Popcorn Hour, a vendor that will be selling worldwide over the Internet, has
announced their Network Media Tank (Syabas middleware) will launch on the
15th of October. The NMt is the next generation media player that should be
capable of offering both true HD power (H.264, VC-1 and all other formats) in
combination with more advanced features and versatility in networking.

Main advantage of the EM8634 is not only it's extra power but also the first
chip not running on a stripped Linux distribution and has an MMY which
should deliver more stable units in general. There's also added value in the
integration of SMB Server (both servers can be accessed as the NMT is a
server on it's own) and the fact, once BD rives are more affordable, it is said
it can be changed into a BD player by swapping the DVD-Rom with a BD-Rom.

We already know the new players will have bugs and limitations. The Popcorn
Hour player won't be different but for the early adaptors, it seems to become
the best choice available to be future proof... This model and the ones
coming further down this year from DViCo and Ziova, are promising quite
some new fun for the home entertainment enthousiast.

At least the name is original, let's hope also the product is.
Yammy Yammy... Pricing? not sure, but similar to other players... (I hope)
Around €450 to €500 should do... and if not.... it would be a problem to kick
of well... :-)

http://www.popcornhour.com

(PS: Title should read NMT and not MNT)

Enjoy

Nice find! I'm looking forward to the day when I can buy a box that will play 1080p without a hitch :D

Some questions:

(1) Which EM8634 revision will that be? Is it rev C with full DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio support?

(2) Will E-AC3 (DD+) and TrueHD be supported?

(3) What about Gigabit net for reliable HD playback over network?

Thanks!

Sigma EM8634 does not support giganet as far as i know. Even if it would, the
processor's I/O performance would not be sufficient to go above performance
of 10/100.

I don't know which revision the Popcorn hour is based on.
We are checking availability for the EU markets with them.

So far no feedback is received. True facts can only be checked after the device is available. We not go for specs or "been told" specifications but they do say that HDMI will support lossless compressed formats, including DTS-HD and MLP (Dolby TrueHD).

Sigma EM8634 does not support giganet as far as i know. Even if it would, the processor's I/O performance would not be sufficient to go above performance of 10/100.
Well, Blu-Ray peak bitrates can reach 48Mbps. If the 100mbit implementation is really good, it might handle Blu-Ray bitrates. But it could be borderline.

Well, Blu-Ray peak bitrates can reach 48Mbps. If the 100mbit implementation is really good, it might handle Blu-Ray bitrates. But it could be borderline.

They posted some benchmarks on the Chinese forums. Looks like it was able to hit 55 Mbps over ethernet on some older versions of the firmware. Supposedly the speeds dropped again on newer firmware so who knows what the final results will be.

I think people under-estimate how much CPU power is needed to feed a 100mbit network. I've got some old P3 800Mhz file servers and I often see them peak over 50% cpu usage while files are being transferred. Not surprising that none of these media players can handle high network speeds with only 200-300 Mhz to work with and much simpler CPU cores.

WHOEHAAAA Retails at USD $179...
http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=359&mode=&order=0&thold=0

They posted some benchmarks on the Chinese forums. Looks like it was able to hit 55 Mbps over ethernet on some older versions of the firmware. Supposedly the speeds dropped again on newer firmware so who knows what the final results will be.

I think people under-estimate how much CPU power is needed to feed a 100mbit network. I've got some old P3 800Mhz file servers and I often see them peak over 50% cpu usage while files are being transferred. Not surprising that none of these media players can handle high network speeds with only 200-300 Mhz to work with and much simpler CPU cores.
Well, I'm looking for a media player which can play highest bitrate Blu-Ray movies from network perfectly fluid. If the CPU cores in those players can't handle that, these players are no use for me. It's as simple as that. Copying a 30GB movie over LAN to the media player's harddisk isn't an option cause it simply takes too much time.

That said, the price looks great and if the player does everything else except playing highest bitrate movies then it will still be very interesting for many many people. Just not for me.

You usually don't have to copy them over LAN as the players support USB connection to fill the internal HDD. Dunno if it will be the same for this model (no specs yet and players come with and without HDD support). off course, if you rule out any manual actions and time consuming effects of such a device, you end up finding the speed you need only with the PC's and shall go for HTPC...

Then there's only manual install, updates, security (virus, firewall config),
DRM stuff, plugins install and maintenance etc...

You usually don't have to copy them over LAN as the players support USB connection to fill the internal HDD. Dunno if it will be the same for this model (no specs yet and players come with and without HDD support). off course, if you rule out any manual actions and time consuming effects of such a device, you end up finding the speed you need only with the PC's and shall go for HTPC...

Then there's only manual install, updates, security (virus, firewall config),
DRM stuff, plugins install and maintenance etc...
Well, I already have my HTPC running and would like to replace it with an external media box. But I'll only buy if it does what I need. Having to copy files to the media box before being able to play them fluidly is definitely out of the question for me... :(

Sounds very promising!
I was ready to get a TVIX but i will now wait and see,

I think people under-estimate how much CPU power is needed to feed a 100mbit network. I've got some old P3 800Mhz file servers and I often see them peak over 50% cpu usage while files are being transferred.

Even my Core 2 Duo Win XP system hits those kind of CPU utilization figures when copying at 350+ Mbits/sec on gigabit Ethernet. On the other hand, my cheap ($80 for CPU and motherboard) Athlon XP 2600+ Linux server barely hits 5% load when on the receiving end of one of those 350Mbit/sec streams.

I’ve been following the NMT on Hi-Jacks site and I hope to see what it has. It’s been so long coming….and they have that carrot hanging out in front of me and I can’t reach it…yet! Wish they would give us more info on the goodies inside. Gonna be a long week ahead!

Also…about time we get some attention for these things in the US! :D

Hi-Jack…..get some rest……we are waiting for the review! :eek:

Well, the PopCorn Hour won't be a usual DVD player but a stand alone device (dunno if it will hold a HD already. Here's anothr one that looks normal and more suiteable for people with need of DVD playback...

http://www.hihd.cn/x6.html

Demija is the creator of this model. They ware previously used by Helios (X-5000) (unconfirmed)
We are currently tracking down loads of info from brands on plans and release dates, cost etc...
So far, no one is as close as Popcorn hour to release...

http://www.popcornhour.com/

5 days left!

Site is update! Buy it now! Only PayPal :(

http://www.popcornhour.com/miniweb2/


Not much technical infos :(

I've been thinking about buying a new media player as my regular xbox just can't handle most of the new files out there.

Was looking to get a tvix, but if this popcorn turns out to be good i'll get that in a heart beat.

Just checked the site, it's got bittorent not bad just add some rss feeds from my fav trackers and i'll never have to turn on my pc to d/l my files.

We already know the new players will have bugs and limitations. The Popcorn Hour player won't be different but for the early adaptors, it seems to become the best choice available to be future proof...

Sorry if I'm a skeptic, but the that last statement is one that every media box has promised, and failed to deliver on. Maybe some expectations are too much (my needs are far simpler), but my biggest peeve of late is manufacturers knowingly shipping incomplete hardware, and using the end user as beta testers. By that I mean shipping hardware that is knowingly not functional (i.e. spec sheet says one thing, reality is different).

Tvix was guilty of it. Pixel Magic was guilty of it. Tomoacro was guilty of it. I hope Popcorn Hour doesn't repeat history.

It's one thing to patch hardware for new features - but to patch hardware (very late no less) to get it to function as it was originally advertised, there's no excuse.

I don't mind being a beta tester - but I (or any buyer) should be compensated for it with discounted hardware or other perk.

Popcornhour.com is registered to Gek Lui Koh in Fremont California. Has anyone ever heard of this person? Is he just a distributor for Sayabas?

Did a little more research. Syabas.com is registered to TL Lim at the same Fremont location as Gek Lui Koh. So it seems they're the same company. Seems like Syabas should just sell directly rather than setting up this alternate identity.

It's one thing to patch hardware for new features - but to patch hardware (very late no less) to get it to function as it was originally advertised, there's no excuse.

I don't mind being a beta tester - but I (or any buyer) should be compensated for it with discounted hardware or other perk.

I agree 100%!

Did a little more research. Syabas.com is registered to TL Lim at the same Fremont location as Gek Lui Koh. So it seems they're the same company. Seems like Syabas should just sell directly rather than setting up this alternate identity.

Yep its Syabas. If you try buying it, it says Syabas Technology Inc. at Paypal.

Good find...
That also means it's in Syabas own interest to get the thing do what we want without others in between... Will have it's advantages...

Jet-X, I totally agree with you but if they not release it, they hardly know
what people want. I agree for a basic set of features the players should work
but I have seen many players become a lot better than ever intended which
is than the positive side of using us as beta testers and offering this
feedback... Can you imagine this happenning by mail via support?

hence, with Syabas we have been testing for months so many stuff is already filtered out and the product will be more mature than we are used to from the past, but can it even be released being mature enough if everyone wants more and different things...

As long as products are not being released as poor as som recently have
been released, i'm ok with it and push the enveloppe with manufacturars to
make progress... Usually works pretty well...

2 sides on every medal :-)

Site is update! Buy it now! Only PayPal :(

http://www.popcornhour.com/miniweb2/
That URL doesn't seem to work anymore.

That URL doesn't seem to work anymore.
Right...

anyone got some caching or screenshot available of the unit?

Right...

anyone got some caching or screenshot available of the unit?

This is from my browser's cache:

Thanks, Johnny. Torrent support is pretty interesting. The unit itself doesn't look like much, does it?

If you clicked on the Community button, it took you to this forum:
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/

Torrent Support is intriguing, but even more so is "web services". So much so that I will take a wild guess here and say that they don't know what they mean. Stating web services support doesn't really make much sense in this context -- perhaps they actually mean streaming video from youtube or similar (which has nothing to do with web services as a technology, but is a service... on the web ;-)

In either case, it will be very interesting to see what this little thing is capable of for such a nice price.

This is from my browser's cache:
Thanks Johnny.

I found the whole front page in my cache:

In either case, it will be very interesting to see what this little thing is capable of for such a nice price.
Indeed! We shouldn't probably get our hopes up, seeing as the price is so much lower than current competition, but it sure would be nice to have a fully functioning, full features media player at that price. Could be quite a big seller, too.

Now that we know that Sayabas and Popcorn Hour are related companies, I think this page from Sayabas probably describes the Popcorn Hour device:

http://www.syabas.com/solution_nmt.html

I'm sorry to see it lacks support for SATA drives and for gigabit Ethernet.

Now that we know that Sayabas and Popcorn Hour are related companies, I think this page from Sayabas probably describes the Popcorn Hour device:

http://www.syabas.com/solution_nmt.html

I'm sorry to see it lacks support for SATA drives and for gigabit Ethernet.


The specs look pseudo promising for the price but unless it has full and I mean FULL .mkv 1080p support either out of the box or with vigilant FW updates it's not an option for me. /me crosses fingers.

What worries me here is that we have not seen any REAL photographs of the unit ,just cheesy cartoon/pre production type ones.. and the name "Popcornhour" is not really a professional one , but will not matter if the unit really does deliver all that it promises.

As already stated , if true, this unit promises a great deal for the price - Companies like Mediagate USA will have a great job compeating against it with their MG-350HD,that will now be a outdated unit..The only other way to compete would be to slash the price.

Just have to wait and see what the unit really delivers in REAL WORLD testing...

