I simply want to play back Mpeg2 video files I record with two HVR-1600 tuner cards.

My analog recordings are usually 720x480, 5-8mbps MPEG2 with Mpeg audio.

My digital recordings are usually 1280x720 or 1920x1080, 15-19mbps MPEG2 with AC3 audio.

My DSM-520 is fine with the analog, but has difficulties with the HD digital stuff. Stuttering, sync issues, etc.

I tried an EVA8000, it stuttered, aborted, and completely locked up with the HD stuff. I'm returning that one.

So, I'm looking at the Tvix boxes. For my needs, is there any real advantage to buying the 4100 model over the 4000 model? I don't need h.264, so it looks like I could save over $100 going with the 4000. And, it looks like I could use a DVI to HDMI cable to get HDMI out of the 4000.

Are there any other significant differences between the 4000 and 4100 models?

Is playback more stable from the internal drive than it would be over the network?

Thanks,

Anthony

For you-either will do the job equally.
Personally-I would get the 4000 as it is a MATURE/STABLE system which does everything you want and will cost you less.
However the 4100 does have H.264, which you MAY need sometime in the future and is IMMATURE/SEMI-STABLE and will cost you more for doing the same thing.

BTW-I have 2 5000's and 1 4100, so I know a little about these devices.

The bottom line is the 4100 is a new chipset and Dvico is still debugging the 4100/5100 units and they probably wont be stable for a few weeks or months with firmware upgrades.

I am thinking about getting a 4000 as well, since the mishaps with XBMC, and I want something that can play 720p w/o problem.

Can you hook up a 5400 rpm laptop hard drive to the 4000 ?

houman - I don't think hooking up a laptop drive to the 4000 would be easy.. the laptop drive (assuming its IDE and not SATA) would require a lower voltage than the connector provides and you would need an adaptor at the minimum to hook up the data cable. A better option would be the laptop drive in a usb enclosure...

qz3fwd,

Thanks for the info and recommendation. I appreciate it.

Do you know how well the 4000 works as a network player, compared to watching shows from an internal hard drive? I assume the hard drive would provide more stable playback, but if I can avoid the extra cost right now, I'd like to.

If I were to put a hard drive in it, can I copy files from my PC to the drive in the 4000? I thought I read somewhere it was only possible using FTP? I wonder if there's a utility somewhere that I could call from a batch file to automate the process of copying files over?

Thanks,

Anthony

note there are other differences as well. i think the 4100 takes sata while the 4000 does not support sata hard drives.

SATA versus ATA does not seem to be important at present, though it is often easier to find a SATA drive. But this is certainly one of the differences.

If you look at the comparative table on the tvix site, other differences are shown. But when I downloaded the manuals, I could not see those differences mentioned in the manual, whereas a featur common to both is mentioned in the 4100 manual but not in the 4000 one.

Comparison here:

http://www.tvixbox.com/comparison.php

get the 4000. it is cheaper and will get the job done.

the 4100 is still buggy and the price tag is a bit higher.

I've looked at the comparison charts, and the 4000 does sound like it would work for my needs. I was just curious if the 4100 was more stable at playing MPEG2 files than the 4000. Every media player out there claims to do it, but the ones I've tried (DSM-520 and EVA8000) both have issues.

As for the hard drive, ATA is fine with me. They are readily available, so I don't really care what kind of interface they have as long as they work.

Considering I can get a 4000 with a hard drive, cheaper than a 4100 without, I'm leaning heavily towards the 4000. I'm just waiting for my EVA8000 return to be credited so I have the money. :)

Can anyone confirm whether a DVI to HDMI cable works with the 4000?

Thanks,

Anthony

awatson,

You can directly connect the 4000 to a PC using USB, and it acts just like a USB drive enclosure. This is how you format the drive, if you buy the drive and tvix separately like I did.

Like you, I weighed my options on the 4100 vs. 4000, about a month ago and bought the 4000. The impression I got from the forums was that the mpeg4/h.264 abilities of the 4100 weren't sufficient to support mpeg4 playback with all the different containers, and that there will be yet another tvix box coming out with a more high-powered chip. So, rather than trying to future-proof, I bought the box that would do what I needed, saved some money, and got a more stable product.

In my case, I wanted something that I could take on trips, and keep the kids from ruining their DVDs. Having now used it in the car for a week-long trip, I can say that for me, it passes the test very well.

-Gabe

apparently, there is a PA (parallel) and an SA (SATA) version of the M4000. however, I can't see who sells the SATA version.

buy the 4000, or an XBMC and wait for the h264 to settle, give it a year so...

