Escient FireBall DVDM-100?? - Page 15

Manually type it in.....

Yes and no. I had a hd failure on my SE-80. Sent it back, they replaced the hd and did a power supply upgrade, all for free. I really do like Escient.

My SE-80 now perfectly plays FLAC files. The only problem is that you can't load FLAC files onto the SE-80's hard disk. The FLAC files need to be on either another fireball ( E2-40, 531, etc ) or on a fireball PC server. Thus I am not totally plused with my SE-80. However, as BGM goes the mp3 format is fine for me.

What I am thrilled with now is using wireless web based control of the fireballs. I have an old dell PPC with wifi that was collecting dust. I now am using to control the zp-1 in the piano/music room. Very small, a I don't need an ugly monitor ( very high WAF ). It has me rethinking how I will control everything, love the idea of two way control.

I was on flea bay recently and saw a number of nokia 770 wifi web tablets pretty cheap. They run linux and use opera as a web browser. Anyone know if the web server on the fireballs is compatable with opera?

if anyone is interested, secondact.com is having a sale on escient items 25% off.

steve

Wahoo! Got really lucky on ebay for once. For only $20.49 total shipped. I won the bid on a new-in-box Escient keyboard to go with my AVX-552. It arrived today, and yes it's brand new, even the included batteries for it are still shrink wrapped. I can't believe I was the only one that bid on it, and that I got for it's opening bid price of only $9.99, shipping was $10.50, but the seller also sent it out via 2nd day DHL without me even asking for that kind of service! So considering that, the shipping cost really was not even anywhere near the typical rip-off that some ebay sellers do to people with their overpriced shipping charges. Just about every other time in the past year when I bid on one of these keyboards, and most times they were used ones and not new. They usually ended up going past $50 plus whatever shipping costs were. I'd normally quit my bidding at about $40, but on the few I went higher than that, they all went for over $50.

Just wondering,
Do you think that escient will, come out with a firmware upgrade or a refresh to its software interface? I know its really great, but it could be a little better, I think, maybe. I have had a se-d1 for about 3 months now and i think this machine is the sh*t. but with the new vision line out now, what do you think. just wondering

steve

Does the Fireball pass title information via rs-232 to the kenwood DV-5900M internal library so it shows up on the kenwood changers library as well as LCD display on the front of the 5900? i

n other words if will the fireball populate the dvd title text for each slot on the kenwood dv-5900m itself so I don't have to manuall enter title info in the kenwood dv-5900m library. I am hoping This title info should be passed via RS-232 into the dvd changers from fireball

Hi

No it does not, just for my own info why would you want to have the data in the changer?

Tom

because in my theater room I prefer to browse the library on my SDI modded changer, so its important disk is labeled.

Two issues with the dvdm100 1) picture quality and 2)working with mp3

the Userinterface for the music portion via web is not working well for me...when accessing via the web ui or onscreen to create music playlist specifically a playlist of networked fireball pc mp3s..( i have itunes for downloading and sorting and point the fireball pc to the same folder for the mp3s) the ui doesn't seem to respondit just sits thereclunky, slow, freezes whole system, very frustrating to use, cant sort fast like u can itunes. Might something be wrong

is there an escient upgrade or a product with a faster and more flexible web ui anything like itunes that integrates or works with escient productsor a newer ui for the mp3 streaming..any fixes or recommendations

also my picture quality is horrible compared to hddvd and blueray-

what have you seen people do to improve picture quality?
I am running the signal thru my Yamaha rxv3800

The latest software available for the D100 is 4.2.5.6 and FBPC is 4.2.3.6 if that is what you are running than that is the latest. Is it possible that your index got fouled up? You could try deleting the .ESCIENT file (or moving it and reindexing your collection to see if that helps). The web GUI has always been slower than the interface on the unit, with all of the work being put into the new Vision I don't beleive that there will be an upgrade soon (but I have been wrong before). As for the picture, the interface is 480i and what you see is what you get. The unit can pass 480P through the component connections so if your changer outputs a progressive signal that will help the quality of your movie but when you return to the guide you are back to 480i. You should be able to get your display to work a little magic on the signal or if you are so inclined perhaps an external video processor may be in your future, DVDO is planning on releasing a new sub $1K unit any day now. BTW Escient stores its music with strange headers and as far as I know there is no other software that you can use to access it properly.


Tom

Doesn't seem like there is a lot of escient threads running around. I noticed these things are available at a very reasonable price. I decided to grab one as I am getting tired of using my MX3000 remote to run my changer. It is a real pain to add new movies to the remote as well as the use of the changer is not flawless. Looking forward to giving this a try.

I am guessing the lack of interest is that people have moved on to servers

ksharp4,
Mine still chugs along just fine with the Sony Changer.
No real problems with it....it just works and I still love it.

