Tomacro limHD200i HD media player with H.264 [Text View] - Page 15

gendvd

12-29-07, 07:42 AM

Jackie,
When should we look forward to the FW that will fix the settings loosing bug? I am contempating going back to the previous FW. Please advice.

Perry

At present, 1206 version is good, we think it is much better than 1026 version, if you want to go back to the previous version, we suggest you to use 0914 which is comparatively stable. But during the update process, please follow the correct steps, because, to some extent, update process has some risk ,so we suggest our customers not to update frimware too frequently. Generally, we suggest the comparatively more stable version for our customers to update. Now Tomacro has lots of versions, during which there are many test versions so if the customers have software problems caused by update, we won’t afford your out and home shipping cost. Thank you for your understanding

gendvd

12-29-07, 07:44 AM

Hi folks. Help needed. I just swapped out my old 250GB hard drive for a 500GB. Spent a good many hours reloading all my files on to the new disc. Recognised as an (E) drive on my PC so all good. Disc fitted and connected back into the LIM correctly. After finishing reloading I went to check the files on the TV and the menu was stuck on USB. There is no USB cable plugged in. I rebooted 3 times, took the power cord out for 30 minutes but as soon as I rebooted the first setting is USB with no other option than Samba, NFS and Setup.

Any ideas? Does it need a fresh firmware install? Tx. C

Please make sure that the 500gb new hard drive is NTFS format and the hard drive partition must be Priamry partition, or else the lim can not identify it.

topcat888

12-29-07, 12:23 PM

Hi Jackie,

As mentioned before, can you confirm that the next firmware will definetly have the move, edit & copy function..? And if so when..?

Thanks

philmckrackon

12-29-07, 12:37 PM

gendvd

12-30-07, 05:58 AM

Hi Jackie,

As mentioned before, can you confirm that the next firmware will definetly have the move, edit & copy function..? And if so when..?

Thanks

Sure, this function can be added in the next firmware version.We heard from the engineer that they have resolved the technology problems of the file management function and only need to integrate it into the firmware.

gendvd

12-30-07, 06:05 AM

How about fixing items that Tomacro has broken first? ISO for instance. Linux NFS is great to have back but not being able to play ISO now that NFS works is a disappointment. As stated before, one step forward and then back we go. Pretty sad.

There is no problem to use NFS net under windows. But we have ever tested and find that for the nas of certain type, the nfs under linux system can not support them very well.We hope it will be solved in the following firmwares.

av_noob

12-30-07, 12:40 PM

nice answer ... so does the new "offical" [Version: Release 1.60-071206-8] firmware break ISO dvd support? thx.

pc01

12-30-07, 04:10 PM

Jackie,
So, can you once for all, explain why the Brightness, contrast, sound volume settings keep messing up? One FW they are fixed, another they are broken? I don't understand, how something is fixed in the code, and then by adding other codes, they are broken?

Perry

gendvd

01-01-08, 04:05 AM

gendvd

01-01-08, 04:08 AM

nice answer ... so does the new "offical" [Version: Release 1.60-071206-8] firmware break ISO dvd support? thx.

Yes, this version can support ISO files.

av_noob

01-01-08, 12:26 PM

Thank you Jackie!

Cheers.

av_noob

01-01-08, 05:03 PM

oldpainless68

01-02-08, 05:49 AM

new firmware installed; iso playing is using the globally set 16x9 picture format --a nice fix. I don't have the problem with brightness, contrast, etc. What happens for this to occur?

btw, I followed the firmware install instructions posted a few pages back by Jackie; its the same instructions per the manual. It worked like a charm.

I dont have the Lim losing the brightness settings either......I have to say, I'm still pleased with mine. Now if we can just pin point why the audio drops out now and again on some DTS MKV's.....

And Happy New Year to everyone!

K

dp70

01-02-08, 02:22 PM

oldpainless68

01-03-08, 04:12 AM

Kevin, you rarely play VOB/IFO files, right? Maybe the losing settings bug is specifically related to that since those are the majority of what I play, other than timeshifted TV in MPEG-2 and some AVCHD content.

Mark - that's right. So does this issue only relate to VOB/ISO's then?

If so, Jackie - This will need to be fixed in the next cut....

K

gendvd

01-03-08, 07:52 AM

Mark - that's right. So does this issue only relate to VOB/ISO's then?

If so, Jackie - This will need to be fixed in the next cut....

K

We have ever tested vob,iso format file,and they can play fluently.Any other format dvd file?

oldpainless68

01-03-08, 08:12 AM

We have ever tested vob,iso format file,and they can play fluently.Any other format dvd file?

Hi Jackie

It seems that some folks are having problems with the Lim losing it's brightness settings after playing VOB/ISO files. I have not had any problems, but I only play MKV's.

Could someone post details of what they were doing when their Lim (on the latest f/w) lost it's settings?

Cheers

K

pc01

01-03-08, 12:24 PM

From memory: Just go into any VOb, play for a couple seconds, stop it from playing. Pick another VOB, plays and the settings are gone! (including the volume)

Perry

pc01

01-03-08, 12:26 PM

BTW, this problem was resolved in the 1226 cut, but is back with the december cut.

Perry

oldpainless68

01-03-08, 03:03 PM

From memory: Just go into any VOb, play for a couple seconds, stop it from playing. Pick another VOB, plays and the settings are gone! (including the volume)

Perry

Jackie - would you have Tomacro take a look at this....

cheers

K

gendvd

01-04-08, 08:17 AM

Jackie - would you have Tomacro take a look at this....

cheers

K

Ok, I will.

felsy

01-04-08, 04:58 PM

pierdolis

01-04-08, 05:16 PM

I have the lim since October 2007 and for me its been working steady and without any problem...Just the small detail of small MKVs with DTS sound drops. Im like old painless..works for me with no problems...even the settings of the brightness and volume dont occur on me with ISO or vobs..everthing is really allright. using the last FW and also ok. Ahhh I updated the FW like the manual, not like the website instructions.

RaggedEdge

01-04-08, 07:37 PM

hi all,
i have had the lim200 for 6 months now and it has been nothing but trouble, if i knew it was only beta i wouldn't have brought one yet,

i have never posted on this forum but i am always reading all post on the lim, which has helped me overcome some of the problems my one has had

i currently have version 1.60-071026 firmware
but i cannot update to 1.60-071206-8

i have done what is recommended: upgrade BAK firstly, then upgrade APP

but when i do bak app first it just stalls after 3 mins:(

ANY HELP PLEASE:confused:

Your doing it backwards, you need to upgrade APP first then BAK. I will post Jackie's post from the previous page:

The way to upgrade
Specific ways:
1. Put update folder in the Primary Partition of internal hard drive.
2. Implement SETUP \ BOOT firstly; After TV screen turning black, turn off the machine and restart it after 5 seconds
3. Implement SETUP \ application; After about 15 minutes, Turn off the machine when you find the TV screen has turned black; Restart the machine.
4. Implement SETUP \ application BAK

Note : in the upgrading process you should not cut off the power, force to turn off or restart the machine in the halfway.

felsy

01-04-08, 09:03 PM

ok i have got the new firmware on now.

no sound on *AVI movies

oldpainless68

01-05-08, 03:59 AM

ok i have got the new firmware on now.

no sound on *AVI movies

Open the AVI file in mediainfo and post the results so we can take a look...

K

landsat

01-05-08, 10:30 AM

Anyone have try 2"1/2 usb hard drive ? mine doesn't work on LIM :( but works fine on popcorn.

Any idea when we can expect a new firmware ?

WingFat

01-05-08, 11:07 AM

I've read thru this thread but am confused as to the networking capability of this unit. I currently use a Rapsody N35 in my network and that unit will find shares on all my vista PC's, Windows Home Server, And now my MacBook Pro. Will this unit be able to share all the media files on all my systems as well.? The local HD capacity does me little good.

Thanks!
WF

TomTomacro

01-05-08, 03:22 PM

I just picked two units of the tomacro hoping they will be able to play whatever I throw at it. However, I have issues plains 1080p mkv files like the ones from planet earth and casino royale. To top it off, it can't play these files from a samba share when my computer can.

Now I have upgraded to the newest firmware 1206-8 but don't see any improvement.

Has anyone else experienced the same?

I am very tempted to return the units.

TomTomacro

01-05-08, 03:53 PM

Has anyone been successful in making Tomacro work with Airport Extreme Base Station USB Disks over SMB?

keylord

01-05-08, 04:28 PM

keylord

01-05-08, 05:36 PM

hi everybody,
I have a question about upgrading the firmware to the latest version.(I had version from september 14 I think)
I have done as instructed on the website from Tomacro, first upgrade bak then upgrade app with offcourse some waiting in between.
But now I start it up and I get now screen, just black...

I just read some posts earlier that you should first upgrade Boot, then APP and then BAK.

Why is it that the company that produces the unit supplies incorrect upgrading instructions on their Website??? Or are those instructions correct?

Anyway, I have a black screen, any help how to restore the firmware so I can try the other correct (?) order of upgrading the firmware?

Surprisingly I have brought the unit back to life!
After I got the black screen on HDMI, I tried to perform a FW rollback, by starting the unit and immediately holding down the OK button for a few seconds until all the lights on the display lit up. After that I waited a while (not 35 mins) until the display went dark. Then I thought let's power it up and what happened? ....Nothing, a black screen again on HDMI.
Rebooted and rebooted and tried for about 2 hours with no success.
In the mean time I was already downloading the previous FW to try to use the previous FW. Until some time I tried again to use the Video Mode key on the remote which I had already tried with no success numerous times. I noticed a slight change in the black screen when I changed the video mode.
Tried again and there suddenly it was: the blue startup screen. And it was not a rollback but a FW upgrade to the latest version.
Don't know what did the trick, in between I also tried VGA/Component and composite , but couldn't get it to work with my plasma, maybe it was the TV settings maybe not.

So when anyone has this problem also, try disconnecting the HDMI and change to different video source and later connect HDMI again and use the video mode button...and be patient..very patient!

By the way, first impressions on the new FW: I had a BR file of Ratatouille which was not playing with old Sept. firmware, very slow and NO sound...with the new FW it works like it should, with sound! Finally a little reward for my upgrade horrors! It also looks like the menu is responding faster to the remote, it was a bit tedious and slow before I think.

Cheers!

Keylord

Hi-Jack

01-06-08, 03:48 AM

Hi Jackie,

Tomacro has changed the update so it takes less than an hour now (10 minutes)
which is great but... Why is the FW still in 4 parts? If we only need to run the
BAK APP and UPGRADE APP, why is there 4 files in the update file? Why can we
not get versions on each of these displayed inside the player so we can see the
right version of APP, BOOT and whatever is used so we can see if issues might
be related to having the wrong BOOT version and such....?

Hopefully Tomacro will do a better job in 2008 and become more involved with
the scene instead of using a few puppets to do their thing and keep the LimHD200i
under attention. I'm still not convinced today the system is worth the purchase
with the updates released so far as none took the issues away I keep experiencing
for some reason and the amount of complaints launched are not becoming any
less. (and yes, we tested multiple systems and the fact old FW works with
HDMI and the newer ones don't shows there is an issue in FW))

There are so many things that could improve the system to be more user
friendly and less complex in maintaining while on the other hand, it can
become more versatile in lifting limits implemented without too much work
for Tomacro and yet they never do...

I'm not holding my breath for Tomacro in 2008...
It's still the mainly "recommended by resellers" player it was months ago, still
too much blabla and less progress, still inconvenient, still buggy and inconsistent,
still a player that is only big from the outside and tiny under the hood...

