Mediaplayer 4K Cloud Media Popcorn Hour A-500 PRO: il leader ha ripreso il suo posto!

[nsauro]

Grazie mille, sei stato molto chiaro ed esaustivo...
Da quello che dici, quando sarà il momento (il mio c-200 sta cedendo ma finche va lo tengo stretto) mi sa che opterò per l'A500 "normale". Tanto lo collego a un Onkyo 505 che non ha particolari esigenze...
Se ho capito bene l'android sarebbe il famoso Kodi, giusto? Peccato sia acerbo perché mi interesserebbe abbastanza, solo che non so se ne vale la differenza di prezzo...
Una domanda: tra i 2 sistemi operativi la qualità video/audio cambia?

[adslinkato]

Android è un sistema operativo derivante da Linux. E' stato reso noto per il suo utilizzo dentro i cellulari, ma viene usato per una miriade di altri aggeggi, così come l'iOS di Apple.

Kodi (e il suo spinoff SPMC) sono programmi che, installati su cellulari, tablet, TV o mediaplayer consentono di visualizzare file audio o video su rete o su altro supporto (chiavetta, hard disk locali etc.).

La qualità apparente tra i due sistemi mi sembra identica. Il vantaggio di Android è che permette di installare Netflix anche in UHD/HDR e immagino in futuro in UHD/HDR anche Amazon Prime e così via. Inoltre è ampiamente customizzabile con la miriade di app presenti sul Google store.

[adslinkato]

[A-500 PRO] RC 7 Firmware 01-05-161214-25-POP Release Date: 15 Dec 2016

A-500 PRO
Firmware version: 01-05-161214-25-POP-430-802
https://www.sendspace.com/file/d5478a

Firmware Update Steps:
1. Unzip the downloaded file into the root directory of a USB thumb drive
2. Plug the USB thumb drive into USB port of A-500 PRO/A-500 PRO-U
3. Access to Setup->Maintenance in UI
4. Select Firmware Update and press Enter on the "Check For Firmware Update" button
5. If the file a500pro-update.bin/a500prou-update.bin is found in the USB thumb drive, it will prompt for firmware update

Release Notes:
- Fixed some MKV encounter crash regression issue
- Added support for encoding auto detection on m3u and pls (ANSI, UTF16 and UTF16BE)
- Added support for encoding auto detection on lyrics (ANSI, UTF16 and UTF16BE)
- Fixed some VOBSUB entry show wrong color palette issue
- Fixed unable to show correct border color if text color is black color issue
- Fixed display wrong alpha value at some point during fading effect issue
- Fixed some SSA tag unable to apply if it appears after transform tag issue
- Fixed ES9018K2M volume sometime could not be saved after reboot issue

RC 6 Release Notes: ( http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showth...?tid=74005 )
- Added support for embedded font in MKV
- Added support for move tag in SSA/ASS
- Added support for SSA/ASS fading effect
- Fixed some ASS entry show wrong color regression
- Improved text subtitle collision handling
- Improved text rendering speed
- Fixed VOBSUB display wrong color palette regression
- Fixed some PGS entry stuck at display and unable to clear
- Fixed some DVD playback crash regression
- Improved handling on subtitle encoding auto detection (GB18030, BIG5, SJIS, EUC_KR, UTF8)
- Disabled gapless playback when channels are different
- Added support for cuesheet encoded in ANSI, UTF16 and UTF16BE playback
- Fixed crash happen when playback cue file with backslash appear in front of double apostrophe
- Fixed formatting problems for hard disk more than 2TB issue
- Fixed formatting HDD without NMT installed will not be able to auto set media destination issue
- Create 2GB swap partition if perform formatting using NMT Apps setup

[nsauro]

Android è un sistema operativo derivante da Linux. E' stato reso noto per il suo utilizzo dentro i cellulari, ma viene usato per una miriade di altri aggeggi, così come l'iOS di Apple.

Kodi (e il suo spinoff SPMC) sono programmi che, installati su cellulari, tablet, TV o mediaplayer consentono di visualizzare file audio o video su rete o su altro ..........[CUT]

Grazie,
mi stuzzica abbastanza sto kodi, peccato non ci sia sull'A-500 non pro, quest'ultimo è fuori budget... Ciò mi farebbe propendere per la shield di nvidia...
Vediamo quando sarà ora, spero duri ancora un po' il C-200 così intanto magari i prezzi scendono.
Ultima cosa: lo switch tra linux e kodi è veloce o bisogna riavviare il dispositivo?

