VOXSON DVDT-172 DVD Player
(Also information on the Canadian Prima 1500 at bottom of page)
The Voxson DVDT-172 is sold in Australia at present through TARGET and is really just a basic DVD player that will suit the first-time DVD player purchaser. It will do MOST things including DVD (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW not tested, please email me if you have tried), VCD, S-VCD, Audio CD and MP3 discs in CDR and CDRW format.
The Voxson DVDT-172 is sold Region 4 and Macrovision on. There is a remote control key combination to change regions which I will explain further down the page, however Macrovision is permanently coded into the firmware and cannot be easily disabled for reasons also explained further down the page. Macrovision is a form of copy protection stopping you from making copies of your DVD to VHS tape, but unfortunately it also makes the DVDT-172 incompatible with connecting through a VCR just for watching DVD discs (not copying) if your TV has no A/V inputs, and also upsets some video projectors and rear projection TV's. The effect of Macrovision is varying "pulsating" brightness. Therefore if you need to use the DVDT-172 in any of the above situations I suggest you probably do not buy this player. Macrovision is only used for DVD playback and is not enabled for SVCD or VCD playback.
The DVDT-172 background screen on the left, and a shot of an MP3 disc menu on the right. The MP3 menu system uses the more modern "Smart Navi" system found in quite a few players. It allows multiple folders (left) and up to 11 characters in the song filename (right) but it plays MP3 files OK even if the disc is made with long filenames. You can also pick a "Play Mode" of either Single (one song after the other) play, Single (one song) Repeat, Folder (play one folder after another), Folder (one folder) Repeat, Random and Shuffle play.
Inside the DVDT-172. A relatively neat layout with Power Supply on the left, main logic board to the right and a separate A/V board to the rear. The DVD-ROM drive NOT a standard IDE interface type like found in a lot of other players.
Close up of the logic board. It uses an ESS processor (the popular ES4318 - large black square chip), an 8mbit Atmel AT49F8192AT flashrom for the firmware mounted on a pcb adaptor (rectangle chip to the right of the ESS processor), and a CS4955 video processor. The circuit board also contains the DVD-ROM drive "brains" consisting of an MT1388 processor and various other support parts.
Rear view showing the range of connections. You get standard 2-channel stereo (left/right) analogue audio out, Coaxial Digital Audio out (5.1 capable), S-Video out, and TWO standard video outputs.
The remote control supplied with the DVDT-172. To be frank it is a rather bland layout and some of the keys are in "fiddly" positions. It uses two "AA" batteries.
The DVDT-172 WILL PLAY BOTH NTSC AND PAL DISCS, and will convert NTSC discs to PAL output for viewing on a PAL TV (and also if you export one of these units, convert PAL discs to NTSC for viewing on an NTSC TV if you wish!).
CHANGING REGION SETTINGS
On the DVDT-172, Region setting is NOT "hardcoded" into the firmware like many other players are. The region coding can be changed easily via the remote control. This can be done whether there is a DVD already in the tray or not. The procedure for making the player region free is:
1. Press “Setup”
2. Press 1 for region 1, 2 for 2 etc.
(7 is the bypass for all regions.)
3. Press “Pause/Step”
4. Press “Previous” |<<
5. press “Next” >>|
6. Press “Setup”
Note that the unit I tested this on WILL play an RCE protected DVD if "Region 7" (bypass) is selected.
CAN MACROVISION BE REMOVED FROM THE DVDT-172?
The short answer is NO. The long answer is YES. I will explain......
The DVDT-172 comes equipped with a flashrom which would initially indicate that the firmware is CD upgradable, or at the very least the chip can be easily manually re-programmed with modified firmware by someone with a chip programmer. Unfortunately neither is true. The firmware contains no CD upgrade commands and the firmware chip is on a "adaptor board" which does not map out to anything readily available to allow easy programming. This picture describes the firmware chip a little further:
The firmware chip is shown in the foreground and as can be seen it is a "sub board" where the smaller TSOP package chip is mounted.
Having said the above the original firmware HAS been read out of this chip and has been modified to be Macrovision removed. If you feel you have the technical know how to do the modification you can download the modified firmware HERE. Be aware that his firmware has not been tested but the person responsible for this modification has done many firmwares so I trust his expertise. But I urge you to exercise your own caution about using it.
The original (Macrovision on) firmware is available HERE.
Note: Both versions of the DVDT-172 firmware are 1 Megabyte long, unlike the Prima 1500 which is 512 Kilobytes (half a Megabyte). The Prima 1500 firmware (below) will work in the DVDT-172 if programmed onto a 27C040 type EPROM, however the front panel display will be jumbled. Remote control and front panel buttons will work OK.
LOST YOUR USER MANUAL??
You can download the Voxson DVDT-172 user's manual HERE
(PDF file, 3.8MB download)
PRIMA 1500 DVD Player
I would like to expand the Prima 1500 section of this page a little more so if anyone has anything to add please email me.
The Prima 1500 is almost identical to the Voxson DVDT-172 except that it uses different firmware on a different chip and a slightly different front panel display. Also the MP3 menu interface is not as sophisticated as the Voxson unit. The region setting remote control sequence for the Prima is the same as the Voxson as described above.
In regards to the firmware chip, the Prima 1500 uses a Winbond W29C042 (512Kbyte capacity) flashrom, however like the Voxson the firmware is not CD upgradable.
The original Prima 1500 firmware can be downloaded HERE. Many thanks to Mike Peartnoy for supplying this.
There is also a "VCR Friendly" (Macrovision off) version of the Prima 1500 firmware available HERE. Thanks to Sakman for this contribution.
Note that neither the original or modified firmware is CD upgradable.
I have studied the layout of the firmware socket in the Voxson and Prima, and I can conclude that the Voxson firmware, even though it is double the size of the Prima, should work in the Prima if it is programmed onto a 27C801 type EPROM. The front panel display will be incorrect, however the front panel buttons and remote control will work. If anyone wishes to try this and can tell me the results I would appreciate it!
WHERE TO GET MORE HELP
There is an "OTHER PLAYERS" forum section on the Apex Forums where both other Voxson DVDT-172 and Prima 1500 people have discussed issues with their players. You can browse this forum for more help, or I can answer LIMITED questions regarding both players.
