Upgrading Philips DVD 963 SA

Don't know if anyone's watching this thread anymore, but here goes.

I have an EVS-modded 963sa.

I installed it on a switched outlet and would turn it on via the switch. The IEC cord always had a loose fit and had to be pressed hard to make contact, and would make a crackling noise when inserted.

It worked fine for years, but at some point turning the switch on no longer turned the player on consistently. At first it was coming on 75% of the time, then 50% then 25%, then zip.

Contacted Rick at EVS and he said it's mostly the switching power supply, and the only way to get them is out of a working unit.

So, does anyone know if it's possible to buy just the PS from somewhere? Or any other suggestions on how I should proceed?

BTW, the machine + mods cost me around $1100.

get yourself the cheaper second hand DVD763 SA. PSU board is exactly the same as in DVD963 SA...
 
The only problems I've seen with the DVD963SA are with the power supply and having replaced the original capacitors and done some other mods on that board they are solid machines. The laser can be a fit fussy with very badly scratched / dirty discs.

Well, I had 3 of these players, which were all crappy. And talked to the guys at "Van Medevoort", who adviced against any mods, because you would not be able to enjoy them for long anyway....

The PSU is crap, but the transport is even worse. It's my only player that acutally stops working during winter or summer, because it's then under 15 or over 25 drg C, and it won't load CD's. (DVD's will keep working). Putting more or less load on the top plate will help. Shaking the whole player will help as well.
 
Well, even tough I think the transport is crappy, i did do some mods on my 963sa. It was a player already modded by Art-Speak. (at least that is what the seller told me). They added loads of bitumen, changed 3 caps, removed the label of some others (why???), and placed non-conductive sleeving over all ribbon cables (to make it look pretty?). Last they glued the 24MHz x-tal. All toghether is sounds a bit better than the stock player.

Last week I replaced the final opamp with an AD8599 low noise opamp (that one works good at "low" supply voltage). I replaced the dc-blocking elcos with Wima MKS. I removed the extra "stereo" output opamp and switch. I removed the opamps for the SCART interface, and the whole SCART board. Last I removed the Progressive Scan board.

The result was impressive!! The sound is no longer thin, but very smooth. Detail was kept at an high level, and the bass improved alot.

Because I read the power supply was not very good (switched) the next step was to make a new symmetric power supply. I made one using two LM329s as a shunt (with random PNP/NPN power transistors) and about 1000uF of elco's. I did the same for the 5VA (analogue power for the DAC), but used a normal zener. The new supply is for the opamps and the 5VA.

The result is mixed... the bass improved alot, but the treble is a bit muted, it sounds a bit dull. Soundstage is worse than before :(

What could be the problem?
 
why do you need the firmware? And how do you want to load the firmware is the laser is broken? Flashing went via CD-Rom.

By the way, second hand value of a DVD763SA is about 30 euros in perfect condition, so why the trouble?

The laser is ordered, an xbox laserhead fits, it is the same mechanic and costs just 11 euros, then I flash, I do this because I have the first version and have faults witj chapters.

Yes I now she are cheap.
 
Some update about the player dvd763sa it is in the software, de dvd reads data in memory and decode there, I did stop the disk for a momente and dicover that it happens in the firmware, software who decodes mpeg video, so firmware is needed and I cant find it.

the new laser is from a xbox game player, costs 11 euros and plays flawlessy, it is a toshiba laser.

http://www.ebay.nl/itm/310260549421...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_3358wt_1139

Now I play a movie with verbatim, these plays total errorfree, a laurel and hardy movie, original also get,s the hickups, the other hardy movies who are from the same producer plays without error, I also saw that player when fault jumps to the next chapter.

see movie here what it does. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UekWNURF5DY

I have read somewhere that er was a fault in this firmware about chapter problems.

so nieuw firmware is needed.
 
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An update about the dvd763sa the problem of skipping and hanging are over.

A little print underneath the lasertransport motor was fallen of his place the bold was loose.

this print has a little ic who act as a feedback trough a magnet, it reacts on magnetic field.

I have put it back and new bold, after that there is no skipping anymore ocurred, there was soldered on the little print so I think it was defected en replaced, for people who has this also remove unit and look at it bij the little motor.

the software assumed that there is a signal also from that lasertransport motor who he not get, and so that can be the reason of crash of player.

Now I can listen to it, but until now the sound is very hars, it has nothing whatsoever of quality of my NAD HDCD player who has all burr brown ic,s.
 
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Now I can listen to it, but until now the sound is very hars, it has nothing whatsoever of quality of my NAD HDCD player who has all burr brown ic,s.

Who told you it would better the NAD?

The 763 doesn't have the audio qualities of the 963. It lacks a decent stereo DAC chip (uses the 8channel CS4362 with THD of -100dB), it lacks the upsampeling (which really helps to limit jitter), it lacks the decent quality opamps by Analog Devices.

To improve it you could do the following things:
replace opamp 7300 with something low noise (AD8620 for example)
remove 7325 / 7327 (they mute the output when no sound should be heard)
replace 2305 / 2310 with foil type capacitor of at least 2.2uF (Wima MKS for example, or better)

and remember to use the Front L/R outputs, not the Stereo L/R!
 
The phillips is died after a glas of water in the supply, what I did on purpose. now it is with old iron recycler.

well.... nothing lost there, but some time.

if you want to try the 963 for the nice audio quality: remember that it has the same horrible transport and under dimensioned PSU. Only the stereo output stage is different, and it has a Progressive Scan board.
 
I have buy one from blokker 24.90 euro but it,s quality of picture, wauw a vcr is better.
but audio is suprisely good, I think there is only one chip haha, incl psu..

I bring it back. I go use my NAD hdcd who has far better electronics, and the supply I have changed because it was also underdimensioned. now it works fine, maybe some time later i buy a sacd player but then only for audio, is moste of the time better.
 
I have bought a phillips player/recorder, this one reads dvd, very good, even if I lick them.
is it the dvdr 3480, has 24 bit da to ad and 24 bit ad to da convertors and th output opamp is the LM 833, there are elco,s in the output path, I think this is a fine player to upgrade. picture quality is very good, but sometimes it jumps a couple of frames, this I see with all phillips, maybe my lcd tv do this.

The sound is a lot better then the 963 for shure.

30 euros I dit give for it.
 
The sound is a lot better then the 963 for shure.

Then your 963 was broken, because there's no way that a low-end DVD-recorder with ultra-low-end opamps can beat the top-of-the-line Analog Devices DAC with very decent components around it.

And I would not spend time in "modding" that DVD recorder, because it has a low-end dac chip, and therefore will never sound especially good.
 
Then your 963 was broken, because there's no way that a low-end DVD-recorder with ultra-low-end opamps can beat the top-of-the-line Analog Devices DAC with very decent components around it.

And I would not spend time in "modding" that DVD recorder, because it has a low-end dac chip, and therefore will never sound especially good.

I did make a mistake, I did mean the 763 not the 963.

I dod not mod the dvd, I watch only movies with it, I use the NAD 541i hdcd who sounds good after supply mods for music, for movies the recorder is fine, it has very good picture, but it has some little speed concerns when play high bitrate movies.

If I find a 963 the maybe I buy it for playing with it but first working on my ampdesigns
 
I came trough a denon sacd player for 50 euro, dvd-1930 this just for its picture quality what is very high but sound I don,t now.
 

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