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Micca EP250 and EP350 - Page 11

post #301 of 416
1/17/12 at 4:13am
Hello - long time lurker, first time poster.

I ordered my EP350 off amazon last night, looking forward to getting it. I'm planning on putting a 2TB drive in it. My primary use for the 350 will be a digital dvd library, if that helps. Here's my list of questions around HD selection:

1. is there a specific hd recommended by micca?
2. brand preference? (i lean towards WD for pc use)
3. spindle speed? (5400/5900/7200)
4. cache size? (32 or 64)
5. SATA revision? (3gb or 6gb)

I'm familiar with buying HD's for PC use, I don't know if there's anything else I should be looking for.

Thanks for your help!
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post #302 of 416
1/18/12 at 9:54pm
Received the 350 G2 a week ago. Nice unit, like others have noted the feet a bit un-even but not all that bad.

I researched many other units but finally decided on this unit for the HDD capabilities and 1185 chipset (1080P). Looking at the 1185 specs, it looks like the chipset supports gigabit LAN so I'm surprised that the unit does not support gigabit LAN

No firmware update needed as the unit had the latest firmware.

Connected to the several NAS's I have without issue.

I'm currently using G wireless via a wireless bridge and all DVD rips play nicely, and rarely stutters. I have through-put that normally averages about 8k/sec. No blu-ray rips yet. When that happens, I'll move to N wireless.

I use the Harmony 770 and used the "Media Center PC" to get me started. However, I did need to teach the remote all of the settings to be sure it would function. Remote to remote has netted me the best settings, I think.

This is my first media server device. I have tried Plex, and Serviio, but I like the fact that I DO NOT need a dedicated server to perform these functions (looking to be a little "greener"). I am wondering if there is a way to gain ROOT access to the device?

Haven't placed a HDD into the unit yet as the NAS connection even over the wireless bridge seems sufficient.

I for one will be using a 3 or 4 TB drive, but I'm waiting a bit to see if the prices drop in a few months after whatever crisis is happening. I'll put several other drives into the unit just so I can see what kind of vibration sounds I get out of the unit before I make a final decision on what speed of drive I want to install.

When it is really quiet in the living room I can hear the device fan. To quiet the device I placed it on a shelf that has a glass door.Don't hear it much anymore

A question for Jack@Micca, can I connect the 350 to an XBox via USB and use the HDD as storage for saved games?
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post #303 of 416
1/19/12 at 7:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jachipman View Post

Received the 350 G2 a week ago. Nice unit, like others have noted the feet a bit un-even but not all that bad.

I researched many other units but finally decided on this unit for the HDD capabilities and 1185 chipset (1080P). Looking at the 1185 specs, it looks like the chipset supports gigabit LAN so I'm surprised that the unit does not support gigabit LAN

No firmware update needed as the unit had the latest firmware.

Connected to the several NAS's I have without issue.

I'm currently using G wireless via a wireless bridge and all DVD rips play nicely, and rarely stutters. I have through-put that normally averages about 8k/sec. No blu-ray rips yet. When that happens, I'll move to N wireless.

I use the Harmony 770 and used the "Media Center PC" to get me started. However, I did need to teach the remote all of the settings to be sure it would function. Remote to remote has netted me the best settings, I think.

This is my first media server device. I have tried Plex, and Serviio, but I like the fact that I DO NOT need a dedicated server to perform these functions (looking to be a little "greener"). I am wondering if there is a way to gain ROOT access to the device?

Haven't placed a HDD into the unit yet as the NAS connection even over the wireless bridge seems sufficient.

I for one will be using a 3 or 4 TB drive, but I'm waiting a bit to see if the prices drop in a few months after whatever crisis is happening. I'll put several other drives into the unit just so I can see what kind of vibration sounds I get out of the unit before I make a final decision on what speed of drive I want to install.

When it is really quiet in the living room I can hear the device fan. To quiet the device I placed it on a shelf that has a glass door.Don't hear it much anymore

A question for Jack@Micca, can I connect the 350 to an XBox via USB and use the HDD as storage for saved games?

