Anthem D2/D2v/AVM50/AVM50v/ARC1 tweaking guide - Page 1229

Followed the same instructions on using the Data Analyzer program he recommended and it simply refused to work. I hope they perform a quick turn around of less than 4 days.

BTW, is the 3-D board 4K compatible?

Sorry to hear mate. Yep wasted a whole day with this, very frustrating and pissed off. No idea when I can take the morning off to be home for the courier and they make their own times as well. Around the Anthem Merry go Round we go .

Yikes. Sorry guys.

I had planned to install the latest version today to see if the HDMI Audio issue (with my Dune Prime) was solved - all the other recent beta releases did not work for me.

I guess I will stick with what I have.

Anthem is looking into having me re-program the motheboardr myself using a dongle like this http://www.kanda.com/products/Kanda/AVRISP-U.html. I'm ok with it. Will keep you posted...


Its been pulled from the website so you are safe. Unfortunately, its things like this that makes folks to shy away from beta testing their firmware. It wouldn't be so bad if one could easiliy uninstall the buggy FW. I remember the days of yore when all you had to do to reset your motherboard's bios was to short the pins of its EEPROMs or simply move a jumper to reset the bios.

I don't think 2.14d is buggy in of itself but the process of programming the FW using (Windows machines?) RS232-USB converters is still somewhat buggy. When it fails, you really in for a bad day!

I remember those computer days and shorting the pins with fondness

BTW, with 2.14b I didn't get any pink flashing from the setup menu or changing sources. This is with the new HDMI 3D passthrough.
John

You must be BLESSED is all i can say!

Would you know if the new 3D board is 4K compatible?

This new HDMI board simply allows pass through so whatever is sent can go through unprocessed. So I don't know what happens if sent a 4K signal, but it seems nothing would happen and the signal would go through untouched. Perhaps Bob or Nick have a different explanation.
John

Wow, sorry to hear about the bricked units. Nothing worse with electronics then when they fail; particularly, because of a firmware update that's suppose to make them perform better. Hope you all get your units back pronto.

I did update to 2.14d and it went okay. Is 2.14d then okay to run? Nontheless, I'm to nervous to even entertain the idea of downgrading or upgrading now. Beta or not, firmware updates are always suspect to failure. At any point, the power could go out or your computer could crash. It's no different than errors causing computer crashes or programs not to respond. Can't Anthem make it so that a backup FW is always resident in the D2v. This way, a sequence of actions could allow the D2v to boot up with the backup firmware so that at least the unit will restore to working condition should a failure occur when upgrading.

Anybody have any ideas on this problem for me though not related to the D2v.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1409053

Thanks.

I believe 2.14d is ok to run once successfully loaded. Others, like oyu are running it fine! Your video blinking problem i get on component video from my cabel box with v2.14b hence my eagerness to change to 2.14d.

If already installed, no need to worry.
John

Tried it ... Still no joy

I'm happy to use this method as well but I'm in Australia so I wonder if I can purchase this locally rather than waiting for it to be shipped. Will do some searching on the net. Much prefer this solution than boxing the unit up and going through the whole courier thing.

Thanks Nick for this idea.

*Update* Think I will just purchase this from Kanda and save myself some time and effort finding a similar local version. Safer to purchase one recommended by Nick. $91 including express shipping to Australia.

I don't have any 4K Sources to try it with, but I'd be surprised if 4K works.

The problem is that the HDMI is never truly "pass through" in an AVR or pre-pro as if the AVR were just some sort of passive switch. The HDMI video needs to be recognized so that the audio can be extracted from it. (HDMI audio is embedded in the blanking intervals of HDMI video).

And I don't think the circuits that do that are capable of handling a 4K HDMI signal. I.e., the Anthem will likely tell the Source that it can only accept up to 1920x1080p 36-bit (plus 3D) -- even when set to use "pass through" for the video.

As I said, since I can't test it, I can't be sure, but I don't think it likely.
--Bob

That makes sense. Thanks.
John

A little help if possible folks. Ive searched the thread without definitive answers. I'm working to get my iPad assigned to an input on my avm 50 via the Apple hdmi adapter. It is going to a Marantz 11s2. I am unable to get the Anthem to either recognize the signal &/or scale it out via the hdmi out. If I hook the iPad directly to the projector it works fine. Anyone currently doing this and have some input? I've tried nearly every source and output setting combination I think I can. Is this an Apple issue (Steve Jobs controlling my life from the grave) or an Anthem issue?

All inout is always appreciated.

Randy

So what's going on with the upgrade to 3D for the D2v and/or new D2v units with 3D capability? How long are we going to sit on beta firmware before Anthem moves forward with this? Also, what about pricing for the upgrade and turnaround time? Are any of you running the 3D board yet? I think you are running it right Bob? If so, can you comment on the performance?

I tested 3D on mine with the new hdmi board, and it works perfectly. Price to be around $500 and possibly dealer installed. Still waiting for QC to give the go ahead. If you have ever worked on computers swapping video cards , this would be very easy to do. Of course grounding yourself would be prudent
John

Hey Nick. If we do go ahead with the reprogramming of the motherboard ourselves, is the unit still covered under warranty if something else goes wrong?

The new ipad has a maximum resolution of 2048x1536. The ipad2 has a 1024x768 resolution. So if you have the ipad2, you should be able to display its sceen easily thru the 50v. If using the new ipad, you might want to use AUTO and if that fails then tuse the Custom Resolution Manager to program the custom horizontal and vertical pixel sizes into the 50v.