Regards to all

Teddy

The specs look pseudo promising for the price but unless it has full and I mean FULL .mkv 1080p support either out of the box or with vigilant FW updates it's not an option for me. /me crosses fingers.

Indeed! We shouldn't probably get our hopes up, seeing as the price is so much lower than current competition,

Well, they are selling direct, eliminating dealer markups.

SATA doesn't bother me too much since i picked up a 500gb DB35 for use in a TVIX 4000 that I may not buy anymore.

The specs look pseudo promising for the price but unless it has full and I mean FULL .mkv 1080p support either out of the box or with vigilant FW updates it's not an option for me. /me crosses fingers.

People who have access to early devices confirm that they have some problems with 5.1 profile in MKV files. Current 8623-based devices have issues during high-bitrate MKV playback represented as a small macro-blocking. The new devices have the same low-level code that produces the same problem.
Sigma Designs specification mentions 4.1 profile only.
So, don't expect the new device play all your MKVs, however, most of them will do.

People who have access to early devices confirm that they have some problems with 5.1 profile in MKV files. Current 8623-based devices have issues during high-bitrate MKV playback represented as a small macro-blocking. The new devices have the same low-level code that produces the same problem.
Sigma Designs specification mentions 4.1 profile only.
So, don't expect the new device play all your MKVs, however, most of them will do.


So you're saying the 8634 chip has the same problems with the .mkv container as the 8623? That doesn't seem to make much sense. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I'll just stick with my BluRay/HD-DVD XviD-HD rips for now and just keep my eye on this and other 8634 players. I'm holding off until next year when the prices com down and availability is little more abundant. I have about 100gb worth and growing of 1080p x264/mkv rips and I would like to get some use out of them eventually. If worse comes to worse and these players don't live up to their hype, which most don't, I will once again leave the world of compression and just buy a dual format BD/HD-DVD player and then an HD burner. I did the same thing with SD compression years ago. Time will tell and while I don't like having to wait I will have to practice some patience before I buy any new player. Christ, I'm still using 1080i :o That will change next year also.

Jet-X, I totally agree with you but if they not release it, they hardly know
what people want. I agree for a basic set of features the players should work
but I have seen many players become a lot better than ever intended which
is than the positive side of using us as beta testers and offering this
feedback...

I have no issue with products becoming better than ever intended - hell, I'd even pay for additional features after the fact like iTunes songs (might be an incentive for manufacturers).

But whatever the box is advertised to do, it should do from the day it's released. And competently, not barely.

Maybe it's just me but all I want is full 720p mkv format and to support internal subs. I hate having to extract the subs and convert them to .srt.
with all the popular codec support, h/x.264 xvid/divx and wmv

Everything after that will just be an added plus.(Like the being able to d/l torrent files.)

If the tvix 4100 or lim hd can do that i'll get that, if the popcorn can do that i'll get that.

Maybe it's just me but all I want is full 720p mkv format and to support internal subs. I hate having to extract the subs and convert them to .srt.
with all the popular codec support, h/x.264 xvid/divx and wmv

Everything after that will just be an added plus.(Like the being able to d/l torrent files.)

If the tvix 4100 or lim hd can do that i'll get that, if the popcorn can do that i'll get that.

I would NEVER use a devise like this to DL torrents unless you are able to load an IP block list. You would be asking for trouble. But that's just me.

Can't wait to see how this does...4 days and counting! :)

I have no issue with products becoming better than ever intended - hell, I'd even pay for additional features after the fact like iTunes songs (might be an incentive for manufacturers).

But whatever the box is advertised to do, it should do from the day it's released. And competently, not barely.

Wrong world :-) Need to migrate to Mars...
Your point is correct, but that would cost months delays in product releases,
no funs to develop, more expensive products or no products at all. I think we
should recognise the brands doing all efforts possible for the trust people put
in them and react on those who just take the money and relax...

Witht the demands and features requested by many it's impossible keeping things stable without proper MMU. Hope that's where the new chip changes things to become more stable and versatile...

Anyone know if the interface is any good. I still want a player that can list movie coverart not just file lists.

Me too....:)

Anyone know if the interface is any good. I still want a player that can list movie coverart not just file lists.

I think the ideal situation would be a computer-based indexing system that syncs up with the player and/or server. Right now I store all of my movies on a file server and then stream to my modded Xbox and Tvix 4100. The Xbox is great, provided you give it the correct covers using the auto-lookup system or drop the picture in the directory of the video file. The Tvix just gives you a text list unless you use some aftermarket software. I want automatic indexing! I want to be able to add a movie, add the cover info by auto-lookup, and then have it go to all my players. Sigh, I can dream...haha

Anyone know if the interface is any good. I still want a player that can list movie coverart not just file lists.

The Interface is good and the coverart function is on the todo because i told them that i want it ;-)
Early Tester from Syabas Software and an little Helper in developement ;-)
Syabas is the first company which makes things what user wants and thats the big different they work really hard.
I get yesterday an firmware where you can already play ifo and iso files (DVD´s) and for the first point it works nice cool is when you haven an ripped dvd with ifo and vobs it will start the dvd when you klick on the folder so you dont have to browse for the ifo ;-)
Every week or 2 weeks new features are comming into the software and it makes big steps forward at the beginning i wasnt thinking that they make that that good ;-) but right now i love them because the hear us the community and thats great.
I can tell you that also like on the Ziova player when you know how Shoutcast is included there is now also on the High priority list, but you can also surf to the shoutcast hompage and play from there ;-).
And many more right now ziova and syabas are the best i know.
Tvix is good but not that good hehehe Hi-Jack ;-)

cHarOn

Charon, we are testing it too remember :-)
DViCo is not as good as EM8634 Syabas but beats Syabas on EM862x range.
To compare, you must wait for the EM8635 (M-6500A) from DViCo and if DVICo will lift features in the same way they done against the EM8620, they will become better again... Too early to say...

Syabas is doing a great job with this firmware for sure but there's still a lot of
work to be done... I'm sure it zill be at the top of the market where it earns
to be...

For those who test 8643-based players.
Can you confirm that this processor doesn't support 5.1 profile and this file (http://rapidshare.com/files/59886070/EP01_split-005.mkv) has macroblockings as well as with current players.

I found the whole front page in my cache:

LOL....I noticed Hi-Jack has now stolen my screenshot and is claiming it as his own. At least Hi-Jack steals from the best (AVS Forum) ha ha :D Next time Hi-Jack give credit to AVS Forum (I can tell it is my screenshot because it is missing an image that I couldn't find in my cache).

you mean about the popcornhour device?? i have also an link from teh device and it looks not as the image on mpc-club so funny which one is the right then.

@Hi-Jack:you are right about 862x range but syabas is working really hard and brings features in we are asking and you are asking ;-) so for me syabas as the best because we can see many step forwards, dvico developing is also nice but heee they still dont have shoutcast and that sucks, so for me ziova is the next company to syabas and then dvico comes ;-) but thats only my feeling i know you like dvico but with the 4100 and 5100 in my eyes it was stupid what they did such an beta device i never had before :-) but ok thats different for me and you thats ok so.

cHarOn

Hi-Jack, if that is really Johnny's image, you should give him credit for it on mpcclub.com. It's only fair.

The Interface is good and the coverart function is on the todo because i told them that i want it ;-)
I get yesterday an firmware where you can already play ifo and iso files (DVD´s) and for the first point it works nice cool is when you haven an ripped dvd with ifo and vobs it will start the dvd when you klick on the folder so you dont have to browse for the ifo ;-)cHarOn
So this NMT can stream iso dvd's out of the box! sign me up.:)

???for what for an image lol i think thats stupid to earn money for an picture which is maybe not the right one ;-)

@walkoflea: yes it will come or better it is already in the last beta ;-) also video.ts folders direct dvd navigation works already but a little bit different then i know it from other devices on other devices you have to go into the folder and then start the ifo file on syabas you klick on the folder and it will starts the ifo file automatic same as when you put in an dvd. On the iso side you have to navigate into the folder and start the iso and then it is handled as an dvd ;-)

cHarOn

i have an internal hdd in my syabas device but my main playing is over an nas and 95% of my files are isos and video_ts from my original dvd collection so it was an must have and i think many others want that feature also ;-)

cHarOn

but some lucky surfers bumped into the beta PopCorn Hour

How is that claiming it as his own?

If he screenshots your image can he have it then lol.

@Johnny: can you please tell me how old your photo is because i have an link from popcornhour to the device and this looks different to yours really different, and please dont ask me about an link i work often with syabas and i wont bring out the suprise for them because 2 days you all can still wait and then i hope it will be your design ;-)

cHarOn

The early grab is on Engadget:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/12/popcorn-hours-networked-media-tank-seen-early/

Hi-Jack, you're famous! :D

The Interface is good and the coverart function is on the todo because i told them that i want it ;-)
Early Tester from Syabas Software and an little Helper in developement ;-)


cHarOn

Hello cHarOn....since you are one of the luck ones can you confirm or deny weather or not if this player can run AVCs? Hi-Jack or BuGGeR please comment also on playback of AVCs.

Thanks all!

do you have an testfile max 100mb then i will try it

do you have an testfile max 100mb then i will try it

I've got an MKV file (http://rapidshare.com/files/59886070/EP01_split-005.mkv), if anybody interested.
Should show small macroblocks on 8634-based devices.

will try it but i can told you that syabas is still optimizing the device so not really interessting if it has right now macroblocks but i will try it and report back.

cHarOn

I wish that at least at a minimum it would do like Windows does and use folder.jpg if it exists in the folder. The lookup stuff could come later. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard. I would just like something to replace my xboxes.

I've got an MKV file (http://rapidshare.com/files/59886070/EP01_split-005.mkv), if anybody interested.
Should show small macroblocks on 8634-based devices.

tried over my nas (Qnap TS201) no macroblocks no sound issue plays smooth.
what bitrate has it?!

cHarOn

I don't know the bitrate but the problem is that it contains 16 frames allowed by 5.1 video profile. This means that sigma microcode is fixed. Good, thanks.

I think you should probably try with more than one sample before making that conclusion. Right?

Bitrate is 4709 Kbps and file is a 720P file with 5.1 AC3 audio and 2 ASS subtitle files

tried over my nas (Qnap TS201) no macroblocks no sound issue plays smooth.
what bitrate has it?!

cHarOn

The NMT played this file without much problems is what ur saying? If it is, looks like I'll be buying one of these as they drop!

Well looks like I just found what media player i'm going to buy.

@russland do you have more samples i could try? that i can confirm that it is ok?!

Scoop on NMT internal board:
http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=369&mode=&order=0&thold=0

Thought might interest some people :-)

For th L5.1 using 16 frames, EM8634 has some issues like the EM8622...
Might be fixed in the mean time if it works ok. last test we done with that file
2 weeks ago, shoed issues... Would not mke up my mind just yet, let's first
await proper and deep testing...

Enjoy
Hi-Jack

@russland do you have more samples i could try? that i can confirm that it is ok?!

Not really :(
This is the only file or kind of files that has problems with current 8623-based devices. Of course, the new 8634 players will support higher bitrate but I don't have such big files.

Another question of interest for me is whether these new players can deliver high-bitrate playback over network. If they can play HDDVD or BlueRay smoothly. I think this question is quite early because these devices are very young and a FW upgrade can change things dramatically.


To Hi-Jack, I thought that Charon99 didn't find this L5.1/16Fr problem? Maybe there is already a fix in microcode incorporated by the device he has.

