Remichel,

No, your wireless setup is not the issue. I signaled that mp3 bug quite a few posts ago but so far no feedback regarding if and when it will be fixed.

Doesn't anybody rips and listens to live albums and mix compilations ? If you're annoyed by the lack of gapless mp3 playback and therefore that short pause you get between tracks, please let it be known right here on this forum, so that this can be taken seriously by Buffalo, otherwise I'm afraid it will stay way down on the to-do list...

Thierry

Originally posted by BrianV
It seems the most requests have been for WMA Lossless over flac. I will send a request for FLAC support but I can't make any promises. Hopefully Sigma already has code for FLAC support and we're just not using it yet.

Another request for FLAC support here!
Thanks.

Originally posted by eurotrance
Remichel,

Doesn't anybody rips and listens to live albums and mix compilations ? If you're annoyed by the lack of gapless mp3 playback and therefore that short pause you get between tracks, please let it be known right here on this forum, so that this can be taken seriously by Buffalo, otherwise I'm afraid it will stay way down on the to-do list...

Thierry

I chimed in a while ago seconding your request...but just in case...:)

Yes, gapless music & flac. Don't forget ape music files.

Originally posted by remichel
When I'm listening to music files I often get static at the beginning of the file. The static only last for about a second or so. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm running a Belkin 802.11 G router and this may be a wireless issue.

We're aware of that, it's a new bug that started in the shipping firmware. We'll get it resolved.

Originally posted by scottfred
Brian, anything in the works to support quicktime?

This is a great player, thanks for the support.

QuickTime support is unlikely due to how tight Mac/Apple is with it. I bet we'd have to pay licensing for that as well.

Hello again....I see others are mentioning buying this upcoming week, and another mentioning an interest in a possible group buy.....

Would it be possible to do a group buy for this???

Hopefully someone will answer......

Thanks....
Anxious...
:)

Originally posted by BrianV
QuickTime support is unlikely due to how tight Mac/Apple is with it. I bet we'd have to pay licensing for that as well.

That would be too bad. I have been disappointed to find that my LT would not play .mov files created with my Nikon digital cameras. I was hoping that this could be addressed by Buffalo.

Two more questions/issues for Buffalo:

- Why is there no "watch folder" capability for photos in the LT PC server software? This would be just as useful for accessing photos in multiple folder locations as it is for video and music. The current arrangement forces the user to put all photos in one folder on one drive.

- After moving a subfolder within my photos directory on my PC I found that using the Refresh button on the LinkTheater remote did not work as it is supposed to to show the new folder arrangement on the LT.

I've tried and returned just about all of these gadgets.
I've got the urge to try this one, I'm wondering has anybody tried:

Playing back mpeg2 files created with Hauppauge TV cards?
Do they play, fast forward, and rewind reasonably well?
How about WMV's made with beyondTV?
Is the navigation acceptable for 5000+ wma files?

Any comments

Thank you,
Ken

Most of the video I play are TV shows captured using a Hauppage PVR250 with Snapstream, in DVD-comaptible format. Playback quality is very impressive, no incompatibilities encountered.

FF and FR work fairly well, not as good as the average DVD player, but good enough that you can skip over commercials with relative ease. FR behaves strangely, it seems to move ahead a few seconds, then it sort skips backwards... it doesn't actually play the video backwards, it plays short bit forward, starting a little further back each time. Very strange effect. But it's usable, at least for me.

After a few weeks, my biggest gripe is that the remote buttons often don't work... if you're in FF, and you hit paly, it might not work. Play won't work until after I hit FF a second time; by that time, I've gone way past where I wanted to stop. I've also encountered three or four instances where wild flailing on the remote control seems to lock it up until I power cycle.

With AVI or WMV videos, FF and FR seem to work a little differently, better in some ways an not so in others. I'm haven't played enough of those to give a detailed comparison.

Brian,

Firstly, thanks for all of your feedback on this forum - It's great to see manufacturers responding to questions and issues, particularly in such a bleeding edge space.

I have a quick question about the user interface on the LinkTheater.

The manual seems to show that the UI differs slightly depending on whether you connect to a PC running LinkTheater PC Software, Windows Media Connect or a LinkStation running PCast.

Are these server products actually serving up the UI to the unit, or is the unit defining the UI itself?

Presumably, a UI served from the server will be much less responsive than one handled in the unit.

If this is the case, which server is the most performant / recommended? - from what I can see, there are at least 3 options available (3 in manual and twonkyvision)

Chris

Originally posted by qrazy
Hello again....I see others are mentioning buying this upcoming week, and another mentioning an interest in a possible group buy.....

Would it be possible to do a group buy for this???

Hopefully someone will answer......

Thanks....
Anxious...
:)

Buffalo doesn't sell direct so someone should try and organize a group buy with a reseller.

Originally posted by Pennhaven
That would be too bad. I have been disappointed to find that my LT would not play .mov files created with my Nikon digital cameras. I was hoping that this could be addressed by Buffalo.

Two more questions/issues for Buffalo:

- Why is there no "watch folder" capability for photos in the LT PC server software? This would be just as useful for accessing photos in multiple folder locations as it is for video and music. The current arrangement forces the user to put all photos in one folder on one drive.

- After moving a subfolder within my photos directory on my PC I found that using the Refresh button on the LinkTheater remote did not work as it is supposed to to show the new folder arrangement on the LT.

I wish I had a better answer for you but getting mov support is a HUGE task from a agreement/legal standpoint not to mention it would likely cost money. It's too bad that Apple makes it difficult to support. Even Windows Media Player can't playback MOV.

The software caches the directory structure for better performance. I'll see if I can get real-time updating happening without the expense of performance.

PS - I've been complaining of the lack of a watch folder on photo for a while.

Originally posted by zonegray
Most of the video I play are TV shows captured using a Hauppage PVR250 with Snapstream, in DVD-comaptible format. Playback quality is very impressive, no incompatibilities encountered.

FF and FR work fairly well, not as good as the average DVD player, but good enough that you can skip over commercials with relative ease. FR behaves strangely, it seems to move ahead a few seconds, then it sort skips backwards... it doesn't actually play the video backwards, it plays short bit forward, starting a little further back each time. Very strange effect. But it's usable, at least for me.

After a few weeks, my biggest gripe is that the remote buttons often don't work... if you're in FF, and you hit paly, it might not work. Play won't work until after I hit FF a second time; by that time, I've gone way past where I wanted to stop. I've also encountered three or four instances where wild flailing on the remote control seems to lock it up until I power cycle.

With AVI or WMV videos, FF and FR seem to work a little differently, better in some ways an not so in others. I'm haven't played enough of those to give a detailed comparison.

The remote quirks have been reported. I recommend you use the pause button to stop fast forward and then press the play button.

Originally posted by cwinson
Brian,

Firstly, thanks for all of your feedback on this forum - It's great to see manufacturers responding to questions and issues, particularly in such a bleeding edge space.

I have a quick question about the user interface on the LinkTheater.

The manual seems to show that the UI differs slightly depending on whether you connect to a PC running LinkTheater PC Software, Windows Media Connect or a LinkStation running PCast.

Are these server products actually serving up the UI to the unit, or is the unit defining the UI itself?

Presumably, a UI served from the server will be much less responsive than one handled in the unit.

If this is the case, which server is the most performant / recommended? - from what I can see, there are at least 3 options available (3 in manual and twonkyvision)

Chris

The product only has 32 MB of RAM and a fairly slow processor so rendering graphics and storing interface material is not possible. With the limited ram and processing power we created a minimalist interface that you get when you browse the DVD or USB port. Unfortunately you can't rely on DVD or USB Drive to have interface material on them so they use the player's built-in interface.

With the LinkStation and TeraStation we have the ability to rely on that device to store, render, and generate an interface. With gigs of storage space and faster processors they can handle nicer looking interfaces (including 1280x720 interfaces). The LinkStaiton just runs a webserver (on port 8000) and the LinkTheater accesses it and interfaces with it like it's a webpage. Try going to http://linkstation's_IP_address:8000

The LinkStation/TeraStation are still somewhat limited in their processing power. The PC Software relies on relatively quick PCs (500 MHz to 3+ GHz) and also has a lot of storage. Thus, the PC software is able to render and display high-quality interfaces with relative ease.

That said, the PC software is going to look the best and offer the most features. This actually performs better than having it run locally because to generate the web content that LinkTheater's PC Software does, the unit would require 384 to 512 MB of RAM and a much faster processor. Hopefully in a year or two that will be a cost-effective solution. For now, relying on a PC to do the hard work is the best solution if you want stunning graphics. The LinKTheater's internal hardware can quickly display static pages that are generated from other sources. It only takes about 1.5 seconds to switch pages after an input.

Originally posted by Pennhaven
That would be too bad. I have been disappointed to find that my LT would not play .mov files created with my Nikon digital cameras. I was hoping that this could be addressed by Buffalo.

Two more questions/issues for Buffalo:

- Why is there no "watch folder" capability for photos in the LT PC server software? This would be just as useful for accessing photos in multiple folder locations as it is for video and music. The current arrangement forces the user to put all photos in one folder on one drive.

- After moving a subfolder within my photos directory on my PC I found that using the Refresh button on the LinkTheater remote did not work as it is supposed to to show the new folder arrangement on the LT.

Got the answer for the watch folder on photo:

Basically since the photo area renders thumbnails it takes a long time if there are a lot of folders and files. It helps from a performance standpoint to only share one folder rather than a bunch of other folders. It has been tested and the performance was pretty bad when there was a lot of folders/sub-folders. The options are:

-Keep it as it is
-Remove the thumbnail/indexing feature and just show the file name. If this is done, the watch folder could be added with relative ease.

The music and video does'nt have a problem because it's not generating thumbnails. Reading ID3 tags is significantly less intensive.

Originally posted by BrianV
Buffalo doesn't sell direct so someone should try and organize a group buy with a reseller.

Ummm....

http://www.shopbuffalotech.com/product.asp?sku=2617327

It looks like you can order direct......

Originally posted by BrianV
Got the answer for the watch folder on photo:

Basically since the photo area renders thumbnails it takes a long time if there are a lot of folders and files. It helps from a performance standpoint to only share one folder rather than a bunch of other folders. It has been tested and the performance was pretty bad when there was a lot of folders/sub-folders. The options are:

-Keep it as it is
-Remove the thumbnail/indexing feature and just show the file name. If this is done, the watch folder could be added with relative ease.

The music and video does'nt have a problem because it's not generating thumbnails. Reading ID3 tags is significantly less intensive.
Well that logic sounds "logical", however anyone with anything but the smallest photo collection is going to have lots of "files" and will also need to organize them in subfolders or navigation becomes extremely tedious. Since there are likely to be approximately the same number of subfolders regardless of whether they are in one master folder or one, two, or more additional watch folders, it sounds like the thumbnail rendering problem will still exist with or without watch folders.

Regardless, I would suggest that since presenting the thumbnails may slow things down too much that the end user be provided with the option to disable the thumbnails if it becomes an issue for them.

It may be worth noting that, since the photos are presented in alphabetical order, the "first" photo in the subfolder - which becomes the proxy thumbnail for that folder - is not always a good candidate for the job of describing what the folder contains. i.e. Having the thumbnail is not always worthwhile.

Thanks for the prompt response.

Originally posted by BrianV
The software caches the directory structure for better performance. I'll see if I can get real-time updating happening without the expense of performance.
If the directory structure is cached then I'm not sure what Refresh is actually supposed to be doing? i.e. After changing the directory structure on the server, how do I get the LT to refresh it's cache?

Your efforts here Brian are appreciated.

Brian, I'm interested in more info on the Linux version of the LT software. Will it have the same features as the PC version? When will it be released? If you need a beta-tester let me know and I'll try it out. Will the LT USB port be able to read ext2 & ext3 formatted drives?

Any other Linux users out there? Is there a way to rip DVDs in Linux? Also, can you run DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink in Wine?

Originally posted by qrazy
Ummm....

http://www.shopbuffalotech.com/product.asp?sku=2617327

It looks like you can order direct......

That just goes through a third-party authorized re-seller who sells it for us. We don't have the logistics in house to sell our consumer products. We only sell memory products direct, we don't have someone in-house who could set that up. I suppose if you could get 1,000 people together I could get someone motivated, but otherwise, work with a re-seller.

Originally posted by Pennhaven
If the directory structure is cached then I'm not sure what Refresh is actually supposed to be doing? i.e. After changing the directory structure on the server, how do I get the LT to refresh it's cache?

Your efforts here Brian are appreciated.

If the PC Software re-caches the entries, which can be done manually by going into the PC software and clicking around. Then if you return to your TV, the old data is there, the refresh will then refresh it. Right now when you press 'refresh' it's just refreshing the same HTML page; the PC software hasn't rendered a new one.

Originally posted by Barley
Brian, I'm interested in more info on the Linux version of the LT software. Will it have the same features as the PC version? When will it be released? If you need a beta-tester let me know and I'll try it out. Will the LT USB port be able to read ext2 & ext3 formatted drives?

Any other Linux users out there? Is there a way to rip DVDs in Linux? Also, can you run DVD Decrypter or DVD Shrink in Wine?

I have a Linux version I'm still working on. I'll probably have something next week and I can send it to you as a beta. It looks/feels very similar to the PC software. Actually the Linux software is a direct port of our Mac OS X software. The only differences are that the feature are set on the TV through the remote rather than on the software. It's kind of neat, but there are less options to set on the Mac and Linux versions so it's give and take. It'll look/feel much the same.

Originally posted by Pennhaven
Well that logic sounds "logical", however anyone with anything but the smallest photo collection is going to have lots of "files" and will also need to organize them in subfolders or navigation becomes extremely tedious. Since there are likely to be approximately the same number of subfolders regardless of whether they are in one master folder or one, two, or more additional watch folders, it sounds like the thumbnail rendering problem will still exist with or without watch folders.

Regardless, I would suggest that since presenting the thumbnails may slow things down too much that the end user be provided with the option to disable the thumbnails if it becomes an issue for them.

It may be worth noting that, since the photos are presented in alphabetical order, the "first" photo in the subfolder - which becomes the proxy thumbnail for that folder - is not always a good candidate for the job of describing what the folder contains. i.e. Having the thumbnail is not always worthwhile.

Thanks for the prompt response.

Yeah I brought up the same point with the engineers but they seemed to think that if you specify watch folders people will be more enticed to add more (unnecessary folders). I'm going to ask them again about it.

It may also have something to do with caching from multiple different trees. I could see how that would be more intensive then just caching from one super big tree.

Originally posted by BrianV
Yeah I brought up the same point with the engineers but they seemed to think that if you specify watch folders people will be more enticed to add more (unnecessary folders). I'm going to ask them again about it.

It may also have something to do with caching from multiple different trees. I could see how that would be more intensive then just caching from one super big tree.
Thanks Brian. Obviously as a user I want to have access to all (or nearly all) of my photos. The directory scheme I happen to have on my PC has them stored in three separate "trees". If I can't access all three trees via a Watch Folder, I will have to reorganize my disk and combine them into one giant sequoia :D . Same number of photos, same number of subfolders, either way, just more convenient to utilize the watch folder approach (which would also make it easier to exclude a subset of my photos if I would wish to at some later time). I would be a little surprised if caching the same number of files and subfolders would take significantly longer just because they are in three trees instead of one.

OK Brian....Thanks.....

:)

Another happy customer here. Kudos to Buffalo for a job well done. Setup was a breeze and worked flawlessly the first time (including the wireless networking!), which is pretty impressive given the extensive feature set. Can't wait to see what'll show up in the new versions!

BrianV, any idea whether discrete IR codes are available for the LinkTheater? I'm have uploaded a set of learned codes for my Home Theater Master MX-800 to RemoteCentral.com, but it sure would be great to have individual IR codes for on, off, video mode, etc. This is a biggie for customers like me who have programmable remotes and will be integrating LinkTheater into their home theaters.

An unusual thing I've noticed with the remote is that pressing and holding a key doesn't repeat the function, like when scrolling down a list of music files.

I would also like to add my vote for a feature that would allow interactive building of a playlist, in other words an "add to playback queue" function.

And finally (for now), it would be nice if there were a way to scroll the web screen other than by jumping from link to link. I've been to a few pages already where there was more than a screenful of information between links, so there were parts of the page I wasn't able to reach.

Once again, great stuff, and it's SO nice to know that someone from Buffalo is actually watching this message board. Somebody's home -- wahoo!

Originally posted by Pennhaven
Thanks Brian. Obviously as a user I want to have access to all (or nearly all) of my photos. The directory scheme I happen to have on my PC has them stored in three separate "trees". If I can't access all three trees via a Watch Folder, I will have to reorganize my disk and combine them into one giant sequoia :D . Same number of photos, same number of subfolders, either way, just more convenient to utilize the watch folder approach (which would also make it easier to exclude a subset of my photos if I would wish to at some later time). I would be a little surprised if caching the same number of files and subfolders would take significantly longer just because they are in three trees instead of one.

Apparently the problem is that a lot of users put external drives (like card readers, cd-roms, etc.) in watch folders and they're REALLY slow and they make the entire pc software run at a crippling speed. The engineers believe that by having one directory, users will most likely pull them off the removable media and put them in a location on their physical drive.

I can understand and respect that, but they said they could give me one with a watch-folder setting but they had no fix for the performance issue as most people really like the thumbnails.

Originally posted by ChristoPhone
Another happy customer here. Kudos to Buffalo for a job well done. Setup was a breeze and worked flawlessly the first time (including the wireless networking!), which is pretty impressive given the extensive feature set. Can't wait to see what'll show up in the new versions!

BrianV, any idea whether discrete IR codes are available for the LinkTheater? I'm have uploaded a set of learned codes for my Home Theater Master MX-800 to RemoteCentral.com, but it sure would be great to have individual IR codes for on, off, video mode, etc. This is a biggie for customers like me who have programmable remotes and will be integrating LinkTheater into their home theaters.

An unusual thing I've noticed with the remote is that pressing and holding a key doesn't repeat the function, like when scrolling down a list of music files.

I would also like to add my vote for a feature that would allow interactive building of a playlist, in other words an "add to playback queue" function.

And finally (for now), it would be nice if there were a way to scroll the web screen other than by jumping from link to link. I've been to a few pages already where there was more than a screenful of information between links, so there were parts of the page I wasn't able to reach.

Once again, great stuff, and it's SO nice to know that someone from Buffalo is actually watching this message board. Somebody's home -- wahoo!
Remote Codes = http://www.verenkoff.com/remote_code.pdf

The active playlist thing is a challenge. It's the only bug/feature request I've submitted that basically yielded a nearly impossible to implement. They'd have to redesign how it works. Maybe another workaround can be thought up.

I'll see what they say about the remote buttons being held down. I don't know of any screens that have text flowing off of the screens; everything should fit nicely within the screen real-estate.

Thanks for the quick reply, BrianV.

The remote codes you sent are super, but unfortunately they only show the codes on the physical remote. What I'm looking for are *separate* codes for on and off (and others like the screen mode) that the LinkTheater will respond to. These are known in the industry as "discrete codes".

