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Theta Voyager Universal transport https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4674	Page 1 of 2

Author:

smitken [ 20 Nov 2014, 20:34 ]

Post subject:

Theta Voyager Universal transport

Good evening everyone, recently picked this up
Its my first "premium" player and was amazed at the size and weight of the thing

, i dont know an awfull lot about this machine but thought i would share some pictures with you all

A question i hope someone will be able to answer please, i believe this player is built arrounnd a Pioneer 919, when i picked it up i was expecting a US 110v machine with region 1 DVD, however what i have is a 240v machine with UK region 2 playback, so what im wondering is if the machine is built arround a UK pioneer will it play PAL laserdiscs? I have the machine stored at work at present so cant just drop a disc in to try

Anyway if anyone has any information on it or maybe a manual? it would be appreciated. Im tempted to take the lid off at some point to take a look inside, if i do i will post some pics,

For some reason i can only upload one pic at a time :shh:

, ive used one with a laserdisc to provide some scale.

Attachments:

20141120_134611_resized.jpg [ 65.44 KiB | Viewed 8807 times ]

Author:

smitken [ 20 Nov 2014, 20:35 ]

Post subject:

Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport

a picture of the rear panel

Attachments:

20141120_134548_resized.jpg [ 60.24 KiB | Viewed 8805 times ]

Author:

smitken [ 20 Nov 2014, 20:38 ]

Post subject:

Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport

and side

Attachments:

20141120_134527_resized.jpg [ 60.92 KiB | Viewed 8805 times ]

Author:	happycube [ 20 Nov 2014, 21:05 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
It might be based on a 919E then. substance has been interested in building one like that for a while! ... or they just programmed region 2 into a regular 919.

Author:	kris [ 21 Nov 2014, 09:30 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
there is someone selling the same unit in Belgium here. I'm pretty sure it's a dvl-919e inside. i stumbled upon one a few years ago. It made the same sound when I powered it up like a 909-919. videoquality was good. It's a heavy weight solid looking dvl unit. They fetch soms money these days. They look great but I'm not a big fan of combi units If you got it cheap I can see it's hard to "not buy it"

Author:	kris [ 21 Nov 2014, 09:35 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
It may be a 110v-230v multi voltage machine with the region hack.... This I am nor sure about.... The region hack is a hardware related resistor thing. If you swith it manually for region 2 playback you may need to swith it every time you use a different region disc... i've encountered this with my first dvd player. Region was set to all but once I mannually switched it I had to set it every time I played a diff. disc

Author:	smitken [ 22 Nov 2014, 15:11 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
kris wrote: It may be a 110v-230v multi voltage machine with the region hack.... This I am nor sure about.... The region hack is a hardware related resistor thing. If you swith it manually for region 2 playback you may need to swith it every time you use a different region disc... i've encountered this with my first dvd player. Region was set to all but once I mannually switched it I had to set it every time I played a diff. disc thanks for the info Kris Any idea how you switch region?

Author:	kris [ 22 Nov 2014, 20:17 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
smitken wrote: kris wrote: It may be a 110v-230v multi voltage machine with the region hack.... This I am nor sure about.... The region hack is a hardware related resistor thing. If you swith it manually for region 2 playback you may need to swith it every time you use a different region disc... i've encountered this with my first dvd player. Region was set to all but once I mannually switched it I had to set it every time I played a diff. disc thanks for the info Kris Any idea how you switch region? If it is modded this should do the trick.... Press : Menu Enter Display Condition.... Region number should appear.... Press the desired region number... 1 or 2 I guess? Press menu to exit This is the basic step procedure for every region modded dvl unit.

Author:	kris [ 22 Nov 2014, 20:19 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
one more thing... If the region hack is done you could try setting it to 0 This way it maybe plays every region without entering the menu every time. If not... not a tragedy

Author:	smitken [ 22 Nov 2014, 21:32 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
kris wrote: one more thing... If the region hack is done you could try setting it to 0 This way it maybe plays every region without entering the menu every time. If not... not a tragedy Thanks mate, your a star I'll give it a try when I have it set up

Author:	substance [ 23 Nov 2014, 01:11 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
Get a $40 DVD player, you will be happier. Pioneer players up to recently including their very last elite dv-79avi has chroma upsampling error. They use the zoran vadis mpeg decoder which is the worst for this. I have a dvl-919 its very visible. Since the error occurs on the very first stage, even bypassing all decoding like sdi output doesn't help. Ld section is very fine. No major issues beside sn ratio is only average. If its a 919e inside then it is an interesting player. I remember someone telling me its a 919 inside not a 919e but I would love to be wrong:)

Author:	nissling [ 23 Nov 2014, 10:56 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
Aren't there several DVD recorders by Pioneer that uses a late Faroudja Genesis chip for processing? I think my DVR-LX70D does and like Substance says it has CUE. Scaling isn't great either and deinterlacing is mediocre at best. My BDP-450K does a better job but there are probably better alternatives. About the Theta Laserdisc players, I just stumbled upon this site. http://lampizator.eu/lampizator/referen ... theta.html Is this really true? I know that OEM is extremely common among such companies (NAD, Goldmund, Lexicon etc.) but is the whole Philips chassi intact within the Theta with no modifications whatsoever?

