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Micca EP250 and EP350

post #1 of 416
2/1/11 at 8:46am
Thread Starter 
Here's a new thread for the new Micca Players

http://content.miccastore.com/Micca-EP350
http://content.miccastore.com/Micca-EP250
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post #2 of 416
2/1/11 at 8:52am
Thread Starter 
Micca EP250
Based on the Realtek 1073 digital media processor, the EP250 provides flawless playback for all of today's popular media file formats - no more guessing whether a video you just got is supported! For video, supported files include AVI, MKV, MP4, M2TS, MOV, DAT, VOB, IFO, MPG, TS, TP, WMV, ASF, RM, RMVB, FLV, and ISO. Supported video codecs include H.264/AVC, MPEG1/2/4, DivX/Xvid, VC-1, and RMVB. The EP250 handles all of these video formats perfectly all the way up to 1080p Full-HD resolution. In addition to video, the EP250 plays popular audio formats such as AC3, TrueHD, DTS, DTS-MA, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, M4A, WAV, and displays photos in JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, and TIF files. Please see the specifications tab below for full file/codec support details.

Up to 1TB of Internal Storage
The EP250 contains an internal hard disk drive bay for mounting a 2.5" SATA HDD with up to 2TB of storage space. This internal storage provides a central location for all your media files with the following benefits:

* Fastest and most stable playback, especially for 1080p high bit-rate videos.
* No need to maintain media files on an external hard drive or USB drive.
* Neater than attaching an external hard drive that may require AC power.
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers on the network.
* Much more stable and reliable for file serving than Windows shares.

A hard drive is not required for the EP250 to function but is strongly recommended for the additional features and capabilities it brings. The EP250 also has two USB ports as well as a flash card reader for playing media files from an external hard drive or flash card.

Fast LAN and 802.11n Wi-Fi
The EP250 has a built-in 10/100mbps fast Ethernet LAN connection as well as an optional 802.11n Wi-Fi module. Unlike other network enabled media players, the EP250 uses the network not just for playing media files on other devices, but also for serving media files to other devices.

* Browse and play media files from Windows shares, Network Attached Storage (NAS), or UPnP media servers (TVersity, MediaTomb, etc)
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers like a NAS
* ********** client for managing file downloads
* Access Internet services such as Flikr and Picasa


Micca EP350

Based on the Realtek 1073 digital media processor, the EP350 provides flawless playback for all of today's popular media file formats - no more guessing whether a video you just got is supported! For video, supported files include AVI, MKV, MP4, M2TS, MOV, DAT, VOB, IFO, MPG, TS, TP, WMV, ASF, RM, RMVB, FLV, and ISO. Supported video codecs include H.264/AVC, MPEG1/2/4, DivX/Xvid, VC-1, and RMVB. The EP350 handles all of these video formats perfectly all the way up to 1080p Full-HD resolution. In addition to video, the EP350 plays popular audio formats such as AC3, TrueHD, DTS, DTS-MA, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, M4A, WAV, and displays photos in JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, and TIF files. Please see the specifications tab below for full file/codec support details.

Up to 2TB of Internal Storage
The EP350 contains an internal hard disk drive bay for mounting a 3.5" SATA HDD with up to 2TB of storage space. This internal storage provides a central location for all your media files with the following benefits:

* Fastest and most stable playback, especially for 1080p high bit-rate videos.
* No need to maintain media files on an external hard drive or USB drive.
* Neater than attaching an external hard drive that may require AC power.
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers on the network.
* Much more stable and reliable for file serving than Windows shares.

A hard drive is not required for the EP350 to function but is strongly recommended for the additional features and capabilities it brings. The EP350 also has two USB ports as well as a flash card reader for playing media files from an external hard drive or flash card.

Fast LAN and 802.11n Wi-Fi
The EP350 has a built-in 10/100mbps fast Ethernet LAN connection as well as an optional 802.11n Wi-Fi module. Unlike other network enabled media players, the EP350 uses the network not just for playing media files on other devices, but also for serving media files to other devices.

