DV29 Firmware Upgrade – My Journey from Hell

[Greggles]

Has anyone ever tried carrying a DVD player (boxed) on a several trains/ tubes across London during rush hour? Wouldn’t recommend it! “Why would anyone do such a stupid thing?” I hear you ask. Well it all started with Crusty’s recent post re Firmware upgrades. I rang Arcam and asked how I go about upgrading my DV29. “You will have to contact you dealer” came the reply – which I did. They told me to bring the player in. I said that, due to the distance involved, I’d rather they emailed me the files so I could do it myself. “Can’t do that” they said“ if it goes wrong it will have to go back to Arcam to be reprogrammed”– at some considerable cost to me.

At this point I asked Crusty if he would be kind enough to send me the files concerned; which he did (thanks again) but the words of my dealer worried me. I wondered what could possibly go wrong with sticking a CD ROM in the player which automatically upgraded itself? I rang them again, and they reiterated that they (and Arcam) strongly recommended that such upgrades were undertaken by dealers. They also said that they have first hand knowledge of people trying it themselves and getting “seriously unstuck”.

Anyway, in the end, I chickened out and decided to follow the dealer’s advice. Hence my journey from hell this morning and undoubtedly a similar one back this evening (I think I will be leaving early). Why do Arcam make the process so difficult? With my old Meridian 596, I simply downloaded upgrades from their website and bingo.

Moan over!

[MarkE19]

So you were that guy on C2C this morning tripping up all us half asleep commuters

I did carry my DV29 home on the train when I bought it, but this was on a Saturday with the football crouds rather than during rush hour. I know which grou[p I would rather encounter with over a grands worth of DVD player to try and protect
As for upgrading the firmware, well I also got a previous version from Crustyloafer and burnt a CD. Put it in the tray and just let it do its thing. Absolutely no problems, and TBH other than a power cut half way through I can't see what could go wrong.

So I know how all my updates will be done, but at the end of the day these are done at your own risk!

Mark.

[Matt Horne]

I have been updating my dv88+ for 4 years.. both software and firmware version.. never had a problem..

My life would be much more complicated without CrustyLoafers help......

[Greggles]

Yes Mark, that was me with my wash bag on the Upminster train.

The story continues - I went to the dealer during my lunch hour (and a half), only to find that he had an old version of the Firmware (4.18) and would have to contact Arcam.
Next time I'll do it myself.

On the positive side, he did have a CD36 on demo - Fantastic - I must have one. When I bought the DV29 I convinced (deluded) myself that is was nearly as good as the CD33 for music. With the CD36 this is no longer an option. Dear Mr Bank Manager.......

[NicolasB]

The last time I looked into this, the only ways you could really mess up an Arcam player with a firmware upgrade is if it lost power in the middle of the upgrade, or if you tried to eject the disk half-way through. I always used to ban anyone in the house from switching any mains-powered electrical device on or off for five minutes, just in case the circuit-breaker got "ideas".

Of course things may have changed since then. I don't know if possibly one could mess it up by using a scratched/corrupt disc, and the player doesn't realise it's scratched until it's already erased the old firmware....

[mjn]

Originally Posted by Greggles

Has anyone ever tried carrying a DVD player (boxed) on a several trains/ tubes across London during rush hour? Wouldn’t recommend it! “Why would anyone do such a stupid thing?” I hear you ask.

Pah....trying buying your DV89 in a different country, which requires, planes, trains and automobiles to complete your journey!

[LFCRules]

Maybe I shouldn't say this , but I had to upgrade my DV29 software today. I had to ride my bicycle a whole 6 to 8 mins to my local Audio-T to pick up the upgrade on a CD (wind was in my face getting there!). Brought it home, upgraded the DV29, and had to ride back to the shop to drop off the CD again. It was a real challenge!

[Greggles]

Hopefully I will be picking up my newly upgraded DV29 today.

Qustion to our friends at Arcam: Surely there is a far higher chance of damaging equipment by transporting it back and forth to a dealer in order to get an upgrade, than the minimal chance of something going wrong by doing it oneself?

[LFCRules]

Also, given it has an RS232 port on the back, the same as the AVR300, why can't the DV29 have its software updated like the AVR300 over a simple null cable. Would have made my "short" trip to the dealer redundant