Ok, enough time wasted on it again this morning.
Time for me to go back to the working players again... :-(

Hi-Jack

01-06-08, 04:25 AM

Only because if the fact I saw "fix HDMI" in the change list I decided to update
the firmware and see if it would resolve my issues with HDMI and guess what...?
It resolved the issues and now the unit keeps the settings and actually sends a
signal just fine to my TV.

Not bad after you all 6 months long denying this is FW related ain't that right Jackie, OldP, Tomacro? What was it called again... "Must be your unit as no one else has it?" I wonder why the fix was necessary then as certainly you not just did it for me... I guess selling more units resulted in more problems and it became
too hard to ignore?

Good job, but way toooooo late...

john duff

01-06-08, 04:45 AM

There are so many things that could improve the system to be more user
friendly and less complex in maintaining while on the other hand, it can
become more versatile in lifting limits implemented without too much work
for Tomacro and yet they never do...
Said that before, but...
Release the source ! (half of the firmware is under GPL anyway)

Mophun

01-06-08, 08:23 AM

Said that before, but...
Release the source ! (half of the firmware is under GPL anyway)

Indeed! With some community help firmware improvements would go al lot faster.

oldpainless68

01-06-08, 12:50 PM

Indeed! With some community help firmware improvements would go al lot faster.

Spaces are interesting to watch, cus u never know whats comming.....

K

dp70

01-06-08, 01:10 PM

dayoflayo

01-06-08, 01:10 PM

HDMI seems to be not corrected yet. I've still got some problems with this output. One time, i have a good signal and sometimes nothing :s

Mophun

01-06-08, 01:33 PM

HDMI seems to be not corrected yet. I've still got some problems with this output. One time, i have a good signal and sometimes nothing :s

I have the same experience. Most of the time it's working OK.
But once in a while I have to turn it off and on (a couple of times) to get it working again.
Although not perfect. It is an improvement.

chuna

01-06-08, 10:56 PM

Unless the Sigma SDK is becoming distributable outside of NDA or Tomacro is planning to trash their relationship with Sigma, opening the source to curacao, the bootloader etc. doesn't seem likely, as much as I would like it to happen.

Well what about the GPL source they are required to release by law then? They should play by the book here and not hide the GPL being released!

dp70

01-07-08, 01:21 AM

Well, it would probably be like how Sony released certain software covered by the GPL for their DVRs. We got tar files of busybox, the Linux kernel (without proprietary drivers), xfs utilities and such but naturally no code whatsoever from the actual proprietary firmware. Sony did accidentally include some hints about the platform configuration in some included scripts, but the packages provided were mostly useless and the same as the publicly-available ones. My understanding is that as long as a company links their app and drivers dynamically with unmodified GPL code (including glibc etc.), it is perfectly legal to not release the source. But a statically-linked app that includes GPL code is another story. Same goes for kernel modules. Statically linked into the kernel = BAD, proprietary driver loaded as a module = OK (but taints the kernel). Any modified GPL code MUST be released. But most likely companies like Sigma and Tomacro are using packages like busybox, libpng, zlib etc. as-is.

LianLi

01-07-08, 02:30 AM

Surprisingly I have brought the unit back to life!
After I got the black screen on HDMI, I tried to perform a FW rollback, by starting the unit and immediately holding down the OK button for a few seconds until all the lights on the display lit up. After that I waited a while (not 35 mins) until the display went dark. Then I thought let's power it up and what happened? ....Nothing, a black screen again on HDMI.
Rebooted and rebooted and tried for about 2 hours with no success.
In the mean time I was already downloading the previous FW to try to use the previous FW. Until some time I tried again to use the Video Mode key on the remote which I had already tried with no success numerous times. I noticed a slight change in the black screen when I changed the video mode.
Tried again and there suddenly it was: the blue startup screen. And it was not a rollback but a FW upgrade to the latest version.
Don't know what did the trick, in between I also tried VGA/Component and composite , but couldn't get it to work with my plasma, maybe it was the TV settings maybe not.

So when anyone has this problem also, try disconnecting the HDMI and change to different video source and later connect HDMI again and use the video mode button...and be patient..very patient!

By the way, first impressions on the new FW: I had a BR file of Ratatouille which was not playing with old Sept. firmware, very slow and NO sound...with the new FW it works like it should, with sound! Finally a little reward for my upgrade horrors! It also looks like the menu is responding faster to the remote, it was a bit tedious and slow before I think.

Cheers!

Keylord

Having the same problem now :( I haven't had any luck brining it back to life. I just get the a black screen and all I see is the power light. Then I try holding down the OK and POWER to roll back but nothing works. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
LianLi

chuna

01-07-08, 03:42 AM

dp70

01-07-08, 01:46 PM

chuna

01-07-08, 06:33 PM

I'm not defending them. No doubt the limHD runs a lot of GPL code inside, especially in the kernel, boot framework etc. However, so do a lot of other consumer electronics, and including, say, busybox in your romfs image does not suddenly require you to provide source for your proprietary app that runs separate from busybox. It isn't as simple as "your product uses Linux, so now you have to give us all your source code".

Now if there is, say, GPL'd MKV code included right inside Tomacro's own binaries (curacao etc.), then yep- they're busted and have to release the source. If it's linked to as a shared library, my understanding is that they would be off the hook but would be expected to provide the MKV sources they used upon request.

It takes some care during development to maintain the necessary separation. As the limHD is based on the same curacao framework as other players, that separation was probably devised by Sigma. If we can find a case where either Tomacro or Sigma messed up, that could be the way to force public release of the source. However, if it wasn't Sigma's fault, Tomacro's NDA with Sigma would probably still prevent a release from actually happening. I'm not sure how such a conflict would be resolved, but I'll bet Sigma has more legal resources at its disposal than a bunch of us waving the GPL around.

Please MArk, you are obviously not a developer and not involved with Sigma like us developers and have no idea about the Sigma sources for the 862X. Tomacro has GPL sources that they are required to release. Please dont give me your mumbo jumbo about it. I sure do know one thing, they are using a lot of open source stuff they have modified and its quite typical for many companies to not release the GPL. Heck look at what happened before to companies like Linksys etc, they were forced to after they got caught out. Its because they are a high profile company. Tomacro isnt, but I think its time the GPL guys take a look at Tomacro to have them work that out and force the GPL source to be released.

Everyone has to play by the rules!! Not everyone does unfortunately.

dp70

01-07-08, 10:14 PM

chuna

01-07-08, 11:33 PM

chuna, if you've indeed found evidence of Tomacro violating the GPL, sounds like you're best-positioned to make the case for an investigation. Why are you not doing so?

Is your own company playing completely by the rules? Which company is it, so that I can keep it in mind as a company that plays fair?

I have worked on embedded Linux products, but in a different area, so you're right that I don't have working knowledge of the Sigma SDK. Please correct any misconceptions on my part.

Dig into it a bit more and you will find out which company it is. A lot of the code like MKV is open source and they are required to release sources for those for any changes made to MKV which they have to, to get it to work on their player, hence GPL code modified to be made available. Is that clear enough? As for why am I not doing so to ask for it, in fact I have asked for it in this very thread to the many people who work for Tomacro but has been ignored. And I cant be bothered about investigating as I don't have the time to do these things which is why best to ask for it from people who work for them in the thread.

dp70

01-08-08, 12:53 AM

I'll keep an eye on Ziova going forward. You guys do seem more honorable than most as far as the GPL goes.

Hi-Jack

01-08-08, 01:13 AM

They probably wait for releasing the code until they can make the LimHD200i work :-)
Would be a shame releasing the code and showin us pro's what an amature code they
have inside the player. :-)

Sorry... That was too sarcastic even for my taste.
Sadly it's true that Tomacro (and some others) not release the GPL codes properly
which can contain interesting info for others developing on similar solutions. Instead of
asking of unrelied sources doing something, the guys behind the GPL code should take
action and force the release and updates of these codes when necessary or sue them.

Guys like Mark can surely use these to pinpoint errors in their system and eventually
cause more stable code to be inserted which would benefit the players, especially on
MKV code and other "GPL'd" features like SMB, FTP, NFS which equally is often open
source inside these players... (not sure it is for Tomacro but likely to be so given the
player only offers an interface to a list of community and Sigma work...))

Enjoy

john duff

01-08-08, 06:13 AM

Sadly it's true that Tomacro (and some others) not release the GPL codes properly which can contain interesting info for others developing on similar solutions. Instead of asking of unrelied sources doing something, the guys behind the GPL code should take action and force the release and updates of these codes when necessary or sue them.

Who'd want to steal such a crappy solution anyway?
Tomacro could benefit from quite a few hobbyists ready to debug their code just to be able to use the hardware and add features. -->
Cheaper development for them
Many would buy a player that can be easily modded.

LianLi

01-08-08, 04:53 PM

can anyone help me?

pc01

01-08-08, 04:57 PM

Langli,
"Just did what you did by holding down the OK buttton when turning on until all the lights light up. Then, wait for a while (30min?) and it will all go out... then you should be good to go. If not, then, what happen is you may copy an old FW to the update directory to go back. Do the same hard reset process. This happened to me also last time, I wish someone would said something clearer in the lim menu or here."

Look at page 116 for more details. Hope this help.

Perry

LianLi

01-08-08, 07:13 PM

I would copy the old firmware back but my PC does not see the LIM anymore.

sirhc55

01-08-08, 08:04 PM

If and when all problems are solved this thread will close - maybe at page 3,120 - me cyanical? No!

pc01

01-08-08, 10:38 PM

You have to remove the HDD, buy an external HDD enclosure, then copy those files there and then reinstall it to lim. Pain...

Perry

Hi-Jack

01-08-08, 11:41 PM

LianLi,

Check if the player not lost the format or the HDD is not just broken. You can try reformat
if you not loose to much content by checking if the disk is seen in your Disk Control panel
(Windows managment).

Hope you get it sorted.

PyromaniacX

01-09-08, 10:53 AM

How do I downgrade from Version 1.60-071206-8 to 1.60-071026 ?
I upgraded yesterday but the brightness bug makes it nearly impossible to watch a movie....:mad:

Thanks :)

pc01

01-09-08, 01:00 PM

Put the old firware back to the upate directory and do the same update process.

Perry

Fecn

01-10-08, 03:48 PM

My LimHD got collected by the courier this morning and is on it's way back to China for some attention. Although I'd be happier if it didn't have to go back at all, I am at least happy that I'm not the one paying the shipping charges for it. Jackie/GenDVD has been good on his promise that they have insurance to cover problems in the first 3 months included in the price.

There was a bit of a language barrier during the tech-support process, but eventually we both resorted to screenshots and photos to get our respective messages across accurately.

I would copy the old firmware back but my PC does not see the LIM anymore.

OK.. I know this is going to be a pain, but you can try the same steps I tried with Jackie....

1. Remove the hard disk from the LimHD and install it into a PC as an extra drive. (Among other things confirms that the hdd hasn't spontaneously stopped working)
2. Delete all the partitions on the disk (yep.. that means all the data will go, so back it up first)
3. Create a single partition on the disk. The New Partition Wizard will ask you what kind of partition you want to make - be sure to select 'Primary Partition'
4. Format the partition as NTFS
5. Create a directory on the newly formatted disk called 'update' (all lowercase)
6. Download the update.rar file for the Release 1.60-071206-8 from the tomacro download page.
7. Extract the four .bin files in the archive to the update folder you created. Assuming your disk is drive F: then you will have the following four files
F:\update\userpref.bin
F:\update\update.bin
F:\update\boot.bin
F:\update\bak.bin
8. Shut down the PC, remove the disk and re-install it back into the LimHD - I believe the disk should be configured as an IDE Master disk using the jumpers on the drive, but if it worked in the LimHD before then it would have been set up correctly so you probably don't need to worry about that bit.
9. Hold down the OK button, and whilst continuing to hold down the OK button, press+release the power button.. all the while, holding down OK.

