Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 488

Yes it will be easier. Just put all cross oversetting to the maximum. You want the D2 to decide what the cross over setting will be.

I am using a DaLite Tensioned Cosmopolitan Electrol screen. There is a good difference in sound between screen up or down. To optimize the setup I make two set of measurements one for movie with the screen down and one for music with the screen up.

Eric,
First of all I'm glad that Piero was able to get you going again!

Yes, I suspect there was an interaction between the old RS driver and the new Keyspan driver which then left the Anthem in a bad state. Re-installing the driver probably cured the root problem, but you still needed the Flash Eraser to un-wedge the Anthem.

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Installing ARC V1.2.2 is not hard. Download the ARC V1.2.2 install kit from the Anthem site. Unzip it to extract the folder. Open up the folder(s) and find the Setup.exe program inside there.

Now find your original ARC V1.0 install CD and insert it. Open it up and look for 2 files that have names which are mostly numbers. You will see that the names are made up of the serial number of your D2 and the serial number or your ARC mic. Copy those 2 files from the original ARC V1.0 install CD into the folder that contains the Setup.exe program for the ARC V1.2.2 install. Those 2 files are your ARC license specific to your D2 and the unique calibration data for your ARC mic.

You can eject the ARC V1.0 install CD now, you are done with it for the moment.

Now run the Setup.exe progam in the ARC V1.2.2 install kit. The V1.2.2 installer will delete any older version of ARC you happen to have previously installed.

Although the installer doesn't insist upon it, my recommendation is that you always reboot Windows after installing anything just to be sure every part of the install "takes effect".

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Read section 3.15 of the updated D2 V1.3x Operating Manual. Generally you should start by getting any internal EQ in your subwoofer out of the way -- disabling its internal cross overs being the most important thing. Let the D2 and ARC do all the work. However, if your subwoofer has an intelligent EQ system you may find, in your specific setup, that using a combo of what the sub offers and what ARC offers works best.

Start with just ARC. If that is giving you good results, then you are done. There's no need to futz with extra stuff that might be in the sub unless you are trying to correct some flaw in what ARC produces on its own.
--Bob

What does ARC's "Measured" Curve really represent?

I've been wondering for some time just what the Measured curve in the ARC charts actually represents, since obviously Anthem is not showing the individual measurements from all the various mic positions.

I just got around to asking Nick at Anthem. The answer is:

"It is an unweighted average of all the mic position measurements for that speaker."

That means that:

1) It is not likely to match precisely any measurement you might take with some other audio calibration tool at any single mic position (even if the mic for that other tool is well calibrated), and

2) The impact of room response shown in the measured curve will vary according to how the room response at the various listening positions combines to increase or decrease this average. I.e., if you have a significant null for some frequency at 3 of 5 mic positions it will show up more in the curve than if it only exists at 1 or 2 of those positions (assuming the same amount of "dip" at that frequency), and

3) If you raise the number of mic positions used during Measurement the normal result would be the curve would smooth out a bit just due to the way averages work. This is not the same as saying ARC has less work to do to correct for your room.

The bottom line is the Measured curve should be taken as an indication of what ARC is trying to correct as opposed to some specific measurement you could compare to other tools.

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ETA: ARC will complain if the measurements at the various listening positions differ so much that it can't do its job. If ARC isn't complaining, then you can feel confident that ARC thinks it has a good solution for you. Comparing the Calculated curves to the Target curves is just a double check on that. If ARC *IS* complaining, the usual fix is to reposition some of the speakers a bit (most often the subwoofer).
--Bob

I just had to buy a "new" computer to replace the laptop I use for the Anthem upgrades (among other less important things). I limited my search to laptops with a serial port. It didn't really limit the search so much as make it easier by limiting the choices. I settled on an use Dell D810., although the newer D820 and D830 still have a serial port.

Was looking at a picture of the keyspan usb serial adapter and it looks like the serial end would have difficulty connecting to the anthem serial port. Seems it has a protruding plastic casing. Since everyone who has one says it works I guess I'll have to order one and assume it will fit ok.
John

Do not connect the Keyspan directly to the Anthem.

Get a regular RS-232 serial cable (a "straight through" cable -- pins 1-9 connect to pins 1-9) and connect that to the Anthem. The Keyspan plugs into the USB port of your computer and connects to the other end of that cable. You can leave the cable permanently attached to your Anthem, coiled up back there when not in use.
--Bob

So what is the word on the release from Anthem? Anyone got a clue?

If Anthem made an announcement today, I can't find it.

My tipster will get no tip.
--Bob

I think Bob was just praticing for april fools day for next year

We all remember this year's April Fool from Bob

Hey! My story about HDMI 4.1 was from two different sources!

[OK, so they weren't in English, and both were badly edited. In the "breaking news" game you take what you can get!]
--Bob

Is a pcmcia to rs232 card for a laptop as good as having a "native" serial port? Just wondering if this avoids the driver issues some people have with usb to serial adaptors?

PCMCIA RS-232 cards also have drivers that get installed.

But that said, we've had lots of reports of people having success with these, and I don't think we've had ANY reports of people having problems.
--Bob

I use a SIIG PCMCIA card all the time with no problems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16839150016

And dont you have drivers installed for ever device in your computer?

Shiny red video processor board installed in my D2 and all is well again.

If you ever find out from Anthem what broke in your old board please post here. So far I don't think we've had any reports of installers being able to do something to ATTACHED equipment which breaks the video board -- except of course if they physically damage the HDMI sockets in the Anthem.

I wonder, for example, if your remote control system installer's equipment put a power surge or static discharge on any of the cables attached to your D2.
--Bob

Bob:

I will let you know what Anthem says after they check out the old video board.

After extensive discussions with Nick and my installer (who swears the D2 was dead before he touched the remote), it appears that my installer just happened to be the person who pushed the "on" button at the wrong time on a dying video processor.

For what it is worth, I suspect there has been something brewing with my old video board for a while. For example, my D2 has been VERY finicky about what firmware it likes (1.31 good, 1.29j no video, 1.33 borderline at best). Firmware 1.33 appears to be solid with the new processor. In addition, from time to time the old board would require a power cycle to get it working. Again, at least up until about 2:00am when I wrapped things up, it ran perfectly. Finally, the problem I noticed a while back involving overdriven sunlit scenes seems better or cured altogether (maybe this is just a placebo effect, but the picture really does look better to me)..

One thing that still is a problem is that the video processor locks up if I set my Tivo S3 on "native" and switch to certain SD programming from HD programming. However, I believe that Tivo's firmware may be the culprit here, based on reports on other web sites about describing similar issues with no D2 in the middle.

Regards,

Alan

Yes Tim and others have reported that here.

I use my TiVo on COMPONENT and always set to 1080i, NOT NATIVE.

Funny but it isn't an HDMI thing with me - I leave the Tivo on HDMI with no problem, but have to set it to 1080i to avoid occasional processor lock-ups.

If setting it to 1080i saves you --- THEN IT IS a HDMI Issue.

No, because I get the same lock-up if I switch both the Tivo and the display to component.

That should never happen.

Component is pure analog - no handshakes there.

I don't believe it is a handshake issue - I think there is something the Tivo is doing when it switches output resolutions that is messing up the D2's processor.

I agree with the first part of your statement. The TiVo
is probably screwing up when it switches resolutions.

BUT on Component - the worst thing the D2 should do
is STOP showing Video if it gets bad analog info from
the Tivo.

There is no way analog data can hang up the D2, other
than a BLANK screen.

Blank black screen with occasional white flashes that are cured only with a power down or switching inputs. There may be no way analog data can hang the D2, but it hangs the same way whether fed HDMI or component.

The D2 has to sync to the analog component video input signal and then digitize it to send it to the scaler. It is conceivable that a component video source device could send a signal that the analog video input of the D2 syncs to but the digitizer gets confused by. This might happen, for example, if an improperly formed Component video input signal changes sync rates too fast or has unusual blanking intervals.

It should not be possible to crash the video processor this way, but it is, after all, a computer.

The root problem is most likely in the Tivo.
--Bob

I agree with Dr. Bob - aka Dr. D2

Ever since the mere suggestion that ARC might be implemented in the AVM 50,
I have become obsessed with reading the thread from back in Feb. While reading these posts I decided to download the D2 manual and read the section on ARC. In the Updating ARC section, I noticed that the location of the files are now changed with the new firmware to a folder called Anthem and not Anthem Statement. Could this be to reduce the confusion when an AVM50 owner was installing ARC on their compter, ie. not wonder why the Statement was in the folder name and he didn't own a Statement(D2). Yes I am grasping at straws but it provided me with some hope in the absence of any news

John

I'm keeping an eye on the Anthem AVM-50 web site and also on the site of the PR firm they used to put out their CES press release on ARC for the D2 (Caster Communications), and nothing has shown up. If they are indeed adding ARC support for AVM-40 and AVM-50 they may only announce it direct to their dealer network for now. It took quite a while before the D2 web pages were updated after ARC for the D2 became a reality. On the other hand, it showed up on their dealer price list some weeks before the first D2's with ARC were available. Now I know we have at least one Anthem dealer posting in here.....

So?
--Bob

does the 40 and 50 have the horsepoer to handle arc? if this is the case,when is the extra chip in the D2 going to be used?