HTPC or media player? same thing?

My 2p worth :D

I have 2 of the A.C.Ryan PlayonHD minis so can testify they are very good players , silent and evolving with firmware updates but not yet perfect.
The YAMJ isnt quite what I would call a finished product yet with it lacking true skinning support but they say they will add that in time. Not yet tried it over my whole NAS folder (1700 MKV's) but have tested it over some lesser folders and it works well if a little slow at times. I tend to use the other app they support called ThumbGen with a customised layout (details on ACRyan forums).
As for network use .. I only have MKV's in SD but these play flawlessly over both a wired connection and using the wireless adaptor they sell.
The Sumvision Cyclone MKV v2 is very similar for playback as it uses the same chipset but it lacks firmware upgrades and has no YAMJ support.
Having used a WDTV (gen1) the Sumvision and A.C.Ryan mini I can safely say that the A.C.Ryan wins hands down with full DVD Menu support and much better subtitle support within MKV with YAMJ thrown in too.

All IMHO of course :D

Cozzy
 
Cozman said:
My 2p worth :D

I have 2 of the A.C.Ryan PlayonHD minis so can testify they are very good players , silent and evolving with firmware updates but not yet perfect.
The YAMJ isnt quite what I would call a finished product yet with it lacking true skinning support but they say they will add that in time. Not yet tried it over my whole NAS folder (1700 MKV's) but have tested it over some lesser folders and it works well if a little slow at times. I tend to use the other app they support called ThumbGen with a customised layout (details on ACRyan forums).
As for network use .. I only have MKV's in SD but these play flawlessly over both a wired connection and using the wireless adaptor they sell.
The Sumvision Cyclone MKV v2 is very similar for playback as it uses the same chipset but it lacks firmware upgrades and has no YAMJ support.
Having used a WDTV (gen1) the Sumvision and A.C.Ryan mini I can safely say that the A.C.Ryan wins hands down with full DVD Menu support and much better subtitle support within MKV with YAMJ thrown in too.

All IMHO of course :D

Cozzy
Click to expand...

Whats the deal with album and music file artwork?
 
To be honest Ive never even tried playing back music on it ...

not sure even how to setup cover work for music as Ive never used that option but there are a few posts on ACRyan forums about it if memory serves me right ...

I will have to check out how its done and test it if I get the chance but my TV sound system isnt exactly HiFi quality for music playback (basic TV in built speakers)
 
Cozman said:
My 2p worth :D

I have 2 of the A.C.Ryan PlayonHD minis so can testify they are very good players , silent and evolving with firmware updates but not yet perfect.
The YAMJ isnt quite what I would call a finished product yet with it lacking true skinning support but they say they will add that in time. Not yet tried it over my whole NAS folder (1700 MKV's) but have tested it over some lesser folders and it works well if a little slow at times. I tend to use the other app they support called ThumbGen with a customised layout (details on ACRyan forums).
As for network use .. I only have MKV's in SD but these play flawlessly over both a wired connection and using the wireless adaptor they sell.
The Sumvision Cyclone MKV v2 is very similar for playback as it uses the same chipset but it lacks firmware upgrades and has no YAMJ support.
Having used a WDTV (gen1) the Sumvision and A.C.Ryan mini I can safely say that the A.C.Ryan wins hands down with full DVD Menu support and much better subtitle support within MKV with YAMJ thrown in too.

All IMHO of course :D

Cozzy
Click to expand...

Hi,

What is the build quality like on these Playon's? remote is good?
 
I'm hoping I can get my harmony one to work with it...


EDIT: The Harmony one has the playon HD in the support list :D
 
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I sill recommend getting a Acer Aspire REVO - R3610 - 2 GB RAM - 250 GB HDD, and just installing xbmc live on it, it's brilliant and by far (IMO) the best streamer media player. I have had a popcorn hour A-110 and A-200 and both were quite buggy, but the revo is brilliant, I did need to buy an infa-red reciever and remote though.
 
ntemples1 said:
I sill recommend getting a Acer Aspire REVO - R3610 - 2 GB RAM - 250 GB HDD, and just installing xbmc live on it, it's brilliant and by far (IMO) the best streamer media player. I have had a popcorn hour A-110 and A-200 and both were quite buggy, but the revo is brilliant, I did need to buy an infa-red reciever and remote though.
Click to expand...

To pricey.

All I want to do is choose a film from the juke box and watch it.
 
Virdi said:
Hi,

What is the build quality like on these Playon's? remote is good?
Click to expand...

Hi

The build quality is on par or better than most similar devices though like most it can get warm to the touch during use. The remote is quite chunky but does the job intended without any issues like tough button presses.

