Easyrider's Playon HD mini review thread.

I have had a bit of an issue with a couple of my movies and would like to see if anyone can confirm the results I have had.

Two movies in question are Avatar (original BluRay release) and Hancock.

With Hancock the opening car chase scene drops frames and pauses all over the place. I have tried MKV via makeMKV and ISO via AnyDVDHD. The ISO pauses much less but still suffers to a point of it being unmatchable.

With Avatar, either the MKV or the raw M2TS files both cause dropped frames and stuttering in the beginning.

The other movies I have, usually via makeMKV, do not have any issues so far. I suspect a high bitrate for those movies at those points and the A.C.Ryan cannot handle either the decoding, the network streaming or both together (most likely). The files are between 20GB and 30GB.

Can anyone confirm they are seeing the same thing or they have the same files (size / creation method) and have no issues so I can investigate further.

Thanks
RB
 
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...

Mikka has a guide on the A.C.Ryan forums for installing optware on the mini here. I believe there is a version of transmission in optware amongst other things but you are likely to be severely limited by processor speed as others have mentioned.

RB
 
RimBlock, how are you streaming? Using default Windows sharing? If so try an NFS server, I was unable to play some high bitrate files using Windows but they're fine via NFS. I think there's less processing involved on the player's part.

Also make sure the video profile matches what the player supports.
 
probedb said:
RimBlock, how are you streaming? Using default Windows sharing? If so try an NFS server, I was unable to play some high bitrate files using Windows but they're fine via NFS. I think there's less processing involved on the player's part.

Also make sure the video profile matches what the player supports.
Click to expand...

Yep, streaming via Samba. I will try playing from my USB drive as well to try and narrow it down. IIRC Hancock plays fine on my PC but Avatar is a little jerky (C2Q9450, 8GB ram). All options for AnyDVDHD and / or makeMKV are default (prob should not go any further on that part of the question considering the rules).

7 or so other Blurays I have done the same to work fine.

NFS may be an option but I also have a couple of WDTV HD Live players and do not recall if they can use NFS. I also need to test playback on them.

Thanks
RB
 
No problem. The chipset only supports certain profiles for various video codecs. You should be able to use MKVtools to check and possibly alter it.
 
probedb said:
No problem. The chipset only supports certain profiles for various video codecs. You should be able to use MKVtools to check and possibly alter it.
Click to expand...

Thanks, will take a look and re-merge if needed. I notice there is an issue on the A.C.Ryan forums

Anyone else able to confirm they can play a straight rip of Avatar / Hancock without issues on the mini.

Thanks
RB
 
After a bit of playing around what I have noticed is that the movies play fine if they drop to the stereo soundtrack. Also, to my surprise and disappointment, the WD Live TV HD plays both movies without an issue :(. I do much prefer the A.C.Ryans GUI and it has so far worked fine with everything else.

I am guessing it may be the TrueHD soundtrack along with the high bitrates for those scenes are causing issues as it is streamed over the network and the processor has to handle the decoding and network transmission. Playing the files from a USB drive is fine.

Maybe the mini2 will fare better as I would rather have this unit as my main living room player than the WD.

RB
 
Spawn said:
\o/ woot:D:D...looking forward to this new GUI...i just hope all the bugs have been ironed out....any sort of actual day or time its meant be released??.
Click to expand...

No time, just tweeted for the weekend. Could be in the next hour could be on Sunday night.... just some point this weekend! :)

It will only be the beta version for us to test, but it's been through a lot of testing already so shouldn't be that much of a problem. Fingers crossed they release it ASAP.
 
Been looking at one of these, have few questions after a long read of the thread ;)...

My Plan is as follows....
Get the DVR version to allow recording of TV, and access to HD freeview.
Connect up to my QNAP 109 NAS drive with Ethernet over mains/powerline.

I run Twonky media on the NAS, as UPNP server, to feed my my music streamer in another room, so in theory the Playon should find it, and allow me to stream my FLAC music files to the lounge as well ?

Then do the same with with films, just tried MakeMKV, seemed to work fine on the PC. Would I need to run anything else on the NAS for the films to be found and streamed ?

Sound will need to come out the Playon via spdif into my Amp. So DD/DTS only required.

I've been anti things Apple, but getting tempted by a Pad (when the new one comes out) as I can control my Music streamer and Hi Fi system with some nice Apps, would be good to also control the Playon. Is this available ?
If yes could you then play the music files without switching the TV on ?

Can anyone see any flaws in my plan ?
 
iDroid84 said:
No time, just tweeted for the weekend. Could be in the next hour could be on Sunday night.... just some point this weekend! :)

It will only be the beta version for us to test, but it's been through a lot of testing already so shouldn't be that much of a problem. Fingers crossed they release it ASAP.
Click to expand...

Nice...will be keeping an eye out for it.
 
There is no application to control the Playon devices yet from an iPad/iPhone just yet. So that would be a problem.

What your suggesting seems like a setup that's very costly for the simple tasks, why are have you been Anti Apple? They make great products now, ones that works.
 
iDroid84 said:
There is no application to control the Playon devices yet from an iPad/iPhone just yet. So that would be a problem.

What your suggesting seems like a setup that's very costly for the simple tasks, why are have you been Anti Apple? They make great products now, ones that works.
Click to expand...

Not costly, only item I don't have is the Playon !!! ....the iPad is just an idea for the future plus other uses..... (don't like they way they control and lock everything into themselves and make everything proprietary etc...then charge what they like....not for this thread anyway)
 
The only use I have so far for Apple products is as a fancy remote control ;) ..... Which while using it and listen to music I could surf the net and forums ...:p.....
So yes very costly remote at around 4-500 quid.... :eek:....
Like I said I'm just trying to check out if the Playon will work as I want, my only concern is if it will talk to TwonkyMedia server on th NAS I use to stream trhe FLAC files to my LINN DS.
Oh will it handle 24bit/192 FLAC's as well ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom