ACRyan (Playon!HD) - Page 14

The software can compliment the player in that you can serve files from your computer via streaming. With PlayOn (software) supporting Hulu, Netflix, Amazon VOD, and more, this can be of great benefit. I am planning on using it once my Play!OnHD shows up (still no tracking info).

clanmate of mine just ordered this from gizmodaddy. can't wait to hear his thoughts. they have free shipping for the rest of Sept. as well

I just ordered one as well from GizzmoDaddy. Hope it arrives soon. I also hope AC Ryan keeps updating the system with firmwares and features.

The player has over 1500 pages(yes pages) of Internet Radio, but for video streaming, only third party software will work at this time.
When ACRyan does include video streaming it will be limited, Youtube etc.

imho: they should make these third party apps a high priority on there forums, and more importantly in there firmware.
If you look at PlayOn's Plugin site, they are constantly adding new channels-NBC,Nascar,PGA,MTV. Without it, it's just another box.

Attachment 153422
Attachment 153423

Just a heads up, Gizmodaddy is notifying AC Ryan of the order and having them ship it directly from their Ohio distribution point. My order shipped on the second business day after I placed it and will arrive next Tuesday.

was looking at the plug in site and there was talk of netflix insta play not updating on the netflix site.
Wait so the playon plugin cost $39 so you can do this on your computer.
I really thought you could do this with freeware plugins in wmc.
Isn't the AC Ryan or for that matter any media server just a receiver from the computer and a pass thru to the tv?

Is Acryan working on movie jukebox interface like the one on Xtreamer?

Did any one use apple wireless N adapter with this unit. acryan indicates it should work.

Thanks For the Head's Up Panzer I see mine shipped the same day I ordered and I should have it next week as well depending on Canadian Customs :-)
Has anyone received one in North America lately through Gizmodaddy and can verify which chipset it has? Is it the RTD1073DA or RTD1073DD? Supposedly the RTD1073DD is a bit newer and has a few more capabilities.

I just received my unit yesterday (24 Sept); ordered it on the 18th. I ordered directly from the A.C. Ryan website and the unit was shipped (FEDEX) from Ohio. I received a number of emails notifying me of the shipping status. The box arrived in good condition with no damage.

Before firing it up, I installed a hard drive. I hooked the box up to a HD TV via composite cable initially. I'm unsure what the default setting is, but the thing probably boots into PAL format as the screen is unreadable. This caused some problems because the instruction manual isn't 100% clear on how to cycle through the video modes. That, coupled with the fact that the unit initially booted up wanting to format the hard drive caused me some grief, but I finally got it worked out. If it hadn't been for the initial video problem, it would have been smooth sailing as the hard drive format was easy, as was installing the plugins.

Which brings me to my next point--networking. I use ethernet-over-powerline, so I hooked the media player to the lan prior to the first boot. I really didn't do anything to get the network operational; it pulled the IP via DHCP on its own.

The unit has the 1073DD chip, but didn't have the latest firmware, so I flashed it. Again, no issues.
Later, I wired up the player to my 47" LCD via HDMI. I have the LAN running through a 4-port switch (shared with a SlingBox and my DishNetwork DVR). Again, no problems obtaining an IP.

I tested the unit with MediaMall's Playon software and TVersity. I was able to easily get Hulu streaming, and lots of other goodness via MediaMall's plugins (e.g. AdultSwim, CNN, CBS, etc.). I was unable to get Netflix streaming--but MediaMall has a notice saying they know it's down. I'm hoping it's not the PlayOn!HD's issue.

Perhaps others might find this salient; I own a WDTV, and have been using a 1TB drive with it. I had a chance to test an eGreat m34a two weeks ago and that unit would not see the 1TB drive (formatted NTFS). The PlayOn!HD sees it immediately.

On the downside, I have had some issues with the player today. Upon initial bootup, it didn't get an IP address. I rebooted the router, but no joy. I turned the PlayOn!HD off (via remote), but no joy. When I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in, I got an IP immediately. Also, soon after initial boot up today it quit pumping out a video signal. The box became unresponsive to both the remote and the button on the front. The front button is plastic and very flimsy; I'm concerned about possible breakage with this piece. I do not care much for the player's case; although it looks fine, they chose to make the outer shell plastic, which I just don't care for. Unplugging the unit fixed the video issue, however I remain concerned about this happening in the future.

