[Information] P3 Firmwares

[Dreamnine]

Yeah 2.07 or 2.10 are fine for now. Six and half a dozen which you choose.

[CrowdAds]

[ananth]

Thanks Dreamnine, but what do you mean when you say six and half a dozen?

[Dreamnine]

It doesn't really matter which... The touch is improved a bit in 2.10 but you lose some features like the on-screen volume, now playing screen and the sketchbook. Video is the same in both.

[ananth]

Thanks again, Dreamnine, I'll try it soon as I get home.. I've been slacking off enough at work, waiting for the P3 to come in and trying it out

[Dreamnine]

Originally Posted by ananth

Thanks again, Dreamnine, I'll try it soon as I get home.. I've been slacking off enough at work, waiting for the P3 to come in and trying it out

Ah.. Well if you follow the instructions at the beginning of this thread, it's really easy to update the firmware.

[ananth]

Correct me if I am wrong but I think 2.10 has also taken out the extra screens you're able to add and does not display RDS for FM..

[Dreamnine]

Originally Posted by ananth

Correct me if I am wrong but I think 2.10 has also taken out the extra screens you're able to add and does not display RDS for FM..

Probably- I know it's improved touch and it takes away Sketchbook and a couple of screen functions.

[Olley]

My P3 arrived today with 2.10 U.S. on it. No RDS on the radio app. No obvious on-screen volume control. WMA files play fine wth headphones but choke with bluetooth. DNSe selections and (button) volume control appears to work over bluetooth.

Anyone know how to switch to the EU version? I need RDS.

[lebellium]

Here is the way to change the country code:
http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum...ad.php?t=42345

The question is: were dnse enabled over bluetooth in 2.07 and 1.28?!

[BH Cubed]

Originally Posted by Dreamnine

Ah.. Well if you follow the instructions at the beginning of this thread, it's really easy to update the firmware.

I just got a P3 a couple days ago. It's firmware is 2.14 US, but I see that the latest is 2.20. I looked all through this thread and I didn't see any instructions on how to actually update the firmware. maybe i just missed it?

[BH Cubed]

nm i found it

[eggyhed]

Originally Posted by Olley

The Cowon S9's latest firmware just added EQ presets working over Bluetooth. Samsung, if you want to stay atop the Bluetooth mountain you should start working on that feature.

Will EQ presets work over BT in 2.22 FW?

[TomCat39]

Yes, eq and DNSe settings have always worked over bluetooth with the P3.

I think it was the P2 that did not have this functionality.

[eggyhed]

Originally Posted by TomCat39

Yes, eq and DNSe settings have always worked over bluetooth with the P3.

I think it was the P2 that did not have this functionality.

well, my P3 came with FW 1.23 & there was no DNSE with BT. I've resolved it by a FW upgrade. But the radio still fails over BT.

[electron]

Originally Posted by eggyhed

well, my P3 came with FW 1.23 & there was no DNSE with BT. I've resolved it by a FW upgrade. But the radio still fails over BT.

the radio does not work over bluetooth because the P3 (like just about every other device) uses the headphone wire as the antennae. when there are no headphones, there is no antennae, and therefore, no radio.

[eggyhed]

Originally Posted by electron

the radio does not work over bluetooth because the P3 (like just about every other device) uses the headphone wire as the antennae. when there are no headphones, there is no antennae, and therefore, no radio.

yeah, guess i'll have to use an audio BT transmitter plugged into the headphone slot.

[pgh1969pa]

Originally Posted by electron

the radio does not work over bluetooth because the P3 (like just about every other device) uses the headphone wire as the antennae. when there are no headphones, there is no antennae, and therefore, no radio.

Everything you've said is true but that isn't the real reason there is no with the radio with BT. One example is the T9B. The T9s with BT are FM radio enabled with the BT active. I have the 8GB BT version so I am certain of this.

The T9 and I suspect the P3 have two potential sources for a FM antennae. The first being the one you mentioned. The second is the USB cable.

My take on the real reason the BT was disabled while the FM radio is on may have something more to do with performance. The BT chips used in the T9B, T10, P2, & P3 are supplied by Broadcomm. These Broadcomm chips also served as the FM radio chip and are responsible for RDS support on these devices. My T9B streams A2DP audio to a set of BT headphones while using a connected headphone or USB cable serving as an antennae. As I type this message, my T9 is actually performing that very task without headphones plugged in...just the usb cable. There is a problem that often appears while this player is recieving an RDS signal. The FM radio reception will sometimes break up with what appears to be the same frequency as refreshes to the RDS display occur. Even when the the display times out, loss in reception still sometimes appears to follow the same regular pattern. It doens't happen all the time. Sometimes the problem goes away when the screen times out, sometimes it doesn't. I think the real problem is due to RF problems or chip overutilization. Of course, US P3s do not support RDS but KR, EU, and other regions do.

Another consideration would be power consumption. My T9 and P3 seem to consume more power while using the FM radio than it does with decoding music files. Add a power hungry BT connection and the battery goes even faster.

I suspect Samsung disabled the BT during FM reception on the P3 due to these issues seen with the T9Bs. The FM radio on the P3 works just fine when no headphones are connected and no USB cable being used. The built in speakers just broadcast static. The logic of no headphone / antennae is good but I doubt that this explains why you can not have both BT and FM.

I'm sure that there is no other technical hurdle if they actually really wanted to enable it. Since the T9 uses the same USB cable as the P3, they most likely support a FM antennae via USB.

[eggyhed]

Found out that I can hear the radio on the speaker, but since its a mono speaker, just insert the headphone jack half-way instead of full. So moral of the story is : get a self-powered audio BT transmitter plugged into the headphone slot. This might save on BT power drain but of course, not FM power drain.

As an aside, I wonder (i) whether the USB cable could support SD card readers, and (ii) whether the firmware could be upgraded to read the cards (micro/SDHC etc). One of the big disadvantages in this player is no memory card slot.