2004 Acura TL DVD-A Playback Problem

[timbre4]

We finally joined the ranks of Acura DVD-A folk last night! Wive's Honda van was totalled a couple weeks ago...

What's baffling me is that retail (menu) DVD-A discs like BSS or Hotel California get ID'd as DVD-A properly but don't play. Yet I insert in DVD-R of Tull - War Child DVD-A and it plays fine. Great on DTS as well.

What am I missing here? Thanks

 

[Bob Romano]

are they copies??? or retail. I had both when I had my 2004 and they played fine.

 

[elroy]

Yeah, I had no problems with either.

 

[Larry Geller]

My 2005 has never had a problem with a commercial disc, only some burned ones (where it will sometimes skip to the next track before the current one is over).

 

[timbre4]

Hey guys thanks for the comments, I'm travelling this week (w/o TL sniff).

Burned DVD-As are no problem they start right up; retail DVD-As get identified on screen as such but never start!! Only diff is a menu and more than one Group file potentially. So...........

It's true I talked my wife into this car but I still deserve to have the main prize I'd think. Google didn't turn up anything either.

 

[JonUrban]

You might have to have the unit looked at or replaced. That would suck. I wonder if someone messed with it? Try a copy of a "real" DVD-A and see if it plays. Maybe someone figured out how to defeat the watermark, and that rendered playing real DVD-A's impossible. Just a thought....

 

[Jerimy]

OMG, I have a very similar issue....Bought a 04 TL on Saturday and listened to the Acura demo disc and was blown away. I then had the car detailed and tinted and when I got the car back the dvd-a demo disc will not play. It recognizes the disc as an dvd-a but no sound out the speakers. Regular cd's work along with the radio. I have ordered a couple other dvd-a discs to see if its just this disk but not too confident its just the disc as my computer recognizes and its in pretty good shape. If you find a solution to your similar problem please share.

Jerimy

 

[timbre4]

Jerimy and I have been swapping PMs the last couple days but today is the first day I've had to really research the DVD-A issue. Again, I can play any DVD-R discs of DVD-Audioi just fine. It's the retail product that's iffy for me.

NEWSFLASH - It WILL play *some* retail DVD-Audio discs!! And it is thrilling to hear them after all this time of wondering. Below is a list of those that played and those that were recognized as DVD-A but no playback. Perhaps there is a menu/authoring similarity someone will spot and then I can fix it?

WILL play: King Crimson - Red, Porcupine Tree - In Absentia, Beatles - Love, Joan Armatrading - Live In America, Gavin Harrison / O5Ric - Circles, Bryan Ferry - Frantic, Richard Thompson - The Old Kit Bag, Toy Matinee, Todd Rundgren - Liars, Brian Bromberg - Jaco, Tom Cochran & Red Rider - Trapeze

WON'T play: (just about any Warner) Alice Cooper - Bilion Dollar Babies or Welcome to My Nightmare, America - Homecoming, Trey Anastasio, Pete Towshend / Ronnie Lane - Rough Mix, Premier DVD Audio Sampler (Warner), Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet, Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Inside the Music - Classic Rock, R.E.M. - Green, R.E.M. - Document, Talking Heads - Remain In Light, Richard Thompson - Rumor And Sigh, Simple Minds - New Gold Dream, Steely Dan - Gaucho

Does anybody recognize an authoring or menu difference between these two groups?

Jerimy and I are fiddling with the theory that if we were to somehow reset the memory and the head unit was completely at factory defaults that everything would play. But now that I have this experience under my belt I am not so sure.

In his case the demo DVD-A played and then not after servicing. I think he will need to try more discs to see what's up with his. Thanks for reading.

 

[JonUrban]

Watermarked discs will not play, non-watermarked discs play. Very strange.

 

[timbre4]

Jon,

I assume all of these listed are watermarked, are they not?

No watermark = always play; watermark = some titles @:

Tim

 

[JonUrban]

Yup, I'm pretty sure the ones you have that work are not Watermarked, as I distinctly remember being surprised that LOVE was not watermarked.

So it looks like your player's circuits for watermark verification are defective. It would be sweet if there were some way to disable them.

 

[timbre4]

Really, so basically anything Neil does is not watermarked?

I must've missed/skipped these discussions before!

EDIT EDIT EDIT: I should add that a DVD9 with Emmylou Harris - Producers Cut DVD-A watermark did play for about the advertised 14 seconds and quit.

There's something going on other than the watermark issue I think or they'd all play 14 seconds too.

