AVR600 - WHF Team - new firmware?

[pete321]

Any results on whether the new firmware appears to have fixed scarabs infesting the AVR600 yet?

Sorry if I'm being impatient, but I'm desperate for my £3000 to be justified.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Word from our review crew is that the beta firmware we now have on our sample seems to be working fine, but it is still in the beta stage, and no release date has yet been set.

 

[pete321]

Encouraging. Thanks.

 

[Clare Newsome]

We'll continue to update you as/when we receive info - unfortunately, the Arcam engineer who knows most about the issue is now on hols until next week, and I doubt we'll hear much until his return.

 

[Anonymous]

Dissapointing for Arcam to have released the AVR-600 with so many niggling issues. I wonder what happens with quality tests in this case prior to release?

One engineer goes on leave and everything is put on hold until he returns? I'm glad I'm not an Arcam owner, much less one who paid £3.5k for the AVR600!!

 

[Clare Newsome]

I said the engineer who knows most about the issue is on holiday - not that everything is put on hold. As I understand, Arcam is deploying the same firmware update we received to selected owners of the AVR600 and is collating feedback.

 

[Anonymous]

Honestly, Claire - what do you think of these issues related to the Arcam AVR600? Don't you think it was an ill-fated release? Totally ridiculous when you consider it is such a high-end equipment.

Is there only one engineer that knows the inards of the AVR600? What if he drops dead tomorrow (God forbid!)?

 

[Clare Newsome]

If both you and EvilWolf read my earlier post properly - and indeed my clarification since - i said the engineer who seems to know most about these issues: certainly not the only engineer working on the AVR600.

Arcam has built a superlative-sounding product that fulfils the all-round needs of many movie/music lovers, but has fallen prey - as have Sony, Onkyo, Panasonic, Yamaha and others, and that's only in the past year - to the nightmare that is the HDMI 'standard' and the compatibility/software issues that arise from it.

Add in the mind-boggling cost and complexity involved in even attempting to tackle the Blu-ray/AV receiver market at the moment - due to component pricing and shortages; the need for ever-evolving firmware resources; the recession; regional variations - and i'm surprised any small, specialist company manages to get anything to market!

Anyhow, as previously mentioned, unless Arcam can demonstrate they have a wide-ranging fix to the majority of issues with the AVR-600, the receiver will not be eligible for our Awards this year.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the clarification, Claire. I'm so happy with my cheapo Onkyo TX-SR605!!!

 

[Anonymous]

ValianTX:Thanks for the clarification, Claire. I'm so happy with my cheapo Onkyo TX-SR605!!!

....... as I am with my 875!

Great amp!

 

[pete321]

 

[Anonymous]

Hi pete321,

I have been reading your posts here and in other threads. I cannot start to imagine how frustrating this experience has been for you.

No doubt you are considering your options - to return your Arcam AVR600 and purchase something else.

May I also suggest checking out the Marantz AV8003 Surround Sound Processor and matching MM8003 Power Amplifier? I don't know if you are able to accommodate a Pre-Power set-up, but I reckon you will be very happy with this well-priced and fantastic-sounding combination.

Otherwise, I am sure you will be very pleased with the sound quality from the much-cheaper Yamaha 'Z7 A/V Receiver.

Dan.

 

[pete321]

dantan:May I also suggest checking out the Marantz AV8003 Surround Sound Processor and matching MM8003 Power Amplifier? I don't know if you are able to accommodate a Pre-Power set-up, but I reckon you will be very happy with this well-priced and fantastic-sounding combination.

Unfortunately it has to be one box solution, otherwise I'd have probably kepty my Onkyo 905 and bought a Naim XS for stereo duties. Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I am pleased to announce that AVR600 & AV888 v1.9 software has been released. Please contact Arcam support (email address in my bio).

Fix list:


Major Bugs Fixed


1. Implemented changes to suppress switching noises on input changes

2. Improvements made to prevent random lockups on source changes


Minor Bugs Fixed


1. Correctly muting optical out Z1 when Z1 is in standby but Z2 and/or Z3 is not

2. For iPod input, if a current list is empty the unit will now not show the "1 of 0" message

3. Correction made to the output resolution RS232 message to prevent incorrect information being

send

4. Correction made to the tuner tuned frequency RS232 message to prevent incorrect information

being send

5. When a video source is assigned to the iPod input, the VFD will now correctly update

6. Correction made to correctly restore audio when headphones are removed

7. Correction made to make sure Display stays off when set to off

8. Changes implemented to prevent the ARCAM logo to be displayed after power up.

9. During power down sequence correct RS232 power message will be send

10. Changing the input mode for iPod/Net input is now correctly implemented on the VFD

11. Improvements made to suppress the burst of noise when selecting FM presets

12. During auto setup, OSD now update correctly to indicate the current progress

13. Changes made to the HDMI configuration when unit is connected to a sink in standby/off to

prevent HDCP error upstream.