The reason for having discrete codes is that when programming macros into custom remotes for *serious* home theaters, discrete codes enable the macros to function reliably. In other words using a "toggle" for on/off in a macro runs the real world risk of one device getting out of sync from the rest of the devices in the theater. VCRs were notorious for this problem, causing macro programmers to devise pain in the butt workarounds, for instance, to be sure you were turning a VCR off, you might have to enter the following commands:

- Play (if VCR is off it will turn on, if it's already on it will simply enter Play mode

- Wait (for whatever device-specific interval may be required)

- Power (now that we know the device is on we can safely toggle the power to Off)

I'm sure that Buffalo wants to be taken seriously in the home theater market; this is one of those things that a system designer would look at right off the bat to see if the product is fully cooked. Know what I mean?

------------

I acknowledge that the music listing screens fit within one screen and that it may be faster to simply enter the line number you want to highlight. Out of habit, however, I expect to be able to hold down the down arrow and scroll to where I want to be. Interface-wise, it's best not to force people to behave in a particular way, but to have the GUI respond the way most people would expect. This of course leads to religious discussions, which is why good GUI design is such a tough job. :-)

--------------

Did you catch what I said about the web browser? Maybe I'm just using it wrong, but I can't find a way to scroll the screen (which can be more than a page full) except by going from link to link. If two links are more than a screenful apart, I'm out of luck. This BBS might actually be a good example of what I'm talking about.

Originally posted by ChristoPhone
Thanks for the quick reply, BrianV.

The remote codes you sent are super, but unfortunately they only show the codes on the physical remote. What I'm looking for are *separate* codes for on and off (and others like the screen mode) that the LinkTheater will respond to. These are known in the industry as "discrete codes".

The reason for having discrete codes is that when programming macros into custom remotes for *serious* home theaters, discrete codes enable the macros to function reliably. In other words using a "toggle" for on/off in a macro runs the real world risk of one device getting out of sync from the rest of the devices in the theater. VCRs were notorious for this problem, causing macro programmers to devise pain in the butt workarounds, for instance, to be sure you were turning a VCR off, you might have to enter the following commands:

- Play (if VCR is off it will turn on, if it's already on it will simply enter Play mode

- Wait (for whatever device-specific interval may be required)

- Power (now that we know the device is on we can safely toggle the power to Off)

I'm sure that Buffalo wants to be taken seriously in the home theater market; this is one of those things that a system designer would look at right off the bat to see if the product is fully cooked. Know what I mean?

------------

I acknowledge that the music listing screens fit within one screen and that it may be faster to simply enter the line number you want to highlight. Out of habit, however, I expect to be able to hold down the down arrow and scroll to where I want to be. Interface-wise, it's best not to force people to behave in a particular way, but to have the GUI respond the way most people would expect. This of course leads to religious discussions, which is why good GUI design is such a tough job. :-)

--------------

Did you catch what I said about the web browser? Maybe I'm just using it wrong, but I can't find a way to scroll the screen (which can be more than a page full) except by going from link to link. If two links are more than a screenful apart, I'm out of luck. This BBS might actually be a good example of what I'm talking about.

The standard up/down should scroll a webpage, I'll check a page that doesn't have any links.

I'll also try and find some better remote codes.

Originally posted by BrianV
I'll have to check on this, I know that when you view folders that have images inside, it puts a small thumbnail picture of the first image in the folder on the folder.

I'll report back sometime this weekend.

If this is true, then I'm all set with WAF.

Originally posted by chrixx
If this is true, then I'm all set with WAF.

Couldn't get it to display a image embedded folder. For performance reasons the program doesn't parse any additional folder information; only the photo section does for thumbnails.

I'll go ahead and ask that this feature be implemented as I doubt many people would have hundreds of picture-folders on their computer.

Originally posted by BrianV
Couldn't get it to display a image embedded folder. For performance reasons the program doesn't parse any additional folder information; only the photo section does for thumbnails.

I'll go ahead and ask that this feature be implemented as I doubt many people would have hundreds of picture-folders on their computer.

That would be great. Thanks again.

Will the LT display album art that is embedded in the tag?

tp, you want to send me a file that has album art and I'll test it?

Our engineers say yes, but I don't have much experience with album art and my attempts to make a WMA with album art resulted in a non-display on the LinkTheater. I'll give yours a try and report back immediately.

PM me if you want to send me the file.

Brian, Did you have a chance to verify that "actual size" does the same as "fit to screen". Small photos are enlarged, etc. They are not actual size.

And that a 1920 x 1080 picture in 1080i mode, instead of the exact picture, has a small portion of each side is cut off.

A 1920x1080 picture in 1080i mode is the same size as in 720p mode. A third of the picture should be cut off in 720 mode, "actual size".

What I'm getting at with all of this, besides the "actual size" problem, is I'm trying to find out the specs of the unit. Am I getting every bit of my 1920x1080 picture, or does it have a maximum resolution of 1280x720. So it downscales the picture, then upscales to 1920x1080? The specs on the website are vague about this.

Someone asked how the LinkTheater compares to the Roku HD-1000, which has true 1080i support. This spec is needed to compare.

Just wanted to take a second to recognize what an unusual thing this is...

A device that is well-thought-out, functional, not all that buggy, attractive, powerful and affordable... Supported by a company that releases firmware on a regular basis and tasks someone who is obviously VERY savvy and tied into the engineering cadre (although it's unclear just how) to read this little forum and respond to all of our whining and pestering not just quickly but with candor and a seemingly honest desire to create the product of our dreams.

Folks, this just doesn't happen!

After dealing with Roku, D-Link (ugh!) and a few others-- all of which were the same old buggy crap with non-existant tech support and zero documentation, I am purchasing an LT today.

Who knows? I may be greatly disappointed once again, but after reading this thread, I think this one's different. I'll let you know. Until then, thanks Buffalo (and BrianV) for setting an example for all the other, better-known players in the space to emulate!

Originally posted by dennismullen
Brian, Did you have a chance to verify that "actual size" does the same as "fit to screen". Small photos are enlarged, etc. They are not actual size.

And that a 1920 x 1080 picture in 1080i mode, instead of the exact picture, has a small portion of each side is cut off.

A 1920x1080 picture in 1080i mode is the same size as in 720p mode. A third of the picture should be cut off in 720 mode, "actual size".

What I'm getting at with all of this, besides the "actual size" problem, is I'm trying to find out the specs of the unit. Am I getting every bit of my 1920x1080 picture, or does it have a maximum resolution of 1280x720. So it downscales the picture, then upscales to 1920x1080? The specs on the website are vague about this.

Someone asked how the LinkTheater compares to the Roku HD-1000, which has true 1080i support. This spec is needed to compare.

Dennis, I've been struggling to find a 1920x1080 picture that's native in that resolution. I can resize something to it but I'd prefer looking at a picture taken at that resolution. Can you email me one and I can quickly check.

I know the interfaces are native in 1280x720 and then are upscaled to 1080i. It's quite possible that photo playback also happens at 720p; let me verify.

Originally posted by meast
Just wanted to take a second to recognize what an unusual thing this is...

A device that is well-thought-out, functional, not all that buggy, attractive, powerful and affordable... Supported by a company that releases firmware on a regular basis and tasks someone who is obviously VERY savvy and tied into the engineering cadre (although it's unclear just how) to read this little forum and respond to all of our whining and pestering not just quickly but with candor and a seemingly honest desire to create the product of our dreams.

Folks, this just doesn't happen!

After dealing with Roku, D-Link (ugh!) and a few others-- all of which were the same old buggy crap with non-existant tech support and zero documentation, I am purchasing an LT today.

Who knows? I may be greatly disappointed once again, but after reading this thread, I think this one's different. I'll let you know. Until then, thanks Buffalo (and BrianV) for setting an example for all the other, better-known players in the space to emulate!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm trying to do my best with this product as I see it as an opportunity to earn brand loyalty in a new, emerging space. There's so much technology packed into these products and it's a huge convergence of engineers (A/V engineers meet network engineers meet dvd/cd/ce eningeers).

My other motivation is that I use the product in my home, and albeit mine was free, there's no other player out there I'd replace it with (at this point). I look forward to firmware updates as much (if not more than) you do.

The bulk of the engineering on this product happens over-seas and typically happens on the Japanese model first, so please remain patient while we address problems and add features.

Thanks again.

PS - This is the first time anyone at Buffalo has interacted at this level with the consumers. When I was managing this product's development phase I considered posting a thread on AVSForums to introduce it, but then I found this one shortly after we released the product. AVSForums.com is definitely the pinnacle of A/V online communities, and so far it's been a pleasure working with all of you on this.

Originally posted by johnalt
Embedded artwork in the tag is definitly working for me. I embedded 300 CD's in Mp3 format using the itunes player. Download large hi def images from walmart or buy .com it looks great on TV.

I also would like to know about the photo down and up coversion question.

Thanks Brain,

I tested an mp3 that tp sent me and it worked without hitch playing album art. There must have been something wrong with the original mp3 I had created.

At any rate, it does work.

Thanks for sending the file tp!

OK....I can't take it...I am ordering mine today or tomorrow :)

Thanks again Brian....

Ok...It's done.....I ordered it :)

It looks like no powerbuy is going to happen, I talked to Alan about it...So for anyone else interested, I just got it from Buy.com with a $15 off coupon from techbargains for:

$284.99 shipped!!!!

Hard to beat that price..... :)

Me too but I couldn't resist 2 day shipping so that pushed the price to 307

dennis, the LinkTheater currently resides in 720p mode and upscales to 1080i. Future firmware releases will have separate 720p and 1080i native modes.

I've been reading this thread over the last couple days with great anticipation. And after all the requests for IFO parsing off of networked streams, I was praying I'd finally make it to the last page and all my DVD playing dreams would be fulfilled.

But alas, it still looks like file-based DVD Menu/IFO parsing isn't quite implemented yet. I'd like to 5th, 6th and 7th the recommendations for figuring this one out.

I've been waiting for years to be able to put all my DVDs on my PC(s)/external HDs and be able to play them from anywhere in the house. I've messed around with all sorts of software (MCE 2K5) and hardware (mod. xbox, PrismIQ, etc) and so far, nothing's been able to play my files the way I want to from a small form-factor thin client.

And I know all about VOBs and re-encoding files, but that's a PIA for most of what I want to watch. I have a good amount of TV series DVDs, anime, etc that have several episodes per disc, and with the anime, I definitely want the option to change the the audio and subtitles on the fly. I've gone through and pulled out around 300+ GBs of individual episodes before and lost my hard-drive, so it's much easier on my sanity to just rip the entire discs and only have to worry about funding new HD purchases.

I don't know what the current issues are, but from a layman's point of view, it seems the only hardware/software issue would be to treat the files as if they were coming from the disc drive vs the file server. So it sounds like it's something's else more on the PR side. Someone mentioned it before, but I would definitely purchase, and probably prefer, a drive-less unit if you had to do it that way.

Anways, to sum this puppy up: I'm would buy your, or whoever's, unit the absolute day this feature is implemented. (And then I'd buy another one a couple days later when my wife realize's how useful it would be in other rooms.) I consider it the holy grail of media players and I can't believe no one has successfully put out a product that does it correctly. Anyone can do pictures, Divx, etc, but to truly be a world-class media player, you have to embrace the digital networked home and improve on the most successful consumer product ever (the DVD). We have have networked music, now let's throw video in there, without making any compromises, and you've got the perfect network player. And IMHO, the first company to do this, even if it's just an inconspicous bullet point in the feature-set, is going to be crowned the king of this generation of media players and will set themselves up for the massive general/average consumer market that is about to appear.

God speed and good luck!

Tyler

Tyler, those are so powerful comments. Like I mentioned before, I have put an exclamation point on that feature request.

I bought my LinkTheater a couple of weeks ago after seeing Brian actively posting and answering questions in AVS Forum. Brian, you should get a commission for all the sales you are generating! We all appreciate you and your company's support.

BTW, I live in Southern Calif and when I bought mine from Buy.com I selected the free UPS ground delivery which warned that it may add 5 days to ship the order. I gambled that they would send it faster. In two days it was waiting at my door and was shipped from SoCal. So if you live is SoCal and want to save a little on shipping try the free UPS Ground shipping. No guarantees you will get it as fast as I did but the gamble paid off for me.

Brian, there is a menu navigation bug I've noticed on the Bourne Identity (Explosive Extended Edition) DVD.

To reproduce:
- Enter the Main Menu
- Enter Bonus Materials Menu
- Enter The Bookend Scenes
Notice that the menu background doesn't change but the highlighted menu cursor changes size and location to reflect the menu you selected (The Bookend Scenes Menu). The cursor now behaves like it would on The Bookend Scenes Menu but the background is still the Bonus Materials Menu.

It happens frequently for me about 90% of the time. So if it doesn't do this for you try it a few times. You could also go into the The Bookend Scenes Menu and go one more level down and then back out to the Bonus Materials Menu and back into The Bookend Scenes Menu.

I tried this on another DVD player (Apex AD-600A) and it had no problem with the background remaining on the previous menu so it doesn't seem like it is related to the DVD itself.

Brian,

I also have had trouble with the keys on the remote not working especially when FF or RW and then trying to go back into play mode. I tried your suggestion of "try using the pause button to stop fast forward or rewind and then press play. We are looking into the problem but PAUSE seems to work in the meantime" but it doesn't work for me. It is very annoying when I overshoot when the remote is not responding.

Also, regarding a 30-second jump forward or a quick 8-second jump back (like TiVo & ReplayTV) I understand the remote is not truly designed for that but I'm planning on getting a programmable remote that could be programmed with that functionality if the LT supported it. I bet a lot of others here have programmable remotes and would love that feature, too. And you could add it to the number key-pad like jerndl requested in this post: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5350407#post5350407 so that others w/out programmable remotes would use it too. And please add a menu option to configure the number of seconds that the jump would skip in two separate fields for FF and RW.

One more suggestion of navigating: Make navigation of videos, songs, pics easier like just scrolling down the list instead of paging 10 items at a time by having to select the next 10 on a special item above the list. I'd like to also add that holding down the remote control's LEFT, RIGHT, UP & DOWN button should repeat the command without having to tap repeatedly. This might not be desired in every LT menu but it is sorely missed in navigation. I hope repeat is not a hardware issue with the remote itself but is something that can be changed in the player.

Thanks for a great product! I'm just trying to make it more great!

Originally posted by BrianV
Tyler, those are so powerful comments. Like I mentioned before, I have put an exclamation point on that feature request.

Tyler, well said. And Brian, he is pretty close to acurate. The gapless audio playback and the ability to build a playlist are a close 2nd and 3rd on the list, but also just as critical for a complete device. I, however, fully agree that full featured dvd playback over the network is the killer application.

Drew

PS: A kick-ass on screen HD-quality UI would also help too.

Hi BrianV & all...thanks for the excellent discussion. Hoping you can help with my questions. I think I can may have an example where you can displace the purchase of 10 "competing devices" and encourge the purchase of 5 LinkTheater's.

Just finishing off a house remodel, and have a plan to distribute "content" from a central location to all (5 as of now) viewing stations. Goal has been to have a central repository of all content, and to minimize electronics boxes everywhere in the house. Until 1 week ago, I was on a plan to...

Combination of 5 Plasmas & TVs around the house...buy a new Media Center PC, 5 Media Center Extenders, and 5 Roku boxes. The 5 viewing locations would only need a Roku & MC Extender...and not need any equipment from Time Warner (PVR, Cable Box, etc)

Content equals, in this priority.

a) Live TV
b) Recorded TV
c) Ripped DVDs
d) MP3 Music
e) Photos and Home Videos

My "old plan" was using the Media Center Extenders to do

a, b, & d at each viewing location...they do this well and it's nicely integrated into a PVR like experience. I can instigate TV recording, and replay TV recording from any location. I know the TV would not be in Hi-Def.

...the 5 Roku boxes will...

c (in hi-def) and e (in hi-def)

What I've read now I can throw my old plan in the crapper, and instead now just by 5 LinkTheaters. Only thing I will miss however is

a) Live TV...the LinkTheater doesn't help me here...answer is just just get the cable feeds from TimeWarner to each viewing station directly.

b) Recorded TV...here's where I need some help. I'd like to avoid buying a PVR for each location. I've read about the PC based PVRs....but I want to instigate recording from every viewing location not just in the basement closet (where the Media Center PC will be located).

I'm still getting stuck, and it seems I will need a combination of Media Center Extenders & a Roku/LinkTheater.

So, you just got me to buy 5 LinkTheaters instead of 5 Rokus....but help me avoid the MediaCenter Extender purchase too !

Thanks for any advice...

Kevin

Originally posted by Barley
Brian, there is a menu navigation bug I've noticed on the Bourne Identity (Explosive Extended Edition) DVD.

To reproduce:
- Enter the Main Menu
- Enter Bonus Materials Menu
- Enter The Bookend Scenes
Notice that the menu background doesn't change but the highlighted menu cursor changes size and location to reflect the menu you selected (The Bookend Scenes Menu). The cursor now behaves like it would on The Bookend Scenes Menu but the background is still the Bonus Materials Menu.

It happens frequently for me about 90% of the time. So if it doesn't do this for you try it a few times. You could also go into the The Bookend Scenes Menu and go one more level down and then back out to the Bonus Materials Menu and back into The Bookend Scenes Menu.

I tried this on another DVD player (Apex AD-600A) and it had no problem with the background remaining on the previous menu so it doesn't seem like it is related to the DVD itself.

I'll report the bug directly to the engineers as I don't have a copy of that DVD.

Originally posted by Barley
Brian,

I also have had trouble with the keys on the remote not working especially when FF or RW and then trying to go back into play mode. I tried your suggestion of "try using the pause button to stop fast forward or rewind and then press play. We are looking into the problem but PAUSE seems to work in the meantime" but it doesn't work for me. It is very annoying when I overshoot when the remote is not responding.

Also, regarding a 30-second jump forward or a quick 8-second jump back (like TiVo & ReplayTV) I understand the remote is not truly designed for that but I'm planning on getting a programmable remote that could be programmed with that functionality if the LT supported it. I bet a lot of others here have programmable remotes and would love that feature, too. And you could add it to the number key-pad like jerndl requested in this post: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5350407#post5350407 so that others w/out programmable remotes would use it too. And please add a menu option to configure the number of seconds that the jump would skip in two separate fields for FF and RW.

One more suggestion of navigating: Make navigation of videos, songs, pics easier like just scrolling down the list instead of paging 10 items at a time by having to select the next 10 on a special item above the list. I'd like to also add that holding down the remote control's LEFT, RIGHT, UP & DOWN button should repeat the command without having to tap repeatedly. This might not be desired in every LT menu but it is sorely missed in navigation. I hope repeat is not a hardware issue with the remote itself but is something that can be changed in the player.

Thanks for a great product! I'm just trying to make it more great!

I don't know if there's enough priority to get the skip ahead, skip back features since we can't have an easy button our remote to do so. Thus, most customers would never know about it. However, it'll be highly considered in future versions.

I definitely want to get the remote hold-down buttons to work like they should.

Originally posted by drew138
Tyler, well said. And Brian, he is pretty close to acurate. The gapless audio playback and the ability to build a playlist are a close 2nd and 3rd on the list, but also just as critical for a complete device. I, however, fully agree that full featured dvd playback over the network is the killer application.

Drew

PS: A kick-ass on screen HD-quality UI would also help too.

The UI when using the PC Software is HD-quality and I think it looks pretty impressive. Are you talking about the default interface?

Originally posted by kevdogWI
Hi BrianV & all...thanks for the excellent discussion. Hoping you can help with my questions. I think I can may have an example where you can displace the purchase of 10 "competing devices" and encourge the purchase of 5 LinkTheater's.

Just finishing off a house remodel, and have a plan to distribute "content" from a central location to all (5 as of now) viewing stations. Goal has been to have a central repository of all content, and to minimize electronics boxes everywhere in the house. Until 1 week ago, I was on a plan to...

Combination of 5 Plasmas & TVs around the house...buy a new Media Center PC, 5 Media Center Extenders, and 5 Roku boxes. The 5 viewing locations would only need a Roku & MC Extender...and not need any equipment from Time Warner (PVR, Cable Box, etc)

Content equals, in this priority.

a) Live TV
b) Recorded TV
c) Ripped DVDs
d) MP3 Music
e) Photos and Home Videos

My "old plan" was using the Media Center Extenders to do

a, b, & d at each viewing location...they do this well and it's nicely integrated into a PVR like experience. I can instigate TV recording, and replay TV recording from any location. I know the TV would not be in Hi-Def.

...the 5 Roku boxes will...

c (in hi-def) and e (in hi-def)

What I've read now I can throw my old plan in the crapper, and instead now just by 5 LinkTheaters. Only thing I will miss however is

a) Live TV...the LinkTheater doesn't help me here...answer is just just get the cable feeds from TimeWarner to each viewing station directly.

b) Recorded TV...here's where I need some help. I'd like to avoid buying a PVR for each location. I've read about the PC based PVRs....but I want to instigate recording from every viewing location not just in the basement closet (where the Media Center PC will be located).

I'm still getting stuck, and it seems I will need a combination of Media Center Extenders & a Roku/LinkTheater.

So, you just got me to buy 5 LinkTheaters instead of 5 Rokus....but help me avoid the MediaCenter Extender purchase too !

Thanks for any advice...

Kevin

Well we can definitely replace the Roku's and offer a lot more including HD upconversion on the video playback. To stream live TV and initiate it from the TVs you'll have to explore another option. Hopefully within a year or two there will be that all-in-one solution you're looking for.

I've been working on a video with our video team and we've finalized a LinkTheater video. For those who are interested in seeing the PC interface and some of the features, you can check out this video:

http://64.182.122.206/Buffalo/LinkTheater/linktheater.wmv

It's high on marketing fluff (like most videos), but it'll help people who haven't seen it yet get an idea of the product.

Well, I have been researching these products and this one seems to stand out and handles what I want done.

I just ordered mine from NewEgg and could not resist 1 day shipping!

Hopefully it will be here tommorrow??

I will post my thoughts when I receive it.

Thanks to all in this forum!

Brian, Thanks for your support! I will be anticipating the firmware updates!

Kevin (kevdogWI),

SqueezeBox2 will play all your media and record TV's show to PC's harddrive.

The software looks a lot like the Momitsu MMC software. Are they all written by the same company (outsourced).

Any plans for DVD/CD cover art display?

A/VSpec, yes the company who writes that software is pretty popular amongst Asian manufacturers.

No plans that I know of for DVD/CD art, but I'll go ahead and ask about it.

Brian,

Nobody ever asked before, but are both YUV component and D4 Component on simultaneously or only one at a time ?

I desperately need 2 video outputs from the LT, but before I invest in a D4 cable, I'd like to know for sure. Also, does the D4 only output component or can it output s-video and/or composite too ? If yes, can these be simultaneous with the YUV component output or do they suffer from the same limitation as the regular outputs ?

Thierry

PS : What's the status on the PCast for TeraStation ? And the NTP bug (NTP definitely doesn't work properly), also for TeraStation ?

We're testing PCast now, we just recently got the firmware build from Japan. Hopefully we can get it turned around by the end of next week. I'll likely be able to release it ahead of time to users of this forum, much like I did with the single-file playback with LinkStation.

I haven't personally used D4, but I think D4 uses the same modes that component does, so you would be able to get two outputs at once. If this is right, both the outputs would be the same as the Component so you couldn't have one HD/Component display and one non-HD Svideo like display.

Originally posted by tsilcox
I've been waiting for years to be able to put all my DVDs on my PC(s)/external HDs and be able to play them from anywhere in the house. I've messed around with all sorts of software (MCE 2K5) and hardware (mod. xbox, PrismIQ, etc) and so far, nothing's been able to play my files the way I want to from a small form-factor thin client.
You may want to look into the Mediagate MG-35 (http://www.airlinktek.com/english/prod_mg35.htm). The user manual (http://www.airlinktek.com/corean/manual/mg35.manual.pdf) seems to indicate on page 47 that it can play IFO files from its optional hard drive, and perhaps from another PC over its Ethernet port as well.

I came across a store in the UK (http://digitalall.co.uk/product_detail.asp?id=99&pri=537) that sells it. They told me that they can ship it to the US. Or you could wait for the upcoming Mediagate MG-350HD (http://www.airlinktek.com/english/prod_mg350.htm) which will support true hi-def playback.

Does anyone here have a 1080P capable HDTV (1080p over Component)? I have firmware that supports 1080p upconversion but I don't have a 1080p TV and I'm not about to buy one to test this feature; I wish I could.

Anyways, let me know if you have a 1080p TV.

Originally posted by BrianV
The UI when using the PC Software is HD-quality and I think it looks pretty impressive. Are you talking about the default interface?

I hadn't seen the UI until I looked at the demo today. looks good.

I too am amazed at the level that Buffalo is supporting this product through Brian. Maybe in some high end products you see this kind of support, but not at this level.

Brian not only knows the product technically, but also seems knowledgeable on the engineering side so he knows when a feature request is reasonable or not. He knows how to manage the expectations of people in this forum very well.

If this product becomes a leader in it's class, Buffalo owes a lot of thanks to Brian.

Great job Brian!!!!

I'm looking to replace my less-than-desirable Gateway Connected DVD player, and this product looks like a significant upgrade.

One question I have for anyone using one is if it will play the DD 5.1 audio off of mixed DVD-A/DVD-Video DVDs? I recently purchased a DualDisc and another DVD that say they work with almost any DVD player for a 5.1 mix, and both discs totally crashed the Gateway player. I understand this is not a DVD-A player.

Another interesting feature that would be interesting would be compatability with Napster-To-Go. I know there was some reference to Janus support, so I'm wondering if this will be easily implemented.

Brian,
I own the I-O Data AVeL LinkPlayer2. The specifications state the video D/A converter is 148.5 mhz, 12 bit. Keith Jack of Sigma Designs has confirmed the video D/A converter on the EM8620L is 150 mhz, 12 bit.

But your specs state 54 mhz 12 bit. Why?

Will Buffalo be offering a DVI equipped model to U.S. customers? I will buy the first HD player that comes to market with one.

Originally posted by Tom Roper
Will Buffalo be offering a DVI equipped model to U.S. customers? I will buy the first HD player that comes to market with one. An interesting question...

Personally speaking, I reckon should Buffalo get round to launching a player with an digital video output connector, it will end up being HDMI (with HDCP) and not DVI ;)


Cheers

That would be okay, still. The DVI equipped models are here and now, at least for Japan. Are we yanks not worthy?

Originally posted by Tom Roper
Brian,
I own the I-O Data AVeL LinkPlayer2. The specifications state the video D/A converter is 148.5 mhz, 12 bit. Keith Jack of Sigma Designs has confirmed the video D/A converter on the EM8620L is 150 mhz, 12 bit.

But your specs state 54 mhz 12 bit. Why?

Will Buffalo be offering a DVI equipped model to U.S. customers? I will buy the first HD player that comes to market with one.

I'll have to check with Sigma on the designs of ours.

If we come out with a DVI model it will be a different part number and it'll most likely be the successor to this product. We won't come out with the same exact product with DVI unless there's some HUGE market demand for it. There are no immediate plans for any successor product as this product just came out.

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
An interesting question...

Personally speaking, I reckon should Buffalo get round to launching a player with an digital video output connector, it will end up being HDMI (with HDCP) and not DVI ;)


Cheers

You're absolutely correct, at this point there's little value in offering regular DVI. DVI + HDCP or HDMI would be the only way to go. That said, the same comments from the above post apply.

Well, I got mine today after ordering yesterday from NewEgg.

First, my TV is not HDTV but I connected through component and followed the component instructions. Then I went through the settings on the LinkTheater and it picked up my Wireless G network. I installed the software, set up the folders where my MP3's, Photos and Videos were.

I thought I would have to run a wired connection but it is working great, although I observed where it would get a hiccup sometimes when selecting MP3's.

I had ripped Ladder 49 last night to Hard drive and played it a little and it was great. Just watched a little to see if it would work. Too excited to stay on one thing too long.

Photos were great and folowed my folder structure.

MP3's were also good after the initial very short static and it picked up my folder structure. I used the section for artists to scroll and it was fine.

I had some home movies and I had put on hard drive and it played them without problems.

Right now, I am ecstatic about this purchase, does what I want it to do and I am surprised how well it is working on my wireless network. My router is about 75 feet and 3 rooms away from the LinkTheater.

Brian,

I will await the firmware update on the MP3 problem and more enhancements. I haven't tried USB playback. Would also love to get support as mentioned before in forum on NTSF support.

Great product! Would recommend to anyone. I am truly enjoying it and surprised how well it is working and with relative ease!

Thanks,
Terry

Brian,

When do you think we'll see a firmware update for the linktheater? The linktheater plays video extremely well, but the static at the beginning of MP3's gets a little annoying and I recently noticed that it sometimes doesn't play mp3's when your scrolling through a library using the next button. The title displays on the screen and the counter on the player is moving, but there is no sound.

Great job on the forum....this is truly refreshing and totally different from the industry standard. I think that Dlink and the others should be taking notes here on true customer support!

thanks,

One of the main reasons, I chose the Buffalo LinkTheater, and chose to buy it now, was in fact Brian....

His commitment to making Buffalo's product the best it can be is second to none....

I can't say enough how impressed I am with his interaction with us. As much as this is helping Buffalo, I hope they take care of him.... :) A nice customer satisfaction award or something similar should be coming his way...

Thanks again Brian....

I'm another new customer because of Brian and the feature set. Ordered mine two days ago from Buy.com.

I'm having Verizon FIOS installed this morning and thus had to order a IODATA 320GB Firewire/USB external drive from Buy.com also to handle all the cool stuff I will be DL'ing and streaming. :)

This is all going to both my Sony Wega 60'' HD LCD and PIANO front projector. R

Results should be stunning....

:)

Originally posted by mrtbig
Well, I got mine today after ordering yesterday from NewEgg.

First, my TV is not HDTV but I connected through component and followed the component instructions. Then I went through the settings on the LinkTheater and it picked up my Wireless G network. I installed the software, set up the folders where my MP3's, Photos and Videos were.

I thought I would have to run a wired connection but it is working great, although I observed where it would get a hiccup sometimes when selecting MP3's.

I had ripped Ladder 49 last night to Hard drive and played it a little and it was great. Just watched a little to see if it would work. Too excited to stay on one thing too long.

Photos were great and folowed my folder structure.

MP3's were also good after the initial very short static and it picked up my folder structure. I used the section for artists to scroll and it was fine.

I had some home movies and I had put on hard drive and it played them without problems.

Right now, I am ecstatic about this purchase, does what I want it to do and I am surprised how well it is working on my wireless network. My router is about 75 feet and 3 rooms away from the LinkTheater.

Brian,

I will await the firmware update on the MP3 problem and more enhancements. I haven't tried USB playback. Would also love to get support as mentioned before in forum on NTSF support.

Great product! Would recommend to anyone. I am truly enjoying it and surprised how well it is working and with relative ease!

Thanks,
Terry

Thanks for the kind words!

Originally posted by remichel
Brian,

When do you think we'll see a firmware update for the linktheater? The linktheater plays video extremely well, but the static at the beginning of MP3's gets a little annoying and I recently noticed that it sometimes doesn't play mp3's when your scrolling through a library using the next button. The title displays on the screen and the counter on the player is moving, but there is no sound.

Great job on the forum....this is truly refreshing and totally different from the industry standard. I think that Dlink and the others should be taking notes here on true customer support!

thanks,

I haven't even seen a firmware fix with the static mp3 fix yet so I can't comment on a date. I have two firmwares that are newer than the ones you have. The firmware team has the entire list I compiled from AVSForums bug/feature reports and is now working on fixing as much as they can.

It's likely you'll get one of the firmware udpates I already have and then another sometime after that starts addressing the bugs. Next week I'll be leaning on the engineers hard for better firmware.

Originally posted by qrazy
One of the main reasons, I chose the Buffalo LinkTheater, and chose to buy it now, was in fact Brian....

His commitment to making Buffalo's product the best it can be is second to none....

I can't say enough how impressed I am with his interaction with us. As much as this is helping Buffalo, I hope they take care of him.... :) A nice customer satisfaction award or something similar should be coming his way...

Thanks again Brian....

I don't need an award, knowing you guys are happy is the best award possible.

Originally posted by mrstormy
I'm another new customer because of Brian and the feature set. Ordered mine two days ago from Buy.com.

I'm having Verizon FIOS installed this morning and thus had to order a IODATA 320GB Firewire/USB external drive from Buy.com also to handle all the cool stuff I will be DL'ing and streaming. :)

This is all going to both my Sony Wega 60'' HD LCD and PIANO front projector. R

Results should be stunning....

:)

First, a little off-topic, but i would be interested in a quick review of your Verizon FIOS, speed, price, instalation process. For those who don't know, FIOS is the fiber to the premise project that promises true "high speed" always on service. Good luck and I hope they roll it out in NYC soon!

Second, Why get the IO Data external drive from buy.com. The Linktheather will synch up with nicely with the Buffalo Linkstation NAS device.

Drew

Originally posted by drew138
First, a little off-topic, but i would be interested in a quick review of your Verizon FIOS, speed, price, instalation process. For those who don't know, FIOS is the fiber to the premise project that promises true "high speed" always on service. Good luck and I hope they roll it out in NYC soon!

Second, Why get the IO Data external drive from buy.com. The Linktheather will synch up with nicely with the Buffalo Linkstation NAS device.

Drew

How fast is that connection, they have a similar technology in Japan they call FTTH (Fiber to the Home). Anyways, most of our routers support FTTH which provides WAN-to-LAN routing speeds of 99 Mbps. Regular Linksys, D-Link routers only do 15-20 Mbps routing. Make sure your router is fast enough for your fiber connection.

Did you guys see the top thread? where can we continue this very productive forum? any suggestions?

Originally posted by remichel
Did you guys see the top thread? where can we continue this very productive forum? any suggestions?

Thats just WRONG!!!!

Originally posted by BrianV
How fast is that connection, they have a similar technology in Japan they call FTTH (Fiber to the Home). Anyways, most of our routers support FTTH which provides WAN-to-LAN routing speeds of 99 Mbps. Regular Linksys, D-Link routers only do 15-20 Mbps routing. Make sure your router is fast enough for your fiber connection. Can you confirm the maximum possible speed of your players EtherNet connection please?

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Sigma's EM8620 "Development Kit" supported 10, 100 & 1000Mbps connection speeds!


Cheers

I wasn't aware it was 1000 capable, but I'll ask around.

Originally posted by remichel
Did you guys see the top thread? where can we continue this very productive forum? any suggestions?


Click the link. April's Fools. Although I'm not sure if other contries celebrate this tradition and therefore could cause much angst.

Drew

PS: Fiber to the Premise is the same as Fibre to the Home; or basically similar. I'm sure they will still cap the speed but users should be able to get as much as 15 to 20mbps for a fairly competitive price. More speed is available with the fiber but i'm sure it will cost a pretry penny.

Originally posted by BrianV
I wasn't aware it was 1000 capable, but I'll ask around. Here's what Chuna, over on the Zensonic Z500 forum (http://www.z500series.com/forum/index.php?), said about the chip-sets EtherNet capabilities: - As for Gigabit, you are right, this was already available in the chipset so was included

Cheers

Drew138 and BrianV,

I chose the 320GB IODATA as a backup drive as I current have my main PC with three drives, 120GB and 2 80GB. One of the 80GB'rs was for shared files, music, pics, video,etc. with the other being the backup drive. I ran out of space on the 80GB'r so I can not back it up completely anymore. With the new 320GB, I can use both 80GB"rs for primary shared storage and the 320Gb as pure backup. I wanted a portable backup device and not a NAS for this purpose. The Buffalo 300GB NAS costs $400 where the IODATA 320GB costs $238. I'm saving up for the $999 Buffalo 1TB NAS (4X250) which will give me 500MB primary and 500MB Backup. The 320GB IODATA will always come in handy later on.

Verizon FIOS will give my 15mbps down and 2mbps up for $44.95 month! :)

He's installing the DLINK router in the garage. One cat5 will go straight from the DLINK garage router to the LinkTheater. Another will go to my office and into my Linksys wireless router which serves up my wife and kid's desktop and my laptop with wireless G. I only use wireless G with the laptop. Everything else will be direct cable. The LinkTheater will be in the back of the house so I will also put a hub and wireless access point back there so I can wirelessly browse out by the pool in back.

I'll post upload/download speeds once we are finished. Hope the LinkSys router doesn't impact my speeds.

Originally posted by drew138
Click the link. April's Fools. Although I'm not sure if other contries celebrate this tradition and therefore could cause much angst.

Drew

PS: Fiber to the Premise is the same as Fibre to the Home; or basically similar. I'm sure they will still cap the speed but users should be able to get as much as 15 to 20mbps for a fairly competitive price. More speed is available with the fiber but i'm sure it will cost a pretry penny.

Yeah, for $39.95 you get 40+ Mbps connections.

Originally posted by mrstormy
Drew138 and BrianV,

I chose the 320GB IODATA as a backup drive as I current have my main PC with three drives, 120GB and 2 80GB. One of the 80GB'rs was for shared files, music, pics, video,etc. with the other being the backup drive. I ran out of space on the 80GB'r so I can not back it up completely anymore. With the new 320GB, I can use both 80GB"rs for primary shared storage and the 320Gb as pure backup. I wanted a portable backup device and not a NAS for this purpose. The Buffalo 300GB NAS costs $400 where the IODATA 320GB costs $238. I'm saving up for the $999 Buffalo 1TB NAS (4X250) which will give me 500MB primary and 500MB Backup. The 320GB IODATA will always come in handy later on.

Verizon FIOS will give my 15mbps down and 2mbps up for $44.95 month! :)

He's installing the DLINK router in the garage. One cat5 will go straight from the DLINK garage router to the LinkTheater. Another will go to my office and into my Linksys wireless router which serves up my wife and kid's desktop and my laptop with wireless G. I only use wireless G with the laptop. Everything else will be direct cable. The LinkTheater will be in the back of the house so I will also put a hub and wireless access point back there so I can wirelessly browse out by the pool in back.

I'll post upload/download speeds once we are finished. Hope the LinkSys router doesn't impact my speeds.
Any modern Linksys router should handle 15 Mbps (most are tested at 17-20). If you get your line upgraded to something over 15, I'd encourage you to look into a FTTH compatible router. Our WHR3-G54 and WZR-RS-G54 are both FTTH compatible. Their WAN-LAN routing speed is measured at 98.7 Mbps.

I've read through the thread, and have a few lingering questions. Apologies if these have been answered; I may have missed them along the way.

(1) What are the discrete IR codes to turn the unit ON and OFF? This is the only component in my system that I can't turn on as part of a macro on my universal remote. I hope the designers didn't forget to implement discrete codes... perhaps this could be addressed through a firmware update?

(2) Are there any firmware updates available yet? If so, where can they be found? I note much discussion of bug fixes, but can't find a firmware update for the LinkTheater on the Buffalo site.

(3) Is there really no hope of WMV-HD playback without an XP system involved? If that's the case, we might as well just switch to XP Media Center Edition and cut out the middle man...

Can't tell you how disappointing it was to get my LinkTheater set up and pop in "Step Into Liquid" only to discover that I couldn't play the WMV HD version. There should be some prominent disclaimers on the Buffalo site that current WMV-HD discs can't be played. Now that I've plunked down the cash for the unit, I'm willing to go through the extra contortion of streaming it from a PC, but I'm not clear on whether MediaConnect support is provided by the current FirmWare (the reference to this earlier in the thread made it sound as if new firmware would be required).

Kudos to Buffalo for getting the product to market ahead of Kiss and Vizio! Kudos to Brain for the on-line support!

P.S. - HDMI out would be a great addition; I know it's been brought up before, I just thought I would reinforce the suggestion...

dennis, the LinkTheater currently resides in 720p mode and upscales to 1080i. Future firmware releases will have separate 720p and 1080i native modes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a fix that should be put near the top of the list. For viewing digital photgraphs it would amount to a 50% increase in resolution. That is what I thought I was buying. We need to be able to see the full resolution of our HDTVs.

In the mean time I'm really enjoying this product.

Originally posted by tmorten
...P.S. - HDMI out would be a great addition; I know it's been brought up before, I just thought I would reinforce the suggestion... You might also want to add, 6Ch analogue audio outputs to your list... As this should allowing people to hear 6Ch WMA Pro audio, as used on HD WMV DVD's ;)


Cheers

(1) What are the discrete IR codes to turn the unit ON and OFF? This is the only component in my system that I can't turn on as part of a macro on my universal remote. I hope the designers didn't forget to implement discrete codes... perhaps this could be addressed through a firmware update?

I'm still trying to find the discrete codes.

(2) Are there any firmware updates available yet? If so, where can they be found? I note much discussion of bug fixes, but can't find a firmware update for the LinkTheater on the Buffalo site.

There are two in the queue. We're still approving them via testing. I thought they'd be here this week, but now it's looking like next week.

(3) Is there really no hope of WMV-HD playback without an XP system involved? If that's the case, we might as well just switch to XP Media Center Edition and cut out the middle man...

Hopefully there will be direct DRM to a set-top box but this is more of a Microsoft thing than a Buffalo thing. We support WMV-HD so I don't think a disclaimer is necessary, we don't avertise that it plays WMV-HD CD/DVDs although I see how it could be assumed. Again, MS needs to release a set-top based DRM technology to resolve this crap. Another reason why I think DRM is a big bummer.

Can't tell you how disappointing it was to get my LinkTheater set up and pop in "Step Into Liquid" only to discover that I couldn't play the WMV HD version. There should be some prominent disclaimers on the Buffalo site that current WMV-HD discs can't be played. Now that I've plunked down the cash for the unit, I'm willing to go through the extra contortion of streaming it from a PC, but I'm not clear on whether MediaConnect support is provided by the current FirmWare (the reference to this earlier in the thread made it sound as if new firmware would be required).

Windows Media Connect Support will be in the next firmware version

P.S. - HDMI out would be a great addition; I know it's been brought up before, I just thought I would reinforce the suggestion...

Will be in a successor product but not likely added into this version.

Originally posted by dennismullen
dennis, the LinkTheater currently resides in 720p mode and upscales to 1080i. Future firmware releases will have separate 720p and 1080i native modes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a fix that should be put near the top of the list. For viewing digital photgraphs it would amount to a 50% increase in resolution. That is what I thought I was buying. We need to be able to see the full resolution of our HDTVs.

In the mean time I'm really enjoying this product.

When I spoke to the engineer he said they're going to make photo and video playback of native 1920x1080 work at true 1080i. The interface will always be 1280x720 but viewing material larger will work in true 1080i mode. I don't know when this is expected but the engineers did say it's on their list, and when somethings on their list that means it'll get done. When stuff is on my list all I can do is hope it makes it to their list and provide as much support for that as possible.

I need some input?

I want to boost my wireless range because I think maybe it is causing some slow reaction to files in Linktheater.

I currently have a Linksys WRT54G.

Would it be better to get a Buffalo Antenna like this:

http://www.provantage.com/YBFLN003.htm

Or should I get another WRT54G and use it as a repeater, etc. and hook it up to the Lan on the Linktheater?

Or should I get a WRT54GS with the 35% boost and then use my current one on the Linktheater?

Thoughts??

Hi all,
A quick question about playback of photos. Whether I'm running a slideshow or using the down-arrow to advance through photos, there is a dip to black between each photo. Is there a way to eliminate this transition and just cut from one photo to the next? If this feature does not exist, it would be a good addition.
Thanks.

I too would like more control over the transitions in slide show mode.

I also have a question about playing files from a USB device or a data disk in the player (not using files streamed over the network). The manual says that you can press enter to display a file. That works.

But it also says you can press play to display all the files in the directory. When I do that it just bounces back to the "Video, Photo Movie" screen and doesn't display anything.

MrTBig,

My opinion is that once you are about 30 feet from a wireless G signal, anything goes and you just can't expect a quality signal. Some are lucky, some are not, too many variables.

Of course, direct connect is always the way to go but trying these high gain attennas can't hurt as long as you can return them.

Range expanders and repeaters are a hassle and also problematic. I read many mixed review and you just never know.

I can't speak from personal exprerience on the expanders and repeaters, only on what I've read.

Good luck.

I don't think you can use a repeater with a Linksys WRTG54S. Expanders work great but they're hard to initially setup and they reduce your speed by half.

I recommend you either explore an external directional antenna for the LinkTheater or try and move your router closer. One or two walls is the maximum you want to penetrate without losing too much signal, and about 50 ft is the max you want to go.

lancecov

It shouldn't stay black for more than a microsecond as that's part of the transition phase; I'll look into it though.

Hi,

I am trying to play DVD Vobs I have ripped to my hard drive with DVD Decrypter. I have ripped in IFO mode as well as File mode. When I start playing the file it starts fine but then my receiver picks up dolby digital and then it won't play right.

Is this a limitation of LinkTheater? It says it plays AC3 files.

Or am I doing something wrong ripping? I have tried to take out the other audio tracks but it seems not to do it because sometimes the audio track gets messed up with the French version.

This is happening in Armageddon, Deep Impact. Ladder 49 plays for a while just fine and then my receiver blue light comes on indicating Dolby Digital and then won't play the file right. If I hit pause for the blue light to go off then play it does OK for little while longer then goes back into Dolby Digital again.

Any help?

Hi mrtbig,

This sounds like the same sort of problem I-O DATA player owners have been experiencing :eek:

I heard over on another forum that....

"one of the reasons why 6 channel audio does not work correctly, is because of a "Sigma chip-set software bug".


Cheers

RE AC3 dropouts --

Sounds more like streaming issues -- Maybe you have bottlenecks in your network? If you burn those same VOBS to a DVD do you have any issues?

I haven't burned any DVD's from them but I can play them on my pc with no problems.

Paul raises a very good point...

If you're streaming .VOB files over a network, you might well be experiencing bottlenecks!

As a matter of interest, how many streams do you have in your .VOB file (audio, video subs)? Do you need them all?

I've often found de-muxing the streams out of the .VOB container and re-muxing them into the .MPG container helps in some instances!


Cheers

One great feature would be the ability to play TivoToGo files. Given the copy-protection that TiVo is using, is this technically possible?

(Yes, I know that their are ways to "modify" the files, but I'm thinking about native format).

Copying files from my TiVo to my computer, and then streaming them to the LT...Video bliss! :)

Brian,

I can't play AVI files that I've taken with my Canon S400. It quickly flashes that something is wrong with the CODEC. They play fine in Windows Media Player.

Also, when attaching a memory card reader to the USB port I can't play a slideshow of pictures. I can load one and then return to the list and choose another pic but this is not fun when there are more than a few pics. Any chance that a slideshow mode for USB attached memory card readers is on the enhancement list?

I don't think tivo format files will ever be able to play, that's a tivo specific format and licensing for it would be a PIA.

Barley, I have the same EXACT camera; I'll check it out.

The next firmware update will allow you to press the 'Play' button to start a slide show, the timer for the transition is specified in the settings.

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Paul raises a very good point...

If you're streaming .VOB files over a network, you might well be experiencing bottlenecks!

As a matter of interest, how many streams do you have in your .VOB file (audio, video subs)? Do you need them all?

I've often found de-muxing the streams out of the .VOB container and re-muxing them into the .MPG container helps in some instances!


Cheers


I do not know how to do the de-muxing and re-muxing. Could you give me instructions?

Also I have been ripping now with the IFO mode and go into stream processing and take out all except video and main audio.

I have been trying to view couple of videos and if the audio receiver picks up the Dolby Digital and lights up, I hit pause on the Linktheater and wait for the light and Dolby Digital to go off then press play again and it is working although I haven't watched one video all the way through yet.

I have ordered a Buffalo antenna to help with the wireless signal in case that will help. Will be a few days before I get it.

Thanks,

Terry

Barley and BrianV,

I also have the Canon S400 (hoping to replace it this weekend with the new Digital Rebel XT :D ) and the AVI files won't play on my LinkTheater either. The S400 uses a Motion JPEG codec, not sure if that is supported on the Sigma chipset or not. I have converted the files using Sony (Sonic Foundry) Vegas Video to MPEG4 and then the LinkTheater plays it fine.

Adam

I have AVI files that I took off a DV video camera and used the pinnacle software which puts the files into AVI format. I as well get CODEC issues like the ones describe for the cannon camera. Seems like the AVI format is the issue here. Brian, any thoughts?

Well there are 10+ AVI codecs out there.

I recommend you guys try VirtualDub and convert things to Divx or Xvid.

In the meantime, I invite everyone to send me clips (I have the Canon clips) and I'll send them to the engineers to look into codec support.

You guys with "stills camera's" taking little .AVI video's, might want to run your captures thru' GSpot (file reader) (http://gspot.headbands.com/gspot252dl.html) first, to check it's properties!

As BrianV mentions, just because it's an AVI, does not necessarily mean it's going to be playable. AVI is just a container and can be used to store all manner of video stream types... including Mpeg1 and 2 ;)

Indeed, Motion JPEG (mjpg) and Indeo Interactive (IV50) seem to have been quite popular "stills camera" capturing formats.... before Mpeg4 ;)


Cheers

Firmware Update Status:

The firmware update should be posted in the next 24 hours so keep your eye out on the firmware update settings page.

We will be releasing another firmware update shortly after that has the following additions:

1080p support
Increase DVD/CD-ROM speed

That was the last firmware released before I started reporting the feedback from these threads. The engineers are working on the PC Software and custom plug-in design (software should be released this week with several custom plug-ins and documentation on how to create your own plug-ins). Once the software has been completed, the engineers will return to working primarily on the firmware.

This looks like a great product with great support. Can it play TV shows recorded from a MCE2005 PC?

Kendrid, what format does that record in. It will play DVR-MS video which is what almost all of them record at. I think they use a weird audio codec that may not work though.

Got another kind of neat feature you guys can try out:

If you have the PC Software installed on any of your computers or you have a LinkStation or TeraStation then you can access them from the internet.

For instance. If you have a LinkTheater at your friend's house and a LinkStation or PC at your house, you buddy can access your LinkStation and stream stuff on it from his house.

To do this, you need to open port 8000 on your firewall to the device that should be streaming (LinkStation or the PC). Then on your buddy's LinkTheater, you can manually add a device by pressing the 'Add' button on the logon page. Type the IP of your network's Internet Address (WAN Address) or dynamic DNS if you use that and you'll see the interface from your LinkStation or PC. Now it'll be slower since it's going over the internet, but streaming mp3s generally works really well.

If you open up your server to the internet make sure it is up to date with all of the current Apache security updates. You don't want anyone hacking in thru this method...

Originally posted by Kendrid
This looks like a great product with great support. Can it play TV shows recorded from a MCE2005 PC?

I tested a recording I recorded in DVD settings on a ATI Radeon AIW 9600 and it played fine.

Terry

Kendrid,

Yes, the LinkTheater plays MCE recorded TV files just fine (MCE 2004 and MCE 2005). I have only tried SD MCE files (I don't have an HD tuner in my MCE PC). I put the recorded TV folder in my watch list and can pick shows to view at will.

One note - the MCE files only play from the PC software - apparently the PCCast software for the Linkstation doesn't recognize the DVRMS file type as valid video.

Great product - really hits the spot for an HD-capable media center extender equivalent (except for live TV of course). Hopefully Buffalo will have success implementing full DVD menu and playback functionality for HD-based DVD content.

Mike

For the folks who want to convert camera movie files for link theater, I've been using:

'Rad Video Tools' (DonationWare)
http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm
http://www.videohelp.com/mov2avi.htm (Guide)

I convert quicktime *.mov files from my Nikon Coolpix camera to DivX 5.1.1 avi's. The only trick that I had to do was to change the audio sample rate to 11025 instead of the native 7k-ish. When I kept the native rate, I did not get any sound (though I did get sound when played through Windows Media Player on the PC.)

It has a batch mode, but I need to figure out to make it stop prompting me for the encoder type in batch mode.

Originally posted by BrianV
Firmware Update Status:

The firmware update should be posted in the next 24 hours so keep your eye out on the firmware update settings page.



Where's that page Brian?

Hi guys,

I wonder whether some of you guys could do me a favour and test this video only 720x576 DAR encode (http://82.2.167.237/Uploaded_Files/AVS_Forum_files/SMD_XviD_B-VOP_Test_File01.zip) in your Buffalo LinkTheater players for me?

When I've tested the encode with other Sigma chip-sets, I see white flashes during scene changes at the bottom of the frame.... I would like to know if this happens with the EM8620L chip-set too?


Many thanks for your help

Originally posted by petefoss
Where's that page Brian?

It's in the settings section, second to the last page from the right. In between IP Address and Network.

Originally posted by Mopsothoth
For the folks who want to convert camera movie files for link theater, I've been using:

'Rad Video Tools' (DonationWare)
http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm
http://www.videohelp.com/mov2avi.htm (Guide)
...
It has a batch mode, but I need to figure out to make it stop prompting me for the encoder type in batch mode.
Thanks Mops. You saved me the trouble of researching this.

BTW:From the Bink FAQ (http://www.radgametools.com/binkfaq.htm) :
- Is there a way to automatically choose the output AVI codec in batch mode?
- Sorry, but no, there isn't. We create the AVI file using the high level Windows AVIFile functions (which always ask for the parameters).

When it comes to converting video from "stills camera's" you should also be able to use applications such as VirtualDubMod and Nero Recode2 too!


Cheers

SeeMoreDigital - You seem to be up on video editting. Is there any program that converts any avi/divx/xvid/etc to WMV and vice-versa. I know there are some, but are there any free ones. I've been using STOIK and it is a freeware version that does WMV stuff in a semi-limited fashion. I suppose Microsoft has licensing issues with WMV which is why all the software costs money. I'd love if I could get a VirtualDub version that does WMV; I already got a modified one that handles VOBS.

Hi Brian,

Micro$oft's very own Windows Media Encoder 9 (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx) is free and is capable of converting Mpeg1 (VCD/.DAT), Mpeg2 (DVD/.VOB) and Mpeg4 (DivX, XviD etc/.AVI) to WMV with WMA audio, within the .WMV container.

There are other free applications such as AutoGK and MPEG Mediator that can convert Mpeg2 (DVD/.VOB) files to Mpeg4 (DivX, XviD etc) and even WMV within the .AVI container.

When it comes to converting WMV files (within either the .WMV and .AVI container) to other formats, things get a little more difficult.... and costly. Some of the best tools I've found are NeroVision Express 3 and Nero Recode2. Both of which are available for free, on a monthly (rolling) promotional basis!

Hope this helps... a bit?


Cheers

Everytime I try and do something in encoder it crashes and just exits out after I hit the start button???

Hi all,

I've been following this forum over the past week or so, and must say I am quite impressed with the level of involvement BrianV is providing! I recently purchased (and returned!) the "famed" D-Link DSM-320. It simply refused to keep connected to my network.

Last week, I bought a Prismiq media player, which (despite the clunky/ugly interface) actually works quite well, and reliably plays the media I want it to play.

Still not satisfied, I purchased a Buffalo LinkTheater from Buy.com yesterday. Based on BrianV's involvement and the knowledgeable interactions that other users are providing. Thank you all!

The LinkTheater looks like it might be perfect for my needs, but I have one BIG question:

Is RHAPSODY support planned for the LinkTheater? If so, any idea on an ETA?

Thanks!!!

So, I got my LT the other day and I have to say, I love it!! With some enhancements, I think it could become the centerpiece of my home theater.

Gripe #1:
Originally posted by zonegray
FR behaves strangely, it seems to move ahead a few seconds, then it sort skips backwards... it doesn't actually play the video backwards, it plays short bit forward, starting a little further back each time. Very strange effect.

I'm experiencing this, too, Brian. I purchased the LT almost solely so I could watch downloaded Divx and DivxHD content in my living room. When watching a Divx clip, if I press << or >>, "Searching 0%" appears and transitions (relatively quickly) to "Searching 100%". Then, it jumps forward (usually almost a full minute) and I have to play with it to get it back to where I was and then find where I want to go again. It's almost completely useless like this. I mean, even the simplest PC-based media player can easily FF and FR Divx content! Seems like the unit should do the search thing when first accessing the clip and FF/FR should be instantaneous.

Gripe #2:
Why does the interface have to be so slow when the unit is first accessing it? Can't there be a little memory set aside to cache just the interface graphics? Seems silly to load them from the LinkTheater Server every time the unit is powered up.

Gripe #3:
How come if I click a link to a streaming MP3 server from a webpage in the LT browser, it plays just fine but if I save that same link in my favorites and select it from the synced list of favorites in the LT browser, it just times out?

All my other gripes have already been addressed. Any idea if there are fixes in the works for these three?

Thanks again for your attention!
Mark East

Originally posted by Flip221
Hi all,

I've been following this forum over the past week or so, and must say I am quite impressed with the level of involvement BrianV is providing! I recently purchased (and returned!) the "famed" D-Link DSM-320. It simply refused to keep connected to my network.

Last week, I bought a Prismiq media player, which (despite the clunky/ugly interface) actually works quite well, and reliably plays the media I want it to play.