@rusland as i i talked often you cant compare the 8623 with an 8634 device because the lim has no features and the syabas device has many features and still there is no problem with HD Stuff! and i can tell you there wont be problems because still the firmware isnt optimized!!!! also you can see now the costs 400 USD is this correct?! and the popcornhour costs 179 USD lol what an shame for the Lim hahahaha.

cHarOn

i can tell you there wont be problems because still the firmware isnt optimized!!!!

cHarOn

Umm , sounds like exactly the same phrase that Al Tech (the MG-350HD Maker) was saying 12 months ago - I hope things (ie bugs) will be dealt with more swiftly with this unit - time will tell I guess.I for one, wil, be holding off on a initial buy until we see what issues are present and if the maker has the dedication to fix them after listening to its customers.That type of stuff will make these people really stand out from all the other media players out there , its as much about the attitude of the manufacture,as it is the hardware itself - you can have the best hardware ever seen , but if the support is not as good or better, than prospective buyers will soon become dissilutioned and move on to other products.Popcorn and the manufacture have a great chance here..
Does anyone here have a direct line to Popcorn ie are they reading these forums do we know?

@oldpainless: no i´m not the person i think you mean conker2007?!?!
i dont like the tvix because they made the way with the 8623 chip also to make good money and now they are short befor to release an 8635 based device, but the lim is an device omg but forget it i dont want that fighting threads!! I´m an user as you (if you are really an user) but i have the way to test around with different devices and i can tell you that the syabas device is nice and full of features and still in developement, every 1-2 weeks new firmwares with real steps forward not like lim dev made it right now, and then with the popcornhour device it costs the half of an lim or tvix device.

@teddystacker: I can only tell what i have at home to test and the software isnt perfect it is still in developement, but i can tell you that there are many step forwards ;-). When the popcorn device comes out this monday it is the best to wait a little bit, i can tell you that i dont want to buy an device when it is released normaly i wait 3 up to 6 months to see what happens.
The good point about syabas is the fact that it makes the software and they make money with the software because many oems are buying it so they have in my eyes more needs to make the software good. Thats also an reason the software is made for community wants, they talk with many ;-) and they include many ;-). and now they also come out with an device to make the market a little bit clearer. Normaly you can produce such an device for around 80-90 Dollar!!!! syabas comes now with the popcornhour for 179$ thats an correct price in my eyes.

All the devices i tried out have some good and some bad points and after testing that devices i have only 3 companies right now (about Hardware and Developing Skills) what i would buy. Thats Tvix, Ziova and Syabas (if they go on as they do right now).

Does anyone here have a direct line to Popcorn ie are they reading these forums do we know?

Popcorn = Syabas

@cHarOn99

Many thanks for ther info,the software approach that you say Syabas is taking is indeed good , and oh so different from other manufactures of this types of unit.
For a long while now I have been trying to work with Al Tech on their units,and trying to make them better.but have almost given up due to lack of interest on their part.
I have built up two Yahoo support Groups with over 3600 total members, and would love to reccomend a new device to them,and it would be so nice to have involvement of a devoted manufacture for a change,rather than having to "go it alone".
Do you have a email address of anyone at Syabas that may be interested?, as I am sure it would benefit them,as well as my members.Please feel free to pm it to me if you have any info..

Regards

Teddy



@oldpainless: no i´m not the person i think you mean conker2007?!?!
i dont like the tvix because they made the way with the 8623 chip also to make good money and now they are short befor to release an 8635 based device, but the lim is an device omg but forget it i dont want that fighting threads!! I´m an user as you (if you are really an user) but i have the way to test around with different devices and i can tell you that the syabas device is nice and full of features and still in developement, every 1-2 weeks new firmwares with real steps forward not like lim dev made it right now, and then with the popcornhour device it costs the half of an lim or tvix device.

@teddystacker: I can only tell what i have at home to test and the software isnt perfect it is still in developement, but i can tell you that there are many step forwards ;-). When the popcorn device comes out this monday it is the best to wait a little bit, i can tell you that i dont want to buy an device when it is released normaly i wait 3 up to 6 months to see what happens.
The good point about syabas is the fact that it makes the software and they make money with the software because many oems are buying it so they have in my eyes more needs to make the software good. Thats also an reason the software is made for community wants, they talk with many ;-) and they include many ;-). and now they also come out with an device to make the market a little bit clearer. Normaly you can produce such an device for around 80-90 Dollar!!!! syabas comes now with the popcornhour for 179$ thats an correct price in my eyes.

All the devices i tried out have some good and some bad points and after testing that devices i have only 3 companies right now (about Hardware and Developing Skills) what i would buy. Thats Tvix, Ziova and Syabas (if they go on as they do right now).



Popcorn = Syabas

Just one moment....I'm sure folks can search the forums before it gets deleted....but are you not the one that had "100" mkv's to test with the Lim against the Tvix? and all played perfect? (christ....I'm starting to sound like Hi-Jack...not!)...my point is....what u up too? Trust is always a fine balance is it not?....

K
What are you babbling about?:confused:

This looks like a really cool player and at a great price! I will wait for the time being to see if it is as good as it promises. :)

http://i23.tinypic.com/290pphl.jpg

Above is a screenshot from the site. I WISH it was the old design :( But if it does what its supposed to, i'll still be happy :)

@teddystaker: you can go to there site already http://www.networkedmediatank.com/ there you can contact them over mail or over the forum they started ;-)

mfg cHarOn

At the popcornhour.com page it states-

"Due to casing manufacturing delays, we will not have available stock until 30th Oct 2007."

This is probably why we are seeing the change in design and although I liked the old one better, if the product does what it says it will do, I can care less about what it looks like.

@oldpainless: no i´m not the person i think you mean conker2007?!?!
i dont like the tvix because they made the way with the 8623 chip also to make good money and now they are short befor to release an 8635 based device, but the lim is an device omg but forget it i dont want that fighting threads!! I´m an user as you (if you are really an user) but i have the way to test around with different devices and i can tell you that the syabas device is nice and full of features and still in developement, every 1-2 weeks new firmwares with real steps forward not like lim dev made it right now, and then with the popcornhour device it costs the half of an lim or tvix device.

@teddystacker: I can only tell what i have at home to test and the software isnt perfect it is still in developement, but i can tell you that there are many step forwards ;-). When the popcorn device comes out this monday it is the best to wait a little bit, i can tell you that i dont want to buy an device when it is released normaly i wait 3 up to 6 months to see what happens.
The good point about syabas is the fact that it makes the software and they make money with the software because many oems are buying it so they have in my eyes more needs to make the software good. Thats also an reason the software is made for community wants, they talk with many ;-) and they include many ;-). and now they also come out with an device to make the market a little bit clearer. Normaly you can produce such an device for around 80-90 Dollar!!!! syabas comes now with the popcornhour for 179$ thats an correct price in my eyes.

All the devices i tried out have some good and some bad points and after testing that devices i have only 3 companies right now (about Hardware and Developing Skills) what i would buy. Thats Tvix, Ziova and Syabas (if they go on as they do right now).



Popcorn = Syabas

cHarOn99 - I am so sorry my friend...I apologise 100% for mixing you up with Conker....:o me bad....

I have to say, I've been keeping an eye on this one too...looks interesting...windows media connect, now that's a smart move...

K

hehe np oldpainless ;-) yes an look cant be wrong ;-) specially for that price i hope that the other mediaplayers change also there pricing policy!

cHarOn

hehe np oldpainless ;-) yes an look cant be wrong ;-) specially for that price i hope that the other mediaplayers change also there pricing policy!

cHarOn


I do hope their business model works out for them...seems very cheap for the specs.....

K

yep you are right but i think it will work because they dont need an thierd company to sell it.

yep you are right but i think it will work because they dont need an thierd company to sell it.

But that was kinda my point - if they have no distribution channels other than their shop window (website), at that price, will they be able to drive enough volume for it to financialy work?

Hope so, anyways...looks interesting.....like I said, I'm a big fan of windows media connect - makes multiple mounts a non issue

K

yep also some companys are talking already with syabas to resell the device in there country cant tell you more on that but when you buy it in the eu it will costs more then 179$ ok you have the advantage that you have an direct contact in your country or in eu ;-) but then i think the price will go up to 250-350$ but still cheap for this hardware ;-).

This Model works because some other companies makes it the same way and they work good an good one is teufel.de the make highend cinema soround systems and the go with an price really cheap but the best you can get right now ;-) they also have no distributer. So I think it is an good way to make it this way ;-)

cHarOn

yep also some companys are talking already with syabas to resell the device in there country cant tell you more on that but when you buy it in the eu it will costs more then 179$ ok you have the advantage that you have an direct contact in your country or in eu ;-) but then i think the price will go up to 250-350$ but still cheap for this hardware ;-).

This Model works because some other companies makes it the same way and they work good an good one is teufel.de the make highend cinema soround systems and the go with an price really cheap but the best you can get right now ;-) they also have no distributer. So I think it is an good way to make it this way ;-)

cHarOn

Ok...so they are going for resellers, but by country....well from a business model, that makes more sense that going it alone...

K

we will see what happens but i think there main selling will be over there webpage because it is the easiest way to sell it ;-)

cHarOn

The PopCorn Hour will be spread. We work with hundreds of Partner shops in EU we
recomend adding models and we will see this thing spread when volume manufacturing
is available... (after we have been able to test) They will only start from the web site
only, later amazon etc...

Surely this will cause some conflicts online for people pro Tomacro or Pro DvICo but one
thing is for sure, both Tomacro and DVICo won't be a match if this thing turns out to be
a full grown players (which it will as uses the same FW we are already looking at for
months).

Since all players are still in dev, especially Tomacro, and the serious lower pricing against the other models, not picking this would almost be plain dumb... It's to soon to say anything for real until the device has been tested but here is my reason to be optimisit....

- Syabas has many resources for FW development
- pricing is cheap and looks exual to more expensive models in FW used
- Syabas has open approach with community for Alpha/Beta testing

That's already 3 steps ahead of Tomacro (price, open approach missing, resources low) and 1 step ahead of DvICo (price)

As always, looking at the facts is such a good way of seeing the differences and possibilities.
It's a shame Tomacro did not open the doors on time with community work...

good words ;-) hi-jack. But i think it would be also 2 steps ahead dvico lol because hardware is also better right now we will see what dvico will make at the end of this year specially in what priceregion ;-)

cHarOn

Hardware counts for both Tomacro and DvICo.
So 4 steps ahead of Tomacro and 2 on DvICo then... Same outcome...

There's still a lot of potential for Tomacro and DviCo in the coming weeks and months
but the price will be extremely hard to overcome... and a lot depends on the next step
in FW...

As always, i don't care who sells most. I care how they sell, support and develop further...

Hardware counts for both Tomacro and DvICo.
So 4 steps ahead of Tomacro and 2 on DvICo then... Same outcome...

There's still a lot of potential for Tomacro and DviCo in the coming weeks and months
but the price will be extremely hard to overcome... and a lot depends on the next step
in FW...

As always, i don't care who sells most. I care how they sell, support and develop further...

Hi-Jack....I would genuinely value your view on picture quality on this unit when you get your hands on one...

K

picture quality is as good as it should be, hi-jack has one i have one not popcorn but all devices have the same board! because syabas has 2 sorts of board one for small devices like the popcornhour is and one for hifi like devices what i have ;-) i can tell you that the quality is as it should be ;-).

