Micca EP950! - Page 20

Jack, tell us please, in new batch of players chips with a new revision are used?

I just want to make sure its a type...you keep referring to a model called EP650 and EP650 G2...I want to make sure that is suppose to be EP600 G2. Thanks.

I would like to know if there will be updated apps like Vudu, or Netflix on these units. Since its Android would there be a potential to install apk files? Or even a google network/app market access?

Based on what I've see with the EP600 G2, the outputs are fixed at 59.94Hz and 23.976Hz. Maybe this will be adjustable per-video specs in the future, but it remains to be seen.

So 60fps and 24fps video will have a frame skip every 1000 frames.

I just know that the first batch of EP950's are made in a way that cannot be updated to output 59.94/23.976Hz through firmware changes for the time being. We are continuing to see if this can be changed and will share our results.

The EP600 G2 and the second batch of EP950's have the 59.94/23.976Hz output when using the latest 1.0.3.9 firmware.


My fault... all these numbers are confusing me. It should be EP600 G2. EP650 doesn't exist.

Jack, I'll have my EP600 G2 from Amazon tomorrow. Your website still shows 1.0.3.7 as latest for EP600 G2. Can I instead install 1.0.3.9 for EP950 on my EP600 G2? Thanks.

so now those that have 3/2 pull down will have a problem then. Not sure whether 3/2 pull down will mask the skip

Using the 1.0.3.9 will work just fine. The firmware are the same for both players. They just have different file names.

Jack - I posted this a few pages back, perhaps it was missed...

1) With the EP950, what is the criteria for choosing cover art from network shares? I use MyMovies 4 to catalog all my BDMV and ISO's, and it creates front and back cover art, background images for its WMC browser, etc. But it seems the Micca often selects the back cover art (titled "mymovies-back") amongst the 4 or so different jpgs in the folder. Is there a way (or can you add a way) to set the default jpg name in the Micca? Else, what can I do to make this map easier?

2) Can Network shares be mapped to the Movie section in the Micca? It is tedious to navigate through the menu over and over, and there is no meta data, sorting, genre, searching etc. in the Network folder option that I can tell, and I presume this is in the Movie section. I will never have a hard drive in the Micca itself as I have about 14TB of network storage.

3) Will the fix for 23.976 require a hardware swap?

4) Is there an RMA required to get the unit swapped because of the powering issue, which I have...?

Great potential with this product, I hope some of these rough edges can be tweaked...Thanks

I believe by default it grabs the first photo - in this case mymovies-back is alphabetically in front of mymovies-front. Is there someway you can manipulate the naming of the cover art so that the front image is alphabetically first?


Unfortunately this is not possible since only local drives can be indexed by the player's media library function. One way to organize networked media shares is with a UPNP server - I don't know if this is a possibility for you.


We are trying to avoid this. Thus far we are still working to make this possible with a firmware update.


Yes, you should contact support@miccastore.com once we have the second batch EP950 in stock, along with your Amazon order number, and we'll setup an exchange with an RMA number.


Absolutely, thanks for your input.

Thanks for the quick reply - I do use a synology server which supports upnp, if you can expand on your comment...

It would be nice if you could add support to indexing network drives. Other media players do offer this, using perhaps a memory card to store art and meta data.

If the option of specifying the folder name could be added, that would be great as well. I don't know that I can change tht in MyMovies....

Thanks

While it is great to hear that the player will now output 59.94/23.976, that just means that videos in 24/60fps will stutter instead. While the majority of blu-ray content is 23.976, I have many random video clips, animated shorts, etc posted by creators on sites like Vimeo, etc that are sometimes encoded in 25fps, 50fps or 60fps. The Dunes have no problem playing all of those framerates smoothly. So the bottom line is this player will still stutter with some framerates, only now it will stutter on 25 and 60fps videos (not sure about 50fps?) instead of 23.976 videos.

While this is a nice step in the right direction, it unfortunately still means that it won't be my universal media player, because for some of my clips I would need to rely on either my tv to play them (which has its own issues) or use my pc itself for playback which is not ideal at all.

I'm glad to hear this player is now capable of proper 23.976 output, but I'm afraid if it will stutter on 24/60 material then I still can't make the jump to re-purchase the player. I'm glad to see Micca is trying to address the issue, and if they can figure out how to get it to play all mentioned framerates without stutter then I will probably re-purchase the player.

And thanks again Jack for keeping us informed. That means a lot.

Is this confirmed that 24/60fps will stutter or is there some kind of conversion the EP950 does to not have it stutter when outputting it as 23.976/59.94? Is there no match refresh rate to monitor option or something like that?

Just to confirm, with the current firmware, the second batch EP950 players and the EP600 G2 will have a stutter every 1000 frames or so when playing 60fps/24fps videos. This is a current limitation.

