Page 1 of Medion MD40814 Divx Player - NEW FIRMWARE AT LAST!!!!

Hello all,

Just been searching for firmware updates for the MD40814 (the one that was £50 at Amazon) as I have done every month since May..... and.... Hoorah!! found one!!!

Released just over a week ago, Its available at http://www.medion.de in the updates section- just input the model number in the search box.

Ran the text through Babelfish to see if it gave any info on whats been changed but had no joy; just lots of warnings about doing the update right. There are two flavours of the firmware available and should be used according to the serial number of your machine.

Heres the rub though..... I haven`t tried it as currently my player is both region & macrovision free and I have no clue as to whether this update would change that (REALLY don`t want to loose the macrovision free).
I thought of emailing Medion for further info though not sure its worth it as last time I tried to contact them I heard nothing back.

So is anyone else less cowardly than me??? Willing to give this update a try or can provide any more info on it.....

Look forward to any responses... knowing all on here are a friendly & helpful bunch.

Regards

Back with an update.....

I also posted this message on http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=4215&Search=Search&#comments and have had a response. It would seem that the new firmware sets the region code at 2 and from searching the web there doesn`t appear to be a remote hack to change this. Thus, if multi region is important to you, don`t update your firmware for the moment.

I decided to email Medion UK about this matter and await a response... It seems odd to me that Amazon.co.uk can sell this player region free and yet Medion seem unable to provide firmware updates that are too.... They can`t even provide a handset code though they don`t deny there is one (or so I have read on other forums). Does anyone know why this might be???

Regards

Bob.C

Quote:
Does anyone know why this might be???
Because, officially, manufacturers are SUPPOSED to back the Region coding!

Initially it was termed illegal to change the Region, and supposedly in breach of copyright, but then they realised everyone knew that was twaddle.

If a manufacturer didn`t appear to show they supported Region coding, then I`m pretty sure they`d get hit with penalties from the powers that be, or at least wouldn`t get the required info to build their players.
Macrovision, however, is a different thing entirely, and if anyone reverse engineers macro (on player, recorder or just transferring between), then that is a breach and is actually illegal.

HTH :)
Jimbo : oÞ

Firstly, thanks Jimbo for the response... I knew about the macrovision thing but the position on multi-region players seemed less clear to me. Just odd that manufacturers sell players region locked through some re-sellers yet others sell unmodded multiregion versions of the same machine.

Now the update...... I`m guessing that not many of you own one of these Divx players and went more sensibly for the Yamada DVX6600 (n.b.- you seen the DVX6700 that is coming next month - sounds v good).
However, for those that do ---- I have now mailed Medion three times requesting info on the firmware update and had no response!!! Terrible customer support it would seem. I could understand if they just responded telling me that they aren`t allowed to provide info on hacks, but to say nothing is just poor!!

I have also trawled the net for hours looking for a hack and come up with nothing. I have even tried all known Medion remote hacks for other players and no joy. Going along the lines that it may be a generic Divx player with a Medion badge I have also tried hacks for various other brands of Divx player......And guess what..... Nada....

So my search hits a brick wall and unless Medion suddenly decide I am worthy of their help, it looks like firmware updates will be out of bounds. I dont want to rule out playing half of my DVD collection that is region 1.
Needless to say a lesson has been learned- the next time I decide to get a new player, I shall pass Medion by in favour of Yamada; who seem to show good support to their customers.

Rant over :)

ttfn

Bob.C :D

Quote:
you seen the DVX6700 that is coming next month - sounds v good

Looks like the dogs wotsits!

Its a pitty the 6600 isnt macro off, cant use it on my tv/video combo and is pretty much only used for divx films... ah well.......

====================================

About now im having amnesia and deja vu. I think Ive forgotten this before :D

The Latest Developments In The Firmware Chase:-

Hello again, just thought I would bob back in with an update.... I finally got a reply from Medion so may be they are not that bad after all. Here is the main body of it...

Thank you for your message. I apologise for the slow response and thank
you for your patience. We currently have a backlog of technical queries
and are dealing with them in strict date order.

Amazon made this player region free, when they leave us they are region
2. You would need to contact them about any problems you have with
this.

I hope this information is helpful to you but please feel free to
contact us again if problems persist or if you have further concerns or
questions.

Regards,

So it would seem that on the face of it Medion strictly adhere to the Region Code thingy... however, I am sure it wasn`t guess work on Amazon`s part which allowed them to unlock the player. So I figure a handset hack must be available. Thus I have sent this to Amazon:-

Dear Sir/Madam,
Back in May I purchased the Medion MD40814 Multi Region Divx player from you. I have been most pleased with the product up to now & it has proved a bargain.

Recently Medion have posted a firmware update on their website to make the player more stable and compatible which I thought was excellent news. However, posts on line quickly revealed that the update removed the Multiregion functionality.

I contacted Medion to see if they would release a version of the update that would retain the Multi region functionality of the player, stating that I bought it from Amazon as Multiregion and wish to do the update but keep this feature. Here is the response I received:-

blah blah blah (insert letter from above)
Thus, I was wondering if you could send me instructions on how to make the player to multi region once again, whether it be though a remote handset code or a specific revision of firmware that Medion exclusively provided to Amazon.
Up to now I have been tearing my hair out :-) trying to search for a solution, until Medion pointed me back to yourselves. I hope against hope that you can finally solve this issue for me.

Thankyou so much in advance, and I look forward to your reply.

yours sincerely,


I kept the tone slighty grovelling in the hope it would help :-) So now I wait with baited breath for the response..... though I have to say I don`t hold out much hope.

