Official Sony BD Mega-Changer Thread: BDP-CX7000ES & BDP-CX960 - Page 104

Hmmm, I just found a CX960 new in box for $799 and was gonna jump on it, but after reading through some of this thread I'm now hesitant. I'm wondering if $800 is still a good price and could either send it to Sony for an optical drive fix when it stopped working or just put it on eBay straight away and try to make a profit.

Actually, that is retail price. I paid for a Sony 7000ES last year, and I waited to December. i got for $700 shipped to my door. I have 3 Sony 7000 ES changers but I use Control4. No issues at all with the players.

I have had my 7000ES since it was released: paid full price from Sony Store (mfg date June 2009)

My ES has performed well: it is lightly used: prior to this I had an Escient system with 2 Sony 400 disc changers

I love this changer and am disappointed that there is little ongoing support for it: I blame the BD lobby for this

I have 2 7000ESs. I purchased one when they first came out and one last year and both have worked great without any of these issues. Knock on wood. I use Cinemar as my third party interface.

Maybe I've griped about this before, but the 7000 just doesn't play well with an external video processor. I encountered this frustration again last night when doing some tinkering in my theater.

I use a Lumagen HDQ video processor between my receiver and projector. Its primary purpose is to do scaling for movies with a higher aspect ratio than 2:35:1 so that the image will fit on my screen without having to adjust the projector. But as long as I have this fantastic video processor I intend to use it to scale up DVDs.

The problem is, there is no way to tell the 7000 to use source resolution, i.e.: to not use its internal scaler. The best I can do is to set the output resolution to "Auto", turn on 1080p24 mode, then set the video processor to advertise only 480p. That way the 7000 locks on to 480p as an output resolution, but still plays 1080p24 material without scaling it down. This works well for DVDs and 1080p24 Blu-rays. This seemed like a workable solution until last night.

Last night I was playing a blu-ray and was surprised to discover that the 7000 was using 480p for output. I checked the disc's box and discovered that the material is 1080i60. Since it isn't "film" material the changer scales it down to 480. Aggravating! If I change the Lumagen to allow 1080i resolution, then the 7000 uses 1080i for all non-p24 material (even DVDs)! Double aggravation!

Originally I wasn't concerned about blu-ray material other than 1080p24 so I was happy with my setup. Now that I have discovered I have a disc that's 1080i it bugs me. It's almost enough to make me plug the old 777 back in and move all the DVDs back to it.

I have a Denon AVR-5308 with a built Realta chip that upscales the DVD's to 1080p. Well, actually the denon does all the hdmi's to 1080p and you can select which HDMI that you want to upscale. I have (3) Sony 7000ES changers, but I believe that the settings in the changer is off. (Don't use auto feature, I have it turned off) The Denon AVR-5308 then upscales to 1080P. This works fine for me.

Although, there is a better way for DVD's than 777. (I had a Sony 777ES power supply to fail recently, so I say it has limited life on the power supply. Anyway, I use a silent HTPC (passive power supply) with your DVD content, and then plug your htpc into your video processor.
I use the changers for bluray, and HTPC for DVD, CD, SACD, etc.

So you've got the BD-ROM 1080/24p setting at "off"? What is your HDMI resolution set to? Auto?

Yes, I know. It's definitely on my list, and I know that some day I will end up going that way. DVDs don't take up much space when ripped so they're pretty easy to put on an HTPC. And there are so many other benefits (drop the previews and the menu, no layer change, etc). But, I need to take the time and money to build one out. Not in the budget just yet. Meanwhile I have to make do with what I have. I did say I was tempted to put the DVDs back in the 777, but it would be better to spend the time building and integrating an HTPC.

The Denon 5308 resolution is set at 1080P. I think the Denon has 1080/24p setting, but I have a 70" TV. (My dealer had installed Control4, and set the he set changers to auto. Yes, DVD's go back to 480), so I changed it and works fine. I will verify the settings later tonight.