After about 10-15 seconds, all of the lights on the VFD display should light up and that indicates that the LimHD is doing a restore using the firmware on the disk.

If the lights light up and then go out again, I believe that means the LimHD has failed to find the update images to restore with (e.g. something wrong with the disk config etc).

If you still can't get anywhere, try holding down the OK button super-extra-hard during the power-on sequence in case the contacts on the switch are a bit dodgy.

Try a different USB cable and a different USB port to connect the LimHD to the PC... Just in case the cable mysteriously spontaneously stopped working

If none of that works then I suspect you may have to return the unit.

obr

01-11-08, 07:45 AM

Hi,

The procedure you describe is rather accurate (at least for Windows XP, would be slightly different for Vista) However, I am not sure why did you buy from China directly rather than from http://www.onlybestrated.com - north american distributor of Tomacro. You could save a lot of troubles then.
We discovered that _when_ Tomacro works, customers are happy about it. However, the following is the summary of the issues we've seen so far in rather high rate:

1) Dead on arrival (main cause of the issues)
2) Top buttons on the device do not work (happened once so far)
3) HDMI output does not work (turns out that customers do not have patience to scroll through all modes on each output sequentially. Remember that output is _not_ available at component and HDMI at at the same time)
4) Front panel lights do not work (happened once so far)
5) HDD is not recognized (most likely due to improper formatting, incorrect jumper settings, defective HDD or attempt to format on Vista)
6) Remote does not work (happened few times, but by the time remote came to us it worked. Weird glitch with Tomacro)

Other than that, Tomacro is amazing device. By all means! We are working with Tomacro to improve reliability of the device to 100%, so once device back in stock and you buy from obr, you may be confident in two things: the device will work properly and support will be exceptional.

obr

My LimHD got collected by the courier this morning and is on it's way back to China for some attention. Although I'd be happier if it didn't have to go back at all, I am at least happy that I'm not the one paying the shipping charges for it. Jackie/GenDVD has been good on his promise that they have insurance to cover problems in the first 3 months included in the price.

There was a bit of a language barrier during the tech-support process, but eventually we both resorted to screenshots and photos to get our respective messages across accurately.

OK.. I know this is going to be a pain, but you can try the same steps I tried with Jackie....

1. Remove the hard disk from the LimHD and install it into a PC as an extra drive. (Among other things confirms that the hdd hasn't spontaneously stopped working)
2. Delete all the partitions on the disk (yep.. that means all the data will go, so back it up first)
3. Create a single partition on the disk. The New Partition Wizard will ask you what kind of partition you want to make - be sure to select 'Primary Partition'
4. Format the partition as NTFS
5. Create a directory on the newly formatted disk called 'update' (all lowercase)
6. Download the update.rar file for the Release 1.60-071206-8 from the tomacro download page.
7. Extract the four .bin files in the archive to the update folder you created. Assuming your disk is drive F: then you will have the following four files
F:\update\userpref.bin
F:\update\update.bin
F:\update\boot.bin
F:\update\bak.bin
8. Shut down the PC, remove the disk and re-install it back into the LimHD - I believe the disk should be configured as an IDE Master disk using the jumpers on the drive, but if it worked in the LimHD before then it would have been set up correctly so you probably don't need to worry about that bit.
9. Hold down the OK button, and whilst continuing to hold down the OK button, press+release the power button.. all the while, holding down OK.

After about 10-15 seconds, all of the lights on the VFD display should light up and that indicates that the LimHD is doing a restore using the firmware on the disk.

If the lights light up and then go out again, I believe that means the LimHD has failed to find the update images to restore with (e.g. something wrong with the disk config etc).

If you still can't get anywhere, try holding down the OK button super-extra-hard during the power-on sequence in case the contacts on the switch are a bit dodgy.

Try a different USB cable and a different USB port to connect the LimHD to the PC... Just in case the cable mysteriously spontaneously stopped working

If none of that works then I suspect you may have to return the unit.

Fecn

01-12-08, 11:14 AM

However, I am not sure why did you buy from China directly rather than from http://www.onlybestrated.com - north american distributor of Tomacro.

I didn't see the point of a unit being sent to a distributor in the USA before they shipped it to the UK. I'm not a north american customer, so one way or another the LimHD was going to be making a long journey to get to me.

dp70

01-12-08, 12:15 PM

Is time search the only navigation that works for MKVs currently? Seems like everything else I try (other than stop) makes the limHD freeze up.

Hi-Jack

01-12-08, 01:39 PM

obr, I suppose you are a reseller? Those are happy to announce what a good product it is by minimizing all the problems. Everything wrong is customers fault, never Tomacro who does such a great job by your help too. If you had some more experiences you would be talking different as compared to any other device, the only thing Tomacro does well, is HD. It has a painful update system, has awkward reactions after each FW update (HDMI not functions, component not functions, NFS broken, ISO broken, freezes, hardware failures, displays not working, DOA level of about 5% etc...)

01 - Dead on arrival happens quite too much (4% reported to us by some resellers)
02 - True and verified. Happens on occasions... (resolved mostly after a fresh reboot)
03 - HDMI is painful. There are issues with this by code. I had it for 6 months and all of a sudden it works using the latest FW. If i gi back to previous versions, I have the same issues again so good luck explaining why this is because of users not going thru the efforts of using the TV-Mode options. How would you explain the long history of HDMI selecting from menu which did not work with pointing at TV Mode button?
04 - Front panel, never seen an issue
05 - Don't you think Tomacro should not break if a disk is formatted with Vista? How
about making errors during writes on the disk it cannot recover from unless reformatting
the drive... This is part of the total amount of "issues" preventing good use of the player.
06 - Remote problems not yet reported to me.

You are minimizing the problems with the player... All this insurance nonsense is because
the margin on the players is high (sold very expensive) and who would buy such a risky
unit without it? It's all marketing language in here by you people. Gosh... where is the
time forums was for users and not resellers...

john duff

01-13-08, 07:35 AM

Hey ! I have news for you guys.
Tomacro apparently fired their only developer (for having dishonoured the brand with his firmwares) The last release was almost a month ago, and there hasn't been any sign of new developments since that time, when the bloke modified the bug of HDMI and NFS...
Instead, they hired both a communication guru and a webdesigner who improved their website.
Please read their new motto:
Caring of our design supports the beauty of our creativeness.
Capability Compatibility Capacity Credibility
(buy our stuff & go to hell)

And don't tell me I'm ironic, tell them.

If they have so little care for their customers and only rely on sales propaganda, let's communicate too and make sure people know what it means to be their client.

obr

01-13-08, 09:10 AM

Hi,

I thought was rather sharp reporting problems without making it too dramatic, but apparently I failed to deliver the message. We are resellers. The return rate is higher than that you replied so far. There are tons of unsatisfied customers, but there are tons of satisfied customers, too. I guess depends on what you are looking for in this device.

I am not defending Tomacro and we usually do not sell product with such high rate of failures. Quality is something that can be improved (we've seen this with Ziova in the past) if attitude is right. Otherwise, the company will go down quickly.

However, having extremely bad experience with Chinese companies in the past, Tomacro is coming close to being normal company if they push a little bit further and fix all the problems mentioned in this forum.

Problems of our customers concentrate and multiply for us, so we are double interested in high-quality product.

Having said all that when Tomacro works, it works. The picture quality is excellent. Fanless design is a big advantage for those sensitive to noise.

Hi-Jack

01-13-08, 10:56 AM

Hey ! I have news for you guys.
Tomacro apparently fired their only developer (for having dishonoured the brand with his firmwares) The last release was almost a month ago, and there hasn't been any sign of new developments since that time, when the bloke modified the bug of HDMI and NFS...
Instead, they hired both a communication guru and a webdesigner who improved their website.
Please read their new motto:
Caring of our design supports the beauty of our creativeness.
Capability Compatibility Capacity Credibility

Which site has changed? The www.tomacro.com still looks the same... and I'm sorry to add, reflects the quality of the player very well... OBR, i'm sure you have the best intention for your customers. Sorry I was so hush but the amount of reseller mambo jambo in here just does that with me.
As with evrything, it is bad to call everyone by the same name... same counts for resellers. You seem to care :-)

Enjoy
Hi-Jack

gendvd

01-14-08, 09:21 AM

I would copy the old firmware back but my PC does not see the LIM anymore.

You need to confirm that the built-in hard drive is primary state, (you can see through usb connection on the computer)，and there must be a upgrade firmware folder within the built-in hard drive and you need to confirm there are four upgrade files in the upgrade folder.

keylord

01-15-08, 09:08 AM

It's all marketing language in here by you people. Gosh... where is the
time forums was for users and not resellers...
Yeah right, like you don't have any commercial interest in sales of media players on your website....

Hi-Jack

01-15-08, 10:54 AM

keylord

01-15-08, 02:14 PM

Good luck in finding something we sell (as we don't) or hardware we earn money
from (as we don't). If you do, come back and post it showing people how fake I am. If you can't, I guess it shows more about you than it does about me.

Any further "assumptions"...?

Enjoy

Well how do you call your buy-ins then?
Through those buy-ins there are hundreds and hundreds of ppl buying players with discount. I've seen it a couple of times on the site with quantities sold that would make a lot of resellers jealous I think. I think having several buyins of 350 units or more calculates to a lot of money! You surely made a deal with the manufacturers to get a percentage of the turnover generated by your buy-ins on the website, right? I'm sure you don't deliver the manufacturers all these sales without wanting something in return?
Actually I can't blame you for it, I think it is very clever.
You have obviously spent a lot of time in building your website so it is not abnormal that you should have some kind of financial profit for these buy-ins which all originate on your website if I'm correct. The manufacturers are happy because they sell quantities, you can give the customer a discount, so he is also happy, so it's a win win situation for everybody.

What my point is , is that you criticize other resellers for having commercial interests while to me it is clear that you must have them yourself too.
If you say you don't have those deals with the manufacturers, then you must not be so clever as I thought...however I doubt that. :)

BTW I'm not starting this discussion to call somebody 'fake' I think that is very unmature. We are all grown-ups here, we can have a serious discussion without calling each other names, can we?

av_noob

01-16-08, 12:06 AM

Any word on the next firmware? I'd love to try out that file management piece.

Hitomacro

01-16-08, 02:21 AM

I dont have the Lim losing the brightness settings either......I have to say, I'm still pleased with mine. Now if we can just pin point why the audio drops out now and again on some DTS MKV's.....

And Happy New Year to everyone!

K

Hi, Kevin, did you receive my email?

oldpainless68

01-16-08, 02:23 AM

Hi, Kevin, did you receive my email?

Hi Fan - I've been busy, I'll respond today....

K

ckmic

01-16-08, 09:16 PM

gendvd

01-16-08, 10:58 PM

We will send HDBITS accounts invitation to the customers as soon as we can.
Hdbits Forum now is full, so we are temporarily unable to issue the invitation, please wait some days. And for the costomers who need HDBITS accounts invitation, you must ensure that the e-mail address you need to accept the invitation has never received any invitation from HDBITS.
We will present HDBITS accounts to our customers occasionally.

gendvd

01-16-08, 11:01 PM

I am trying to decide the best HD Media Center for my theater - I have a Panasonic projector 1080p - running a winxp server - have lots of 1080p content in digital format that I would like to watch on the big screen.

