Easyrider's Playon HD mini review thread.

The Mini2 has just turned up! And it's er, quite, er, Mini? :) A bit smaller then I thought! not that it matters, I can't power it up until I get home.

I've just be browsing various forums about people saying to get to Network shares takes too much clicking through menu's etc, and realised that it doesn't index videos' over the network so they would appear under the 'movies' option ..

Someone has mounted/linked folders on a USB drive to the SMB shares for the Mini, and it sees a good solution..
http://www.acryan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=11999

It's not working on the Mini2, but I'll have a go to see why when I get home and play with the Mini2, if the GUI2.0 can be made to index the SMB stuff, that'll be perfect for me!

Since they use SQLite, it might be possible to even write a little app to inject the media details etc externally, if the db can be accessed externally, I'll maybe look at that later on..
 
Thanks for the quick review. I really need to sort the indexing out. I currently use an NFS server on Win 7 as it was able to stream better than the default SMB shares.

It's a pity that something like the Mini that is purely designed to stream from local drives or a network can't index stuff on the network :(
 
Do either of you guys with the Mini2 think the menus are a bit.. Well Clunky? I had this problem on the original Mini, Maybe there is something i am doing wrong.. Why do i have to go to 3 menus down to get to shortcuts. Whydoesn it sometimes forget the login details but when i go back in it logs in fine.. Why cant i create a playlist on the unit? And what does the Movies, Photos and Music optiosn on the menu do? Whenever i chose one it doenst do anything.. If i have missed something a little fundimental then i apolgise as i have had a bit of a busy week..
 
Skyline said:
Do either of you guys with the Mini2 think the menus are a bit.. Well Clunky? I had this problem on the original Mini, Maybe there is something i am doing wrong.. Why do i have to go to 3 menus down to get to shortcuts. Whydoesn it sometimes forget the login details but when i go back in it logs in fine.. Why cant i create a playlist on the unit? And what does the Movies, Photos and Music optiosn on the menu do? Whenever i chose one it doenst do anything.. If i have missed something a little fundimental then i apolgise as i have had a bit of a busy week..
Click to expand...

:( Doesn't sound too good.

So from your impression is it simply the same interface tarted up to look more 'visually impressive'?
 
hey skyline o/

i believe the music,movies and pictures is just a filter. So if you have a picture of taylor swift, a song by the police and a load of films starting with 'the' you can go to picture, search T and it will only show the picture of taylor swift.

not sure how much use it is really as if youre organised with your folders beforehand you can really save yourself the trouble , but its there anyway.

My AC Ryan is ace im really chuffed with it.. the new one they are bringing out will be the dogs though i reckon /drool

http://www.acryan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=155&t=11080&sid=29260753295436a0f7e8a122c16ac39d
 
Skyline said:
Do either of you guys with the Mini2 think the menus are a bit.. Well Clunky? I had this problem on the original Mini, Maybe there is something i am doing wrong.. Why do i have to go to 3 menus down to get to shortcuts. Whydoesn it sometimes forget the login details but when i go back in it logs in fine.. Why cant i create a playlist on the unit? And what does the Movies, Photos and Music optiosn on the menu do? Whenever i chose one it doenst do anything.. If i have missed something a little fundimental then i apolgise as i have had a bit of a busy week..
Click to expand...

I've not even plugged mine in, so this might be fractionally untrue...

The way you really should be using the unit is via the Movies/Photo's Music options on the front screen, which from a usability aspect sounds like it's what people want..

The problem is, things only appear under there if they are connected locally (i.e. a USB HDD plugged in to it), to which you can get it to indexes all the files, and puts them (with images I believe) under the Movies/Photo's/Music sections.. If you are accessing your files over a network, it falls down because it doesn't currently 'index' these at all, so the only way to access them is by using the secondary method of 'file browsing' which is buried down in the menu's, and hence why it's clunky to use..

There is a method above that works (see http://www.acryan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=11999|) on the original Mini that will make the unit thing that your network shared files are actually on a USB stick by hacking in at the linux level, this then allows the unit to index all the files and you can nicely access them via the Movies/Music/Photo sections on the front page..

Since I now have a unit, and a tiny bit of linux experience from messing around with the linux based NAS's, I'll see if I can get the method above to work on the Mini 2, and see what it's like when you can get the box to index all your music/movies itself.

I have noticed that there is no manual at all for the MIni2, all you get is a 3 pages in a quick start guide that is just about plugging it in and setting the language on first use..
 
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Well, I spent a few hours messing around with the Mini 2, and as a replacement for the old Xbox for streaming stuff to the bedroom it is OK, all that is really missing, and well known from the Mini 1 is

1. No easily customisable and practical front end, even if you stored stuff locally and got the media library to index it, you still can't view it in a way you want to..
2. Getting easy access to media on network shares. I got the mounting to USB folders at startup to work, so that's slightly better, but it doesn't index because you do network mounts after the USB stick has been detected, but you have to give it some time, and you miss the auto-scan oppertunity.

It does play everything however, and I just plugged in the cheap N Dongle I got off the bay and it just worked, although I had to figure out that the WEP key was required in HEX not ASCII...