Author:	substance [ 23 Nov 2014, 17:52 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
Faroudja chip is for deinterlacing scaling dvnr etc.. cue comes from the mpeg decoder. Sigmatel, zoran, mediatek, sony are common manufacturers. Pioneer used different iterations of zoran chips until 2008 then switched to late generation mediatek which is cue free. All Oppos use mediatek as well for reference. Since faroudja filter chroma in half to save cost on processing, this also help hide cue for a degree. But cue is unfortunately a cureless issue on older dvd players. Panasonic players used panasonic custom mpeg decoder chip free of cue. Thats why you will see a lot sdi modded panasonics such as rp81,91 etc..you really had to have cue free transport for sdi.

Author:	substance [ 23 Nov 2014, 18:00 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
Data 1 is philips cdv400. An opamp buffer at the digital audio out. That's it. Data 2 is cld-701. No upgrades. Maybe same buffer at the digital out? Data 3 is cld-704. No upgrades but aes digital output added. Att optical added. Voyager (version 1) is dvl-919. New power supplies. Seperate supply for audio and video. Voyager (version 2) is dvl-919. All above plus optional sil503/4 (dvdo) deinterlacing board, optional sdi output. If you are curious their later dvd players like carmen and david are toshiba a300 clones. Their latest bd players are oppo bdp 83 and 93 clones with audio upgrades.

Author:	smitken [ 24 Nov 2014, 16:06 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
substance wrote: Data 1 is philips cdv400. An opamp buffer at the digital audio out. That's it. Data 2 is cld-701. No upgrades. Maybe same buffer at the digital out? Data 3 is cld-704. No upgrades but aes digital output added. Att optical added. Voyager (version 1) is dvl-919. New power supplies. Seperate supply for audio and video. Voyager (version 2) is dvl-919. All above plus optional sil503/4 (dvdo) deinterlacing board, optional sdi output. If you are curious their later dvd players like carmen and david are toshiba a300 clones. Their latest bd players are oppo bdp 83 and 93 clones with audio upgrades. Thanks for the information substance, i dont suppose you have a manual for this player do you?

Author:	substance [ 24 Nov 2014, 16:11 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
I am afraid not but I am curious to see if it can play a pal disc. Keep us posted.

Author:	nissling [ 24 Nov 2014, 16:27 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
substance wrote: Data 1 is philips cdv400. An opamp buffer at the digital audio out. That's it. I know it's a Philips CDV400 clone. But according to the linked page, the entire Philips chassis is intact within the Theta chassi (unlike most OEM producs where the PCBs have been moved). Is that really true?

Author:	substance [ 24 Nov 2014, 16:54 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
Same is true for all theta. They place the entire player inside a second chassis. Starting with theta voyager they upgraded power supplies. On dvd players they obviously changed software so it doesn't say panasonic or toshiba when you power it on. They later offered progressive scan add on daughter board for these players which the oem didn't have such option. Only voyager got the progressive scan add on as an option. Older theta like data units didn't have anything new beside oem parts. Ead used the same players in same way. Ead didn't even add the reclock at the digital audio so it was % 100 philips 400. New theta compli 3d has oppo 95 in it. New power stage and different software that says theta digital on screen. Lexicon didn't bother changing power stage so its a % 100 oppo 95.

Author:	smitken [ 24 Nov 2014, 21:52 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
substance wrote: I am afraid not but I am curious to see if it can play a pal disc. Keep us posted. no worries, i will update the thread as soon as i get the chance to set it up

Author:	elahrairrah [ 25 Nov 2014, 17:03 ]
Post subject:	Re: Theta Voyager Universal transport
substance wrote: Data 1 is philips cdv400. An opamp buffer at the digital audio out. That's it. Data 2 is cld-701. No upgrades. Maybe same buffer at the digital out? I thought the Data II was the CDV-400? http://lampizator.eu/lampizator/referen ... theta.html I had a Data II and when I opened it up and sent pics to Duncan, he said it was definitely a Phillips player, not Pioneer.

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