Good news...(I think)...
From John Haghighi in the 84 Owners Thread...
"Okay all, as I mentioned late last month I contacted a Pioneer engineer who handles testing for Pioneer products and updated my 74 firmware last June. He confirmed an update was coming in January, and informed me today the update was ready to be applied. Pioneer has made this available to service centers as of last week. If you require the firmware update, you must go through an authorized Pioneer service center. Your local service center should be able to get the updates, I don't have a list of which service centers have them or which have the necessary software/cables to do the update. However if it is an authorized Pioneer service center, they should have access to get what they need to perform the updates. All they need to do is follow their standard operating procedures dealing with Pioneer. With that said, I don't believe Pioneer has sent out notices yet and I don't know if they plan to do so in the near future.
The latest firmware applied to the 84TXsi consisted of two DSP updates, one through serial cable, one through optical, and one HDMI update via the proprietary interface. the 84's require removing the shell, which was not this case with last years models.
What is suppose to be fixed:
HDMI dark picture issue:
Confirmed fix
HDMI sync issues:
Confirmed fix (at least the random sync problem with the PS3 set to 1080p output is not there anymore, others wil have to test)
LFE issue:
Inconclusive. I have not been able to do adequate testing to determine if it is fixed as I am limited to the PS3 and 79avi with LPCM HDMI output.
Basically, there is not a menu option to select the LFE boost as I thought there would be, rather the same combintation of Video Select + the Power button gives the +10db SW boost. I was told that this now covers analog, firewire, and HDMI. I cannot confirm that the fix is working as described just yet. If anyone has some test suggestions let me know and I will give it a run.
The firmware update for the LFE required two updates, one through the optical input, and one through the Serial input. This is the firmware revisions I ended up with when all was done:
M1.002 F0.503
D1.003 H1.005
Host 28
f1.004 s1.001
On another note, I brought down the 79avi to confirm with Pioneer that the 480i via HDMI does not get upconverted. It's funcitioning as specified, and the chart I was shown was similar to what Monty posted months ago, no 480i HDMI upconversion "." I did ask if this could be changed, and the engineer is going to ask home base in Japan, but he indicated it may be a hardware limitation, so don't plan on this happening. It's basically a feature request that may not be possible.
I also brought up the firmware update procedures and how it would be beneficial to make this available online for customers to do through a USB or serial port. Unfortunately Pioneer has not done this yet, and there is no indication that it will happen with future products. In fact this years model requires opening the unit for the HDMI update, which is a step backwards from a technicians stand point. I think the Pioneer technicians would love to see this happen as well, it would save time and money, but then again risks to damaging the unit are inevitable. There are stories of authorized service technicians needing to replace ICs because the firmware update failed, likely due to user error as there hasn't been an HDMI harware update (power failure, cable disconnect). Whatever the case let's hope it changes in the future, because there is no way it will happen with the current design. Write to Pioneer and tell them you want to be able to udpate firmware.
Attached are some pictures from the update, some pictures of the flash in progress, internals, and one with the 79Avi in test mode."
