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POPCORN HOUR A-400 is coming soon - Page 3

post #61 of 1616
9/12/12 at 2:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by theaxledentaldj View Post

If thats the case with BD Lite Profile 1.0 being the issue on current gen media players, then I'll have to remux them seamless branching Disney Bluray ISOs into one m2ts.But I dont recall 1186 having the issue!?!?! Hmmm.. I'm not sure remuxing a Disney Bluray ISO will result in something cut off or glitching either?!

1186 has the issue as well

Just use Clown_BD and create a main movie only rip. This will give you a single m2ts file (without any glitches)
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post #62 of 1616
9/12/12 at 3:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 View Post

Right now that would depend. The current Dunes are the most reliable players I have in my house, and I would gladly pay an extra premium for that. I have had nothing but issues from the times I use the PCH A300. Now the question is what will the new Dunes bring, and likewise for the new PCH, especially in terms of stability

Dont forget the med1000x3d, 12days out And already fix The 23,976 bug in 3D in latest firmware, And some autoframe rate, And has alluminium box, And its half price cheaper than dunes.
Dune is not premium, is just a expensive brand, not really worth it this days, way bellow from competition.
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post #63 of 1616
9/12/12 at 4:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by canton160 View Post

Dont forget the med1000x3d, 12days out And already fix The 23,976 bug in 3D in latest firmware, And some autoframe rate, And has alluminium box, And its half price cheaper than dunes.
Dune is not premium, is just a expensive brand, not really worth it this days, way bellow from competition.

Agreed on the Mede8er as I am testing, some of the best support out there. However, the Dunes support forced subtitles in Blu ray rips, an area that the realtek chips have not sorted out yet. Plus I get a proper 3rd party jukebox with the Dunes which you don't get with the mede8er currently. Things like these justify the extra price right now. The A300 has been a disappointment tbh
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post #64 of 1616
9/12/12 at 4:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 View Post

Agreed on the Mede8er as I am testing, some of the best support out there. However, the Dunes support forced subtitles in Blu ray rips, an area that the realtek chips have not sorted out yet. Plus I get a proper 3rd party jukebox with the Dunes which you don't get with the mede8er currently. Things like these justify the extra price right now. The A300 has been a disappointment tbh

i try the Y2M software to mede8er and is very easy to use , the annoying part is to create a nfo. file from imdb link in some movies, if you have NAS keep less complicated to make the small adjustments.

im my opinion syabas and dune are little late for the 3D game, they need to catch up quickly, even micca is a strong candidate, but mede8er is getting better and better.
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post #65 of 1616
9/12/12 at 5:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by canton160 View Post

i try the Y2M software to mede8er and is very easy to use , the annoying part is to create a nfo. file from imdb link in some movies, if you have NAS keep less complicated to make the small adjustments.
im my opinion syabas and dune are little late for the 3D game, they need to catch up quickly, even micca is a strong candidate, but mede8er is getting better and better.

It is still not what I consider a proper jukebox because a) you cant group multiple shared as library and b) there is not proper tv show support.

Dont want to sidetrack this thread though. I dont really think dune/pch is that far behind on 3D as it is still a niche in a niche market. It all comes down to if they can execute on the new line of players, and this means providing a stable platform at launch, and addressing issues/bugs in a quick manner. I know much of this may fall on Sigma, but I guess we will know soon enough
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post #66 of 1616
9/12/12 at 6:30pm
Been to the YAMJ route, tired of the maintenance that comes along with it. I like the support forum for NMT, I like how its Mac OS X friendly, and I own an iPad3, and I like the NMJv2. I'm looking forward to NMJ Navigator iOS App. So, its tough to decide, but I'm still leaning towards a Popcorn Hour A-400. After 6 months its been released to see how stable its firmware is and how Main movie only Bluray 3D ISOs turn out. When I do a main movie remux, I normally like to have its chapters, english PGS subtitles, and the English HD Audio track. So, a single m2ts file doesnt give me all that.
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post #67 of 1616
9/12/12 at 6:31pm
Guys, my Ultio Pro 880 HD's network card just died and even though the internal HD works, there's no way I'm going to not have internet on that device so I'll gift it to someone soon (I know, gift is not a verb but Amazon uses it).