14. Changes made to prevent unit lockup when sending multiple discrete power down commands.

15. Changes made to improve reliability of audio over HDMI for certain sources

16. Improvements made to the HDMI Auto-Priority output switching.

17. Changes made to WSS decoding/default setting - if the source does not indicate aspect ratio, it

will default to 16:9 if the setting is auto


Enhancements


1. All HDMI output resolutions are now available regardless of the attached sinks EDID

2. Improved Audio Source selection, now possible to limit the audio input to Auto, HDMI only,

Digital Only and Analogue Only

3. On a HDCP error between the AVR and Sink unit will display a message instead of muting the

output

4. Enhancements made to the muting method

Regards,

Nick

 

[pete321]

Thanks Nick, my fingers are well and truly crossed!

 

[Clare Newsome]

And thanks, Nick, for the fix list as promised.

 

[Anonymous]

So.... this potentially clears the way for the Arcam in this years awards then..... hmmmmm. I'd vote for it. Oh, I already did! ;-)

 

[Andrew Everard]

Who knows? Depends whether it irons out all the bugs it claims to. Certainly we were still having some problems with the pre-release version we had on our review sample until this one arrived.

Time will tell...

 

[Anonymous]

Indeed. Borrowed a null modem cable off a mate, plan to update tonight or tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed!

 

[Andrew Everard]

We'll be picking up a cable over the weekend - now we've stopped wondering why a USB-equipped, network-capable state of the art receiver couldn't have an update method just the teensiest bit more 21st century...

 

[pete321]

I've had 1.9 installed by my dealer. So far it seems to have done the trick, but I'll give a few more days of switching between sources before I breathe a sigh of relief.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have just updated my AVR600 to firmware v1.9 and thought I would share my initial impressions with you.

I was one of the fortunate who had no problems to speak of with v1.8. This may well be because I am lucky enough to have components that seem to suit the Arcam. In particular I have a PACE Sky HD box (rather than a Thompson which is known to have compatibility problems with the 600). I was therefore a bit worried because I got some noises where I hadn't before with v1.8. There was a strange slight crackling / buzzing for a fraction of a second when I changed between Sky SD and HD. I can only assume that this was due to the sound format changing between PCM and DD.

When I looked into the update further however, I noticed that there is now an enhancement in the setup "Input Config" to select the "Audio source" from a choice of Auto, HDMI, Digital and Analogue. This presumably means that both the video and audio source can now be preselected by the user for a particular component rather than the AVR scanning the relevant inputs when an input is selected.For my Sky HD box I have selected HDMI for Video and Digital for Audio, (since DD is not sent over HDMI with the Sky box, just downmix PCM). I don't really understand why this should have helped, but since selecting the appropriate inputs for my components, I have had no more noises.

So far so good. Early days though.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

To help other users, the correct settings (which you have) for the AVR600 used with a Sky box (of any make) connected via HDMI for video and optical for audio to enjoy Dolby Digital is to set the video source to "HDMI" & the audio source to "Digital".

Best regards,

Nick Clarke

 

[pete321]

Hi Nick

Still some issues for me with 1.9, although much improved. No major speakers pops anymore, but I am still getting the odd problem when switching between either of my 2 HDMI sources (Virgin V+ & Oppo BDP-83). I'm not getting complete lock-ups as before, but occasionally getting a red or green screen with the Oppo. This is rectified by turning the Oppo off and on again. Also occasionally getting no audio when switching to V+ until I change channel on the V+.

Whilst vastly improved for me, still some work required it seems.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Pete,

Unfortunately, due to the nature of HDMI, both of what you are describing could be down other items in your setup.

Green/red sounds like something is muting the video - if this were that AVR600, you would get a black screen with a "HDCP failure" notice at the bottom. When you have this screen, can you get the OSD or menu of the AVR600 up? If not, the display is *likely* to be muting. If so, can you get the Oppo menu up? If not, then the Oppo is *likely* to be muting. Turning the Oppo on/off doesn't really point to any item in the chain as doing this causes the HDMI/HDCP authentication process to restart.

With regards to no audio with your V+ box, how do you have it connected and what do you have the "audio source" setting for that input set to? Having done a little research on this, I've found quite a few theads with people recommending HDMI connection for video & optical connection for audio (with some fiddling of the V+ HDMI override settings required). In this case, the AVR600 settings would be as per Sky boxes.

Regards,

Nick