sanssome

So far I can only get audio playback of Tivo TY files. I have been talking with the guys at IODATA about it. After editing the config-server.xml they show up in the directory, but only play audio , I have tried different extension and transcode yes and no but so far no joy on the video. I offered to send IODATA a small ty file and the tyshow directshow filters but have not heard back. On another subject my UHDL drive should be arriving today :)

The new firmware will playback 720p60 files now but there is a lip sync issue with them.

I have a couple ts files that would lose audio after a glitch in the stream, now pausing and and unpausing gets the audio back.

Square Pixel rocks.

I only had a chance to check one DVD last night but it took forever for the DVD to start playing once I changed the drive speed to slow. Once it started playing though it was fine.

I know it has been mentioned but I wanted to say it again,

The folks at IODATA have been really helpful. I called them yesterday and it looked like my UHDL drive order would not make it out as first promised. The person I spoke to walked it down to shipping and called me back after it was processed and sent me the tracking number. They apparently have already sold out the first batch they got from Japan as I was told they would fill backorders first. Luckily mine was one of the backorders :)

They have been most helpful with helping me try to get ty files to play back as well. Great company, Great service. Rarely do other companies welcome suggestions , allow the level of interaction between their staff and customers. It is refreshing to talk with people who are excited about their products and company.

Snoots

Hi:
I have my linkplayer hooked to a wireless "G" adapter and in the past I had trouble playing the HD WMV sample files from the Microsoft web site wirelessly from my computer to the Linkplayer. They would stutter and occasionally freeze up completely. I thought that maybe the wireless network couldn't keep up since my computer was slightly above the minimum required by LinkServer (PIII, 533 Mhz) and the files would play fine if I burned them to a CD and put it in the LinkPlayer. Well, we got a new computer for Christmas (P4, 3.6 Ghz) and now the videos play fine over the wireless network so the limiting factor was the computer and not the network. There probably aren't many people out there with a computer as slow as my old one, but just in case.
Joseph

Originally posted by jnardone
Hi:
I have my linkplayer hooked to a wireless "G" adapter and in the past I had trouble playing the HD WMV sample files from the Microsoft web site wirelessly from my computer to the Linkplayer. They would stutter and occasionally freeze up completely. I thought that maybe the wireless network couldn't keep up since my computer was slightly above the minimum required by LinkServer (PIII, 533 Mhz) and the files would play fine if I burned them to a CD and put it in the LinkPlayer. Well, we got a new computer for Christmas (P4, 3.6 Ghz) and now the videos play fine over the wireless network so the limiting factor was the computer and not the network. There probably aren't many people out there with a computer as slow as my old one, but just in case.
Joseph

Mind if I ask what you are using for your wireless G card on the player?

:)

Hi:
My new computer came with Microsoft Medicenter. I used it to record a TV show that I now want to send to my Linkplayer. LinkServer didn't recognize the native format of the recorded program so I got two different utilities from thegreenbutton.com to try to convert the file. One was supposed to convert it to mpeg and the other was supposed to convert it to WMV. The WMV utility wouldn't even install on my computer and the mpeg utility installed but wouldn't run. Has anyone got this to work with either these utilities or some other way?
Thanks,
Joseph

Originally posted by snoots
I know it has been mentioned but I wanted to say it again,

The folks at IODATA have been really helpful. I called them yesterday and it looked like my UHDL drive order would not make it out as first promised. The person I spoke to walked it down to shipping and called me back after it was processed and sent me the tracking number. They apparently have already sold out the first batch they got from Japan as I was told they would fill backorders first. Luckily mine was one of the backorders :)

They have been most helpful with helping me try to get ty files to play back as well. Great company, Great service. Rarely do other companies welcome suggestions , allow the level of interaction between their staff and customers. It is refreshing to talk with people who are excited about their products and company.

Snoots

I have sent a lot of emails asking for help with no response...snoots where are you calling for help? Can I have that number? I am trying to encode my own HD contnet to WMVHD and when I try and play it on my link it says ASF error...any clue?

Originally posted by PioNewbie
Mind if I ask what you are using for your wireless G card on the player?

:)

I am using the LinkSys wireless G Game adapter - which is what they call the wireless adapter with the single ethernet connection.

You can also get a 4-ethernet port wireless G hub which probably is a better idea if you also have a xbox or other game system since I am sure in the next year every piece of A/V equipment will have an ethernet connection. I already had one game adapter for the xbox so I just got another single port one.

Ben, I just read your review Part One of the AVeL LinkPlayer2. Well done!

A few comments:

Rather than wait for the JVC D4 cable you ordered, why not just test the one you already have that goes with your JVC HD10?

I agree with your comments describing the soft native HD 720p output. I observed and commented about the same thing back on the early pages of this by now, long thread.

Have you tried switching the output to 1080i? Yes I know...it's counter intuitive because the native output from the JVC HD1/10 is 720p, and even my DLP projector native resolution is 1280x720p, but that said...the picture is still noticeably more finely resoloved in the details, slightly sharper and more transparent on 1080i, in spite of the attendant conversions.

All,

I just spoke to IOData technical resource about the true capabilities of the player with respect to (D4) Component output.

The player will not upscale any DVD (CSS protected) movies to 720p or 1080i, it will play them at only 480p. It is accurate as the Sigma Process will not allow upscale of any DVD CSS protect images unless it is a HDCP DVI/HDMI compliant unit.

It will play WMV-HD and DIVX-HD at 720p or 1080i though.

This clarification is what I was look for. After much discussion with Sigma and IOData this is the facts.

IODATA is putting a request into their marketing team to update the website to reflect the accurate capabilities as related to CSS Protect DVD playback.

Originally posted by videosir
All,

I just spoke to IOData technical resource about the true capabilities of the player with respect to (D4) Component output.

The player will not upscale any DVD (CSS protected) movies to 720p or 1080i, it will play them at only 480p. It is accurate as the Sigma Process will not allow upscale of any DVD CSS protect images unless it is a HDCP DVI/HDMI compliant unit.

It will play WMV-HD and DIVX-HD at 720p or 1080i though.

This clarification is what I was look for. After much discussion with Sigma and IOData this is the facts.

IODATA is putting a request into their marketing team to update the website to reflect the accurate capabilities as related to CSS Protect DVD playback.

That's just plain wrong. Many of us use the player every day for commercial DVDs w/ the 720p output. Unless they did something sneaky in yesterday's firmware update, that info is not true. If they did disable it in the firmware, there better still be the rollback option! Can someone at home verify it still works? This post has me nervous.

The information has been mis-interpreted. The I-O Data won't upscale CSS over DVI/HDMI because it's not HDCP compliant. D4 component is unaffected and plays back properly upscaled.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
Ben, I just read your review Part One of the AVeL LinkPlayer2. Well done!

A few comments:

Rather than wait for the JVC D4 cable you ordered, why not just test the one you already have that goes with your JVC HD10?



Thanks!

We rent the JVC HD10 on a project by project basis. Probably would have paid for the HD10 by now in rental fees, but I like to control cash flow by renting the HD10 and building the cost into our project budgets.

I probably could have just borrowed the cable from the guy we rent the camera from, but if I like the picture with the new cable I'm going to want to keep it.


I agree with your comments describing the soft native HD 720p output. I observed and commented about the same thing back on the early pages of this by now, long thread.

Have you tried switching the output to 1080i? Yes I know...it's counter intuitive because the native output from the JVC HD1/10 is 720p, and even my DLP projector native resolution is 1280x720p, but that said...the picture is still noticeably more finely resoloved in the details, slightly sharper and more transparent on 1080i, in spite of the attendant conversions. [/B]

1080i did seem slightly better, still not what I expected though. I'm sure the quality was also impacted by the use of cheap RCA couplers.

The whole HD quality thing is so mysterious to me. It's the first time I haven't been just blown away by an HD picture on that projector. The fact that 480p and 1080i look as good or better for 720p native material is also strange, doesn't seem mathematically possible. There was another guy on here who said he actually prefers the 480p picture. I have to believe there is something "wrong" going on here (like an unnecessary conversion somewhere), but how could IO-DATA have missed something that big? The fact that their "fix" for the cable problem is to give away a female adapter is also disconcerting, if it turns out that the JVC cable alleviates the issue then obviously the female adapter isn't going to be a solution.

My underlying fear is that this is the best quality we can expect from the analog component output of that Sigma chip, which means only the DVI version would fix the problem.

Anyone who has the Japanese model with DVI, can you do an A/B comparison between the component output and DVI? That would be helpful.

Oh yeah, and isn't that overscan wacky? Yet another reason I think something is amiss here.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
The information has been mis-interpreted. The I-O Data won't upscale CSS over DVI/HDMI because it's not HDCP compliant. D4 component is unaffected and plays back properly upscaled.

Same thing with our player, component upconversion is not affected by CSS.

They were probably referring to the Japanese model and the DVI output on that unit.

I believe that is part of the hold up on the US version with DVI ports, they are waiting on their HDCP license.

This issue has been brought up too many times.

The IOData AVLP2/DVDLA will upconvert all content to HDTV resolutions as set in the player's setup over D4/components on ALL media including commercial DVD's with CSS/Macrovision.

It is also safe to say that the DVI version of the IOData AVLP2 in the U.S. and other markets currently not available will not come out until they receive their HDCP license after the unit is deemed HDCP compliant.

Originally posted by bcbuie

My underlying fear is that this is the best quality we can expect from the analog component output of that Sigma chip, which means only the DVI version would fix the problem.

Anyone who has the Japanese model with DVI, can you do an A/B comparison between the component output and DVI? That would be helpful.

Oh yeah, and isn't that overscan wacky? Yet another reason I think something is amiss here.

I wouldn't rush to the judgment that DVI will be a panacea, unless there is a native pass-thru mode that bypasses the scaler.

That said, TUFU said earlier that DVI is sharper on his Japanese spec AVLP2 compared to the D4 component.

The JVC cable will help by cleaning up video noise, making it more transparent. It's a noticeable improvement. But compared to the 1280x720 bit-mapped 1:1 pixel-perfect picture from the HTPC, the AVLP2 even with the JVC cable is not as resolute. My $0.02 is that it is a consequence of the scaler-induced, over-scanned frame size as you allude.

Originally posted by bcbuie
Thanks!

...... There was another guy on here who said he actually prefers the 480p picture. I have to believe there is something "wrong" going on here (like an unnecessary conversion somewhere), but how could IO-DATA have missed something that big? The fact that their "fix" for the cable problem is to give away a female adapter is also disconcerting, if it turns out that the JVC cable alleviates the issue then obviously the female adapter isn't going to be a solution.

My underlying fear is that this is the best quality we can expect from the analog component output of that Sigma chip, which means only the DVI version would fix the problem.

Anyone who has the Japanese model with DVI, can you do an A/B comparison between the component output and DVI? That would be helpful.

Oh yeah, and isn't that overscan wacky? Yet another reason I think something is amiss here.

That's me ...if you be able to see the crappy image what I get from 720p and 1080i you would agree :(
I will try next week external scaler (Zinwell 3000)

Also, I don't agree with the observation that 480p video looks as good as native 720p or 1080i. On my setup it doesn't.

Are you using PJ or TV ?

Also, when I upgraded the firmware yesterday and the unit rebooted
everythink was fine. Then I powered the unit off using the power button and when it was turned back on most of the display was lit and the unit was frozen.
I had to turn it off and on again to get it back to normal.
Anyone else had the same glitch ?

Ok, I'm after what many of us want here - a networkable DVD player with upscaling functions. DVI isn't essential (component will do for now). The LinkPlayer looks ideal (just need to buy a small LAN-WIFI bridge device).... but looking at their web site this is shown in red:

*LinkPlayer doesn't have an upscaling function. The current market available DVD movie (480p SD) is by 480p out with no scaling even if LinkPlayer setting is 720p or 1080i HD mode. 720p DVD disc will come in a market, and it can be played by 720p output.

Edit: oops, just went back and read the last 30 posts or so....
So trying to summarize those posts, it DOES upconvert 480i to 720p (etc) over component BUT it doesn't look that good?

Jonathan

Originally posted by lifeisfun
Also, when I upgraded the firmware yesterday and the unit rebooted
everythink was fine. Then I powered the unit off using the power button and when it was turned back on most of the display was lit and the unit was frozen.
I had to turn it off and on again to get it back to normal.
Anyone else had the same glitch ?

I had the exact same glitch.

Originally posted by jotter
Ok, I'm after what many of us want here - a networkable DVD player with upscaling functions. DVI isn't essential (component will do for now). The LinkPlayer looks ideal (just need to buy a small LAN-WIFI bridge device).... but looking at their web site this is shown in red:

*LinkPlayer doesn't have an upscaling function. The current market available DVD movie (480p SD) is by 480p out with no scaling even if LinkPlayer setting is 720p or 1080i HD mode. 720p DVD disc will come in a market, and it can be played by 720p output.

Errrr, so it doesn't do any upscaling? Is this true? If so it needs to be dropped from the main table on the first post.

Jonathan

Pay attention...it doesn't upscale over DVI if CSS encrypted, DOES upscale over component output.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
I had the exact same glitch.

This wasn't pleasant experiance ....

Originally posted by jotter

Edit: oops, just went back and read the last 30 posts or so....
So trying to summarize those posts, it DOES upconvert 480i to 720p (etc) over component BUT it doesn't look that good?

Jonathan

It looks very excellent to me. It resolves more lines on the THX resolution chart than my top rated Panasonic RP82. To me, it has a better picture overall than the RP82 because the upscaled DVD picture looks more HD-like, better detail and sharpness, slightly better color balance, perhaps not quite as good in shadow detail, not quite as flawless in the deinterlacing, but for 97% of the DVD-Video viewing, it's better and enough of an improvement that the RP82 seems somewhat disappointing by the comparison.

Stellar conventional DVD-Video playback of commercial/store bought DVDs was the biggest surprise for me with this unit. I bought it to play WMV-HD 720p, not to replace my RP82. (But that's what it did.)

Originally posted by jotter
Ok, I'm after what many of us want here - a networkable DVD player with upscaling functions. DVI isn't essential (component will do for now). The LinkPlayer looks ideal (just need to buy a small LAN-WIFI bridge device).... but looking at their web site this is shown in red:

*LinkPlayer doesn't have an upscaling function. The current market available DVD movie (480p SD) is by 480p out with no scaling even if LinkPlayer setting is 720p or 1080i HD mode. 720p DVD disc will come in a market, and it can be played by 720p output.

Errrr, so it doesn't do any upscaling? Is this true? If so it needs to be dropped from the main table on the first post.

Jonathan

Okay, I just had the biggest scare. See what I was going to post (KEEP READING TO BE TOTALLY CONFUSED!)
This was the original post WTF? I just got home and tried to play There's Something About Mary original DVD disc, using HD Browser Mode, 720p, 16:9 screen. AND I GET A 480 line WINDOW INSIDE MY 720p OUTPUT!!!!! IN OTHER WORDS, IT WILL NO LONGER FILL THE 720p SCREEN! THEY MUST HAVE SNUCK THIS INTO THE FIRMWARE UPDATE. The menu scales to full screen (probably not copy protected), but the main movie looks like this:
http://homepage.mac.com/mmorbeto/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-12-30%2013.24.25%20-0800/Image-8A269D325AA811D9.jpg

The output is still clearly HD resolution by the lines (my HT1100 projector correctly reports 720p or 1080i), but the DVD no longer fills those pixels. Zoom just expands Zoom 1, 2, 3, 4, which progressively zooms in closer to the center of the picture, keeping the same width and distorting the aspect ratio.

There better be a way to roll this back or I am throwing this thing through the windows at I-O's offices (just kidding.) But seriously, this is BS!