* Browse and play media files from Windows shares, Network Attached Storage (NAS), or UPnP media servers (TVersity, MediaTomb, etc)
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers like a NAS
* ********** client for managing file downloads
* Access Internet services such as Flikr and Picasa
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post #3 of 416
2/1/11 at 11:54am
Reserved for information and frequently asked questions as this thread grows.

Thanks!

A few questions that we've received in the other threads:

What's the difference between the EP250 and EP350?
The two share a basic hardware and software platform. So in terms of features, functions, AV connections, and network capabilities, the two are the same. The EP350 is physically larger with a 3.5" SATA slide-out drive tray. Its enclosure is partly metal and heavier. In comparison, the EP250 is smaller with a 2.5" internal drive bay and has an all plastic enclosure. The EP250 is great for secondary systems where its smaller size is more convenient. The EP350 would be idea for access up to 2TB of cheap storage, which is as low as $70 from what we've seen recently.

What's the largest size hard drive that can be installed in the EP250 and EP350
Both support NTFS drives up to 2TB in size with MBR partition tables. The EP250's 2.5" drive bay can hold 9.5mm or 12.5mm drives, that means the current 1TB drives can be installed. Larger capacity 2.5" drives will also be supported as they are released in the future, up to 2TB in size. In addition to the internal drive bay, the EP250 also has an external-facing SATA port complete with data and power connections. A short cable is provided for connecting a raw drive up to this port. This external-facing SATA port will support 2.5" or 3.5" drives up to 2TB in size as well.
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post #4 of 416
2/10/11 at 2:47pm
Hi Jack,

Is there any way I can download a copy of the user manual for the EP250 and EP350? They're not posted on your website. I always wanted to read the manual before I make a purchase.

Thanks!
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post #5 of 416
2/10/11 at 8:17pm
Hi!

The user's manual has been posted. We will also be adding some photos of the players and the user's interface in the coming days. Although you can get a feel for the interface from the manual. It's a fairly standard 1073 interface as far as media playback goes.
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post #6 of 416
2/12/11 at 11:59am
Very interested in the EP250/350 products. I have a question regarding music playlists. If I have all of my music on my network (Twonky, NAS based UPnP server) Can I create playlists on the Micca box ? I saw a note in the manual indicating yes for local HD content, but was curious about streamed content.

Very interested in purchasing one of these player.
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post #7 of 416
2/16/11 at 6:38am
Hi,

Sorry for the late reply, I had to check again with the technical team regarding this inquiry. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the playlist will work with streamed content, including UPnP.

Currently, these players are still heavily tilted towards video playback and their support for audio-only playback is still not ideal, so features like playlists are not as robust as people are used to from a computer or a dedicated music player device.
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post #8 of 416
2/22/11 at 4:14am
Hi Jack,

I have a Micca HD Net. Everything works just swell, even the net radio fix, but I cannot map local usba01 1tb disk drive as a network drive.
Tried just about everything; I also have Popcorn and WD and here this is no problem.

Please advise. Thanks.

Davor.
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post #9 of 416
2/23/11 at 6:37am
Hey,

The MPLAY-HD Net can only connect to UPnP devices over the network and not folder or drive shares - this is a limitation of the chipset that the MPLAY-HD uses.

The quick and easy solution is to connect the 1TB USB drive to a computer and add its contents to the Windows Media Player 11 library. This will cause the media to be shared out via WMP11's built in UPnP server, which can then be accessed by the MPLAY-HD Net.
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post #10 of 416
2/23/11 at 9:15am
How is the EP350 different than other 1073 based units like the Argosy HV335T, Viewsonic NexTV VMP71, or Egreat EG-R2A? I am interested in a player w/internal 3.5 HD,component and composite output. I intend to use it as a portable player that I can connected to vitually any TV. Thanks.