Nope. xbox won't recognize it.
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post #304 of 416
1/19/12 at 8:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ricoflashback View Post

Jack - anxiously awaiting my EP350 which will be delivered tomorrow. A couple questions:

(1) I'm installing a Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB Internal Drive. I assume I can install this, first, before even powering on the EP350?

(2) From the previous posts, it looks like I need to perform a system update. O.K. - shall I power on the system, first, then perform the upgrade? I'll be using a SD memory card. From the manual, it says to go to Setup->System->System Update to initiate the firmware update.

I remember reading a post that said with a USB - look under "MISC" settings. Is this the same for the SD card update?

(3) I have an older Harmony 880 remote. I cannot see any reference to a "Digital Media Player" within Harmony's setup, but there is a "Media Center PC" that has a "Micca" listing. Shall I use this to setup the Harmony remote or just program - remote to remote?

Thanks for all your help. By the way, the EP350 manual is one of the best manuals I have ever seen - - and I have bought a lot of electronics in my lifetime. It's better than the EP600 manual, as well. I considered the EP600, but really wanted an internal drive to cut down on additional power requirements and ease of use.

1 - Correct.
2 - Correct, but use a USB flash drive.
3 - The easiest way to get Micca to work with the 880 remote is to custom program it by button. It takes a few minutes to do this, but it works well afterwards. You also need to lower the code repeat down to none, as the 880 by default transmits a code multiple times per button press.

To adjust the Repeats, from the Harmony Remote Software:
Click 1. Troubleshoot at the top of the Harmony Remote Software window.
Select the device you want to adjust repeats for, and click 2. Next.
Select Device responds to some commands either too many times or only occasionally 3. and click Next.
Adjust the repeats by selecting a higher or lower number, and click 4. SAVE.

The EP250/EP350 G2 manual is the standard to which we will write all future manuals, including the planned EP600 and EP950 manual re-write. So your recognition of the EP350 G2's manual quality is very reassuring to us. Thanks!
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post #305 of 416
1/19/12 at 9:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by raymac79 View Post

Hello - long time lurker, first time poster.

I ordered my EP350 off amazon last night, looking forward to getting it. I'm planning on putting a 2TB drive in it. My primary use for the 350 will be a digital dvd library, if that helps. Here's my list of questions around HD selection:

1. is there a specific hd recommended by micca?
2. brand preference? (i lean towards WD for pc use)
3. spindle speed? (5400/5900/7200)
4. cache size? (32 or 64)
5. SATA revision? (3gb or 6gb)

I'm familiar with buying HD's for PC use, I don't know if there's anything else I should be looking for.

Thanks for your help!

1. We do not recommend a specific hard drive. But all of the major brands work well.
2. I've personally used many WD drives with the players and has never had any issues.
3. 5400RPM should be fast enough, runs cooler, quieter, and cost less.
4. Both are fine. We recommend the lower cost option.
5. Either is fine. We recommend the lower cost option.
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post #306 of 416
1/20/12 at 1:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack@Micca View Post

1. We do not recommend a specific hard drive. But all of the major brands work well.
2. I've personally used many WD drives with the players and has never had any issues.
3. 5400RPM should be fast enough, runs cooler, quieter, and cost less.
4. Both are fine. We recommend the lower cost option.
5. Either is fine. We recommend the lower cost option.

Thanks Jack. I actually found a 1TB Hitachi sitting around that I wasn't using, so that's been loaded in. I haven't played with it much, I'm in the process of ripping content. I did stream a mkv off a NAS and had no issues at all (wired network and connected to the same switch). Its great to have a product that works right out of the box.

I'll provide some additional feedback once my library is built up and i've used it a few weeks.

Thanks!
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post #307 of 416
1/23/12 at 11:43am
I'm still curious if anyone has gotten streaming content to work well over UPnP for their EP350. I've tried a lot of UPnP software and have had the most success with the PS3 Media Server, but it took me over 2 weeks to figure out how to configure it properly, and even then it's sketchy in areas. Serviio seems to work too, though here's my main problem:

When I select a folder or playlist over a UPnP server that has multiple playable files in it (only over UPnP, not LAN), it will play the wrong file in the list. If there are 100 items in the list I'm never going to get the right one to play. PS3 Media Server sort of fixes the problem as it will put each file in a playlist in it's own separate transcode folder, so there is only one file to play and it can't play a different one.

