I have received yet another scanned manual, a Quick Guide, from the same guy who scanned the English manual. He has once again done a very good job scanning it and converting it to pdf format! It is available on the "Downloads" page.
I also received some pictures and information about the NorthQ front panel display from him. These can be viewed at the "HW Info" page.
I have received an English manual in pdf-format from a guy who scanned his own manual. He has done a very good job, and the result can be downloaded from the "Downloads" page.
He also sent me some pictures of the electronics in the remote control. These can be viewed on the "HW Info" page.
As you probably already know, a new firmware for the NorthQ (v2.01) has been released! Some release notes were available:
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"Instant skip"/"Instant Replay" is added. When pressing "left arrow" or "right arrow" in recordings, the NorthQ jumps 10 seconds forward/backward in the recording. |
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RGB is removed from the "Video Output" setting in the "Preferences" menu. |
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Length of timer recordings is correctly displayed in SmartNAVI. |
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Goto function in a timer recording works correctly. |
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Problems in speaker setting corrected. |
I have also noted these changes since version 2.0:
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Default value of "Angle Mark" in the "General" menu is changed from "Off" to "On". |
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Default value of "Captions" in the "General" menu is changed from "Off" to "On". |
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Default value of "Recording Mode" in the "PVR Control" menu is changed from "LP" to "SP". |
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Default value of "Timeshift Mode" in the "PVR Control" menu is changed from "SP" to "XP". |
I have also noticed that some things seems to take a bit more time to do with this version:
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The startup of the NorthQ takes longer, about 28 seconds (compared to about 17 in previous releases). |
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It takes longer to close recordings than before, about 12 seconds (this happens when you press STOP at the end of a direct recording). |
I don't know why these things takes longer now, and it is not that important anyway.
I have updated the site to reflect these changes.
One guy have also sent me a couple of more pdf-files about the IC's in the NorthQ (Thanks by the way)! I have put links to them on the "HW Info" page.
I have also found that the timer-recordings and direct-recordings does not use the same bit-rate and resolutions. See the "Quality" page for more information about this!
I have tested the NorthQ DVD-player with a Superbit DVD-Video title. The result can be seen on the "DVD compatibility" page.
Also, NorthQ has decided to remove the v2.0 firmware from their web-site. The decision to remove it was made because there may be some bugs in the defragment and repair disk functions.
I have made new mpeg-files for the "Quality" page. These are made with the 20 firmware, which actually makes recordings in the resolutions that are specified on the NorthQ web-site.
A new firmware (v2.0) has been released a couple of days ago. As usual there is no release notes, but these are the things that I have noticed:
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Recording resolution changed: XP = 720x576 SP = 720x576 LP = 544x576 SP = 352x576 I believe that these are the resolutions that were supposed to be implemented from the beginning. |
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TV channel name is displayed in the setup of timer programming. |
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"Repair Disk" and "Defragment" added in "PVR Control -> Disk Tools". |
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Goto function works in manual recordings too. |
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PBC is ON by default when playing VCD/XVCD/SVCD/XSVCD/CVD discs. |
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"Return" key mapped ("TITLE" key on remote control)! It is now possible to get back to the menu on a VCD/XVCD/SVCD/XSVCD/CVD disc. |
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In the "Setup Menu" under "Setting", "Video Output" is changed from "S-Video" and "YCbCr" to "S-Video", "YPbPr" and "RGB". |
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Some default values in the Setup Menu has been changed. |
That's about all I have found so far, which I must say is pretty good!
I have also been told that the hack used to make the NorthQ region free, also disables the Macrovision protection in the NorthQ! I have not tried this myself, so I cannot guarantee that this works.
I have also updated the "FAQ" page, the "Problems" page, the "Setup Menu" page and the "Wish-list" page a bit, to better comply with the new firmware. As soon as I get some free time, I'll update the "Quality" page too, as the information there is no longer correct.
I have received a very nice Windows utility from NorthQ called PvrDiskUtil. It is used to copy files larger than 4GB from the NorthQ hard-disk to a PC (using Win2000 or XP, and an NTFS formatted disk)! This is very good news, as it now allows us to copy really long XP-quality recordings to the PC!
Information about how to use the tool can be found on the "How do I..." page.
Some people (including me) have had problems with playing regular DVD-Videos on the NorthQ. I have received a firmware upgrade for the DVD-loader that solves these problems (at least it did for me). This is not the same type of upgrade that's normally released on the NorthQ site, this upgrade is for the firmware in the DVD-loader, not for the "main" NorthQ firmware.
If you don't have any problems with playing DVD's in your NorthQ, there is no need to use this upgrade (it is always a risk to upgrade the firmware, since it may go wrong if done incorrectly).
More information about this upgrade can be found on the "Firmware" page.
