Sticky: Zenith DVB318 FAQs - Page 6

All I said was "deja vu" and then clarified what I was referring to. I wasn't complaining about it.

For the record, the post in the second thread was done immediately after the first, so the same question was basically posted in two threads at the same time... not after the question wasn't answered in another. It also wasn't just one question. It was several. (that sounds a little like complaining but I was just making an observation)

How do I go to setup screen of 318? Looks like we have a lot of hidden menus. Please help in this possibly dumb question.

Found it. Button placement on this remote is just favulous! Looks like Sunday Puzzle to find hidden things on a picture.

Why not create a new thread? That way:
- it wouldn't add to the gazillion page thread (which makes it a PITA to search for useful info)
- it would be in/under a thread topic that's actually relevant to the post
- it is more likely to be answered since more than a handful of people would actually read it
- one would be able to have a converstation directly related to the topic at hand (instead of post 100 being "Can someone help me with problem x?", post 101 being "Yipee, I just got my new blahblah", post 102 "Hey, me too, yipee", post 103 "Me too! The yadayada feature [as described ad nauseum previously] is great!"....etc etc)

I thought I had replied to this but I guess I didn't enter it. I wasn't complaining about the duplicate posts. I simply said "deja vu" and then clarified when someone mininterpreted what I was referring to. Just to clarify, the person wasn't waiting for a reply. They were copying and pasting the same post immediately in both threads. This was done several times in the course of the day. Again... I wasn't complaining, just pointing out that the redundancy was not necessary.

You make some good points. I agree with you, particularly since the existing threads are so long.


"All I said was "deja vu" and then clarified what I was referring to. I wasn't complaining about it."

Fair enough.


In addition to starting some new threads, at the very least the FAQ thread really SHOULD be made into a sticky...I know the thread's creater asked some mod about it but nothing was done. We should repeat his request.

Lol, good analogy. Thank god my sattelite remote had a code that worked with it. The layout is horrid. It is now retired to a life of drawerdom, to be used in the rare occasion I need to use a "unique" button.

The Zenith DVB318 DVD Player will not play DVD's anymore. Unit continues to not load dvd. Have tried 15 different DVD's Done a reset, turned off autoplay. Will however play music cd just fine. Have let unit sit for a day still same results. Have watched about 40 movies with this unit (Brand New). Any thoughts? Playing through Component, Original Firmware.

TREV

One note on the DVB318 FAQ... the section that repeats the manuals instructions about the Video Mode Setting: Auto-Video-Film. The manual is wrong - it has nothing to do with the players de-interlacing. It's just a still-frame selection setting, like Panasonic players have in their set-up menu. As far as I can tell, the Zenith has no way to manually force the de-interlacing between video or film recognition mode. The Faroudja/Genesis chip in the 318 is set up for auto recognition of film or video/DCDI mode. Not that I mind, as I haven't played any discs where I have wanted to override the players choice of processing.

One other thing - does anyone know which features of the Faroudja/Genesis chip the 318 uses? i.e. True-Life, Bandwidth-Expansion, etc...? The amazing 1080i image sure looks to me like some other picture-improving processing besides up-conversion is going on. Faroudja's SuperNTSC is alive and well.

Cheers!
Ty C. :-)

I agree. It appears to have some enhancement circuitry.

Disclord-

What does it being a "still-frame selection setting" mean? Whats the proper use of this function?

Thanks.

>>What does it being a "still-frame selection setting" mean? Whats the proper use of this function?<<

It's for when you pause or freeze-frame and controls the bob/weave the player does to the frame. In the "video" mode you won't get double/flickering images on still frames from film, but only 1 field is used to make up the image.

Cheers!
Ty C. :-)

So this has no use for playback? It only affects display of paused images?

Hmmmm, are you sure? When I switch the video mode setting from Auto to Video while watching a DVD, I definitely start seeing poor de-interlacing. Have you tried this?

I agree though, I haven't actually needed to switch from Auto. I was just playing around.