So I read three pages of comments...all I want to do is play ISO files because that's how I rip my DVD's with DVD Shrink (I know, it's a century old program but hey it works for me and when it doesn't I use DVD Fab). I'd also like to be able to add a hard disk and play through HDMI. The MVIX Interface was crappy if you had 500 movies, to reach the ones far down. It would be great to have a UI with a remote that lets you type the first letter to reach the movie, or that sorts by latest file. I can't have the Mede8er, sorry but I don't encourage ugly design like this (the Ultio was a major compromise hehehe).

I'm not ever going back to MVIX. These people are simply the poorest ever at customer support. Any suggestion? I'm asking in this thread because you discussed all the latest devices out there. If I'm off-topic please let me know politely and I'll delete my message and start a new thread.

Cheers,
Alain
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post #68 of 1616
9/12/12 at 8:09pm
You probably are in the wrong thread overall, however, if you are only ripping dvd iso's and not concerned with 3D, you should have a lot of options. I would post the question outside of this thread but in this section. With the A-400 you will likely be paying for a bunch of stuff you don't need.
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post #69 of 1616
9/13/12 at 1:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Melkiades View Post

Guys, my Ultio Pro 880 HD's network card just died and even though the internal HD works, there's no way I'm going to not have internet on that device so I'll gift it to someone soon (I know, gift is not a verb but Amazon uses it).
So I read three pages of comments...all I want to do is play ISO files because that's how I rip my DVD's with DVD Shrink (I know, it's a century old program but hey it works for me and when it doesn't I use DVD Fab). I'd also like to be able to add a hard disk and play through HDMI. The MVIX Interface was crappy if you had 500 movies, to reach the ones far down. It would be great to have a UI with a remote that lets you type the first letter to reach the movie, or that sorts by latest file. I can't have the Mede8er, sorry but I don't encourage ugly design like this (the Ultio was a major compromise hehehe).
I'm not ever going back to MVIX. These people are simply the poorest ever at customer support. Any suggestion? I'm asking in this thread because you discussed all the latest devices out there. If I'm off-topic please let me know politely and I'll delete my message and start a new thread.
Cheers,

Alain

Most players can handle DVD ISOs with ease,
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post #70 of 1616
9/19/12 at 2:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wizziwig View Post

I think you mean no "shipping" Sigma player offers source direct. As pointed out by Mark below, all the old SageTV Sigma players offered native resolution output - even ancient 8635 ones. Syabas is just too damn lazy or incompetent and would rather give excuses blaming the SDK.

I agree here. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by source direct, but I have WDTV Live running custom/homebrew WDlxTV firmware and it has the option to automatically switch to source resolution.
To me this means the player is not scaling, if the source matches one of the standard resolutions (e.g. 480p), but instead switches the HDMI output to that resolution.
The original firmware does not have this option. It was added by an enthusiast building a custom firmware for the box... (that sounds to me it should not be that much difficult).
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post #71 of 1616
9/19/12 at 3:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by canton160 View Post

Dont forget the med1000x3d, 12days out And already fix The 23,976 bug in 3D in latest firmware, And some autoframe rate, And has alluminium box, And its half price cheaper than dunes.
Dune is not premium, is just a expensive brand, not really worth it this days, way bellow from competition.

