactly how long, probably 1:45 (being sarcastic).

* playing and or editing radio stations

I'd better stop right here!

Heroildo

Tom,

I can confirm the same issue with Abyss SE Disc #2 -- it's nowhere to be found on the Entre and I can't force detection for that particular slot (it just goes away and never comes back).

Heroildo

Heroildo,

Thanks for trying that! Same behavior on mine - Entre doesn't see the disc at all. If I force a Quick Lookup or a Search By Range for that slot, Entre doesn't come up with anything. One time I let it go for 30 minutes before hitting EXIT. After exiting, that slot is nowhere to be found on Entre - it just disappears. This is reproducible in 2 different slots. The DV-5900M plays the disc fine when the slot it occupies is called up and play initiated directly from the changer. Another bug to add to the list!

I still owe you a try of JP2:TLW to see if it does the same thing on my Entre/5900M. I'll do that by tomorrow night and let you know.

Tom

Heroildo,

Just tried THE LOST WORLD (DTS/Widescreen) on my Entre/5900M. Same thing! It played fine on the 5900M, but Entre couldn't find it and doesn't report the slot it occupies in the Guide. The #$%@!&* piece of junk locked up on me again while I was checking this out for you. Scrolling through the Movie Guide to see if I could find the disc, and it locked up on THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES. This disc had the right cover art, so it's not limited to titles with generic cover art. I'll ask again, is anyone else seeing lockups of this magnitude while merely scrolling through the Guides, or is it just me??

I'm going to complain loudly to Kenwood Tech Support tomorrow. This is utterly ridiculous!! I have never been more dissatisfied with an electronics purchase in my life. David's news from CES that he alluded to earlier better be a blockbuster or I'm ready to punt this worthless box.

Tom

I appreciate this thread very much, as I'm planning to by the Kenwood Sovereign DV-5050M (more basic version of the Entre-enhanceable systems
you're discussing). I'd just like to give Kenwood credit, however, for being (as far as I know) the first company to come out with a 400+ changer that can read Mp3 files. This allows (conservatively) 4,000 CDs' worth of music to be accessed via a single black box. I mean, this is a major space saver no matter what the glitches.

Tom,

I'll try the scrolling with my Entre today and tonight Update: you're correct, the unit DOES lockup during scrolling. I was able to duplicate the problem by going to "All", scrolling right to "Action" and then scrolling down a few pages, by the second or third page down, it locked up. I don't remember this happening. I have to reboot at least once a day, if I mess with any of it (like editing titles); geez, it's almost as bad as "Windows 95". This weekend I was trying some of the other features -- stupid me, I actually thought the other stuff would work; not a chance, as I said in a prior post -- the unit will lockup on random play of music, playing internet radio, etc. At the risk of being insulting, you can't help but ask yourself, "exactly how much testing went into this unit"?

** MAJOR RANT **

I stopped myself yesterday, but I do have to say, I really don't put too much value (and I'm saying this as nicely as I possibly can) in what these two companies have "planned" for the unit.

I'm more interested in seeing these two units work together and allowing me to get my $1500+ worth. I've just about given up hope of using it for music (it's too unpredictable and way too limited on disk space). The icing on the cake, I've got less than 75 slots left (didn't think I would get there) and I'm just not gettting a warm feeling about them "fixing" the multi-changer control issue.

All I can say is, I'm glad I bought these units with an extended warranty -- as big a rip-off as these warranties are, they will have to take the Entre back and give me credit towards something else (no lemon guarantee). The DV-5900M is another matter, the unit does "work" (for the most part), unless of course they're not able to fix the "eject" button and the constant "this disk cannot be played" -- then I guess they'd take that back too.

Heroildo

RE: Microsoft will provide some competition it appears
No doubt you guys have been reading about all the XP promises at CES. Certainly has me pondering on whether to buy a Axcess ( http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/product.jsp?productId=2358 ) to go along with the Entre.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/683951.asp

http://www.zdnet.com/zdfeeds/msncobrand/news/0%2C13622%2C5101452%2C-hud00025guide%2C00.html

I haven't had the locking up on the menu but I don't think I'm using it as actively as you guys since it is in a temporary spot until the HT gets done. I may try the above 'flow' to see if I can lock it up as well.