After doing some more tests with the "DVD
copy hack", it turned out that picture quality problem when playing the
copied files originated from the CSS encryption. The NorthQ does not remove the
CSS encryption from the file when it copies it from DVD to hard-disk. And since
the NorthQ does not seem to decrypt .VOB files played from the hard-disk, the
result when you play them from the hard-disk is pretty bad
.
A guy (thanks Taps!) sent me some information about how to do to make the NorthQ copy files from a DVD-Video to the hard-disk. Unfortunately I have problems when I try to play the copied files from the hard-disk, but hopefully others won't have the same problems. Check out the hack on the "Hacks" page.
Apparently, the v1.13 firmware upgrade released on the 8:th of January is NOT for the NorthQ 7200!!! So please do not try to upgrade your NorthQ 7200 (if you have one) with that firmware! I assume that this firmware is not for the NorthQ 7101 either.
NorthQ have made a Danish manual available for download on their homepage! It is available in both pdf- and word-format and covers all the NorthQ models (7000/7100/7101/7200). According to what I have heard, an English manual will also be available soon. That's great!
As far as I have been able to find, the following NorthQ models are available:
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NorthQ 7000: Delivered with 40GB hard-disk. |
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NorthQ 7100: Delivered without hard-disk. |
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NorthQ 7101: Has support for USB, delivered without hard-disk. |
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NorthQ 7200: Has support for USB, delivered with 80GB hard-disk. |
I have not yet heard about anyone that actually have received their NorthQ 7101 or 7200. I would
love to have one myself to test and see how the USB works, but I don't think
I'll buy another one, as I already have a 7100
.
If anyone buys (and receives) a NorthQ with USB support, please tell us how the USB works, preferably in the forum so everyone can read it.
A new firmware (v1.13) has been released a couple of days ago! As there were no release notes supplied, I have tried to find out what has been changed by just testing the NorthQ after the upgrade. This is what I have found that has changed to this release:
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There is a "Use USB" menu under "Tools" in the "PVR CONTROL" page in the setup menu. It is not working for NorthQ 7000/7100 ("USB not inserted!" is displayed when used in 7000/7100). So I suppose that this is implemented for the new NorthQ 7101 which is on the way, which has a USB port. This probably means that the 7000/7100 and the 7101 will all use the same firmware, which is good! |
On the "not so good" side is that for some reason,
they have changed the timer-recording resolution to 544x576. Previously the
timer-recording resolution was
720x576, which perfectly matched that of a PAL DVD-Video! This made it
relatively easy to copy a recorded MPEG-2 file from the NorthQ hard-disk to a PC
and then burn a DVD-Video of it. With the change to 544x576, you must first
convert the MPEG-2 file to 720x576 in the PC before you can burn the DVD. This
takes a lot of time and will cause loss of picture quality
. However, the
"direct" recording (when you press "REC" on the remote control) still records in
720x576!
As far as I can see, none of the problems on the "Problems" page seems to have been fixed.
Also, I seem to have missed that the default extension for timer-recording files has been changed from .ESS to .MPG in some previous firmware update.
Well, that's all the changes I have found so far, but I'll continue to use my NorthQ and see if something else turns up.
As I have not yet received permission to host the update on this site, you have to go to the NorthQ site to download the update.
I have also updated the "FAQ" page and the "Quality" page a bit.
Today I have made my NorthQ a lot more quiet! As I have been rater annoyed about the amount of noise the NorthQ makes, I have experimented with different ways of making it less noisy. After making a modification to the fan placement (the modification voids the warranty of the NorthQ), I am pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I can say that on my NorthQ the modification made a huge difference! You can view what I have done on the "Modifications" page.
I sat down with my NorthQ to find out if I could make it region free. To my surprise, it took just about five minutes to figure out how to do it! On the "Region hack" page you can read about it.
I added an "How do I..." section to the site. There I am planning to make some short instructions for the NorthQ 7000/7100, as not everything is obvious how to do on the NorthQ. The "How do I..." section is located under the "Usage" in the menu to the left.
I added a Guestbook to the site.
I found a new bug, which I have added to the "Problems" page. It seems that the "Goto"-function always adds 20% to the time entered. So if I want to go to 10 minutes into a recording and press "GOTO" and enter 00:10:00, the NorthQ ends up at 00:12:00 instead! Hopefully this will be fixed in a firmware upgrade, it should be pretty easy to fix!
I also started to write some messages into the "Forum",
hopefully someone will read/answer them
.
I have decided to start a NorthQ forum here! As the Yahoo group didn't take off, I thought that I should try a different approach. So I have set up a phpBB forum, let's see if anyone is interested in joining the discussion. You can read messages anonymously, but you have to register to write messages.
To access the forum, click at "Forum"
in the left window. Let's hope that I have everything correctly setup
.
I have updated the "Firmware" page with new instructions on how to make a firmware upgrade. According to new instructions on the NorthQ website, a couple of more things has to be done after a firmware update to make sure that all settings are correct for the new firmware.