Hey all,

Just wanted to follow up on this. I too am looking at the 4000 or 4100. Can the 4000 be connected via cat cable to a video server to stream material. Any issues with this?

Or...you could just hold out for the 6500 which is rumored to come out by the end of 2007.

hmm. well some are telling me not to go for the 4100 becasue its to new and fw sucks on it. I could only imagine what the 6500 would be like.

Hope I am in the right place to ask these questions,

If the 4100/5100 Just came out a few months ago, yet the 6500 is about to come out, does that mean that there will be another change in 6months?

I don't mean to be facetious, but after a month of reading every review and note I could find, I finally 'thought' I had it down to a DivCo or Zensonic unit (still on the fence about integrated DVD) (sorry for any company names I got mixed up, but after all the reading it seems all the names have changed every few months as well. :D).

Then I find a 'Popcorn Hour" and DivCo 6500, both which say you can connect a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD player, and have the 'newest' Sigma chips.

So why would I ever get a 4100 DivCo, if it has only had a product life of 6months, before being obsoleted for he 6500?

If the 'Popcorn' is based on theh same board/chipset and bottom end Syabas software (or I suppose other way around, who knows :confused:), why would I pay $500 for DivCo and not $200 for the Popcorn?

Then I see that Cisco has the same unit as popcorn.

So, I ask myself, how many days until Zensonic has a 'new' unit, and why is Helios having an incredible sale, almost giving away some DVD players and chopping the media players, cause its 8620???

Sorry, I just read what I wrote and it sounds like a rant. Perhaps I need to take a few days off and let my mind get wraped around all of this. I really opened a can of whoop ass on myself. :P

All I wanted was something that could play my DVD's ripped, or not, perhaps some Hi-def video files, or dvds, ripped or not. All prefreably over wireless (which I can't understand why buffering doesn't solve the bandwidth issues)

Yep, definitely, I am crazy confused at the moment. Although still leaning towards the DivCo.

Thanks for any feedback, or for just letting me spit some of this out.

It all depends on your style. If you are looking for solid playback with iso i would go with the 4000. I would not look at it as new or old technology. The 4100 is pushing the limits on mkv formats, this a big focus for them now. However in doing that there have been reports of other things not working as well.

The 4100 will become stable at some point, Dvico track record suggests that. As for popcorn, its new, so there will be problems and most cant get any now anyway. I am sure at some point you will be able to get them, though people cannot say for sure how well FW will be delivered. The Cisco media player is like $1500 and is for signage displays anyway.

If you want to sitdown and fire up a ISO and have it work 99% of the time the 4000 is it. If you want new bleeding edge go with the 4100. Though at this point if you were leaning to the 4100, i would wait a month. I think in mid dec you will see more popcorn out there, get some specs on the 6500 and the 4100 will hopefully have some more bugs worked out.

oh one more thing, wireless is hit and miss right now with video. Go ahead and try but dont expect the world. Again this plays into what your expectations are. For me i knew wired would give me the least problems, however i was able to run a wire you might not.

Chris,

Sorry I never did thank you for your response, so, thank you. :D

I finally clamed down, and did some more reasearch.

I decided to 'get in line' for the Popcornhour almost 2weeks ago, and understand it will likely be mid-Jan before I see it.

I also pre-ordered a TviX 6500, which as well, seems like it may be mid-Jan before it ships. :D

I decided to wait rather than get jumpy and have something a little more future proof. I got the PH for bedroom, adn teh TvIX for main theatre/TV watching.

So we shall see how it all works out in a couple months. Meanwhile, I will begin ripping and collecting the TV SHows and Movies I plan to watch :D

All seem so far awaaaay. Well, give me time to fill up the ReadyNAS I guess. :D

Thanks again.

max

No problem. I look forward as do most here on hearing how they compare. Please post what you find here to help others decide whats right for them.

There will always be something new coming out, with more features and better support. You can keep waiting for the "perfect" device, or find the lowest price device that exists now, and supplies the features you need most.

I purchased the TViX M-4000. I didn't need the additional features of the 4100, and the 4000 was a lot less expensive. My primary need is to playback MPG videos that I record on my PC using HVR-1600 tuner cards. The M-4000 works perfectly for that, and the 4100 wouldn't have had any additional value for me.

The one thing that does worry me about the M-4000, is since Dvico is now focusing on the 4100 and then the 6500, that they won't update the firmware for the 4000 anymore. For standard definition material, the 4000 is absolutely flawless. But while it plays high definition material beautifully, it has some issues with fastforward/rewind and the skip functions. I'm hoping Dvico releases a new firmware update that will fix those remaining glitches, but we'll have to wait and see if they spend anymore time on the 4000, or are constantly working on something new.

Anthony