Still not satisfied, I purchased a Buffalo LinkTheater from Buy.com yesterday. Based on BrianV's involvement and the knowledgeable interactions that other users are providing. Thank you all!

The LinkTheater looks like it might be perfect for my needs, but I have one BIG question:

Is RHAPSODY support planned for the LinkTheater? If so, any idea on an ETA?

Thanks!!!

Yes, we have a custom rhapsody plug-in we'll be releasing with the next pc software. I have to check which firmware version is required to connect to the rhap:// protocol but it's DEFINITELY coming.

Originally posted by meast
So, I got my LT the other day and I have to say, I love it!! With some enhancements, I think it could become the centerpiece of my home theater.

Gripe #1:


I'm experiencing this, too, Brian. I purchased the LT almost solely so I could watch downloaded Divx and DivxHD content in my living room. When watching a Divx clip, if I press << or >>, "Searching 0%" appears and transitions (relatively quickly) to "Searching 100%". Then, it jumps forward (usually almost a full minute) and I have to play with it to get it back to where I was and then find where I want to go again. It's almost completely useless like this. I mean, even the simplest PC-based media player can easily FF and FR Divx content! Seems like the unit should do the search thing when first accessing the clip and FF/FR should be instantaneous.

Gripe #2:
Why does the interface have to be so slow when the unit is first accessing it? Can't there be a little memory set aside to cache just the interface graphics? Seems silly to load them from the LinkTheater Server every time the unit is powered up.

Gripe #3:
How come if I click a link to a streaming MP3 server from a webpage in the LT browser, it plays just fine but if I save that same link in my favorites and select it from the synced list of favorites in the LT browser, it just times out?

All my other gripes have already been addressed. Any idea if there are fixes in the works for these three?

Thanks again for your attention!
Mark East

1. It should only do the synchronization the first time you hit FF and REW. After that FF and REW should be instantaneous. If we just do it in the beginning everytime then people would complain it takes too long to start. I do think the FF and REW of all video right now could use significant improvement, and it's on my list of bugs to fix. I personally rarely FF or REW the stuff I watch, but I do think it could use improvement in FF or REW.

2. There's really NOT a lot of memory in this device so relying on the server is a basic design principle. Are there specific interfaces that are slower than others on your device. I can browse from 1 page to another in about 1-1.5 seconds which I think is acceptable.

3. The browser wasn't intended to play mp3s, it doesn't parse favorites lists like that. I suppose it could but I don't understand why someone would regularly require a feature like that which leads me to believe I'm not properly understanding you.

Thanks for your feedback.

Thanks Brian. I'm really looking forward to receiving this unit.

As I said previously, the Prismiq unit is 10x better than the D-Link unit I returned, but I really like the feature set of the LinkTheater.

If it performs as well as the Prismiq for (RELIABLE) media playback, we'll definitely keep the LinkTheater, but my wife has made it clear (crystal clear:) ) that Rhapsody support is a must for whatever unit we decide to go with.

Are there any plans for user-changeable interfaces (i.e. will the interface be "skinnable")?

Also, is Buffalo looking for a text/content editor for their manuals? Just a pet peave of mine I guess, but it really bothers me when I see typos in user manuals...

:D

Originally posted by Flip221
Thanks Brian. I'm really looking forward to receiving this unit.

As I said previously, the Prismiq unit is 10x better than the D-Link unit I returned, but I really like the feature set of the LinkTheater.

If it performs as well as the Prismiq for (RELIABLE) media playback, we'll definitely keep the LinkTheater, but my wife has made it clear (crystal clear:) ) that Rhapsody support is a must for whatever unit we decide to go with.

Are there any plans for user-changeable interfaces (i.e. will the interface be "skinnable")?

Also, is Buffalo looking for a text/content editor for their manuals? Just a pet peave of mine I guess, but it really bothers me when I see typos in user manuals...

:D
Let me know what you think. One of my buddy's at Broadcom replaced his Prismiq with the LinkTheater and he loves the LinkTheater and has no regrets.

For skins we do have some other skins that are designed for our Japanese market product so we can easily translate them and provide them to our customers. If you look, the PC Software has a skin's section, it's just that there's only one skin now. Right now I want our engineers and designers working on more important units like custom plugins (like Rhapsody). Also, with our next version PC software (which is due any day) we will release several custom plug-ins and documentation on how to make your own. So in some senses you can make your own interfaces.

The LinkTheater manual isn't too bad (I wrote it), but it's far from perfect. We're actually going to hire someone full time whose job will specifically be documentation.

Ooops! I thought about the possibility of you having written the manual after I submitted my post. Please don't take offense to my comment, I do documentation for a living (sounds like fun huh?), so I am probably more nitpicky than most.

Thanks again for the replies!

Kirt

N/P, I wrote the manual in 1 day and it's not my specialty. I can write well, but I'm often way too technical when writing documentation.

No offense taken! I'm the product manager so sometimes I just have to do everything. This product was unique because it's our first A/V product and none of the Buffalo US staff (besides me) is well versed in A/V technologies.

Brian and all,

Received my LT yesterday and so far so good with two issues:

The Windows Media Connect works fine for streaming WMVHD video to my 60 inch HD Sony Wega. Looks great. However, I can't get any sound to come through. Streaming VOB's ripped from DVD's works fine with video and sound but not the sample WMVHD's I downloaded. They play fine on my PC though via Media Player. Any thoughts?

Second, when listing the mp3's, I see it list by filename and you get about 30 characters. My problem is I rip with the format Artist - Album - Track# - Title. As such, the actual song title is truncate and I see all the same filenames for any given album. Is there anyway to list so I can see more of the filename. Once I begin playing a mp3, the full filename is displayed with no truncation.

Thanks and really liking the product.

Rick

Originally posted by mrstormy
Brian and all,

Received my LT yesterday and so far so good with two issues:

The Windows Media Connect works fine for streaming WMVHD video to my 60 inch HD Sony Wega. Looks great. However, I can't get any sound to come through. Streaming VOB's ripped from DVD's works fine with video and sound but not the sample WMVHD's I downloaded. They play fine on my PC though via Media Player. Any thoughts?

Second, when listing the mp3's, I see it list by filename and you get about 30 characters. My problem is I rip with the format Artist - Album - Track# - Title. As such, the actual song title is truncate and I see all the same filenames for any given album. Is there anyway to list so I can see more of the filename. Once I begin playing a mp3, the full filename is displayed with no truncation.

Thanks and really liking the product.

Rick

The audio problem you speak of has been mentioned several times. It's the WMA 9 Pro codec that is used on all of the wmvhd.com files. Sigma is working on releasing a final codec for our player to play.

I understand your dilemma with the text length. I'm sure we can modify it for HD playback but in Standard Def there isn't a whole lot of real-estate. Can you think of any other alternatives that would work other than just displaying more characters? I'll see what the negatives to increasing the display length are.

Maybe if you kept the character limit in the regular listings, but at the bottom of the screen, it would display a longer filename (2-line?) of whichever file is currently highlighted. Not ideal, but probably useful.

On the song truncation, maybe you could scroll the title of the highlighted song from right to left and back again. Maybe just once or continiously?

Or have an area below or above the list with several lines that can display the mp3 tag info and album art of the currently highlighted song (only as long as it doesn't slow down the cursor when trying to display or read the info or art).

I'd really like to see a scrolling list in the song and picture navigation instead of the paging system.

Maybe have it show the same number of characters as it does now, only have an option to show the last number of characters instead of the the first...
IE...
First option read file name truncated
Beatles, The Whit....
Next option read file name using the same 17 characters but from the end
, I am the Walrus

Add another one to the list, ordered mine from buy.com yesterday. Been working on getting all of my media on my pc - excellent excuse for buying a 300 gig drive.

I have 2 questions though -
1. FLAC and SHN, would a plugin be able to allow these files to be played? So instead of changing the firmware just do a plugin for these file formats.
2. I need to upgrade my wireless router (have wireless-b getting a wireless-g) any brands work best with the LT?

thanks! can't wait to get it - should be tomorrow. nice!

Originally posted by ciampa
Add another one to the list, ordered mine from buy.com yesterday. Been working on getting all of my media on my pc - excellent excuse for buying a 300 gig drive.

I have 2 questions though -
1. FLAC and SHN, would a plugin be able to allow these files to be played? So instead of changing the firmware just do a plugin for these file formats.
2. I need to upgrade my wireless router (have wireless-b getting a wireless-g) any brands work best with the LT?

thanks! can't wait to get it - should be tomorrow. nice!

What do you mean by plug-in? The only way we could support FLAC is via a firmware update.

2. Any G router will work fine, but if you grab a Buffalo G-Router then you can use AOSS, push button setup. However, since the rest of your wireless hardware isn't AOSS you would then have to add those devices manually which isn't quite as fun as AOSS. That said, just go to your local retailer and buy whatever name brand Wi-Fi router you can that's on sale.

Rather than upgrade your router, it might be simpler to just add an access point. That'll save you from reconfiguring your 'net connection.

I ended up going that route since my router (Linksys) runs WPA encryption for my main wireless net. So I added an access point and set up a separate WEP network for the LinkTheater.

I would have tried a Buffalo AP or router had I been able to grab one at retail, figuring their AOSS wireless setup might be nice. But I wanted it to work that day, so I grabbed a Linksys. It works fine, though I had to manually type in the hex WEP key using the remote. Painful, but just a one-time thing.

You can buy a router and configure it as an access point, that's usually a little cheaper.

Originally posted by zonegray
It works fine, though I had to manually type in the hex WEP key using the remote. Painful, but just a one-time thing.
[/B]

Expecially when you screw up and have to do it twice <grin>. Although if I had read the manual a little better, use of the CAPS/NUM lock might have made it easier.

Hi guys,

If you are up for it, I have another B-VOP encode for you to try!

This one (http://82.2.167.237/Uploaded_Files/AVS_Forum_files/SMD_XviD_B-VOP_Test_File02.zip) contains video only and has a resolution of 1280x720 with DAR signalling in .AVI?

As with the previous encode, I would like to know if you can see white flashes (at the bottom of the frame) during scene changes?


Many thanks for your help... again!

Originally posted by BrianV
What do you mean by plug-in? The only way we could support FLAC is via a firmware update.

2. Any G router will work fine, but if you grab a Buffalo G-Router then you can use AOSS, push button setup. However, since the rest of your wireless hardware isn't AOSS you would then have to add those devices manually which isn't quite as fun as AOSS. That said, just go to your local retailer and buy whatever name brand Wi-Fi router you can that's on sale.

Gotchya, not really up on what can and can't be done with software/plugins/firmware, looks like I'm converting to mp3 (don't worry traders out there - will NOT trade the mp3s).

I figured any wireless-g router would work, just wanted to double check.

zone - thanks for the suggestion, I've been having problems with my router for the past month or two, did a firmware update which didn't help and figured it was time to just get a new one.

Any Mac OS X users PM me, I have Mac OS X software. I'll be writing quick documentation tomorrow, but anyone who wants it ahead of time contact me.

Originally posted by BrianV
Firmware Update Status:

The firmware update should be posted in the next 24 hours so keep your eye out on the firmware update settings page.
...
OK. I guess I'll admit to being the most impatient and point out that 24 hours have come and gone a couple times since you posted this and still no firmware update. :(

BrianV,

I’m a potential buyer and LT actually at the top of my short list of candidates. There is no need to enumerate all pluses, e.g., the very fact that you monitor this thread, at least here. But I’d like to discuss some shortcomings.
LT is wireless networking device. But it does not support WPA! As FBI demonstrated, see article on Tom’s Hardware site, with two laptops and suite of tools readily and freely available on Internet, it takes 3 mins, or 5 – 10 mins, to break WEP.
I remember you once asked if there is media streaming adapter that supports WPA – D-Link DSM-320RD (the one with embedded DVD player).
Yes, there is workaround – wireless bridge, e.g., Netgear WG602v2 or v3, but it means additional device in entertainment center (ugly, totally out of place) and additional expense ($80.00 – $120.00). And I would have already paid for LT’s feature (802.11g support) I’m not going ever to use.
While still talking about networking features Prismiq Player/Recorder came up with a very good idea: serve as a wireless bridge to connect some other networking devices, like ReplayTV, to the network.
My guess both features can be implemented in firmware with relative ease. If I forced to use standalone bridge I would probably go with Roku HD 1000.
LT is entertainment device. I’m still not sure if I want embedded DVD player. On one side it saves me space in my center and set of connectors. On other side it has mechanical part, one more component to break down, does not support DVD-Audio / SACD, does not support up-conversion or any other advanced, e.g., Faroujda’s DCDi, video processing and I already have DVD player. Again, I might pay for something I’m not using.
As you admitted your staff is not very well versed in A/V technologies and it shows. To have the only USB connector in front is not very good idea. Roku’s and, then, D-Link’s, design with embedded flash memory reader is much cleaner design and does not have potential compatibility problems as been mentioned in this thread. If someone leaves USB device, like card reader or external hard drive, for extended period of time he/she gets ugly wire sticking out of face of the device.
Many who build entertainment center need two sets of A/V outputs: one to connect to A/V receiver and second to route to distribution system. But you mentioned that this is out of question. Pinnacle Showcenter 200 has them.
Many builders know that connections at premium. Roku is the only one I know who provides passthrough connectors, including component.
Support. Buffalo definitely made a good name with their previous products and, as I already mentioned, you monitoring this forum. But this not unique and Pinnacle and Sigma Designs even maintain forums on their own websites. And both companies have proven record of support.
LT is computer. 32MB by today’s standards is almost nothing. It does not allow even for decent cache. I’m sure many of reported sluggish problems could be solved by increased cache.
USB 2.0 port in the back may serve as a nice way to upgrade LT, let’s say, to become PVR Prismiq Player/Recorder’s style: external tuner/encoder with IR buster to control satellite or digital cable box.

Originally posted by Pennhaven
OK. I guess I'll admit to being the most impatient and point out that 24 hours have come and gone a couple times since you posted this and still no firmware update. :(
Sorry it's not my fault and I can't run over seas to take care of it personally. It was made into a huge issue last night.

Originally posted by ptsenter
BrianV,

I’m a potential buyer and LT actually at the top of my short list of candidates. There is no need to enumerate all pluses, e.g., the very fact that you monitor this thread, at least here. But I’d like to discuss some shortcomings.
LT is wireless networking device. But it does not support WPA! As FBI demonstrated, see article on Tom’s Hardware site, with two laptops and suite of tools readily and freely available on Internet, it takes 3 mins, or 5 – 10 mins, to break WEP.
I remember you once asked if there is media streaming adapter that supports WPA – D-Link DSM-320RD (the one with embedded DVD player).
Yes, there is workaround – wireless bridge, e.g., Netgear WG602v2 or v3, but it means additional device in entertainment center (ugly, totally out of place) and additional expense ($80.00 – $120.00). And I would have already paid for LT’s feature (802.11g support) I’m not going ever to use.
While still talking about networking features Prismiq Player/Recorder came up with a very good idea: serve as a wireless bridge to connect some other networking devices, like ReplayTV, to the network.
My guess both features can be implemented in firmware with relative ease. If I forced to use standalone bridge I would probably go with Roku HD 1000.
LT is entertainment device. I’m still not sure if I want embedded DVD player. On one side it saves me space in my center and set of connectors. On other side it has mechanical part, one more component to break down, does not support DVD-Audio / SACD, does not support up-conversion or any other advanced, e.g., Faroujda’s DCDi, video processing and I already have DVD player. Again, I might pay for something I’m not using.
As you admitted your staff is not very well versed in A/V technologies and it shows. To have the only USB connector in front is not very good idea. Roku’s and, then, D-Link’s, design with embedded flash memory reader is much cleaner design and does not have potential compatibility problems as been mentioned in this thread. If someone leaves USB device, like card reader or external hard drive, for extended period of time he/she gets ugly wire sticking out of face of the device.
Many who build entertainment center need two sets of A/V outputs: one to connect to A/V receiver and second to route to distribution system. But you mentioned that this is out of question. Pinnacle Showcenter 200 has them.
Many builders know that connections at premium. Roku is the only one I know who provides passthrough connectors, including component.
Support. Buffalo definitely made a good name with their previous products and, as I already mentioned, you monitoring this forum. But this not unique and Pinnacle and Sigma Designs even maintain forums on their own websites. And both companies have proven record of support.
LT is computer. 32MB by today’s standards is almost nothing. It does not allow even for decent cache. I’m sure many of reported sluggish problems could be solved by increased cache.
USB 2.0 port in the back may serve as a nice way to upgrade LT, let’s say, to become PVR Prismiq Player/Recorder’s style: external tuner/encoder with IR buster to control satellite or digital cable box.

I cannot fathom how the LT is at the top of your list after you wrote all that.

I've covered the WPA in issue in depth previously. It's not impossible it's just a long task that requires implementing a supplicant in Linux which is time consuming. In the interim, Buffalo offers a bridge device (WLI3-Tx1-G54), so instread of holding the device from shipping we shipped with just WEP. It's possible that a future firmware update will support WPA.

I don't know how you think having a card-reader built into the unit is better for future compatibility than offering a USB port for use with universal card reader.

If the DVD drive breaks, chances are the rest of the device will work so it's not any less reliable than the HD 1000.

The fact that you're comparing the HD 1000 to the LT is interesting. If the Roku will get the job for you then by all means purchase that one. It's a less involved product and is probably a tad easier to use due to its lack of features. The Roku can't even compete with the LT if you have any plans of playing video files.

Your other comments like the two connectors etc are direct BOM increases and most customers would not want want to pay more for what they don't need so we have to weigh that in.

It sounds like you need a much higher-end product, unfortunately there isn't really one out there yet. So for now, much like with any new-style products you have to live with what is out there and hope that manufacturers provide updates and better replacement products.

Well this thread pushed me over the edge and I ordered my LT on monday, recived it yesterday, and so far I'm impressed. I did run into one small problem though, under the internet tab if I go to the web I can see and use my links without a problem but if I go to internet radio or directory it says "Cannot connect to Internet." I check all the network settings and they check out so I'm not sure whats up.

This thread has pushed me over the edge as well. I set up my LT last night. So far I am impressed and looking forward to using it more and the new firmware.

A couple of questions for this newbie.
- When using the Internet Radio, most of the stations I tried did not ever start playing a song, and I ended up having to reboot the LT to get the unit back. There were a couple that played fine, others just sat there trying to connect. Is there a way to get a status or some acknowledgement where the unit is at with the connection?

- For the Internet Radio and Internet Directory, where does this list come from and is there any way to modify it. For example add News sites or RSS feeds, etc.

- This may be a stupid question, when playing video, how do I get the unit to expand the picture to use all of my 16x9 television, just like I can do for pictures?

- One other question, when checking for new firmware, is there a way to know that it successfully checked and did not find any new firmware? The LT doesn't really provide any feedback when checking for new firmware.

Thanks to Brian for all his great help and assistance with this thread!!

bdtnr - On your remote, there's a picture size button on the bottom row that cycles video through "actual size", "fit to screen", or "fill screen". "Fit to Screen" is the obvious choice ("fill screen" stretches it), I think Brian indicated it would become the default in the future.

Hopefully a really easy and dumb question...

I got my LT today, 1 of 5 I hope to install.