I shall keep y`all posted.

Regards,

Bob.C

I wish I could add a solution but sadly I`m in the same boat (I found this forum whilst trawling the `net trying to find the reelvant hack myself) :(

Just wanted to say "Thanks" Bob C, for your efforts so far. I look forward to reading Amazon`s reply.

One other question though, does anyone know what the benefits are with the firmware update (for those of us who can live with out Region Free)? eg whether it supports XVID 1.00 now?

Cheers,

Bob Arctor

:)

Well, I took the plunge and applied the firmware update and now alas, as others have already confirmed, my player is now Region 2 and Macrovision enabled. I am still relatively happy though, as the main reason I bought it was for the DivX capabilities (I already have region free & no macrovision via PC TV-out) and the upgrade has solved quite a few problem disks. Other points of note are that the counter is no longer "on" by default and the divx subtitle font is a "little" more legible (larger & rounder) still a sickly yellow colour but mustn`t grumble. Also the "subtitle" button actually selects the DivX subtitles rather the rather confusing "angle" button before. Now I just have to wait until somebody (Bob C?) finds the relevant hack for region free & macrovision. Hope this helps.

Hello All,

Apologies for the delay in an update but to be honest there has been little movement on either Amazon`s or Medion`s part.

After over a week of nothing from Amazon, I decided to send the e-mail again with a note added informing them of my disappointment at hearing nothing. I promptly got a reply which read as follows.... (Couldn`t highlight in blue as Firefox doesn`t support it).

---

I apologise for the delay in responding to your e-mail message.
Please be assured that all of us here are working very hard to provide
a thorough, personal reply to each of our customers as quickly as
possible.

I want to inform you that if you plan to watch non-UK discs (i.e.,
non-region 2) on an old television they may not play in colour. This
is because UK televisions output a PAL signal and other countries
output an NTSC or some other signal on the basis of their region.
Without getting too technical it`s all down to the signal frequency
and the amount of frames per second each standard plays--PAL and NTSC
or other signals run at different rates. This isn`t an issue with new
televisions as most of these are "multi-standard" and are capable of
displaying both PAL and NTSC signals in colour. Please know that it
is clearly mentioned on the website.

If you`re unsure about whether your television will output an NTSC
signal in colour, our recommendation is that you purchase a DVD
player such as the "Medion MD40814 DivX Multi-region DVD player" that
can convert an NTSC signal to what is known as Pseudo-PAL or PAL60.
This basically converts an NTSC signal into a modified PAL signal--
although it won`t work on all televisions. If your television has
multiple video input connections, you may find that NTSC is only
possible from one video input-- consult your television manual for
more information on this.

Furthermore if you wish to return the item back to us for a refund.
Please make sure that you complete the "Reason for Return" section on
the back of the packing slip. If you are returning an item because of
an error on our part or because it is defective, please clearly state
the specific reason why you have had to return the item, or what the
fault with it is. We will be happy to refund the delivery charges
incurred in sending the item to you and your costs in returning it to
us. Otherwise, you will be responsible for those charges and the
costs of any other services provided to you in connection with your
purchase, for example giftwrapping.

---

So it would seem that the helpful person who received my e-mail hadn`t understood a word of what I was saying... At least they tried & ran it through an auto reply service :-).

At this point I almost gave up...... But then didn`t; instead sending a grovelling e-mail to Medion in the hope that with some further research or by contacting the German HQ, they may come up with something...

Here is the response:-

---

Dear Sir,

As I tried to make clear in the last mail, we really, genuinely
honestly, cross my heart and hope to die don`t have any codes for this.


When the machines left us they were region 2. When they left Amazon
they were multi-region. The only people who can help you are Amazon.

Regards,

---

So, still no joy, though it did provide a smile at the desperate tone of "leave us alone" coming from Medion UK. I am becoming a bit of an annoyance for them I think with my begging mail so I can understand it.

Now, by this point I have invested some time and a fair amount of impatience in this matter so I cannot give up..... Result = Another letter to Amazon, clarifying what it is I wish to know.... Highlighting the fact that on their website it states that the player has been "Modified" to be Multi-Region. Therefore someone must know what the procedure is (Arghhhhhhh!!!!!).

Response to date =

---

Dear Customer

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk with your question.

We will need to research this a bit further and will write again soon
with an answer.

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.co.uk.


Warmest regards

---

And that takes us up to last Wednesday..... So I await with as much anticipation as I have about whether Christmas will be white. But you never know.....

Before I go, just wanted to say thanks Bob Arctor for posting what you have found out about the new firmware. I think in the end I will just have to go down your path and put up with Region 2 and Macrovision as a trade off against increased compatibility.

Regards to anyone who is reading,

Bob.C

Thanks Bob. My pleasure.

A couple of other points on the subtitles, although slightly larger, they are a bit "squished" now. ie. there are no spaces at all between the letters in the words. In most cases this is fine but in the word "illicit" for instance the first four letters would be almost a single black block. Also it appears that you don`t actually have to select the DivX subtitles at all now, the machine auto-detects and displays them, which is nice.

I`ll be curious to read Amazon`s next reply. Depending on what they say, it might be worth directing them to their own website where they have a page dedicated to making Philips machines multi-region. If the following link doesn`t work, search Amazon for the Philips DVP 630 and follow the link from there.

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/548873/ref=ed_qpe_dp_1_1/026-6147761-3558800

Surely if they can do this for Philips machines, they shouldn`t have a problem with our Humble Medions?

Good luck!

Bob Arctor
:)

This item was edited on Wednesday, 1st December 2004, 17:27