Okay, not that everyone has had a heart attack, I tried a few more discs. Nemo & Desperado play fine @ 720p. So it still works, but does not on There's Something About Mary (widescreen edition) WHY? I am sure Nemo & Desperado are also copy protected, so does anyone have any ideas? Same exact settings for all three. Pics of Nemo working fine:
http://homepage.mac.com/mmorbeto/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-12-30%2013.24.25%20-0800/Image-8A2687CC5AA811D9.jpg

Edit- I tried rolling back the firmware, and the problem (if it is one) w/ Something About Mary is the same. Anyone have any ideas why this widescreen disc won't fill the width or height of the 720p or 1080i output while Nemo & Desperado do?

mikemav,
looks like you are using PJ as well ... how is your 720p and the 1080i ?
On my LT240K 720p and 1080i is not sharp but 480p is OK

Mikemav -

Is your "There's Something About Mary" the special edition??. That movie is not anamorphic unless you have the special edition version. The regular version was 1.85:1 and boxed instead.

see:
http://www.docdvd.com/reviews/theressomethingaboutmaryce_review.shtml

That's what would happen if it wouldn't upscale...it will window-box a 720x480 image inside a 1280x720 frame.

Did you try rolling back the firmware?

I hope Paul's explanation is valid.

Originally posted by mikemav
Okay, I just had the biggest scare. See what I was going to post (KEEP READING TO BE TOTALLY CONFUSED!)
This was the original post WTF? I just got home and tried to play There's Something About Mary original DVD disc, using HD Browser Mode, 720p, 16:9 screen. AND I GET A 480 line WINDOW INSIDE MY 720p OUTPUT!!!!! IN OTHER WORDS, IT WILL NO LONGER FILL THE 720p SCREEN! THEY MUST HAVE SNUCK THIS INTO THE FIRMWARE UPDATE. The menu scales to full screen (probably not copy protected), but the main movie looks like this:
The output is still clearly HD resolution by the lines (my HT1100 projector correctly reports 720p or 1080i), but the DVD no longer fills those pixels. Zoom just expands Zoom 1, 2, 3, 4, which progressively zooms in closer to the center of the picture, keeping the same width and distorting the aspect ratio.

There better be a way to roll this back or I am throwing this thing through the windows at I-O's offices (just kidding.) But seriously, this is BS!

Okay, not that everyone has had a heart attack, I tried a few more discs. Nemo & Desperado play fine @ 720p. So it still works, but does not on There's Something About Mary (widescreen edition) WHY? I am sure Nemo & Desperado are also copy protected, so does anyone have any ideas? Same exact settings for all three. Pics of Nemo working fine:



Are you playing the original disc released in 1999? It is a non-anamorphic letterbox release and what you are seeing is how all non-anamorphic material is handled by the player.

Possibly confusing Mike even more, is the way the same DVD would be handled by his Pioneer DV563A player (to the left in his picture), which since doesn't have a 720p upscale mode can probably zoom the letterboxed image full frame.

Originally posted by gtrogue
Are you playing the original disc released in 1999? It is a non-anamorphic letterbox release and what you are seeing is how all non-anamorphic material is handled by the player.

Yes, that is the best explanation. Looks like it may be the original version. Is there no way to expand these types of discs, rare as they are now a days? Maybe I should try at 480i or 480p. Perhaps in those modes my projector can zoom the pic out to fill the screen. Sorry to scare everyone. Sure seemed plausible since Zenith did it with there projector. Makes you worry a little about firmware updates.

BTW, as I edited into the post above, I did try to roll back the firmware, and behavior was the same.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
Possibly confusing Mike even more, is the way the same DVD would be handled by his Pioneer DV563A player (to the left in his picture), which since doesn't have a 720p upscale mode can probably zoom the letterboxed image full frame.

good eye! You can't get my home address from those pics too, can you Mr. Bond? Yeah, the Pioneer expands these discs to full screen I believe.
[start shameless plug] BTW, for those studying the pics closely. the painting above the screen is courtsey my talented wife, who's work can be seen on http://www.thedebweb.com [/end shameless plug]

Also, info on my setup & plans to make a room of my own instead of just the family room are here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=488728) in case anyone is curious. Those of us with 4 year old's understand the desire to have a cave to retreat to, which is the gist of my next project.

You could try the other zoom modes after you switch to 4x3 in the AVLP2 DVD setup. There's probably some combination of zooming you can do between the AVLP2 and PJ, (if not just select 480p output).

Originally posted by mikemav
good eye! You can't get my home address from those pics too, can you Mr Bond?

No, but I'm having a little trouble resetting your TiVo box. Would you kindly switch off any electronic devices?

Originally posted by lifeisfun
mikemav,
looks like you are using PJ as well ... how is your 720p and the 1080i ?
On my LT240K 720p and 1080i is not sharp but 480p is OK

It looks a little soft; not as crisp as my HDTivo on high def. Still pretty darn good however. I run at 720p since I have a 4x2 component matrix switch and also feed my upstairs set, which only really locks up to 720p HD. I ordered the JVC D4 cable & will try that out this weekend and report back. If I get a chance I will also run some test patterns on different resolutions to see what looks best.

Does anyone else have Avia on a server BTW? Without having access to the menus (.ifo files still don't play, dammit!), I find it very hard to find the video test patterns amongst all those .vob files. If anyone already knows which .vob's to play for the 16:9 test patterns, it would be helpful. Otherwise I will play them all over the weekend to find what I want or dig out the original disc.

MikeMav, did you try the new "square pixel" setting provided by the new firmware (or one of the other zoom settings)?

Square pixel fixed a couple of my home-grown DVDs that were not displaying correctly.

Ben

Originally posted by Tom Roper
No, but I'm having a little trouble resetting your TiVo box. Would you kindly switch off any electronic devices?

Ha! That hits a little too close to home. If you had the magic IP address, port # that is forwarded, and password, then
tivo:/var/tmp$ reboot

Would get you there!

Originally posted by bcbuie
MikeMav, did you try the new "square pixel" setting provided by the new firmware (or one of the other zoom settings)?

Square pixel fixed a couple of my home-grown DVDs that were not displaying correctly.

Ben

No help on non-anamorphic DVDs. Square pixel is not available on this disc. Just zoom 1,2,3,4.

Just to confirm for those casually reading, it DOES STILL UPSCALE to 720p & 1080i on widescreen anamorphic DVDs, just as it did before.

Is there an HD test pattern (1280x720 or 1920x1080) in either WMVHD or MPEG2 format (or any other HD format this player supports) available anywhere? Preferably one generated by a very high end HD camera?

I've seen all the test patterns available on DVD, but obviously those are not HD resolution.

I suppose we could use a high quality still camera, shoot one of those expensive HD test charts ($300), and then use a 1280x720 TIFF for a test pattern. Or do the same thing with a Cinealta and then downconvert to WMVHD or MPEG2. However, I was hoping someone had already done this.

Ben

Non-anamorphic DVD's must die...

Originally posted by Kermee
Non-anamorphic DVD's must die... By definition, all DVD's are anamorphic!

As from a technical point of view, the pixels for both 4:3 and 16:9 DVD's have to be corrected using DAR signalling ;)


Cheers

Originally posted by bcbuie
Is there an HD test pattern (1280x720 or 1920x1080) in either WMVHD or MPEG2 format (or any other HD format this player supports) available anywhere? Preferably one generated by a very high end HD camera?

I've seen all the test patterns available on DVD, but obviously those are not HD resolution.

I suppose we could use a high quality still camera, shoot one of those expensive HD test charts ($300), and then use a 1280x720 TIFF for a test pattern. Or do the same thing with a Cinealta and then downconvert to WMVHD or MPEG2. However, I was hoping someone had already done this.

Ben

Ben,

I have a bunch of HD Transport Stream test patterns posted on my FTP page. They were captured from an ATSC signal generator in 1080i with 17+Mbps data rate. With the current server software you will have to rename the test patterns from .ts to .mpg and place them in your video folder.

www.nabs.net/cwatson53

Originally posted by Cliff Watson
Ben,

I have a bunch of HD Transport Stream test patterns posted on my FTP page. They were captured from an ATSC signal generator in 1080i with 17+Mbps data rate. With the current server software you will have to rename the test patterns from .ts to .mpg and place them in your video folder.

www.nabs.net/cwatson53

Wow Cliff- didn't know you were reading this thread. Glad to have your expertise here. I was about to PM you to see if I could post your FPT for the test patterns. Thanks for responding. I see DC is now carrying this player. Have you had a chance to compare it to MyHD on DVD and HD playback? Curious for your opinion on picture quality. For those that don't know, Cliff is one of the biggest contributors to AVS forum (as you can see by his post count) and the expert on the MyHD card around here.

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
By definition, all DVD's are anamorphic!

As from a technical point of view, the pixels for both 4:3 and 16:9 DVD's have to be corrected using DAR signalling ;)


Cheers

REVISED: All studios releasing DVD's with content that has an AR of 1.77 and higher which are not using 16:9 DAR must die...

;)

Got this bad boy for Christmas and just got home and installed in the theater. This thing rocks!. It plays my HDTiVo streams that I have converted to mpg!! It even plays them when burned to UDF dvds. I sometimes have to hit fast forward to get the audio, but LORT ROTK looks just fantastic!

Mattman

Thanks for posting the link to your page, Cliff. Can you tell us which file contains the test patterns?

Originally posted by epsilon
Thanks for posting the link to your page, Cliff. Can you tell us which file contains the test patterns?

The big ones with .zip file extension. :D

Barsref1.zip is HD reference color bars (75%) with 25% (per bar) grayscale and PLUGE on black background. There is also a crosshatch pattern, color bars at 100% and 75%, Gray patterns at 50% and 100% and several others.

Originally posted by mikemav
Wow Cliff- didn't know you were reading this thread. Glad to have your expertise here. I was about to PM you to see if I could post your FPT for the test patterns. Thanks for responding. I see DC is now carrying this player. Have you had a chance to compare it to MyHD on DVD and HD playback? Curious for your opinion on picture quality. For those that don't know, Cliff is one of the biggest contributors to AVS forum (as you can see by his post count) and the expert on the MyHD card around here.

Mike,

Kei had I-O Data drop ship me a player about two weeks ago for my eval.

So far I'm not overly impressed with the player for DVDs. The DVD quality is far below that of MyHD hardware.

I've not seen it mentioned in this thread, and I may have a bad unit, but it can't pass below-black. It goes well into the lower grayscale and drives it into the black (black crush). So much so that it will not display the above black gray bars on a PLUGE in DVI or the Ref Bars TS.

DVD deinterlacing and scaling is soft with interline flicker and stair-stepping. All the things that MyHD does not have.

Originally posted by Cliff Watson
Mike,

Kei had I-O Data drop ship me a player about two weeks ago for my eval.

So far I'm not overly impressed with the player for DVDs. The DVD quality is far below that of MyHD hardware.

I've not seen it mentioned in this thread, and I may have a bad unit, but it can't pass below-black. It goes well into the lower grayscale and drives it into the black (black crush). So much so that it will not display the above black gray bars on a PLUGE in DVI or the Ref Bars TS.

DVD deinterlacing and scaling is soft with interline flicker and stair-stepping. All the things that MyHD does not have.

Sorry to hear that. maybe it is defective (I hope.) Mine I think is working fine. I had not checked test patterns much yet since I have been busy, but I just put on DVE, and I see above & below black if I am reading the pattern correctly. Using DVD Pluge w/ Gray Scale (#2 of title 12), I see gray scale in the middle, barely notice the 1st black bars, and the outside bars (lighter gray) are clear. I will try to capture a pic later. For now, I am struggling to get my 4 year old to bed. Urghh!

You should see "blacker" than black bars on both edges if its doing the pluge test correctly.

e.g. turn the brightness up a lot and you should have 3 bars on the left and 3 on the right. The right-most and left-most should be darker than the rest of the picture

Was on the "confirm" page to buy the player and then Cliff posted his response- so I didnt proceed. I'd love to get rid of my almost-but-never-quite -working-correctly HTPC [sigh].

Jonathan

Originally posted by mikemav
Sorry to hear that. maybe it is defective (I hope.) Mine I think is working fine. I had not checked test patterns much yet since I have been busy, but I just put on DVE, and I see above & below black if I am reading the pattern correctly. Using DVD Pluge w/ Gray Scale (#2 of title 12), I see gray scale in the middle, barely notice the 1st black bars, and the outside bars (lighter gray) are clear. I will try to capture a pic later. For now, I am struggling to get my 4 year old to bed. Urghh!

Whoops, you're right Cliff as usual. I forgot there were three stripes w/ DVE's pluge. So it does not pass below black. Damn! I wish Keith Jack from Sigma was still contributing to this thread. I'd love to know if this is a hardware limitation or if it could be updated in firmware. I-O has been very responsive so far w/ requests. I'd love to know if that could be fixed.

Originally posted by mikemav
Whoops, you're right Cliff as usual. I forgot there were three stripes w/ DVE's pluge. So it does not pass below black. Damn! I wish Keith Jack from Sigma was still contributing to this thread. I'd love to know if this is a hardware limitation or if it could be updated in firmware. I-O has been very responsive so far w/ requests. I'd love to know if that could be fixed.

Mike,

With my unit none of the 3 PLUGE bars are visible. I can turn the brightness on my display up to 100% and the PLUGE is still not there. The HD test pattern (Barsref1) has only two PLUGE bars (1 above and 1 below black) and the above black is not visible. This black crush makes HD much too dark.

Originally posted by mikemav
Whoops, you're right Cliff as usual. I forgot there were three stripes w/ DVE's pluge. So it does not pass below black. Damn! I wish Keith Jack from Sigma was still contributing to this thread. I'd love to know if this is a hardware limitation or if it could be updated in firmware. I-O has been very responsive so far w/ requests. I'd love to know if that could be fixed.

Well, I'm no proof, since I can't see the blacker than black 3rd stripe with my MyHd card either. Perhaps it is something else in my system, like my matrix switcher, but for now, I cannot pass blacker than black on either. I thought you were connected w/ MyHD via DVI Cliff?....is that a fair comparison, or have you checked the I-O against the MyHD w/ analog cables? Regardless, I did an A/B with the two, MyHD at 720p via RGB to my HT1100 projector and the I-O at 720 P with the hurting crap shorty D4/component cable to RCA barrels to a 6' component cable to switcher. (The JVC cable is coming tomorrow, thank God.) The sharpness pattern on DVE was what I used. MyHD via RGB was clearly sharper. However, I have better & more direct cabling as well. We'll see if the JVC cable makes a difference tomorrow.

New to the AVS forum community... Thanks to all for the contributed knowledge. Question for those using the linkserver portion of the device: will the software recognize content on a networked drive such as a buffalo linkstation or other NAS drive that can be mapped to the PC running the application? Thanks again.

Originally posted by Cliff Watson
Mike,

With my unit none of the 3 PLUGE bars are visible. I can turn the brightness on my display up to 100% and the PLUGE is still not there. The HD test pattern (Barsref1) has only two PLUGE bars (1 above and 1 below black) and the above black is not visible. This black crush makes HD much too dark.

Something is surely wrong then. I can clearly see the 2% and 4% bars against the black background, and even though I cannot see below black (nor on MyHD in my system), it looks pretty well adjusted for contrast & brightness. Do you have a good test scene to see black crush? Be glad to take a look & even post some screen shots.

Originally posted by mikemav
Something is surely wrong then. I can clearly see the 2% and 4% bars against the black background, and even though I cannot see below black (nor on MyHD in my system), it looks pretty well adjusted for contrast & brightness. Do you have a good test scene to see black crush? Be glad to take a look & even post some screen shots.

Mike,

Everything video has crushed black (and crushed dark grays).

Originally posted by mikemav
Well, I'm no proof, since I can't see the blacker than black 3rd stripe with my MyHd card either. Perhaps it is something else in my system, like my matrix switcher, but for now, I cannot pass blacker than black on either. I thought you were connected w/ MyHD via DVI Cliff?....is that a fair comparison, or have you checked the I-O against the MyHD w/ analog cables? Regardless, I did an A/B with the two, MyHD at 720p via RGB to my HT1100 projector and the I-O at 720 P with the hurting crap shorty D4/component cable to RCA barrels to a 6' component cable to switcher. (The JVC cable is coming tomorrow, thank God.) The sharpness pattern on DVE was what I used. MyHD via RGB was clearly sharper. However, I have better & more direct cabling as well. We'll see if the JVC cable makes a difference tomorrow.