Should I be waiting for awhile? Sounds like a few issues here yet? Is there another unit that is proven and affordable?

The LIM is about 340CDN w/out Hard drive

Till now, among all HD players based upon 8623 CMOS chip, no one have exceeded Lim, and Tomacro never stop the development of the firmware functions, we believe Tomacro can provide all customers more developed and better functions.Surely Lim will bring you.

Hi-Jack

01-17-08, 12:05 AM

Jackie,

Maybe that's why it hardly improves or makes progress because you guys over there all
"think" it's a wonderful piece and the best of them all. You're not even close to the
competition Jackie and unless one day you understand and see the difference so you
can improve, you never will...

It's time to progress or throw in the towel...
Stop running around in circles...

Bad Update - Big Fuss - Loads of commercial posts - promises new wonderful update - long waiting time - Bad Update - Big Fuss - Loads of commercial posts - promises new wonderful update - long waiting time - Bad Update - Big Fuss - Loads of commercial posts - promises new wonderful update - long waiting time - Bad Update... etc...

Don't get caught in here... Tomacro simply ain't it and a few SMP8634/35 are already available and many more coming at
50% of the price of this bugger. They had their chance, the failed to use them and now it's too late so all one can do is
create a hype around it and acting as if this unit is world's best...

I would not recommend in, but it's your decision after all.
You simply don't get your money's worth in hardware (high rate of failures), software (amaturistic development and hardly any decent progress) and support (Tomacro not responds directly but uses resellers as puppet to do their job like GenDVD).

Enjoy

dp70

01-17-08, 12:11 AM

So what's this HDBITs forum all about, some invitation-only P2P thing?

john duff

01-17-08, 04:47 AM

Tomacro never stop the development of the firmware functions
Ah this is why there is no release... the developers just don't stop coding.

clontarf

01-17-08, 02:46 PM

Ah. A New Year and still no peace on the LIM forum. When Bush is finished with the Middle East he should pop over here.

HELP! Major problem. Swapped around a hard disc (again). Now I can access it on the PC so I know the drive is being recognised. Plugged the player back in - a brief shot of the opening screen then it went green and no picture on the TV. Not via component, SD, HDMI. Nothing. Any ideas. The component cables work on the DVD as does the HDMI. Might be the VGS out but can't see why. It was working perfectly up to today. I want to watch the new Terminator series!

RaggedEdge

01-17-08, 04:10 PM

I am trying to decide the best HD Media Center for my theater - I have a Panasonic projector 1080p - running a winxp server - have lots of 1080p content in digital format that I would like to watch on the big screen.

Should I be waiting for awhile? Sounds like a few issues here yet? Is there another unit that is proven and affordable?

The LIM is about 340CDN w/out Hard drive

For HD content the Lim is great. It plays all of my mkv and ts files flawlessly. I have the Lim video hooked up via HDMI and the audio hooked to a Denon 3806 via optical. I have Windows Vista and it works fine with the Lim. I've also played Divx and Iso and Vob files, all have worked fine. Again, YMMV, but for me the Lim has been great.

ckmic

01-17-08, 08:14 PM

There is a lot of heat in this forum and I am wondering if some of it is politics mixed in with reality ...

Maybe this is more of a beta users forum? Sounds from some that the Lim performs - others are having issues - at the very base level does the Lim stabd up to competition (forgetting pricing for a moment) - I understand when you start messing with different OS's etc trouble will come up - I run a sftware firm that develops health care technologies and everytime we hit a new OS or new medical device or new cell phone we get new work ...

Simple question - what are alternatives to Lim? Will play mkv, iso, vob, ... on a win xp server via HDMI and at least 5.1.

I would just like to push my projector to the limits (i.e see 1080p on a 120 inch screen) - maybe a good blue ray - upconverting DVD player - doesn't help with my digital content but it may be an interim step

pierdolis

01-17-08, 08:55 PM

Lim is agreat choice.

I own it and I used it for play MKV's, ISO, VOBs and Xvids. Every file works without any problem. The Lim works everday, mostly night sometimes for 6 hours...and I never had a freezed frame. You just need to buy a good HDD, format it right, follow the manual and dont be playing with FW's up and down... Like this is a steady machine. I only update the FW each time a new one comes.

For me its a charm...just a detail..if you have DTS mkv files, you need to plug the optical output of the Lim to an amp...he only decodes AC3..the DTS needs and amp.

I also have a PS3, so mainly I move towards MKvs and Blu-rays.

Lim is a great choice!

RaggedEdge

01-17-08, 09:37 PM

Simple question - what are alternatives to Lim? Will play mkv, iso, vob, ... on a win xp server via HDMI and at least 5.1.

I would just like to push my projector to the limits (i.e see 1080p on a 120 inch screen) - maybe a good blue ray - upconverting DVD player - doesn't help with my digital content but it may be an interim step

I also have a PS3 and an HD-DVD player. I use the Lim mainly for some mkv movies and a lot of ts network shows.

If you really want to push your projector, get a blu-ray and HDDVD player. You will get the best picture quality available, without question. While mkv movies are good, they are way more compressed than blu-ray and Hd-dvd. Also the audio on blu and HD are usually better.

pierdolis

01-18-08, 06:23 AM

I also have a PS3 and an HD-DVD player. I use the Lim mainly for some mkv movies and a lot of ts network shows.

If you really want to push your projector, get a blu-ray and HDDVD player. You will get the best picture quality available, without question. While mkv movies are good, they are way more compressed than blu-ray and Hd-dvd. Also the audio on blu and HD are usually better.

HDDVD??? For what buying a HDDVD if the format will disapear in one year???
Without doubts Blu-ray is the best choice if you need to buy one element. If you can afford two, so buy a blu-ray and a Lim and watch the HDDVD releases on MKVs till the war erase the HDDVD totally from the market.

VanguardMindwarp

01-18-08, 08:24 AM

my two cents:

I got a Lim for Christmas and love it! - FOR PLAYING MOVIES. Playing MP3s on the other hand, well, sucks. You can't browse while a song is playing and there is NO RANDOM feature - this was my biggest disappointment (also still haven't figured out this so-called "virtualCD"). Picture viewing is soso. No slideshow feature (no screensaver for unit either) and going from one picture to the next gives you some sort of black loading screen.

RaggedEdge

01-18-08, 09:12 AM

HDDVD??? For what buying a HDDVD if the format will disapear in one year???
Without doubts Blu-ray is the best choice if you need to buy one element. If you can afford two, so buy a blu-ray and a Lim and watch the HDDVD releases on MKVs till the war erase the HDDVD totally from the market.

A HDDVD player is < $150. No big deal. Again, both video AND sound are important to me. With the Lim you do not get lossless audio.

pc01

01-18-08, 01:30 PM

All,
I have not posted for a while now, however, I have been reading this forum almost on a daily basis. Lim does have its supporters here. To be fair, I think Lim performs 95% of things I throw at it very well. Can I live with the 5% problem, sure. When something does not work 5% at a time, I find ways around it. ie. I encode the video to fit its demand until they can come up with a solution. They can not do slideshows, MP3 playback, well... I use other devices for now. Do I wish and check here every now and then to see if they have new and improved FW? Sure. I can't say enough good customer service that Jackie has for me, including the shipping cost, is unbeatable. However, do I wish I don't have to go that route to exchange a broken player in the first place, of course! I wasted 4-5wks but I learned to be patience.
Having these said, I do have concern about their FW updates. I am coming to the conclusion, either they don't know what they are doing, which I doubt, or they simply don't have enough "thorough" engineer(s) checking / programming for it to work properly. I have crashed the player once, now revived; I was hoping for them to improve one thing, came to find out they broke a previously fixed item. They don't want to open up for beta testing, I can understand, but they NEED to HIRE more engineer to get it to work right. (For those people who never have a problem, my guess was they stick to a certain file format/source and do not explore like some of us who want to see the limit of the player! Haha...)
Well, if I were to rate this player so far here are my score:
1. Price = Too high (esp. after PopcornHour is out)
2. Quality = Excellent
3. Stability = Great / Excellent
4. Compatibility = Good / Great
5. Customer Service (if you consider Jackie) = Excellent
6. Functionalities (mulitples) = Poor (not able to play slideshows, MP3...)
7. FW updates = Poor (Slow and buggy)

Would I recommend it to my friends now? No. Mainly due to #1 & 6

Best wish,
Perry

pierdolis

01-18-08, 03:09 PM

Sure that video and sound are important. But you are spending not only the money for the player but for the movies itself...So you will have movies in a obsolute formart in tow years, and for what...the same films that you buy now in HDDVD that will become obsolute in that format soon will be releasead in the stantard HD format of the future (bluray)...its a matter of waiting a bit...but if you like to spend and have multiformats and multiplayers, just spend :)

Hi-Jack

01-18-08, 04:22 PM

BTW I'm not starting this discussion to call somebody 'fake' I think that is very unmature. We are all grown-ups here, we can have a serious discussion without calling each other names, can we?

We are only the organizing party and the players are sold by genuine resellers that guarantee service to our members and offers us a rebate for the quantity we can make at once. We don't take any revenue or % on the sales or buy-ins as we value the "neutrality" over making a few bucks. Only condition to participate is you have to be a member and that's 4 life, not annually like most sites and you can participate in "everything" in the feature so it's actually the people making the money "we could make".... That's community :-)

Mail our partners and check how much we earn on these sales... It's 1.000 players in the last 1.5 month from the buy-ins and we earned... 0€ in % on these sales.

It's exactly the point where I'm saying people believe what they "see and make of it" when seeing something but don't bother checking if what they think is right :-)

I don't mind. I know it can be confusing but the truth remains, we not earn a penny on selling stuff we organize and every single reseller can join the fun... no cost, no fees, no %... Just good service (SLA agreement). Bringing companies, resellers and customers closer together is what drives us... just like most customer forums like AVS...

lundman

01-18-08, 05:14 PM

HDDVD??? For what buying a HDDVD if the format will disapear in one year???
Without doubts Blu-ray is the best choice if you need to buy one element. If you can afford two, so buy a blu-ray and a Lim and watch the HDDVD releases on MKVs till the war erase the HDDVD totally from the market.

HD-DVD is region free, and BD is not. So I will never buy BD as it restricts what movies I can _buy_. Just the principle of the thing. Would you buy DRMed music still?

pierdolis

01-18-08, 05:34 PM

Sooner you will have to buy blu ray...only if you will be watching DVDs...dont know if you know but things are turning blue, concerning the war formats...
About region...My blu ray collection is all bought in USA trought amazon and I own a PS3 region 2 (I live in Europe)..and all title are playable...most of titles of region 1 can be played in region 2...just check before buy this link
http://bluray.lindsite.dk/
So before saying something like that concerning the region codes, you should research first ;)
But keep on on HDDVD, they will look wonderfull a reliques on the shelf :)

gendvd

01-19-08, 12:12 AM

lundman

01-19-08, 03:43 AM

Yeah you can make it regionfree, just like normal DVDs, but you shouldn't have to! Why do you have to be a criminal to give them money! But doesn't change how things are or where they are going.. :) But I can bitch about it !

oldpainless68

01-19-08, 07:50 AM

ckmic

01-19-08, 11:13 AM

WOW,

Great info guys - based on the comments from a number of members her (and thanks everyone - including Jackie) - I believe the Lim will satisfy my needs. I will likely still get the PS3 (primarily because a kid I sponsor got one for Christmas and he would like to play it when he comes to my house on the big screen)

As for Mp3s etc I have a Control 4 system running on the home network - which is OK at best but it does work and suffices - I think C4 has similar issues as Lim - too few QA Engineers - excitable marketing team that pushes the coders to get new features without fixing the ol ones because ... well there is no money in fixing broken things but features sell new product ;-) Thats just the nature of the business.