After living with it for so long, feeding Blu-Ray discs to a single disc player one at a time seems absolutely barbaric!

Can't wait until a BR changer comes down in price and interfaces with an Escient piece.

No server here....I have enough PC headaches. I just want my movies to play, not crash!

BJBBJB

I have my three changers hooked up to my fireball.....love it, fool-proof, rock-solid!

I said goodbye to the pc setup in the living room along time ago.

If it's Windows based, it's bound to crash.

I have nine changers hooked to four DVDM-100's. they just keep going and going and going. It appears that the control protocol in the new Sony Blu-Ray changers is the same as the old 777's so I am assuming that Escient will make the new Vision stuff compatable with them.


Tom

My escient DVDM-100 showed up last night so pretty excited to plug it in. I only have one changer right now but will likely expand to 2.

From what it sounds like I no longer need to have the Sony DVD changer on my remote as the escient completely controls the changer (i.e., power on, play, etc)--is that accurate?

I am excited to not have to continue updating my remote everytime I add a dvd and this should make my remote a lot simpler.

It's essentially true, but not entirely true.

There are a number of commands on the Sony remote dealing with some of the more ignorable features of the Sony--things like DVD setup, Angle, Audio, Subtitles, Display--that you won't find on the Escient control. You may want to have the Sony remote around just in case you want to look in one of those obscure closets, but the Escient will give you control of all the functions you really need.

Thanks,

Nick

Howdy....is the database for DVD's still active and updated for Escient equipment?

I'm looking to purchase a used Powerplay and MC-201D changer but only if the DVD database is still active.

Thanks.

Still active and being added to with new releases.

Thanks Nick

Hmmm...last few days my DVDM-100 has not been able to search for discs and I get the "can't login to Escient" message.

I know it is on the network as I can "see" it from the webgui and my home system. And I know my network can see the internet as another device on the same switch can see the internet. However the DVDM-100 is not able to login. Hopefully this is just a glitch and not a glimpse of things to come with Escient's transition.

Anyone else able search with their Escient piece?

BJBJB

Yea all four of mine are failing also, the server must be down.

Tom

I was able to connect on 11-12-10 and 11-19-10, but I do worry about what will happen in the future. I just got my fireball and changers, seems like I'm a little late in the game but I could not pass up the incredible deal! I have a couple of questions I hope you guys could answer.
1. is there any way to resume a movie after the unit is turned off?
without the fireball it is a great feature of the standalone sony
2. is there any way to turn it off from the web gui or browser ?
I know you can go to the utilities screen and reboot it but that does
not shut the changers off
3.does the touchscreen interface have a way to turn the fireball off?

I only have the one remote and did not get a keyboard and have the FB setup to display in mulitple locations.

thanks,
dj_ok

Hi ,
Are the escient servers still up these days, there are several well priced DVDM-100's out there, almost too good to pass up, but I'm wondering is this the reason why they're so cheap ??????

I just used my DVDM100 tonight to watch a movie. I tried the network connection test and it worked. I then tried to "search for a movie" manually and it returned a result.

I will say that when left unused for a while, with the network connection plugged in, my unit will not turn on. I have to unplug the ethernet cable, reboot the unit (not just turn it on) and then it works.
Seems to have been doing that for quite a while. Not sure if it is just my unit or the last software patch that is doing this. Perhaps someone else could comment on that.


Hope this helps.
BJBBJB

Yeah I have issues with all four of mine, if left alone for a week or two I find it necessary to reboot them before I can use them.

Tom

Hey, glad to see you are still around! If you pull the ethernet cable do they wake up without a reboot more regularly for you? I don't find myself adding discs that often to the SD changer any more.


BJBBJB

The way my system is set up it is difficult to get behind the changers and the Fireball's so I really don't even bother I just reset them.

Tom
Edited by b00bie - 7/20/12 at 3:32am

thanks for all your replys.
so the escient servers are still up, I wonder for how long though given that the company is effectively gone.

Just moved, wondered if it's worth setting up my se-d1, are the escient servers still up or should I just figure out another way to use my 777

If anybody is still using these can anybody tell me if this is normal behavior?
I've had the DVDM-100 for about three years now and every couple of months when you turn it on it gives me the screen "checking library please wait creating back up" it never finishes you could leave it on for days will never go away until you go and unplug the unit plug it back in and then it'll clear out for about a couple of weeks and then it'll keep coming back until you do a full "Restore factory defaults", Then it will work okay for a few more months and then it's right back at it again. doing a "Library index rebuild" Or "a force re registration" does not help. the first time I emailed support they claimed to have never heard of this issue and the second time escient support suggested sending the unit in for repair (of course) but I'm sure that will be way more than the unit is worth. I've also heard of leaky caps in the power supply causing problems but this issue seems to be more O.S. related. if anybody has any suggestions please let me know. I wish somebody would make an alternate o.s. for these things and we could mod 'em.