Tried to plug into a standard TV with composite connections...LT gets to "Log In" on the unit...but no display

Tried to plug into a my 50" plamse via component...and get to "Log In" on the LT as well...but no picture on the tube. Instructions indicate hitting "TV Mode" and "Enter"...and get no response.

Yes everything is plugged in...even change the remote batteries...remote works fine b/c it powers the unit up/down and opens/closes.

Called Buffalo Tech support and they indicated a product specialist will call me. I asked for BrianV :)

I too got a LinkTheater. The first thing I tried was will it play back the HighRes XVids that my Momitsu V880 will not and the answer is YES! And they look GORGEOUS on my Sanyo PLV-Z2!

However I have many PAL DVDs that all play fine in the V880 but either won't play in the LT because they are Region 2 or if they are region 0 they play, but the motion is very jerky. Has anyone else tried PAL Dvds? I know I can play them in the V880 but I was hoping to get down to one unit.

I also bought the Coral Reef Adventure (IMAX) and have tried to play the WMV HD version (I know the sound is not supported yet) but I can't get the picture to play for the main feature. All the trailers from the disk play either through the LT Software or Windows Media Connect but not the main feature. :mad:

Otherwise a WONDERFUL product!

Originally posted by vrkalak


However I have many PAL DVDs that all play fine in the V880 but either won't play in the LT because they are Region 2 or if they are region 0 they play, but the motion is very jerky. Has anyone else tried PAL Dvds? I know I can play them in the V880 but I was hoping to get down to one unit.



Otherwise a WONDERFUL product!


Slow 2 9 6 0 and set region 0, still a bit jerky.

Originally posted by zonegray
bdtnr - On your remote, there's a picture size button on the bottom row that cycles video through "actual size", "fit to screen", or "fill screen". "Fit to Screen" is the obvious choice ("fill screen" stretches it), I think Brian indicated it would become the default in the future.
Thanks zonegray!! Works great!!

This file can be used to upgrade URC-8811 etc. to control Linktheater.

I also uploaded the file to http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=5

The Linktheater doesn't seem to have a discrete power-off code. I guess it would be a low priority request to have a special code supported by adding an extra "power-off" code in the firmware just for the programmable remote people, but it is not worthwhile to have the stock remote supporting it.

SeeMoreDigital,

I've downloaded your two videos of Star Wars clips and I see no flashing at all on my 60 inch RP HD Sony Wega. I'm sorry to say though that the video quality is not too good at 60 inches. However, no flashing.

I did rip Spiderman 2 via DVD shrink to a single VOB and watched the entire movie with the kids. The quality, (shrunk to a single 4.5GB vob) was very good and the dolby digital worked fine. No hiccups, no delays, very nice. I am directly connected though, not using wireless.

Rick

I received my Buffalo Antenna and plugged it into the LinkTheater and it has solved my problems with sound.

The blue light doesn't come on but it is playing 5.1 Surround sound just fine.

The response is now fast with no hang ups when navigating the GUI.

The Linktheater is really great! I know we have some small issues we have identified and hopefully we will get the firmware soon but lets not overlook how good this unit is performing.

In response to the poster about ROKU and DSM, I searched for a long time before purchasing the Buffalo and the forums on the DSM and ROKU have many complaints and performance issues!

I also looked at other options such as Modix and TVIX which are hard drive based players, and their forums are also pretty negative. But the Buffalo won out on features and just wanted to play all the media from my pc.

This is the only product where basically everyone is pretty happy.

I am very satisfied at this point and waiting for firmware updates.

Brian, Thanks for your support and keep it up!

It seems that the Pinnacle showcenter wireless G product is also a good choice. What sets the Buffalo player apart??

Originally posted by mrstormy
SeeMoreDigital,

I've downloaded your two videos of Star Wars clips and I see no flashing at all on my 60 inch RP HD Sony Wega. I'm sorry to say though that the video quality is not too good at 60 inches. However, no flashing. Thanks Rick,

Please don't worry about the fuzziness of the image, as it's simply a by-product of keeping the bit-rate as low as possible!

What I'm trying to determine is how well the chip-set copes with XviD encodes containing 2No B-VOP's together with AQ and VHQ!

With some of Sigma's std-def chip-sets I've been able to determine that as the pixel frame size gets bigger, the white flashes seem to get progressively worse - up to the chip-sets maximum 720x576 pixel capability!


Cheers

Hi guys,

If you are up for it, I have yet another B-VOP encode for you to try!

This one (http://82.2.167.237/Uploaded_Files/AVS_Forum_files/SMD_XviD_B-VOP_Test_File03.zip) contains video only and has a resolution of 1920x1088 in .AVI?

As with the previous encode, I would like to know if you can see white flashes (at the bottom of the frame) during scene changes?


Many thanks for your help... again... and again!

Originally posted by bdtnr
This thread has pushed me over the edge as well. I set up my LT last night. So far I am impressed and looking forward to using it more and the new firmware.

A couple of questions for this newbie.
- When using the Internet Radio, most of the stations I tried did not ever start playing a song, and I ended up having to reboot the LT to get the unit back. There were a couple that played fine, others just sat there trying to connect. Is there a way to get a status or some acknowledgement where the unit is at with the connection?

- For the Internet Radio and Internet Directory, where does this list come from and is there any way to modify it. For example add News sites or RSS feeds, etc.

- This may be a stupid question, when playing video, how do I get the unit to expand the picture to use all of my 16x9 television, just like I can do for pictures?

- One other question, when checking for new firmware, is there a way to know that it successfully checked and did not find any new firmware? The LT doesn't really provide any feedback when checking for new firmware.

Thanks to Brian for all his great help and assistance with this thread!!

The sites could've been down. I'll look into it. Press the 'ZOOM' button on the remote to change the screen size. If it says 'No new firmware' available then there's no new firmware available.

Originally posted by kevdogWI
Hopefully a really easy and dumb question...

I got my LT today, 1 of 5 I hope to install.

Tried to plug into a standard TV with composite connections...LT gets to "Log In" on the unit...but no display

Tried to plug into a my 50" plamse via component...and get to "Log In" on the LT as well...but no picture on the tube. Instructions indicate hitting "TV Mode" and "Enter"...and get no response.

Yes everything is plugged in...even change the remote batteries...remote works fine b/c it powers the unit up/down and opens/closes.

Called Buffalo Tech support and they indicated a product specialist will call me. I asked for BrianV :)

I haven't got any word from tech support to call you yet, it usually goes through another guy (the tech support manager) before it gets to me. PM me your phone number and I'll call you.

Originally posted by vrkalak
I too got a LinkTheater. The first thing I tried was will it play back the HighRes XVids that my Momitsu V880 will not and the answer is YES! And they look GORGEOUS on my Sanyo PLV-Z2!

However I have many PAL DVDs that all play fine in the V880 but either won't play in the LT because they are Region 2 or if they are region 0 they play, but the motion is very jerky. Has anyone else tried PAL Dvds? I know I can play them in the V880 but I was hoping to get down to one unit.

I also bought the Coral Reef Adventure (IMAX) and have tried to play the WMV HD version (I know the sound is not supported yet) but I can't get the picture to play for the main feature. All the trailers from the disk play either through the LT Software or Windows Media Connect but not the main feature. :mad:

Otherwise a WONDERFUL product!

Does the Coral Reef thing support DRM?

I recommend you read through this thread and PM the guy who said he knew the special code to make the device region free.

Originally posted by Tmd720
Slow 2 9 6 0 and set region 0, still a bit jerky.

Cats out of the bag now ;)

Originally posted by mrtbig
I received my Buffalo Antenna and plugged it into the LinkTheater and it has solved my problems with sound.

The blue light doesn't come on but it is playing 5.1 Surround sound just fine.

The response is now fast with no hang ups when navigating the GUI.

The Linktheater is really great! I know we have some small issues we have identified and hopefully we will get the firmware soon but lets not overlook how good this unit is performing.

In response to the poster about ROKU and DSM, I searched for a long time before purchasing the Buffalo and the forums on the DSM and ROKU have many complaints and performance issues!

I also looked at other options such as Modix and TVIX which are hard drive based players, and their forums are also pretty negative. But the Buffalo won out on features and just wanted to play all the media from my pc.

This is the only product where basically everyone is pretty happy.

I am very satisfied at this point and waiting for firmware updates.

Brian, Thanks for your support and keep it up!

I know I work for the manufacturer but I do own the product as well, and I think your post above summarizes how I feel. From a raw performance and playback compatibility standpoint the LT is the winner.

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Hi guys,

If you are up for it, I have yet another B-VOP encode for you to try!

This one (http://82.2.167.237/Uploaded_Files/AVS_Forum_files/SMD_XviD_B-VOP_Test_File03.zip) contains video only and has a resolution of 1920x1088 in .AVI?

As with the previous encode, I would like to know if you can see white flashes (at the bottom of the frame) during scene changes?


Many thanks for your help... again... and again!

I just played it and there were no flashes or anything unusual; played perfectly.

Originally posted by Scribble
... I did run into one small problem though, under the internet tab if I go to the web I can see and use my links without a problem but if I go to internet radio or directory it says "Cannot connect to Internet." I check all the network settings and they check out so I'm not sure whats up.
You are not alone. My LT performs in exactly the same manner regarding internet access. I hadn't given it much thought until seeing your post, assuming it was temporary glitch or possibly related to my firewall software settings or my router.

But today afer seeing you had the same issue I tried some testing. First, the software firewall (Zone Alarm) on my PC is not blocking any outgoing activity from the LT. (I don't think that the PC actually needs to be turned on for the LT to access the internet but I thought I better check anyway.)

Second, I turned on the log on my router to see if traffic was coming through from the LT. The router logged requests from the LT for firmware update checks (219.94.36.123 - APNIC). It logged my web accesses to my "favorite" sites, which, as in Scribble's case, work OK. It logged NTP (network time protocol) requests from the LT (192.43.244.18 NCAR). Lots of these. But it never logged any of my attempts to access radio or directory.

So when the LT reports it "Cannot connect to Internet.", it is not kidding. For some reason these requests are not getting from the LT to the router. The question for Buffalo is why not?

Pennhaven and BrianV,

I am having the same issue connecting to the Internet Radio. However, my LT Web Browser does connect and retrieve web pages.

FYI, a very useful site for the LT is titantv.com. This gives full personal listing of TV programming also allowing you to filter on HD broadcasts only for these with HDTV's. Kinda like an onscreen guide, especially for OTA HD broadcasts.

Everyone who is having radio problems needs to determine what software firewalls are running including the notoriously lame Windows SP2 one. Disable all of them and it will work.

Pennhaven investigated it correctly. However, the LinkTheater does access radio stations through the PC so the lack of logs in your router proves that the PC is blocking the requests somehow.

Originally posted by BrianV
Everyone who is having radio problems needs to determine what software firewalls are running including the notoriously lame Windows SP2 one. Disable all of them and it will work.

Pennhaven investigated it correctly. However, the LinkTheater does access radio stations through the PC so the lack of logs in your router proves that the PC is blocking the requests somehow.
Brian,

My Windows XP (Home Edition) SP2 firewall is disabled. As part of my testing I also tried to access radio and directory with ZoneAlarm disabled - with no success. There are no other firewalls installed on my PC. So I could use some other ideas as to what might be going on and how to troubleshoot the issue.

Originally posted by BrianV
Everyone who is having radio problems needs to determine what software firewalls are running including the notoriously lame Windows SP2 one. Disable all of them and it will work.

Pennhaven investigated it correctly. However, the LinkTheater does access radio stations through the PC so the lack of logs in your router proves that the PC is blocking the requests somehow.

For those of us that have firewalls, what could we input on the allow list on the firewall to pass the LT through? It would be ideal to have the LT just pass through the firewall.

Originally posted by Toastermax
It seems that the Pinnacle showcenter wireless G product is also a good choice. What sets the Buffalo player apart??

After a cursory look at the Pinnacle unit...it doesn't have an integrated DVD player, no USB slot, only 802.11b (not g) wireless (with an optional expansion card) for starters.

Originally posted by chrixx
For those of us that have firewalls, what could we input on the allow list on the firewall to pass the LT through? It would be ideal to have the LT just pass through the firewall.
Before we accept that this is a firewall issue I believe we need to understand why requests for sites from the "favorite" list are going through, while those for "directory" and "radio" are not. What is the difference in how the LT handles these different web requests?

I added port 8000 to my port triggering page on my Linksys BEFSR41 4 port router. I can access the web, radio and the firmware page correctly....Not sure if this helps anyone....

Originally posted by fhall1
After a cursory look at the Pinnacle unit...it doesn't have an integrated DVD player, no USB slot, only 802.11b (not g) wireless (with an optional expansion card) for starters.

That's their old unit, the Showcenter 200 ($299 US) is HD has 802.11g, NO DVD , USB2, and is claiming the ability to play live TV streamed from PCs which have Pinnacle TV adapters. It also claims to do WMA PRO and WMA Lossless by transcoding to 192Kbit MP3.

These 8620L boxes -- Buffalo, I-O-DATA, Pinnacle, and Kiss -- are all advancing pretty quick -- each does some things better than the others and each has its quirks.

CORRECTION EDITED ABOVE : (TOLD IT DOESNT HAVE DVD)

Originally posted by qrazy
I added port 8000 to my port triggering page on my Linksys BEFSR41 4 port router. I can access the web, radio and the firmware page correctly....Not sure if this helps anyone....
I have LinkSys WRT54G. I tried your suggestion (triggered range 8000:8000, forwarded range 8000:8000) but it did not make any difference. I think (I am no expert!) that even if my router were blocking incoming access to a port it would still allow the outgoing traffic from the LT. But no outgoing transactions are being logged by the router for "directory" or "radio" requests.

Originally posted by Paul_PDX
That's their old unit, the Showcenter 200 ($299 US) is HD has 802.11g, DVD, USB2, and is claiming the ability to play live TV streamed from PCs which have Pinnacle TV adapters. It also claims to do WMA PRO and WMA Lossless by transcoding to 192Kbit MP3.

These 8620L boxes -- Buffalo, I-O-DATA, Pinnacle, and Kiss -- are all advancing pretty quick -- each does some things better than the others and each has its quirks.

Pinnacle unit desn't appear to have DVD, looks like it's only plays content from PC and USB drive. Too bad, because I think Pinnacle unit would have the best UI interface in the bunch.

Originally posted by Paul_PDX
That's their old unit, the Showcenter 200 ($299 US) is HD has 802.11g, NO DVD , USB2, and is claiming the ability to play live TV streamed from PCs which have Pinnacle TV adapters. It also claims to do WMA PRO and WMA Lossless by transcoding to 192Kbit MP3.

These 8620L boxes -- Buffalo, I-O-DATA, Pinnacle, and Kiss -- are all advancing pretty quick -- each does some things better than the others and each has its quirks.

CORRECTION EDITED ABOVE : (TOLD IT DOESNT HAVE DVD)

Hmmmm....wonder if the USB port will recognize NTFS and play ripped DVD VOB files properly? Also, I didn't look to see if it had component video pass-thru...if not I like the Buffalo unit with integrated DVD player since my A/V receiver only has two component inputs and one is now used by my DVD player and the other by my HD cable DVR box...I could drop the DVD down to S-Video, but don't really want to.

Originally posted by BrianV
Everyone who is having radio problems needs to determine what software firewalls are running including the notoriously lame Windows SP2 one. Disable all of them and it will work..

That was my first thought so I disabled zone alarm and still nothing, the XP firewall was disabled about 2 minutes after I installed XP ;) Guess its time to dig through some logs.

Any word on the linux client? The LT has sucesfully passed the WAF so its time to build a real media server.

Still skinning it, the OS X software is done so now the Linux software will be packaged.

Another request for FLAC support!

Originally posted by BrianV
Does the Coral Reef thing support DRM?


How can I tell if it has DRM? And Maybe I don't understand, but I thought that if it had DRM that using Windows Media Connect to stream it would allow it to view items with DRM.

Originally posted by SeeMoreDigital
Hi guys,

If you are up for it, I have yet another B-VOP encode for you to try!

This one (http://82.2.167.237/Uploaded_Files/AVS_Forum_files/SMD_XviD_B-VOP_Test_File03.zip) contains video only and has a resolution of 1920x1088 in .AVI?

As with the previous encode, I would like to know if you can see white flashes (at the bottom of the frame) during scene changes?


Many thanks for your help... again... and again!

No white flashes but I find it very disturbing that a video encoded at such a high resolution looks to be of such poor video quality.

Brian or others, perhaps you can answer this. When I got to "update" and check for a firmware update, I get the message "Check for firmware update", and then it goes back to the "update" menu. It doesn't seem to find the update. Are there setting I should check?

Thanks,
Phil

Originally posted by vrkalak
No white flashes but I find it very disturbing that a video encoded at such a high resolution looks to be of such poor video quality. Thanks for the confirmation too vrkalak,

With regard to the poor video quality, as I mentined to mrstormy (Rick), in my "XviD B-VOP Test 02" reply, the fuzziness is simply a by-product of keeping the bit-rate as low as possible!

What I'm trying to determine is how well the chip-set copes with XviD encodes containing 2No B-VOP's together with AQ and VHQ!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to test my encodes and report their findings. You've all been a big help ;)


Cheers

Does the unit work best with Divx3 or 5.2?

Originally posted by qrazy
Does the unit work best with Divx3 or 5.2? Technically it should be able to play any codec supporting the official Mpeg4 (ISO 14496) standard, such as DivX5, XviD, 3ivx, NeroDigital SP/ASP etc.

It will also play DivX3 (which is a hacked version of the Microsoft Mpeg4 v3 codec). But it will fair much better with the afore mentioned ;)


Cheers

Thanks :)

I am trying to get around the VOB delay, thsi was an option I am working on :)

PDHester,

Once you see the "check for update" message, press the down arrow on your remote to highlight the message, then press the select button to execute. FWIW, the firmware update doesn't seem to be available yet (I get a message that no new firmware is available at this time).

Cheers,

Mike

Is it possible using Dr Divx to get the AC3 audio to pass through and be outputted to the finished file?? It shows it as being on the input, but the output shows MP3 only??? Sorry, this may not be where to ask, but it could be helpful to others for this unit as well....
Thanks

EDIT:
It looks like it can...I am trying to encode one now....If it works well, and plays through I will proabbaly buy it...Pretty easy program to run....(it has a 15 day free trial)...

I downloaded through Divx's site, 2 High Def movie trailers that were made with Divx HD...Shark tale, and Madagascar...I played them over my network to the Buffalo Linktheater...ALL I CAN SAY IS WOOOOOWWWW!!!!! Man oh man, I can't wait to be able to do that for all my stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only did it look great, the trailers size was reasonable...About 60 MB.....And it fille dthe screen PERFECTLY....

Check it out guys...
http://www.divx.com/hd/

Ciao

OK, that worked pretty well...The file came out to about 768 MB...My problem now is this...the file plays fine, the AC3 sound is there....The picture quality is not good enough for me... :( Is there anyway to use Divx or Xvid to create a file that our player can play, but still maintains the original Mpeg2 quality?
Thanks for any input guys...

OK....I got the LT and it's all hooked up. I am pretty happy with it thus far. I only have two questions/issues.