Mike,

I have two MyHD cards. One with DVI and one with analog which I compared to the I-O Data player.

Unlike the I-O Data player MyHD can be adjusted at the source. If you can't see the below black PLUGE bar turn up the brightness on the display and increase the MyHD brightness until the below black is slightly visble and then reduce the display brightness setting until you can no longer see the below black bar.

Originally posted by jotter
.... but looking at their web site this is shown in red:

*LinkPlayer doesn't have an upscaling function. The current market available DVD movie (480p SD) is by 480p out with no scaling even if LinkPlayer setting is 720p or 1080i HD mode. 720p DVD disc will come in a market, and it can be played by 720p output.

Jonathan

So this brings me back to my original point before I had the non-anamorphic DVD scare: I-O's marketing is making a HUGE mistake by emphasizing this new point, especially since it IS NOT TRUE! I know the MPAA would like it to be true that commercial DVDs do not up-convert via component, but since it does still up-convert, all they are doing is killing potential sales and confusing everyone.

By the way, I just confirmed that if I take my .ts files & run them through VLC to convert to program stream (without other transcoding, thus keeping the same resolution & bit rate), name the program stream .vob, the file plays great and with FF/RW and jump to %. Too bad I had made all those HD TiVo captures .ts since the vob woudl not play right on my old player. Now I have to have the poor PC crunch a zillion more numbers to convert them back.

Originally posted by mikemav
Something is surely wrong then. I can clearly see the 2% and 4% bars against the black background, and even though I cannot see below black (nor on MyHD in my system), it looks pretty well adjusted for contrast & brightness. Do you have a good test scene to see black crush? Be glad to take a look & even post some screen shots.

Mike,

Agreed that something is wrong. My player will not even display the 10 IRE window from AVIA, so at least 10% is crushed to black.

And Cliff, I must correct myself (yet again...) On my upstairs 50" Sony, I DO SEE BELOW BLACK on that same DVE pattern. Must be something in the way things are set on my projector. I did not try turning up contrast....perhaps it is too low or I have the iris cranked down too much. Regardless, I now see all three stripes from the I-O player and the DVE disc. I'm sure someone else who has DVE can confirm at some point. Perhaps you can get a replacement.

I have 2 issues with streaming .ts files from my recordings using MyHD120. Right now thanks to mikemav's comment using VLC to convert to .vob files - all of my issues are now FIXED (even though it is an extra step)!!! THANKYOU MIKEMAV. I have 6 local HD broadcasting affiliates. 5 of them broadcast the audio in Dolby Surround all of the time (These stream with NO issues). The other one broadcasts in 5.1 all of the time (ABC). The ABC station recordings play fine using VLC or MyHD, but when I stream (wired) to the Avel, the video is excellent, but the audio is extremely distorted. The only way I can get the audio somewhat intelligible is to set the audio output to STEREO (still choppy, but at least it isn't garbled). I do have a Denon AVR-1803 receiver, but this unit plays 5.1 & DTS DVD's just fine. I even burned a small .ts file to a DVD and tried to play it that way. Same issues. Video/Audio fine on 5 stations, but the station broadcasting 5.1 - garbled audio). I don't have another 5.1 receiver lying around, but I do have a 30meg .ts file if somebody would care to try to stream it to the I-O Data. It plays fine using VLC & MyHD. This issue is fixed with Mikemav's conversion to .vob !!! 5.1 does play correctly now.

Issue 2 is sort of an opposite problem that I was wondering if anybody else has seen. When I stream .ts files I get a fixed line of pixel garbage (see photo) in the middle of the screen that will not clear up. It just stays. I have done numerous tests on this as well. Funny thing is... I get this on my 5 stations broadcasting Dolby Surround, but I do NOT get the fixed line on the station that broadcasts 5.1. If I reboot the player with the HD Browser DISABLED, there is NEVER a line of pixel garbage !! HD Browser Enabled - Line comes back 100% of the time. I do like the HD Browser mode enabled, so this is just another little workaround. This issue was also fixed by converting to .vob.

Sorry for the long post. And thanks to Boatman for his help as well.

With all the talk about converting ts --> vob using VLC (which I don't have), I did basically the same thing with Womble Mpeg Video Wizard. That is, I transcoded a ts file from the JVC HDV 720p camcorder to a mpeg2 ps without re-encoding. Of course, it played from the Link Server, but I also burned it to a DVD. It played flawlessly from the DVD, FF and <%> both worked.

Folks, that's a 19.5 mb/s data rate! I still have the Lite-On 167 drive in there. I assume the stock EPO 306 would give the same result.

Very impressive!

Guys, on the upscale issue : at MPC ( http://www.mpeg-playcenter.com ) forums some guy nicknamed "Dracula" was able to find generic way to remove Macrovision level 3 (upscale preventation if CSS enabled DVD) from all KiSS' players firmwares and all KiSS players are Sigma based (on different : EM8500/EM8550/EM8560 chips) so procedure is generic , contact him if you wish him to help you to explain how to modify firmware to get upscaling on DVI.

If you like I can upload my 1280x720 and 1920x1080 Mpeg4 test cards.... Some of you may already have the 1280x720 test card I posted near the begining of this thread.


Cheers

Originally posted by wingtipz
Anybody played with the "Drive Speed" menu to see if that makes burned DVD playback any better. Does it quiet the drive?

Thanks
Yes, the new drive speed setting does make the drive much quieter.

1568 posts, and counting, in ONE thread! This player really deserves its own forum, because a lot of questions and answers are getting lost in the background noise. There is a forum set up for this player already at Mpeg-Playcenter.com:

http://www.mpeg-playcenter.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=57

Hello group,

I just bought the AVLP2 two days ago from IO-Magic's sales headquarters in San Jose, CA (I work 2 blocks away). Very impressed with the people who work there, their service, and most of all the product. As someone posted earlier they are genuinely excited about their product(s) and gave me great service, including a complete demo of their unit despite it being after hours in the evening. They sold me right there and I bought a unit.

It's an outstanding, but not yet perfect unit IMO. It blows away the Philips DVP642 I've been struggling with the past few months. Man, I was sick of re-encoding DivX files time and again to get them to play, and more often than not with severe stuttering/lip sync probs!

As far as picture quality, in a direct A/B comparison on my Toshiba 40H80 RPTV with a DivX .avi playing on disc in the DVP642 (480p) and over network in the AVLP2 (1080i), the colors are much more accurate, detail is noticeably better, aspect ratio is more correct, scan lines no longer noticeable, big difference overall. And streaming over the network is just plain cool.

Questions about use:
Is there going to be a firmware update to enable digital audio out for WMV-HD? (Or conversion to AC3 if it's my receiver's problem?)

Wish list :
Display Time on non-DVD files! Ideally option for Time Remaining too.

Fix FF/RW functionality! It's very bad. Also, include Time search.

Display file info - see how KiSS did it
Include: Video size, codec, file length, Audio size, codec

Typing interface - numeric fields (IP address) should be numbers only

Map 'instant replay' button. My 4yo Sony has that.

Enable resume in all media files!

Clean up navigation on the browser screens. It's rather convoluted.

All of these are firmware modifiable. Otherwise, outstanding device!

Nice plug flip.

I haven't read all 53 pgs so sorry if this is redundant.

How does the player handle divx, xvid etc @ lower that dvd resolution?
Does is simply upcon to the selected output res, and how does this look?

Does it play MPEG2 dat files like VLC or do they need to be converted to avi?

I received my drive yesterday. I was going to post my first impressions, should I start a new thread or just put em up here with everything else ?

put em here unless they are revolutionary, pls.

I had hoped that you would be able to create playlists with the player, usually when I listen to music I create a new one even though I have many saved. Doesn't look like it's going to happen, here is the response I received to my inquiry-

Now LinkPlayer doesn't support any playlist files, but our server
software "Advanced Server" can help you. For more details, please check
this page:
http://www.iodata.com/usa/products/AVLP2_Setup.php#AD

But perhaps this solution may not match your request. LinkPlayer itself
cannot make any playlist. In order to do, the player side needs more
flash space (storage space to save playlists). Technically no problem,
but the current model cannot, also we don't want to release such a model
in the future. Because "more flash space" means more higher cost. We
don't think customers are not happy...

I've gone to the page for the server software, exactly what does this do that the player couldn't do before? My player is still with FedEx, by the way.

OK here we go. Just a few observations both good and bad.

Initial set up was simply plug in network cable to my switch, power on.
The drive has no fan but never got hot after running for hours. It also has a power save mode and wake on lan which after I turned them on seemsd to work good, I left it on overnight and it was cool to the touch this morning but worked as soon as I clicked on the folder in windows XP.

I began by copying files from my XP box to the drive. 8 gig mpg, wmv trailers, divxhd avi's etc etc. The network copy speed is quite good. Browsing from the pc seems faster to me than it does browsing to another Windows XP box on the network ! I did not time any transfers, just initial impressions.

Getting the Linkplayer to work was a little more trouble. The UHDL showed up in the initial menu on the player without any action by me. However it took me a while to figure out a few things. The first file I stored on the UHDL was an 8 gig mpg file. The UHDL is running an old version of the linkserver software imbedded in firmware inside the drive case. When I browsed to the video folder nothing showed up from the linkplayer however from windows the file was there. This turned out to be the "can't playback files bigger that 2 gig" feature :( It is quite odd that the files playback over the network great from my windows pc but the embedded linkserver can't see them or play them. Next I copied the wmv trailers and divxhd trailers all of which played back the same as on my PC, great video no chop but no audio on the WMV movies. Divx trailers worked great.

I then plugged in my Ximeta usb drive . You can automatically browse it from windows over the network and I access and played mp3s from my PC with no problems. Now to see the folder on the UHDL from the linkplayer you have to quit sharing the original folders from the internal UHDL drive. After changing to the ext usb drive in the UHDL setup the linkplayer also browsed and played my 320kbs MP3's with no trouble and with nice backgrounds from the imbedded linkserver. I did not try my usb printer on it yet. It would be nice to be able to network print without my bedroom pc having to be on which is where my usb printer is currently attached. There may be a way to share both the internal and extenal drives, I just have not figured it out yet.

All setup functions are done using your web browser, I used both firefox and IE 6 both worked fine. The menus are a little odd but I think that is from the Japanese to English conversions. You can setup users and passwords for various folders, or groups of users. I did not do any of that other than setting up the drive for access to ALL users.

I spoke to IODATA with a few questions. There are going to be firmware updates available for the UHDL drives via CD's If the experience we are having with the linkplayer is an example I think the drives will be very good once the firmware catches up. Once you can store all of your media and access it without your pc running it will be outstanding !
I am most iimpressed by the network access. My ximeta drive required special drivers on each client and was a pain to use.
Sorry for the scattered thoughts but I have been drinking coffee all morning :)

Hi,

I've been seeing this problem mentioned quite a few times.

It seems there is a problem with WMV movie audio. Is this something which
(a) is (potentially) fixable through firmware (doesn't require new hardware)
(b) will be fixed shortly (e.g. iodata know about it and have a solution)

Thanks
Jonathan

I am not finding a drive speed menu anywhere in the setup menu's after updating my firmware. It is definitely not in my DVD setup menu where I would expect it to be... Before trying a rollback and a second update I wanted to verify where the drive speed setting option should be located.

Thanks!

Drive speed is on the main OPTIONS menu between Audio Settings and Browser options

I have a question about album cover art and mp3s. I've just downloaded images for most albums and now I am going through the laborious process of using Media Jukebox to store the images inside the files. Will the player recognize the images and display them or am I wasting my time? I don't care about displaying them on the computer. Will I have to do it again when I get the player? All the images are now saved in the folder for each album.

I have all my cover art in J Rivers Media Center , the player does not see mine, just the actual files themselves.

I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but the firmware update did add WM DRM support even though the release notes don't mention it. Of course, there's still no audio.

Originally posted by gtrogue
I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but the firmware update did add WM DRM support even though the release notes don't mention it. Of course, there's still no audio.

Why "of course"? Is this a problem which cannot be solved in this player? Doesn't it make the WMV support kind of useless?

Thanks
Jonathan

Moved my HP printer to the USB on the UHDL, did an add printer in XP works fine don't have to leave my bedroom PC running or start it if I want to print from my other pcs anymore.

Also here is the reported port usage lists. Includes SHOUTCAST Server

* + 192.168.1.6
|___ 21 File Transfer Protocol [Control]
|___ 220 netdisk FTP server ready...
|___ 80 World Wide Web HTTP
|___ HTTP/1.1 200 OK..Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 18:29:58 GMT..Server: Apache/1.3.26 (Unix)..Last-Modified: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 03:10:19 GM
|___ 139 NETBIOS Session Service
|___ 515 spooler
|___ 7000 file server itself
|___ 8000 iRDMI/Shoutcast Server

Originally posted by jotter
Why "of course"? Is this a problem which cannot be solved in this player? Doesn't it make the WMV support kind of useless?

Thanks
Jonathan

Yes and no. WMA 9 Pro support is supposed to be added with the January firmware update. The problem is that no one, outside of I-O Data, knows how it will be implemented. Since there are no analog multichannel audio outputs on the player the most likely options seem to be that they will output the encoded WMA signal via the digital audio outputs which will require the use of a preamp/processor that can decode the signal (only one exists that I know of and it is a high end model Pioneer Elite, >$5k) or they can decode the audio in the player and output it via the analog stereo outputs. Other options would be to output a stereo PCM signal via the digital audio outputs or convert the signal on the fly to DD. The former seems like a must, otherwise you have to hook up the stereo audio outputs from the player and I don't know about the rest of you but reassigning audio inputs to video inputs on my processor isn't something I want to be doing all the time. The latter isn't very likely.

Originally posted by gtrogue
Other options would be to output a stereo PCM signal via the digital audio outputs or convert the signal on the fly to DD. The former seems like a must, otherwise you have to hook up the stereo audio outputs from the player and I don't know about the rest of you but reassigning audio inputs to video inputs on my processor isn't something I want to be doing all the time. The latter isn't very likely.

I hope the method will be to output a stereo PCM signal via the digital audio outputs, but we'll have to wait for the answer.

But as for reassigning audio inputs to video inputs on your processor, isn't that something you would have to do with any analog output(s) even if the I-O Data included the (6) channel analog output jacks?

The shoutcast server listed at 8000 is just the linkserver itself, if I use the web browser to that port I get the first linkserver menu.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
I hope the method will be to output a stereo PCM signal via the digital audio outputs, but we'll have to wait for the answer.

But as for reassigning audio inputs to video inputs on your processor, isn't that something you would have to do with any analog output(s) even if the I-O Data included the (6) channel analog output jacks?

Possibly, but you could always use the analog outputs for all multichannel output. Provided, of course, that DD and/or DTS decoding was also included and the quality was acceptable.

Anyone have a Yamaha RX-V650 or 750 receiver and can tell me if it plays the dolby digital stream from link player? I need to replace my receiver now and cannot wait for firmware upgrades to fix audio compatibility problems discussed here and in the FAQ thread.

This is truly ridiculous having multiple sub-threads inside this thread.

NETWORK DRIVE question:

I currently have a 300GB Maxtor USB drive. Anyone know if I could connect it to a network storage link (such as Linksys NSLU2) and use that as a network media drive? I assume I need to somehow run LinkServer on it; I don't know how to run a program on a network drive though. How is the UHDL doing it?

Edited:
Ha! Just answered my own question. The NSLU2 is running Linux and someone figured out how to crack into it here:

tomsnetworking.com/Sections-article85.php

and run their own programs. So I'm guessing we just need to get a Linux version of LinkServer. FYI, the Maxtor 300GB USB drive street price is $295 and the NSLU2 is $70. $375 is cheaper than $500 for the 300GB UHDL.