The big pro also on the 8634 is the hardware jpeg decoding function which is right now not activated but it is on the work right now 5mp pixels are coming up with short wait 1 sec or faster when hardware decoding is enabled then you dont have any waiting.

cHarOn

picture quality is as good as it should be, hi-jack has one i have one not popcorn but all devices have the same board! because syabas has 2 sorts of board one for small devices like the popcornhour is and one for hifi like devices what i have ;-) i can tell you that the quality is as it should be ;-).

The big pro also on the 8634 is the hardware jpeg decoding function which is right now not activated but it is on the work right now 5mp pixels are coming up with short wait 1 sec or faster when hardware decoding is enabled then you dont have any waiting.

cHarOn

Cheers for the info....but Hi-Jack knows what I'm looking for re picture quality as he has a Lim. Me, not that interested in how long a jpeg takes to load (within a second or two)...

Cheers

K

ah ok ic the wait for hi-jack ;-)

PQ will be the same as EM8620 models. Nothing changed to that aspect in the newest
chips as far as I know. Again, the other influence on PQ will by by design (interference
that can disrupt image stability).

So far, the EM8634 we are testing come out equal to the EM8620 players. I remain
having the opinion that DviCo and Tomacro is minimal (unnoticeable) difference of
sharpness. The EM8634/35 will be the same... Don't see there is a reason on Quality
to select between the available devices for now...

Most reasonable choice would be personal need, action, FW progress and future compatibility...
Both players can technically achieve the same thing... one will always be more developed that
the other and that's causing some concerns for Tomacro today... Can't see in the future but
I expect the NMT to make a bigger gap between it and the EM862x players than we can find
in comparing Tomacro and DvICo.

For now only the PopCorn Hour seem to come available and it's not a master peace design that
will swap away every possible consumer for DvICo and Tomacro though in design measures also
there Tomacro stands a lesser chance being as big as it is... I don't want to say too much to that
before i have seen the A100 on my test table and the new cuts of both Tomacro and DvICo out
in the open. It would be pure guess work and that will bound to lead to wrong conclusions :-)

Anyone of these three can be the best choice in a month from now for HD with quite some
advantage to the EM8634. If underdeveloped, the run remains between both Tomacro and
DvICo and hopefully Tomacro opens it's doors for proper community work to take place. It has
benefitted many brands in the past... It's free resources, and knowledgeable resources to be
used to their own advantage...

(I'm starting to sound much more like me again... we are communicating now, not yelling at each other :-) )

Enjoy
Hi-Jack

PQ will be the same as EM8620 models. Nothing changed to that aspect in the newest
chips as far as I know. Again, the other influence on PQ will by by design (interference
that can disrupt image stability).

So far, the EM8634 we are testing come out equal to the EM8620 players. I remain
having the opinion that DviCo and Tomacro is minimal (unnoticeable) difference of
sharpness. The EM8634/35 will be the same... Don't see there is a reason on Quality
to select between the available devices for now...

Ok thanks...but that was my question...interference etc...so have you had a chance to do a side by side comparison with the new unit and Tvix and the Lim PQ wise?


K

- Syabas has many resources for FW development
- pricing is cheap and looks exual to more expensive models in FW used
- Syabas has open approach with community for Alpha/Beta testing


If this is true and I have no reason to doubt you, then things are looking good.

For me the price is not so much of an issue.

But the company must have experienced, properly resourced and well run firmware staff. They must be able to take in feedback and throw away the usual "Hey, can you make it do my homework!" type of feedback, prioritize, develop (through test driven development!) and deliver on time.

And this will be much easier, if we the community can tear each release apart by testing it in thousands of different configurations.

No firmware test team anywhere in the world can do this alone. A million eyeballs can find (and even help fix) problems much faster, if the team has a proper process in place to handle the feedback and fix the bugs.

Things are looking good for Sybas, let's hope they are up to the task to handle the demand that is flooding their way...

Wonder why we can't pre-order? No SSL for entering CC info!

Did anyone notice that it is the Sigma Designs SMP8635!

Dang what a let down....would feel better if I could pre-order!:mad:

Just stumbled into this thread and I have to say that the Popcorn looks like it could be a winner. I have two MVPs and I am looking for something that supports more video and audio formats and is a little more solid in terms of network connection. I really like the idea that this new unit is based on a newer chip set. The mystery sales approach is not very appealing to me however, I know it is used quite often by big brand names but I still do not like it.

I have browsed the Lim in the Lim threads and at first I thought it might be a possibility but a little more reading and it is clear that it is struggling with many issues. I also do not like having to deal with an intermediate re-seller, especially one located in China. Too many units need to be replaced and one poor soul has been waiting for weeks and weeks for his broken unit to be replaced.

I just hope this unit is not another bust like so many other media players!:)

Ok thanks...but that was my question...interference etc...so have you had a chance to do a side by side comparison with the new unit and Tvix and the Lim PQ wise?


K
At the risk of you calling me a name in another thread; when are you going to give the trumped up Lim PQ thing a rest? And yet again you ignore ALL of the other HD media players. THERE IS NO QUANTITATIVE DATA THAT SUPPORTS YOUR OPINION THAT THE LIM HAS BETTER PQ THAN ANY OTHER HD PLAYER OUT THERE...so please give it a rest.

Wonder why we can't pre-order? No SSL for entering CC info!

Did anyone notice that it is the Sigma Designs SMP8635!

Dang what a let down....would feel better if I could pre-order!:mad:

Yeahn, the delay is a letdown but hey, it's only for another 10-15 days
before the orders can be made. Hope they produce enough units to get
started as I measure a lot of interest...

Curious how it will perform myself...

Enjoy
Hi-Jack

Yeahn, the delay is a letdown but hey, it's only for another 10-15 days
before the orders can be made. Hope they produce enough units to get
started as I measure a lot of interest...

Curious how it will perform myself...

Enjoy
Hi-Jack

Hi-Jack...any view on my question? (you know, if you told me either way on this one, I'd trust you....and for those that cannot read....I'm looking for a view compared with the Tvix and the Lim...) or maybe your just waiting for the finished unit?...if that's the case, no worries...when you get it, I really would value your view on PQ...

Cheers

K

At the risk of you calling me a name in another thread; when are you going to give the trumped up Lim PQ thing a rest? And yet again you ignore ALL of the other HD media players. THERE IS NO QUANTITATIVE DATA THAT SUPPORTS YOUR OPINION THAT THE LIM HAS BETTER PQ THAN ANY OTHER HD PLAYER OUT THERE...so please give it a rest.

?

Why you shouting?

K

Hi-Jack...any view on my question? (you know, if you told me either way on this one, I'd trust you....and for those that cannot read....I'm looking for a view compared with the Tvix and the Lim...) or maybe your just waiting for the finished unit?...if that's the case, no worries...when you get it, I really would value your view on PQ...

Cheers

K

As said, we are testing FW based on a different platform so we can't use that as comparison for the PoPCorn Hour. I can say the image qulaity is as crisp and clear as the EM8620 players. Pumping up the image to huge sizes, reveals not a big difference between DVICo and Tomacro except for some more sharp video on Tomacro (hardly noticeable) and no difference at all between the EM8634 and the Tomacro...

This is no reference for the PoPCorn or players to come and I repeat, the
difference is no reason to benefit any of these players either as you need
some bloody good eyes to notice it and the ability to display as 60" to 100"
image up a wall...

Quality is equal so no reason to choose between the players...
(at least not from my opinion)

PS: Not severely tested EM8634 quality. We concentrate mainly on performance in Alpha to get most standard stuff we'd expect working with
the latest HD needs...

Soon, you can play with it. I'm sure you will at this price :-)

As said, we are testing FW based on a different platform so we can't use that as comparison for the PoPCorn Hour. I can say the image qulaity is as crisp and clear as the EM8620 players. Pumping up the image to huge sizes, reveals not a big difference between DVICo and Tomacro except for some more sharp video on Tomacro (hardly noticeable) and no difference at all between the EM8634 and the Tomacro...

This is no reference for the PoPCorn or players to come and I repeat, the
difference is no reason to benefit any of these players either as you need
some bloody good eyes to notice it and the ability to display as 60" to 100"
image up a wall...

Quality is equal so no reason to choose between the players...
(at least not from my opinion)

PS: Not severely tested EM8634 quality. We concentrate mainly on performance in Alpha to get most standard stuff we'd expect working with
the latest HD needs...

Soon, you can play with it. I'm sure you will at this price :-)

Ok...thanks....

K

Hi-Jack,
Which of the Sigma chips are you testing the EM8634 or EM8635? What is the difference between the two?

?

Why you shouting?

K
So you think I am shouting.....sorry to disappoint you but I am not shouting...I am putting a bit of emphasis on the fact that you continue to spread the baseless claim of the Lim's PQ...but your assumption that I am shouting is wrong. You are frustrating and I really do not like your emotional outbursts when you call me names but I am not shouting. The reason for the cap letters is to make it clear to the readers of this post what the issue is and that it is a long standing issue specific to your claim.

Instead of miss reading and miss interpreting what I write why not respond and explain just how it is that you have come to the conclusion that the Lim has better PQ than any other HD media player; and I am not just referring to the TVIX. Provide some actual facts and not just your limited experience and opinion. BTW Hi Jack's comment long ago about measuring less electrical noise is circumstantial and is not quantitative proof of better PQ between the Lim and the TVIX.

Can these play videos off an NTFS usb drive?

yep it can

Darn I was hoping to be able to buy this. I'll prob bite the bullet and get it once it comes out.

Been looking for something replace my old xbox.

I guess 15 more days isn't that bad of a wait.

I have run three VERY Successful Yahoo support groups for products very similar to the Syabas/popcornhour Networked Media Tank.

I now want to offer the same level of support to this new and exciting media player.
Please feel free to contribue all information,articles etc you may have.
Hopefully over the coming months the group wildevelop into a good resource for owners and prospective buyers.

Also interested in hearing from theManufacture/Distributor , as we would love to have you "on board" and work with you as much as
possible.

This new Yahoo group is NOT intended to in anyway compete with the "official" forum,but to simply act as a additional archive/source of information for users


Feel free to visit / join...

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Networkedmediatank

Regards to all

Teddy

I have been reading many forums now about the many media players on the market today. Just recently, I nearly placed a order to buy the tvix 4100 but then was put off because of the Tomacro limHD200i did the same but looked much better. Again reading more into these forums gave me more of a problem because there was a new player coming to town called the "Network Media Tank", which offerred all the bells and whistles nearly everybody was after. I understand this unit is fitted with the EM8634/35 chipset but pardon me, what actually does that give the consumer? I have read about it playing mkV formats and it running at faster speeds but will it provide streamless viewing of SD and HD playback? Also I am based in the UK, so how easy would it be purchase the NMT over here?

why thangyou

I have been reading many forums now about the many media players on the market today. Just recently, I nearly placed a order to buy the tvix 4100 but then was put off because of the Tomacro limHD200i did the same but looked much better. Again reading more into these forums gave me more of a problem because there was a new player coming to town called the "Network Media Tank", which offerred all the bells and whistles nearly everybody was after. I understand this unit is fitted with the EM8634/35 chipset but pardon me, what actually does that give the consumer? I have read about it playing mkV formats and it running at faster speeds but will it provide streamless viewing of SD and HD playback? Also I am based in the UK, so how easy would it be purchase the NMT over here?

why thangyou
Me too, I mean reading lots of forums but where did you get the information on the Lim that convinced you it was better than the TVIX? Was it at a different forum? The threads in this forum convinced me that the Lim has lots and lots of bugs. Since I am also looking for a media player please provide a link to where you got your information because I want to get all the info I can to make a good purchase.