Jackie I am in Canada - what is my best channel for purchasing this unit - I do have a US Broker if pricing is better in the US.

Once again -Thanks everyone - hopefully soon I will be able to Bit*% about my own Lim

pc01

01-19-08, 01:58 PM

OP,
Yes, but have you use the slideshow feature? It lags 1-2s in between each slide and no transition... no effects... (lag = blank/black).

Perry

oldpainless68

01-20-08, 04:36 AM

OP,
Yes, but have you use the slideshow feature? It lags 1-2s in between each slide and no transition... no effects... (lag = blank/black).

Perry

True, but I guess for basic photo playback, some folks might be happy with that. Like I said, I only use my Lim for 720p (MKV(h.264),TS(mpeg2/4/avc),AVI(mpeg2/h.264),WMVHD(VC1)) material over HDMI to a projector - and for that, I'm VERY happy with the Lim.

Regarding mp3 playback - sure, it would be nice to browse pics etc whilst playing an mp3, but for straight mp3 playback over optical, it suits my needs just fine.

Jackie - any news on the next cut? - it's been a little while....

K

gendvd

01-20-08, 09:29 AM

gendvd

01-20-08, 09:33 AM

True, but I guess for basic photo playback, some folks might be happy with that. Like I said, I only use my Lim for 720p (MKV(h.264),TS(mpeg2/4/avc),AVI(mpeg2/h.264),WMVHD(VC1)) material over HDMI to a projector - and for that, I'm VERY happy with the Lim.

Regarding mp3 playback - sure, it would be nice to browse pics etc whilst playing an mp3, but for straight mp3 playback over optical, it suits my needs just fine.

Jackie - any news on the next cut? - it's been a little while....

K

Hello! Kevin the next version is coming soon,We will send to you to test it

oldpainless68

01-20-08, 11:08 AM

Hello! Kevin the next version is coming soon,We will send to you to test it

OK....cheers

K

landsat

01-20-08, 12:29 PM

Gendvd, does there is lot's of change in the next firmware ?

Mophun

01-20-08, 02:31 PM

... the next version is coming soon,We will send to you to test it

Aha.......Soon..... Well that's really narrowing it down. :rolleyes:

pc01

01-20-08, 05:47 PM

Jackie,
Would you share what can we expect with the update?

Perry

sta

01-21-08, 07:49 AM

gendvd

01-21-08, 08:36 AM

The New firmware will be out soon, the new firmware is specifically designed for foreign clients, has cancelled Chinese support and increased 6 foreign languages support.

sta

01-21-08, 11:46 AM

increased 6 foreign languages support.

thanks, but nothing about the suggested features?

john duff

01-21-08, 12:53 PM

Do you guys plan to translate the remote controller too ?
I wonder how to say "MOIVE" into Spanish...

pc01

01-21-08, 02:42 PM

The New firmware will be out soon, the new firmware is specifically designed for foreign clients, has cancelled Chinese support and increased 6 foreign languages support.

Are you serious? A product made in China, no Chinese support! Haha! Any other updates? Any update for user feedbacks? Or just focus on sales?

Perry

matchme

01-21-08, 04:24 PM

Do you guys plan to translate the remote controller too ?
I wonder how to say "MOIVE" into Spanish...

LOL

dp70

01-21-08, 05:04 PM

My limHD sits next to a Nintendo Wii. The Wii has NEVER crashed, has never done anything unexpected, is incredibly easy to use, has extremely responsive controls, and it's lots of fun. It really puts the limHD (which costs much more) to shame from a product quality and usability standpoint. In English, we say well-engineered products like the Wii or iPod "just work". Tomacro really needs to give more attention to making the limHD "just work" too (instead of "just barely work").

oldpainless68

01-23-08, 02:22 AM

sta

01-23-08, 03:58 AM

rammstein17

01-23-08, 07:57 AM

after knowing that brightness variation is a kind of screensaver, I must say that the brightness is occasionally so high that I can't reduce it sufficently with the regulation on my projector.

it's something out of control, I did not find any correlation to the setup menu.

Sorry for my bad english Sta, i suppose your brightness problem can be solve by pressing the setup button while watching a movie. You can modify brightness, saturation and contrast. Replace the cursor in the middle. I hope tomacro's engineer will find a solution for this in the next firmware...And i agree with you the screensaver is very strange. Anybody knows something about this firmware, except the new languages?

sta

01-23-08, 09:34 AM

thank you Rammstain, never tried that option...so you say that while playing any video format, pushing the setup allows you to regulate it?
I'll try this evening.

this is the reply I received back form Tomacro about the ne FW

Current previson FW is mostly the same as 1206 on our website.The difference is this new version add multi-language support.

Newly added languages:
Deutch
Swedish
Czech
Italian
Hungrian
Turkish
Hebrews

gendvd

01-23-08, 09:44 AM

hi,

this is an email I sent to Tomacro but I did not have reply.

......I’ve installed a Segate 500GB HDD inside and the connection to my VPR is through the HDMI port.

I’m encountering several issues, some minor and some important.

One is the brightness that sometimes vary, increasing in a significant way.

Furthermore H264 encoded files are often played with great stuttering.

Some USB memory pen are not recognized

An option I’d like to have is the possibility to switch automatically to the native refresh of the movie. I mean the possibility that the output refresh could be modified in function of the kind of film. (ie 50HZ for PAL movies, 60HZ for NTSC movies and 24HZ for HD movies)

Have you got a new FW upgrade in prevision?

Thank you

In order to save 8623 effective resource, some auxiliary functions such as brightness control, languages support function are relatively headache for the developers.At present the major development direction is to enable lim have the highest decoding capabilities of similar products and make decoding peak value to reach 50m / s, so in the follow-up version of the firmware, language will be divided into two versions, one is the international version which temporary delete the use of very large Chinese character storeroom , and the other is pure Chinese version specifically for the Chinese domestic market . So for brightness problems, we recommend that you do not use lim brightness function, you can use your projector or HDTV to adjusta suitable brightness. For the H264 decoding problem, we have not encountered before. Would you please tell us which firmware version you use.We recommend that customers upgrade to the firmware version after 0914, because subsequent versions have solved high rate problem. Output options can be automatically identified in the 1206 version.

gendvd

01-23-08, 09:44 AM

Do you guys plan to translate the remote controller too ?
I wonder how to say "MOIVE" into Spanish...

At present we do not know whether there will be remote in Spanish.

gendvd

01-23-08, 09:45 AM

Are you serious? A product made in China, no Chinese support! Haha! Any other updates? Any update for user feedbacks? Or just focus on sales?

Perry

Hello! The customer is our God, under any circumstances we will consider customers’ requirements as the main direction of firmware development. Please rest assured that tomacro will be along with our customers all the time. Because our goal is to enable our customers satisfied.

gendvd

01-23-08, 09:46 AM

The new firmware increase network automatic identification function and usb identification function. When you turn on the machine Lim can detect network automatically.If the network is configured properly, in the top right of the main menu will be three secondS link on the tips. USB devices need not to be restart when the lim is on boot-strap, it can automatically identify.

philmckrackon

01-23-08, 10:03 AM

So for brightness problems, we recommend that you do not use lim brightness function, you can use your projector or HDTV to adjusta suitable brightness.

The problem is that we are forced to use it because the LIM resets or changes the brightness wthout any user input. I would much rather not even have a brightness function so I don't have to keep fixing it as the LIM decides to set it at MAX without any user input.

keylord

01-23-08, 12:50 PM

I know how you can save the 8623 resources even more....just don't watch a movie.
:)

john duff

01-23-08, 12:57 PM

Do you guys plan to translate the remote controller too ?
I wonder how to say "MOIVE" into Spanish...At present we do not know whether there will be remote in Spanish.
That was a sarcasm, so here's a couple of constructive remarks:
As a frenchman I appreciated that the first new language added to the LIM was French.
-But I noticed a few cases where the translation was bad (it looked like an automatic translated text)
-Also there were cases (I don't remember exactly) where the french text didn't fit the screen (where there was barely room enough for english text which is shorter)
As a result, I switched back from French to English.

sta

01-23-08, 01:21 PM

Jackie, thank you for all the explanations.
the brightness issue is something that cannot be addressed to any set up....it changes without making anything.

sta

01-24-08, 03:33 AM

just installed the new FW.

for the update you should delete the update.bin file in the UPDATE dir and put the new one in the same place.

well, brightness issue seems to be solved...but to get the right output, at the right refresh at the right standard you must fight a lot!

gendvd

01-24-08, 09:30 AM

Jackie, thank you for all the explanations.
the brightness issue is something that cannot be addressed to any set up....it changes without making anything.

We used Optoma HD70 projector to connect 200 ithrough HDMI, but you did not find that problem. We used the1206-08 firmware version, we recommend that you upgrade the firmware to test.

sta

01-24-08, 10:36 AM

keylord

01-25-08, 02:00 AM

dp70

01-25-08, 09:30 AM

philmckrackon

01-25-08, 09:38 AM

Jackie, it sounds like maybe the brightness problem affects only the analog outputs. You mentioned never seeing it when using HDMI and Kevin has apparently never seen it either. I am positive the problem still exists in the latest firmware though.It happens to me over HDMI some times. I don't use analog. I think it has to do with ISO playback as I believe that Kevin only uses MKV playback. (I think)

gendvd

01-25-08, 10:28 AM

I have a suggestion (To jackie?) for a very useful new function.
It would be nice to be able to select any subtitle file from the hdd to use for playing the selected movie. Now the name of the sub has to be exact the same as the name of the file(with .srt extension). I know my friends Tvix has this feature and likes it very much...

The more subtitles switch is very practical and should be addressed. The players in China have proposed the problem to tomacro engineers for along time , but has not yet been resolved, as far as we know, simplely. Srt subtitle is difficult to achieve this function, so only if makes firmware to support sub subtitles can this problem can be solved.

VanguardMindwarp

01-25-08, 11:33 AM

What about random play with MP3s??

andrei_g

01-25-08, 01:14 PM

quatro

01-25-08, 01:35 PM

What about random play with MP3s??

hello! i have problem with playing mp3, it stop playing afther good minute.
i have the lastest firmware 1206-8. anyone else?

T

apollo1965

01-26-08, 01:50 PM

I recently purchased a Western Digital portable HD which is powered through the USB cable, but I cant get the Tomacro to recognise it despite going through the unmounting then refresh procedure. The drive is formatted in NTFS. The tomacro recognises another external hard drive which is externally powered.
Any ideas?

andrei_g

01-26-08, 04:36 PM

I had simillar issues with a low power hdd (2 watts 2.5 notebook hdd that works with all notebooks). To make it work and prove it's a USB power issue, I've used a splitter USB cable (2 usb plugs for power go into the limd USB ports and one goes inside the portable hdd USB enclosure).

This dum dum machine doesn't have enough juice for some portable devices in it (even some USB memory sticks).

obr

01-26-08, 09:43 PM

Guys, I honestly tried to search this information in this forum, but could not find it.