The Sovereign line was prominent at the Kenwood display. One of the "helpful" guys started explaining it to me, and I stopped him short, told him I owned one, and two DVD changers, and that I regularly participate in the forum.

The subject inevitably turned to the Entre's control-of-changers capacity, and, lamentably, he said that Kenwood had "never" stated that the Entre would control more than one changer, only that the Kenwood could control more than one "type" of changer, those being the 5900M and the 5050M. I politely told him that Kenwood's website should be consulted on that point, and I was tempted to ask him what the "third" changer was that the Entre would control, since the website has always stated that the Entre controls "up to three."

Anyway, what I heard from him on this point is that Kenwood basically has to "invent" a new device altogether, if the multiple changers are going to work, and there's no telling if that can be done. I don't want to start a new rant on that point, but this is a thorn that remains in my side.

Pioneer has a product that will compete. It's called the Digital Library, or someting like that, and they were demo-ing it at CES. Pioneer wasn't terribly specific on how it will integrate with its current changers, and I asked if new ones would come out, and I got a market-speak-politico-reply that basically was "Pioneer recognizes that it needs to change with the technology times." Interpretation: Probably, but it's not even on the drawing board yet.

The Pioneer rep specifically told me, however, that this was Pioneer's response to the Entre. Hooray for competition.

Then I went over to the other changer giant, Sony, to see what they had cooked up in response. I searched all day for Sony's exhibit, because the number on the sheet was a number that just had a few items on display from various manufacturers.

Sony wasn't there. Got that? Sony wasn't at CES2002. They sent an obligatory guy and a single television set. No joke.

You know . . . as much as I don't like the shortcomings of the Entre, its promise still strongly outweighs its deficiencies. This is where it's all going, and, believe me, this thread, and the people on this thread, are going to see Entre or Entre-like products absolutely engulf things. DVDs are too cheap, too plentiful, and management is too necessary. And the internet is too viable and loaded with potential not to tap into it.

Will Entre keep its lead? I hope that others chase Kenwood and push this area to perfection. If Kenwood comes out on top, which it is now--yes, I said that--all power to them. They need help in trying to market things long-term, like telling the truth always, but give them credit for such a forward-looking product that left everyone, and I mean everyone, in the dust.

Stay tuned. Tout the advantages of Entre, and other manufacturers will be tempted to build that better mousetrap. But don't stop reminding Kenwood to fix the one we've already purchased.

Nick :cool:

The lockups while scrolling are difficult for me to reproduce 100% of the time; for some reason it doesn't happen all the time (which is probably why it's so difficult to fix). I'm not sure, maybe it has something to do with what you've done while the unit was on. The thought of me sitting there trying to make the unit lockup ... bugs me ... in a big way!

I would take what that guy at CES said with a grain of salt -- it's amazing how much miscommunciation there is in large companies; look at Denon and their AVR-5800 upgrade. I don't understand what the problem in controlling multiple changers could be -- the Fireball supposedly will do this (granted via multiple RS-232 connections), so there is software in place and the DV-5900M already controls multiple changers.

Does anyone know of any unit out there that allows for upgradeable storage of MP3 files or can support multiple CD changers?


Heroildo

well i've given up on the entre for now and have started to manually input my dvds into the 5900.

hope to hear some good news for a change.

just got this from remote central. so it does seem the advanced codes do exist.

***************************************

The below is in the Code Hunter forum:

Original Post:

"IF YOU LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD SUPPLIED WITH THE UNIT YOU WILL NOTICE 4 BLANK BUTTONS BY THE SPACE BAR, HOLDING THE TWO OUTER OR TWO INNER BUTTONS AT THE SAME TIME WILL TURN THE UNIT EITHER ON OR OFF. I CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH IS ON OR OFF , BUT YOU WILL FIGURE IT OUT."

Reply:
"Thanks a million!!! The 2 inner turns off the unit and the two outer turns on the unit. I was having a difficult time getting any info from Kenwood. Thanks again!"

Can someone post the IR codes captured usign the keys as described above for On and Off here? I have the 5050 and it does not have the keyboard! THANKS!