The new chipset is a mystery to me as well but I do know that most of the current media players are based on the old and they all are lacking. I have heard that the new chip set has more memory or something like that and that it make it easier to support current features and add new ones. New is not always better but I think the new chip set can not possibly be any worse than the current.

New picture on the homepage:

http://www.popcornhour.com/

I think I preferred the other design lol. But heck, for $179 I won't complain!

Odd that it's only 10/100 Ethernet and not Gigabit. I recently upgraded my home network to Gigabit and will definitely miss the transferring speeds :(

I have run three VERY Successful Yahoo support groups for products very similar to the Syabas/popcornhour Networked Media Tank.

I now want to offer the same level of support to this new and exciting media player.
Please feel free to contribue all information,articles etc you may have.
Hopefully over the coming months the group wildevelop into a good resource for owners and prospective buyers.

Also interested in hearing from theManufacture/Distributor , as we would love to have you "on board" and work with you as much as
possible.

This new Yahoo group is NOT intended to in anyway compete with the "official" forum,but to simply act as a additional archive/source of information for users


Feel free to visit / join...

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Networkedmediatank

Regards to all

Teddy
I'm down i'll be buying this as soon as it comes out.

I'm down i'll be buying this as soon as it comes out.
Yep, this player is looking better and better.:)

The price is right, the form factor is right and it plays just about everything.:p

Tick, tick, tick

Can it do audio playlists?
Does it have an FTP server?

Sounds quite an awesome little device for the money if it works as well as advertised

For those that have a beta/ early version of the popcorn, does it have an optical audio port or is it just digital coaxial?

Answer is in the specs...
Only Analogue Stereo and Digital Coaxial S/PDIF

Does anyone know if this is the same machine as the "Networked Media Tank" on the syabas site? I was just looking through their PDFs and it mentions "miniPCI card slot for IEEE 802.11n"

Is that what the white connector here is?
http://www.mpcclub.com/newspic/popboard1.JPG

http://mpcclub.com/newspic/popboard1.JPG it has an minipci as you can see picture is taken from mpcclub ;-)

cHarOn

Does it have a fan?

when you call me names

Hey man...wanna clear that up...I don't like bad air - life's too short.

When I said "ar*e"....you have my word I was not calling you a name - In the UK it is also a term for "whatever!"....and that was what I meant. Now in hindsight, it was an error of judgement on my part - so I'm sorry if you took it that I called you a name - I would not sink to that level...

So, now we've cleared the air - let's see what this bit of kit can do when it lands...:)

K

@madshi no it has no fan

@madshi no it has no fan
That's a big plus! Now if only network was fast enough for Blu-Ray high bitrate playback...

yep it can make blueray over network testet with 42Mbit testfiles np at all.

cHarOn

yep it can make blueray over network testet with 42Mbit testfiles np at all.
Well, that's quite tempting!! :) Did you use Samba or NFS?

I hope you don't mind a few further questions:

(1) Does it support VC-1 in MKV containers?
(2) Does it support multichannel (up to 7.1) FLAC?
(3) Does it support external audio tracks (I like to have audio tracks external)?
(4) Does it support external srt subtitle files?
(5) Does it support 1080p24 output?

Thanks!

(1) Yes
(2) Yes but only over receiver i think didnt tried it because have only 5.1
(3) what do you mean?
(4) Yes
(5) Yes

Quote from quickstep
me too, I mean reading lots of forums but where did you get the information on the Lim that convinced you it was better than the TVIX? Was it at a different forum? The threads in this forum convinced me that the Lim has lots and lots of bugs. Since I am also looking for a media player please provide a link to where you got your information because I want to get all the info I can to make a good purchase.

The new chipset is a mystery to me as well but I do know that most of the current media players are based on the old and they all are lacking. I have heard that the new chip set has more memory or something like that and that it make it easier to support current features and add new ones. New is not always better but I think the new chip set can not possibly be any worse than the current.



I'm sure I have read that the lim playback performed better when playing hd, but not perfect. The tvix on the other hand didn't but was generally a all round good player for other material. The bugs, well there on everyone of them so its just a case of what you are going to except or settle with? The looks on the lim were much better than the 4100 brick and the 5100 trash can from tvix. Now if the NMT purchase price is $179USD that is approx £90pounds in the UK, which to me is a no brainer if you are comparing with the others above. However, I would of thought the NMT would of come with wireless 802.11 N, a USB2.0 Target 1 Port to connect direct to the PC?

Why Thangyou

(1) Yes
(2) Yes but only over receiver i think didnt tried it because have only 5.1
(3) what do you mean?
(4) Yes
(5) Yes



does it also support 1080p 25?

Also where can I buy one in the UK?

why Thangyou

does it also support 1080p 25?

Also where can I buy one in the UK?

why Thangyou

1080p 25?? where do you need that i know only 1080p 30 and 24 which are included in the firmware.

or do you mean 50hz 60hz i mean pal and ntsc 25fps?

cHarOn

(2) Yes but only over receiver i think didnt tried it because have only 5.1
So you mean it does decode FLAC, right? Of course I would transport the decoded data as multichannel PCM over HDMI.

(3) what do you mean?
I have movies in different containers, e.g. MKV, m2ts or evo. But usually I have stripped any audio from those movie files. They're video only. I have the audio in separate files. E.g. I have a "german.ac3" or "english.flac" in the same folder as the movie file. I'm doing it this way because I sometimes buy a USA HD DVD disc and add a german audio track from DVD. Muxing additional audio tracks into EVO doesn't really work today. So I have the german audio track as a separate file. Also in order to save space I reencode Blu-Ray LPCM tracks to FLAC. There's no way to remux the FLAC track into the m2ts container, though. So the FLAC file is external again. And the LPCM track is removed from the m2ts container.

So my question is: Does this media player box support playing external audio tracks?

Thank you!

1080p 25?? where do you need that i know only 1080p 30 and 24 which are included in the firmware.
1080p25 does make some sense. E.g. our HDTV movie broadcasts here in Europe are 1080i50, but they are perfectly flagged for progressive output. So basically you don't need to deinterlace, you just need to look at the flags to combine the right fields together again. So for all intends and purposes our European HDTV movie broadcasts are 1080p25. It would be great if the media player supported that. It's what I output from my HTPC for European HDTV broadcasts.

lol i´m from austria and i was thinking that 24p is here in europe hmm then it was my bad if you say 25p is here then i will let that add to the firmware ;-) is it about premiere?!

hm about the audio video thing i dont know it but i dont think it would work! why you dont mux it to mkv?! i know thats some work but i think it wont be able to do this also about sync things?!?! but i will ask about that.

cHarOn

lol i´m from austria and i was thinking that 24p is here in europe hmm then it was my bad if you say 25p is here then i will let that add to the firmware ;-) is it about premiere?!
:) Yes, it's about PremiereHD (Germany) and also about SkyHD (UK). They're both 1080i50 = 1080p25.

hm about the audio video thing i dont know it but i dont think it would work! why you dont mux it to mkv?!
Have you ever tried muxing h264 HD DVDs and Blu-Rays to MKV? It doesn't really work well. You can try demuxing the video and remuxing it. But often audio sync is totally messed up afterwards. Remuxing works well with MPEG2 and VC-1, though. And I do remux all my MPEG2 and VC-1 HD DVDs and Blu-Rays to MKV. It just doesn't work properly for h264.

but i think it wont be able to do this also about sync things?!?!
I'm playing movies this way on my HTPC and it works just great. Audio sync is perfect.

but i will ask about that.
Thanks so much... :)

I've one more feature suggestion, if you don't mind. I already suggested this in the LimHD thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11279138#post11279138

Would you mind forwarding this idea to the Popcorn/Syabas guys? Maybe they like it. Or maybe not... :D

hehe there i was faster this works already automatic as i can see but i only tried it on pal and ntsc i think i need more testfiles lol.

cHarOn

So far no feedback is received. True facts can only be checked after the device is available. We not go for specs or "been told" specifications but they do say that HDMI will support lossless compressed formats, including DTS-HD and MLP (Dolby TrueHD).
The website sais it's HDMI 1.1 only. So bitstream transport of DTS-HD and TrueHD cannot work. Does that mean that they actually decode DTS-HD and TrueHD? That would be great, of course!!

Hi-Jack,
Which of the Sigma chips are you testing the EM8634 or EM8635? What is the difference between the two?

No difference the 35 comes without licensed DVD code... (CSS stuff)
(Special created for the HDD players without DVD tray)

with the picture in folder so (coverart) it is on the todo list but cant say it will get included but the refreshsettings thing should work already if not then it will ;-)
because i only tried it with pal and ntsc DVD´s

cHarOn

you can come also to hdd-player.de there we speak german i´m forum admin there hehehehe.

hehe there i was faster this works already automatic as i can see but i only tried it on pal and ntsc i think i need more testfiles lol.
My idea is not only about resolution switching but about other things. E.g. setting deinterlacing modes, thumbnail images, trailers etc. A config file would make all that possible very comfortably...

I'll see if I can make some samples available to you.

you can come also to hdd-player.de there we speak german i´m forum admin there hehehehe.
Might do that. But I almost prefer reading/writing English over German... :eek:

The website sais it's HDMI 1.1 only. So bitstream transport of DTS-HD and TrueHD cannot work. Does that mean that they actually decode DTS-HD and TrueHD? That would be great, of course!!

Deffinately not. These capabilities would lift the price up by far. The players with HDMI 1.3 will have support for this while the current models using 1.1 HDMI will not be capable of any of these... Started of a bit confusing but:

1.1 No DD+, TrueHD or DTS-HD
1.3: Passthrough

maybe high end models will do their own decoding but even so, it will never
match a decent receiver with these capabilities which is why most will
choose not to implement decoding but allow passthrough once 1.3 HDMI
boards are ready...

My idea is not only about resolution switching but about other things. E.g. setting deinterlacing modes, thumbnail images, trailers etc. A config file would make all that possible very comfortably...

I'll see if I can make some samples available to you.

hm i think that would be to complicated for normal persons so i think they wont do that because not many need that feature, the will do many but it is also an point how many use it, i want also an feature like usenet client included with extraction ;-) but he i think not many need that so they wont include it ;-(.

cHarOn

Deffinately not. These capabilities would lift the price up by far. The players with HDMI 1.3 will have support for this while the current models using 1.1 HDMI will not be capable of any of these...
So that means the Popcorn will not support TrueHD and DTS-HD in any way (except by playing the DTS Core), right? When you're talking about HDMI 1.3 players, you mean other players and not the Popcorn device, right?

Thanks.

hm i think that would be to complicated for normal persons so i think they wont do that because not many need that feature, the will do many but it is also an point how many use it, i want also an feature like usenet client included with extraction ;-) but he i think not many need that so they wont include it ;-(.
Ok, I see. You're right. They will (and really should) only implement features that are of use for many users. So here's food for thought:

(1) DiscoveryHD content is 1080i50 and needs to be output in either 1080i50 or in properly deinterlaced 1080p50. You cannot output this in 1080p25 without damaging image quality big time.
(2) PremiereHD + SkyHD movies are 1080i50, but outputting these in 1080i50 or trying to deinterlacing them would both be bad for image quality. The optimal way to handle these files is to follow the flags and simply weave the correct fields together to get 1080p25. This can then be output as 1080p25 or 1080p50.