Other than that, I am impressed with the unit. It has handled all my files well. I like the fact that it has no problems with ISOs and DVD menus. The video quality is great, the menu is superior to the stock menus on NMTs, and it has more flexibility than the 1st generation WDTV.

I have two questions here:

1. How did u cycle to get it out of pal mode?

2. Is it necessary to use still tversity/ps3 media server or playOn software? I thought we might not need these any more as this darn thing has its own server built in?

To cycle through the video modes, you hit a key on the remote (upper left corner of remote) labeled TV SYS. What you can't tell from the manual (or even by doing it) is that you don't have to hit an "enter" key after pressing it. This *might* seem intuitive, but it takes a few seconds after hitting the key for it to even begin to change the resolution. If you hit the "enter" key or even hit the TV SYS button again before it changes, it cancels the resolution change. In my case, I didn't think the TV SYS button was working correctly. What you have to do is press the TV SYS button ONCE, wait for a few (or more seconds) and it will eventually cycle to a different resolution. As many resolutions are possible, it might take a bunch of button pressing before you actually get to a resolution you can view on your TV. ACRyan should have their inventory in North America at least pre-set to NTSC resolutions.

As to your second question, I'm not sure how to answer. As far as I can tell, the PlayOn!HD has no internet streaming ability other than the radio (which works great). From what I read on their forums, they are working to add YouTube functionality in future firmware updates, but there is nothing as of yet. FWIW, my experience of streaming video via the eGreat m34a wasn't spectacular. NMTs currently DO have the ability to stream some online video built-in, but the selection is pretty crappy. MediaMall's software (and plugins) have much better content than I've seen on the NMTs. Hope my answers helped.

Thanks Zed,

I am not concerned about internet video here. I am talking about universal compatibility and streaming from my pc without using tversity etc?

It would be nice if internet /online is possible too lol.

Build quality seems very good. I have 2.5 inch 160GB SATA drive that is right now FAT32, should I format it to NTFS before installing?

Can I dload stuff onto this hard drive from my pc, after being installed into the player , wired/or wireless connection?

Any idea if wireless N apple adapter works with it? Nan did indicate it will, so I did not buy dongle!

thanks again

Let me try and tackle your questions one at a time.
Question:

Yes the PlayOn!HD can stream directly from shared drives/directories on your network without a hitch. I run XP Pro on one machine, and XP MCE on another; the PlayOn!HD found my shares without me doing anything. It can also see UPnP devices. When you run something like TVersity or MediaMall's Playon software, it shows up as a UPnP device.

Question:

Okay, not a question, but just for clarity, the PlayOn!HD can stream online radio as a built-in feature of the current firmware. My limited experience is that it does this very well.

Question:

Build quality seems okay; not as good as the WDTV in my opinion. I do NOT like the plastic case, and the power button on the front seems VERY flimsy.

Question:

If you're talking about installing the drive as an internal, then "no." Remove your data off the drive (if you need it), and let the PlayOn!HD format the drive. I'm pretty sure it formats the drive with the ext3 file system. I don't know for sure, but regardless--if it's an internal, let the streamer format it. If you're using an external just plug it in via USB and see if it can read it.

Question:

Yes, the box has built-in ability to copy/move files from the LAN or USB drives, to the Internal Drive. It can probably move files from any attached devices, actually. I've only tried moving files from the LAN to the Internal Drive. I copied two 700mb files minutes after I got the box running; the transfer time was only around 10 minutes or so. A faster option is to use the PlayOn!HD's USB slave port and hook the streamer right up to your computer,although I haven't personally done this yet. If you're interested, the player also has the ability to create & name directories, delete files, etc.

I have no experience trying the device wirelessly. From what I can tell, if you use a wireless USB dongle, it will need to have a Realtek chipset. But again, I haven't experimented with that at all.

Thanks Zed,

I am not concerned about internet video here. I am talking about universal compatibility and streaming from my pc without using tversity etc?

It would be nice if internet /online is possible too lol.

Build quality seems very good. I have 2.5 inch 160GB SATA drive that is right now FAT32, should I format it to NTFS before installing?

Can I dload stuff onto this hard drive from my pc, after being installed into the player , wired/or wireless connection?