Hi All...

Well, here is some news I recived from OpenGlobe and was able to use and try at CES...

One of the powers of the OpenGlobe system is that of a relational database of information. Coming very soon you will find this power put to use. You will be able to lookup CD or DVD info and find all sorts of information on the disc. You will also be able to ask it to show items like other movies actor X has been in or other pices of information in regards to a movie or a CD. More or less, a complete media library for the Entre. This new system will be called the "Open Globe Entertainment Services".

Or how they put it..."In-depth information behind the scenes of music and movies. Explore favorite artist/actor: biographies, discographies, filmographies and influences."

http://www.openglobe.net/images/overviewscreen1.GIF ....... http://www.openglobe.net/images/overviewscreen2.GIF

OpenGlobe also is now also working with Sirius Satellite for Audio Internet streaming for radio! That will also be coming very soon.

Kenwood & Openglobe both said that fixes for the shop issue at about 1:45 in has seemed to be resolved and will be downlaoded soon.

Openglobe is working very hard on the DVD lookup. Was informated that soon we should see hit rates as good as when a CD is looked up.

On the Kenwood 3 second layer change...well, I did some looking into this. Was told that multi-media playback from a unit (meaning MP3, CD, DVD, VCD, etc) is an issue with other units as well and not just the Kenwood. This seems to be a hardware issue in any unit that do MP3's from what I can see. Something with reading the disc, or how it is read looking for content type. I would have liked to see that once it knows it is a DVD, it stays in DVD mode without looking upon a layer change. I have yet to have this confirmed that it is infact a hardware issue with the media and can not be fixed via software.

So, if you do not have a broadband connection...get one for your Entre unit...their is going to be a lot it can do.

Two good pieces of information, that is.

First, I can confirm that the discrete on/off codes for the DV-5900M and the DV-5050M are, as stated above, accessible from the keyboard remote supplied with the 5900. I've tried it and have taught my ProntoPro those codes.

Second, David's news is what I've always anticipated would be available, and one of the reasons I bought the Entre to begin with. I'm betting that most of the dvd information will be the stuff that is on the jackets, but if you've ever taken the time to read those jackets you'll see there's a lot of information there. Things like whether the disc is anamorphic, whether there's a 5.1 track, whether there's a DTS track.

By the way, contrary to what I'd read, I do not believe that the Entre will "automatically" fill in information where it was previously lacking. For example, I have a disc called Soapdish which was only recently released on dvd. I had preordered it so, a few weeks ago, it was delivered to me on the very day of its release. There was no information on OpenGlobe, nor did I expect it because of its relative newness.

I nevertheless entered the title manually, and gave it the generic cover from the Entre. I turned to that disc the other day, did a "search for disc," and found it. Cover art, etc. were all there. My point is that, in numerous loading sessions between the time I'd purchased the disc, and the other day, the Entre did not deliver what had been missing. I had to do the lookup myself, and only then found that the information had made its way to OpenGlobe.

Nick :cool:

David,

Did they say anything about being able to connect another unit to the Entre. Are they going to try to get it to work at least?

Carbo...Yes, both Kenwood and Openglobe saying it was being worked on. It will require a hardware add-on and of course software changes to connect multi units. No time line, do not know what phase they are in, but know that something is being worked on.

Hi.

What a great forum. Sure wish I had stumbled on it about a week ago.

Okay here is the situation. I bought two DV-5050m's from Crutchfield last week, excited at the prospect of being able to handle my growing DVD collection (currently about 340) from a single interface, and also upgrading to progressive scan in the process.

The interface of these units is absolutely terrible (no sorting... well why say what others have already said more eloquently). Additionally, when viewing a disc from the "slave" unit, I get TERRIBLE flicker on the screen. This only occurs if the slave unit is set to progressive scan. Kenwood's support (Nick, a helpful technician) is supposedly calling me back tonight about that latter issue.

If they can fix the flicker issue noted above, I was thinking of buying the Entre since based on what I read on the web it would resolve the interface issues and give me one cohesive interface for my whole DVD collection.