Originally posted by toypllr
I have 2 issues with streaming .ts files from my recordings using MyHD120. Right now thanks to mikemav's comment using VLC to convert to .vob files - all of my issues are now FIXED (even though it is an extra step)!!! THANKYOU MIKEMAV. I have 6 local HD broadcasting affiliates. 5 of them broadcast the audio in Dolby Surround all of the time (These stream with NO issues). The other one broadcasts in 5.1 all of the time (ABC). The ABC station recordings play fine using VLC or MyHD, but when I stream (wired) to the Avel, the video is excellent, but the audio is extremely distorted. The only way I can get the audio somewhat intelligible is to set the audio output to STEREO (still choppy, but at least it isn't garbled). I do have a Denon AVR-1803 receiver, but this unit plays 5.1 & DTS DVD's just fine. I even burned a small .ts file to a DVD and tried to play it that way. Same issues. Video/Audio fine on 5 stations, but the station broadcasting 5.1 - garbled audio). I don't have another 5.1 receiver lying around, but I do have a 30meg .ts file if somebody would care to try to stream it to the I-O Data. It plays fine using VLC & MyHD. This issue is fixed with Mikemav's conversion to .vob !!! 5.1 does play correctly now.

Issue 2 is sort of an opposite problem that I was wondering if anybody else has seen. When I stream .ts files I get a fixed line of pixel garbage (see photo) in the middle of the screen that will not clear up. It just stays. I have done numerous tests on this as well. Funny thing is... I get this on my 5 stations broadcasting Dolby Surround, but I do NOT get the fixed line on the station that broadcasts 5.1. If I reboot the player with the HD Browser DISABLED, there is NEVER a line of pixel garbage !! HD Browser Enabled - Line comes back 100% of the time. I do like the HD Browser mode enabled, so this is just another little workaround. This issue was also fixed by converting to .vob.

Sorry for the long post. And thanks to Boatman for his help as well.

Glad that tip worked on the VLC. It is free, BTW, for those who don't have it. Anyway, I have noticed some garbled audio when I start playing a 5.1 file as well. Rewinding a little bit, or pausing, and starting again seems to re-lock the audio for me.

No idea about the pixel line in the middle though. Sorry.
-Mike

New Thread for UHDL / Linkplayer posted since this thread is el hugo !

mikemav

I did see a line in the middle of my ts I downloaded as well. I noticed if I played it using elecard mpeg2 player that the stream actually seems to have 3 playback windows. One is the monday night football, one is a weather radar loop for the station playing monday night football. I wonder if the linkplayer is somehow mixing up the stream data. I could post a link to the ts if anyone wants to look at it. I found it on google
http://www.dododge.net/roku/ts-samples.html

mikemav - rewind, pause, start/stop never solved my garbled issues. I tried everything!!

snoots - Have you tried to replay that .ts stream with HD Browser Disabled to see if the line disappeared as it does on mine? Just curious.

I also tried that football.ts stream you listed. Same audio garble and I also had that line. With HD Browser disabled - line was gone, but audio still garbled.

Add another receiver to the no coax output list Dennon 3805 no DTS out fix was to switch to optical.

Anyone have this player setup in their pronto yet? can anyone share a pronto ccf file?

Hi,

Can anyone (Cliff?) comment on the quality of the upconversion process (and picture quality in general) versus the number of other upconverting players (like the fabled denon 2900)? (even versus my now old Panasonic XP30).

I'm willing to take the plunge with this player if the upconversion is decent (not necessarily the best)

Jonathan

Originally posted by jotter
Why "of course"? Is this a problem which cannot be solved in this player? Doesn't it make the WMV support kind of useless?

Thanks
Jonathan

doesn't the DRM support mean that commercial WMV-HD discs should work (even without audio). I put in one of the German WMV-HD discs and can only get the player to play the trailers and splash files but the actual movies wont play, they digitise and hang everytime (same over a network). The linkplayer site shows DRM support as part of the January firmware update.

Originally posted by jotter
Hi,

Can anyone (Cliff?) comment on the quality of the upconversion process (and picture quality in general) versus the number of other upconverting players (like the fabled denon 2900)? (even versus my now old Panasonic XP30).

I'm willing to take the plunge with this player if the upconversion is decent (not necessarily the best)

Jonathan

Cliff's comments are back a page or so...He may have a faulty unit as he noted.

I have a Panasonic RP82, which like your XP30 is nearly top-rated and flawless in Secrets tests. That said, in most respects the I-O Data tops it in *subjective* picture quality...for me. It's a case of do you go by what the specs and measurements say, or what you see with your own eyes? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for objective measurements and testing, but sometimes you have to just put the tools down and enjoy the picture, which on the I-O Data is excellent.

Compared to my RP82, the I-O Data upscaled 1080i picture has more detail, less grain, more transparency, more natural colors and balance, and less color banding, probably due to the 150mhz 12 bit video DAC.

The Panasonic has slightly better shadow detail and deinterlacing, a more robust DVD-Rom reader. The Panasonic takes care of everything for you, the I-O Data is a supercharged hot rod for tweakers.

"Cliff's comments are back a page or so...He may have a faulty unit as he noted."

Today I've confirmed that I do have a faulty unit. I put the Y output on my scope and found that everything below 64mV is pushed into black which accounts for why I can't see any bars in the PLUGE or even the 10 IRE grayscale window. I'll call I-O Data on Monday for a RMA.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
Cliff's comments are back a page or so...He may have a faulty unit as he noted.

I have a Panasonic RP82, which like your XP30 is nearly top-rated and flawless in Secrets tests. That said, in most respects the I-O Data tops it in *subjective* picture quality...for me. It's a case of do you go by what the specs and measurements say, or what you see with your own eyes? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for objective measurements and testing, but sometimes you have to just put the tools down and enjoy the picture, which on the I-O Data is excellent.

Compared to my RP82, the I-O Data upscaled 1080i picture has more detail, less grain, more transparency, more natural colors and balance, and less color banding, probably due to the 150mhz 12 bit video DAC.

The Panasonic has slightly better shadow detail and deinterlacing, a more robust DVD-Rom reader. The Panasonic takes care of everything for you, the I-O Data is a supercharged hot rod for tweakers.

Tom,

Thanks - I noted Cliffs comments but he was initially comparing to MyHD from his HTPC (I already have an HTPC (well, two actually) but I'm FED UP WITH CONSTANTLY TWEAKING THE THINGS to get/keep them working - hence the desire for a simple media-box style front end). The reason I mentioned Cliffs name was that he at least had done one comparison already (to a broken box :() (and may have compared other upscaling players to his MyHD HTPC). I'll take another look to see if I missed any more comparisons.

I'm going to ask a question which I'm not even sure makes sense - can the output resolutions be tweaked at all (ala Momitsu)? I realize they'll be going analog anyway (component) but I imagine (?) that it could produce a better picture than 720p/1080i which has to be scaled separately. Hmmmm. Not sure my NEC XM4 even takes stuff which isn't 720p/1080i over the component anyway....

Jonathan

Originally posted by catware
This is truly ridiculous having multiple sub-threads inside this thread.



You got a point there. Might I suggest an entire category for this player? And within that different categories like Link Player for Dummies (like me), Video Processing, Audio Processing, whatever. It would be a great deal of work to categorize what's already been posting so don't do that, just start anew from this point forward.

Edit - looking back at how the DVD section is organized that's not practical, but maybe multiple threads. I mean the player has just been relased and we're up to 80 pages. It looks like this device is going to be huge.

Originally posted by gtrogue
I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but the firmware update did add WM DRM support even though the release notes don't mention it. Of course, there's still no audio.

Are you sure? I still can't get any DRM enabled files to play, and I have the latest firmware. The website specifically states no DRM support until January.

Are you talking about via the Advanced Link Server? I suppose if the license is obtained by the PC and the Advanced Link Server transcodes the file to MPEG2, then you might be able to play DRM files that way. But that isn't really the same thing.

Can anyone else confirm/deny DRM support in this latest firmware?

Ben

Originally posted by mabrym
You got a point there. Might I suggest an entire category for this player? And within that different categories like Link Player for Dummies (like me), Video Processing, Audio Processing, whatever. It would be a great deal of work to categorize what's already been posting so don't do that, just start anew from this point forward.

Edit - looking back at how the DVD section is organized that's not practical, but maybe multiple threads. I mean the player has just been relased and we're up to 80 pages. It looks like this device is going to be huge.

All these comments about the thread size make me chuckle. I was an early adopter on the Kenwood Sovereign DVD changer (one of the first player's with Faroudja DCDI) and the Entre media hub. Now that is a huge thread (almost 5900 posts!) A few years old & still near the top of the DVD forum often. No subcatagory given there. Just had to subscribe & keep up. I know it is a pain, but I doubt the mods would be apt to break off every big thread, as nice as it might be. Ever look at the Lost thread in the HD programming area? 2600+ there. Don't get me wrong; I'm all for it if it is practical, and I love all the info here.

toypllr

HDbrowser plays back line in the picture with .ts file
non hdbrowser plays back with NO LINE

I'm sorry to bring bad news this first day of the year. I got this e-mail from makita@iodata.co.jp:
"Hi Bjorn,

HDCP support needs a DVI or HDMI output interface you know. And also a
specific chip is needed. For example, it needs Sil 170 (Silicon Image
DVI VGA decoder chip). However AVLP2/DVDG doesn't have it. So it can
NEVER support HDCP even if the firmware is updated (doesn't matter with
HDCP).

If IODATA is releasing AVLP3 model, it may support HDCP. But I'm not
sure of the next model releasing date. Thank you."

I guess I'll sell my AVLP2/DVDG soon and buy a Momitsu 880N...

Originally posted by Bjorn_E
IHDCP support needs a DVI or HDMI output interface you know. And also a specific chip is needed. For example, it needs Sil 170 (Silicon Image
DVI VGA decoder chip). Why is this a big deal? I knew when I bought it that HDCP was only for DVI/HDMI products. How will that change anything related to the player if I have component inputs on my HDTV?

In no way am I dogging this player but I think I was sent a Beta product. (pun intended)

1. DVD player locks or freezes on commercial DVD’s after latest firmware.

2. I have a mysterious faint permanent “Halo” or an image using numerous cables from the RCA jacks. (Linkplayer2, Monster, RCA brands)

3. It shuts off while playing at random times.


I’ll try to describe the image the best I can here but it looks like a gable or an arch about 3” inches from the side of my 32” Sony. While in transition from a fade in a black screen it looks horrible. At first I thought I had a bad tube on my set, but after switching to my plasma on the D4 cable it was “less” noticeable. Would under-scan be a correct description?

Anyway.. my rant, but I love the server side of things.

A very happy camper.

Happy New Year!!

:D

I have noticed that I get a very small stuttering or jerking motion while playing vob files. I am running the latest firmware and LAN 100mb network. I am using the momitsu software. Tomorrow (late right now) I will try the new advanced server and the updated reg software to see if it is the same.

Anyone have any ideas?

Originally posted by PioNewbie
In no way am I dogging this player but I think I was sent a Beta product. (pun intended)

1. DVD player locks or freezes on commercial DVD’s after latest firmware.

2. I have a mysterious faint permanent “Halo” or an image using numerous cables from the RCA jacks. (Linkplayer2, Monster, RCA brands)

3. It shuts off while playing at random times.
:D I have only used the D4 cable, but I have not experienced any of these problems. I have watched 3 commercial DVDs (not a huge sample) on it and have never had any issues on playback. Lately, I have been burning the DVDs to my computer and watching from the network. I have never had it shut off randomly, either. I did have a problem with lock-ups on DivxHD and that problem was resolved with the newer firmware.

You may have a defective player. I would suggest that you email I-O data and let them know your problems. They have been extremely helpful with each and every question/request I have given them. The problems that you are having do not appear to be common among most users.

I heard that they would be adding "Remote PC" to the Linkplayer.

"From 2005, the LinkPlayer can control a Windows PC and display this
desktop image. It means PDF, HTTP, PowerPoint, whatever can be available."

I think this will be a cool thing to have when my computer is on. What do other users think of this capability?

Originally posted by uofmtiger
I have only used the D4 cable, but I have not experienced any of these problems. I have watched 3 commercial DVDs (not a huge sample) on it and have never had any issues on playback. Lately, I have been burning the DVDs to my computer and watching from the network. I have never had it shut off randomly, either. I did have a problem with lock-ups on DivxHD and that problem was resolved with the newer firmware.

You may have a defective player. I would suggest that you email I-O data and let them know your problems. They have been extremely helpful with each and every question/request I have given them. The problems that you are having do not appear to be common among most users.

Thank you for the advice. I'm also glad to know that it seems I'm the only one, and I'll miss her when she's gone for repair.

:(

Originally posted by uofmtiger
Why is this a big deal? I knew when I bought it that HDCP was only for DVI/HDMI products. How will that change anything related to the player if I have component inputs on my HDTV?

If you reread the heading, you will se that I refer to the Japanses version that does have DVI, but sadly not HDCP, so it wil never be able to play DVDs over DVI.

Originally posted by bcbuie
Are you sure? I still can't get any DRM enabled files to play, and I have the latest firmware. The website specifically states no DRM support until January.

Are you talking about via the Advanced Link Server? I suppose if the license is obtained by the PC and the Advanced Link Server transcodes the file to MPEG2, then you might be able to play DRM files that way. But that isn't really the same thing.

Can anyone else confirm/deny DRM support in this latest firmware?

Ben

After the update I was able to play some WMV files containing DRM over the network which were not playable before the update. Perhaps, the DRM support is partially implemented.

I've noticed an issue when playing back large vob files over the network. With two ripped DVD's, King Arthur and Envy, around the 40%-45% mark they will jump ahead 30-75 seconds, like a small glitch, and then keep playing normally.

It's pretty strange. I believe it may be a ripping problem, perhaps at the joining point of two vob's. These are the only movies I've seen this happen with. I used the latest version of DVD Decryptor to rip the files. Can anybody else with a DVD Decryptor ripped version of these movies check them out.

In King Arthur the problem occurs when the knights are rescuing the Roman family, right after Arthur says, "Wall them back up". It's somewhere around the 40%-45% mark.

In Envy the problem occurs during the scene where Amy Pohler is talking to the lady at the door about here senate campaign right after the lady says, "Your husband's the one that made all the money making turds disappear". This one's at the 42% or 43% mark.

I had trouble with King Arthur playing in the dvd drive itself. If I tried to skip the commercials it froze entirely and required a power cycle !

Also I have posted a bunch of info in a thread on the UHDL NAS storage box from IODATA in the main DVD thread above this one ..

Has anyone test to see if the IOData can switch between multiple audio tracks in an MP4 container yet? I lent my IOData to a friend who was having issues with his father's IOData unit (which turned out to be defective) so I haven't had a chance to test it yet.

Originally posted by Kermee
Has anyone test to see if the IOData can switch between multiple audio tracks in an MP4 container yet? I lent my IOData to a friend who was having issues with his father's IOData unit (which turned out to be defective) so I haven't had a chance to test it yet. Yes,

I provided some files and... no, they would not work.... Bummer!


Cheers

by mapping a windows drive to the netdisk, then adding the network drive to the linkserver video folder the linkplayer plays files bigger than 2 gig from the UHDL . You can also map the UHDL attached USB drives that way as well. So until they fix the 2 gig limit on the UHDL directly there is an easy work around.

I just downloaded an HD movie (Meet Joe Black) to compare to the DVD I own. The file is composed of 177 parts all in .ts format. (this is over network, using Momitsu MC). Changing the extension to .mpg did not work, as the file would play for a few seconds and then audio would drop out. Changing extension back to .ts and adding the .ts line to the Momitsu video.xml file allowed the file to play.

However, every minute when the player jumps to the next file, the screen goes black, the name of the next file is displayed, and then starts playing.

Is there any way to get rid of these hiccups? Or is the only solution to join files to the 4GB mark? The movie is 17GB so that would yield ~4 hiccups instead of 176.