I recently built a new main pc, so that has 10 hard drives in RAID 5. The HTPC is connected to that server, and I can watch movies from there. Bluray can also be done on server. Currently, I use J River Media Center 18 (beta now) as the player. This software works great for less than $50.

Here is my specs for the HTPC. There is several cases that can be used, but I used a Lian Li.
P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT
Kingwin Stryker 500W Fanless Power Supply (Kingwin has modular cords, so it is rather easy to route the power cables.)
Intel Core i7-3770S Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 65W (Actually, I am using the Intel 4000 for video at the moment, but I will eventually get a new video card in the future.)
- CPU comes with a fan, but if you want 0 Decibels no noise from the HTPC. Passive Cpu cooler like NoFan CR-95C. Also, you need a passive case has holes in the top. Like this one (http://www.hfx.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=121:hfxr-classic&catid=51:heatsink-cases&Itemid=136
- Pioneer Bluray drive
- 120GB SSD drive. Sandisk Extreme
- 480GB SSD drive
- 16Gigs Geil Ram
- J river is currently a windows 7 based product, but soon to be able to run on Mac OSx.

(Mine is not totally passive, but I haven't done the NoFan for the cpu cooler yet. The reason is that it requires a new passive computer case) I say that it runs around 30 decibels right now, but it is the quietest pc that I ever built.
Thunderbolt is not requirement, but it allow you to place hard drives away from the htpc. There is new optical thunderbolt cable that just came out, so you can place the hard drives away from the pc.
Most of the items can be bought at Amazon or Newegg.
Edited by Nitro67 - 9/25/12 at 5:13pm

Good info, Nitro! Thanks. I will file that away for when I am ready to build one out. Unfortunately it will probably have to run Windows as it needs to integrate with Cinemar. Despite that, there are several good choices for players.

Well, I have it as a request to add the Sony 7000ES changers to J River media Center 18. Just need someone to develop an RS 232 Driver, so you can plug in an RS-232 (USB Hub). J river has DLNA working, but I think RS-232 would be better option. J river redesigned their code, so they aren't on Microsoft development model. For example, My Movies requires you to run Windows Media Center 7 in the background if you use their software. My Movies only has collection management on Mac OSX. My guess, Cinemar is developed with Microsoft development model as well. I currently have Control4, but getting a driver developer to write a driver has become impossible with Control4. So, I plan to sell my Control4 system. The limits of the Control4 design is based on their Composer database, and their software is limited to 48Khz for audio, so higher definition audio won't work with that product.

I did talk with Savant Systems, which uses Apple OS X. Yes, you can use Sony 7000ES changers with their system. Savant doesn't have a listing of their drivers on the website, so I contacted their technical support. Actually, the Savant Systems installer was willing to write a driver to hook with J River Media center. J river allows you do SACD audio, and I prefer uncompressed audio formats. My HTPC was designed to run either Windows 7 or Mac OSX. If you planned to do Mac OS X setup, then you have to use USB for the audio. For example, exaSound e18 – High End 8 Channel USB DAC. Paragon software has developed a driver that allows you to use NTFS on Mac OSX. I haven't installed Mac OSX on my HTPC, but I will in the future.

The problem with most of the home automation systems on the market today, there is not a system that does both movies and uncompressed audio. I would have needed around 11 Sony 777ES changers to do my CD, and DVD collections. I have 2 Sony 777ES, but it is rather nice to have them on the hard drives.
Edited by Nitro67 - 9/26/12 at 2:06pm

Thor and Gracenote

I have a Sony DVP-CX960. It loads discs well and Gracenote works great with all discs, except Thor. Anyone know why when I try to load Thor through Gracenote, the disc changer shuts off?

For audio I use Media Monkey with Monkeytunes (for remote control via an iPad) and a M2Tech hiFace to connect a USB port to my receiver. Media Money is configured to use kernel streaming to send data to the hiFace. The result is bit-perfect output. All my CDs are stored in FLAC, lossless compression. I am resigned to the fact that my music library isn't integrated in to my automation. However, it is reproduced as close to the original source as possible. I can live with that. I wrote up details about using the hiFace in my theater here and here.