But based on what I'm reading in this forum, I am really torn. I suppose the biggest concern I have is that from what I've seen here, despite what Kenwood's web site says the Entre can only aggregate data from ONE changer. The lockup problems and disc registering problems seem frustrating too, but I suspect that with firmware updates they will address such bugs.

So I'm asking for the group's collective advice. I can return the DV-5050's to Kenwood as long as I do so within the next two weeks. Should I do so, or should I move forward and buy the Entre?


Thanks,

Mike

mdownard,

Only you can make the decision, but I would advise you to return the units. Why?

(a) there's obviously some sort of problem with the video output while using a chained unit (flickering); unless Kenwood can fix the problem before you're forced into keeping the units -- I would definitely return it.

(b) the ability to control both units via the Ente is not there -- I'm also waiting for this feature before purchasing my next DV5900M.

Just my 2 cents.

Heroildo

I think it really depends on your expectations.

For instance, if you're not as detailed-oriented as some folks on this forum, the DV-series changers can be seen as incredibly slick, useful, and a welcome addition to any home theater.

As an example, the 3 reviews I've seen in A/V mags all give it accolades. They, however, didn't delve into the details and didn't have very high expectations in the first place for user interace and speed, apparently.

I own a DV-5900M. I had high expectations that were dashed by the shortcomings of this unit. However, I chose NOT to return it because it still gives me a library of every single disc of my media under one roof and one interface (however flawed it is). I really like the unit, however overpriced and flawed I think it is.

The positives still far outweigh the negatives for me. If there was direct competition feature-for-feature, I'd definitely research before purchasing. However, nothing is out there with the same feature set as the 5900M, so I have nothing to compare it to except itself and my own expectations.

Thanks for your quick reply. I just got off the phone with Kenwood, and they told me that there are no definite plans to allow the Entre to support more than one changer.

Unfortunately this makes everything else a moot point. I guess I'll just return both of the 5050's and if Kenwood gets their act together later, buy them again. Hate to have to do that (especially since I now have to move 340 discs out and back into their original packaging) but since Kenwood won't commit that the Entre will actually do what the brochures and web say it will, I see little alternative.


Mike

"...no definite plans to allow the Entre to support more than one changer."

Wonder who you spoke with on that one? All my sources says it is being worked on and that it will be a hardware addition. It is just not something that will happen over night. I am not the only one to be told it is being worked on.

For what it's worth, I spoke to "Nick" in Kenwood's Tech Support. I reached him at 800-KENWOOD.

He was very helpful. To elaborate a bit on what he said...

He told me that the brochures and web state that the Entre can handle up to three changers, but that is incorrect. It can only control one changer. They are working on getting it to control three, but do not have any estimate as to when this feature will be implemented. He did not mention that it would involve yet another piece of hardware.

I explained that if Kenwood would at least give me some kind of commitment that the feature WOULD be implemented, I would keep my two DV-5050m's and buy an Entre. Such as, "we'll do this within 6 months". But he said they couldn't promise anything.

So I told him not to worry about continuing to work on the flicker problem. I will just send the DVD changers back to Crutchfield. I really hate to do this, but I'm not willing to wait until my money-back-guarantee expires to find out that I'm screwed. :)

Sure appreciate all the feedback.


Mike

So Mike...then what you said about is not really correct. :)

Originally posted by David Bott
So Mike...then what you said about is not really correct. :)

Actually what I said is totally correct, I was just stupid and didn't detail the whole conversation in my previous post.

To be clear: The representative I spoke with today would not commit to ANYTHING regarding multi-changer control. He said they are working on it but will not make any promises - as to timeframe, method, or even completion.

Sorry to be unclear.


Mike

A couple of things,

1. There's an updated firmware for the Entre, 1.0.1.1 -- don't get your hopes up, it does not fix the lockups while scrolling or editing disc information. I was able to watch a movie that was more than 1:45 last night (so there's always hope). Update: 3 out of 3 and still no stop at 1:45 -- EXCELLENT JOB Kenwood & OpenGlobe!

2. We can add another disc to the "Disappearing Slot Problem" (couldn't think of anything else to call it). It seems that "Tron SE Disc #2", is not detected by the Entre and the slot completely disappears from the system.