Originally posted by Bjorn_E
I'm sorry to bring bad news this first day of the year. I got this e-mail from makita@iodata.co.jp:
"Hi Bjorn,

HDCP support needs a DVI or HDMI output interface you know. And also a
specific chip is needed. For example, it needs Sil 170 (Silicon Image
DVI VGA decoder chip). However AVLP2/DVDG doesn't have it. So it can
NEVER support HDCP even if the firmware is updated (doesn't matter with
HDCP).

If IODATA is releasing AVLP3 model, it may support HDCP. But I'm not
sure of the next model releasing date. Thank you."

I guess I'll sell my AVLP2/DVDG soon and buy a Momitsu 880N...

I dont think the Momitsu has HDCP. You may want to check that before you go buy it.

Originally posted by catware
I just downloaded an HD movie (Meet Joe Black) to compare to the DVD I own. The file is composed of 177 parts all in .ts format. (this is over network, using Momitsu MC). Changing the extension to .mpg did not work, as the file would play for a few seconds and then audio would drop out. Changing extension back to .ts and adding the .ts line to the Momitsu video.xml file allowed the file to play.

However, every minute when the player jumps to the next file, the screen goes black, the name of the next file is displayed, and then starts playing.

Is there any way to get rid of these hiccups? Or is the only solution to join files to the 4GB mark? The movie is 17GB so that would yield ~4 hiccups instead of 176.

Yep, this is a known issue with all video file play. Happens when a DVD is ripped using file method as well, as most if not all commercial DVDs are structured with 1GB .vob files. Several pages back this was discussed, and most of us are now ripping (or re-ripping) DVDs with DVD Shrink or Decrypter set to NOT spilt the .vob files. This yields one 4-8GB .vob file that plays without gaps.

As for your .ts file (and I wouldn't publish too much abbout "downloading" one, BTW), you may be able to use the HDTVtoMPEG2 app to process the multple .ts files into one larger file. If your drive is NTFS there is no reason to make them 4GB or less.....one big file for the whole program is fine. Also, it will be better to get the .ts into a program stream (.vob/.mpeg), so fast forward, rewind, and jump to % works on your file on the Linkplayer.

Originally posted by chuna
I dont think the Momitsu has HDCP. You may want to check that before you go buy it.

I belieive it will send it anyway over DVI. EM8550 does not enforce HDCP, as EM8620 does.

/BE

Originally posted by mikemav
you may be able to use the HDTVtoMPEG2 app to process the multple .ts files into one larger file. Works very well, thanks for the info.

With regard to high-def Mpeg2... Can some of you guys try some high-def streams that have been shot using Sony's HDV FX1 camcorder?

There's some PAL and NTSC content here: -

http://www.vasst.com/HDV/FX-1_images-Surfers.htm


Cheers and many thanks

I tried surfer_walk_gamma in both standard linkserver and advanced by editting the video.xml files to add the file type. Both played back video for 2 or 3 seconds and then hung, did not hear any audio either. I'll try transcoding in advanced and see what happens in standard I used

"<ext>m2t</ext>"

in advanced

"<mediaFile extension=".m2t" fake=".mpeg"/>"

no joy with transcode, no video at all

Same symptom with sled_ride_gamma

Hmmm!

I wonder if de-muxing the audio and video streams and just playing the resulting Mpeg2 .m2v video stream, will fair any better?


Cheers

demux'd using TMPGenc editor 1.0.1.59
plays fine after demuxing did'nt mess with audio

I played with the surfer_walk_gamma a little bit. The first time I played it it hung. But a version I ran thru HDTV2MPEG2 played okay. Then I tried the original again and it played.

None had any audio. I don't know if there was even audio on the clips, though H2M said there was a FFFF audio pid.

The playback did not seem smooth in any case above. I don't know if that is the typical slow frame rate of the cameras, a PAL clip, or if it was dropping frames.

- Tom

Originally posted by trbarry
None had any audio. I don't know if there was even audio on the clips, though H2M said there was a FFFF audio pid. It looks like all the clips contain Mpeg1 2Ch audio @ 44.1KHz... but there's not much being said ;)

I've been using Recode2 to re-encode some of these 1440x1080 (1088) HD Mpeg2 sources to 1440x1080 (1088) Mpeg4 ASP and AVC.... And they still look very stable indeed "colour wise".


Cheers

Is this just me or the new Bravo D3 looks like Linkplayer2 ? :)
http://conferencing.cics.bsu.edu/blogs/prpanning/archives/000342.html

Vaporware

Just got my Linkplayer this past week and LOVE IT! It's a little quirky like you have to push power before opening it and then it freezes sometimes when I hit stop during Xvid's. I've learned to just hit back first to keep it from freezing. Has anyone heard of those .mkv type movie files? And will the Linkplayer play them?

Does it work if you author the dvd with menus, video_ts folder or do you just burn the mpeg files?


Originally posted by Tom Roper
With all the talk about converting ts --> vob using VLC (which I don't have), I did basically the same thing with Womble Mpeg Video Wizard. That is, I transcoded a ts file from the JVC HDV 720p camcorder to a mpeg2 ps without re-encoding. Of course, it played from the Link Server, but I also burned it to a DVD. It played flawlessly from the DVD, FF and <%> both worked.

Folks, that's a 19.5 mb/s data rate! I still have the Lite-On 167 drive in there. I assume the stock EPO 306 would give the same result.

Very impressive!

Originally posted by lifeisfun
Is this just me or the new Bravo D3 looks like Linkplayer2 ? :)
http://conferencing.cics.bsu.edu/blogs/prpanning/archives/000342.html It's even got a mention on PCWorld.com: -

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114279,00.asp

If this player is ever launched, lets hope it comes with DVI and 6Ch analogue audio outputs :D


Cheers

[QUOTE]Originally posted by lifeisfun
[B]Is this just me or the new Bravo D3 looks like Linkplayer2 ? :)
QUOTE]

If you go to Bravo's web page, you'll see the D2 uses the same box and it was out before the LinkPlayer2.

Originally posted by lmengel
If you go to Bravo's web page, you'll see the D2 uses the same box and it was out before the LinkPlayer2. Personally speaking, I'm more interested in what's going on around the back of Bravo's D3 player... and any other high-def player using Sigma's EM8620 chip-set/development kit/licensed development kit etc.


Cheers

I am seeing the same behaviour as the rest of you with TS files.

I added the extension for TS files to the AvelLinkPlayers standard server software and renamed a variety of captures I made this weeked with a MyHD card to be .TS files instead of .TP which the MyHd software had used.

I streamed all of them to the LinkPlayer first with the setting of "HD browser" on and experienced a garbled digital line across the middle of the screen. Then I shut off "HD Browser" mode in setup and streamed them all again -- They played fine except for a solid grey border now lined the bottom of my video.

It didn't matter if the video was 1080i, 720p or 420p that I had recorded. I wonder what I-O-DATA is doing different when in HD browser mode of if the MyHD creates a slightly non-standard transport stream.

As with the rest of you I was completely unable to forward thru TS files in any way while playing them (I could pause and zoom only).

BTW - I have also played some TS files from a video recorder which were recorded to a PC accross firewire -- they played fine with either browser setting.

I played quite a bit of HD material this weekend from the MyHD this weekend and another quirk I noticed was that once the LinkPlayer lost synch there was a high chance of it hanging -- several times I had to toggle power (at least I could do that with the remote -- didn't need to touch the physical power).

Originally posted by kohaikibagami
Has anyone heard of those .mkv type movie files? And will the Linkplayer play them? [/B]
Theoretically it should, through Advanced server, as long as the computer the AS is running on is setup to play Matroska and you add the line <mediaFile extension=".mkv" transcode="yes" /> in the "video" section of server-config.xml.

Originally posted by Paul_PDX
I am seeing the same behaviour as the rest of you with TS files.

I added the extension for TS files to the AvelLinkPlayers standard server software and renamed a variety of captures I made this weeked with a MyHD card to be .TS files instead of .TP which the MyHd software had used.

I streamed all of them to the LinkPlayer first with the setting of "HD browser" on and experienced a garbled digital line across the middle of the screen. Then I shut off "HD Browser" mode in setup and streamed them all again -- They played fine except for a solid grey border now lined the bottom of my video.

It didn't matter if the video was 1080i, 720p or 420p that I had recorded. I wonder what I-O-DATA is doing different when in HD browser mode of if the MyHD creates a slightly non-standard transport stream.

As with the rest of you I was completely unable to forward thru TS files in any way while playing them (I could pause and zoom only).

BTW - I have also played some TS files from a video recorder which were recorded to a PC accross firewire -- they played fine with either browser setting.

I played quite a bit of HD material this weekend from the MyHD this weekend and another quirk I noticed was that once the LinkPlayer lost synch there was a high chance of it hanging -- several times I had to toggle power (at least I could do that with the remote -- didn't need to touch the physical power).

Very strange. although I have edited most of my .tp/.ts files now by running them through VLC and making HD .vob files (to enable FF/RW), I do not see this line on any file. I have several from MyHD (PBS, ABC, etc..) and none have the line, even if they are still in .ts form. I do use HD Browser Mode. About the only difference is that I use the Momitsu server. I added .ts extension to the Momitsu xml and have had no problems. I doubt the server would make a difference, but those of you with this issue may want to try it. I prefer it anyway. Now I can get internet, RSS, news, and internet radio as well.

Originally posted by bass4040
Does it work if you author the dvd with menus, video_ts folder or do you just burn the mpeg files?

If it were possible to author the transcoded ts stream to DVD-Video with compliant ifo and vob filetypes, I don't know what would happen within the LinkPlayer2.

In my case, I used Womble to transcode the ts stream to mpeg2 program stream, and burn it as a single large mpg.

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
It's even got a mention on PCWorld.com: -

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114279,00.asp Why is PCWorld saying the Bravo in Q2 ill be the first player to support HD when I can play HD on my AVLP2 right now?

BTW, those DivxHD trailers look very nice, especially 'White Noise."

Originally posted by catware
Why is PCWorld saying the Bravo in Q2 ill be the first player to support HD when I can play HD on my AVLP2 right now?

Check the date of the article...Jan 12 2004.

Originally posted by catware
Why is PCWorld saying the Bravo in Q2 ill be the first player to support HD when I can play HD on my AVLP2 right now? I guess it's because PCWorld's Bravo D3 player report was written before the launch of the I-O DATA player :D

Originally posted by Tom Roper
If it were possible to author the transcoded ts stream to DVD-Video with compliant ifo and vob filetypes, I don't know what would happen within the LinkPlayer2.

In my case, I used Womble to transcode the ts stream to mpeg2 program stream, and burn it as a single large mpg. Has anybody here tried a new DVD/VOB muxing application called, MuxMan. It's available on Doom9.


Cheers

Originally posted by Paul_PDX
I am seeing the same behaviour as the rest of you with TS files.

I added the extension for TS files to the AvelLinkPlayers standard server software and renamed a variety of captures I made this weeked with a MyHD card to be .TS files instead of .TP which the MyHd software had used.

I streamed all of them to the LinkPlayer first with the setting of "HD browser" on and experienced a garbled digital line across the middle of the screen. Then I shut off "HD Browser" mode in setup and streamed them all again -- They played fine except for a solid grey border now lined the bottom of my video.

It didn't matter if the video was 1080i, 720p or 420p that I had recorded. I wonder what I-O-DATA is doing different when in HD browser mode of if the MyHD creates a slightly non-standard transport stream.

As with the rest of you I was completely unable to forward thru TS files in any way while playing them (I could pause and zoom only).

BTW - I have also played some TS files from a video recorder which were recorded to a PC accross firewire -- they played fine with either browser setting.

I played quite a bit of HD material this weekend from the MyHD this weekend and another quirk I noticed was that once the LinkPlayer lost synch there was a high chance of it hanging -- several times I had to toggle power (at least I could do that with the remote -- didn't need to touch the physical power).

Hadn't seen the grey border issue, but have noticed that I adjust to Full Screen as any other setting usually has a border around the picture. I also use Momitsu software, but I have tried all server software with the same result. Original & Upgraded Firmware doesn't matter either.

I also convert to .vob using VLC. Its free and doesn't take that much time. It is also a plus to be able to have FF/RW or Jumping to a % without any video/audio sync problems. There is also no garbled line in any browser mode.

Has anyone tried using transport streams from any of the software cards like the fusion?

I wonder whether some of the problems with high-def Mpeg2 .TS and .TP streams can be associated with things such as, b-frames and GOP?


Cheers

I am totally ignorant of the TS format. When I downloaded a sample ts file as I described in an earlier post my pc plays back 3 different distinct pictures on the sample. How does the playback software know which component of the stream to playback. I am assuming that the radar loop and the monday night football streams are all being sent out OTA by the broadcaster. I wondered if the garbled line was the linkplayer not properly splitting all the stream data. Just a thought,

Snoots

I wondered if the garbled line was the linkplayer not properly splitting all the stream data. Just a thought,

Interesting thought, and probably true since there is no way to specify PID's (logical channels) to the link player. The TS stream I mentioned above was from a Fusion card which only records one channel anyway. I have not tried any streams with multiple channels. I suppose it might be necessary to strip them with HDTV2MPEG2 or null packet stripper or something.

- Tom

I can confirm that the linkplayer is trying to play multiple vidoe streams in the hd browser mode.

Download the football.ts from here
http://www.dododge.net/roku/ts-samples.html

play it back un changed in hd browser mode and you will see the garbled line in the playback video.

Then , using the software from the link below.

http://users.adelphia.net/~mwilczyn/mpeg2repair/

it opens the football.ts stream and show that it does contain 3 video streams and 2 audio streams.

I stripped each video stream out as football 1, 2, 3 .ts and the link player plays all three without the grabled line in the middle set at hd browse mode

SO I think it is safe to say the linkplayer is somehow deocding multiple streams at once or at least a portion of multiple streams !

The tool at the site above works very well and looks like it might be a usefull tool for fixing minor problems in mpeg streams .

I had hoped that once the transport stream bugs were fixed I would be able to use the player for timeshifting (not just archiving) by setting a 15 minute or so file size and playing the ones that were finished.

But without a PID selection mechanism that will only work for programs recorded on my F3Q card which saves a single stream and not my HiDTV card on the other machine which captures the whole thing with multiple streams in a channel. Bummer. At the very least they should probably implement code such that when there were multiple streams it would just play the first one found or, more likely, the lowest numbered stream encountered which will often (with some few exceptions) be the prime channel.

- Tom

toypllr -

What command do you use to convert TS (TP) files to VOBs.

I can get VOBs converted to DIVX but I cant find how to output in VOB format.


It would be great if someone could get VLC streaming to the LinkPlayer!

Paul

I suspect that the firmware portion of the linkplayer is handling the stream in a different way since the line is missing on the non hd browse settings. Somebody who uses the .ts files should report this to IODATA. I don't really use them have just been playing around with things to see how they work. IODATA seems to be very receptive to fixing things as they are found. and reported.

Originally posted by Cliff Watson
Ben,

I have a bunch of HD Transport Stream test patterns posted on my FTP page. They were captured from an ATSC signal generator in 1080i with 17+Mbps data rate. With the current server software you will have to rename the test patterns from .ts to .mpg and place them in your video folder.

www.nabs.net/cwatson53

Thanks Cliff!

However, I should have been more specific. I was really looking for resolution charts. I believe someone posted an MP4 resolution chart earlier in this thread (SeeMoreDigital rings a bell), but that link is now dead :(

I am hoping to use resolution charts to further evaluate the 720p vs 480p vs 1080i output modes on this player.

Thanks,

Ben

Originally posted by Paul_PDX
toypllr -

What command do you use to convert TS (TP) files to VOBs.

I can get VOBs converted to DIVX but I cant find how to output in VOB format.


It would be great if someone could get VLC streaming to the LinkPlayer!

Paul

1. I start VLC (windows version 0.8.1) then select File -->Open File
2. This opens another window where you browse/select your .TS file.
3. Check stream output then click Settings
4. Under Output methods check File, click Browse button.
5. Name your output file and add .vob after it, then click SAVE.
6. Under Encapsulation Method, select MPEG PS. Click Ok
7. Click Ok and it will start.