I'm not sure if the Popcorn device can automatically find out if a "something.ts" file is DiscoveryHD material ("video" content) or if it is a real movie ("film" content). It should treat both differently for optimal image quality. Obviously if they can find out automatically, that would be perfect! But if they can't, there should be some way to tell the Popcorn player which file is which type.

This is something which should be important for every European customer, because optimal image quality is what we all want. Right? :)

hdmi 1.3 will come in april 2008 or later but still no company wanna buy the licences which would be around 70-100 Euro!!!!! but pass trough over hdmi 1.3 will come.
over hdmi 1.1 you can only take the lpcm line which should work normaly.
Optical and coaxial Output cant handle true-hd and DTS-HD because to high bitrate and this connections are really old now ;-)
so if you need that you have to wait for hdmi 1.3

cHarOn

you can also select the resolution manualy no problem on that ;-) but for the most files automatic mode works i think but i will test it with your files would be interessting if you can give me also samples with 25p 50i ...............

cHarOn

I´m really interessted on this and will tell them because they want to be the best lol.

I think also that no other device which is coming right now will support hdmi 1.3 and also not the hd audio content because to high licence costs as sigma told me the 8634 and 8635 can decode this audioformats but then there is the problem with licence costs again maybe the Helios X6 or how it calls then will support it because they made high dev devices but wow to what prices hehehe.

cHarOn

other question is why we need that audioformats ;-) in my eyes it brings us nothing receivers wo can decode it are really expensive and in my eyes i cant hear an difference but thats only me if i´m in an studio then i think i would hear it hehehehehe.

cHarOn

would be interessting if you can give me also samples with 25p 50i ...............
I'll send you samples.

I´m really interessted on this and will tell them because they want to be the best lol.
That is good to hear!

other question is why we need that audioformats ;-) in my eyes it brings us nothing receivers wo can decode it are really expensive and in my eyes i cant hear an difference but thats only me if i´m in an studio then i think i would hear it hehehehehe.
But what about E-AC3? The majority of HD DVDs come with E-AC3 tracks and nothing else. So E-AC3 support would be really important IMO.

with e-ac3 there are many problems as i heard but still i think it is the same because of high bitrate but i will ask for that.

cHarOn

Waiting for the samples.

with e-ac3 there are many problems as i heard but still i think it is the same because of high bitrate but i will ask for that.
E-AC3 has similar bitrates to AC3 and DTS. Most E-AC3 tracks are either 640kbps or 1.5mbps.

ok will ask about that but dont know what licence costs it has but if it is that low bitrate then it should passtrough so see no reason about an problem with that.

ok will ask about that but dont know what licence costs it has but if it is that low bitrate then it should passtrough so see no reason about an problem with that.
E-AC3 can only be passed through over HDMI 1.3. There's no way to pass it through as bitstream any other way cause HDMI 1.1 doesn't support E-AC3 bitstream and SPDIF doesn't, either. It's not because of bandwidth. It's just that there's no specification to pass E-AC3 through anything but HDMI 1.3. So the only thing to handle E-AC3 properly for the Popcorn would be to properly decode it.

The big point is that you can forget about 80% of all HD DVD discs if the Popcorn doesn't support E-AC3 decoding!!!

P.S: Scratch that. The only HD DVD discs which would play are those with DTS on them. And those are really rare. Here in Europe they're not that rare. But in the US you can count the HD DVD discs with DTS on them with the fingers on your hands.

hmmm hd-dvd is specially not supported by sigma that could be also an problem but i will ask about it but still i think you have to wait then for the hdmi 1.3 devices.

cHarOn

usually the HD DVD titles will have 2 sound streams. The problem is not that the PopCorn
does not support HD DVD (they can by simply getting the EVO files supported which is
almost the same as VOB from DVD) but even then it will still miss the option to play
E-AC3 (DD+). (Sigma would have to do part of the low level code for this)

Only in 1.3 HDMI this could be possibly added. Decoding is the other option which many
will pass on adding due to the cost and the fact that a stand alone device simply won't
match the quality of e receiver / amplifier and off course the added cost... Basically I
consider whoever wants it really bad and has a receiver, they aslo have a HD DVD
player or Blu-Ray...

Enjoy

yep correct evo is already tried by syabas and video output is no problem but the sound is ;-( as hi-jack said about the E-AC3 thing. Sigma says that the yonly wanna support Blueray dont ask me why but right now it is so. I think it can change but dont know it.


cHarOn

usually the HD DVD titles will have 2 sound streams.
Yes, TrueHD and E-AC3... :D HD DVD titles in the USA usually do not have any conventional (AC3 or DTS) tracks.

and the fact that a stand alone device simply won't match the quality of e receiver / amplifier
We're talking about digital decoding and digital transport (PCM over HDMI 1.1). Technically it doesn't matter (for audio quality) if this is done in the source device or in the receiver.

Basically I consider whoever wants it really bad and has a receiver, they aslo have a HD DVD player or Blu-Ray...
Or a HTPC.

[QUOTE=madshi;11908169]Yes, TrueHD and E-AC3... :D HD DVD titles in the USA usually do not have any conventional (AC3 or DTS) tracks.

Just to make it clear.....are you saying that the Popcornhour will not be able to play HDDVD rips?:confused:

no player will do this if they are evo oder better if they have any of the new hd audio codecs included!!! normaly i think you have to reencode the audiopart because the videopart of an evo file plays without problems.

cHarOn

Just to make it clear.....are you saying that the Popcornhour will not be able to play HDDVD rips?:confused:
The video might play, but you'll hear no sound cause the Popcornhour will (seemingly) not support E-AC3 decoding. Of course you could reencode the audio and remux video + audio to MKV. But that's quite a lot of work.

Maybe Syabas would consider offering a special firmware version with E-AC3 decoding support for an upgrade price? They could offer that firmware version on their homepage for download only for registered customers. They could even bind the firmware to the serial number of the Sigma Designs chip or something like that. Would be fine with me. They could also offer similar upgrade packages for TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding. They might even make some money with such offers. After all many people might be willing to pay such an upgrade price. The low media box price would easily make up for that.

The video might play, but you'll hear no sound cause the Popcornhour will (seemingly) not support E-AC3 decoding. Of course you could reencode the audio and remux video + audio to MKV. But that's quite a lot of work.

It may have already been answered - but why not just have the device enocode E-AC3 to AC3 and output over optical?...mind you I did notice on the specs it's passthrough only for AC3/DTS....does that mean its passthrough only for FLAC and AAC? (are FLAC and AAC royality free?)

K

hi oldp. the problem is that the licences to encode E-AC3 and all the other HD Audio codecs costs many money (should be around 100 - 150 USD pro device) thats really damn because the 8634/35 chip can make that job, but as it looks like no mediaplayer will include or better buy such licences ;-( because of the price. I think it could come true when the prices of the licences are falling down (if they do?) that it will be included maybe in the next generation with HDMI 1.3 but i dont know because over HDMI 1.3 you can then passtrough the hd sounds.
I dont need it right now but **** i think it could be sometimes that i want it lol but right now we know all 6months or every year new big step players are coming out ;-) so i think next year the next device will follow hehehehe.

cHarOn

One thing I initially dismissed as unnecessary on the Tvix I now need (and use on the Tvix) is the ability to specify multiple Network addresses for multiple servers. Hope Popcorn supports this.

=b

why not just have the device enocode E-AC3 to AC3 and output over optical?
For that to work you first need to be able to decode E-AC3. No current media player box does that.

the problem is that the licences to encode E-AC3 and all the other HD Audio codecs costs many money (should be around 100 - 150 USD pro device)
It's totally impossible that the licenses cost that much. How else could Cyberlink earn any money with PowerDVD which can decode most (if not all) of those HD audio formats and "only" costs 99 USD? The total license costs for all those HD audio formats cannot possible be higher than 50 USD. I'd be surprised if they were actually that high. I think they're lower than that.

1080p 25?? where do you need that i know only 1080p 30 and 24 which are included in the firmware.

or do you mean 50hz 60hz i mean pal and ntsc 25fps?

cHarOn

Sorry, yes thats exactly what I mean

Why thangyou

ah ok thats already in np on that ;-) but as madshi said also 25p is needed so ;-)

For that to work you first need to be able to decode E-AC3. No current media player box does that.

Ok...cheers Madshi...

K

over hdmi 1.1 you can only take the lpcm line which should work normaly.
OK, so is 8635 able to decode TrueHD, DD+ and DTS-HR/MA into PCM 5.1 and output that over HDMI 1.1? I know that 8634 Revision A can't decode DTS-MA, but Revision C can. I thought I saw "Rev E" in some photo of a mediaplayer motherboard.

ok will ask about that but dont know what licence costs it has but if it is that low bitrate then it should passtrough so see no reason about an problem with that.
I remember reading something about TrueHD being in the Dolby Digital license, so TrueHD wouldn't cost anything extra. Not sure about DTS license covering both DTS-HD codecs, though.

nope extra costs on that but i will talk about that with syabas if there is an way to buy an extra update pack for that on there shop if there is an way i think the will make that ;-) but we will see.

cHarOn

hi oldp. the problem is that the licences to encode E-AC3 and all the other HD Audio codecs costs many money (should be around 100 - 150 USD pro device) thats really damn because the 8634/35 chip can make that job, but as it looks like no mediaplayer will include or better buy such licences ;-( because of the price. I think it could come true when the prices of the licences are falling down (if they do?) that it will be included maybe in the next generation with HDMI 1.3 but i dont know because over HDMI 1.3 you can then passtrough the hd sounds.
I dont need it right now but **** i think it could be sometimes that i want it lol but right now we know all 6months or every year new big step players are coming out ;-) so i think next year the next device will follow hehehehe.

cHarOn

ok...thanks...

K

I don't know if this has been addressed before, but will this unit upconvert VOB/iso DVD files?

yes, up to 1080p up-scaling is done by the device...
As for the sound options, I believe we will see high end devices and low end. High end
will include the advanced TrueHD, DD+ and DTS-HD. The real problem is still HDMI 1.3 to
offer pass-through as mostly we doubt integrating decoding abilities will be offering the
Quality peopel expect against their receivers and pass-through on HDMI 1.1 is not
possible for these...

So, the conflict...
If people would like offering extra 150$ for the high end device with decoding abilities,
these would be fanatics of these formats and be dissapointed with the Quality in general
against waiting for the 1.3 HDMI version and use their receiver of a 1000+ euros...

Same thing for up-scaling video... a real scaler or usually scalers integrated into TV's do
better scaling than the processor in these players can provide... It's sufficient for most but real high end users not even consider decoding is an option inside these players. They want their receiver to do the work.

As for the sound options, I believe we will see high end devices and low end. High end will include the advanced TrueHD, DD+ and DTS-HD.
I think DD+ is really needed because of HD DVD. Everything else is just a nice bonus. But consumers will complain if media boxes cannot play their HD DVD rips. So DD+ support is necessary IMHO.

The real problem is still HDMI 1.3 to offer pass-through as mostly we doubt integrating decoding abilities will be offering the Quality peopel expect against their receivers
@Hi-Jack, you're absolutely wrong here. I've said it before and I'll say it again: There is no quality difference between decoding in the media box or in the receiver, as long as you transport the decoded data as multichannel PCM over HDMI 1.1. This is a technical fact.

If people would like offering extra 150$ for the high end device with decoding abilities, these would be fanatics of these formats and be dissapointed with the Quality in general
No, not at all. The quality would be perfectly fine.

