Sdallnct

You guys have any experience with the Bravo D1? As I get very close to upgrading my PJ, I also want a better DVD player. I hate to spend $200-$300 for a player for two reasons: one, HD players are not that much more and two, my wife really wants to get my son a PS3 for X-mas so if that happens with have blue-ray at least.

The D1 is getting a lot of play over at AVS. Evidently it matches well with the 4805 and now folks are using it with the HD70 (the PJ I'm likely to get). I realize there is some mod you are to make to ensure reliability, but at $35. I'm not to concerned about doing the mod, if I screw it up only $45 lost ($35+shipping).

Brian Shannon

I personally have no experience but it did not fare well on the dvd benchmark test and that would be all I need to know.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...20D1%20-%20DVI

X

Although it's not so good with non-film sources and non-standard flags, the Bravo is usually chosen for its great DVI output at a low price.

X

At that price I ended up ordering a D1 myself. If only to compare with my HTPC.

Like I needed another DVD player

Sdallnct

You going to replace the capacitor?

X

Of course. I have lots of electronics repair/soldering experience but it's fairly trivial anyway. I might replace the loader too. Guess I'll see how the original one runs first though.

Sdallnct

I read where it might work at first w/o changing the capacitor but the OEM capacitor will eventully blow/leak. So guess I'll try as well. I don't have lots of experience in but that has never stopped me before. My only concern is using to much solder when I put in the replacement.

I don't think I need to mess with the loader. I only plan to show commercial DVD's on it and it is my understanding the loader chage out only effects home recorded stuff.

Oh is there a DVI to HDMI adapter so I can run a single HDMI cable to my PJ?

edit, guess this is it,

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...t=1#largeimage

X

Yes, I figure it's better to do the capacitor up front so it doesn't leak all over the circuit board.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ormat=2&style=

Sdallnct

Looking over a mono price it looks like a dvi to hdmi adapter, 25ft length of hdmi cable and a couple of hdmi wall plates while not all the expensive is about triple the cost of the DVD player. Course would need all those items regardless of what dvd player I would get.

X

It's entirely possible that you won't even need any more solder than what is left there after you remove the old capacitor. Maybe just a bit of flux.

I can do it first and let you know how it goes.

Sdallnct

Yea, let me know how it goes. I'm going to hold off ordering to see if by some miracle I can pick up a PS3. But if I can't, then I'm ordering a D1.

X

The Bravo got here today so after I make sure it's not DOA I'm off to get a replacement capacitor.

I just happen to be going somewhere right by a Radio Shack today anyway.

X

I'm pretty impressed with the picture from the Bravo. It seems softer than my HTPC but it is very detailed. That might just be a contract/brightness thing. I haven't calibrated the projector to it yet so I can't say it's better or worse than the HTPC, but I'm impressed so far.

Considering that it only cost $45 which included $10 shipping, and just the video card on the HTPC cost $120, it looks like a very good deal if you have a display that can accept a digital signal.

Sdallnct

Hey X,

You move this to a new thread? OK by me and probably should have started a new thread when I asked.

Do post back on how the mod goes. I got a "rain check" for a PS3 so that is probably worthless for the forseeable future, so I'll likely pick up one of these. And even if by chance I get a PS3 later on, I can use this with the HD TV I'll be buying for the living room.

One of this issues I'm kind of worried about and maybe you can test, is that I read where the D1 is sensitive to other remotes and does not always behave properly with universal remotes.

X

Yes, I split out the thread that we hijacked. It wasn't fair of us to do that.

The included remote sucks big time. I'll try out a universal remote with it but it'll be a while before I have time to program it in. Maybe I'll try just the basic commands first.

The drive loader is kind of slow and I've read it's a little picky with some newer discs. Wouldn't hurt to replace it but I'm not going to get into that for a while for sure.

I did flash the player with new firmware and set it to region-free. And I tweaked the very detailed DVI settings. However, there are hardly any other settings, just one audio setting, 3 major video choices (composite/s-video, component, DVI) with subchoices, and a very basic parental control/TV format menu. It's nice that it has optical and coax digital out though.

Sdallnct

Nice! I just placed my order. I figured I better start collecting everything I need for when the PJ arrives. I should get the player in a couple of days and can hook it up to my X1, then it will be a nice comparison when I get the HD70. Well, not really....I just realized I can't run a HDMI to my X1. So it will be component on the X1 and HDMI on the HD70.

X

I replaced the capacitor today. It's fairly hard to mess up because the circuit board isn't very crowded at all so the solder pads are far apart.

It was a little hard to figure out what leads belonged to that capacitor and I originally ended up unsoldering the capacitor next to the one that needed to be replaced. No big deal though.

Because the capacitor is stuck to the circuit board with some rubbery adhesive I found it helpful to remove the solder first instead of pulling the capacitor out while the solder was melted. I used one of these that I had around instead of a desoldering braid.

I found that a 15 watt soldering iron was kind of marginal for resoldering the new capacitor. A 25 watt one would have been better. Then I used a hot glue gun to reapply the adhesive between the capacitor and the circuit board.

After putting it back together it works just fine.

If you haven't seen them before, here are the step-by-step instructions from the expert on this procedure:

http://flying-colors.org/bravo/

Cavu was also nice enough to send me the latest firmware which I can pass on.

Sdallnct

Cool...I'll have to go to Ratshack and get the new compasitor. I know I have a "cheap" soldering iron I have used to put spade lugs on speaker wire. I see what the watts are. But I know I don't have lot of other "stuff" for solder as I rarely, rarely do it.

Thanks for the link.

What does the new firmware do/correct? I thought going region free is some buttons on the remote. Not that I really need region free.

X

You can't change/remove regions or remove macrovision without the new firmware.

I don't know what else it fixes.

Sdallnct

I was checking the status of my player this morning and it says it was delivered at 6:30pm last night and left on my front door!!! I never got it! In fact we were home in the middle of dinner at that time last night. Bummer!

Just got off the phone with then, they are going to try to track it down. If they cannot within 3-5 days, then they will send me another one. Never had that happen before. My parents live four houses down, and I check with them, they didn't have it.

Sdallnct

Door bell rang, I thought it was my DVD player...it was my HDMI cable from Monoprice. Damm that that is thick! I guess cause I ordered the one certified for in wall use, but I had no idea it would be that heavy duty...good deal.

X

Uh oh, looks like it ended up in Austin.

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=485038

Sdallnct

I also just realized the D1 has a DVI output. I thought it was HDMI. So placed another order with Monoprice for an adapter and couple of short HDMI cables.

Gambit

If you could forward me a copy of the firmware, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

[email protected]

X

It will take me a little time to put it together but I'll get to it soon. I may need to do some work on the instructions as I had trouble with them myself. I've been pretty busy.