It looks like a lot but really it isn't. When finished you will have a .vob file that you can stream with no garbled line, 5.1 audio works great, and you will have FF/RW and also be able to jump to a % of length if you want to.

This is how I do it and it works... Maybe mikemav's is shorter. I hadn't played with VLC much until it was mentioned.

I've had my player for 3 days now. I've watched several movies, and have noticed one thing very annoying so far:

1. During playback of Saving Private Ryan, at the highest resolution (1080i), I get interference of some sort on the bottom of the screen. It's especially noticeable in darker scenes, such as the church scene. I popped another disc in to check, and the problem is still there. it only happens at 1080i; the other resolutions are fine, including 720p. I also noticed the interference during the start-up/menu screens. but again, only at 1080i resolution. At 720p I can't see the church scene too well, because its too dark! At 1080i I see it VERY clearly, just with the banding on the bottom. argh!!

2. Minor gripe: navigating the menus are a bit slow. Is there a faster way to just go straight to playing the DVD, instead of it going to network??

Anyone have ideas how to fix the banding? btw, the monitor is the PDP 4300/4310 a la costco....thanks!

Originally posted by snoots
I can confirm that the linkplayer is trying to play multiple vidoe streams in the hd browser mode.

The tool at the site above works very well and looks like it might be a usefull tool for fixing minor problems in mpeg streams .

On my .ts streams that have the line in HD Browser mode, there is only 1 video stream but there are 2 audio streams. Running them thru the above mpg2repair software fixed the issues too. I am still going to run them thru VLC until I-O Data can address this and add FF/RW capabilities.

I planned on sending a note to I-O Data about the .ts issues, but wanted to get as much information as possible before I sent one. I thought I was the only one seeing this issue, which is why it took so long for me to post. I was trying to make sure it wasn't my setup. I appreciate everybody's input and help on this.

Is there a faster way to just go straight to playing the DVD, instead of it going to network??
I think there is an auto start feature in the setup menu.

Are there hiccups or audio loss when you play ts to mpeg2 files from dvd?
I actually want to burn a full HD movie to two dual layered dvds so that would be a single 8 gig mpeg file for each dvd.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
In my case, I used Womble to transcode the ts stream to mpeg2 program stream, and burn it as a single large mpg.

Originally posted by bass4040
Are there hiccups or audio loss when you play ts to mpeg2 files from dvd?
I actually want to burn a full HD movie to two dual layered dvds so that would be a single 8 gig mpeg file for each dvd.

The data rate on my 27 minute mpeg2 program stream file is 18.5 mb/s, the frame size is 1280x720, the frame rate is 29.97 fps, and it occupies almost 3.8 GB as a single file on the DVD data disk.

It plays flawlessly. I have swapped out the DVD drive in my AVLP2 to a Lite-On SOHD-167T, but I think the stock EPO-306D will do as well, but I'm making this disclosure as a disclaimer.

But no audio or video hiccups.

Using Womble to transcode ts streams to mpeg2 ps is exactly what others are doing with VLC, which is free. Womble is not free, but I have it so I use it.

Originally posted by toypllr

This is how I do it and it works... Maybe mikemav's is shorter.

Shorter? Let's not make this personal! My wife thinks it is great just the way it is. :)
Seriously, I use the exact same method. Also, VLC will let you run multiple instances, so I usually process 4 or 5 shows at once. Takes an hour or so, but it gets through them all fine. Then do a quick check & when you verify the .vob's work, delete the .ts.

I don't have the AVEL yet, but I used womble video wizard to transcode a ts stream to mpeg2 program stream and it plays choppy with Win media player 10, VLC, and on womble itself. The original ts file plays with no problems with vlc or womble. This is on an athlon64.


[i]Using Womble to transcode ts streams to mpeg2 ps is exactly what others are doing with VLC, which is free. Womble is not free, but I have it so I use it. [/B]

How are all of you playing DVD's thru the network? Right now the only method I have found is to play all and then there is a short skip between files. Also there are no menu navigation and you can jump to chapters.

Matt

Originally posted by mattdb
How are all of you playing DVD's thru the network? Right now the only method I have found is to play all and then there is a short skip between files. Also there are no menu navigation and you can jump to chapters.

Matt

Rip the movie as a single large VOB.

You can use the left and right navigation arrows to go to a certain percentage of the film. It actually works ok in place of chapter stops. You can use the subtitle and audio buttons to switch between the various audio and subtitle streams.

Originally posted by mattdb
How are all of you playing DVD's thru the network? Right now the only method I have found is to play all and then there is a short skip between files. Also there are no menu navigation and you can jump to chapters.

Matt

Hi Matt-
Yeah, I have been pleading for .ifo file support from the network for a while now, but it seems nobody can say if it is a hardware limitation or of the software could be adapted. In the meantime, I have been ripping all new movies as main movie only, output to one large .vob w/ Decrypter or DVD Shrink. DVD Shrink can also open VIDEO_TS files, and re-encode a copy as a single .vob. It is a pain to do this for over 75 movie folders, though!

Originally posted by bass4040
I don't have the AVEL yet, but I used womble video wizard to transcode a ts stream to mpeg2 program stream and it plays choppy with Win media player 10, VLC, and on womble itself. The original ts file plays with no problems with vlc or womble. This is on an athlon64.

Windows media player doesn't include its own mpeg decoder. It uses an mpeg decoder installed separately as one of the DirectShow filters. Popular mpeg decoders include:

Intervideo
MainConcept
Elecard
Pixela
Ulead

and others.

Playback and support for mpeg varies among the decoders.

On my PC, TS and PS streams play without chop in the InterVideo mpeg decoder.

But whatever PC mpeg decoder is at play, the aforementioned 1280x720 30fps 18.5 mb/s mpeg2 program stream stripped from the TS container by Womble plays perfectly on the AVel LinkPlayer2 and also the PC, for me.

Womble like VLC is not re-encoding, it is 100% stream copy. Some other cause is at the root of choppy playback if it's happening.

In any case, the I-O Data LinkPlayer2 handles it with aplomb.

Mikemav, were you able to conclude to your satisfaction that the AVLP2 is passing below black information from the component output?

Is there any blasted way to speed up the remote functions on this thing. I really like this player, but the remote response is driving me crazy.

Matt

Originally posted by mikemav
it seems nobody can say if [.ifo file support from the network] is a hardware limitation or of the software could be adapted It seems to me that it is a software limitation. The AVLP2 shouldn't care if the files are coming from the IDE DVD-drive attached to it, or from over the network. My guess is that it's possible for IO Data to fix it. It should also be possible for them to fix the pause inbetween changing .vob files when over the network/usb vs. from the DVD loader. Is there any blasted way to speed up the remote functions on this thing. I really like this player, but the remote response is driving me crazy. I think the problem is that the navigation pages are being generated from the LinkServer on your computer over the network. I don't see any slowdown from a DVD in the AVLP2 drive. Can't remember what USB navigation is like...

Originally posted by Tom Roper
Mikemav, were you able to conclude to your satisfaction that the AVLP2 is passing below black information from the component output?

Well, I sure saw it on my upstairs 50" Sony KL-W9000. The thing is, the signal path to get upstairs is kludgey to say the least. From the LinkPlayer it goes to a 4x2 component matrix switch. One output goes to a component to RGB converter (Key Digitial), then on to an RGB switcher where it then makes its way up to the Sony via RGBS (this older Sony cannot handle component.) You would think that output would be more prone to problems, and I do in fact have ghosting caused by other issues. However, I COULD SEE below black in a quick test. The strange thing is the other output of the 4x2 component switch goes directly to my NEC HT1100 projector. For some reason, I could not see below black on that. I did not mess with brightness & contrast though, just brightness. Perhaps if I boost the contrast I would see it since those controls are interactive. I have not had a chance to recheck.

I would like someone with a simpler setup (such as wired direct to a monitor or projector from the Linkplayer) would check the DVE PLUGE pattern to see if all three stripes can be seen. At this time, without further info, I have to say it does unless I was seeing things upstairs.

Cliff, have you gotten your replacement yet?

If I remember, I'll check whether it passes below black information tonight.

I don't have DVE myself (I do have AVIA); is it possible for you to post the pluge pattern vob somewhere, along with instructions of what to look for?

Originally posted by epsilon
I don't have DVE myself (I do have AVIA); is it possible for you to post the pluge pattern vob somewhere, along with instructions of what to look for?

I wouldn't want Joe Kane or the MPAA after me! I'm sure someone else here has the LinkPlayer & DVE. gtrogue said he may check if he has a chance. I'd rather wait, thanks.

You're right, ofcourse, Mike. I'll try to dig up my AVIA disc and find the pluge pattern there.

A lot of the THX DVDs (like Monsters, Inc. or AOTC) have decent pluge patterns as well in the THX Video Optimizer - you don't necessarily need DVE or AVIA to check blacker than blacks.

Originally posted by Dolfo
A lot of the THX DVDs (like Monsters, Inc. or AOTC) have decent pluge patterns as well in the THX Video Optimizer - you don't necessarily need DVE or AVIA to check blacker than blacks.

With the brightness turned up, I've got 10 bars (barely) on THX Optimizer, and no trouble seeing the shadow drop box. Is it passing below black?

There is only very minute differentiation between bar 10 ( the blackest) and bar 9.

A DLP like mine, (or LCD) is probably not the best display technology for making observations about black.

Anybody with 1080i CRT using THX, Avia or DVE?

Don't let this die on the vine...we need to know.

Has anyone discovered discrete IR codes for the Linkplayer2 yet?

It would be nice to use them directly. The WAF (Wife-Approval-Factor) is quite low on changing from 16x9 to letter-box. (My HDTV does not scale HD signals ... thus 4x3 content must be changed in the Linkplayer itself.

It should be easy to program the keystrokes for the remote although discrete IR codes would be a lot nicer.

Originally posted by catware
It seems to me that it is a software limitation. The AVLP2 shouldn't care if the files are coming from the IDE DVD-drive attached to it, or from over the network. My guess is that it's possible for IO Data to fix it. It should also be possible for them to fix the pause inbetween changing .vob files when over the network/usb vs. from the DVD loader.
I'm not so sure that networked IFO support can be added to the player. The player uses UPnP (http://www.upnp.org/) (Universal Plug and Play) to transfer files over the network. Is the UPnP protocol even capable of supporting IFO over the network? If not, then the player would need to use a different protocol that is capable. Perhaps the UPnP experts can provide some insight into this issue.

Originally posted by catware
It seems to me that it is a software limitation. The AVLP2 shouldn't care if the files are coming from the IDE DVD-drive attached to it, or from over the network. My guess is that it's possible for IO Data to fix it. It should also be possible for them to fix the pause inbetween changing .vob files when over the network/usb vs. from the DVD loader.

I disagree. The one thing everyone is not taking into account is the underlying software that allows you to connect to a shared drive in windows. The AVLP2 does not connect to a mapped drive, it connects to a streaming web server. It's absolutely no different than any other video you watch on the web. Yes you can FF/RW by asking the server for the next/previous packet but you can't get it to skip ahead or back X amount or even move to a specific place in the file because that is not how web servers stream video.


Originally posted by catware
I think the problem is that the navigation pages are being generated from the LinkServer on your computer over the network. I don't see any slowdown from a DVD in the AVLP2 drive. Can't remember what USB navigation is like...

The slowness is not due to the server, it is the HTML parser in the player. You can confirm this yourself by opening a web browser on your computer running the server and typing http://127.0.0.1:8000 and seeing how fast the server software responds. Pictures take forever the first time you view them because the server software has to generate the thumbnails, but after that it is pretty fast.

Originally posted by irgaac
I disagree. The one thing everyone is not taking into account is the underlying software that allows you to connect to a shared drive in windows. The AVLP2 does not connect to a mapped drive, it connects to a streaming web server. It's absolutely no different than any other video you watch on the web. Yes you can FF/RW by asking the server for the next/previous packet but you can't get it to skip ahead or back X amount or even move to a specific place in the file because that is not how web servers stream video.



Jumping to a percent is simple with network file playback, so long as it is not .ts files. DVD (.vob) files play fine & can use the arrow/directional keypad on the remote to select a %. I think the numbers work somehow too, but I have not tried. But I watch ripped DVD files all the time and move to "jump to 15%" for example. No problem.

Originally posted by irgaac
The AVLP2 does not connect to a mapped drive, it connects to a streaming web server.
...
you can't ... even move to a specific place in the file because that is not how web servers stream video.If the server is in fact restricted to streaming only. I just skimmed the UPnP architecture document and don't see anything about it being a streaming based protocol (like UDP). If my inference is correct, and the LinkServer can actually serve and not stream files, the AVLP2 should be able to read the .ifo file for the chapter stops, play menus correctly, and jump to a specific point in the .vob file. Other apps support DVD playback over the network. I think IO Data could do it after some software changes. As mikemav pointed out, you can jump to a specific point in .vob files. In fact I believe you can do so with any file but .ts files.The slowness is not due to the server, it is the HTML parser in the player.I respectfully disagree. Your example was to go to the very same computer the server is on for a speed test. My point is that the webpages are created on that computer and served to the AVLP2 over the network. Thus when you press a navigation button, there is a non-zero delay between the press and the corresponding response on the tv because the command has to be sent over the network, and the page received back. There is no such delay with a DVD in the player. Can't remember what happens with USB devices. If IOData got away from the web server, network-mapped your folders, and simply sent a directory listing to the AVLP2 that would solve both problems. :)

Sony just announced a SIGMA EM8620L media box in Japan :

http://www.ecat.sony.co.jp/products/picture/large/VGP-MR100.jpg

http://www.ecat.sony.co.jp/products/picture/VGP-MR100_003.jpg

http://www.ecat.sony.co.jp/vaio/acc/acc.cfm?pd=19898

Originally posted by irgaac
I disagree. The one thing everyone is not taking into account is the underlying software that allows you to connect to a shared drive in windows. The AVLP2 does not connect to a mapped drive, it connects to a streaming web server. It's absolutely no different than any other video you watch on the web. Yes you can FF/RW by asking the server for the next/previous packet but you can't get it to skip ahead or back X amount or even move to a specific place in the file because that is not how web servers stream video. [SNIP]

You're both correct and incorrect at the same time. The AVLP2 does not connect to a shared drive in Windows. However, I'm almost certain the ability of the AVLP2 using FF/RW on networked content thru the HTTP service is being done by HTTP 1.1 Range Requests.

This is the reason why you see 'Scanning' percentages on the initial FF/RW. This is also the reason why the FF/RW isn't as granular as a typical FF/RW of say a DVD disc.

LINK: Key Differences Between HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1 (http://www.research.att.com/~bala/papers/h0vh1.html)

Scroll down to the section where it explains 'Range Requests'. This feature is rarely used in the real world (i.e. streaming video via HTTP), but I bet the AVLP2 and the Server Software is using the 206 (partial content) method of HTTP 1.1 to do FF/RW.

If I'm not lazy enough this weekend, I'll run Ethereal on the box I have the Server Software installed and look at the packet requests from the AVLP2.

Originally posted by mikemav
[SNIP]

I would like someone with a simpler setup (such as wired direct to a monitor or projector from the Linkplayer) would check the DVE PLUGE pattern to see if all three stripes can be seen. At this time, without further info, I have to say it does unless I was seeing things upstairs.

[SNIP]

Ran DVE a few days ago on my Toshiba 40H80. Forgot to mention, I can see all three stripes.

Originally posted by catware
It seems to me that it is a software limitation. The AVLP2 shouldn't care if the files are coming from the IDE DVD-drive attached to it, or from over the network. My guess is that it's possible for IO Data to fix it. [SNIP]

NOTE: Original question was why the AVLP2 won't read VIDEO_TS/IFO DVD structured directories for playback to get menus, chapters, etc. when it's over the network. catware is correct IMHO.

----
Being an EE and software engineer by trade, I've stated before that this is definitely a software limitation. I'm sure the ability to do what everyone wants, which is the ability to rip a HUGE library of DVD's to your HDD with the directory structure intact, and have it play just like if the DVD was in the actual DVD loader over the network... opens up a HUGE pandora's box...