Same thing for up-scaling video... a real scaler or usually scalers integrated into TV's do better scaling than the processor in these players can provide...
That's true. But only because there are many different algorithms available for up-scaling. There are good and bad ones. The good ones are either patent protected or very CPU consuming. So it's true that such a media player box will not be able to offer really good upscaling, unless it adds a Realta or Gennum video chip (which would easily double or triple the price of the media player box).

But audio decoding is totally different. There is only one decoding algorithm available for every audio format. You cannot do audio decoding "well" or "not so well". You either do it correctly or not. Every company who licenses an audio codec will get reference code for decoding. This reference code is the same for everyone. Because of that there's exactly 0% difference between decoding audio in the source player and decoding it in the receiver. The only thing that could harm audio quality in the source device is an incorrect implementation. Or maybe high jitter. But high jitter would also harm bitstream transport over HDMI 1.3.

ok to sort some things out, i talked with syabas today they will take evo to high priority as he talked to me, could take some weeks but they will look on that, ac3 and e-ac3 should work but the need to check it and to sort out problems with evo files because video plays but no sound could be only an pid thing so i will inform you about that if i have news. About the p25 thing they will include that also no problem because the sdk supports that outofthebox.

cHarOn

about the e-ac3 thing sorry i think i´m a bit confused already about all the codexcs and formats hehehehe.
e-ac3 could be downsampled so you can vie the evos and downsample the audio to output it over hdmi 1.1 and over coax connection!!

I hope now i clear something out hehehehe

but still they need to get evo working because then there shouldnt be any problems with HD DVD rips ;-)

About the other formats they have to buy an dolby licence that they can include it to downsample thats where the manufactors are needed if the wont include it you cant go with that.

cHarOn

Hi All

Is this product for real? I ask as:

1) It's about $50 cheaper than a Mediagate 350
2) It's about $150 cheaper than a TViX
3) It seems to play more formats than the competitors
4) It has a slew more features than the competitors

It seems too good to be true. Have I missed something?

ok i have now the clearout, syabas tested this right now with mkv and e-ac3 and that works without problems so they will include evo but as i told you needs some time.
So with e-ac3 we have no limitations then!!!

cHarOn

ok i have now the clearout, syabas tested this right now with mkv and e-ac3 and that works without problems so they will include evo but as i told you needs some time.
So with e-ac3 we have no limitations then!!!
That's great - thanks!! :)

You talked about downsampling. I hope they'll also allow to transport the decoded E-AC3 audio to the receiver via multichannel PCM over HDMI 1.1 - without downsampling? Should be no problem technically...

dont know now i know now only downsampling and pass trough i think over hdmi 1.1

I have run three VERY Successful Yahoo support groups for products very similar to the Syabas/popcornhour Networked Media Tank.

I now want to offer the same level of support to this new and exciting media player.
Please feel free to contribue all information,articles etc you may have.
Hopefully over the coming months the group wildevelop into a good resource for owners and prospective buyers.

Also interested in hearing from theManufacture/Distributor , as we would love to have you "on board" and work with you as much as
possible.

This new Yahoo group is NOT intended to in anyway compete with the "official" forum,but to simply act as a additional archive/source of information for users

Regards to all

Teddy

Enough resources available like AVS to get support and info.
Who needs yet another source... we need more players :-)

dont know now i know now only downsampling and pass trough i think over hdmi 1.1

Passtrough of E-AC3 over HDMI-1.1 is not possible... confusing huh... ;)

They should implement:
1. decoding to multi channel PCM and transport over HDMI 1.1
2. downsample to AC3 and transport over SPDIF

:cool:

i mean that sorry really confused about that lol the downsample it to PCM

Passtrough of E-AC3 over HDMI-1.1 is not possible... confusing huh... ;)

They should implement:
1. decoding to multi channel PCM and transport over HDMI 1.1
2. downsample to AC3 and transport over SPDIF

:cool:
Correct. Although to use the correct terms it would be transcoding or reencoding to AC3. Downsampling is something entirely different.

i mean that sorry really confused about that lol the downsample it to PCM
I hope you mean "decoding". Look here for what the terms mean:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downsampling

grmpff i mean decoding ;-) thx for clearing that out lol sorry but when you talk 2 days about that you get really confused hehehehe.

cHarOn

No problem at all. So the Popcorn will do decoding of E-AC3 (maybe not right now but with a later firmware version). Did I get that right? If so, that'd be GREAT news!!

no it works already but only in mkv tested right now evo still not because the need to include evo first then it will also work with evo.

cHarOn

no it works already but only in mkv tested right now evo still not because the need to include evo first then it will also work with evo.
That's very nice!!! :)

Have you had a chance for asking about external audio files yes? (sorry for bugging you!!)

I've seen you post that multiple times. What's the purpose or advantage of supporting external audio files?
I never came across anyone needing it nor found an advnatge to have it myself... Educate me :-)

Hi cHarOn99

Have you tested performance on SMB/FTP with loads of files/directories ? My old XBMC on the old Xbox was lighting fast at bringing all the items up. Cant say that about my XP/VISTA based HTPC.


regards
veggy

Correct. Although to use the correct terms it would be transcoding or reencoding to AC3. Downsampling is something entirely different.
According to Dolby they have a low latency / resource process available to do the conversion from E-AC3 to AC3. Whether we should call this process decoding, transcoding or downsampling is not clear... ;)

i only tested with 100 - 150 files had no problems with that what is for you many files ;-)

500-2000 lol please tell me then i can test it

@Hi-Jack: I think he wants that because he buy english HD-DVD´s and take an german audio file from an german dvd ;-)

150-200 should be a good amount to test with. How long does it take to bring up the list of the files?

Please let this be the one to bring us everything it seems to be.. :)



- Veggy

According to Dolby they have a low latency / resource process available to do the conversion from E-AC3 to AC3. Whether we should call this process decoding, transcoding or downsampling is not clear... ;)
Well, downsampling is a very specific term and doesn't really fit here IMO. But I don't want this, anyway. I want to have E-AC3 decoded and transported as PCM over HDMI 1.1. No transcoding for me, please... :)

under 1 sec but i will test tonight with 200+ mp3´s ok to confirm my answer

cHarOn

That would be great, cheers.

How does skipping forwards,backwards and fast forwards works on different formats?
Does it take long? Any sync issues when doing this ?

- Veggy

I've seen you post that multiple times. What's the purpose or advantage of supporting external audio files?
I never came across anyone needing it nor found an advnatge to have it myself... Educate me :-)
With pleasure... :)

Let me explain it with a few examples:

(1) HD DVD "Equilibrium". It's encoded in h264 and comes with an English audio track. Now I want to play this movie - but with a German audio track. No big problem, I just take the DVD, rip the German audio track and I'm done (ok, it's a bit more complicated, but that's another topic). Anyway, I'm ending up with the Equilibrium EVO file and with an external "Equilibrium - German.ac3" audio file. Now I want the Popcorn player to play the EVO file with the external German audio track. Understand?

(2) The German Pirates of the Caribbean Blu-Ray disc comes with a big LPCM track for the English audio track. That's nice and it sounds great. However, it wastes a lot of space on my server. So I stripped the LPCM data from the m2ts file and reencoded it to FLAC. This is a lossless process, so I still have 100% the same audio quality I had with LPCM, but I've saved about 65% file size on my server (for this audio track). Again I'm ending up with a video file (m2ts) which I want to have played with an external audio file.

(3) There's are many situations where there are different editions of the same film available from different countries where every edition have their own strengths. E.g. there are some movies which were released in Europe with a good VC-1 encoding but bad English audio track, while they were released in USA with a low bitrate artifact ridden MPEG2 encoding, but with good English audio tracks. In that case sometimes it makes sense to get both discs and mix the best audio tracks together with the best video encoding.

Usually when people are doing such things as described above, they take all the audio tracks and the video track and mux them all into a new container. Usually MKV is used for that. In that case you end up with just one MKV file with everything in it. The Popcorn player would probably play such a MKV file just fine. The big problem is that both Equilibrium and Pirates of the Caribbean are encoded in h264. And the MKV tools have major trouble with that format. I've spent a lot of time trying to remux Equilibrium into MKV but I failed. Well, it kind of works, but the audio is totally out of sync afterwards and it's out of sync in such a way that's not really possible to fix.

I hope the explanation was understable. If there are any questions about it, please let me know. Thanks!

Veggy, currently everything is tested on a generic platform and not popcorn
hour. All results are relative to changes when actually can be tested on the
PopCorn hour A100 by the end of next week hopefully...

We should bundle all kinds of questions and get them answered at a time we
are able to test on the exact platform at purchase here... The results on our
generic testing platforms not necessarily match what we'll see later on the
PopCorn...

@Hi-Jack
I'm aware of the fact that you're both testing on a generic platform, but still its interesting to know how far they come
on a generic platform. It should give us a pointer on the early quality on this platform.
Hopefully things will only improve when it comes to performance and features.

This is such a exciting product that I cant stop asking atm.
Hopefully you will be able to produce a FAQ on it when you
have the A100 available for testing.

- Veggy

there wouldnt be any difference about speed and how it performs it will be the same so when we say on our generic devices it performs good then it will also perform good on the popcorn device.

cHarOn

also confirmed by sybas ;-). The only differnce will be connectors and soem companies will buy licences for dvd-css and some other things but this has nothing todo with the performance.

cHarOn

So what you're saying is that the fw implementation on the generic systems that you're testing on will be the same on the Popcorn device ?
I thought you would have a new specific fw for the Popcorn device which they might tune when it comes to performance on certain areas, that's is of course if it's really needed.

Veggy

it is the same firmware it is only differnt if some comanies want css support and such licences or extra includings.

cHarOn

Thats good the hear. Are you currently receiving fw updates for your test board ?

Veggy

yep same as for all other devices

all 1-2 weeks an new firmware comes out right now dont know if this will still happen on selling device could be then also every month or 2 monts dont know it i think should be if there are problems or new features.

cHarOn

Hi everyone,
first off...respect to everyone for all the effort put into forums like these....

This is my first post ever, so I apololgize if I goof-up somewhere along the line...:o

let me get to the point. I´m not sure if this has already been an issue, so sorry if so!!! I read a post stating that the US-Version of this media player/streamer wont be usable in the EU and not because of power-issuses but for some other reasons. The reason why I ask is because of all the talk about the price differences and availability dates. I have family in the US that could send the divice to me. Thatway I could get the item earlier than EU-release and it would work out to be cheaper (that´s including int. mail service)...about 160 € or less if the dollar continues to drop:D..in further posts there have been estimations that the player will be pricing at 200 (+) € in the EU.....

So my question: Will it be possible to use the US version in the EU and if not WHY, WHY, WHY??? :confused:

Thx in advance for replies!!! :)

The real problem is still HDMI 1.3 to
offer pass-through as mostly we doubt integrating decoding abilities will be offering the Quality peopel expect against their receivers and pass-through on HDMI 1.1 is not possible for these...
It makes absolutely no difference where decoding to digital multichannel PCM takes place. The critical step is converting from digital to analog, and that takes place inside the receiver - always, in the case of this product, since it doesn't have 5.1/7.1 analog outputs.

