Another kick in the groin for Pioneer 563A owners

- turn on the player
- on the remote press: Home Menu
- Choose INITIAL SETTINGS
- press: ENTER
- highlight: OPTIONS
- press: DISPLAY
- the lower part of the screen will show the version number.

That will sort out the firmware version.
BUT - it is not the disc.
I went down to Richer Sounds yesterday, and checked out a Cambridge Audio Azur 540D DVD-A player, and the disc works perfectly.
It also works perfectly on a $50 piece of software. What gets me is Pioneers Attitude - it is, Quote, "not their player at fault as the 565 has no faults".
Yet in the next breath he tells me to take the disc and the player to be "repaired".

All I can hope for is that the first swapover was for a machine without the firmware update.
I have another 565 coming today, and if that will not play the disc, the player is history and I get the Cambridge Audio.
I need a player that will actually play DVD-A, not only some of them.

Personally, I think it is a combination of things at fault.
A/. The player's firmware is strict 100% "to spec".
B/. The damned disc, like so many Warner releases, is out of spec.

But until Pioneer admit there is a problem with the player it will not get solved.
Geffen Records are no help either.
Theiir wonderful advice is to "take the disc back".

 

Latest.
Pioneer have finally managed to get a player with the 1.906 ROM version, and the Who disc now plays.
Albeit very badly on disc 2 in the video interview. So glitchy, but that looks like an authoring problem to me.

However, thanks to the help from here and Quadraphonic Quad Forums - the issue is solved.
My grateful thanks to those who helped me with this one.
Without the details I have been able to give from you guys, Pioneer would still no doubt be claiming there is no problem.

 

Hummm... this doesn't display any firmware version on my player. Wonder why.

Thanks anyway.

Reminds me of a local department store. You ask for an item that you know doesn't exist and they tell you they've run out of it.

I have a few DVD-Audios and most of them do not have direct access to the video section from the DVD-Audio one.

I am glad the new player is at least playing your "Tommy" disc.

I must point out, though, that I do not remember having problems with disc 2 on mine.

 

With the firmware display - it is the "display" button on the remote that has to be pressed when the options is lighted. You don't need to go into the options, just scroll down to it & hit "display" on the player remote.

Point 2 - I like the analogy. Good call!

Final point - it is clearly in the specs that VTS content shall be pointed from within the AMG. The actual quote in the book is

From section AU8-1 in the spec book:

"Every Title by each VTS in DVD-Video zone of DVD-Audio disc shall be
pointed by ATT Search Pointer Table (ATT_SRPT) in Audio Manager (AMG)."

Which seems pretty clear to me.
Queens "Night at the opera" is a fine example of how it should be done.
There are limitations on the Video_TS for DVD-A, but they must be linked or you are out of spec. You cannot just bang any old video_TS ontoo the disc and call it DVD-Audio.
Warners are the worst offenders for this.

I have also noticed glitches in the MLP audio on disc 1.
If I select a track from the tracklist, instead of playing through from the beginning, it glitches badly. And the more I swap around and play different tracks, the worse it gets too. But only on this disc. The MLP on all my others is flawless. May be a poorly replicated disc, knowing my luck!!

All that aside, I think the Multichannel versions are really well done. The clarity achieved is top rate, and the whole bass sound is so much more detailed and open, especially in tracks like Pinball Wizard. Just going from A/B on the stereo/Surround versions the difference really is apparent. The stereo seems almost awash with reverb and the vocal is so loud as to be almost distorted in See Me, Feel Me.

When you remember that the drums are actually all on a single track, IE in mono, the remix is a top piece of work, and glitches aside it is a great disc.
Very glad I bought it, and also happy the Pioneer works again now.

I'm gonna get a second player in the next couple of weeks, as I author DVD-A for a living. A second test machine seems like a really good idea, and right now the Cambridge Audio Azur 540D looks good.

What second player would you recommend, and why?

Again - thank you so much for your help. It has been invaluable.