So 10/10 for it's raw playing ability.. 6/10 for the interface, 6/10 for all other features (no easy playlist ability, can't get it to auto switch off if idle for a period of time etc, no manual, everything requires visiting the forums, and some good linux knowledge, and even then, if they implemented SSH or SFTP or something, you can easily browse/edit files with WinSCP or similar..)

I guess it's not a huge surprise coming from the Mini 1.. I can't emphasise how impressed I am with it's ability to play everything I've thrown at it, I think the only thing that it didn't handle immediately was a BR rip as a folder (BDMV/STREAM etc), but it did play the .m2ts and handled the audio perfectly, as did it give me a mini BR menu for a BR ISO.. the issue being that all my BR ISO's are obviously from my originals, so they you do miss all the complex extras.. however getting to the main film was OK..
 
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Demon said:
Well, I spent a few hours messing around with the Mini 2, and as a replacement for the old Xbox for streaming stuff to the bedroom it is OK, all that is really missing, and well known from the Mini 1 is

1. No easily customisable and practical front end, even if you stored stuff locally and got the media library to index it, you still can't view it in a way you want to..
2. Getting easy access to media on network shares. I got the mounting to USB folders at startup to work, so that's slightly better, but it doesn't index because you do network mounts after the USB stick has been detected, but you have to give it some time, and you miss the auto-scan oppertunity.

It does play everything however, and I just plugged in the cheap N Dongle I got off the bay and it just worked, although I had to figure out that the WEP key was required in HEX not ASCII...

So 10/10 for it's raw playing ability.. 6/10 for the interface, 6/10 for all other features (no easy playlist ability, can't get it to auto switch off if idle for a period of time etc, no manual, everything requires visiting the forums, and some good linux knowledge, and even then, if they implemented SSH or SFTP or something, you can easily browse/edit files with WinSCP or similar..)

I guess it's not a huge surprise coming from the Mini 1.. I can't emphasise how impressed I am with it's ability to play everything I've thrown at it, I think the only thing that it didn't handle immediately was a BR rip as a folder (BDMV/STREAM etc), but it did play the .m2ts and handled the audio perfectly, as did it give me a mini BR menu for a BR ISO.. the issue being that all my BR ISO's are obviously from my originals, so they you do miss all the complex extras.. however getting to the main film was OK..
Click to expand...

Hi Demon,

Does the Mini (not the mini 2) have issues with BD ISOs ? They are listed as supported and I am just considering re-ripping to ISO so this will make a big difference.

What are the main differences between the two (link would be fine if you have one) as the spec seems quite close from a cursory glance (new network chipset noted).

With the network mount and autoscanning, are you not able to find which init process kicks off the autoscan and then just kick it off again from the rcS after the mounts have completed ? Been a while since I looked at the telnet functions as my DLink NAS worked as my mini server. Would have thought you could completely relink the system to a copy on a USB drive after mounting it and customise from there hooking in to it from the rcS. If you can then potentially you have freed up the internal writeable storage problem as you can edit the 'mirror' system on the hdd.

May take a look tonight / over the weekend and see what I can come up with.

Cheers

RB
 
I do think it's a bit clunky for browsing a network. For example, you'd expect to be able to pick the folder in the LHS bit and then it'd list files in the RHS but nope, if you ahve long filenames you have to wait for them to scroll to see which episode it is.

Also the Mini lists DVD when it has no DVD drive. A bit stupid if you ask me.

Although I did buy it for it's ability to play everything. I was having too many issues with my PS3 and PMS.
 
Cheers for the feedback Demon i really appreciate it. I think i am going to signup to the ACryan forums and give them some feedback and suggestions. I purchased my ACRyan Mini2 through one of the main UK Distributers for AC Ryan products. I hope they will be interested in some of my feedback...

What i cant really understand is that how come this issue has not been approached before? Like myself i am sure a lot of users of ACRyan Playon products are like myself. Come from XBMC and was looking for something a lot smaller, more managable and quieter. I have no issues with what it will and will not play (Although playing files from inside .RAR/Zip files wouldnt go a miss) its just the interface. Why is the folder called shortcuts 3 folders down??? Not much of a shortcut really is it then whats wrong with the front page?? In the shortcuts why can i not browse to a specific folder or IP Address and choose add to shortcuts and *Bing* Its there in shortcuts. Yes i understand there may be issues with logging onto the source of the media but ones that has been done once then it should be there...

Anyway i have gone on for faaaar to long..
 
RimBlock said:
Hi Demon,

Does the Mini (not the mini 2) have issues with BD ISOs ? They are listed as supported and I am just considering re-ripping to ISO so this will make a big difference.

What are the main differences between the two (link would be fine if you have one) as the spec seems quite close from a cursory glance (new network chipset noted).

With the network mount and autoscanning, are you not able to find which init process kicks off the autoscan and then just kick it off again from the rcS after the mounts have completed ? Been a while since I looked at the telnet functions as my DLink NAS worked as my mini server. Would have thought you could completely relink the system to a copy on a USB drive after mounting it and customise from there hooking in to it from the rcS. If you can then potentially you have freed up the internal writeable storage problem as you can edit the 'mirror' system on the hdd.

