I've got the 996 from November 2001. It's started to experience DTS dropouts. :(

Would the firmware upgrade (available at hkflix.com) fix this problem? Does this file work for all Malata models? If I perform this upgrade, is there anything I should be aware about beforehand? Thanks!

Unless your player has the switch in the back, you will have to pay someone to do the upgrade for you. It does fix DTS dropouts.

Looks like all I have are audio/video ports. :( Any idea who will do the upgrade and what the cost is?

Is this likely to happen again in the future? The reason I ask is, since I don't have any non-region 1 DTS discs, I'm just trying to justify the cost of the upgrade.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? :)

The front panel on my Malata 996 is dead. I no longer see anything on the display, and none of the buttons work. The remote, however, functions properly.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to fix this? Or does anyone have any diagrams of the inside--i think something got fried due to static electricity.

Thanks,
-Kyle

Yep, same thing happened to me. I touched it one day and sent a huge arc from my finger to the unit and now I have the exact same problem. I would imagine that getting it fixed will cost more than it is worth but if you find out differently please do let us know.

I just use the remote now (but it is a royal pain in the butt to do that).

Wish I could just order a new front panel for the N996 somewhere and install it myself.

Anyone have an old, broken one they don't need anymore? :)

-Kyle

I'm experiencing the same problems as some others on this thread I think. My N996 plays interlaced fine, but resets when playing progressive - is this a firmware issue? or something hardware related? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

I was playing a R4 PAL disc, and at some point, the onscreen display stopped working (the one that says "Pause" when you hit pause, or the display options (bitrate and such) when you hit display). I stuck in a R1 disc to see if it would trigger something, but nothing changed. I've got one of the old 996's without the ability to update firmware. This is the first (and only) problem I've ever had with this player. Help!

After testing some discs this weekend, the problem seems related to playing PAL discs progressively - is it possible I have a setting wrong? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Malata remote
 

>>The front panel on my Malata 996 is dead. I no longer see anything on the display, and none of the buttons work. The remote, however, functions properly.

Ironically, after about two weeks of use, the remote for my Malata 3600 seems to be dead though the player is fine. Maybe we should move in together.

Have others had trouble with the Malata remotes? I'm not talking about its lousy layout, but about having to push 20-30 times to get anything to happen. Yes, I replaced the batteries, but it didn't make a difference. This just developed while I was watching stuff tonight. Huge pain in the butt.

Do I just have a defective one?

Filmgeek,

I just switched to the JVC 602 (courtesy HKFlix) and I have to say, going from the Malata remote to the JVC remote is like going from Hell to Heaven. (In other words, yes I know exactly what you mean - had the same problem).

Re: Malata remote
 

I had the same problem with my 996 remote. So I did a little research and bought a Sony RMVL900 learning remote. It will learn every button on the Malata remote. I even programmed it to learn 7 other components. You can't beat it for the price. It functions like some learning remotes costing 3 times as much.


http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?...00&SVBName=293

Replacement Malata Remote?
 

The wonderful high-quality remote that came with my Malata N595 was dropped by a sibling and shattered into a zillion pieces. Which begs the question, where can I get a new one? I went to Malata Canada, but their Accessories page won't load for some reason. Any other outlets or suggestions? Also, how much can I expect to pay for a piece of junk like a Malata remote?

Re: Replacement Malata Remote?
 

<b>bcelmins</b>, you don't seem to have much luck with those <A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=202850" target="_blank">malata remotes</a>! As well as the info in this now-merged thread, you can also follow <A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=149323" target="_blank">Hannibal's link</a> in your thread of last year.

I don't have this switch, and have started having periodic DTS dropouts. How does one go about having this upgrade done?

RichardW - did you ever get the work done?

Bleddyn,

I never got around to getting my Malata firmware upgraded. Since it's my only player, I'd have a hard time going without it for a period of time. I did get the name of someone from Matt Stevens. You can get his email address above in this thread.

At some point I will get this done, but I'll probably get another player before then. Since I don't have any non-R1 DTS discs, it's not really a big priority. Yet. :)

Is the firmware that fixes the DTS dropouts on the 996 still available? A post above mentioned HKFlix, but I wasn't able to find it.

Crumbs, I'd forgotten I'd posted in this thread! Hi, Richard!

My DTS problem persists - and I keep stiffing when searching for discussion of this. I ended up in this thread again, which I guess I initially found when I last searched on this topic about a month ago.

Matt Stevens was certainly very helpful in the past, perhaps too much so - he's removed his email link from this site! That's too bad - he was the person who brought the Malata to my attention in the first place.

Maybe I'll just buy a new machine down the road - another Malata or a JVC. I'm comfy with the Malata and its X-Y scaling, but maybe this wonky DTS issue still exists with newer models. I have no idea!

I have noticed one other issue with my 996, and I've not read anyone else bringing this up...

For anime discs, where there is a lot of subtitle action (for example the "vid-notes" on the Excel Saga discs) there are often a number of subtitles onscreen at once. While on my upstairs Pioneer player the subtitles appear one after the other, slowly building up onscreen, on my Malata, every time another caption is added, the ones currently onscreen disappear and pop back into place, along with the new caption.

This makes watching discs like Excel or Neon Genesis Evangelion testing, as the subtitles are flashing on and off a fair bit. Does anyone who might have these discs know if this problem exists on the current JVC (or Malata) players?

Oh NO!

Ol' Threadkiller strikes again!

Malata N996 Upgrade
 

My Malata 996 has served me very well for a long time, but it has been developing DTS dropouts in the last couple of months.

I don't have the latest firmware, which I understand solves the problem. But how does one get this done?

If you have had this work done, or know who to contact, please post your info. I'm sure I'm not the only person in this forum who would benefit from this info.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Bleddyn

You might want to try your luck at the Malata forum at nerd-out.com

http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewfo...p?forum=17&166

Go to nerd.out and search the Malata forum for a german website that has all the firmware for you to download.

Does anyone know the exact date of this DTS firmware?

November 2001