Can someone tell me how the unit (7000 series) comes with 16mb of ram and Philips can advertise it coming with 32mb of ram and saying its software upgradable?
Isn't memory hardware? So wouldn't that mean something dumb like they locked 16mb of memory which we cannot access untill the release a patch? Or does this mean with the software upgrade the 7000 will run a compression program that "fake" doubles the memory?

I guess it is as simple as the launch firmware version is only able to address 16MB of the 32MB memory but with a later firmware release it will be able to address the whole 32MB.

A bit like versions of Windows prior to XP only able to address 512MB of RAM.

If thats the case, then Philips did include 32mb,just due to a "bug"? they can only see 16mb and hopefully in a few weeks I can get access to all the 32mb.

Phlips did not promise extra memory for the upgrade due in a few weeks.

?
Well the ads all say 32mb* (after free software upgrade in Q1 2004 - originally shipped with 16 MB of memory) sounds like a promise for something in a few weeks?

I wouldn't take ANY dates as golden (it *was* written at a time when the TSU7000's release was anticipated at an earlier date than it ended up being). I know they are working on activating the extra memory, but I'm not sure if it's one of their top priorities.

Have you run out?

Haha, no. Mine is coming in on on Monday. Its on the UPS out for delivery right now.
My original question wasn't about running out of memory although that can be a concern, but more with how the extra memory was going to be activated.

I am out of memory and I've only had my 7000 for a couple weeks. I hope they make good on the other 16 megs. If not I will be screwed.

I am storing my DVD collection in the 7000 with submenus for box sets and such as well. It has worked out perfectly other than the fact I have run out of memory already. With the other 16 megs I'll be able to convert all my DVD submenus back to color and add the rest I have not done yet. I should still have room at that point to account for the remaining slots in my 3rd DVD changer.

I am prone to just return my 7000 before my 30 return period expires and wait until Phillips actually upgrades the firmware to support the full 32 megs. That is what I paid for. Until the full 32 megs is available I'm not getting my money's worth as far as I'm concerned.

-Lowpro

according to the phillips site it now says Q3 (or maybe Q4) for the 32mb upgrade. I recall seeing it a few weeks ago.

Ok. I'm out of memory too. I guess my 7000 will have to sit on the shelf for a couple of more quarters waiting for Philips to make good on its ads!

Actually I realized only slightly more memory when I translated my old ccf from the 6000 into the 7000, not enough to complete the entry of my entire DVD picture collection (only 106).

It would appear that the 7000's 16k is about the equivalent of the 6000's 8k when it comes to the size of the ccf/pcf file it can handle!

I bought the 7000 for the apparently substantial additional memory not for vaporware!

Try running a batch conversion on your .BMPs to PNGs and see how much memory that will save you. Keep a copy of your old PCF around for legacy reasons.

Lyndel

I have been wondering about this for a while now. I know the .pcf file when unzipped just contains the .xml file and the bitmaps folder. When the .pcf is downloaded to the remote are these bitmaps really being downloaded into the remote as bitmaps or are they being converted automatically to a smaller file format? I changed over some of my graphics once to .png's to see if more space was available in the remote after download and it did not seem to help.

Thanks,
Lowpro

Lyndel and Lowpro,

Yes, I think there is a problem here. I physically converted all of my DVD pictures from BMP to PNG. In the drive directory the former are about twice the size of the latter yet there was no savings!

I spoke to Philips about this at CES. Now that the Pronto NG has had its major firmware update, I'm sure the next priority is activating the full 32mb...

"I spoke to Philips about this at CES. Now that the Pronto NG has had its major firmware update, I'm sure the next priority is activating the full 32mb..."

That would be most excellent!

-Lowpro