According to the apple site:


TV and Video Specdfor the new IPAD

• AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV (2nd and 3rd generation) at 720p
• AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p
• Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p with Apple Digital AV Adapter or Apple VGA Adapter (adapters sold separately)
• Video out support at 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cable sold separately)
• Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format.



TV and Video Specd for the IPAD2.

• AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV support at 720p
• Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p with Apple Digital AV Adapter or Apple VGA Adapter (adapters sold separately)
• Video out support at 576p and 480p with Apple Component AV Cable; 576i and 480i with Apple Composite AV Cable (cables sold separately)
• Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

^ He's trying to use the iPad as an HDMI Source, not an HDMI Display. Custom Resolution Manager does not apply.

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

Apple has a long history of strange HDMI implementations. Not "wrong", just "strange". I don't believe we've had any reports here of anyone using an iPad as an HDMI Source device. It used to be that the Anthem units could not handle HDMI input from the AppleTV, but that was fixed some time ago. It could be as simple as the iPad's HDMI implementation does not handle "repeater" processing -- i.e., it expects to be directly connected to a TV with no AVR in between.
--Bob

Wow, dealer installed or hopefully self installed. Yes, I have swapped dozens of video cards and build my own PC's so it should be fairly straightforward then. It would be nice if Anthem could ship those boards to us along with some instructions on the swap or send to the dealers so they can upgrade it on the spot. We shall see. Thanks for the update.

^ My information is it is definitely intended to be a dealer or distributor install -- not a return to the factory.

Doing it as a user install is probably problematic because of warranty issues if the user zaps a board with static electricity or otherwise fumbles what's really a pretty simple procedure.

A firmware install will also likely be needed after the boards are in place so that the new hardware gets properly recognized and initialized, even if you were already running the new firmware.

In many ways it will be like the "ARC Upgrade" offered to original AVM 50 owners, which included a board swap out (at the dealer) and a firmware re-install.

I want to caution that there is no solid information on the upgrade pricing yet.

Expect that the hardware will first ship as factory pre-installed in NEW units, and THEN upgrade stuff will be offered for existing units. One good reason for this is it allows the factory to do the final verification of the production hardware -- test rigs and burn in and such -- to establish a baseline for whether there is any reason to worry upgrade boards might show problems only when installed in the field.
--Bob

CRM programs the Anthem units to accept custom input resolutions, correct? If so abd the problem is an odd ball HDMI resolution from the Ipad, then why wouldn;t CRm work for him?

ubits? No, it programs the Anthem for custom output resolution.

... i meant units. Thanks for clarifying thta CRM deals with output resolutions.

Since nobody has chimed in saying they got their iPad to work, your best bet is probably to send an email to Anthem tech support to see if they have any info on using the iPad as an HDMI Source device.
--Bob

Anthem has placed a new version of the V2.14d "test" firmware on the password protected download page.

This version is identified as "V2.14d (May 5)". Often such naming means the firmware itself has not changed, but the installer application has been updated.

There's nothing in the release notes specifically addressing what's different about this "May 5" version, and I've not heard from Nick yet whether he thinks this version is OK for testers to use, or is intended for just a few people to nab to help validate the installation process.

I recommend you *NOT* install this "May 5" version until we hear more. Personally, I'm going to wait.

Stay tuned.
--Bob

I received an e-mail from Nick regarding the new version and he said Quote:

"We tried it on every "v" unit at hand, which includes every hardware version new and old, and there was no issue"

I hope Nick you don't mind me posting this as it should reassure others that you have indeed tested it thoroughly. Still take Bob's advice and only put in on if you really need to and it fixes issues on your unit.

*Update*

I borrowed my mates Keyspan adapter (Came with his 50v) and tried it with the Eraser and Data Analyzer programs and nothing changed. So I've 100% ruled out cables and I had the D2v connected to my main pc running Windows 7 Ultimate Edition. What has annoyed me with all of this is that a simple failed install (10mins into install) and the message saying "if fails press retry" and it didn't even work. How can firmware brick a D2v during an install and a failed one as well and not allow the user to use the retry function?? I just don't get it.

Never hurts to ask and to everything there's a reason. v2.14d rebuild was not intended to wake up non-communicative motherboards - only the boot loader programming I sent last night can do that.

Whenever power-on time is increased we get negative reaction to it -- consider that the 5.1-channel AVM 2 took only 2-3 seconds to power on with the slower processor of its day -- and building in a user reset would increase it even more, but in light of these last two incidents we're considering it.

As an alpha tester as well as beta I completely understand how inconvenient it has been since Friday, and we're doing everything we can to get your and dmusoke's units running again as quickly as possible (the Australian distributor is also standing by), but imagine how many times software has been loaded into an AVM/D relative to how often it has crashed. The "which problem are we trying to fix" question is always part of the picture and I know of only one other time that this sort of thing has happened in all AVM/D beta testing.

ETA: That e-mail also mentioned a zip attachment containing motherboard code and installation instructions using the Kanda connector. If the attachment, which did not have an executable within, did not arrive let me know via e-mail. Your motherboard has to be reprogrammed before the usual software can be installed.

Thanks all on the iPad input. I think Bob's right, send the email out and if Anthem has a suggestion.

Randy