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PopBox Owners' Thread: Impressions, Reviews & Tips - Page 16

post #451 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4fit? View Post

...


Anyone shed any light at all on how I can get this thing to scrape that movies folder and populate the info like it should? I know that a few folks have mentioned that they have successfully played BD ISOs, so I would assume that DVD ISOs should not pose a problem like this.

....

I had about 4tb worth of files and it took a long time. I was not sure by your post if you were looking to find cover art from the USB/Network category...

The USB/Network category in the Media Library is for file level browsing only and does not show cover art....

I left it on for a few hours before I noticed the movies were added..then I noticed the TV shows were added.

Everything I have are .mkv files and a few .avi
post #452 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmpage2 View Post

I've been keeping up with this thread from the start but have not seen much information about .mkv performance for high bitrate content.

...

Anyone playing back high bitrate (BD rips) .mkv files with success yet? ...

All my movies are .mkv around 10-20 gb in size but with only DTS. I don't have any DTS-HD to test.

I have watched about 4 movies so far and it has not stuttered one bit using wireless. No drop outs whatsoever. I could not say that using my WDTV Live.
post #453 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by djvitamind View Post

All my movies are .mkv around 10-20 gb in size but with only DTS. I don't have any DTS-HD to test.

I have watched about 4 movies so far and it has not stuttered one bit using wireless. No drop outs whatsoever. I could not say that using my WDTV Live.

Thank you, yours are transcoded or original video files? Have you tested with subtitles?
post #454 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by djvitamind View Post

I have tried out many different movies over the last 24 hours and I am not experiencing the missing middle channel.

DTS or Dolby I am still getting sound through the center channel.
It is showing PCM Direct on my Pioneer.

Try Kung Fu Panda. That is one of my BD ISOs I remember was missing the center channel.
post #455 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

Try Kung Fu Panda. That is one of my BD ISOs I remember was missing the center channel.

I di d just do some testing and when I dropped down to two channel it seemed to downmix everything. But then when I enabled 5.1 again I was getting audio in the center channel. I need to move it back to my main system and off this 3.1 speaker bar to really tell if it was still at 2.0 or if it was actually sending 5.1
post #456 of 3870
Okay, I have found an awkward glitch. I have about 14 TV series currently in my collection, but the 'TV Shows' menu only allows 12 per page. Problem is that when I attempt to scroll down to the second page, it just stops on the 12th show, and will not go any further. Has anyone else had this problem? So far the only thing I haven't tried is restoring the firmware, which I'll do if I know that it may fix the problem. I mainly want to know if anyone else is experiencing this. I can access these shows if I go to the the 'All Videos' tab but that really defeats the purpose of keeping everything organized.

Also, to anyone having issues arranging their TV shows, so far this is the best way I have found that the Popbox will read it properly. 'Main Media Folder'/TV Shows/'Series Name'/'Series Name - S0#E0#'/. For some reason if you add sub-levels such as 'Season 1' to the Series folder it freaks out. As far as it pulling incorrect info for TV shows from IMDB, you can correct this by going the the 'All Videos' tab and pressing the info button on the shows that are incorrect. Select 'Find Information' and you can now search for the correct series. The only down side is that you have to do this for each individual episode. Syabas really needs to include this feature in the 'TV Shows' tab to make this process much easier.

So far I'm not too unhappy with the Popbox, its just that these problems will need to be fixed relatively soon if I am going to decide to keep it.
post #457 of 3870
My DVD playback is fine. Found some issues finding media--namely about 12 discs in a series with a similar name. It's been stripped down to one of the DVDs. Thankfully you can navigate the file system in the mean time.
post #458 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by brandonjcreek View Post

Also, to anyone having issues arranging their TV shows, so far this is the best way I have found that the Popbox will read it properly. 'Main Media Folder'/TV Shows/'Series Name'/'Series Name - S0#E0#'/. For some reason if you add sub-levels such as 'Season 1' to the Series folder it freaks out.

Unfortunately, that's not going to work for me -- and I suspect a lot of us. My Popbox will be used in my bedroom, so I simply can't alter my entire folder structure to suit the Popbox when the existing file/folder structure is the backbone of my 100% functional main HT setup downstairs.