May take a look tonight / over the weekend and see what I can come up with.

Cheers

RB
Click to expand...

It looks like just minor tweaks to the chipset, slightly quicker, full confirmed support for all HD Audio stream passthrough, it says 'flash enabled browser' but I don't know if the mini1 is or not, and nothing is using it anyway (at the moment)..

I just ran out of time in looking for the library scanning part, you'd think it'd just be an executable run when the USB automounts.. I'm sure it'll be easy to track down, but actually I'm not that bothered, the library view of Movies seems just a flat list, no 'structure' to it at all from what I've seen, so not overly sure it it's going to be useful anyway, I do need to split TV episodes and MOVIES at the very least, or it's very messy indeed..
 
Demon said:
It looks like just minor tweaks to the chipset, slightly quicker, full confirmed support for all HD Audio stream passthrough, it says 'flash enabled browser' but I don't know if the mini1 is or not, and nothing is using it anyway (at the moment)..
Click to expand...

Well DvdPlayer is the binary providing the gui it seems. Not found where it is started yet as it seems not to be called from the init.d scripts. The commands on the box are run via a call to busybox so not so easy to put your own in but .... the firmware flash process changes the root mount from the squashfs (compressed readonly) filesystem to a ramfs in order to flash the drive. By using this technique but using a USB drive rather than a ram drive, the system can be set to run from a different set of binaries I would imagine. Either that or chroot is also available and can be called after mounting, changing the root FS to the USB drive. The same directory seems to be there for a number of the A.C.Ryan products as there are directories for realtime pause and dvr functions but the binaries appear to be missing. I have also found where they have the internet radio feed setups and the "my shortcuts" saved so potentially, with a little script, shortcuts can be automounted on boot. Changing the fstab in /usr/local/etc and running mount -a at the bottom of the rcS will probably have the same result. Really irritating that I cannot find where DvdPlayer is called though to start it up on boot..... I will continue searching.

Oh and both the webserver and web pages to give limited control over DvdPlayer are also there but the webserver is just disabled. IIRC if you just start the webserver in the rcS then you should be able to navigate (possibly a specific port) to index.html to see the remote control gui but I will check tomorrow. Kicking off a movie fro the kids from the computer in the study would be a nice to have :D.

Demon said:
I just ran out of time in looking for the library scanning part, you'd think it'd just be an executable run when the USB automounts.. I'm sure it'll be easy to track down, but actually I'm not that bothered, the library view of Movies seems just a flat list, no 'structure' to it at all from what I've seen, so not overly sure it it's going to be useful anyway, I do need to split TV episodes and MOVIES at the very least, or it's very messy indeed..
Click to expand...

I have ordered my stuff in directories but have found the naming is not going to well for JAMJ or EMM-r and currently with over 1,000 files (movies, tv shows and probably some thumnails/fanart too) it is going to be a nightmare to sort them all out..... Another one to add to the list.

Cheers

RB
 
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Well I haven't found anything 'easy' to get the library to update, but I did find in /usr/local/bin/home_menu/swf an alternate flash based home screen with horizontal swizzy scrolling icons etc that is much smoother then the normal home screen.. shame that clicking on anything only takes you to the standard version of the GUI for that, but it might mean they are looking at a flash based menu system, and it certainly has much more speed and potential to look good..

In fact I copied the /usr/local/bin contents to the USB stick, and so I can just use the file manager to go to the USB stick and open the alternate home menu to 'try it'..
 
Well it looks as if mine had died.. :( Powered off as usual but instead of it going to standby with the red light it went off.. Odd i thought. Then when i went to power on next time i had to umplug the power connector then reconnect to get it to work.. But now when i attempt to play any media it just freezes then after a short while it reboots.. :(
 
The_blue said:
Looks just what i need :)

What is the transfer speed over the wired lan line? The one i have the moment is so slow i stopped using it and got a usb key :(

Also is it possible to have something like par n rar put stuff directly on the internal drive?

Same question as above but with an external drive attached to the device via usb


Thanks
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Can anyone shed some light on the above?

What i'm asking is can i automate downloading something, unpacking it and transfer it ready for watching?

I have USB hdds so would like to use one of those instead of buying another internal. :)
 
The_blue said:
Can anyone shed some light on the above?

What i'm asking is can i automate downloading something, unpacking it and transfer it ready for watching?

I have USB hdds so would like to use one of those instead of buying another internal. :)
Click to expand...

These boxes just don't have the power man.

1 - LAN speeds - You're looking at 40mbps

2 - They tend to fall over if they don't have enough RAM. I've customized one or two by installing sick beard, torrentflux and sabnzb+ - Done lots of linux streamlining and it works but barely.

In the end I opted to have an external laptop mount the media player and do all the work automatically that way... Even then it's not great as the media player is still the bottleneck.

Just spend £50 more and build or buy an ION machine instead, it'll save you a lot of grief
 
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