In other words, decoding in-player and transmitting multichannel PCM over HDMI is fine.

edit: Oops, I see madshi already educated you about this :)

it will work could be only problem with warrenty things and with powercord also it looks like that an different eu version comes out but dont have infos about that right now.
price will be higher because of taxes and some other things ;-)

cHarOn

So, where can one buy this device? Perry

at popcornhour site and soon maybee in europe reseller are on the start there ;-) but no contract signed we will see what this week brings ;-)

cHarOn

I mean after Oct 30th, do people buy directly from Popcorn hours - the only revenue? Are they in the USA? Would there be more pictures available online?

perry

more pictures are on the way as syabas confirmed. in usa i dont know there will be only popcornhour right now and yes they are in usa ;-). Maybe some european or one european reseller will pop up but they are not fixed right now.

cHarOn

it will work could be only problem with warrenty things and with powercord also it looks like that an different eu version comes out but dont have infos about that right now.
price will be higher because of taxes and some other things ;-)

cHarOn
WOW....BIG-UP for the FAST reply (that´s jamaican for respect) ;-) )

Taxes: hhmm thougt about that one. I live in Germany so that means ridiculous 19 % tax...but that should only make a difference of about 13-14€...
By powercord do you mean the actual plug (that shouldn´t be a prob thx to adapters) or do you mean the transformator?
Good point about the warrenty!!! Hope there´ll be some kinda internat. warrenty...

Thx again!!!

simply_real

not 19% you misunderstand something when you import something from an not eu land you have to pay "zoll" thats not the mwst and you have to pay the paket price also., i really dont know how high taxes on such an device is but we will see, if an european reseller comes up. About warrenty i´m a little bit scared because if you need to send it back lets say three times then you can also buy an new device.

cHarOn

thanks again....So we all just have to wait :-)

yep i think waiting is the best right now ;-) we will see what happens in the next 2 or 3 weeks i think

cHarOn

As soon ashe EU version is available we have some partners add it to
their stores (we do not sell but work with partners who sell products
we recommend and deliver decent warranty services). As soon as stock is
available and US version against EU only causes the change of the power
cord, we will for sure try and get a load of those over here as well...

Hav no idea what it will cost in EY stores. Expect around 150 to 180€.
I'm pretty sure we will see these fast in EU...

Enjoy

PopcornHour just released a few screenshots of A100's Media Portal,there are at their forum and I have also uploaded them to my A-100 Yahoo support group located here:

http://tech.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Networkedmediatank/photos/

I Have to admit it looks very interesting as I am told these are real screen shots , not just grabs taken from the PC.They say you can use this Media portal without a Pc/Mac , as long as you have a internet connection..

Regards

Teddy





I mean after Oct 30th, do people buy directly from Popcorn hours - the only revenue? Are they in the USA? Would there be more pictures available online?

perry

As soon ashe EU version is available we have some partners add it to
their stores (we do not sell but work with partners who sell products
we recommend and deliver decent warranty services). As soon as stock is
available and US version against EU only causes the change of the power
cord, we will for sure try and get a load of those over here as well...

Hav no idea what it will cost in EY stores. Expect around 150 to 180€.
I'm pretty sure we will see these fast in EU...

Enjoy

HiJack
What about little old UK? when are they gona get some tank?


why thangyou

I know the main topic at the mo is on the NMT but as anyone tested the IAMM NTD37HD? if so what is your verdict?

Richie-rich

why thangyou

PopcornHour just released a few screenshots of A100's Media Portal,there are at their forum

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewforum.php?f=8

As Borat would say, "Very Nice!"

Hi everbody, my first post here :)

Can't wait to get my hands on the player, yet does anybody know if it will support WXGA Resolution (1360x768)?

@cHarOn99: you mentioned earlier in this thread that you got a Qnap TS-201 - how is the performance along with the NMT? I'm thinking about buying this one too.

performance is nice as i can told you have no probs with it at all ;-)

It's just a DC Power Adapter isn't it? So you should be able to buy one to match from your local electronics shop right?

Hey I've got a couple of questions that need answering?
1 I've read everywhere that Ftp is rather slow compared to nfs/samba, now with my xbmc I can average over 5MB+ per transfer. Will I see a huge increase in speed and would have to install any additional software?(Would rather not install any new software but if the speeds are much better I will.)
2. What kind of Hard drive do you guys recomend
I was looking at this one
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3227029&CatId=134

Thx i'm really looking forward this popcorn player, it'll be great replacement for my xbmc.

One feature I haven't seen mentioned that I use a lot on my xbmc setup is password protected shares.

I have movies that are fine for all to view and those are stored in a share with no password protection.

I have TV shows (24) and movies that due to content languague/violence/action/sex that are not appropriate for all ages.

Those are in another share that is password protected.

So, my son can watch his recorded (via sage) tv shows and ripped movies over the xbmc and he can't get at the password protected stuff, but I can, by just entering a numeric password on my remote.

Will the popcorn hour/nmt have a way to accomplish this?

Thanks

Just to let everyone know,incase you dont read all the forums..

This morning Popcornhour released their "Quickstart Guide" for the A-100..

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/download/docs/NMT_Quick_Start_Guide_Rev1.0.pdf

I also mirrored it, (Just incase the official site is down at anytime) at amy A-100 Dedicated Yahoo group here..

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Networkedmediatank

Regards to all

Teddy

Thanks for the link teddystacker, Looks good.

I don't see RSS Feeds as part of the torrent application, which makes it at bit less useful for me at the moment. Not a replacement for Azurus and RSSFeed just yet anyway.

I was a bit worried to see that FTP password was not configurable and it is on by default when you install the apps bundle. Not the best idea ever! Hope that gets sorted in the firmware very soon.

Oh and while I'm at it posting for the first time, thanks to everyone who posts such useful information.

Cheers

this features are on the todo list samba user and pass and ftp user and pass ;-)
and amny many many more hehehe

@carima

Welcome to the AVS forums,good to have you on board..
No problem,at this time I am just trying to find and post as much info as I can on the A-100,as there are many people clammering for information,which has been pretty thin on the ground so far..
But things are slowly starting to improve as you can see.I am sure the next 2-3 weeks will prove very interesting and hopefully prospective buyers will get more info that will help them make their buying decision.
I agree with you about the ftp password,I am pretty sure these are items that will be addressed in later firmware revisions..

Regards

Teddy



Thanks for the link teddystacker, Looks good.

I don't see RSS Feeds as part of the torrent application, which makes it at bit less useful for me at the moment. Not a replacement for Azurus and RSSFeed just yet anyway.

I was a bit worried to see that FTP password was not configurable and it is on by default when you install the apps bundle. Not the best idea ever! Hope that gets sorted in the firmware very soon.

Oh and while I'm at it posting for the first time, thanks to everyone who posts such useful information.

Cheers

If I'm able to rip an hd-vd or bluray disc, will this be able to pass DD+, TrueHD, DTS-HD:HR and DTS-HD:MA bitstream? Will it be able to decode it (doubtful I think)?

I'm looking a bit to the future, when I'll want all my DVDs digital so I can be lazy and not have pop in something to a DVD player. Maybe when you rip the image to iso, you can decode these codecs to PCM? Not sure if that's even possible.

No, the first units will have HDMI 1.1 and cannot support these and decoding abilities will not be added. next year a version with HDMI 1.3 is expected which will be able to support pass-through for these... DTS-HD Master Audio is only for high end devices which must feature unlimited channels and is not supported by the EM8634/35 chips. Doubt any player will ever support that in this line of products as it's mostly for mixing equipments.

No, the first units will have HDMI 1.1 and cannot support these and decoding abilities will not be added.
According to cHarOn99 DD+ decoding works (or will work).

DTS-HD Master Audio is only for high end devices which must feature unlimited channels and is not supported by the EM8634/35 chips. Doubt any player will ever support that in this line of products as it's mostly for mixing equipments.
That's not true. DTS-HD Master Audio is used on many Fox Blu-Ray discs and many European Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs. And EM8634 revision C can technically decode it (of course the firmware needs to support it and the license must be bought etc). It's not for mixing equipments, it's an end user codec, just like TrueHD.

6. MKV audio support
- A_EAC3 detection
- audio track switching

from the last firmware update

Is it possible to rip HD-DVD or Bluray movies into an iso (or equivalent) where the audio is stored as PCM? Then it seems like the media streamer wouldn't need hdmi 1.3 and I would still be able to get lossless audio. I suppose this would mean I would need a decoder within the computer dvd drive I'm using to rip the movies. I couldn't find any information on this.

6. MKV audio support
- A_EAC3 detection
- audio track switching

from the last firmware update
@madshi: Hi-Jack gets confused too sometimes... ;)

This sounds good too
Although Syabas does not tell the licensee/manufacturers how to package
their hardware, but the adaptor should be an easy problem to overcome.

We recommends a 12V 3A switching power supply adaptor that can take
100~240V, with a PC-style AC power cord.

PC-style AC power cord should be cheap and available in most if not
all countries.

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?t=21&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I would have a few questions:

1) Is it possible to move the subtitles up or down? And to chose a font size?

2) Will the NMT automatically switch between 1080i/50 and 1080i/60 according to the source frame rate?

3) Is it possible to have a native mode output, i.e. 1080i/60 is the source is 1080i/60, 720p if it's 720p and so on?

4) Can H.264 content be played over the network? The TVIX 4100 for example cannot do that, it requires the file to be on an attached drive.

5) Do Fast Forward and Fast Reverse work with HD TS files?


Thanks for any answer.

4) Can H.264 content be played over the network? The TVIX 4100 for example cannot do that, it requires the file to be on an attached drive.

Is that right?...H.264 (MKV/TS etc) from local drives only? are you sure....

K

It's not mend to be that way, latest beta still has issues with streaming. Must see if
they manage to fix this along with the rest in due time (couple weeks). As to getting
confused, the info posted on HD Master Audio is feedback from developers working on
EM8634 units that no intend to support it since it is mainly for high end audio mixing
equipment...

Quote
Btw, SMP8634 won't be able to support DTS-HD Master Audio, just DTS-HD High Resolution Audio. Master Audio technically calls for unlimited channels support, which is more meant for professional audio mixing equipments.

If that changed in the mean time, great....
Didn't know that and that's not confusion, but plain missing knowledge :-)

Need more room in my brain...
Enjoy

It's not mend to be that way, latest beta still has issues with streaming. Must see if they manage to fix this along with the rest in due time (couple weeks). As to getting confused, the info posted on HD Master Audio is feedback from developers working on EM8634 units that no intend to support it since it is mainly for high end audio mixing equipment...

Quote
Btw, SMP8634 won't be able to support DTS-HD Master Audio, just DTS-HD High Resolution Audio. Master Audio technically calls for unlimited channels support, which is more meant for professional audio mixing equipments.

If that changed in the mean time, great....
Didn't know that and that's not confusion, but plain missing knowledge :-)
DTS-HD Master Audio is limited to 8 channels on Blu-Ray and HD DVD. It's the same with TrueHD. TrueHD can in theory also support more than 8 channels. But Blu-Ray and HD DVD limit it to 8 channels. See here for an exact listing what DTS formats Blu-Ray and HD DVD support:

http://dts.com/dts-hd/dts-on-bluray-and-hddvd.php

The "call for unlimited channels support" might be meant for professional audio mixing equipment. But the main purpose of DTS-HD Master Audio is for Blu-Ray and HD DVD. It's used on quite a big number of Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs.

EM8634 revisions A and B cannot decode DTS-HD Master Audio, but EM8634 rev. C or newer can. Sigma Designs has recently demoed a Blu-Ray reference platform with DTS-HD Master Audio decoding support. It's based on EM8634 rev. C.