I knew that TV Shows would be a weakness. Hopefully, they will address it and allow for our existing file/folder structures, art, and metadata soon...
post #459 of 3870
Sorry for segmenting this post into two, but I also wanted to share this unboxing video for any prospective buyers, and the forum wouldn't allow me--being a n00b and all.

http://vimeo.com/13418082

There's bad lighting going on, and other assorted problems with the video, but the goods are there. My offscreen UI video is one I'll probably upload overnight or tomorrow, since it's over 1Gig (10 minutes of 1080p), and I'm on a limited connection.
post #460 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by brandonjcreek View Post

Okay, I have found an awkward glitch. I have about 14 TV series currently in my collection, but the 'TV Shows' menu only allows 12 per page. Problem is that when I attempt to scroll down to the second page, it just stops on the 12th show, and will not go any further. Has anyone else had this problem? So far the only thing I haven't tried is restoring the firmware, which I'll do if I know that it may fix the problem. I mainly want to know if anyone else is experiencing this. I can access these shows if I go to the the 'All Videos' tab but that really defeats the purpose of keeping everything organized.

Also, to anyone having issues arranging their TV shows, so far this is the best way I have found that the Popbox will read it properly. 'Main Media Folder'/TV Shows/'Series Name'/'Series Name - S0#E0#'/. For some reason if you add sub-levels such as 'Season 1' to the Series folder it freaks out. As far as it pulling incorrect info for TV shows from IMDB, you can correct this by going the the 'All Videos' tab and pressing the info button on the shows that are incorrect. Select 'Find Information' and you can now search for the correct series. The only down side is that you have to do this for each individual episode. Syabas really needs to include this feature in the 'TV Shows' tab to make this process much easier.

So far I'm not too unhappy with the Popbox, its just that these problems will need to be fixed relatively soon if I am going to decide to keep it.

Brandon,

I can confirm. The interface needs a lot of work for TV Shows, which is 99% of the media that I have. It will take a long time to fix the info issues. I am not sure that it is worth it for now (hoping for a firmware fix). I am going to play around with file structures and see what happens.

Otherwise, no major issues with my Day 2 unboxing and running. Most of the things that I tried to play worked, but I am not "watching" anything yet, just playing around...
post #461 of 3870
Thanks for the feedback and patience. Here is an update on the issues. Please note that some of the issues are still being investigated. We are working on an immediate release to address the critical issues. Will keep you posted on the availability.

-- Audio: missing channels, particularly the center channel, during video playback
[Popbox] - Investigating
-- Audio: PCM vs. standard DTS/DD 5.1 output
[Popbox] - Standard DTS and DD5.1 will be supported in the next release. Will provide information on the availability of the release later.
-- Audio: No bitstreaming support for TrueHD and DTS-HD MA
[Popbox] - Is on the list to be supported in a future release
-- Audio: After switching from Music to Movies, then starting a movie, the previous music selection starts playing again along with the movie audio.
[Popbox] - Will be fixed in the next release
-- Playback: Movies starting over from beginning after stopping
[Popbox] - Will be fixed in the next release
-- Video: Black/blank screens after hitting play
[Popbox] - We are investigating this.
-- Video: Audio starting without video
[Krishna] - Is this during streaming in the apps or playing back from the Media Library?
-- UI: After exiting a movie, the focus frame is not present and always returns to first movie in library
[Krishna] - Will be fixed in the next release
-- UI: Inability to sort movies by genre/category, or jump to specific places in large libraries
[Krishna] - Already on the list for a future release
-- UI: TV show scraping and listing is poorly executed (Almost completely unusable?).
[Krishna] - Looking into ways to improve this
-- Design: Power cord connection is loose, or "shallow"
[Krishna] - Will get back to you on this
-- Design: USB port located too close to power port
[Krishna] - Will get back to you on this
-- Playback: Lack of subtitle toggle
[Krishna] - On the list for a future release
-- Playback: Lack of audio track selection
[Krishna] - Will get back to you on this
-- Playback: No chapter skipping or "jumps" forward/back
[Krishna] - On the list for a future release
-- Support: Lack of dedicated support forum
[Krishna] - In the works, will get back to you with a date.
post #462 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by jcorgan View Post

Sorry for segmenting this post into two, but I also wanted to share this unboxing video for any prospective buyers, and the forum wouldn't allow me--being a n00b and all.

http://vimeo.com/13418082

There's bad lighting going on, and other assorted problems with the video, but the goods are there. My offscreen UI video is one I'll probably upload overnight or tomorrow, since it's over 1Gig (10 minutes of 1080p), and I'm on a limited connection.