Jay
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post #11 of 416
2/24/11 at 12:29pm
Hey,

Many of the 1073 players are based from the same underlying hardware and software platform, so there will not be major differences. The following are some of the nice features of the EP350 that we are particularly fond of:

- The brushed aluminum construction looks good and is very solid
- The tool-less drive tray is very convenient to use
- It uses the newer "C+" version of the 1073 chip, so it supports raw bitstream output of HD audio formats.
- It comes with 3 USB ports instead of the more typical 2, with 1 near the front panel.
- We've installed Transmission for handling BT downloads, which is much easier to use than the original BT client from Realtek.
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post #12 of 416
3/2/11 at 2:37pm
I tried attaching a USB DVD Drive to one of the USB ports on the back of the EP350, but it won't detect it. Any ideas if this is supported?
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post #13 of 416
3/2/11 at 3:42pm
Hi Jack,

I have just bought the Micca EP350 and received the unit yesterday. However, I am having problem connecting the EP350 wireless using the external USB adapter. The adapter I am using is Trendnet Dual Band Wireless Adapter Model TEW-664UB. I keep getting " Can't find any SSID" error. In the manual, it stated it that I should wait for at least 1 or 2 minutes but I have waited for over 5 minutes and I still get the " Can't find andy SSID".

If this adapter is not compatible with EP350, would you let me know of all the Wireless Adapter brands that are compatible with EP350?

I have also sent an email to Micca Store but I have not received a respond yet.

Thanks for your help.
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post #14 of 416
3/2/11 at 8:47pm
Hi Jack,

These units are very interesting. I do however have 2 questions:

Does either support the playback of Blu-ray iso?

Regarding the video repeat feature, when the file repeats does it do so without any visual indication that it is repeating? i.e. some players will show the name of the file or show a play icon on repeat.

I need something that will be in a public space and looping a video file, so that type of visual distraction needs to be avoided.

Thanks for your time.
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post #15 of 416
3/3/11 at 9:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rluong View Post

I tried attaching a USB DVD Drive to one of the USB ports on the back of the EP350, but it won't detect it. Any ideas if this is supported?

Hi,

This should work... check the following:

1. If you have a dual-head USB cable, try that so that the DVD drive is getting enough power. I assume you are trying to use a portable DVD drive without it's own power supply.
2. Make sure the disk you have loaded in the drive is a finalized DVD data disk with videos as individual files, or an unencrypted DVD video disk.
3. The player will not playback commercial DVD video disks as they are encrypted.
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post #16 of 416
3/3/11 at 9:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hankori View Post

If this adapter is not compatible with EP350, would you let me know of all the Wireless Adapter brands that are compatible with EP350?

Thanks for your help.

Hi,

The EP350 has to use a compatible Realtek-based WiFi dongle. We offer one that's compatible and it's available through Amazon.
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post #17 of 416
3/3/11 at 9:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jersy View Post

Hi Jack,

These units are very interesting. I do however have 2 questions:

Does either support the playback of Blu-ray iso?

Regarding the video repeat feature, when the file repeats does it do so without any visual indication that it is repeating? i.e. some players will show the name of the file or show a play icon on repeat.

I need something that will be in a public space and looping a video file, so that type of visual distraction needs to be avoided.

Thanks for your time.

Hi,

Both supports playback of Blu-ray ISO files but the menu support is limited.

When video repeats, a "Play" icon will appear briefly at the top of the screen. There will also be a short blank/break between the end and restart of the video.

Making the "Play" icon disappear is actually an often requested feature. We may eliminate it in a future firmware revision.

Because of the blank/break and the "Play" icon, these players aren't really well suited for use in digital signage applications where seamless playback is important.
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post #18 of 416
3/3/11 at 10:57am
Hi Jack,

Thank you for your response.

I have found only one Realtek 300Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN USB 2.0 Adapter from Amazon. Will this adapter work? It's expensive and I don't want to buy it and I have to return if it does not work.

Also, I have found that the ISO HD 1080p and 720p videos are stuttering and unbearable to watch even if you connect with the wired LAN. It kept pausing and loosing sound for every 2 to 5 minutes.

Do you know what I am doing wrong here?