*Kenwood* What's really odd is that the 5900 can "see" and "play" the disc, yet the Entre wants no part of it (won't even give me the "unknown disc" slot, the slot the disc is in just disappears from the Entre).



Heroildo

btw, On a somewhat related story -- has anyone seen what Kenwood is doing with their car audio? It turns out they're going to sell something called the "Keg" (yes, that's the name), under the Excelon brand (Sovereign, but for your car). It's basically a Phatnoise Phatbox (10GB MP3 Unit which interfaces to your Kenwood headunit). I was actually going to buy the Phatbox branded version a couple of months ago. I'm glad I waited, let's see if Kenwood meets the February release date.

I guess you really got it hand it to them -- at least they're on the cutting edge!

I was looking at this KEG thing. I hope they allow it to work with existing car stereo thru the tuners so I can get one.

On the 1.0.1.1 update. I tried three movies all over 1:45 and it did not stop on any of them. S0...I am hopefull this update was the fix for it. If I am wrong...Then I got lucky.

Not sure what else it covered in the quick update though for I have not asked nor was I called and told.

It doesn't look like it addressed any other "obvious" issues. The unit still locks up constantly and navigation speed has not improved.

Heroildo

From Brian at Kenwood...

"Just wanted to inform you, if your contributors have not already found it, that version 1.0.1.1 of the Kenwood Sovereign Entre' software is on line. This eliminates the 1:45 minute DVD auto-stop function."


So this fix was released to address this MAJOR issue. I for one am glad they choose to push this out a quickly as they could.

RE: Tips and Latest still not working

Kenwood sheet: "...Entre is a dynamic product. Software updates 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 still gets Kenwood server - 404 error - page not found "

Brian (from Kenwood), what am I [are we] missing here?!?!?!?!?!?! In other words, it would be extremely nice if all of us who spent a few thousand of dollars on these to be officially informed of maintenance changes/fixes via the said website instead of by trial and error and whispers. I suppose you guys are worried about airing dirty laundry I think you could put a better spin on it and state how responsive and forthright you guys are trying to be.

Can you guys answer some of my questions about the entre. Now that the 1:45 min problem has been fixed, I am again debating purchashing it.

What happens to the entries in your library guide once you connect the entre and download dvd information. Is that independent from the entre? I finally finished inputing all 300 of my dvds and would hate to lose that information.

Same thing for groups that I have set up. Are they independent from entre groups?

Does the entre come with a seperate remote than the one on the 5900? If it does, what type of component is the entre to a universal remote? A receiver?

Thxs in advance.

Originally posted by slocko
What happens to the entries in your library guide once you connect the entre and download dvd information. Is that independent from the entre? I finally finished inputing all 300 of my dvds and would hate to lose that information.

It stays. You still have your menu functions on your DVD player. If you pass-through to it, you can access them. Alternatively, you can just turn the Entre off and access them.

Same thing for groups that I have set up. Are they independent from entre groups?

Yes.

Does the entre come with a seperate remote than the one on the 5900? If it does, what type of component is the entre to a universal remote? A receiver?

Yes, there's a separate remote. As for what type of component it is to a universal remote . . . if I understand your question properly, it's whatever you program the remote to be. You may be talking about a basic universal remote with hard buttons designating things like "vcr," "tv," "receiver," etc. I don't know that those remotes really "care" what you program into them, and, if you're limited to hard buttons, you simply need to remember which one substitututes for the Entre.

The two remotes for the DV5900M and the Entre comprise one of the bothersome issues about the scheme. You need both, so the best thing that I've found is to simply create your own layout on something like a Pronto. That's what I've done.

Nick :cool:

thxs Nick. I am mulling it over. Now that I have all my dvds programmed in I guess I can wait some more to see how the Entre development comes along.

I have 300 cds that I would like to put in there. Would they fit in the 20 gig drive of the entre?

So, I guess either OpenGlobe broke the "Update Software" feature or they're in the process of sending out a new release. It seems that everytime I go to the "Update Software" option, there's always an update. The unit says it's installing the new package -- it reboots several times and then comes back at the same release level (1.0.1.1). The only thing I've noticed is that now it says "Go Behind Your Music with OpenGlobe Entertainment Services".

