Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems G98 and G96 DVD players

Hi everyone.

Are there people out there that have either of these two DVD players and who find themselves often suffering from software problems? I`m trying to figure out if I have incredibly bad luck or if this is a common problem.

I have three of these DVD players in my home (2 x G98 and 1 x G96). I find that at least three if not four times a month I have to disconnect the power from the units and allow them to reboot. The problems always seeme to go away after I have turned off the units and disconnected the power from them but it is extremely frustrating to have to do this on a regular basis. The most common problems that I come across are:

1. DVD is placed into the player and it is unable to recognise the main menu.
2. DDV is placed into the player and although it recognises the main menu and the menu can be navigated with the remote there is no actual video on the monitor until you select the “play” button from the DVD`s menu.
3. DVD is placed into the unit and the unit just “hangs”. Pressing the stop button or eject button or power button on the front of the unit has no effect and the only way out is to kill power to the unit.
4. You eject a DVD that has been working perfectly normally and then insert another DVD that you have used in the past and for some reason it now can`t seem to play it (spins round and round forever with nothing ever happening). The only way to get the unit to play the new DVD is to turn it off from the power and then reboot it.

The above four are the most common problems that I have come across but there have been a couple of others as well.

Both the G98 and G96 are great products when they actually work but the software issues with them are fast becoming intolerable.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Could you indicate how old these units are (G96 must be pretty new, I guess), how much use they have had and the firmware revision loaded?

I have not encountered this type of issue with my G98DH but I know that mains power spikes and instability can cause this sort of thing. It's very odd that you have issues with all 3 which leads me to suspect some local factor.

Hi Malcolm and thank you for your post.

The G96 was bought early this year. The two G98 units were bought in very late 2007. I believe the last time a firmware upgrade was done to the G98 units was around the late Spring of 2008. In terms of useage, one of the G98 units works roughly 15 to 20 hours per week. The other G98 works only about 5 hours per month (thus problems with this unit are less frequent for obvious reasons). The G96 works roughly 20 to 25 hours per week.

All three units receive power through a PS Audio Power Plant Premier via Kimber Kable premium power cables so I don't think power spikes are the cause of my problems.

As an aside, what do you think of the PPP? I toying with getting one for my main 2 channel system.

smurf

Hello Lepin,

I do have a G98 and I do recognize your problems 2, 3 en 4. In my case, nine out of ten times the problems were caused by the DVD itself. They turned out to be dirty (I have a very young daughter who grabs her own DVD's). Further I have seen strange things happens when the infrared receiver was in the sunlight. Maybe running the latest firmware (again) will improve things.
Gr. Paul.

Hi Lepin

I bought a second hand G98DH in the spring of 2009 and over the last 4 months I recognise problems 1,2 & 4 of those which you list but on a less frequent basis i.e. I have only had to switch off the power and re-type it once so far. Is that unreasonable for modern electronic equipment?

Whilst I would agree with Paul that dirty DVDs/CDs may be part of the issue, I have rarely found that cleaning an already clean DVD/CD makes much difference, but it is worth a try.

I know that my machine is running the latest firmware, but I would have thought that re-installing the firmware on a regular basis should not be necessary. IMHO I put these problems down to the inherent reliability of any equipment which is reliant on software, my PC crashes/hangs far more often than the G98DH!

I would agree that 99.9% of the time the G98DH is a very good piece of equipment, but I had considered returning it through my local dealer (Sevenoaks of Bristol) for a service (quoted �99 under a fixed price servicing scheme?) if these problems persisted. I do find it somewhat strange that you get these problems on all 3 machines though, unless every other G98/G96 owner out there is living with the same issues, I suspect not! Sorry that I do not have a definitive answer to your problems.

regards

Mark

What about brown-outs?

I don't think my PS3 has ever needed to be rebooted. Or reflashed. I rent disks and occasionally one won't play.

PS3 has tons of software including the hi-res codecs.

Although volume and the size of the company has a lot to do with it, I think Meridian could do a little better on reliability of spinners.

I cannot even recall the last time one of my own PCs crashed either. I maintain about 40 machines at work and only one repeatedly crashed due to an incompatible high-end graphics card. Seen plenty of other issues but no crashes.

I have been using the PPP for about 3 years and am quite satisfied with it. It provides nice switching capability and some peace of mind. I have had the misfortune of three proximal lightning strikes (none directly on the house) in the 12 years in my current home, with varying levels of equipment damage so some kind of mains protection is mandatory - I use a whole-house surge protector at the meter plus distributed devices like PPP, soloist and a few Isotek Titans. I've not had a lightning strike since employing the PPP so cannot speak to its actual effectivenerss - but it must be better than nothing!

I'm frankly unable to convince myself of any sonic advantage to the PPP, nor is it powerful enough to handle any of my big amps (that task falls the the Titans), but it is quite resonably priced - particularly if you pick one up on audiogon.

Simon

Thank you all for your kind comments. I'll address them in order:

Smurf:

I am a big fan of the PPP and, for that matter, Paul McGowan's products in general. He is an extremely high quality individual. The PPP's impact is unquestionable. It is a great product and I presently run five of them at home (four in my main system and one in a satellite system). The impact of the unit on video (plasma in my case) is more pronounced then on audio in my opinion but that is not to say that you should shy away from it for a two channel audio only system.

Rawlander:

I don`t think that dirty DVD`s are the problem as I have experienced these problems with brand new DVDs as well. Interestingly enough the problem almost never happens with CDs or DVD-Audio discs. It seems to be primarily restricted to SD DVDs.

Turbo Power:

Thanks for your comments which I agree with. Perhaps I`ll re-install the firmware on all three products and see if that has any impact. The only trend that I have noticed is that switching between different region codes or systems (i.e. NTSC to PAL or vice versa) is more apt to trigger a problem.

Virus Killer:

I`ve never experienced a brown-out in my neighbourhood and even if this was the cause I doubt we have that many of them on a monthly basis. I`d also be able to “see” a brown out through the PPP as it registers input voltage from the mains on continuous basis. The biggest deviation I have seen in my input voltage has been in the region of 3 volts.

George Mills:

Thanks for your post George but I don`t see what the performance of a PS3 has to do with the problems I am suffering with my Meridian units.

Simon,

just out of interest what amps are you running that the PPPs can't handle? I run five Mark Levinson No.436 mono blocks in my main system all of them off of PPPs without any trouble.

I'm responding to the ramblling in the thread that the G98 is complex and it needs tender loving care like a PC. The PS3 is way more complex than a G98 and needs no lovin. It just works and I would gripe to Meridian about your G98's. Is that direct enough !!!

And I'd buy a couple spare drives while they are available if you plan to keep them for a while.