I also made small corrections to the "Setup Menu" page.
Another small update today. It seems like I had made an error when I tested SACD on the DVD Compatibility page. I erroneously linked SACD to the HDCD test, this is now corrected.
I have received a new firmware (v1.12) for the NorthQ 7000/7100 from Datapoint! The updates in this release includes:
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Timer-recording is more stable. |
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Auto-scan for channels is improved. |
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Firmware version is displayed in "TOP MENU". |
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Information about the length of recorded material is now correctly displayed. |
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Current channel number is displayed in the LED-display when watching live TV. |
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Current time is displayed in the LED-display. |
I have updated my player and it worked as it should! I also got permission to host the update file on this site, so you can download it from the "Download" page. I have added release notes in Danish and English to the zip-file.
I also updated and redesigned the "Problems" and "Wish-list" pages a bit.
I just received mail from a guy who had talked to Datapoint. Apparently there is a new firmware update on the way for the NorthQ 7000/7100, hopefully it will arrive on Monday!
I have made the rest of the DVD compatibility tests (DivX, WMA, AC3/DTS CD and CD-i). The results can be found on the "DVD compatibility" page.
I have made some more DVD-tests (JPEG CD, JPEG DVD, Kodak Picture CD, Kodak Photo CD, MPEG CD and MPEG-DVD). As usual, the results can be found on the "DVD compatibility" page.
I have been VERY busy at work this week, so I have not had much time to make any NorthQ tests. But today I got some time off and tested HDCD compatibility. The result can be found on the "DVD compatibility" page.
I have made some more tests with the DVD part of the NorthQ. I tested DVD-Audio, SACD, MP3-CD and MP3-DVD. The results can be found on the "DVD compatibility" page.
I have also updated the "Overview" page with some information about the Dolby Digital/DTS capabilities of the DVD.
I have tested the DVD part of the NorthQ with different types of contents. The results can be viewed on the "DVD compatibility" page. I have also updated the "Problems" page with some problems I found during these tests.
I have made some tests with different kinds of media in the DVD player. The results can be viewed on the DVD compatibility page.
NorthQ have released a new firmware update (v1.10, released 30 October 2003) for the NorthQ 7000/7100 player! The upgrade includes a number of updates, some of them after requests from the user community. Here is a list of the updates:
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Corrections to improve the general stability of the player. |
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It is now possible to change the order of the channels. This is done under "Channel Setup" using the buttons "Volume+" and "Volume-" on the remote control. |
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Set names to the channels. This is done when watching a channel, press the "Menu" button on the remote control and use the appearing keyboard to set the name of the channel. |
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Weekly and Monthly time recording, filename changed. The filename is now set as the current date and time. i.e. YYMMDDHHMM. |
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Disk Tools, menu structure changed. |
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Danish subtitles corrected. |
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Fine tuning of channels changed. Now you have to push the "STEP" button before using the arrow right/left keys. |
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Maximum pause in timeslip mode is set back to 60 minutes (previous firmware had a maximum of 120 minutes). |
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Miscellaneous software corrections. |
I have updated my player and it looks promising so far! I have received permission to put the update file on this site, so here you can download it. I have added release notes in Danish and English to the zip-file.
I will use the player for a couple of days and will then update these pages with information about this new firmware.
I have updated most of this site to reflect the changes made in this new firmware.
I have also changed the menu layout in the left window a bit. I also added "screentip" to the menu alternatives. If you hover with the mouse over a link, a tip will appear which tells you when that menu alternative was last updated.
I have added a Quality section where I have put four short (five seconds each) mpeg-files recorded by the NorthQ in the four different recording qualities, EP, LP, SP and XP. I don't know if they are useful at all, but feel free to look at them.
I have also decided not to use my NorthQ 7100 any more! I'll wait until a new
firmware update will be released, and hopefully that will solve some of the
problems I have. I have lost too many TV-recordings to be able to trust the
NorthQ hard-disk recording function . I
would not have bought the NorthQ if I had known what I know now, before I bought
it. Then I would have waited a bit to see if firmware updates would improve the
functionality/stability of it. The problems I have can of course be limited to
just my specific NorthQ, but I would not bet any money on that
Anyway, I'll look into what the DVD part of the NorthQ can do, and will report back on that as soon as I can.
I have updated the problem page with information about a problem with watching live TV after recording, deleting and then recording again.
I also have found that the NorthQ 7000/7100 may not be 100% compatible with the FAT32 file-system standard. More information about this on the problem page.
Updated the FAQ a bit with new information about copying files from the NorthQ hard-disk to a PC.
Well, just about everything is new on these pages. Feel free to surf around
and find out more about the NorthQ 7000/7100 DVD Player/Harddrive Recorder.
If you have any information about the NorthQ 7000/7100 that is not already on
these pages, please contact me!
I'll continue to test the NorthQ 7100 and will update these pages as I go
along.