I have the Med1000x3.it is a nice mediaplayer, and easy to use. Almost everything done well. But I look for top Pq! If you play a bit with the contrast, in my case lower it, it looks good especially on Plasma. , But there is some sharpening of the image, that is less good..........Bothers me on my VW 95 sony projector.
Compare it with a Oppo 95, that was as sharp, but not have these edges and was more cinema-like. The a-400 claims to have better quality, no edges, so I am curious about that. And don't write the Dune of yet.
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post #72 of 1616
9/19/12 at 4:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by laserjet6 View Post

I agree here. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by source direct, but I have WDTV Live running custom/homebrew WDlxTV firmware and it has the option to automatically switch to source resolution.
To me this means the player is not scaling, if the source matches one of the standard resolutions (e.g. 480p), but instead switches the HDMI output to that resolution.
The original firmware does not have this option. It was added by an enthusiast building a custom firmware for the box... (that sounds to me it should not be that much difficult).

All popcorn hour models have that. What we are talking about is "source direct" the video is not touched by the player it passes untouched video off to an external scaler to process. With all current players they are scaling the video and doing post processing or whatever you want to call it on the video there is no current gen player that send untouched video out to an external scaler.
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post #73 of 1616
9/19/12 at 9:01pm
Will 400h do 4k?
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post #74 of 1616
9/19/12 at 10:51pm
No
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post #75 of 1616
9/20/12 at 12:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoro View Post

Will 400h do 4k?

And why should it? It is the new "hot " thing, but if there is one thing that you don't need at this moment it is 4 K! I have seen the Sony 1000 last week-end and was NOT impressed. I have the Sony 95, so image is similar.

Texture was exactly the same as with my projector. There was no significant difference whatever people are saying. I even found the 1080 P projector more natural, because it is not upscaled but native. Also It was displayed on a 2 m 40 screen and mine is 2 m 65. 1080 P is more then enough with a good display and a top BD playes as the oppo. If you have hudge screens, then of course you will benefit from 4 k, but then still it is not native. There is no 4 K source-material on the market, and I think for years to come, there will be not much choice. Now all classics are becoming available on Bd. They look terrific on Bd.

3 D looked better on the 4 k display. It was less tiring and more natural. But then I still think, how spectacular 3 d may be, I even prefer sometimes to watch something in 2 D, when the 3 d version exist.
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post #76 of 1616
9/21/12 at 8:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by halfelite View Post

All popcorn hour models have that. What we are talking about is "source direct" the video is not touched by the player it passes untouched video off to an external scaler to process. With all current players they are scaling the video and doing post processing or whatever you want to call it on the video there is no current gen player that send untouched video out to an external scaler.


I am new to looking into a media box. So you are saying that none of the currently shipping models let you choose to NOT alter the video before sending it out HDMI?
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post #77 of 1616
9/21/12 at 9:33am
Folks,
Just started looking into PCH as an option. Coming from apple tv, XBMC running over a mac mini, wdtv live

Each of these has limitations that I am hoping PCH can address. Can someone who currently has a PCH comment on how it handles the following -

1) DTS-HD and DD Plus pass thru
2) 23.976 support
3) Support for BD bit rates
4) Chapter skip with mkvs
5) Fast UI navigation (apple tv and XBMC are no slouches but wdtv is woeful)
6) Streaming over NFS or other network share
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post #78 of 1616
9/21/12 at 3:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hifiaudio2 View Post

. . . So you are saying that none of the currently shipping models let you choose to NOT alter the video before sending it out HDMI?
Correct.

Even if the the resolution going-in is equal to the resolution going-out, the image passes through the scaler. The scaler might not do anything, but then again, it might. None of the current SoCs have the capability to do a true pass-through.
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post #79 of 1616
9/22/12 at 4:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bytebuster View Post

Folks,
Just started looking into PCH as an option. Coming from apple tv, XBMC running over a mac mini, wdtv live
Each of these has limitations that I am hoping PCH can address. Can someone who currently has a PCH comment on how it handles the following -
1) DTS-HD and DD Plus pass thru
2) 23.976 support
3) Support for BD bit rates
4) Chapter skip with mkvs
5) Fast UI navigation (apple tv and XBMC are no slouches but wdtv is woeful)
6) Streaming over NFS or other network share