Having worked with devices returned as "network does not work" back to us, I decided that I'll save some time for us and customers publishing the most typical mistakes while configuring shares on windows xp and using Samba (BTW, we now test 100% devices for HDMI/component output, internal hard drive access and network shares because of numerous complains in this forum on this functionality)

1) Network shares via Samba do not work in builds prior to the latest (Dec. 7) build. You must install the latest build in order to use Samba protocol

2) Windows XP machine, as stated in the manual, must have Guest account enabled (disabled by default) No need to configure Local Policy contrary to what other forums claim.

3) After selecting DHCP option, lim ("the device") must be rebooted before proceeding to the next step

4) Make sure to type correct IP address of the machine you are connecting to (for Linksys default will be 192.168.1.x, for Linksys 192.168.0.x)

5) Make sure to use forward slash (/) when typing path while configuring Samba in setup. Backslash (\) does not work, e.g. should be //192.168.1.10/videos

6) Reboot the device after configuring Samba in setup.

7) Important: Not all Linksys routers work properly with lim!!! For instance, I had limited success with Dlink DIR-655 (wireless N), but 100% success with Linksys WRT54GL (factory firmware) and older models of Linksys (DI-624)

8) Not all types are visible by default. It's looks cumbersome, but for music files (mp3 etc.) you have to actually select music file types on the right of the screen. For pictures, you have to select pictures icon.

With regards to complains on the firmware upgrade:

1) IDE (newest devices come with SATA) disk must be master and have active partition.

2) For the latest firmware upgrade just follow the steps described at the website of Tomacro: upgrade Bak first (about 5 minutes) and then App (the latter takes about 15 minutes)

I hope this information will help with network and upgrade issues. Sorry if you know all this and consider it annoying...

OBR (http://www.onlybestrated.com)

russland

01-26-08, 10:01 PM

4) Make sure to type correct IP address of the machine you are connecting to (for Linksys default will be 192.168.1.x, for Linksys 192.168.0.x)

I would clarify this a little:

(for Linksys default will be 192.168.1.x, for D-Link 192.168.0.x)

This may reduce the product return rate even more :)

gendvd

01-27-08, 09:51 AM

philmckrackon

01-27-08, 04:50 PM

I made a BR rip from the movie Reservoir Dogs, it will play fine on my PC but I cannot get it to play on my LIM. It just locks up the player and I have to do a hard reboot. Anyone want to down load it and see if it plays for them? I placed a 50 mb sample at two file hosting locations.

http://boxstr.com/files/785290_9bbz6/RD_split.ts

http://rapidshare.com/files/87131256/RD_split.ts.html

Thanks,

oldpainless68

01-28-08, 02:22 AM

gendvd

01-28-08, 10:43 AM

What about random play with MP3s??

At present it still can not random play MP3.

gendvd

01-28-08, 10:54 AM

I have a 750 GB sata drive with a molex power plug. I would like to use it as an internal Limd drive. Did anyone try to get a Sata to Pata adapter in order to do that, and have it working in the limd ?

Examples of these adapters:
http://cooldrives.stores.yahoo.net/sahadradtoid.html

and some sata to ide here too
http://cooldrives.stores.yahoo.net/sata-adapters.html

thanks!

Hello! Using the adapter offered from
http://cooldrives.stores.yahoo.net/sahadradtoid.html can work.The one offered by the second link is not suitable in lim, the motherboard can not be covered.

VanguardMindwarp

01-28-08, 11:11 AM

At present it still can not random play MP3.

REALLY curious if it's ever going to be able??

philmckrackon

01-28-08, 12:12 PM

I'll take a look tonight.....in the meantime, what process/tools did you use?

KRipped with AnyDVD and also with DFDFab. Then remuxed M2TS to TS using TSRemux. Both will not play on my LIM but will play on my PC.

I split it with TSSplitter so I could upload it. The split file plays on my PC also.

Thanks,

oldpainless68

01-28-08, 03:53 PM

Ripped with AnyDVD and also with DFDFab. Then remuxed M2TS to TS using TSRemux. Both will not play on my LIM but will play on my PC.

I split it with TSSplitter so I could upload it. The split file plays on my PC also.

Thanks,

Not sure what the issue is, but there is something wrong with the clip. Plays for a second or two in media player, then lops at about 1-2 seconds into the clip. Also, the motion is very jerky....so, I've not even tried on the Lim.

K

philmckrackon

01-28-08, 04:02 PM

What site did you D/L it from? I'll down load it and check it again on my PC.

Thanks for looking,

philmckrackon

01-28-08, 06:18 PM

Well, I reupped it as a .zip file after I checked it on my PC again. It plays very smooth on my desktop but shutters slightly on my laptop. My laptop has a very old copy of power DVD and it's not the fastest in the world.

http://rapidshare.com/files/87409640/RD_split.zip.html

Here is the media info on it.

General #0
Complete name : C:\RD_split.ts
Format : MPEG-2 Transport
Format/Family : MPEG-2
File size : 50.0 MiB

Video #0
Codec : MPEG-2 Video
Codec profile : Main@High
Codec settings/Matri : Standard
Bit rate : 39 Mbps
Bit rate mode : CBR
Width : 1920 pixels
Height : 1080 pixels
Display Aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Chroma : 4:2:0
Interlacement : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.784

Audio #0
Codec : AC3
Bit rate : 640 Kbps
Bit rate mode : CBR
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, Subwoofer
Sampling rate : 48 KHz

Thanks again.

keylord

01-28-08, 06:45 PM

Is it possible to play 1080P MKV files?

pc01

01-28-08, 06:46 PM

Perhaps the codec is the culprit? Or 1920x1080. I tried several of my home made 1920x1440 and none plays on Lim. But, 1440x1080 with the same codec plays fairly well.

Perry

philmckrackon

01-28-08, 06:56 PM

Perhaps the codec is the culprit? Or 1920x1080. I tried several of my home made 1920x1440 and none plays on Lim. But, 1440x1080 with the same codec plays fairly well.

PerryCould be, I was trying to rip some of my BR's and see if I could get them to play without any reencoding or changes. I'm working on Layer Cake right now, I'll see how that one goes.

philmckrackon

01-28-08, 07:43 PM

Well, my latest rip locks the LIM up as soon as I select it.

Kevin, could you DL the latest file I posted and get it to Tomacro, I'd like to know what exactly causes the LIM to hang. Since it is just a M2TS remux to TS I thought the LIM could handle it. It must be the codec or the resolution.

john duff

01-29-08, 03:17 AM

Pfff... I lost patience.
I bought a secondhand mini-pc "pavilion slimline" which is not much bigger than the bulky tomacro. Already has a 5.1 sound card. Added a DVI graphics board, a secondhand MCE remote and installed vista media center.
You guys know what ?
-The only drawback: it's noisier than the tomacro
-Overall price cheaper than a TVIX SH and very close to the tomacro.
-It can do everything the tvix and tomacro can't. (Play as many file formats as you want, connect to whatever server you may have, organize media library, connect to internet...)

This post would be a bit off-topic without this:
GIVE UP ! SELL YOUR TOMACRO AND GET A SMALL PC !

sta

01-29-08, 05:33 AM

john duff

01-29-08, 05:58 AM

is it able to output audio 7.1 PCM? :)
actually there is a "digital out" audio plug, but I don't use it.

sneals2000

01-29-08, 08:31 AM

actually there is a "digital out" audio plug, but I don't use it.

It won't be able to output 7.1 LPCM digitally via a single standard SPDIF or TOSLINK audio output - only an HDMI or 4 separate Toslink/SPDIF outputs (each SPDIF/Toslink can only carry 2.0 PCM audio if it stays within a standard) Not many amps will accept multiple SPDIF/Toslink channel audio though...

You're likely to be limited to analague audio output of multichannel LPCM if you don't have an HDMI audio based solution.

Not a biggee for many people - but it is for some.

sta

01-29-08, 09:31 AM

that's the reason why I chose the lim. it's the only mediaplayer wiht that feature

Hi-Jack

01-29-08, 02:07 PM

is it able to output audio 7.1 PCM? :)

No, but it can do 100 of things the Lim can't and 65 which the TViX can't :-)
Any HTPC will beat media players to shred but loose on convenience and "family" friendly operations and as I might
add, a PC cannot produce the quality of either Tomaro or TvIX without exceeding the price heaily for a proper
card...

keylord

01-29-08, 04:44 PM

I have a question for you guys....

I have recently DL-ed the planet Earth hd-dvd VC1 1080P rips, and I am just watching ep. 1 , it is about 3-4 Gigs each episode.I use only 720P. It plays nice, but suddenly the screens freezes, at 29 mins. I have checked this file once earlier, same thing only at about 10 mins.

Can somebody who also has those files check how it plays on their Limhd? Oldpainless perhaps?

Does it has anything to do with overheating maybe? I just read somewhere that a lot of media players tend to get very hot when decoding high bitrate files for a few hours (popcornhour) ? maybe a fan is needed?

oldpainless68

01-30-08, 02:28 AM

sta

01-30-08, 03:50 AM

No, but it can do 100 of things the Lim can't and 65 which the TViX can't :-)

I'm sure of it, but it depends on what you need to do. :)

keylord

01-30-08, 06:44 AM

I'm not aware of any overheating issues...could you post a sample of the part that freezes?

K

I will check again tonight to see if it happens at the same point.
I'm not sure what it is.
Problem is I could not skip with FF or using Time to get after the point of freeze. When I started the file up again playback was ok, but no FF or Time skips are possible. So I just stopped, no point of looking at the same 29 minutes over and over again :).
I will also download the file again. It is the HD-DVD rip 1080P VC1 ep.1 Planet Earth.

gendvd

01-30-08, 09:37 AM

Is it possible to play 1080P MKV files?

Yes，it can play 1080P MKV files.:)

obr

01-30-08, 10:43 AM

Did you include in the cost the price of Vista Media Center or did you install a pirate copy? I think with cost of Vista it won't beat any hardware-based device, including TviX.

Pfff... I lost patience.
I bought a secondhand mini-pc "pavilion slimline" which is not much bigger than the bulky tomacro. Already has a 5.1 sound card. Added a DVI graphics board, a secondhand MCE remote and installed vista media center.
You guys know what ?
-The only drawback: it's noisier than the tomacro
-Overall price cheaper than a TVIX SH and very close to the tomacro.
-It can do everything the tvix and tomacro can't. (Play as many file formats as you want, connect to whatever server you may have, organize media library, connect to internet...)

This post would be a bit off-topic without this:
GIVE UP ! SELL YOUR TOMACRO AND GET A SMALL PC !

john duff

01-30-08, 01:37 PM

Vista was already there, I just reinstalled it because I wanted a clean system.
But a preinstalled XP plus MediaPortal would do the job the same way. I was just lucky, I needed less efforts to make it run. I could also buy an HDMI graphics board but I didn't need it. And if I want I can add a TV tuner, webcam, you know, things PCs can do.
It's a shame, because I expected a lot from the LIM. I'm planning to sell it, unless the guys wake up and improve their software, and/or decide to release the sources.
But let's focus on this topic which is the LIM.
Any of you guys that sell LIMs, maybe in touch with Tomacro, have any news about when they:
-Release the sources (opensource issue discussed earlier) ?
-Release a new firmware ?

With less bugs, the unit would sell better... for you and for me.

keylord

01-30-08, 03:09 PM

Suggestion for new firmware:

Functional Fast Forward, now it is just not working most of the times.
Also the time skip functions does not always work although better than Fast forward which is not very usable (_understatement).

gendvd

01-30-08, 10:47 PM

gendvd

01-30-08, 10:49 PM

john duff

01-31-08, 04:28 PM

Hello! The spring festival is coming in China. It is the most important festival in China like your Christmas.So the issue of new firmware may be delayed due to the Spring festival holiday. Thank you for your kind understanding.
I had to stay at the office during chritsmas.
Happy spring festival to you anyway.

pc01

01-31-08, 08:13 PM

dp70

01-31-08, 09:55 PM

Seems like Tomacro is preoccupied getting that higher profit margin version of limHD to market (the one with the new case but same firmware).

gendvd

02-01-08, 12:13 AM

I had to stay at the office during chritsmas.
Happy spring festival to you anyway.