I also have the WDTV Live Plus and I have no problems playing Blu Ray ISO files at 1080p with the Trendnet dual band Wireless USB dongle. It performs flawlessly.

Thanks for your help.
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post #19 of 416
3/3/11 at 11:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hankori View Post

Hi Jack,

Thank you for your response.

I have found only one Realtek 300Mbps 802.11n Wireless LAN USB 2.0 Adapter from Amazon. Will this adapter work? It's expensive and I don't want to buy it and I have to return if it does not work.

I sent you a PM for this...

Quote:


Also, I have found that the ISO HD 1080p and 720p videos are stuttering and unbearable to watch even if you connect with the wired LAN. It kept pausing and loosing sound for every 2 to 5 minutes.

Can you try copying one of these files onto a USB hard drive and play it locally on the EP350 to see if they still have the same issue?

Edit: I tried a few of the Blu-Ray ISO videos that we have here for testing and they all streamed fine over a LAN network connection. The WiFi connection could not keep up with the higher bit rates, however.
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post #20 of 416
3/3/11 at 8:50pm
Hi Jack,

I have ordered the Micca USB dongle as you recommended for the wireless connection. I will check the wireless connection again when the dongle arrives.

I have also connected an external USB drive to the EP350 and it plays the ISO 1080p files perfectly without the stuttering issues.

But the same ISO 1080p files cannot be played smoothly without stuttering and pausing when I connect the USB drive from the wired LAN network (via Iomega Iconnect device). Do you have any ideas why this is?

I also noticed that the EP350 decodes the DTS HD MA 5.1 and Dolby True HD 5.1 but only output 2CH LPCM to the receiver. Will there be a firmware update to output the full 5.1 CH LPCM in the near future?

The EP350 does output full Multi Channel PCM with WMA 6CH and 8CH LPCM on the video source files. This is very nice!

Thanks for your help.
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post #21 of 416
3/4/11 at 10:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hankori View Post

Hi Jack,
I have also connected an external USB drive to the EP350 and it plays the ISO 1080p files perfectly without the stuttering issues.

But the same ISO 1080p files cannot be played smoothly without stuttering and pausing when I connect the USB drive from the wired LAN network (via Iomega Iconnect device). Do you have any ideas why this is?

This helps us isolate the issue to the network connection - whether the issue is caused inside the EP350 or outside is still to be determined. Will you be able to put the EP350 physically close to the Iomega Iconnect with two short (6-10ft) patch cables plugged into ports on the same hub/switch? Also, can you setup a folder share on a computer containing this ISO file and see if the EP350 streams this same file okay from the computer?

Quote:


I also noticed that the EP350 decodes the DTS HD MA 5.1 and Dolby True HD 5.1 but only output 2CH LPCM to the receiver. Will there be a firmware update to output the full 5.1 CH LPCM in the near future?

I am going to pass this along to our engineers. I'll let you know of the feedback I get from them.
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post #22 of 416
3/5/11 at 11:39am
Hi Jack,

I think I pretty much narrowed down the cause for this network stuttering issue. The issue is inside the EP350. The result is the same whether the EP350 streams from the computer or from the Iomega Iconnect (In fact, the EP350 streams better from the Iomega Iconnect than from the computer). The network speed as displayed momentarily from the EP350 is about 16Mbps - 47Mbps and from Windows 7 network performance monitoring is about 16Mbps sustained.
I have not been able to move the EP350 closer to the Iomega connect. However, the network cable is only 10FT CAT5E and the WDTV LIVE Plus was able to stream the same video files perfectly without sound stuttering issue under the exact same setup.
I also removed the Gigabit ethernet switch and connected directly to the Gigabit LAN connection from the router and the same stuttering issue still occured.

I even went further and re-encode the same WMV video files with a much lower bit rate. The EP350 streams much better with this lower bit rate WMV file but still occasionlly suffers the same stuttering issue (not as often as the higher bit rate WMV file).

At this point I need to wait for the USB dongle to arrive and check the wireless connection to see if it performs better as the theorical maximum speed for the Wireless N is 300Mbps which is three times better than the 10/100 LAN connection.