Yes, I have tried Media Monkey in the past. Just didn't like the quality as compared to J River. J river does have Kernel streaming as audio output. J river has great free trial, so I tried several media players on the market. J river was the best solution, and best audio quality. The audio card that I chose was Asus Xonar Essence ST, and I found a place in UK that sells the H6 card. Right now I use WASAPI with ASUS XONAR Unified Drivers (One of the developers of the original drivers has his own website, so you can use an improved version.) I do have Flac, SACD, My CD collection was ripped to WAV, and I have a few DVD-A. (J river hasn't added DVD-A as file format yet, but there has been a request for that and Bluray Audio) Eventually, I get a DAC, but it is rather expensive at the moment.

J remote is best for the Ipad or Iphone, but MyRiver is the other Ipad app. J river support is great, and they have a great forum that reviews audio cards and DAC's. If you want to try it out, then go into the forum and download the latest release. Media Center 18 has just been released, so it might be buggy, Media Center 17 is the most stable.

Unfortunately, we own discontinued products and as new disks are released, they may or may not load. When these were still being sold by Sony, they would issue upgrades that addressed functional problems with certain bluray disks. I'm afraid that these upgrades have ceased so the best option might be to disconnect from the internet (and Gracenote) and manually input the new titles. I think that will be my survival mode strategy if and when I get my player back from service...

They put out the last firmware update last year on 5/12/11: http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/swu-download.pl?mdl=BDPCX7000ES&upd_id=6419&os_group_id=11

It's just possible they may issue new ones. When I emailed them about that they didn't exactly say no they wouldn't be. They didn't say they definitely would either though, so anyone's guess is good on that score.

I own Thor and it works fine on my Sony 7000ES changer. I have shut gracenote off long ago. I manually input the titles, because gracenote is hit or miss. My Movies seems to have all the titles, so that is another option.

As for the firmware, well, there is a work around on that. I don't put my original discs in the changer, so I rip it and remove the protection. Burn it as Bluray. I primary do it as a backup to my own collection.
Edited by Nitro67 - 9/27/12 at 8:04pm

I use Cinemar for control of my system, with Arcsoft for htpc video and J River now for Audio to play HD audio. The Cinemar system does play HD audio such as Flac but I like the visuals available with J River. I did have to copy my HD audio onto my HTPC though and could not use my network drive like I do for my videos as after numerous attempts J River software just couldn't handle my network configuration, which works perfectly with Cinemar. I have the space for now on my HTPC for my audio files.

I use a gyration mouse to switch from Arcsoft to J RIver by minmizing Arcsoft and then control the J River with this mouse. I can still use the volume control from Cinemar using their IPAD app as I like to leave the J River software at 100%. The J River IPAD app did not function well for me at all, I am likely spoiled by Cinemar.

The point of all this is that you can easily combine great sounding HD audio from a HTPC with your 7000ES using these software applications.

Perhaps you need a static IP. I did have a pro installer come out, and setup my system for Control4. The problem with Control4 was the audio is limited to 48Khz, and it is hard coded into Composer. I requested a driver to be created on Control4 forums, and the dealers were more interested in selling other products. I would have paid money for a driver. Anyway, if the IP is dynamic then that could be your problem. Also, always use a good brand of network switch. I have a cisco smart switch SG-200. Ok, negative issue about J river is that you need either RAID or software RAID solution. So a 10 drive solution, that has 10 letters will be an issue. I have Areca Hardware raid, and my array has 10 drives. So, I have one driver letter with 18 TB array.