Any idea if wireless N apple adapter works with it? Nan did indicate it will, so I did not buy dongle!

thanks again

Oh yes, this looks promising!!! Let's hope that it comes from the RealTek firmware so we can all have it very soon

I have the Mvix Ultio 800. Is this a similar unit? I never even knew there were so many companies making these products. Of course a lot of them are in their infancy but it is nice that there are choices out there. I'm always looking to compare, not necessarily buy more but if I find a product much better than what I have, it is worth to look into. So, anyone have the Ultio and compare it to one of these?

Here is a list and ratings.

This combo-w-free shipping is a great deal that was offered when I bought the PlayOn!HD. I just transferred 30GB to the drive and the PO!HD stayed cool and quiet the entire time. It has some negative reviews, but I've had no problems so far, and the sata dock has been very handy.

After reading this review, and the comment of the external power supply, I might disable the fan temporarily, to see if it can run cool without it.

I got mine last friday(25 sep) from Gizmodaddy. Shipping took 2 weeks because the unit was stuck in canadian customs for a week. The chipset is the DD one.

Thanks for the update on which chipset you received. I see mine is at Canadian Customs now. I hope it doesn't sit there for a week too.

I just ran into the same situation. I got home from work and decided to transfer some more files from the PC to the PlayOn!HD. I fired up the player and PC, and selected the files to copy, but the player wasn't there. In Vista's network center same thing, no PlayOn!HD. I was about to unplug the player, but then tried closing and reopening the network discovery, and it worked. The player was back in the network, and I was able to transfer the files.

I'm not sure what's causing the player to drop out of the network, but at least there are some easy solutions to get it back.

I got my POHD (from GizmoDaddy) a week or two back, but due to work/life did not have time to mess with it. Finally hooked it up this past Monday just to test it out. No problems, worked fine right out of the box. It was set for PAL, but I could still see the display on screen on my HDTV (with a composite connection), I used the TV SYS button on the remote to cycle to NTSC. Both NTSC and 480p worked fine over composite.

Tested it with some mp3 and DivX/Avi files and everything worked fine. Good video quality and very responsive (quick previews, instant playback, etc.). Internet radio worked fine, also. The UI needs some work (as many have mentioned), but it's functional.

When watching DivX movies, things like FFwd and Rew, instant replay, skip, zoom, etc. worked very well, better than many other devices I have. Remote seems fine. Layout quirky as with most, better than many and range, signal strength seems good. Will probably be using my Harmony One, though, once I set it up.

The case seems fine to me. It's a metal chassis with a top/sides cover that's plastic. Power button is plastic, but did not strike me as especially cheap or fragile. Similar to many such buttons on various equipment. Not as high end as some, better than others. Overall, build quality seems good to me.

Hope to have time to play around with it some more this weekend. Install my HDD, test network streaming, and so on. Overall, happy and satisfied so far.

Have they gotten the DTS downmixing capability in yet?

Do DVD menus work with a DVD VIDEO_TS folder? I've seen this question asked but no one seems to want to answer. I know DVD iso files work with the menus. With a VIDEO_TS folder, how is the DVD displayed and selected? Does the DVD start when you select the folder? In the Media Library, does it use the folder name as the movie title?

please elaborate! I am depending upon that, otherwise will cancel my order then.

For SDDVD yes no problem.


Select the movie title folder>VIDEO_TS folder>VIDEO_TS.IFO


Are you asking about DTS-HD? If so, I'm not sure, I could test it, if someone could link me to a sample download. I can't rip Blu_rays yet.

Take a look at this thread for instance:
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/sh....php?tid=14051

did the ryan ratings on iboum go down?
I thought it was a 4 now its a 3.
Anyone know the reason?

ps the xtreamer is only a 3 as well.

I can't believe they gave a 4 to the C200 since that thing (reviews like mpcclub) has so many problems its not funny.

Four stars = Exceptional with no problems

*sarcastic mode on* REALLY? *sarcastic mode off*

Thanks Jerome,
DTS-HD,6 channels@1509kbps-variable
Decode and downmix with no volume issues.


The ratings are just iboum's opinion, and his table is incomplete.
The internal storage for the Xtreamer should read 2.5" SATA(500GB?).