Second question, if anyone has gotten this to work correctly, has transcoding files worked for you? Seeing as how the 350 can play back a lot of formats I tell the software to stream it without transcoding, but am curious as to whether the unit will handle a file transcoded on the fly. I was recommended to use MediaTomb, but that is way over my head. I'm using Windows 7 64bit. There are obvious limitation using UPnP, but I'm not sure exactly what those limitations are.

Other than the UPnP issue, I love my 350 and have been using it daily.
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post #308 of 416
2/2/12 at 7:56pm
Two questions.

1. If I don't buy an internal HDD at first can I just plug in an external HDD and use it to view media with this device?

2. If I choose to install an internal HDD later can I save files directly to it as long as it's connected to my network?
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post #309 of 416
2/3/12 at 8:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Allforce View Post

Two questions.

1. If I don't buy an internal HDD at first can I just plug in an external HDD and use it to view media with this device?

2. If I choose to install an internal HDD later can I save files directly to it as long as it's connected to my network?

Yes to both questions. However, I would advised you against transferring to the internal HDD via network because the fastest speed will be about 6 to 8 mbps. So, If you've got a 30 gb HD movie, it will take forever to transfer. Unless you don't care about this
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post #310 of 416
2/3/12 at 8:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveeeB View Post

I'm still curious if anyone has gotten streaming content to work well over UPnP for their EP350. I've tried a lot of UPnP software and have had the most success with the PS3 Media Server, but it took me over 2 weeks to figure out how to configure it properly, and even then it's sketchy in areas. Serviio seems to work too, though here's my main problem:

When I select a folder or playlist over a UPnP server that has multiple playable files in it (only over UPnP, not LAN), it will play the wrong file in the list. If there are 100 items in the list I'm never going to get the right one to play. PS3 Media Server sort of fixes the problem as it will put each file in a playlist in it's own separate transcode folder, so there is only one file to play and it can't play a different one.

Second question, if anyone has gotten this to work correctly, has transcoding files worked for you? Seeing as how the 350 can play back a lot of formats I tell the software to stream it without transcoding, but am curious as to whether the unit will handle a file transcoded on the fly. I was recommended to use MediaTomb, but that is way over my head. I'm using Windows 7 64bit. There are obvious limitation using UPnP, but I'm not sure exactly what those limitations are.

Other than the UPnP issue, I love my 350 and have been using it daily.

I don't understand why are you trying to stream to your 350 via UPNP and transcoding at the same time. Why not just stream via NSF or Samba?
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post #311 of 416
2/4/12 at 9:10pm
I just purchased a new EP250 G2 off Amazon. There doesn't seem to be a separate page for it on the MICCA site, just for the old EP250. Where can I download firmware for it?
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post #312 of 416
2/5/12 at 6:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveFi View Post

I just purchased a new EP250 G2 off Amazon. There doesn't seem to be a separate page for it on the MICCA site, just for the old EP250. Where can I download firmware for it?

The product information site is in the process of going through a redesign, so that's where all the energy has been focused. Unfortunately this means that the existing site has little lapses like these. I'll send a note that this need to be changed. In the mean time you can download the up to date "G2" firmware from the EP350 page - the two share the same firmware.
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post #313 of 416
2/5/12 at 11:32am
Hi Jack,

I keep getting a "Tip" that says something about not being able to record music or something, every time I turn the 350 on. Is there a way to stop this from popping up?

Thanks,
B
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post #314 of 416
2/6/12 at 3:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack@Micca View Post

The product information site is in the process of going through a redesign, so that's where all the energy has been focused. Unfortunately this means that the existing site has little lapses like these. I'll send a note that this need to be changed. In the mean time you can download the up to date "G2" firmware from the EP350 page - the two share the same firmware.