1. This is a minor one. When watching VOBs, if I press "zoom" the picture goes to "fit to screen". I am assumming that this is probably what I want (I have a widescreen HDTV). The problem is that I get black bars on either side of the picture/display and the top and bottom are fit to screen (no black bars). I know if I watch the same video directly from the DVD, I get the normal black bars above and below the picture and the sides fit the screen. Am I doing something wrong? I know that in DVD I specified 16:9. Am I missing that type of option on the Video playback?

2. I had a tough time getting the unit to connect over wireless G. I had to hookup via cat5. I am in the process of having a home built so the wireless hookup is only temporary. To get connected, I had to disable the firewall on my wireless cable modem/router and disable WEP. I did both at the same time so I am not sure which one did the trick. I don't think the firewall blocked it because I didn't notice anything in the log for the firewall. I noticed that it was mentioned to disable Windows Firewall, but I noticed that the software for the LT inputs a passthrough. Is it possible that it doesn't like the WEP? I specify my wireless devices via MAC. Do I really need the WEP? I am going to re-enable the firewall and see if I can still connect. I really don't like leaving doors unlocked ;)

Hi Chrixx,
My video looks the same way with vobs over the network, so I am sure thats normal...
I do run Windos Firewall with no problem, just tell it to use it as an exception, and it works fine....I only had to clear with my router....

Originally posted by qrazy
Hi Chrixx,
My video looks the same way with vobs over the network, so I am sure thats normal...
I do run Windos Firewall with no problem, just tell it to use it as an exception, and it works fine....I only had to clear with my router....

What setting did you have to input on the router to pass through?

Originally posted by qrazy
OK, that worked pretty well...The file came out to about 768 MB...My problem now is this...the file plays fine, the AC3 sound is there....The picture quality is not good enough for me... :( It is perfectly possible to generate good quality Mpeg4 encodes that can look every bit as good as your Mpeg2 source

Can you provide details about your Mpeg2 source? ie: resolution, fps, duration, progressive, interlaced etc. And your ideal Mpeg4 requirements?


Cheers

OK...I turned the firewall back on and am connecting with no problem. It was the WEP. I am not sure why it won't work with it, but I can run without it.

On a seperate note......I have all my DVDs backed up with DVD Shrink. When I do my backups, I usually keep the little DTS intro and the such. When playing the backups on the LT it gives me tracks (example: if I have a DTS intro and then the movie, it says I have 2 tracks), and if I hit the next chapter it advances to the next track (not in the movie). This is not good for me. When I'm watching the feature and hit the next chapter on the remote, it takes me back to the first track (the DTS intro). Should I just cut out the extra parts to make it more friendly to the LT?

Hi SeeMoreDigital.....Ok, for sake of arguement, lets just use the mpeg2 resolution and such from a regular DVD...Progressive of course as I am trying to send this file over my network to my BLT, which outputs through component to my HDTV. Obviously the LT upconverts this file to 1080i for me, but the Divx file I made with DR. Divx to me is noticably inferior quality wise...I am not worried about compressing the file as small as possible, I care more about quality. I want the file to look as good as possible, while maintaining my AC3 audio stream....I would love for it too look similar to the Divx HD stuff I posted a link to. I know it won't look that good because the original resolution is not HD, but you get my point....If the BLT could play consrcutive vobs without the hiccup I would be all set....

Hi qrazy,

Okay, your Mpeg2 source is an 720x480 DVD but can you confirm the resolution of your DrDivX encode. I presume it was 720x480 also?

Sadly, you will never be able to generate your own high-def style encodes (such as the ones posted on the DivX HD site), unless you have access to some progressive high-def sources - which is what DivX have done ;)

You can however generate some really fine looking Mpeg4 encodes at DVD resolutions... as long as you use a minimum of 2 passes.


Cheers

Thanks Seemore.....That is what I would like to know more of :)

"You can however generate some really fine looking Mpeg4 encodes at DVD resolutions... as long as you use a minimum of 2 passes."

What method would you recommend a beginner like myself using....?

The more research I do on Google, the more I see your'e posts everywhere :) You seem like the man to me :)

Anyway, I download Mpeg Mediator, as it looks like something you would choose...But I am unsure of how to get the AC3 audio to pass through, some of the setting s are foriegn to me......

Thank you so much for you time...


Ok SeeMoreDigial...

I think I figured out how to do it with Dr.Divx.....Working on it now...I will let you know later today how sucessful I have been :) :)

Thakns for hanging int ehre with me....If this works, I will be very happy, and will buying Dr. Divx today :)


Thanks again...

Wow, what a great site!

It seems to me that we are getting pretty close (if we aren't there aready) to being able to put all music on a hard drive, pause/record live tv on a hard drive, surf the net, and enjoy different media throughout the house on a wired/wireless network. That is my dream at least. My questions are two:

1- Does the Buffalo (I assume with additional hard drive) acomplish the above, or do I also need a PC with Windows Media Edition?

2- I am seriously considering the Panny TH-37PX50U which, when it hits the street, will not have any PC inputs but will have HDMI. Would I be able to connect that display to be able to view the internet and media stored on a hard drive (pictures) as well as live/recorded TV?

I am presently on cable through a STB with cable modem and wireless G.

Thank you for your advice.

You can't set MPEG Mediator to pass thru the AC3 stream. Plus, unlike DrDivX you will have to generate 2pass (or more) encodes manually!

One of the better methods of maintaining your AC3 stream is to extract it during the ripping stage with say DVD Decrypter (http://www.dvddecrypter.com) and then to use a tool such as AVI-mux (http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~noe/Video-Zeug/AVIMux%20GUI/index-eng.html) to combine it with you Mpeg4 stream.

What I normally do is set DVD Decrypter to "IFO I" mode, together with the following settings under the "Tools" tab: -

http://img204.exs.cx/img204/796/dvddecrypterifotab6ku.gif

Note how the "File Splitting" option is set to None.

Then select the AC3 audio (and video) streams you require. And select the "Demux" option: -

http://img160.exs.cx/img160/2015/dvddecrypterfilesplittinggif6z.gif


When DVD Decrypter as finished ripping, you should end up with something like this: -

http://img143.exs.cx/img143/288/rippedstreams7tg.gif


As you can see... the audio, video (and sub-title) streams have all been separated into continuous "elementary" streams. Which offers you the flexibility of encoding just the video stream, with say DrDivX and muxing the AC3 audio stream to your newly encoded DivX stream with AVI-mux.

I hope that helps you...

By-the-way... this is the same method I use back-up/create my "movie only" DVD's (ie: DVD's without Trailers, Makings Of, Directors Commentaries and the like), with the aid of MuxMan!

EDIT: You guys over in NTSC lands, might also find installing DVD For Free (DVD43) (http://www.dvd43.com/) very useful too. As it will enable you to back up DVD's with newer forms of encryption.


Cheers

Great info SMD!!!!

Awesome.....I may have to give that a whirl...Thanks much!

Hi again qrazy,

If you would like to learn more about generating encodes from DVD and HDTV sources, you might find the Doom9 Forum (http://forum.doom9.org/index) useful.

Good luck ;)


Cheers

OK....I have been thinking about this....Man it takes alot of time, all this encoding, re-encoding etc...

All I am trying to do right now is get my videos to play seemlessly in high quality over the network to my BLT...

Is there an easy way to just consolodate the vob and ac3 streams into a container the BLT can read?

Like an AVI file....?

Thanks again....

Originally posted by qrazy
OK....I have been thinking about this....Man it takes alot of time, all this encoding, re-encoding etc...

All I am trying to do right now is get my videos to play seemlessly in high quality over the network to my BLT...

Is there an easy way to just consolodate the vob and ac3 streams into a container the BLT can read?

Like an AVI file....?

Thanks again.... Doesn't DVD Decrypter allow you to rip to a single VOB file? Won't that eliminate the VOB pause issue? Sorry if I am oversimplifing the issue. It would also be nice to know when the anticpated date is that the VOB issue will be fixed by Buffalo. Good luck.

Jay

Yes, just use DVD Decrypter. I have been ripping in IFO mode and specifying the AC3 sound file, and not splitting VOB's.

Ok....I obviously missed a step somewhere....I guess I need to go back to DD and walk through the steps again :)

Brian, please help.

I own I-O Data player that identical to LT in functionality, but was not happy with bugs and poor support this product has. After reading this thread, I got an impression that LT owner is much happier with their product and there is much more involvement from Buffalo (it’s you Brian) to resolve and verify user complains/suggestions.

Needless to say that I have ordered LT unit that I received last Friday. After configuring and testing LT player I have number of problems that I need Brian to address, some of them are very critical.

My setup:

LT connected to network over wired LAN.
LT connected with optical cable to Sony DB-930 A/V receiver
LT connected with component cables to my HDTV


1. Home video playback issues (critical)
I have digitized all my home videos (VHS & DV) into MPEG2 movies. For some reason a lot of them don’t have sound when played. Video plays fine, but no sound. You can cure that by pressing stop & play buttons number of times (sometimes up to 30, no kidding). To test this problem further, I have copied one of the movies to DVD+RW disk and played directly from player itself. Sure enough, sound came up every time. But playing this movie from DVD disk exhibits new problem: video freezes every few seconds. I have uploaded sample that illustrates this problem, you can download it from here: test.zip (http://www.mndc.com/test/test.zip)

2. Commercial DVD playback issues (critical)
When playing commercial DVDs video plays fine but there is no sound. You can get sound if you connect stereo (analog) connections, but it’s not acceptable solution. Curiously enough, I-O Data player had exactly the same problem with some A/V receivers in the earlier firmware releases (do Buffalo & I-O Data use third party firmware development?)

3. WMA playback issues (minor)
3.1 I have ripped all of my CDs in WMA VBR format. PC side software (LT Server) doesn’t read WMA tags, so music arrangement by artist or genre not available to me.
3.2 Also, is player capable of displaying cover art? I have cover art image in every album directory, is there is any way to display it when this album songs are played?
3.3 Would be nice to have tag info (artist, album, …) displayed while song plays.

Since Buffalo and I-O Data using the same PC side software, I-O Data player has the same WMA issues.

4. Photo playback issues (major)
Photos displayed in 720x960 resolution and not in 1080x1440 as you would expect from player that claims that its displays HD resolution. This would give us 225% increase in displayed pixels. I understand that this functionality will be available in upcoming firmware upgrade.

5. Remote issues (major--)
LT remote overall is much better than I-O Data one, but have some issues too:

5.1 Cursor buttons don’t repeat. This is especially important for UP/DOWN buttons when scrolling through the lists (I believe somebody here already pointed it out).
5.2 Sometimes remote will stop responding (I actually think it’s LT player doesn’t process remote commands). For example, while watching video, if I press zoom button it will work only after several attempts.
5.3 Discrete power on/off codes. This is very important feature for me personally, since I am using Pronto TSU-3000 universal remote. Biggest advantage of using universal remote, is that you don’t need to worry what HT component on or off and what inputs/outputs they currently using. You simply press DVD/SATTELITE/RADIO (or whatever else you programmed) button and remote turns on required components and switches them to appropriate input/output. Without power on/off codes this would be impossible, since if LT unit is on, it would turn off when I press DVD button. I-O Data player doesn’t support this either.


Brian, I understand that firmware upgrade should be available any day now, and hope that at least my video problems will be fixed.

Overall LT player is better than I-O Data: better remote, faster navigation, more information displayed for currently played content.

Thanks in advance,
David

Originally posted by qrazy
Ok....I obviously missed a step somewhere....I guess I need to go back to DD and walk through the steps again :) Just select this option instead: -

http://img135.echo.cx/img135/6406/dvddecrypterfilesplitting2uh.gif

You will not be able to select chapters though :(


Cheers

Ok...Thanks SMD.....You are right I had it on Demux.....I will try it later tonight when I get home....

Thanks again....

Originally posted by qrazy
OK....I have been thinking about this....Man it takes alot of time, all this encoding, re-encoding etc...

All I am trying to do right now is get my videos to play seemlessly in high quality over the network to my BLT...

Is there an easy way to just consolodate the vob and ac3 streams into a container the BLT can read?

Like an AVI file....?

Thanks again....

I use DVD Shrink and just back up the Feature Title with the AC3 track. I also back up into one large VOB. I have not had a problem playing back these files at all.

The point has already been made here several times, but I suppose the more people that request remote discrete on/off codes, the more likely Buffalo will implement this feature. The lack of same really is a significant oversight for a product that is intended to fit into a HD ("home theater") audio/video electronics suite.

Macro control of all componentry is the only way my totally non-geek spouse can deal with our audio/video setup. And frankly I don't blame her. A person should be able to turn on all the neccessary components and configure inputs/video modes/etc. to perform an intended function with one key press. And shut everything down the same way. After all these devices are supposed to entertain us, not make our lives frustratingly complicated.

BrianV,

What's up with the initial firmware upgrade?

The longer the wait, the more improvements and successfully addressed issues I think we should expect to see. So I am hoping that the delay is an indication that more is being done and not an indication that insufficient resources are being dedicated to supporting this product.

Originally posted by Pennhaven
The point has already been made here several times, but I suppose the more people that request remote discrete on/off codes, the more likely Buffalo will implement this feature. The lack of same really is a significant oversight for a product that is intended to fit into a HD ("home theater") audio/video electronics suite.

Macro control of all componentry is the only way my totally non-geek spouse can deal with our audio/video setup. And frankly I don't blame her. A person should be able to turn on all the neccessary components and configure inputs/video modes/etc. to perform an intended function with one key press. And shut everything down the same way. After all these devices are supposed to entertain us, not make our lives frustratingly complicated.

What exactly is the purpose of discrete codes? I have a Harmony remote and I don't have a problem with turning the unit on/off through the macros. I set it up as a power toggle and it is working fine. Sorry about the newbie question :(

Originally posted by chrixx
What exactly is the purpose of discrete codes? I have a Harmony remote and I don't have a problem with turning the unit on/off through the macros. I set it up as a power toggle and it is working fine. Sorry about the newbie question :(

Briefly.

Toggle will turn a unit OFF it is already ON and vice versa.

Discrete ON will turn the unit ON if is OFF and do NOTHING if it is already ON.

Without discrete ON/OFF a macro (or the user thereof) can accidently turn things OFF that they actually wish to leave ON. This would be likely to happen when switching functions which reguire some components to remain on while others are turned off.

Discrete OFF also allows for a very useful macro that will turn off ALL components that are ON. With toggle only codes, such a macro would actually turn ON any components that are already OFF. Then when a user next wanted to turn them ON, the toggle would actually turn them OFF. Ultimately this leads to a hysterical breakdown on the part of the non-techie user who doesn't understand why two or three different components must be separately turned on or off when all she wants to do is watch TV!:mad:

I was promised the firmware update would be posted last week, but it has not. I have a conference call with the overseas division tonight and will figure it out.

I'm going to be out of town until April 25th on multiple business related meetings. I'll keep people posted as best I can, but expect to hear about a firmware update status tonight.

Originally posted by chrixx
I use DVD Shrink and just back up the Feature Title with the AC3 track. I also back up into one large VOB. I have not had a problem playing back these files at all.

How are you doing this in DVD Shrink? I've played with it a bunch and have been unable to do this, I always end up with a ton of VOB's.

Thanks,

Gabe

For those asking for discrete codes, it sounds as if it will be too much work to implement for the relatively few that would like to have that feature.

For those of you that haven't yet invested in a new universal remote, I recently purchased a Harmony (Logitech) 676 model universal remote, and have been VERY impressed with it. The Harmony line uses "smart-state" technology, which in short, enables the remote to remeber what state each piece of AV equipment was left in. For example, I can press the "Off" button on the remote, and it automatically shuts down the my entire 6 piece AV unit, even though only 1 piece of my set-up makes use of discrete on/off codes. It really does work quite well.

Further, the remote allows for PC based programming through a fairly intuitive web-based UI. You can fully customize the remote to meet you specific needs, control up to 15 devices, and complete fairly in-depth "activity based" macros (a BIG, BIG plus for my non-techie wife!).

For example, if my wife wants to watch a DVD, all she has to do is hit the "Watch DVD" button I have programmed. The remote automatically sets the TV to the correct input, switches the receive to the right input, sets the surround sound mode to Neo6 cinema, turns off the VCR and satellite (i.e. all non-used devices for the watch DVD activity), turns on the DVD player and starts the movie.

Very cool remote!

Originally posted by Flip221
The Harmony line uses "smart-state" technology, which in short, enables the remote to remeber what state each piece of AV equipment was left in. For example, I can press the "Off" button on the remote, and it automatically shuts down the my entire 6 piece AV unit, even though only 1 piece of my set-up makes use of discrete on/off codes. It really does work quite well.


That is awesome, I've given up hope of finding a discrete code (if it exists) for my Hitachi rptv, that makes it one more reason to get the harmony 880 to replace the Pronto Neo - which, as the price would imply ($80 1 year
ago) is about to die.

DC

Originally posted by Flip221
For those asking for discrete codes, it sounds as if it will be too much work to implement for the relatively few that would like to have that feature.

For those of you that haven't yet invested in a new universal remote, I recently purchased a Harmony (Logitech) 676 model universal remote, and have been VERY impressed with it. The Harmony line uses "smart-state" technology, which in short, enables the remote to remeber what state each piece of AV equipment was left in. For example, I can press the "Off" button on the remote, and it automatically shuts down the my entire 6 piece AV unit, even though only 1 piece of my set-up makes use of discrete on/off codes. It really does work quite well.I respectfully disagree with almost everything in your post. First I disagree that it will be "too much work" to implement. It should be trivial. Many devices already have discrete codes even though the original remote doesn't support it. All thats lacking in many cases is just letting people know they exists. Second I disagree that "relatively few" would like the feature. And lastly I disagree that "smart-state" technology can make up for the lack of discrete codes. For example if someone or something happens to pass bewteen you and the equipment or if you happen to not point the remote just right when you are powering the equipment on or off you will get out of sync. With discrete codes you simply press the button again. IMO discrete are pretty much a required feature for anything but the least expensive audio video equipment.

Jay

Originally posted by jerndl
I respectfully disagree with almost everything in your post. First I disagree that it will be "too much work" to implement. It should be trivial. Many devices already have discrete codes even though the original remote doesn't support it. All thats lacking in many cases is just letting people know they exists. Second I disagree that "relatively few" would like the feature. And lastly I disagree that "smart-state" technology can make up for the lack of discrete codes. For example if someone or something happens to pass bewteen you and the equipment or if you happen to not point the remote just right when you are powering the equipment on or off you will get out of sync. With discrete codes you simply press the button again. IMO discrete are pretty much a required feature for anything but the least expensive audio video equipment.

Jay

I was basing the "too much work" statement on what was previously posted on this topic by BrianV. If it is as easy to implement as identifying the discrete code, then by all means, I hope someone ID's it! :) When I made the statement about relatively few people wanting the feature of discrete codes, I was saying so in the context that most people don't even know what discrete codes are (i.e. how can you want what you don't know exists). The folks in this forum are quite tech savvy (sp), hence the reason I find this forum so helpful, but even here, users have asked about what discrete codes are.