I don't have Cinemar, but I did google it and it looks like Cinemar works with J River Media Center. So you might have the solution already, but you need to contact Cinemar to check on that.
There is like several different J river Ipad apps. (J remote, My River, MonkeyMote, etc ). Now there is another option that I used with my ipad, that I need to look up. Basically, you can use your ipad as mouse, but I selected one app that has a security code. I do like the volume control with Control4, but I already tried to get a driver and failed. I did find a company (audio Authority ) that sells multichannel apps, and one of their products can control the sources independently for each zone.
http://www.audioauthority.com/product_details/1173BK

Might be a way to use the changers with J river. http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=69595.0

I have requested most of these features to be added to J river Media center 18.
Edited by Nitro67 - 9/28/12 at 9:10am

Can Cinemar use the kernel streaming driver for audio? I am very fond of the hiFace and it works best when kernel streaming is used. I know that J River can.

Are you using version 4? There's a few drivers I'm waiting on before I upgrade to 4. For version 3 I was able to use RS232Send to get the control I needed, but Dave doesn't have the source for that plugin and it can't be ported to 4. So instead I will have to wait on the drivers.

I tried using MusicLobby when I first bought Cinemar and was very unhappy with the results. Once I upgrade to 4 i should revisit the audio player.

Since all my equipment is in a separate room, I need everything controllable from the iPad.

Well, on Media Center 18, it is Slow playing from the network drive. I tried a few DVD's and it was rather slow. That is why I had to delete my post. I have a fast network, so not sure on the issue at the moment. Media Center 18 is new beta, so that could be the issue.
Although, I did design the HTPC around the Thunderbolt, so just waiting for the Areca Arc-8050 to come out. I test the shared drive feature out for awhile and I let you know.

Oh, for the mouse. I use with my Ipad this RC Trackpad instead of the mouse. http://www.m3me.com/m3me/RCTrackpad.html Cool little app.

Well, my original Sony 7000ES Megachanger has the invalid disc issue now that I bought at retail cost. It is not just one disc it is on several discs. Sounds like the changer is having problems with loading, there is clunking sound as it loads a disc.
This going through Control4's new driver. I have My Movies too, so I test on that later.

I always found unless raid array is present **** tends to hit fan once you hit the magic marker mark and things start getting slow...

I generally avoid ht pc's due to lack of space..

as for media servers..

unless you're system 7200rpm hdd's oe above, kinda becomes a moot point as the lover spindle speeds kinda gets you poor network performance...

as for multi disc changers sounds like someone needs to start looking at replacement of lan card if possible.

Ok, I have 10 Hitachi Enterprise drives with an Areca 1261 ML Sata II hardware raid card. Array is RAID 5 at the present. These are 7200rpm drives going through a Chenbro sata II backplane. The Cisco Smart Business switch. SG-200 is rather new, so that is not it.
I hit speeds now through the server of average of 112 Mb/sec over the gigabit lan. Both Motherboards are new, so the only problem seems to be J River Media center 18 new beta. I think J River requires you to do port forwarding, that is what I was reading last night. One of their threads suggested that last night,
but I was too tired to try that at 4am.

The HTPC use an ASUS P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT, and Areca is about to release this new ARC-8050 http://www.areca.com.tw/products/thunderbolt.htm The biggest advantage is the setup is Thunderbolt to 6Gb/s SAS RAID Storage, so you can a huge array with it is own power supply. Then another company has developed a optical thunderbolt cable. The biggest problem that I found with having an HTPC is noise near the stereo. So, with this setup, you can move up to 30 meters away from you. You can also connect more of these storage setup with a daisy chain. Each with it's power supply. The problem is that eventually the Sony changers will fail, so this the best solution that I could think of. Oh, yeah, I have built Rackmount servers, but they are too loud. You replace the fans and they are still too loud.

My Sony 7000ES Changers are not connected to the PC at the present. I have them on Control4, which uses a controller (small computer), 1 out of the 3 Changers is definitely having issues. I am not sure if your post was directed at me, but my stuff is setup correctly.
I do expect problems with J River Media Center 18 beta, it hasn't been out a month yet. The port forwarding is rather easy fix.