H

23 more discs, and then I have to plug in the DV-5050M. Will Kenwood have a fix by then? Will the Entre ever control more than one changer? Or will Nicholas go the previous route, and simply put a number of not-likely-to-be-watched-again discs on eBay thereby deferring his anger? And will Kenwood hire other comedians, such as the one posing at CES as a Kenwood rep, to make such jokes as "we never really said . . "

The Shadow is one of the discs in the 5900M. I shall press "play"and seek an answer!! I shall also guarantee that the same disc will begin to play the next time the unit powers.

Nick :cool:

I am surprised not one has yet mentioned the OpenGlobe service enhancement!!! PRESS THE OPENGLOBE BUTTON! (Entre unit)

Right now CD info only, but Movies are close behind! I like the content I can find on the artists.

Glad to hear about this enhancement. If Kenwood ever does permit support of multiple changers, I'd have the opportunity to use it.

Are you using your player for a CD changer, too?

Nick :cool:

Hi Nick...

I only use it for DVD...so I really can not wait for the movie info to be part of it. I did see it in action at CES so I know it is on the way.

As far as the mutli changer...my guess is 4 to 5 months for it is both hardware and software. Not a small job I would think.

David,

I'm curious -- did your software version actually change? So what exactly happens? I press the OpenGlobe button and I get the same crappy menu it's always had. I don't have any audio discs in the unit, but I do have quite a few MP3's on the disk drive, as well as, some MP3 discs in the changer. Oh wait, let me guess -- this stuff will only work with AUDIO discs. Guess I'll have to wait for the "new" hardware that'll allow me to connect more changers to the Entre.

I've already started removing bonus discs and movies that I probably will never watch. I'm still down to about 60 or so empty slots. Guess I'll have to start removing the tv shows next.

H

I see Welcome to OpenGlobe Entertainment Services.

EXIT
Now Playing
Search
Top Hits
New Releases
Specials
My Account

My version is 1.0.1.1

Are you connected to the Internet via local network?

David,

Yes, I'm connected via broadband -- that's the same menu I've always gotten. Does the "Now Playing" now work? Is that the enhancement?

H

Their is a lot of data that was not their before. Click on STING and see what you can look up on him.

Oh, so this doesn't work the way I thought. I was under the impression I would be able to look up information for any of the music which my Entre has access to (i.e., CD in 5900, MP3 on Entre -- once again, I guess I jumped too soon).

For example, I'm scrolling the my "Music" guide and select my Sting CD, I then press "Info" and I'm able to pull up tons of information about Sting.

H

Yes...Sooner or later that is what I think may be happening. :)

Did they say anything about adding more support for other MP3 players?

Originally posted by Carbo
Did they say anything about adding more support for other MP3 players?

Not that I have head...thought I have not asked either.

Originally posted by David Bott


Not that I have head...thought I have not asked either.

David, considering that you appear from your picture to have a head, which allows you thought, I can only suggest that you stop using the Entre' remote control to type your messages ;)

Ok, now I guess I'm obligated to provide some useful contribution to this thread...last weekend I checked for Axcess information at The Good Guys. They now have it in their system; the model number is MR-P1, and it's supposed to arrive the second week of February. The list price is $499 (ack!)

Originally posted by Ponziani



Ok, now I guess I'm obligated to provide some useful contribution to this thread...last weekend I checked for Axcess information at The Good Guys. They now have it in their system; the model number is MR-P1, and it's supposed to arrive the second week of February. The list price is $499 (ack!)

This calls for a few other early adopters. Buy it, let me know . . . tell me if Kenwood didn't really intend it to work in that room.

Nick :cool:

Nicholas,

Damn that was GOOD! I'm sure they'll find some way to weasle out of making that work.

H

Now come on, those comments were un-called for.

David's right. I'm reporting this thread to a moderator.

Nick :cool:

I had a bad weekend with the Entre locking up about 6 times. Once when adding a disc into rental zone one, a couple of times when selcting a DVD to watch (possibly caused by changing mind on which DVD to watch and trying to get bck into guide), A few times working with internet radio.

I still can't understand the connections for playing MP3's and Internet radio.

From my changer I take digital coax straight to my processor (used only for DVD's which I will not record).