Why didn't you use a lower resolution, like 720P?

Hey!! I didn't have any batteries in my box! But I also didn't get the one the wireless adapter included.
post #463 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

Why didn't you use a lower resolution, like 720P?

Hey!! I didn't have any batteries in my box! But I also didn't get the one the wireless adapter included.

1080p is totally overkill, haha. It's just the default setting I have on my Camera, and I didn't want to mess with settings too much this morning.
post #464 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by Samaritano View Post

Do manufacturers use the early adopters as "beta testers"? That is what I'm getting from this thread. I don't have any experience with NMT, but if I buy one I'm expecting for it to work out of the box. I was hoping for the PopBox to be the box that fulfilled all my needs but so far it looks like a product that was not ready to ship.

Just my 2¢

Syabas does have a history of using users as beta testers whether the users know it or not. Some seem to think that is ok, even when unknowing users purchase the product along with those that have experience troubleshooting. I keep considering buying one of their products but then this type of crap keeps happening. For now Im still using my AppleTV w/CrystalHD card and XBMC until someone, anyone, comes up with a pre-packaged media player that is both functional and has a nice user interface. For some reason those two seem mutually exclusive to this point.
post #465 of 3870
I noticed I cannot click the 'i' or information button when viewing 'TV Shows'. In other words I can't access any additional info from IMDB. I does work with 'Movies'.
post #466 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

I di d just do some testing and when I dropped down to two channel it seemed to downmix everything. But then when I enabled 5.1 again I was getting audio in the center channel. I need to move it back to my main system and off this 3.1 speaker bar to really tell if it was still at 2.0 or if it was actually sending 5.1

I put the PopBox back in my main setup and it has teh center channel audio from the Kung Fu Panda Disc. Something must have cuased it since it did occur when connected to my Sony 3.1 speaker bar and also in my main setup last night.
I have no idea what could have caused it though.
Let me check couple of more titles that had the issue last night. I wish I could have remebered them earlier when I had it in the other room.
post #467 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by palehorse View Post

Unfortunately, that's not going to work for me -- and I suspect a lot of us. My Popbox will be used in my bedroom, so I simply can't alter my entire folder structure to suit the Popbox when the existing file/folder structure is the backbone of my 100% functional main HT setup downstairs.

I knew that TV Shows would be a weakness. Hopefully, they will address it and allow for our existing file/folder structures, art, and metadata soon...

Yeah, I'll be anxious to see how it handles my current TV structure...series\\season\\s x ee...which works great, with the ultimate scrapper, in my Bedroom system, XBMC.

CD
post #468 of 3870
I'm primarily a UI guy, so some of these issues I'll report today have to do with some cosmetic problems. They're nitpicky and superficial I know, but I'm a sucker for good user experiences.

Some issues in the latest firmware I have:

-- Function: Hitting "Back" with the network password dialog open causes one to revert control to the Settings menu below it, with no way to close said network dialogue box.
-- Function: If accessing the Settings menu during playback of a DVD ISO, the upward and downward buttons used to navigate the menus skip forward and backward (respectively) through the playing film playing in the background.
-- Function: Receive a dialog claiming NO Success in connecting to a wireless network after entering in the key, after being told I WAS Successful. Despite this mixup, the network connected properly.
-- Grammatical: IMDB Lookup Dialog: "Finded Results"
-- Design: On-screen volume slider has visible cuts on the outer edges.
-- Design: Aliased Throbber on the Firmware update screen (Potentially unavoidable)
-- Design: Programming Firmware Percentage poorly layered over an underlying displayed percentage.
post #469 of 3870
More TV Show impressions:

DVD ISOs work good. Full menu and chapter control support.

My main problem is with the IBDB stuff right now. When it does find a match, it does not keep the Season/Disk information. So, if you have 5 Seasons of a show, and each Season has 4 Disks, you get 20 entries with the same picture and title. If I try to edit the title, it wants to save the entry under "Home Movies". I would prefer an option to have it save the file name as the Title.

A lot of unmatches as well. I am surprised that it does not use the folder names to give it a clue as to the lookup. For example, I have a folder called "Arrested Development" and under that, a folder called "Season 1". Now, I admit, the DVD ISOs are poorly named (ARRESTED_D1), but couldn't the IMDB scrapper have used the clues given to it to figure something out? Update: sometimes if you go to the next page, then come back, it has the correct thumbnail and name now. Still no Season/Disk info.