Jack- also you have to change the specs so that the EP250 G2 doesn't list the fact there is a eSATA port on the side (which there is NOT). I'm a bit PO'ed- I bought the G2 thinking there'd be a powered eSATA port like it shows in the pics on Amazon and there's nada.
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post #315 of 416
2/6/12 at 4:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveFi View Post

Jack- also you have to change the specs so that the EP250 G2 doesn't list the fact there is a eSATA port on the side (which there is NOT). I'm a bit PO'ed- I bought the G2 thinking there'd be a powered eSATA port like it shows in the pics on Amazon and there's nada.

Sorry about this, I'll make sure that they change this ASAP.
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post #316 of 416
2/6/12 at 4:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bri1270 View Post

Hi Jack,

I keep getting a "Tip" that says something about not being able to record music or something, every time I turn the 350 on. Is there a way to stop this from popping up?

Thanks,
B

Try reflashing the firmware to see if this takes care of the issue.
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post #317 of 416
2/6/12 at 10:07pm
Hey Jack, do you know of anywhere I can buy a longer SATA data cable like the type that is in the EP250 G2? I'd like to run it to an external Blu-Ray ROM. I already tested it and it works fine (with external power) it's just that the internal data-cable isn't really long enough.

Also, I'm having problems getting wired LAN working. It keeps saying it's failing the test. I have no problems with anything else hooked up to my 8-port switch.
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post #318 of 416
2/7/12 at 3:21pm
Micca does make good hardware and has a really good video and sound processing however their software just isn't mature enough... It doesn't have simple options like playing Video in shuffle mode and can't index your network media library...
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post #319 of 416
2/7/12 at 3:27pm
Jack, which of your player does support shuffle for video? I have about 500 music video clips (MKV) that I'd like to play in shuffle mode.
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post #320 of 416
2/14/12 at 1:09am
I didn't see the questions in this thread until now...

Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveFi View Post

Hey Jack, do you know of anywhere I can buy a longer SATA data cable like the type that is in the EP250 G2? I'd like to run it to an external Blu-Ray ROM. I already tested it and it works fine (with external power) it's just that the internal data-cable isn't really long enough.

We do not have any longer cables, although the EP600's cable is slightly longer at about 8". It's not a dramatic difference. I guess you could chain two of them together, though I would be worried about signal integrity.

Quote:


Also, I'm having problems getting wired LAN working. It keeps saying it's failing the test. I have no problems with anything else hooked up to my 8-port switch.

With the player's Wired LAN setting configured for auto DHCP, the player is not able to obtain an IP address? Do the little LED lights on the LAN jack flash when you plug in a cable that's connected to your switch?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mtrx View Post

Jack, which of your player does support shuffle for video? I have about 500 music video clips (MKV) that I'd like to play in shuffle mode.

Currently, only our Slim-HD player has this feature. None of the other players will do shuffling.
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post #321 of 416
2/26/12 at 8:51am
I see that this model is not available at Amazon. Will it be soon or has it been discontinued?

Have a question for Jack. Have been reading this thread and the 950 thread so I know he's pretty good about questions.

Is there a possibility that the dvd playback feature will get a "resume" feature? I don't own one of these yet but i have a friend who does and he mentions that thats the only feature it lacks. He says you can hit pause and that works but if you hit stop it goes back to the beginning. I imagine it would be a FW update type of thing but just thought I'd ask.

From what I've been reading if everyone could do without the 3D feature of the 950 model, they could go with this one and it works just fine. Just my 2 cents.
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post #322 of 416
2/27/12 at 6:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherluck View Post

I see that this model is not available at Amazon. Will it be soon or has it been discontinued?

Have a question for Jack. Have been reading this thread and the 950 thread so I know he's pretty good about questions.

Is there a possibility that the dvd playback feature will get a "resume" feature? I don't own one of these yet but i have a friend who does and he mentions that thats the only feature it lacks. He says you can hit pause and that works but if you hit stop it goes back to the beginning. I imagine it would be a FW update type of thing but just thought I'd ask.

From what I've been reading if everyone could do without the 3D feature of the 950 model, they could go with this one and it works just fine. Just my 2 cents.