...Namely pissing off the MPAA.

I can think of one company already which thought they were fine with the MPAA with their DVD 'ripping' network jukebox until the MPAA brought the hammer down.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
With the brightness turned up, I've got 10 bars (barely) on THX Optimizer, and no trouble seeing the shadow drop box. Is it passing below black?

There is only very minute differentiation between bar 10 ( the blackest) and bar 9.

A DLP like mine, (or LCD) is probably not the best display technology for making observations about black.

Anybody with 1080i CRT using THX, Avia or DVE?

Don't let this die on the vine...we need to know.

Hi Tom,

I'll post my answer again so it doesn't get lost.

I ran DVE and Avia a couple days ago on my AVLP2 and forgot to post. On DVE, I had no problem seeing the three bars on my aging Toshiba 40H80.

Originally posted by snoots
I can confirm that the linkplayer is trying to play multiple vidoe streams in the hd browser mode.

Download the football.ts from here
http://www.dododge.net/roku/ts-samples.html

play it back un changed in hd browser mode and you will see the garbled line in the playback video.

Then , using the software from the link below.

http://users.adelphia.net/~mwilczyn/mpeg2repair/

it opens the football.ts stream and show that it does contain 3 video streams and 2 audio streams.

I stripped each video stream out as football 1, 2, 3 .ts and the link player plays all three without the grabled line in the middle set at hd browse mode

SO I think it is safe to say the linkplayer is somehow deocding multiple streams at once or at least a portion of multiple streams !

The tool at the site above works very well and looks like it might be a usefull tool for fixing minor problems in mpeg streams .

snoots,

This is awesome. I'll add this info to the FAQ soon. Thanks!

Originally posted by Kermee
Ran DVE a few days ago on my Toshiba 40H80. Forgot to mention, I can see all three stripes.

Thank You!

Originally posted by Kermee

I can think of one company already which thought they were fine with the MPAA with their DVD 'ripping' network jukebox until the MPAA brought the hammer down.

I read a news release on the Sigma Designs website that they were already sued by MPAA, and they settled after agreeing to compliance terms. Whether this has any bearing on the ability to play DVDs from folders across the network, I don' t know. But it's clear that everything currently enabled within the EM8620L processor carries the blessings of MPAA at this time.

Originally posted by Kermee
NOTE: Original question was why the AVLP2 won't read VIDEO_TS/IFO DVD structured directories for playback to get menus, chapters, etc. when it's over the network. catware is correct IMHO.

----
Being an EE and software engineer by trade, I've stated before that this is definitely a software limitation. I'm sure the ability to do what everyone wants, which is the ability to rip a HUGE library of DVD's to your HDD with the directory structure intact, and have it play just like if the DVD was in the actual DVD loader over the network... opens up a HUGE pandora's box...

...Namely pissing off the MPAA.

I can think of one company already which thought they were fine with the MPAA with their DVD 'ripping' network jukebox until the MPAA brought the hammer down.

Point taken Kermee, however, that solution included the ripper. Allowing .ifo playback from the network would by no means make I-O culpable (IMO) since there is no way to rip using this box. Isn't that how very popular commercial products such as Power DVD and TheaterTek software allow this?

Reason aside, since this server seems to be based on simple architecture, who thinks it would be possible to add this support on our own? I for one am already running a modified version of a different brand server anyway (Momitsu, w/ large text & support added for .ts)

Anyone want to take a stab at it? Remember here, we are not providing a way to obtain illegal content. Just adding another file format to play (the same way the Linkplayer tray loader does, and the same as many commercial DVD software packages.) If I had the skills I would gladly go after it.

My player should arrive today! And I have a far less technical question about my friends' ability to connect an iPod (I don't have one). On the web page it says to just connect to USB, but then elsewhere there's mention that the Link Player won't recognize files in the iTunes folder. So can you in fact just connect with USB and select the songs with the iPod.

Originally posted by mikemav
Allowing .ifo playback from the network would by no means make I-O culpable (IMO) since there is no way to rip using this box. What a bunch of crap! (the MPAA, not your post :)) I have personal DVD's I've made of home videos. Why should I not be able to play those correctly over a network? I can play them in my computer, in my DVD player, why not from the computer to the DVD player? I'm sick of the MPAA dictating policy when they have no authority to do so (acceptable resolutions, .ifo support, etc.). They just threaten with expensive lawsuits to get people/companies to back off. Like you wrote, it's the ripping they should go after, not playback of a particular format. But I suppose this is a topic for another thread.

More on track, I was dismayed last night to find that USB navigation was extremely slow (and Momitsu over network was actually pretty fast). Since the AVLP2 does map the USB drive, I can only conclude that it is related to a slowness on the AVLP2.

I have a USB DVD-rom drive I could bring home and plug into the AVLP2, but I don't think dvds will play normally; probably has to be from the internal dvd loader.

mikemav, my guess is that rewriting the Server software isn't going to work. What files to go after when over network or usb is probably programmed into the firmware on the AVLP2. The Linkserver (or equivalent) just serves the requested files.

Also, received my JVC D4 cable yesterday. Didn't see any difference in picture. Think I'll return it and wait for the D4 female component adapter from IO Data...

Any help or info is appreciated...

I'm debating on buying a AVLP2 now or waiting. Here are my two questions...

1) Does anyone have info on the status of the next firmware update (supposedly due out this month) that fixes the AC3 audio issue with certain receivers? I have a Denon 3802 which is listed on IO Data's website as having issues.

2) Any updates on when the DVI/Wireless verision is due out this year?

Has anyone heard any news from the CES show in Vegas this week? IO has a press release from December implying they will demo 2005 models at the CES show.

I can live without DVI but the audio issue with my receiver is an issue. In reading through this informative thread it seems IO stands behind their product with frequent updates so that makes me feel better.

Great thread everybody and thanks in advance for any help...

I will try to remember to try this tonight. My IPOD has the same music on it as the My Documents\My Music which Linkplayer can play already so I never hooked it up to test it. You do have to have it formatted for PC use not the Apple HFS format. J River Media Center also requires the PC format .

Originally posted by catware


Also, received my JVC D4 cable yesterday. Didn't see any difference in picture. Think I'll return it and wait for the D4 female component adapter from IO Data...

Sorry to hear that. I have not hooked mine up yet. Hope I can see a difference. It does not look like that heavy of a cable, but hopefully I will be able to see the improvement Tom saw with his. If not I may try to return it as well.

Regarding cables, I wonder if one of us should contact Ram Electronics or another company that offers custom good quality cables. If we could have the equivalent of the JVC but made with high quality mini-coax, or even a very short D4 to 3-BNC or RCA adapter cable, it may be worth looking into. I would trust someone using Belden & other quality cable over whatever I-O comes up with.

I tried not to mislead anyone about the JVC cable, by stating that it noticeably "cleans-up" the picture. In my case, it did.

If you don't notice some interference with the I-O Data D4 cable in the form of faint, crawling herringbone interference, (I did) it won't help. So don't buy it unless you notice the interference.

Nor can anyone who doesn't own the JVC HD1/10 camcorder confirm that the replacement special order cable is identical to the one included with the camcorder, or even that I-O Data is including the same cable they shipped to the earliest adopters, like me.

What you should notice about the new cable in particular, is the firmness to which the D4 connect snaps into the socket, instead of loosely wiggling around like the I-O Data cable. If that's not the case, things may have changed.

But cables are not a panacea. If you see the herringbone interference pattern, the JVC got rid of it for me. If you don't, it's probably a waste then.

Apologies offered...

The cable thing started when someone asked me if I would try it, since I already owned the camcorder it came with. At first, I saw no point and was skeptical. But it did make a difference. I tried back to back swaps again and again to confirm that I wasn't wearing rose colored glasses.

You may need to get within a few inches of the screen to see the difference. If you are a critical observer and see the herringbone pattern with the I-O Data, that's what the JVC fixes for me. If you can't, or it's not there, it would probably just be wasting money if you didn't also need the longer length.

Jeez!

Cables, cables, cables... Why not make your own?

Tom, can you describe the herringbone pattern you see? I will double check when I go home to see if the JVC cable helps this, but I was seeing a repeated red outline on images, especially faces. I.e., the outline of a face against a dark background repeats itself a dozen times a few millimeters apart. I would call it video "ringing". I thought this was from my older Toshiba 40H80 I'm using.

The IO Data cable I have snaps in to the back just as well as the JVC. I needed a longer cable anyway, as the AVLP2 was sitting cockeyed on its shelf, but I thought I'd just wait for their D4-female component adapter as I already have pretty high quality IXOS cables.

Catware, no video ringing or red outlines as such noted. Rather what I observed was a faint gray herringbone pattern of straight lines at about a 45 degree angle that appeared to move from the upper right hand corner toward the lower left hand corner. On a 50 inch screen, the separation between the gray herringbone lines was about 1/4-3/8 inch. At times, it would seem like the angle would change from 45, varying at random from maybe 30 degrees to 60 degrees. It was most obvious when viewing a bright solid background like the sky. It was very much an interference-like pattern, like something you might observe on analog cable tv channel.

The JVC cable solved this for me, and I went back and forth to make sure I was not seeing an imaginary improvement. Also, the JVC connector snaps very snugly into the D4 socket whereas the I-O Data wiggled around. So I'm not sure what you had from I-O Data, or what you got from JVC.

I'm very sorry if this was a bad recommendation.

Is it really HD? -- D4 connector is needed for 720p.

The picture shows a D3 and D3 is less than HD output.

(my own edit: D3 does 1080i , D4 is needed for 720p, D5 for 1080p)

I've been running the momitsu software since day 1 (x-mas day) just fine, but want to evaluate the various upnp software out there. I'm really looking for ape or flac transcoding, but thats another topic of course.

I've seen 1 mention of someone successfully using the Nero software, but haven't seen anything else. I"ve downloaded the Philips software and installed it, but can't seem to get the iodata to see it. I am on the 041227 (or whatever that just after x-mas firmware is).


1. Does the iodata automagically find the upnp servers? its my impression upnp includes discovery, so I should not need to enter the ip & port that I did for the momitsu software.

2. if you did register it manually, did you include any port numbers with the IP?


3. be sure and go to http://www.intel.com/technology/upnp/ http://www.intel.com/technology/upnp/
as Intel has some nifty utilities that sniff & spy for uPnP network traffic.

They even have developer toolkits targetting various platforms.

The DVD consortium licenses the DVD format and requires all playback devices to have licenses to gain access to their own private set of decryption keys. Recording software has a different license but they are not given access to the decryption keys unless they embed a player in the software. PC playback software has different license than do set top boxes and I know their license is actually more restrictive than is that of a set top box.

The DVD licensees get the access to the full ifo and vob format with very specific rules of what they can and can't do and often the rules even apply when dealing with dealing with non-commercial disks.

I don't like these rules but I do believe the reason there are no set top boxes that play dvds with menus/chapters/full nav across the net at present is due to DVD licensing restrictions. If you really need full nav your current choice is a HTPC with third party image mounting software (and probably somewhere along the line a ripping program that is probably illegal in most of the civilized world and that we aren't allowed to talk about in these forums.

The HTPC forum has had quite a few threads arguing this stuff but mot of the best info is off on DOOM9 or DVDRHELP...

Originally posted by highgrovemanor
1. Does the iodata automagically find the upnp servers? its my impression upnp includes discovery, so I should not need to enter the ip & port that I did for the momitsu software.

2. if you did register it manually, did you include any port numbers with the IP?


1. Mine originally found both my laptop and desktop running standard Linkserver software and later automatically found advanced server running on my laptop as well. Later my Routers DHCP gave a differrent address to my laptop and the LnkPlayer then refused to automatically find it even after I deleted the old entry. Now I am having to use Static IP on my Desktop and Laptop and hard coded IP addresses in the ui of the Player.

2. If you enter without the :8000 at the end it will add it for you. Regular server by default is at :8000, advanceed at :8010. I am now also running the Momitsu at :9000 (I had to change that both in the Linkplayer and in the Momitsu server setup).

Paul_PDX: That clears it up pretty well. I don't see what the difference is between over a LAN and on an IDE drive, but oh well. I'm not personally in dire need for correct DVD functionality over the network, but it would be nice to have it work correctly. I mean, if the playback software is allowed to play the main video file, what's the big deal with having correct menus and chapter stops. Thanks for clarifying.

Originally posted by catware
Paul_PDX: That clears it up pretty well. I don't see what the difference is between over a LAN and on an IDE drive, but oh well. I'm not personally in dire need for correct DVD functionality over the network, but it would be nice to have it work correctly. I mean, if the playback software is allowed to play the main video file, what's the big deal with having correct menus and chapter stops. Thanks for clarifying.

The biggest deal is that I have over 60 backups of my own DVD discs, already ripped with full disc copy (menus, extras, etc..) To play those on the Link is very difficult. For example, to play Finding Nemo, I need to discern which of the 90+ .vob files apply to the main movie (without seeing the file sizes, a usual dead give-a-way otherwise), or play them all, which results in a bunch of garbage surrounding the main movie.

I may be forced to re-rip all of these movies as described here (main movie only, one large .vob.) That is a big deal.

So does anyone have any other opinion on how possible it would be to modify the system to play these files? We can add files from the network server that are not normally supported (but playable) just by adding the extension in the database. And obviously the player can play these files, as it plays them from the DVD-ROM. I'm sure it is not as simple as adding the extension to the .xml though. Has anyone tried that yet, out of curiosity?

I know the XBox Media Center guys were (are?) struggling with DVD menus from network, probably for the same reasons. Does anyone who follows XBox know if this feature is available yet? Perhaps we can gain some knowledge from them. I will check around on the net as well.

mikemav-
I feel with with you on this issue.
I got this player to replace a 300 disc changer with about 100 DVDs and 200 CDs. I have already ripped all of my cds with WMA LOSSLESS and of course the player doesn't yet play them at all. Advanced server won't transcode standalone Audio by the way just video+audio streams (I tried to add Transcode="Yes" with no luck).
I had also stored about 20 DVDs with full menus and with all of their separate vobs and of course no menus. I figure one of these weekends I will start coverting to single large vobs (at least I am on NTFS).

I am even finding HD less appealing than I hoped. I have to repair all of my TS files from MyHD card first using the suggestions in the last few days (thanks to all) and then I use VLC to transcode that to a standardized VOB packet -- total time about 30 minutes per hour show before I can watch on the LinkPlayer (that is if VLC doesn't crash which it often does). Next step will be to compress these to DivXHD which will probably add another 8-10 hours per hour of show.

I love being bleading edge -- don't we all who are here!
Paul

(one more thing I have started trying to hack the HTML of the advanced server. We may have some hope here if anyone knows PHP well enough to add more features to this thing. I am currently just trying to add the Momitsu news feeds to the IODATA advanced server to see if that is doable. Next thing I wouild like to try and add is photos for each folder in the nav such as album art -- why does't IODATA get at least a few of these things right).)

Interesting finding on the AC3 problems .....


If I leave in the DVD loader one of the disc that plays AC3 every time without problems ( Ice Age) all Xvid and DiviX files will play AC3 over the network without problems
Once the Ice age disc is removed all AC3 problems are back .....

Can someone test this as well ?

Thanks

I just got my player today and am disapointed that it will only play WMV 9. I've got a lot of WMV 8 and 7 files. Am I going to have to convert them all to 9, can that even be done?

Paul_PDX

For grins I downloaded a lossless WMA audio track and it plays fine in the standard avellink software, am I missing something or not understanding the WMA format you are using ? THe test sample I downloaded was not very long and only 128kbs. Is there a different format or are you using a higher bitrate ?

Originally posted by snoots
Paul_PDX

For grins I downloaded a lossless WMA audio track and it plays fine in the standard avellink software, am I missing something or not understanding the WMA format you are using ? THe test sample I downloaded was not very long and only 128kbs. Is there a different format or are you using a higher bitrate ?