 

[timbre4]

Still an outsranding issue; have been swapping msgs with Jerimy who also bough 2004 TL about the same time we did in September. Last night, I started looking into this again and came across the Just Answer - Acura site and decided to give the paid expert method a try at the $15 level. Cheap if the question is truly answered. Here is what I left them last night:

Hello - my issue has to do with DVD-Audio playback in a 2004 TL ELS system. Retail DVD-A discs that are known to be watermarked do NOT play but they should. Retail DVD-A discs that are not watermarked play fine, as do DVD-R discs burned to be DVD-A discs. DTS CDs play fine as well. Is there a way to re-initialize the radio/player back to factory defaults? Relatedly, another symptom is the disc player never remembers last play position and falls back to the beginning of the disc every time. My ELS system is in TL with Navigation, but I know another TL owner with the same issue and his is w/o Navigation. Thanks in advance!

RESPONSE: Hello, Is this an after markte add on DVD unit?

Duh.

TIM: No this is the factory AM/FM/Cass/Disc Changer ELS system. 8:28 AM Are you not familiar with the ELS factory surround system?

RESPONSE: no I am sorry. I will opt out of the question and hopefully an expert more familiar with the system will be with you shortly, ok?.

Here I sit, not thinking this is going to help but I'll get my $15 back for stumping them. Stay tuned

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Hehe, one of those occasions when Customer Support turns out to be the customer supporting them...


OT, just for the sake of curiosity: did the ELS come with decent speakers? (In my 2004 "European TSX" they were quite crappy.)

 

[timbre4]

The speakers are great; what I should say is the overall sound is so perfectly blended and balanced I don't want to tamper with that. From my experience, the drivers could be improved on but would likely dilute the imaging effect.

UPDATE I posted on their site yesterday and I've rec'd nothing else from them:

I just received a Please Accept email (must be automated) yet I am still waiting for an answer since yesterday. Another tech was to have taken over this question but I cannot tell from here if this is true.

11/18/10 9:56 AMSo my options are to ignore the email or to "please do not respond to this post" ???

11/18/10 9:56 AM Ithis is the best you can do, I'll take a refund

11/18/10 10:00 AM Okay one more try after reading your FAQs. Here is the bottom line.

11/18/10 10:03 AM The Acura ELS system works except for DVD-A watermarked (CPPM security) and remembered Last Play (resume) position, always starting a disc over rather than picking up from where it left off. To me the remedy is some kind of Acura diagnostic disc or routine to restore the players firnware to factory default state. This is mentioned in tech service bulletins for later years. Making sense?

11/18/10 10:05 AM I can get an exchange system head unit at some price and labor but I'm trying to avoid this. If the unit didn't play ANY DVD-A discs at all then I'd accept the laser was defective and replace the unit, but this is not the case. Here's exactly what happens with the 3 types of DVD-A discs I tested with:

11/18/10 10:47 AM 1) Retail DVD-Audio title ELP - Brain Salad Surgery = Acura recognizes and displays "DVD-A" but won't play. 2) copy of retail DVD-A Emmylou Harris - Producers Cut; Acura recognizes it, displays "DVD-A" and plays for 15 seconds (as a watermarked copy should), 3) DVD-R home recorded DVD-A discs are recognized, displayed and play perfectly. If the laser were defective none of these would play. The circuit in the ELS that detects the watermark FAILS for 1) because it *should* allow legitimate playback of an original disc. 2) watermark circuit WORKS as it should to stop playback of a copied DVD-A disc. 3) No watermark present so circuit doesn't matter, playback is fine. Now you know about as much as I do.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

It's a longshot, but have you tried to change group? I think it's done by pressing SCAN and RPT at the same time.

 

[timbre4]

Thanks but that was tried during the first week (maybe in private msgs); this may another flaw. If I put in a retail DVD-A, I can sometimes get it to flash Group1 on the upper display. But no others are ever seen and most discs don't even do this.

 

[margalita]

I purchased a 2004 Acura TL (No Nav) two years ago and have had a near identical problem.

When I received the car, it came with the sample DVD, which never played, though it does show as a DVD-A disc. Moreover, turning the car off and on again, assures that the disc will repeat from the beginning (doesnt remember disc position). I tried one additional store bought disc, and had the same result. CD, XM and radio work fine? I was curious if there could be some sort of internal memory battery that has burned out?

 

[timbre4]

Thanks for the reminder, I did have an update to post.

Spoke to an Acura radio specialist in Burnsville, MN based on one of their eBay listings where they'd offer a repair/exchange unit for $199 (special for $179 a couple weeks ago). When I explained what worked and what didn't (plus forcefully explaining watermark +CPPM keys), he agreed that it wasn't a hardware problem. He ventured that an Acura dealer's diagnostic disc could restore the firmware to the proper state. This is on my list to do soon!

 

[holland123]

Hey Tim, I remember several years ago a bunch of us from IASCA toured that panasonic facility here in sf mich. but I don't remember if they had a soft reset switch imbedded in the system, it will likely be triggered with an end of a paperclip? if not try disconnecting the negative battery cable for 1 min. this will reset the sytem. most 12v systems will completely restore to factory presets in this manner. Kevin