Thank you!

john duff

02-01-08, 02:04 AM

2+months for a firmware update? And all it is adding is more language support (for sales overseas), I am overwhelmingly disappointed. Jackie, does Tomacro really have an engineer? Or they fired everyone?
I guess they're trying to hire a developer, at ease with sigma chipsets, and who speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish... and Chinese (simplified).
It takes a long time to find the right person, you can understand that.

pc01

02-01-08, 11:26 AM

Yes John, we all have to "understand that."

Perry

Hi-Jack

02-01-08, 04:01 PM

Maybe y'all can use the "Year of the Rat" to be a bit more serious about the products being
launched and about delivering adequate updates and support to your consumers... I hate
to say to most of the people in this thread " I told you so about the lim being a dead end,
a loop of much talks about updates being repeated all the time"... even if some die hard
fanatics of the Lim keep saying it's good (enough)...

At least y'all have time for 2 weeks to think about that now...
I'd be happy hearing those same die hard fans trying to attack me for these statements as
"unbiased" and "prejudiced" now after all these months and tell me I was wrong... Despite
my respect for AVS, this thread is exactly what a forum should not be... A vendor infected
thread causing massive smoke without fire...

We must only "understand" that we paid good money for the device and we not get the service
or updates, nor promises attached to it. The fact they have no developers or can't find one (or
find one they can pay with the low volume of sales) is none of our business. We don't get support,
don't get decent updates... That's all a customer should care about... We might care if they start
caring about us too which they don't... (only the resellers care obviously, ain't that right Jackie?)

The new model is falling under the same poor support and firmware abilities... After all 8 months
i'm following the Lim since our review, I have still no good opinion on anything delivered... It's still
the samùe poor player it was back then with some minor improvements in video playback that keep
those "who can't look further than that" in the pro camp tricking others into purchasing a device that
only takes them halfway into the world of media...

Sorry if this is offending... It's still the truth in the way I see it...
Hopefully they wake in the "new year"...

Enjoy

sirhc55

02-03-08, 12:33 AM

I always read your posts with interest Hi-Jack but in doing so I also did some research. I found that you have not yet found any unit to warrant a 100% satisfaction rate. Your review on the TViX M-6500A is a case in point. In fact, there is probably not one unit on the market at the present time that can warrant a ”rave review”.

I also have a Mvix from Unicorn, and that unit suffers ups and downs as any others where firmware updates are a weekly requirement.

In my own personal opinion the only commercial products that are serviced well by the manufacturer, in the form of firmware updates, are the likes of Toshiba, Sony, etc.

Hi-Jack

02-03-08, 05:43 AM

Sony and Toshiba and the likes are indeed far more "finished" products than any media
players in this segment but they don't handle the files these players handle so they
can't be compared. If these brands would release players, they would be poorly executed
exactly because of reaching that maximum stability and not receive the "risky" efforts in
files being supported as these players and these brands. I think there is a big difference here...

You are right about none of the players having a 100% satisfaction rate but there's still a
difference between satisfying one for 40% or 75%. I'm sure you will agree. The TViX and
other products have nor "more" potential than the Tomacro but over all provide a vastly
superiour feature set (SMB sources, NFS, Online content (NMT), hardware wise for the
remote, player design / size etc...) which play a decent role in the conclusion to come
up with that % satisfaction rate.

I'm sorry that I constantly have to say LimHD200i has about the lowest % rate from me
personally from all players on the market today and this concerns the player and brand
for things we fed them 8 months ago (expand SMB sources, expand NFS sources, fix the
firmware issues and reactions, the time for update, make things run smoother like music
etc...). We not hide the fact the Lim is great in HD playback but that's not the only thing
it should be great add for that price or to be called a Top Notch media player by resellers...

I'm sure you will catch the point that we feel Tomacro would be a far better option to
take things further; The problems with developrs, their lack of communication (probably
due to lack of sources) indirectly causes the brands chances to fail including the results
of not getting decent firmware updates or very poorly enhancements after 2 months...

I kept following this thread ever since I started making posts in here, and I must admit, I
never felt this thread was a discussion above a commercial outlet for some or where
people dared to post about the truth beyond HD playback. Only a very few did and I'm
one of them...

Maybe they can recover once they sorted out their developers issue...
Maybe not...

From what we have seen in the past 8 months, there's not much believe in Tomacro
left... The release of a new "more profitable design" with the same firmware was not
really another good move knowing there is no developers at the moment either. It's
selling as much as possible in short term before throwing in the towel as I don't think
Tomacro will overcome their own flaws and failures. They have no spirit, no strength,
no power, no trust, no solutions or anything else they have shown in the last months
beside making promises they can't keep time after time about the "next" great update...

I don't know...
I hope I will be proven wrong in a while... but I would not bet any money on it...

PS: Tried keeping this constructive as much as I can without twisting my words or opinion.

Burnerbum

02-03-08, 08:40 AM

I also have a Mvix from Unicorn, and that unit suffers ups and downs as any others where firmware updates are a weekly requirement.

I have the Mvix 760Hd that i bought last september. As of yet i have not seen one firmware update for it. It stated back in August that a new firmware was coming. When, next month, next year. This company has died. Even the forums have very little input on them. I mainly use the Mvix for playing standard dvd iso files, which it does a fair job. But if you stop a movie there is no way to return to where you left off. The biggest problem is when i'm done watching a movie. 90% of the time the unit will not shut off. It shows that it's shutting down, the screen goes blank but the unit itself doesn't shut down. I have to unplug it to shut it off. This is a real pain and using the sleep feature isn't an option as i can't trust whether on not it will actually shut off. Back in October i was planning to buy the Lim until i started reading this forum. It sounds like i would just be buying more problems. I wish someone would come out with something that works as advertised. I'm tired of buying betaware. A unit should work as advertised right from the start. Firmware upgrades are for enhancements and added features. I don't know how companies get away with selling products that don't work as advertised. I guess the "Truth in Advertising" doesn't apply to all countries.

Hi-Jack

02-03-08, 08:45 AM

Sadly, we warned for MViX as well s a brand not caring for updates (or not capable...)
Our News Archive proves this. So far we are not always right, but we seem to manage
pointing at the high risks for several brands now which have been Rapsody, Tomacro
and MViX while Rapsody, thx to Daboda still receives minor updates lately...

cHarOn99

02-03-08, 01:55 PM

I also dont like the way as Mvix is working but they are in Firmware Developement now and was :) right now there are only betas but you can free download it from http://www.mvix.net/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=27
Beta11 should be also on the way.

The same Game was with the Ziova long time no update :( and then with the 2.01 Firmware the player makes an good job now.
Dont know if mvix will get there also but they do it the same way hahahaha

Right now there are only two brands who are interessting Syabas NMT devices and Dvico.
Dvico makes me an little bit bad because still not all ISOS are playing well on the old 4100 or 5100 and again not on the 6500er but this mor Sigma based so we will see an fix soon i hope hehehe.

Tommacro is nothing they have now an long time to proof and nothing comes out!
and for that price it is an shame!

cHarOn

Burnerbum

02-03-08, 02:43 PM

I also dont like the way as Mvix is working but they are in Firmware Developement now and was :) right now there are only betas but you can free download it from http://www.mvix.net/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=27
Beta11 should be also on the way.

I'm not to eager to start downloading beta firmwares but is the firmware for the European unit and the US one? I would hate to load a firmware that has PAL output and not NTSC. Right now i would be happy just to have 2 things fixed, Playback from a stopped position and have the unit actually shut down properly.

cHarOn99

02-03-08, 02:56 PM

hmm sorry but i dont have infos about that only know that they are still working on things and that they dont stop working maybe you should ask in the mvix community

http://mvixcommunity.com/fusionbb.php?fbb_session_id/75cda2ab3a4608be67953c97b2755b0f/

cHarOn

gendvd

02-03-08, 08:19 PM

These problems you mentioned, Tomacro’s engineers already know, and they found these stop points were the high bitsrate drop points, such as 30m/s drop to 15m/s suddenly, usually this issue found in some high bitsrate hd video files. We expect these problems include skip with FF, DTS audio track loss will be resolved in the next firmware.

oldpainless68

02-04-08, 01:51 AM

john duff

02-04-08, 08:20 AM

soon :D

Mophun

02-04-08, 01:39 PM

Probably this week :D

oldpainless68

02-04-08, 02:31 PM

oh dear....lol

cHarOn99

02-04-08, 02:36 PM

or anywhere this year :)

oldpainless68

02-04-08, 03:39 PM

Be nice u lot....

K

gendvd

02-07-08, 09:17 PM

Jackie

Any idea when it's likley to be out?

K

Hello！Kevin! Now it's the Spring Festival, so it is really hard to answer when it will be out. But all the questions and suggestions our customers raised have been reflected to Tomacro engineers. :)

topcat888

02-08-08, 01:50 AM

This is going to take forever.! :( Someone wake me up when we've got the new firmware.!

VanguardMindwarp

02-08-08, 05:41 AM

But all the questions and suggestions our customers raised have been reflected to Tomacro engineers. :)

This wouldn't happen to include a random play feature for MP3s would it??:cool:

gendvd

02-08-08, 07:35 PM

This wouldn't happen to include a random play feature for MP3s would it??:cool:

At present, this fuction is not supported but we have tell the engineer of Tomacro.

topcat888

02-09-08, 02:28 AM

Hi Jackie,

I want to use an SATA drive in the LIM, can you tell me if any of these will work..?

1 - http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.aspx?sku=344907

or this

2 - http://www.span.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=13829

or this

3 - http://www.homestead.co.uk/productcategorydetail.aspx?CategoryID=55930

or this

4 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160204167773&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=006

or this

5 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290204283256&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=019

Thanks

pc01

02-09-08, 09:25 AM

Possibly #2 may work, however, to fit it into Lim, is very tight! No space.

Perry

gendvd

02-10-08, 06:40 AM

topcat888

02-10-08, 02:17 PM

Hi Jackie

Thanks for the info but the one that you mentioned is not available here in the UK (I have searched.!) - any ideas..??

Thanks

dave843

02-12-08, 09:33 PM

On several videos I have, I don't get any sound when playing the video on the lim (the video shows up just fine). This problem is specific to these videos, when I play others, the sound works fine.

Just to be clear, I don't get any sound at all when playing these videos. I have turned the volume on the receiver all the way up, and I get no sound at all.

Some of the videos have two audio tracks, but the lim does not recognize the second one. When I push the audio button (multiple times), it always says "Track 0".

The lim is connected to my receiver (Onkyo TX-NR905) by HDMI only.

These videos are HD videos from my Tivo S3. They were all recorded from broadcast stations -- encryption is not the problem. After downloading the file from the Tivo, I use the Tivo Decoder GUI (http://www.gmonweb.com/portal/CodingFun/Downloads/tabid/54/grm2id/6/Default.aspx) to convert the .tivo files to .mpeg files. The mpegs play (with sound) in Windows Media Player.

How can I get these videos to play on my lim?

If I need to post a piece of a video, let me know how to break the file up.