You may be disappointed with the YAMJ as its not a 100% full implementation and isnt skianable as it stands but they are apparently working on more features and improvements. The latest firmware is diabolical with a lot of bugs so I hope thats not an indication of the future.

one thing to look for is the different models ... the early models dont have all the Dolby features of newer builds so its worth checking (if possible) it has a newer board revision inside

Overall for the price it saves building and maintaining a HTPC as its generally truely 'plug n play' unless your media is encoded in extreme specs/bitrates. If you want the best of the best that does what you want then build a custom made HTPC , if you want an easy life get a media streamer as long as your media is 'normal' spec and supported by the player.

think that all made sense .. LMAO

Cozzy
 
All Playon HD MINI's Purchased after April all have the New + chip.

ACR-PV73200+P is the new CHIP




Either way The Playon has got to be better than transcoding MKV's to play like the PS3 and as long as I can view and search through my collection via my JUKE BOX for the money it should be good.
 
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Cozman said:
You may be disappointed with the YAMJ as its not a 100% full implementation and isnt skianable as it stands but they are apparently working on more features and improvements.
Click to expand...

Whats not working


The Default skin I posted looks fine to me...What else won't work?

If its lame I'll send it back no biggy.
 
easyrider said:
All Playon HD MINI's Purchased after April all have the New + chip.

ACR-PV73200 is the new CHIP

ACR-PV73100 is the old CHIP.


Either way The Playon has got to be better than transcoding MKV's to play like the PS3 and as long as I can view and search through my collection via my JUKE BOX for the money it should be good.
Click to expand...

Well Ive not had an MKV file it cant play from the chipset itself but then my MKV's are SD H264 DVD RIPs rather than any HD material ... if in any doubt just upload a sample somewhere (smallish 2min sample or so) and I could download and test it plays OK

The jukebox is very similar to the pics you posted but Ive not really delved deep into much to see how good/bad it is .. the main problem appears to be its a little slow to load and update but I guess that depends on the size of the library and I only tested a small 30 file folder so far
 
For the future potential owners of Playon!, we have also now started re-labelling the Playon!HD and Playon!HD Mini with new product codes ACR-PV73100P+ and ACR-PV73200P+ respectively. However, we want to emphasise that with or without this new product code, all Playon!HD & Playon!HD Mini PURCHASED from July onwards is guaranteed of this new processor.
 
Cozman said:
The jukebox is very similar to the pics you posted but Ive not really delved deep into much to see how good/bad it is .. the main problem appears to be its a little slow to load and update but I guess that depends on the size of the library and I only tested a small 30 file folder so far
Click to expand...

The initial scan of the directory took quite a while on the PC but once it is done making any changes and updating was extremely fast.

This was in a folder with 400 HD movies in.

I'm looing forward to running it trough its paces :)
 
thats good to know ... except both my minis are older models Ive had since they were first released .. LOL

Not important to me as the basic difference is to do with Dolby and external amps I think .. and I just use a standard TV sound system so downmixed stereo
 
I'm going to record a HD movie for youtube of me running the Playon mini with YAMJ in my cinema room so you can see for yourself. :)
 
cant afford the space for HD quality ... my NAS is half filled now ... actually I have 2 NAS and both are half full and Im still ripping my collection

As for having surround sound and stuff ... got that on the PC and never really noticed the difference when watching movies apart from the sound level is just too loud for my delicate hearing :p

House has shoddy sound proofing too and Im considerate to my neighbors even if they aint considerate to me LOL

each to their own .. but the mini is very good at upscaling thats for sure
 
Cozman said:
cant afford the space for HD quality ... my NAS is half filled now ... actually I have 2 NAS and both are half full and Im still ripping my collection

As for having surround sound and stuff ... got that on the PC and never really noticed the difference when watching movies apart from the sound level is just too loud for my delicate hearing :p

House has shoddy sound proofing too and Im considerate to my neighbors even if they aint considerate to me LOL

each to their own .. but the mini is very good at upscaling thats for sure
Click to expand...

Wow.

I couldn't watch movies without surround sound:eek:
 
Well for the bedroom I'm happy enough for the rare occasionas that I watch films to watch with a nice set of stereo speakers set to "surround" mode, or a small 2.1 system. For the lounge though when I'm in the mood, then yeah surround sound all the way. Watching ANY film I can't do it on the TV speakers. Dia.
 
I picked up an ION based HTPC from the members market, based around the asus at3iont-i board, gig o' ram with a 4gb SSD, so no moving parts at all no fans etc, and have stuck XBMC live (ubuntu) on it. Took minutes to set up, pointed it at a network share and it just works, looks absolutely amazing with the Aeon skin and i can add a bluray drive to it, use it for browsing the net should i want to and i know i wont have any problems with codec support, and should I want to complete customisable.

Can't complain at all with the set up for ~150 quid inc postage (and including a normal hdd too that im removing as i dont want any moving parts in it except the Bluray drive)
 
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