Yes, I've tried it - on regular titles and on the Faroudja test patterns. No change. Pause a film image and then use it - you can see the change as you still frame though it, just like the auto-still-frame menu setting on Panasonic players.

I have to disagree. I too see a difference between the two modes. For example on the 5th Element I tried changing modes in a few of the space scenes and you can clearly see jagged edges between the ships against the stars and one of the ships against the planet when in video mode. These "jaggies" are not present when in film mode. And this is while the movie is playing.

jc3

I've started to notice a slight dark/black level with the zenith 318. I'm comparing to my Panasonic rp62, and after comparing 3 dvds in a row I'm very sure that my older Panasonic rp62 produces better blacks dark levels. I could first tell this by watching a few simple scenes, the dark levels where just more "black". The way I could really tell is by watching a 2.35 formatted movie, where the black bars above the image on the Panasonic are pitch black, when you goto dark scenes with the zenith if you look the black bars above and below the image are visible in a faint way. Hopefully others have noticed this?

((3. Doing a factory reset will set region zone back to ))

Q where can I find this RESET?

ok this has probably been asked a milion times but i cant find it anywhere... a link or explination would be awesome!

I have a Toshiba 42H83 and using component out from the 318 i see that i am cropping off the top of the screen. you can tell just by looking at the player menu screen. when i cycle through 480p looks normal but as soon as i switch it to 720p or 1080i it cuts it off.... also the image appears to be shifted to the left a little... so basily i think the image is "zoomed" in a little... i am definatly missing some of the top and a little of the left side (off screen)

ohh and the 1080i component is superb.

Thanks In Advance!

ElevatorHappyFun,

I use the screen alignment pattern on DVE as the last thing I calibrate and through 720p DVI the 318 was almost dead on for vertical and horizontal. I recently reconnected the 318 with only component (which looks great) at 720p and the vertical and horizontal both needed to be moved around a bit. For my set, Panny 50LC13, I believe I remember moving it up and to the right but I could be recalling that incorrectly (it may have been down and to the right?).

PS Fortunately the Vertical / Horizontal position controls for my set are within the normal user setup menu. I remember on the Sammy HLN I had for a few weeks those controls were in the Service Menu.

Q, you may want to add to the FAQ the list of movies that hang up the 318 when autoplay is turned on: (besides DVE and AVIA calibration discs)

Hellboy

stonepran:

"The way I could really tell is by watching a 2.35 formatted movie, where the black bars above the image on the Panasonic are pitch black, when you goto dark scenes with the zenith if you look the black bars above and below the image are visible in a faint way."

Stonepran, did you recalibrate your brightness and contrast with DVE or Avia or some other setup disk when you got the 318? You will need to do this when ever you get a new player to set the levels properly. All manufacturer's video output levels vary. The 318 is definitely on the hot side. I had to reduce my brightness quite a bit on my X1.

Randy

Q asked me to answer this question. Factory reset is in FAQ already (display firmware info), not sure it is the one you want or not.

I was writing to Q to update the following statement "It has yet to be determined if this process negates the region free hack or any other user updates. " The answer is doing factory reset will set back region zone back to 1.

I was also hoping Q can mention zoom feature (and how to use it) in FAQ since a lot of people ask how to deal with 4:3 content with fixed 1080i display format TV.

You cannot fix 4:3 content with fixed 1080i displays using the 318 zoom feature (well, not without cropping the picture). You *can* correct non-anamorphic widescreen content though.

How can u fix letter box, non anamorphic with no loss of PQ?

Never said no loss of PQ?

But you can correct by using the vertical zoom in x1 mode and the DVB-318 does a cleaner job of correcting than my TV's Zoom mode ever did with a 480p signal (the TV Zoom mode on my TV is disabled with a 1080i input so I can't do a direct compare).

Is it as good as RP-91 does in 480P?

Don't know. Never owned an RP-91. It's better than the RP-82 at 480p and using the TV to correct. That's about the closest comparison I can personally give.

I don't think I ever said "fix 4:3 content with zoom feature", I did say zoom feature as a workaround.