Thanks for all of your help.
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post #23 of 416
3/7/11 at 6:46am
Hi,

Let me know how the Wi-Fi adapter turns out. I do have to warn you, however, that 802.11n will not reach it's theoretical limit of 300mbps. In real world situations with the router in close proximity to the Wi-Fi device with minimal interference, the transfer rate may reach 60-70mbps, but real world figures will be significantly lower. Our official guideline is that most users should expect 7-8mbps as an acceptable minimum, with 10-15mbps in "good" situations.
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post #24 of 416
3/29/11 at 12:20pm
Hi Jack,
I recently purchase an EP350 that I have setup in my car, it's working great but I have a question. Is there a way for me to increase the font size? When I browse the list of music on my Pioneer head unit (Avic-d1) display the text is very very small. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Awesome product, i just picked up another for the house.
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post #25 of 416
3/29/11 at 3:14pm
I recently purchased a Micca EP250. Nice device. The only issue I have is that there is no shuffle feature when playing audio files. The manual states that this feature is reached by pushing the repeat button. When the button is pushed the only options are repeat 1, repeat all and repeat off. The shuffle feature is important to me and was one of the reasons for choosing this media player.
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post #26 of 416
3/29/11 at 4:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sas099 View Post

Micca EP250
Based on the Realtek 1073 digital media processor, the EP250 provides flawless playback for all of today's popular media file formats - no more guessing whether a video you just got is supported! For video, supported files include AVI, MKV, MP4, M2TS, MOV, DAT, VOB, IFO, MPG, TS, TP, WMV, ASF, RM, RMVB, FLV, and ISO. Supported video codecs include H.264/AVC, MPEG1/2/4, DivX/Xvid, VC-1, and RMVB. The EP250 handles all of these video formats perfectly all the way up to 1080p Full-HD resolution. In addition to video, the EP250 plays popular audio formats such as AC3, TrueHD, DTS, DTS-MA, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, M4A, WAV, and displays photos in JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, and TIF files. Please see the specifications tab below for full file/codec support details.

Up to 1TB of Internal Storage
The EP250 contains an internal hard disk drive bay for mounting a 2.5" SATA HDD with up to 2TB of storage space. This internal storage provides a central location for all your media files with the following benefits:

* Fastest and most stable playback, especially for 1080p high bit-rate videos.
* No need to maintain media files on an external hard drive or USB drive.
* Neater than attaching an external hard drive that may require AC power.
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers on the network.
* Much more stable and reliable for file serving than Windows shares.

A hard drive is not required for the EP250 to function but is strongly recommended for the additional features and capabilities it brings. The EP250 also has two USB ports as well as a flash card reader for playing media files from an external hard drive or flash card.

Fast LAN and 802.11n Wi-Fi
The EP250 has a built-in 10/100mbps fast Ethernet LAN connection as well as an optional 802.11n Wi-Fi module. Unlike other network enabled media players, the EP250 uses the network not just for playing media files on other devices, but also for serving media files to other devices.

* Browse and play media files from Windows shares, Network Attached Storage (NAS), or UPnP media servers (TVersity, MediaTomb, etc)
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers like a NAS
* ********** client for managing file downloads
* Access Internet services such as Flikr and Picasa


Micca EP350

Based on the Realtek 1073 digital media processor, the EP350 provides flawless playback for all of today's popular media file formats - no more guessing whether a video you just got is supported! For video, supported files include AVI, MKV, MP4, M2TS, MOV, DAT, VOB, IFO, MPG, TS, TP, WMV, ASF, RM, RMVB, FLV, and ISO. Supported video codecs include H.264/AVC, MPEG1/2/4, DivX/Xvid, VC-1, and RMVB. The EP350 handles all of these video formats perfectly all the way up to 1080p Full-HD resolution. In addition to video, the EP350 plays popular audio formats such as AC3, TrueHD, DTS, DTS-MA, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, M4A, WAV, and displays photos in JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, and TIF files. Please see the specifications tab below for full file/codec support details.