1. No problem
2. No problem
3. No problem
4. Should be ok
5. First video looks ok, but it's better to wait users reports
6. No problem
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post #80 of 1616
9/22/12 at 6:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bytebuster View Post

1) DTS-HD and DD Plus pass thru

Just an FYI, the current PCH 300 series has HD Audio dropout issues. I know the 400 is going to be a different chipset, but seeing as how this problem has not been fixed yet for the 300 series for over 9 months I don't have a great deal of confidence that Syabas can release the 400 series in a completely workable fashion, or address bugs promptly.
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post #81 of 1616
9/22/12 at 8:39am
Sweet. Thanks guys
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post #82 of 1616
9/22/12 at 8:53am
So I know the A400 does not officially support full BD menus. But will it be capable of playing back the full menus on my discs that I ripped like the A200 could? I would like to get a replacement for my C200. And while the A400 can't be a complete replacement since I can't play a Blu-ray Disc directly from it, if I can at least play full BD menus from my ripped discs like the x200 and x300 models could. Then I would certainly like to get one. But without any capability of full BD menus, I would not be able to play the BD ISO rips that have issues playing properly with BD lite.

EDIT: Will the A400 also handle multiple shares concurrently with it's Jukebox? Or are you still limited to accessing content from one share at a time?
Edited by aaronwt - 9/22/12 at 9:33am
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post #83 of 1616
9/24/12 at 3:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 View Post

Just an FYI, the current PCH 300 series has HD Audio dropout issues. I know the 400 is going to be a different chipset, but seeing as how this problem has not been fixed yet for the 300 series for over 9 months I don't have a great deal of confidence that Syabas can release the 400 series in a completely workable fashion, or address bugs promptly.

HD audio drop outs on the 300s relate to Full BD ISO/Folder rips but not single file playback. Apparently the bug is in Sigma's Blu-ray code rather than Syabas' code. Still disappointing it hasn't been fixed, though.

I'm sure they'll be bugs. Some of the spectacular "how did that slip though?" face plant variety, no doubt. Hopefully Sigma and Syabas both will be a bit keener to get them fixed quickly this time round. The fast improving capabilities of cheap ARM based devices can't have escaped their attention. All it's going to take is HD Audio bitstreaming on an ARM solution and an "easy to install" custom XBMC build and I might be off! smile.gif

Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

So I know the A400 does not officially support full BD menus. But will it be capable of playing back the full menus on my discs that I ripped like the A200 could? I would like to get a replacement for my C200. And while the A400 can't be a complete replacement since I can't play a Blu-ray Disc directly from it, if I can at least play full BD menus from my ripped discs like the x200 and x300 models could. Then I would certainly like to get one. But without any capability of full BD menus, I would not be able to play the BD ISO rips that have issues playing properly with BD lite.
EDIT: Will the A400 also handle multiple shares concurrently with it's Jukebox? Or are you still limited to accessing content from one share at a time?

From what I've read on the NMT forums the only way to avoid Cinevera has been to TOTALLY remove the BD stack. There's no chance of ever getting a BD menu on the A400, not even as an unsupported feature (like the A300). The only option is BD-lite, let's hope it works. Personally, as a movie only type of guy I will be perfectly happy as long as HD Audio bitstreaming and (forced) PGS subs in a MKV container work properly.
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post #84 of 1616
9/24/12 at 4:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by evilengineer View Post

HD audio drop outs on the 300s relate to Full BD ISO/Folder rips but not single file playback. Apparently the bug is in Sigma's Blu-ray code rather than Syabas' code. Still disappointing it hasn't been fixed, though.
I'm sure they'll be bugs. Some of the spectacular "how did that slip though?" face plant variety, no doubt. Hopefully Sigma and Syabas both will be a bit keener to get them fixed quickly this time round. The fast improving capabilities of cheap ARM based devices can't have escaped their attention. All it's going to take is HD Audio bitstreaming on an ARM solution and an "easy to install" custom XBMC build and I might be off! smile.gif

LOL, a custom XBMC ARM solution with all the bells and whistles may be all that it takes to get a lot of people to move on!