Regarding the "sync" issue if the IR signal is interupted, I can place Harmony 676 remote under a blanket or point it 180 degrees away from my AV equipment, and it still works. If the Harmony remote ever gets out of sync (such as when my 19 month old found the old remote and turned the tv off with it), the Harmony actually has a USEFUL help button on it that gets all of the equipment back in sync, and does so very easily (again, I reference my tech-hating wife; even she can now operate all of our AV "stuff").

Anyway, my intent was not to "bash" discrete codes, but simply to inform other forum members about the positive experience I have had with the Logitech remote. It does what it says it does, and it does it very well!

Originally posted by wingtipz
How are you doing this in DVD Shrink? I've played with it a bunch and have been unable to do this, I always end up with a ton of VOB's.

Thanks,

Gabe

By default DVD Shrink breaks VOBs into 1 GB chunks. When you open DVD Shrink, select Edit -> Preferences. Now click the Output Files tab and deselect the option to split VOBs into 1 GB chunks. Here is a print screen for the option:

A co-worker was telling me about the Harmony today, and I have to admit it's a pretty creative workaround to a longstanding problem in the home theater community -- hats off to Harmony! But in the end it's just that, a workaround of a problem created by other manufacturers.

The right way to deal with the issue is at the source -- and here we are in 2005 enjoying a networked device with downloadable firmware and a devoted product manager, so we're in a position to help a very good product become great (or, rather, a great product become really great!). In fact, I too would expect it to be an easy tweak to the firmware.

With all due respect, the fact that "most people don't know what discrete codes are" has nothing to do with what works reliably and will be respected by the pros (assuming they don't overlook the LinkTheater simply because the price is so LOW). Let's face it, "most people" have a basket full of remotes and the chief geek is the only one in the house who can make everything work, given the occasional incantation. Most people can't build engines, either, but they can jump into any car and drive it because the usability is so highly refined.

As the person who originally asked the question about discrete codes, I just had to add my two cents. We have to remember that Buffalo is a networking company and this is their first media product; I would offer that we not marginalize easy-to-implement features that can elevate the product without raising the manufacturing cost.

By the way, I've watched a few DVDs now, including Cold Mountain last night (in DTS), and the video quality is superb!

Originally posted by Flip221
I was basing the "too much work" statement on what was previously posted on this topic by BrianV. If it is as easy to implement as identifying the discrete code, then by all means, I hope someone ID's it! :) When I made the statement about relatively few people wanting the feature of discrete codes, I was saying so in the context that most people don't even know what discrete codes are (i.e. how can you want what you don't know exists). The folks in this forum are quite tech savvy (sp), hence the reason I find this forum so helpful, but even here, users have asked about what discrete codes are.

Regarding the "sync" issue if the IR signal is interupted, I can place Harmony 676 remote under a blanket or point it 180 degrees away from my AV equipment, and it still works. If the Harmony remote ever gets out of sync (such as when my 19 month old found the old remote and turned the tv off with it), the Harmony actually has a USEFUL help button on it that gets all of the equipment back in sync, and does so very easily (again, I reference my tech-hating wife; even she can now operate all of our AV "stuff").

Anyway, my intent was not to "bash" discrete codes, but simply to inform other forum members about the positive experience I have had with the Logitech remote. It does what it says it does, and it does it very well!

I have a Harmony 659 and agree with its ease of use. It controls from crazy angles and almost never has a problem. If you do encounter a problem, all you have to do it click the help button and the remote starts troubleshooting for you and makes it easy to get everything sync up. Great remote. Just my 2 cents :D

Originally posted by Flip221
Regarding the "sync" issue if the IR signal is interupted, I can place Harmony 676 remote under a blanket or point it 180 degrees away from my AV equipment, and it still works. If the Harmony remote ever gets out of sync (such as when my 19 month old found the old remote and turned the tv off with it), the Harmony actually has a USEFUL help button on it that gets all of the equipment back in sync, and does so very easily (again, I reference my tech-hating wife; even she can now operate all of our AV "stuff").


I tried the same model of Harmony and returned it 2 days later. It's more like a "dumbed out" device than anything else. It's a lot harder to control any particular feature of a device, even worse than a typical universal.

As far as the IR power is concerned. It was almost surely missing one of my 4 devices spanned over 45 degrees angel every time.

I'd agree that discrete code is very useful and may not be difficult to support: all needs to be done is to add the support of a new remote hex code to the firmware. But it seems Buffalo is currently overwhelmed by the bugs on the essential functionalities. Personally I can wait a lot longer for the discrete code than the IFO support.

I've been looking at the LinkTheater for a few days now and after plowing through this thread I am pretty much convinced to buy one tomorrow. However I have 3 concerns; in decending order of importance:

***PAL DVD Playback -> This is critical. I have many PAL DVDs and I don't want to have to use another player to watch them. I know there is already a region free setting however the PAL conversion is reportedly horrible. Is this going to be improved with the new firmware? If not then when?

** FLAC Audio Playback -> I have 7500 FLAC tracks and would like to play them back. It appears, from Brian's previous comments, that the server (unlike Slimdevice's Slimserver) has no capability to transcode on the server side and stream as WAV. Given this, it would be nice for the client side to decode. FLAC is *very* light on the decode and it is a completely open source, DRM free standard; unlike MS or Apple's lossless. It would only cost the programming to implement it (ie. no unit licensing fees).

* DVD upconversion -> This seems a rediculous limitation, but then what do I expect from the MPAA, etc.? It was suggested that the firmware hack would be trivial. Is there a patch out there yet?

BTW I have to emphasize how much BrianV's support and responsiveness has done to impress me with respect to Buffalo in general and this product in particular.

Another "me too." Just got my unit today after reading this thread.

Thanks all for the valuable information. I'm having a problem that doesn't seem covered in this thread so far:

I've got my Link Theater connected to my Mits 55857 RPTV and can't seem to get 1080i to work. 480p over component works great, but continuing through the video modes I get what appears to be a garbaged screen trying to display 720p, which is expected since this set doesn't support 720p, then nothing but blue screens until I cycle all the way back to "NTSC component" and then 480p.

Any experts out there have any ideas?

Originally posted by BrianV
1. It should only do the synchronization the first time you hit FF and REW. After that FF and REW should be instantaneous. If we just do it in the beginning everytime then people would complain it takes too long to start. I do think the FF and REW of all video right now could use significant improvement, and it's on my list of bugs to fix. I personally rarely FF or REW the stuff I watch, but I do think it could use improvement in FF or REW.


Fair enough. Hope it's fixed soon!

2. There's really NOT a lot of memory in this device so relying on the server is a basic design principle. Are there specific interfaces that are slower than others on your device. I can browse from 1 page to another in about 1-1.5 seconds which I think is acceptable.

I'm referring mostly to the Main Menu interface. One would think that a small 200-300k cache would be enough to retain the menu graphics, no?

3. The browser wasn't intended to play mp3s, it doesn't parse favorites lists like that. I suppose it could but I don't understand why someone would regularly require a feature like that which leads me to believe I'm not properly understanding you.

Yeah... Not sure how you got that, but this is what I'm talking about:

In my IE favorites, I have a link to MPEGRadio (h t t p : / / w w w . m p e g r a d i o . c o m). If I choose this link, the page loads just fine and I can select any of the "channel" links on that page to begin listening to the corresponding streaming-MP3 server. If I create a link directly to one of these "channels" (h t t p : / / p l a y l i s t . m p e g r a d i o . c o m / r a d i o D . p l s, for example), and choose that link from my favorites list, the LT browser goes blank and eventually times out. Why is this??

New gripe: Will there be a fix for the problem everyone is having with non-region-1 DVDs being very choppy?

Thanks as always.
Mark East

Originally posted by Daryle Tilroe
I've been looking at the LinkTheater for a few days now and after plowing through this thread I am pretty much convinced to buy one tomorrow. However I have 3 concerns; in decending order of importance:

***PAL DVD Playback -> This is critical. I have many PAL DVDs and I don't want to have to use another player to watch them. I know there is already a region free setting however the PAL conversion is reportedly horrible. Is this going to be improved with the new firmware? If not then when?

** FLAC Audio Playback -> I have 7500 FLAC tracks and would like to play them back. It appears, from Brian's previous comments, that the server (unlike Slimdevice's Slimserver) has no capability to transcode on the server side and stream as WAV. Given this, it would be nice for the client side to decode. FLAC is *very* light on the decode and it is a completely open source, DRM free standard; unlike MS or Apple's lossless. It would only cost the programming to implement it (ie. no unit licensing fees).

* DVD upconversion -> This seems a rediculous limitation, but then what do I expect from the MPAA, etc.? It was suggested that the firmware hack would be trivial. Is there a patch out there yet?

BTW I have to emphasize how much BrianV's support and responsiveness has done to impress me with respect to Buffalo in general and this product in particular.


PAL feedback was adresed earlier in the forum. Buffalo is readying thier PAL version of the player for a UK release and it will be PAL playback will be supported in a firmware upgrade, but currently there are some issues playing back PAL.

FLAC.. Brian will have to answer this one.

DVD Conversion.. The units shipping now play dvd's with the resolution you would expect from this device.

Drew

Originally posted by d_gasser
Another "me too." Just got my unit today after reading this thread.

Thanks all for the valuable information. I'm having a problem that doesn't seem covered in this thread so far:

I've got my Link Theater connected to my Mits 55857 RPTV and can't seem to get 1080i to work. 480p over component works great, but continuing through the video modes I get what appears to be a garbaged screen trying to display 720p, which is expected since this set doesn't support 720p, then nothing but blue screens until I cycle all the way back to "NTSC component" and then 480p.

Any experts out there have any ideas?

I know I have to leave it on the mode that is eventually 1080i for a bit before my setup will actually recognize it as such...In fact by the time is makes it so I can see it, the letters saying it's in 1080i is long gone....

Good luck....

Originally posted by drew138
PAL feedback was adresed earlier in the forum. Buffalo is readying thier PAL version of the player for a UK release and it will be PAL playback will be supported in a firmware upgrade, but currently there are some issues playing back PAL.

I did note that but there wasn't any timeline. What I would fear is some sort of 'European' version of the firmware that then has NTSC or R1 issues; or in the worst case some sort of small hardware revision. What it boils down to is that I can do without my PAL DVDs for a month or so but if is stretches into summer or fall I will be somewhat disappointed.

Thanks for the other info!

I do hope they choose to support FLAC (http://flac.sourceforge.net/) though. It has some traction as the open lossless standard. The Squeezeboxes (http://www.slimdevices.com/) (which I own 3 of; but that is another thread) support it natively now and through server transcoding for the older ones. The author, Josh Coalson, is actually now active on the Slimdevices lists/forums and is quite helpful.

Originally posted by Daryle Tilroe
I've been looking at the LinkTheater for a few days now and after plowing through this thread I am pretty much convinced to buy one tomorrow. However I have 3 concerns; in decending order of importance:

***PAL DVD Playback -> This is critical. I have many PAL DVDs and I don't want to have to use another player to watch them. I know there is already a region free setting however the PAL conversion is reportedly horrible. Is this going to be improved with the new firmware? If not then when?

** FLAC Audio Playback -> I have 7500 FLAC tracks and would like to play them back. It appears, from Brian's previous comments, that the server (unlike Slimdevice's Slimserver) has no capability to transcode on the server side and stream as WAV. Given this, it would be nice for the client side to decode. FLAC is *very* light on the decode and it is a completely open source, DRM free standard; unlike MS or Apple's lossless. It would only cost the programming to implement it (ie. no unit licensing fees).

* DVD upconversion -> This seems a rediculous limitation, but then what do I expect from the MPAA, etc.? It was suggested that the firmware hack would be trivial. Is there a patch out there yet?

BTW I have to emphasize how much BrianV's support and responsiveness has done to impress me with respect to Buffalo in general and this product in particular.

I don't know the status of the PAL playback. I know our European office is still working on their player. Once their player ships I can request that we add PAL support to our player but I cannot at this time gurantee that it's going to happen. I can more easily offer you the European firmware but then I don't know if NTSC will be supported (I imagine that the Euro version will support NTSC as well). So in either case we may be able to work something out. I don't know their time frame though so I can't make promises.

I haven't heard back from Sigma whether FLAC support is possible or planned, I will ask again.

MPAA & DRM = evil.

Originally posted by d_gasser
Another "me too." Just got my unit today after reading this thread.

Thanks all for the valuable information. I'm having a problem that doesn't seem covered in this thread so far:

I've got my Link Theater connected to my Mits 55857 RPTV and can't seem to get 1080i to work. 480p over component works great, but continuing through the video modes I get what appears to be a garbaged screen trying to display 720p, which is expected since this set doesn't support 720p, then nothing but blue screens until I cycle all the way back to "NTSC component" and then 480p.

Any experts out there have any ideas?

I'm glad you posted. My dad has a 55" RPTV HD at his house. He bought it in early 2000 and it only supports 1080i and not 720p. He has the same problem you describe. I was curious whether it was just his player or whether it was that model/series. I haven't seen it on over 25 other RPTV HD's but for some reason those Mitsu's don't like the LinkTheater. Newer Mitsu's seem to work.

I'll raise this as an actual issue now.

Originally posted by meast
Fair enough. Hope it's fixed soon!



I'm referring mostly to the Main Menu interface. One would think that a small 200-300k cache would be enough to retain the menu graphics, no?



Yeah... Not sure how you got that, but this is what I'm talking about:

In my IE favorites, I have a link to MPEGRadio (h t t p : / / w w w . m p e g r a d i o . c o m). If I choose this link, the page loads just fine and I can select any of the "channel" links on that page to begin listening to the corresponding streaming-MP3 server. If I create a link directly to one of these "channels" (h t t p : / / p l a y l i s t . m p e g r a d i o . c o m / r a d i o D . p l s, for example), and choose that link from my favorites list, the LT browser goes blank and eventually times out. Why is this??

New gripe: Will there be a fix for the problem everyone is having with non-region-1 DVDs being very choppy?

Thanks as always.
Mark East [/B]

I don't have any non-region 1 dvds so I can't address the choppy issue, but we do sell more of these units in Asia than we do in the US so I can't imagine there'd be an issue. Regardless I won't get much support in fixing this since you have to apply a hidden-code to enable region-free playback anyhow.

I'll look into the .pls bookmarks and add it to the feature-request as I think it's a valuable feature addition. Frankly I'm surprised the browser plays linked .pls.

Firmware Update Status:

Someone got really confused overseas thinking we wanted to wait for another firmware update to release the one I have promised. Regardless, this has been rectified and I expect the firmware to be posted sometime tonight.

Schedule:
I have an exhausting April and May and will only be in the office a handful of days. I'll be accessing this site as much as I can over the next few weeks offering as much advice as possible. I will stay active on pushing for new features, but I will have limited time to monitor this site. I ask that any of the more knowledgable users here provide share their knowledge with some of the newer users who haven't read the 25+ pages of posts.

Thanks

We have your back Brian :) :)

Has anyone else experienced a little skip while playing VOB's??

I am not talking about the delay between VOB's, but during some it acts like it skips a few seconds of video, almost seemlessly....I know this sounds weird, but it is doing this fo rme...Not all vids either, just some...I converted them over to single VOB's as described earlier in this thread....I have 2 other computers on thsi network, and both of them can play the VOB over the network without these little skips....I thought, perhaps the PC sending out the stream may not be up to snuff, but it easily exceeds the minimum requirements posted in the BLT manual....I also can play the Divx HD trailers flawlessy......Anyway, I thought I would ask....

Thanks....

Originally posted by BrianV
Firmware Update Status:

Someone got really confused overseas thinking we wanted to wait for another firmware update to release the one I have promised. Regardless, this has been rectified and I expect the firmware to be posted sometime tonight.

Schedule:
I have an exhausting April and May and will only be in the office a handful of days. I'll be accessing this site as much as I can over the next few weeks offering as much advice as possible. I will stay active on pushing for new features, but I will have limited time to monitor this site. I ask that any of the more knowledgable users here provide share their knowledge with some of the newer users who haven't read the 25+ pages of posts.

Thanks

Thanks Brian!!

Can we get a quick breakdown of what the changes will be in this new firmware??

Thanks for your time....

Originally posted by BrianV
I'm glad you posted. My dad has a 55" RPTV HD at his house. He bought it in early 2000 and it only supports 1080i and not 720p. He has the same problem you describe. I was curious whether it was just his player or whether it was that model/series. I haven't seen it on over 25 other RPTV HD's but for some reason those Mitsu's don't like the LinkTheater. Newer Mitsu's seem to work.

I'll raise this as an actual issue now.

Well, damn. I tried the other poster's suggestion of pausing for a good long time (>10 minutes) on each blue screen mode, and even tried power-cycling the unit on each. No joy.

I hope this issue is fixable over the short term, as 1080i support is a key feature for me.

Thanks for the quick feedback, regardless.

I recieved my unit about 4 weeks. DIVX support alone is well worth the price. Playback is execellent, the small delay to fast forward/rewind is a minor annoyance, but mitigated by the unit;s feedback.

DVD playback is good.

MP3 support could be a little better, but suitable.

Could not get internet radio to work, unit says starting player and then freezes. I have musicmatch installed, wonder if that is problem?

A little concerned about firmware updates, but willing to wait a little longer.

Overal: Super product for bleeding edge tech. Potential is very great.

Hi BrianV

Have you guys considered adding NeroDigital Certification support (for Mpeg4/SP/ASP in .MP4 encodes)... at sometime in the future?


Cheers

Problem solved!

It turns out the 2000-2002 Mitsubishi RPTVs accept only 480i or 480p on two of their three sets of component inputs. Only the "DTV" input handles 1080i, and once I switched the LT box over to that input channel everything was happy.

Now that that problem is solved, I need to figure out the correct firewall settings to get Internet radio to work and wait for firmware to fix the annoying MP3 playback glitches.

Two additional problems I noticed are that the unit occasionally (as in 1 out of 10 times or so) stops playing an MP3 prematurely, almost like it loses connection to the PC. It also fairly frequently takes a long (> 1 minute) pause while rendering thumbnails for a photo album, during which time the unit is completely unresponsive to input. I have checked out the location of the box with two other wireless-G devices, and both get top-notch signal in that location, and I don't see any problems in router or firewall logs.

The web browser also seems to take an inordinate amount of time to render even simple pages. Yahoo's main page took around 3 minutes to render this morning (it pulls up on the PC running the server software in < 1 second).

One additional suggestion for future improvement: Remove the annoying "INVALID" message when using unanticipated remote buttons in different modes. If I press the "music" button while browsing a photo album the device should do something logical like go to the main Music menu, not just flash an unfriendly "INVALID" on the screen. Navigation between menus and modes in general seems very picky and is going to result in very low WAF until the interface is a bit more intuitive.

I'm glad you posted. My dad has a 55" RPTV HD at his house. He bought it in early 2000 and it only supports 1080i and not 720p. He has the same problem you describe. I was curious whether it was just his player or whether it was that model/series. I haven't seen it on over 25 other RPTV HD's but for some reason those Mitsu's don't like the LinkTheater. Newer Mitsu's seem to work.

I'll raise this as an actual issue now.


I hope this gets addressed as I'm afraid I'll be in the same boat with my Mits 65WS907! :eek:

Really dying to try out this device!