Now, if you get a bad match, it's a nightmare to fix. First, you have to play the disk to figure out what the real content is. This is where displaying the filename somewhere would be a godsend. Then you have to go to the IMDB search and use the online keyboard to find the real name. Then, you need to edit the title to put the correct Season Disk info in it. Any fixes to aid in this process would be awesome.

Perhaps, for TV Show collections, using a folder browser approach is the only way to go. I wanted a fancy gui interface, but that may not be practical. I am willing to be a little patient and give the PopBox Dev Team time to work thru the issues...
post #470 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4fit? View Post

OK guys. Been working with the PB for a couple hours or so this morning. I do not have a NAS or anything like that in my network. It is a simple desktop with a small 640gb external HD hooked up to it. There are 3 folders in that HD that are shared; movies, tv_shows, and audio. In the Settings area, I have added those folders (except the audio one) in the Add Network Shares area. I then added them in the Add Media section. After this, the Scan Status changed to Running. At this point, everything is doing exactly as popboxteam said.

So, I head out to the main Media Library and select TV Shows. Now, my tv_shows folder only contains avi files of seasons 1 & 2 of The Big Bang Theory. I see that this had apparently been scraped and was appearing in the PB menus, although it is a file structure view with only a small cover art image appearing in the right hand pane of the window. OK. Thats fine. Probably because its a TV show and not an actual movie file.

At this point, things were looking up. I was ready to go have a look at the Movies section of the Media Library. So I click on Movies and get the message "There is no content available for this section". So, I am very confused by this and wonder how the tv_shows folder was apparently scraped when the movies folder wasn't.

So I head down to the USB|Network section and pull up the folder list of my shared folders. Upon selecting the movies share in the left pane, the right pane shows loading for a split second and then says "No Content". Now, this movies folder has approximately 40 dvd ISO rips in it. Why in the world are they not showing up at all? It also has a few mkvs and avis. Now I know that the avis should show up because they do in the TV Shows area.

Anyone shed any light at all on how I can get this thing to scrape that movies folder and populate the info like it should? I know that a few folks have mentioned that they have successfully played BD ISOs, so I would assume that DVD ISOs should not pose a problem like this.

Up until this point, I haven't even added the audio folder. Yet somehow the artists from that folder still appear in the Music section of the Media Library. Notice I said the artist, not anything else. I can select an artist and there is nothing tied to them. No albums, no tracks, no nothing.

So, I am completely confused right now. Is there anyone that has any idea what I could be doing wrong here?

Thanks in advance for any help. It is greatly appreciated!


haha and yeah I was being stupid for only spending an hour with this thing.Who's laughing now? its pretty crappy.. heh. poopbox. Im sticking with my popcorn hour with its text menus. I know what im watching
post #471 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

I put the PopBox back in my main setup and it has teh center channel audio from the Kung Fu Panda Disc. Something must have cuased it since it did occur when connected to my Sony 3.1 speaker bar and also in my main setup last night.
I have no idea what could have caused it though.
Let me check couple of more titles that had the issue last night. I wish I could have remebered them earlier when I had it in the other room.

I think I know whats tripping up the center channel. I lost it again in my main setup, but this was also after playing a BD ISO that has 96khz/24bit PCM. My Chris Botti BD ISOs have the high bitrate audio and the PopBox defaults to the stereo track. WHen audio options are implemented I guess I'll be able to pick the correct. track. Anyway, it seems like this is tripping it up. Since the center channel was fine until I played these ISOs.
I restarted the PopBox,receiver and video processor and the center channel is back.
post #472 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by djvitamind View Post

I had about 4tb worth of files and it took a long time. I was not sure by your post if you were looking to find cover art from the USB/Network category...

The USB/Network category in the Media Library is for file level browsing only and does not show cover art....

I left it on for a few hours before I noticed the movies were added..then I noticed the TV shows were added.

Everything I have are .mkv files and a few .avi

No, I wasn't looking to see the cover art in the USB|Network area. Just checking there to see if the files would appear there. The files don't appear anywhere though. I just cut the PB on and am going to just leave it on for a while and see what happens. I honestly don't have my hopes up though. I mean, I have seen it change from Running to Stop and no difference. Just not really understanding it at this point.
post #473 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by palehorse View Post

So, essentially, the TV Show scraping interface is different -- missing functions -- than the Movie scraping interface; and, as a result, some movies that are originally misidentified as TV Shows get stuck in TV Show purgatory in the interface... is that what you're saying?