You are correct as well, I should have clarified that the bug was related to Blu-ray structures. Unfortunately that makes the A300 a paperweight for much of my library frown.gif
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post #85 of 1616
9/24/12 at 11:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 View Post

LOL, a custom XBMC ARM solution with all the bells and whistles may be all that it takes to get a lot of people to move on!
You are correct as well, I should have clarified that the bug was related to Blu-ray structures. Unfortunately that makes the A300 a paperweight for much of my library frown.gif

XBMC on ARM will no doubt happen, but there's no way it will be the unrestricted media centre that currently runs on computers. I can just see the licensing howls as XBMC tries to play back disk images, more HD audio content and so on. Boxee and Plex quickly found out that you have to put up with restrictions if you want to run on boxes with access to premium content. I don't know why everyone thinks that XBMC will bring the Wild West to cheap ARM based media players. It's a pipe dream.

Philip
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post #86 of 1616
10/6/12 at 2:29am
Everything stays quiet. The player should be in stock at the second half of this month.
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post #87 of 1616
10/9/12 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by evilengineer View Post

HD audio drop outs on the 300s relate to Full BD ISO/Folder rips but not single file playback. Apparently the bug is in Sigma's Blu-ray code rather than Syabas' code. Still disappointing it hasn't been fixed, though.
I'm sure they'll be bugs. Some of the spectacular "how did that slip though?" face plant variety, no doubt. Hopefully Sigma and Syabas both will be a bit keener to get them fixed quickly this time round. The fast improving capabilities of cheap ARM based devices can't have escaped their attention. All it's going to take is HD Audio bitstreaming on an ARM solution and an "easy to install" custom XBMC build and I might be off! smile.gif
................

I just looked at this post again and realized that you said the 300 series has issues with ISOs from a bug in the Sigma code. I'm guessing that with teh A400 and a new chip that itr would be different code? Most of my content is in the BD ISO format so I hope there are not issues with the A400.
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post #88 of 1616
10/9/12 at 11:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronwt View Post

I just looked at this post again and realized that you said the 300 series has issues with ISOs from a bug in the Sigma code. I'm guessing that with teh A400 and a new chip that itr would be different code? Most of my content is in the BD ISO format so I hope there are not issues with the A400.

Yes, it is a different sdk then the 300 series. Doesnt mean the hd audio bug won't be there, but it would be separate from the 300 issue (which is pathetic that it has been outstanding for over 9 months..)
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post #89 of 1616
10/9/12 at 1:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 View Post

Yes, it is a different sdk then the 300 series. Doesnt mean the hd audio bug won't be there, but it would be separate from the 300 issue (which is pathetic that it has been outstanding for over 9 months..)
Agreed! The sad thing is I want the a400 to be awesome, but let's face it...EVERY SINGLE launch of a new product has been filled with bugs. Some not so bad, but most of them dealbreakers for me!
I could not STAND the c200 at launch and now it is my favorite player next to my Dune...
I think everyone needs to understand that we will all be beta testers for this thing, imo...
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post #90 of 1616
10/9/12 at 2:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by comicguy View Post

Agreed! The sad thing is I want the a400 to be awesome, but let's face it...EVERY SINGLE launch of a new product has been filled with bugs. Some not so bad, but most of them dealbreakers for me!
I could not STAND the c200 at launch and now it is my favorite player next to my Dune...
I think everyone needs to understand that we will all be beta testers for this thing, imo...

As someone who was there at the C200 launch, A200, and A300, I completely agree with you. If you are a 300 series user the fear is that the amount of support drops as focus goes onto the A400 (which I would say is critical for PCH/Syabas).
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