I've tried to listen to internet radio by connecting Entre optical out to processor, and Entre analog (rec out and monitor out) to processor and I still can't get any sound from Entre.

Yes...My biggest lockup come fom Internet radio use also. It happen when it goes to connect to the server. Then it goes to disconnected and locks.


For audio out for MP3s and Internet Radio...you can only use the analog out channels. Also...look in your setup..I think their is something in their where you tell it how you are hooked up. (I am not by the Entre to look at this for you.)

David, forgive me for reposting this -- but I'm sure that considering the length of the thread, it would be impossible for aauno to locate this:

from a while ago in this thread
btw, I'm not sure if anyone was following the issue I was having with the Entre not providing seamless playback of playlists which contained various types of sources (i.e., MP3 on CD in 5900, MP3 on Entre HD, CD Audio, etc).

I did get a response from OpenGlobe and there is a workaround for the issue -- Kenwood pretty much told me that the only way that they knew around this issue was to use a Sovereign Receiver (I don't think so!):

So the issue(s) seems to be that,

(a) the Entre will not pass Analog and SPDIF "concurrently" to the receiver from the connected changer.

(b) the DV-5900M does not pass SPDIF while playing back an MP3 CD

Solution: I have re-connected the audio between the Entre, Receiver, and 5900 as follows:

(a) connect the DV-5900 Changer coax digital out to the Receiver
(for Dolby Digital/DTS Playback)

(b) connect the Changer analog L+R Mix out to the Entre REC-IN
(disable the SPDIF on the Entre)

connect the Entre analog L+R play out to the Receiver

(c) connect the Changer 6 CH out to the Receiver

This does allow me to listen to movies via 6 CH or SPDIF and listen to all audio via the Analog. This *DOES* work and God knows, I'm not complaining!

I hope I don't have a problem with my Entre. My cuurent connections are:
DV-5050 (DVDs' only) Coax to Lexicon MC-1 (DVD setting, Coax-1)
Entre analog L+R play out to Lexicon MC-1 (Tuner setting)
Entre Optical out to Lexicon (Optical 1 input)

I tried DV-5050 coax to Entre but was unable to get a signal on Lexicon optical in for DVD's. I moved changer coax back to Lexicon coax-1 input.

From Entre analog play out I only get a signal from the internal CD. I'm not able to hear a signal from the MP3's that shipped with the Entre or the Internet radio subscriptions.

Tonight I plan on loading a CD to the DV-5050 changer and test that connection path. I also plan on testing the ripping function to the internal hard drive.

I have no clue why the original MP3's and Internet radio can not be heard.

aauno,

I'm not sure, but I think you have to disable the digital output on the Entre (that was what was doing me in), "setup/audio".

Your best bet is to contact OpenGlobe at openglobe@nsc-support.com -- they were actually very helpful!


Heroildo

Some progress. I was able to rip a cd to the HD. I was able to hear the CD I ripped into MP3 fromat via the analog play out, but not the MP3's downloaded/shipped with the Entre. I guess I should delete all MP3's I didn't create?

I loaded 3 CD's into my DV-5050 changer to test hearing a CD from the changer. The signal came across the digital out path, same as for DVD's. I had problems with the Entre unit controlling the changer, so I used the Entre to tell me the slot location and switched to the changer remote to load and play songs.

Still no Internet radio. It claims the radio is playing, but I hear nothing.

I had that at one time...No audio when it said it was playing. Try re-booting your unit if you have not already. To do this...stop all functions and then press and hold the power button for about 5 seconds. The unit will go into re-boot mode and it will take a few minuts to come back on-line.

Hope this might help. But it is just a thought.

David,

Sorry for the off topic post.

Why does searching with the term 5900 on all open forums not list this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=836346#post836346

While searching for 5900m does?

Because "5900" is not in the thread at all, but "5900M" is. It is two differnt words to the system.

I have a HP100i DVD+RW burner and was wondering if anyone
has played these burned disc sucessfuly in the 5900m with
video or music content on them. Please respond if you
were able to do so as I want to buy one.

Thanks in advance.

click on my the link in my earlier post. that links to a thread where people have actually tried dvd-r on 5900s. i don't know what burners they had.