While 60fps/24fps are less common than 59.94/23.976 videos, we will see if we can get the player to auto-detect the frame rate and select an output refresh rate to match.

^^^That sounds GREAT!^^^

Auto detect would be good!

So now I just have to wait until the second batch is released and I will send the player in

Jack, I posted this awhile back:

I think Micca should implicate an option where different media can have a specified setting. When I play music I use the LPCM audio setting and when I play video I use the RAW audio setting. There should be a way the player can have specified settings in Music and a separate setting in Movies that way I would not have to change from LPCM to RAW every time I switch between the two. Make sense?

This would be great if Micca could implement this into the firmware as well, if possible.

Sparkfuzz,

That's a great suggestion and I've already added it to the request list.

I like that idea, sparkfuzz.

Jack, I'm wondering if there has been any new developments regarding tracking down the corruption issues some of us were having with my media player, both with files disappearing or becoming corrupted, and also with the "find and fix problems" issue that comes up when Windows sees the Micca.

Also, as it stands now with the new batch of players coming, how will it handle framerates of 35fps and 50fps? Does it stutter on those like it currently will with 24 and 60fps?

If the corruption issue could be eliminated, and if Micca can solve the stutter for the other framerates, I think I'd be very interested in placing another order. Will the new units be available on Amazon when they are released? Will there be some way for us to identify if we indeed have a version 2 player somewhere on a serial # or box marking maybe?

I had media players from Western Digital, Patriot, and Asus O'play before, now trying to upgrade and got EP950 last Friday from Amazon. I applied the latest firmware (1.0.3.9), and it does play all of my movies from USB drives(about 4 tb) without noticing stuttering. The problems I have are:

1. I can not format the internal 2tb drive I put in, it give me a very small partition. I have to format it from PC (thru usb adaptor) and put it back in.
2. I tried to copy 900 gb movies from USB drives (one 2tb and one 3tb) to the internal HDD I just put in. It seemed to work and says completed after more than 10 hours. But when I tried to read the HDD, it has nothing.
3. I took the HDD out, hooked it to the Sata port, and copied about 200 meg of avi files. I check the data after completion, the files are there, but more than half are corrupted and un-usable.
4. I hook up the same drive back to PC, reformat it and it function normally.

Did I just get a bad unit ? or should I exchange for a new unit after the 'stuttering' issue is settled ?

The only unit that loads properly from usb is the iconbit. with usb3 cable attached it looks like an external HD. The 900b which is the same unit as the ep950 except for firmware and logo I could not get it to be recognized as an external HD transferred loaded hd from iconbit to himedia whwere it now works

Corruption issue is related to updating the firmware using the settings menu. When the upgrade is done with the recovery mode, the corruption issue does not occur. The "Find and fix" message is caused by the dirty bit being set. This was never an issue with Windows XP since this bit was simply ignored. Windows Vista/7 looks at this bit due to its readyboost feature. It's on the list of items to investigate for future firmware revisions.


There will be artifacts when the video frame rate and refresh rate do not match. Even when there is a fairly good solution such as 3:2 pull-down, some may still prefer a 1:1 playback match.


The second batch players will have serial numbers starting with EP9501208XXXX. They will be available on Amazon.com.

Use the recovery method to update the firmware again. This should fix any drive related issues. Always use the player to format the drive.

Jack,
In the new updated EP950 with Framerate fix, does the fix reside in the Micca boot code or user flashable firmware? Thank you

Thank you very, very much Jack. I tried your way to re-load firmware, it does fix my drive related problem. I also found out that this reformat created two additional very small partitions which some times labeled as drive D or E, and that is part of my problem confusing it to the 'HDD' that should be used.

A suggestion that may help users having may USB drives, is to list the Drive label, drive size, and available space, instead of just D,E,F..etc.

I was thinking to return my EP950, now it is a keeper. Thanks again.

It's partly the firmware, and partly how the hardware is configured during manufacturing. This is why can can't simply release a firmware update to change it.

Jack,
I ask specifically because I have two EP950 on order awaiting new stock and want to flash with custom firmware that contains media jukebox software (Himedia 900B custom firmware by OllyP or pcristi). Does the framerate fix code reside in the boot code (safe from user flashing firmware) or in the user flashable firmware? Thanks again Jack

I think if you have a new batch-2 EP950, and OllyP does a firmware version based on 1.0.3.9 (or any firmware version that's 1.0.3.9 or higher), then it's safe to say you will have the desired 59.94/23.976Hz output.

Jack,
I am interested to buy this. I can't see the serial number in Amazon. How to make sure if it's batch2. Also what's the best internal HDD for EP950? and does it support bittorren client? If so how do you access it?

Hi,

When batch 2 players have been delivered to Amazon and we've confirmed that all units on Amazon are batch 2, we will make an announcement here.