I don't know if this is a problem for anyone else, but after searching for the changer for several years I finally found one I could afford. Hooked everything up, everything looked good to go, started a movie and all the trailers played in dolby surround or THX. When the actual movie startes no surround through the speakers. This was repeated with any movie I played. I am outputting audio via coax to a B&K reference 30 processor and 4 amps powering my Vandersteens.

I have tried switching every audio setting hoping to luck-up on the right thing, but no, not happening. I switched to analog out put on the Changer and got some surround but most of the sound came from the center channel speaker and you know thats not right. When playing a movie using my 4 year old PS3 everything works perfectly, auto switching to DTS, THX or Dolby when a movie plays so the processor is not the problem. So anyone here think they know the answer to this one. If I can not get surround audio after all I payed for this thing it's on ebay by weeks end.

I don't think the Reference 30 has support for the newer lossless formats: Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. Most blu-rays will default to using one of those. You didn't say if you were having trouble playing blu-rays or DVDs. I also don't see an HDMI connector. Are you connecting to it with optical/coax?

Make sure your have BD Audio (under Audio settings) set to "Direct". I had similar issues until I changed that setting.

Also make sure that Dolby Digital is set, and that DTS is set. They default to a downmix, and this may be tripping you up if you are using optical/coax output.

Finally, when playing a blu-ray make sure that you have selected an audio track on the disc that is NOT TrueHD or DTS-HD.

Hope that helps!

You have to upgrade to a newer processor or receiver that has at least hdmi 1.3 or else you never hear the sound. I had the similar problem with my Yamaha DSP-A1 in the past. Then I upgraded to a Denon AVR-5308 in 2008 and was blown away by the sound. Denon has several low cost receivers that you could hear the sound.

Now with UHDTV there will be another upgrade with the next media format. http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/publica/bt/en/fe0045-6.pdf Here is the paper that talks about it. Probably won't see the media format for another 3 years.
Edited by Nitro67 - 9/30/12 at 5:26pm

Yes, I am using Version 4 of Main Lobby. Works great and I am using their IPAD app. I can't say how great it is to have all my changer and htpc movies all available on the same interface. I do not use Music Lobby, I use the J River instead. My equipment is in a seperate room also so this has not posed any issue. I do have a USB wire poked through which allows the Gyration mouse to function but if your equipment room is very far away then the J River does have an IPAD remote, I just did not like it as well as the mouse which has 3 customizable buttons, which was the prefect number.

I went back and checked all settings and reconfirmed that Dolby and DTS were set and BD audio was on direct as I had originally set them. I am sending sound out with coax digital cable and that is set also. Still no surround with the actual movie playing . Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows and newer discs will not out put surround but when I played We Were Soldiers it played fine. So I suppose the software on the reference 30 is the issue as you have suggested, B&K is out of business so I guess a software update isn't going to happen and I don't have the money for a new processor which may or may not work now or in the future.

Looks like it's back to the PS3 (I wonder why that works and not the 7000ES) and up for auction with the AllSpark. This may be the last Sony product I buy.

Noah,


Here is a few links to help with you out with setting the volume correctly.
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=69691.0

I didn't have a problem with Audio (CD, SACD, HD audio) etc from my shared network drive. I did have a problem with DVD, but others are having it as well. So it is on the list to be fixed in Media center 18. I can use Control4 to get around that issue, but eventually I want it to be all J river. J remote works great for me. I do have a good wireless router, but Control4 has limited database. I got tired of hearing static, because Control4 composer limits the file to 48Khz.

Actually, your problem will occur with any Bluray player, besides PS3. I have Pioneer Elite Blu-ray player, and had problems with surround while watching movies. This is when I had the Yamaha DSP-A1. (My Yamaha DSP-A1 didn't have HDMI) Same as your Reference 30. A co-worker at work had the same problem, but the problem went away with a new receiver. If you look under HDMI 1.3, then you see that it was included in the FAQ.
http://www.hdmi.org/learningcenter/faq.aspx
Edited by Nitro67 - 10/1/12 at 8:37am