I used the standard Windows Media Player 10 to Rip a CD with the RIP settings set for "WMA Lossless" -- if I use any of the other settings either MP3 or regular WMA VBR or Constant Bit Rate I don't have any problems. I think the problem is this is now marked as one of the WMA Pro formats. When the player starts playing it it shows the tiltle on the bottom and it scrolls along but at the top it says Bad WMA file and then advances quickly to the next track which it continues to reject. I haven't tried a Windows Media PLayer 9 ripped track but I will tonight to see if that players lossless files work out to be different.

Originally posted by mikemav
The biggest deal is that I have over 60 backups of my own DVD discs, already ripped with full disc copy (menus, extras, etc..) To play those on the Link is very difficult. mikemav: Sorry :) I meant what was the big deal to the MPAA. If a person can watch the main video file, why would they disallow menus & chapter stops.

I have already ripped all of my cds with WMA LOSSLESS and of course the player doesn't yet play them at allThe company is lookling at this problem. I emailed them a WMA lossless file for them to test. Jack Akita said that their tech people were on vacation for New Year's, but would look at it when they returned.

Had my LinkPlayer since Nov. and I cannot figure out why I lose network connection occassionally while in standby. In other words I no longer can see my folders in my default folder and watch list. My LAN has been bullet proof and I don't suspect any problems with that. I never lose connection while playing a file over the network. Any one found a way to refresh the network connection on the link player? Have tried powering off link player and also selecting the network button on the remote. My only solution is to reboot my main server which refreshes my network connection. Thoughts? Thanks!

Originally posted by uofmtiger
Jack Akita said that their tech people were on vacation for New Year's, but would look at it when they returned. Jack Akita! That's the guy who gave me the demo of the AVLP2 and whom I bought from. He works in San Jose. He seemed like a great guy and was very enthusiastic about their products.

Originally posted by Paul_PDX
1. Mine originally found both my laptop and desktop running standard Linkserver software


Thanks Paul_PDX,


I don't think the iodata & momitsu software is upnp compliant, and I'm not sure about the new advanced server either since the Intel software doesn't recognize it. It does find the philips software, but I don't have an XP box to install the microsoft software onto. And the openmediacenter (or whatever it is) looks to have alittle more involved install than I was wanting to try last night.....

Anyone else looking at software alternatives too?

Has any one succesfully played any DTS audio only cds? All I get is static. And yes I have a DTS receiver in DTS mode. Yamaha 5490.

Also does anyone have a Marantz SR7500 they are using?

Matt

Despite the reports of how responsive I-O Data's customer service has been, I haven't received any reply to my emails to sales asking when Canadians might expect to be able to buy this thing from them. After all, the original press release back in October did announce the release of the player to USA/Canada. Must have forgotten about us northerners as we continue to be one of those "Nonapproved Users".

Anyone else find it rather strange that I-O Data would setup a North American presence complete with a professional looking website but not bother to employ the services of a native english speaker to correct it? Sure it's quaint but come on, if you're intending to do serious business in North America, you spend a few dollars on your marketing to sound like it.

Originally posted by Derodeo
Despite the reports of how responsive I-O Data's customer service has been, I haven't received any reply to my emails to sales asking when Canadians might expect to be able to buy this thing from them. After all, the original press release back in October did announce the release of the player to USA/Canada. Must have forgotten about us northerners as we continue to be one of those "Nonapproved Users".

Anyone else find it rather strange that I-O Data would setup a North American presence complete with a professional looking website but not bother to employ the services of a native english speaker to correct it? Sure it's quaint but come on, if you're intending to do serious business in North America, you spend a few dollars on your marketing to sound like it.

Eh! Parlez-vous français ?

Originally posted by Derodeo

Anyone else find it rather strange that I-O Data would setup a North American presence complete with a professional looking website but not bother to employ the services of a native english speaker to correct it? Sure it's quaint but come on, if you're intending to do serious business in North America, you spend a few dollars on your marketing to sound like it.

Actually, it's one of the first things I thought about. Apperently these guys have a California office but don't employ a single, native english speaking American.
The person needed to fix the website doesn't even need to be able to speak Japanese because you can infer the meaning of what they are trying to say with the bad translation and correct it without ever reading the original Japanese.

Originally posted by gtrogue
Actually, it's one of the first things I thought about. Apperently these guys have a California office but don't employ a single, native english speaking American.
The person needed to fix the website doesn't even need to be able to speak Japanese because you can infer the meaning of what they are trying to say with the bad translation and correct it without ever reading the original Japanese.

maybe you should e-mail them and offer your contracted services.

Press Releases

[1-866-6-IODATA] "Start A New Year, Open Call Center" I-O DATA USA opens a customer-care center today!
January 5th, 2005
I-O DATA USA is pleased to inform our customer-care center openning today. Toll free at 1-866-6-IODATA, we are waiting for your call. Also the fax (1-800-679-0042) is available in 24 hours 365 days.

Originally posted by Derodeo
Despite the reports of how responsive I-O Data's customer service has been, I haven't received any reply to my emails to sales asking when Canadians might expect to be able to buy this thing from them. After all, the original press release back in October did announce the release of the player to USA/Canada. Must have forgotten about us northerners as we continue to be one of those "Nonapproved Users".

Anyone else find it rather strange that I-O Data would setup a North American presence complete with a professional looking website but not bother to employ the services of a native english speaker to correct it? Sure it's quaint but come on, if you're intending to do serious business in North America, you spend a few dollars on your marketing to sound like it.

You could actually read their website and see that all Canadian orders are through Digital Connection.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/DVD/avpl2.ASP

However Digital Connection don't seem to do the UHDL

In relation to the D4 connection, some of you may be interested to know that even the Nintendo Game Cube uses it... So it really is nothing special.

In fact the quicker you guys convert it to phono (aka: RCA cinch) the better!

Here's a wiring diagram, if you want to make your own leads: -

http://img39.exs.cx/img39/4949/dconnectors6ca.gif


Cheers

Check Pioneer's new receiver lineup and see what it decodes for not a lot of money!

It might help to post the link hey.

2005 lineup (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/press/release/detail/0,,2076_4313_191756416,00.html)

I got one of the Pioneer's latest receivers vsx-1014tx
and it doesn't decode AC3 or DTS properly (from Linkplayer2 ONLY)

Sigma Designs has launched it's new high-def SMP8630 series chip-set.

Which supports Mpeg4/AVC, WMV9, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 ASP at 1920x1080 30p (but probably not 3 warp-point GMC).

Multiple stream decoding at the same time is supported, as long as the chip can keep up with decoding

The usual audio formats are supported. Such as, AC3, WMA, MP2, MP3, AAC (but no actual mention of HE AAC), and DVD audio.


For more information, please look here: -

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/news/press_releases/050105a.htm


Cheers

So soon? Kiss hasn't even had time to get out their EM8620L boxes yet.

Actually, the SMP8630 may be the holy grail portended by the EM8620L.

Please add my name to the pre-order list :)

Begin Rant :

Separate high cost CPU and subsystem for "DRM"

I am bummed by the massive "DRM" crap. Eventually nobody will be able to do anything with technology without paying over and over. want to play it on your pc pay for it, oh you wanted to play that on your laptop too, no problem pay again, on your set top box, no problem fee is in the price, oh you wanted to hook that to a network and share it to other rooms well you can but only once or only at low resolution, oh you wanted to archive it, sorry we won't let you send it over 1394 or some other hish speed interface, you might steal something from us.

I know ,I'm sorry but it just drives me nuts. Seems like in the past hardware and software inovations improved the quality of products, remember tape hiss , warped vinyl etc etc. CD's did away with em ! Remember Beta Max was going to put the movie companies out of business, now they dictate to the FCC that they need broadcast flags or they will go out of business,
blah blah blah blah
End of ranting delete me if my post is not politically correct.

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Sigma Designs has launched it's new high-def SMP8630 series chip-set.

Which supports Mpeg4/AVC, WMV9, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 ASP at 1920x1080 30p (but probably not 3 warp-point GMC).

Multiple stream decoding at the same time is supported, as long as the chip can keep up with decoding

The usual audio formats are supported. Such as, AC3, WMA, MP2, MP3, AAC (but no actual mention of HE AAC), and DVD audio.


For more information, please look here: -

http://www.sigmadesigns.com/news/press_releases/050105a.htm


Cheers

sigma rivals intel when it comes to paper launches. that chipset will probably be in mass production til 2006

You probably meant "will probably not be in mass production til 2006"

What do you expect with the MPAA looking over their shoulders every 5 minutes? ;)

I also can report that my player passed the black level test (using the Monsters Inc. DVD's THX test) on a 4-year+ old 55" Mits RPTV (recently recalibrated but, alas, not with the LinkPlayer).

Originally posted by epsilon
You probably meant "will probably not be in mass production til 2006" I wonder what chip-set they'll be showing at CES then?

Anyway, it's nice to know their are Sigma disparagers on the forum too!

Keith Jack has gone very quite... I wonder if he will be representing Sigma at CES this year?


Cheers

With all of this talk about black levels, I wonder if DVI outputs (for players with DVI outputs) will handle black levels similarly. I think problems with other DVI players have been with the digital clipping of black levels out of the DVI port and I'm not sure this would necessarily show up on the component outputs. Is it possible for TUFU or somebody else with a Linkplayer2 that has DVI to test this from the DVI output?

Originally posted by Dolfo
With all of this talk about black levels, I wonder if DVI outputs (for players with DVI outputs) will handle black levels similarly. I think problems with other DVI players have been with the digital clipping of black levels out of the DVI port and I'm not sure this would necessarily show up on the component outputs. Is it possible for TUFU or somebody else with a Linkplayer2 that has DVI to test this from the DVI output? The quality of any DVI image will depend on the monitor you're connecting too!

Also, much will depend on whether your monitor is capable of 1:1 pixel mapping, not to mention your panels maximum resolution!


Cheers

I'm having a problem with the Watch folder. I set it up to play WMP playlists. I don't use WMP, I have Media Jukebox, but there were a couple of old playlists in WMP. So I enabled a Watch folder for "My Playlists" (is there another way to access them?) and those playlists showed up on screen and played fine. Then I deleted them from WMP and created some new ones. But they're still showing up on the menu. I even deleted the files entirely from the hardrive. I tried the reload button, I tried turning the player off, I tried a hard boot, I tried deleting the folder and then unchecking "enable watch folder" and rechecking it and adding the folder back.

I have the same problem on the advanced server. No matter what I do the old files in the watch list won't go away.

Someone had asked if the IPOD can be seen from the USB on the linkplayer, I tried last night, My IPOD is Windows formatted to work with J River Media Center. The IPOD shows up and the linkplayer says it detected the IPOD. However in my case you can browse the file system i.e. DATA NOTES CONTACTS but the music folder in the linkplayer browser is empty.

mabrym

make a copy of this file then try deleting it and restarting the server software, this path is for the advanced server there is one in the standard server directory in program files iodata also, I'm at work so I can't look as this machine only has advanced on it. If that doesn't work you might try editing the file in a good text editor.

C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\Application Data\I-O DATA DEVICE,INC\AVeL Link Advanced Server\Playlist.xml

Originally posted by snoots
Someone had asked if the IPOD can be seen from the USB on the linkplayer, I tried last night, My IPOD is Windows formatted to work with J River Media Center. The IPOD shows up and the linkplayer says it detected the IPOD. However in my case you can browse the file system i.e. DATA NOTES CONTACTS but the music folder in the linkplayer browser is empty.

I'm interested in that myself as I have some friends with iPods, I would like for them to be able to bring them at parties. There is something on the iodata site about this, I think you have to transfer the files to another folder. Damned if I can find the link now.

edit - Don't save them at iTunes directory/folder
iTunes folder is protected as the Apple copy guard. Of course, iPod cannot see non-iTunes folders. But LinkPlayer cannot see iTunes folder inside. Please save video/photo files to another location in iPod.

http://www.iodata.com/usa/products/AVLP2_Setup.php?&pF=1

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
The quality of any DVI image will depend on the monitor you're connecting too!

Also, much will depend on whether your monitor is capable of 1:1 pixel mapping, not to mention your panels maximum resolution!


Cheers

You don't seem to understand the conversation - we are discussing black levels, not pixel mapping or resolution. Many upscaling DVD players with DVI outputs are rumored to clip the black (and white) levels out of the DVI outputs such that "blacker-than-blacks" (and "whiter-than-whites") are not reproduced properly. Imagine an 8-bit color field where 0x00 is blacker than black and 0xFF is whiter than white. These DVD players are only using 0x03 (or so) to 0xFD (or so). This is most apparent on the pluge pattern that we have been discussing where the different black bars (each coded with a different level of black) tend to blend together and become indistinguishable regardless of how high you set your brightness. This is also a problem with some modern Digital sets (especially the Grand Wega LCDs) as well.

It was asked a while back if the LinkPlayer2 clipped the color field similarly and many have reported that their pluge patterns show all levels of black. I am now thinking that this phenomena (if it exists) may not be evident with the analog outputs (the clipping may occur in some processing after the D/A conversion).

Originally posted by snoots
mabrym

make a copy of this file then try deleting it and restarting the server software, this path is for the advanced server there is one in the standard server directory in program files iodata also, I'm at work so I can't look as this machine only has advanced on it. If that doesn't work you might try editing the file in a good text editor.

C:\Documents and Settings\your user name\Application Data\I-O DATA DEVICE,INC\AVeL Link Advanced Server\Playlist.xml

Copy the file and save, say, to the desktop, then restart and paste it back in? Won't it still have the same data?

No, save it anywhere you like, then delete the file in the original location , restart and see if the server rebuilds it, mine is full of data that I never entered so I think it is scanned when the server runs the first time, i don't want you to hose your install as I am just guessing here.

Ah. Not too worried about problems at the moment, I've only got a handfull of playlists right now. Has anyone else had this problem? I hope I won't have to do this every time I delete or change a playlist or watch folder. I'm going to email them about this, assuming I can get one through. When I try I always get the message about "bad meta data". But I did receive a response to one email and I think I got that message when I sent that one.

I am having problems with my windows media HD video files that I have encoded from my HD material..does anyone now the max bit rate of the dvd player? The guy on the phone told me 192 but I have no clue what that means....my files are reading at around 2000-3000 kbits...so im guessing that im way off for my encoding..can anyone enlighten me?

Does this answer your question Ryan: -

http://img54.exs.cx/img54/2553/02avispecification2cj.gif


Cheers

I play back 720p WMV-HD files encoded at at 9216 kb/s with no problem, so it's not the bit rate that's hurting you.

I read that the unit will show photos of up to 2048x1532 in HDTV resolution. Is that the maximum??

Cameras are now sold with 10-12 megapixels .... PLEASE tell me they did not introduce a stupid limitation like this. This renders the photo viewing useless for all but the simplest pictures.

I understand the HDTV resolution is no where near 6 mega pixels, but at least let me view a "shrunk" version of the photo (with zoom capabilities).

The idea of "converting" photos to a smaller size is laughable. I have 7-8000 photos on the PC. That would be like asking people who ripped their CD collection to MP3 at 320k, to re-encode them at 128k because of a stupid player limitation.

The chart SeeMoreDigital isn't accurate. I've had no trouble playing back 5Mbps DivX and XviD videos in .avi files larger than 2GB.

Originally posted by gtrogue
The chart SeeMoreDigital isn't accurate. I've had no trouble playing back 5Mbps DivX and XviD videos in .avi files larger than 2GB. It's an extract from I-O DATA's current information!

Of course, many of us know what this player can do. But it does not help prospective new purchasers, if I-O DATA can't keep their own information up to date... and accurate!


Cheers

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
It's an extract from I-O DATA's current information!

Of course, many of us know what this player can do. But it does not help prospective new purchasers, if I-O DATA can't keep their own information up to date... and accurate!


Cheers

Yeah, well they also say you can't up-convert commercial copy protected DVDs to HD res over component, but we know that works. I agree, they are killing sales w/ selling this thing short (no pun intended.)