It's not discontinued. We just got caught off guard by how popular it was during the holiday season and sold through our inventory quicker than we can replentish it. The EP350 G2 is therefore out of stock for the next 30 days or so. The EP250 G2, however, is in stock. The main difference between the two is the aluminum enclosure and 3.5" drive bay in the EP350 G2, where as the EP250 G2 has a plastic enclosure and a 2.5" drive bay.

That's a good question about the DVD playback. I had always assumed that the DVD ISO/Video_TS folder playback always had resume capabilities like the other file types. I'll send this in as a query. Normal DVD players have resume as a common feature, so hopefully this is something we can add if it is not there.
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post #323 of 416
2/27/12 at 7:58am
Thanks for your reply Jack...really appreciate the update. Unfortunately I have no laptop hard drives so I'll have to wait for the 350 to get back in stock. Good news though. Glad to hear it's still around. I'll be grabbing one as soon as Amazon gets em

Yeah that was what surprised me as most of these media players have pretty much the same playback type features of a dvd player and when he mentioned that was the only thing that was missing I thought since I've been reading this thread for a while and I'll ask Jack@Micca and see what he says.

Gracias for the help Jack
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post #324 of 416
2/27/12 at 9:04am
Well Jack, it turns out the resume functions works fine if your using the the hard drive or thumb drive to watch dvd titles. Where it doesn't work is when you plug in a portable/external dvd player. So when thats plugged into USB and it plays and you hit stop, it starts over. Other than that everything is ok. No issues.

BTW..what a great feature in that you can play physical dvd's also....Really no need for a dvd player at all. Just get a Micca and an external dvd or external blu ray player, plug it into the usb and your set.
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post #325 of 416
2/27/12 at 9:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherluck View Post

Well Jack, it turns out the resume functions works fine if your using the the hard drive or thumb drive to watch dvd titles. Where it doesn't work is when you plug in a portable/external dvd player. So when thats plugged into USB and it plays and you hit stop, it starts over. Other than that everything is ok. No issues.

BTW..what a great feature in that you can play physical dvd's also....Really no need for a dvd player at all. Just get a Micca and an external dvd or external blu ray player, plug it into the usb and your set.

I don't believe the external bluray player will work due to licensing.
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post #326 of 416
2/29/12 at 11:30pm
A new firmware for the EP250/EP350 G2 (2011-02-22) has been posted, along with upgrade instructions and release notes.

Version 3.0.2.0 - February 2012
- Added ability to access NFS file/folder shares.
- Added setting for subtitle default on or off behavior.
- Added support for PlayOn.tv UPnP software.
- Improved drive compatibility with hard drives larger than 2TB.
- MAC address adjustments.
- Improved bookmark function.

As always, we recommend upgrading the firmware using recovery mode whenever possible.
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post #327 of 416
3/6/12 at 6:13pm
I just got a EP 950, and there's lots to like about it; but like many, I have ALL my content (BDMV's and BD ISO's) on a a server (Synology LAN). I rip them through AnyDVD HD, and use MyMovies on a PC to manage the library, folder art, etc.

Can the 950 provide a more robust user interface to browse content than just the thumbnails in the File Manager view? Something with description, genre, director, actors, search ability? I though that was there, but that seems to be more for the Movies tab, which only seems to look at local devices (of which I have none)

Also, most of the cover art shown in the File Manager browser is the BACK of the case, not the front. I cannot see any jpg in the file directory which even has the back cover art - by default, MyMovies creates a folder.jpg file, which is the front cover, but that doesn't seem to be used.

Thanks for any help...
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post #328 of 416
3/16/12 at 6:35am
I've been reading this thread along with the 950 thread for quite some time and I've read the EP350 (Realtek 1185) model has the same 23.976 frame rate judder/stutter as the 950 model. Is this the case or has this issue in the 1185 Chip been fixed?
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post #329 of 416
3/18/12 at 5:35pm
Was wondering if the 350 supports idx+sub subtitles. If not, could that be in a future FW update?
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post #330 of 416
3/19/12 at 8:40am
Hi,

The frame rate judder issue affects our players since the firmware released to date default to 24hz for 24p material, even for 23.976fps video sources.

Once we have the issue addressed in the EP950, we will make an effort to make the same change to other players.

idx+sub subtitles should already be supported currently.
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