Here is the mediainfo for one of them (I can post the info for others if needed):
General #0
Complete name : House - Mirror Mirror.mpeg
Format : MPEG-2 Program
Format/Family : MPEG-2
File size : 4.34 GiB
PlayTime : 1h 2s
Bit rate : 10 Mbps

Video #0
Codec : MPEG-2 Video
Codec/Family : MPEG-V
Codec profile : Main@High
Codec settings, Matrix : Standard
PlayTime : 1h 2s
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 8839 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 19 Mbps
Width : 1280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display Aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 59.940 fps
Chroma : 4:2:0
Interlacement : Progressive

Audio #0
Codec : AC3
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, Subwoofer
Sampling rate : 48 KHz

Audio #1
Codec : AC3
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, Subwoofer
Sampling rate : 48 KHz

oldpainless68

02-13-08, 02:11 AM

gendvd

02-13-08, 07:26 AM

Hi Jackie

Thanks for the info but the one that you mentioned is not available here in the UK (I have searched.!) - any ideas..??

Thanks

I am sorry:(

Spikes

02-13-08, 12:04 PM

Hi Jackie
I have got a LimHD player, and i am somehow satiesfied..
BUT. I was wondering about some small issues about it.
First of all, the internal HD does not stop spinning even when i have turned of the LimHD with my remote control. I have to use the "master power button" on top to turn the LimHD entirely off..
Second: When i start the LimHD and searching my Lan for those files that are shared, the LimHD finds them without problems. BUT. If i do turn the LimHD off by the remote control, and then later on start it up again with my remote control, it does NOT find the files shared on my Lan anymore.. I do have to first turn off the LimHD entirely with the master/power button, then restart the LimHD with the master/power button to be able to find the files shared over my Lan..
Could you please respond and maybe help me solve this ??

In advance thanks

Spikes

dave843

02-13-08, 04:47 PM

I've not come across the mpeg-v codec....anyone else? re the audio....I take it you have the lim set to ac3 in the sub menu?

K

I have no idea which menu you are talking about. I don't think I've ever seen ac3 in any menu on the lim. I searched through the User Manual, and I don't see anything in there either.

Where is this menu?

oldpainless68

02-14-08, 02:26 AM

I have no idea which menu you are talking about. I don't think I've ever seen ac3 in any menu on the lim. I searched through the User Manual, and I don't see anything in there either.

Where is this menu?

Sorry, my bad....It was only in an early f/w version....

K

gendvd

02-14-08, 04:59 AM

john duff

02-14-08, 12:35 PM

Actually it is possible to spin down a hard disk. Computers do this when they enter sleep mode. It's part of the IDE instruction set.
E0h = Spins down the drive
E1h = Spins up the drive

What may be impossible is to have Tomacro implement it, but that's another story.

andrei_g

02-14-08, 02:15 PM

Yep, reboot should work from remote control, because when turned off by remote, the drives don't spin down (usb or internal) and also because the HDMI connection to my projector is lost too if the projector was stoped and started again.
So turning off by remote is useless if i reboot my projector while mid is stoped and hdd drives are on non stop (unless the usb driver enclosure knows how to spin down by itself when there is no usb traffic for a while : e.g. Western Digital MyBook).

pablovi

02-15-08, 12:23 PM

Can this media player support the use of a HFS+ external HDD???

I have one I've been using with my Xbox 360, but I wan't to be able to play .mkv on my HDTV. So, do I need to get another external HDD (NTFS)? I really can't format my lacie Drive, I have to much information there.

Thanks in advanced.

sta

02-16-08, 04:40 AM

is it possible to connect the XBOBX360 HD DVD drive to the limHD?

sta

02-16-08, 04:45 AM

is it possible to connect the XBOBX360 HD DVD drive to the limHD?

oldpainless68

02-16-08, 06:03 AM

is it possible to connect the XBOBX360 HD DVD drive to the limHD?

Nope....all of the processing for HD-DVD is done in the 360, not the drive.

K

pc01

02-16-08, 01:05 PM

Jackie,
I know you Tomacro is wanting to sell this unit to other markets, but how about the existing customers who once bought this unit under the impression this unit will support Chinese fonts / menu. Currently, all the Chinese characters are scrambled. I remembered one of the former FW does display Chinese fonts properly. I don't need it to support the subtitle at this time, but at least in the menu, because I have lots of folders and file name in Chinese. Is that too much to ask? It was there, why take it away?

Perry

av_noob

02-16-08, 04:51 PM

Jackie, can we expect a firmware release on feb 23 --the day after the end of the Spring Festival? Thanks.

keylord

02-17-08, 02:12 AM

Jackie, can we expect a firmware release on feb 23 --the day after the end of the Spring Festival? Thanks.
Spring break is alreay at end. Most ppl in China start working around 14th of february already.

oldpainless68

02-17-08, 04:40 AM

Jackie - another suggestion. Is it possible that support for a USB hub could be added to the F/W?...Being able to recognise say upto 6 usb drives would be very useful.

K

sta

02-17-08, 07:50 PM

Nope....all of the processing for HD-DVD is done in the 360, not the drive.

K

thanks ;)

Burnerbum

02-17-08, 08:34 PM

Jackie - another suggestion. Is it possible that support for a USB hub could be added to the F/W?...Being able to recognise say upto 6 usb drives would be very useful.

K

Have you tried a hub. (Probably or you wouldn't be asking). I have a Mvix 760HD and a hub works. but if not, a good solution would be the AMS VENUS T4U DS-2340UBK 3.5" USB 2.0 External Enclosure, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332008 . These are great, they hold up to 4 IDE drives and you can configure it as 1 large drive or 4 individual drives or anything in between. The best part is that it shuts off when there is no activity. So when i shut off the Mvix it shuts off too. (also turns on automatically). But i'm not sure if the shutoff would work since the Lim doesn't actually shut down from the remote. From what i've read you have to physically press the power button on the unit to completely shut it down. That was a surprise to me, why they wouldn't have it shut the unit down completely is beyond me. But this may be one option for you. I have 3 of these and they are good units.

oldpainless68

02-18-08, 02:12 AM

Have you tried a hub. (Probably or you wouldn't be asking). I have a Mvix 760HD and a hub works. but if not, a good solution would be the AMS VENUS T4U DS-2340UBK 3.5" USB 2.0 External Enclosure, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817332008 . These are great, they hold up to 4 IDE drives and you can configure it as 1 large drive or 4 individual drives or anything in between. The best part is that it shuts off when there is no activity. So when i shut off the Mvix it shuts off too. (also turns on automatically). But i'm not sure if the shutoff would work since the Lim doesn't actually shut down from the remote. From what i've read you have to physically press the power button on the unit to completely shut it down. That was a surprise to me, why they wouldn't have it shut the unit down completely is beyond me. But this may be one option for you. I have 3 of these and they are good units.

Hey, nice one!......many thanks.

K

gendvd

02-18-08, 07:26 AM

[QUOTE=oldpainless68;13135108]Jackie - another suggestion. Is it possible that support for a USB hub could be added to the F/W?...Being able to recognise say upto 6 usb drives would be very useful.

K[/QUO
Thank you for your suggestion, Let me tell the engineers.

gendvd

02-18-08, 07:27 AM

gendvd

02-18-08, 08:17 AM

Jackie, can we expect a firmware release on feb 23 --the day after the end of the Spring Festival? Thanks.

我们无法预定的，这个要看工程师的，而不是我们能够决定的。
At present we can not preview, we can not make decision and this depend on Tomacro engineers.

VanguardMindwarp

02-19-08, 07:25 AM

oldpainless68

02-19-08, 12:15 PM

Got a question:
I just got a new monitor & want to hook the old CRT one to the LIM. Why? Because I have a Sony KDF 46E2000 and don't want to kill the bulb if I'm just listening to tunes. I want to have both TV & monitor hooked up but only use the TV display for movies, etc. So my question is are there any problems with me doing this?
Thanks.

Dont know if you can config 2 displays at the same time....anyone tried?

Jackie....small issue of new f/w?....any idea when and what it will contain?

K

VanguardMindwarp

02-19-08, 01:19 PM

I wouldn't be having both displays on at the same time - just want to use the CRT monitor for finding & playing MP3s - due to the fact this can't be done with the VERY LIMITED LIM display.

dp70

02-19-08, 01:38 PM

chuna

02-19-08, 07:12 PM

Jackie and Fan:any chance Tomacro is considering dumping the buggy curacao limHD firmware and replacing it with Syabas NMT-based firmware? Would the current architecture support it? Popcorn Hour and iStarHD look awfully attractive by comparison.

They cant do that since the NMT uses the SMP8634 chipset and it uses a whole different architecture which is a full Linux based kernel. The 862X chips use ucLinux.

gendvd

02-19-08, 09:00 PM

Dont know if you can config 2 displays at the same time....anyone tried?

Jackie....small issue of new f/w?....any idea when and what it will contain?

K

Sorry Kevin! There is no news of the time when the new firmware will be out from Tomacro engineers.

dp70

02-19-08, 09:42 PM

They cant do that since the NMT uses the SMP8634 chipset and it uses a whole different architecture which is a full Linux based kernel. The 862X chips use ucLinux.

Oh duh, yes... I knew that and forgot... :o not enough sleep lately.

john duff

02-21-08, 06:11 AM

Sorry Kevin! There is no news of the time when the new firmware will be out from Tomacro engineers.

No news is good news.:D

gendvd

02-21-08, 08:52 AM

Jackie and Fan:any chance Tomacro is considering dumping the buggy curacao limHD firmware and replacing it with Syabas NMT-based firmware? Would the current architecture support it? Popcorn Hour and iStarHD look awfully attractive by comparison.

At present we have not tested popcorn but we have ever used istar, we find istar firmware have much more problems than lim.

Mophun

02-21-08, 11:44 AM

I both own a Lim and a popcornhour.
I can assure you that the Lim's firmware is seriously more buggy than the poncorn one.

pc01

02-21-08, 10:06 PM

Mophun,
Tell me how do you compare lim to popcorn? Features, PQ, ability to play various files... (of course the price you don't have to mention... we know and are very nauseated about it.)

Perry

VanguardMindwarp

02-22-08, 07:10 AM

Well since I haven't received a response to my monitor question I thought I'd try and see how a USB flash drive performs. It doesn't. I plug the USB in and power up the LIM goto the USB in the menu and I can hear the LIM try to access the flash drive but seems like the LIM doesn't see it. PC sees (& plays) the files fine. Any ideas??
Thanks...

john duff

02-22-08, 07:14 AM

USB isn't sufficiently powered on the LIM to handle flash drives. You need a self-powered drive.

Mophun

02-22-08, 07:16 AM

Mophun,
Tell me how do you compare lim to popcorn? Features, PQ, ability to play various files... (of course the price you don't have to mention... we know and are very nauseated about it.)

Perry

Well....
Picture quality is about the same.
PCH plays roughly the same commonly found files(formats) as the Lim. This includes MKV's, DVD (in ISO), Divx etc.
They both can access sambaservers, nfsservers (PCH also connects to upnp mediaservers)

Important differences for me are:
PCH is much more stable. No lockups like the Lim. No reboots necessary.
PCH has a much better remote. You can point it about anywhere and it will work.
PCH has a sambaserver, nfsserver, ftpserver but no USB-client connection.
PCH has a torrentclient.
PCH has (limited) internet access.
PCH gets firmware update once a month.
PCH let's users use their own applications on it.

This list isn't nearly complete, but I would advise anyone who likes the Lim to take a good look at the PCH and acknowlegde the far superior machine.
There are more Lim owners who made the switch (like lundman).
Ask around.