I really wish they'd just let us use our locally stored metadata/art... sheesh.

That's correct. I followed someone's advice in a later post and was able to update the IMDB info from the All Videos tab. So the feature is available, just not from where it would be the most convenient.

I agree about the local metadata. That would be nice.
post #474 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

I think I know whats tripping up the center channel. I lost it again in my main setup, but this was also after playing a BD ISO that has 96khz/24bit PCM. My Chris Botti BD ISOs have the high bitrate audio and the PopBox defaults to the stereo track. WHen audio options are implemented I guess I'll be able to pick the correct. track. Anyway, it seems like this is tripping it up. Since the center channel was fine until I played these ISOs.
I restarted the PopBox,receiver and video processor and the center channel is back.

Darnit. Maybe that isn't it. Distict 9 tripped it up too.

But at least now when I go back to Kung Fu Panda the center channel is there, so it isn't stuck off.
post #475 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by marlowefire View Post

haha and yeah I was being stupid for only spending an hour with this thing.Who's laughing now? its pretty crappy.. heh. poopbox. Im sticking with my popcorn hour with its text menus. I know what im watching

Big difference.....I'm not giving in and not calling it crappy yet. I just look at it as a challenge and part of being an early adopter.
post #476 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

Darnit. Maybe that isn't it. Distict 9 tripped it up too.

But at least now when I go back to Kung Fu Panda the center channel is there, so it isn't stuck off.

I think it's taking the 5.1 signal and only sending through the FL and FR channels, even though it shows it's sending a 5.1 pcm signal. I compared the first few minutes of Disctric 9 between my C200 and the PopBox. The only audio I hear is coming from the FL and FR on the POPBox with all the other channels empty, even though the receiver is reporting 5.1 PCM. The first few minutes should have audio emanating from all channels and I could clearly hear them with my C200. But they were absent from the PopBox.

I have no idea what causes issues with certain titles though
post #477 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by popboxteam View Post

-- Audio: missing channels, particularly the center channel, during video playback
[Popbox] - Investigating
-- Audio: PCM vs. standard DTS/DD 5.1 output
[Popbox] - Standard DTS and DD5.1 will be supported in the next release. Will provide information on the availability of the release later.
-- Audio: No bitstreaming support for TrueHD and DTS-HD MA

I'll need these to be resolved before joining the party
post #478 of 3870
Further thoughts on the TV Show interface:

I have decided that the PopBox really should not show all of the separate episodes in the "All Videos" tab. It should show one icon for the series and let you choose it before showing the seasons and episodes. Otherwise, it is a pain in the butt to page down through 7 Seasons of Seinfeld episodes.

The good news is that using the network browsing tab, everything works just fine. I think that I will be using this interface for TV Shows, and only use the Media Library for movies, at least until something changes.

Other than this issue, I haven't had any major issues yet. I am a content owner at this point...
post #479 of 3870
Here is the first video for the popbox, the others can be seen on my youtube account...media still scanning in...will post more throughout the night. My apologies for the iphone video, but it's the easiest way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_4xv_gCEU
post #480 of 3870
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

I think it's taking the 5.1 signal and only sending through the FL and FR channels, even though it shows it's sending a 5.1 pcm signal. I compared the first few minutes of Disctric 9 between my C200 and the PopBox. The only audio I hear is coming from the FL and FR on the POPBox with all the other channels empty, even though the receiver is reporting 5.1 PCM. The first few minutes should have audio emanating from all channels and I could clearly hear them with my C200. But they were absent from the PopBox.

I have no idea what causes issues with certain titles though

Whatever happens to cause it to lose those channels for me is inconsistent. Sometimes it seems to stick and I need to power it off and sometimes it doesn't stick. I've been switching between District 9 and Kung Fu Panda. It is always missing the channels except for FL and FR in Disctric 9(even though it show 5.1 pcm) with Kung fu Panda if the miising channels stick from before then they are missing in Kung Fu Panda. if they don't stcik then Kung Fu Panda is fine.
This is enough testing for me. I need it to finish scanning everything. I extended the scanning time so it will scan longer. And I've put the 8GB class 6 card back in. It seems slightly faster showing the images with the class 6 than with the class 2. I guess I need to pick up a 4GB class 4 card for $10 from Amazon.
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