Up to 2TB of Internal Storage
The EP350 contains an internal hard disk drive bay for mounting a 3.5" SATA HDD with up to 2TB of storage space. This internal storage provides a central location for all your media files with the following benefits:

* Fastest and most stable playback, especially for 1080p high bit-rate videos.
* No need to maintain media files on an external hard drive or USB drive.
* Neater than attaching an external hard drive that may require AC power.
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers on the network.
* Much more stable and reliable for file serving than Windows shares.

A hard drive is not required for the EP350 to function but is strongly recommended for the additional features and capabilities it brings. The EP350 also has two USB ports as well as a flash card reader for playing media files from an external hard drive or flash card.

Fast LAN and 802.11n Wi-Fi
The EP350 has a built-in 10/100mbps fast Ethernet LAN connection as well as an optional 802.11n Wi-Fi module. Unlike other network enabled media players, the EP350 uses the network not just for playing media files on other devices, but also for serving media files to other devices.

* Browse and play media files from Windows shares, Network Attached Storage (NAS), or UPnP media servers (TVersity, MediaTomb, etc)
* Serve media and files to other devices and computers like a NAS
* ********** client for managing file downloads
* Access Internet services such as Flikr and Picasa

Yeah-but don't you see the problem here? Both of these are based on the antiquated Realtek 1073 which is yesterday's news-in a word-junk. Don't waste your money on either of these-there are much better alternatives that are readily available.
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post #27 of 416
3/30/11 at 6:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SayWatt View Post

Hi Jack,
I recently purchase an EP350 that I have setup in my car, it's working great but I have a question. Is there a way for me to increase the font size? When I browse the list of music on my Pioneer head unit (Avic-d1) display the text is very very small. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Awesome product, i just picked up another for the house.

Hi,

We answered this in our support ticket system, but will also post the answer here.

The AVIC-D1 is a 6.5" in-dash navigation device with a 16:9 screen and composite video input. So if you set the EP350 to output NTSC and the aspect ratio to 16:9, you will get the correct output to your D1. Unfortunately there is no way to adjust the font size aside from that.

Jack
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post #28 of 416
3/30/11 at 6:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by War Day View Post

I recently purchased a Micca EP250. Nice device. The only issue I have is that there is no shuffle feature when playing audio files. The manual states that this feature is reached by pushing the repeat button. When the button is pushed the only options are repeat 1, repeat all and repeat off. The shuffle feature is important to me and was one of the reasons for choosing this media player.

Hi,

It looks like a typo in our user's manual as the shuffle feature does not exist. If you bought the player for this feature, we'd be glad to provide you with a full refund since this was an error on our part. Please contact our support at support@miccastore.com and we'll arrange this immediately.

Jack
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post #29 of 416
3/30/11 at 7:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zrdb View Post

Yeah-but don't you see the problem here? Both of these are based on the antiquated Realtek 1073 which is yesterday's news-in a word-junk. Don't waste your money on either of these-there are much better alternatives that are readily available.

We are not pretending that the 1073 is a cutting edge solution - there are other very capable and well respected companies building products like that. However, the 1073 is still a solid hardware platform that provides good decoding performance and features, with support for vast majority of the video playback needs out there; it certainly isn't junk.

Not just us, but 1073 based players in general are good values on the market right now in terms of price to performance/features ratio. They are quickly becoming the best choice when someone wants a reasonably good media player for under a hundred dollars.

You do make a very valid point that newer more capable platforms have been released or are in the pipeline for release later this year. Such a fast pace of progress is most often the case for electronics products. Many users prefer the newer hardware, but a significant portion of users just want a decent player with stable 1080p performance and some networking features. For that the 1073 will remain a very good choice for at least the next 12 to 18 months.

Jack
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post #30 of 416
3/31/11 at 7:48am
In regards to the EP250: is there a firmware update upcoming that would add the shuffle capability and if not which Micca media players have shuffle capability? I am still impressed by the EP250, although I really want a unit with shuffle capability.
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