[adslinkato]

La shield di nVIDIA è un'ottimo mediaplayer, il cui principale difetto è l'essere purtroppo strutturato più come una consolle da gioco Android e il non avere le connessioni audio spdif.
Ne sta per uscire una versione aggiornata: http://www.avmagazine.it/forum/128-camere-e-player-4k-e-8k/285050-nvidia-shield-android-tv-2017-ci-siamo-il-nuovo-mediaplayer-uhd-4k-tuttofare

(...) Ultima cosa: lo switch tra linux e kodi è veloce o bisogna riavviare il dispositivo?

Se intendi lo switch tra "lato Popcorn tradizionale" e "lato Chameleon Android" devi riavviare il dispositivo e spostare uno switch posizionato sul lato destro.

[nsauro]

Grazie mille!
Diciamo che la shield mi ispira lato software (kodi), prezzo ed estetica (i giochi non mi interessano), l'A-500 lato hardware / "affettivo" proveniendo dal C-200 che reputo ottima macchina...
La shield penso che avendo alle spalle la Nvidia abbia un supporto maggiore e maggiori possibilità economiche, i vari popcorn hanno sempre sofferto di "nascita prematura", anche il mio c-200 ci ha messo un bel po' di release prima di diventare maturo e le potenzialità del cipset sigma non sono mai state sfruttate appieno per problemi di licenze ecc.. che ormai conosciamo.
La shield non ha la spdif ma dovrebbe avere l'uscita ottica, mi sembra, che mi va bene uguale...
La scelta si fa ardua...

[adslinkato]

Quanto al supporto, francamente è piuttosto difficile trovere di meglio di CloudMedia: 7 release candidate non le ho mai viste in vita mia. Tutti gli altri produttori fanno passare mesi tra un rilascio e l'altro.

Sulla Shield non ricordo né uscita ottica né coassiale. Se non usi HDMI devi usare convertitori, sperando che funzionino.

Qui trovi una foto chiarissima con le connessioni disponibili: https://www.slashgear.com/nvidia-shi...view-28385295/

[nsauro]

Non è detto che tante release candidate siano un buon segno, magari ne devono fare tante perché le precedenti creavano nuovi problemi... Magari è meglio aspettare qualche giorno e fare release più stabili.
Non so come sia adesso ma col C-200 mi dava l'idea di fare da beta tester e che l'NMT fosse stato messo in commercio troppo acerbo. Leggendo questo forum ho avuto la stessa impressione con l'A-500 pro, ma con i tempi di sviluppo eterni, in un mondo che corre così in fretta si rischia che diventi maturo quando è già "vecchio".

Hai ragione riguardo alla shield, bella mancanza, ero convinto che avesse l'ottica, devo averla vista in uno degli altri mille player che avevo preso in considerazione prima di ristringere la sfida tra A-500 e shield.

Ancora una domanda su kodi e affini: è possibile usare il player sfogliando i video "per cartelle" come col c-200?

[adslinkato]

Più o meno, sì.

Sull'A-500 Pro devo contraddirti. Per quanto serve a me (ISO, AVI, MKV e lato audio) non mi ha mai dato problemi. Se scorri i log, in realtà si tratta di affinamenti su aspetti per lo più secondari o comunque complementari. Questa volta out-of-the-box la macchina è già ottima, per un uso normale, trattandosi della lunghissima evoluzione che parte dall'A-100 per attivare agli A-400, A-410 e V-TEN.

Come ho scritto, è la parte Android a dover essere affinata. Con la release 6.0 hanno voluto gettare il cuore oltre all'ostacolo (immagino in vista della compatibilità con i formati audio non compressi), ma siamo ancora in fase di "rebuilding"!

[nsauro]

Ok grazie,
buono a sapersi! Vediamo come affineranno la parte android allora...

[adslinkato]

Finalmente uscito per Natale un firmware ufficiale. Si tratta di un aggiornamento monstre. Il logo più lungo mai visto!
Racchiude il contenuto di tutte le RC da 1 a 7. Chi ha installato la RC7 del msg n. 138 non deve aggiornare.
Gli altri si troveranno la richiesta automatica (se presente la spunta sulla funzione) di aggiornamento online.

[A-500 PRO] [21 Dec 2016] Release Date: 21 Dec 2016

A-500 PRO
Firmware version: 01-05-161214-25-POP-430-802
http://files.syabas.com/popcornhour/firm...30-802.zip

Firmware Update Steps:
1. Unzip the downloaded file into the root directory of a USB thumb drive
2. Plug the USB thumb drive into USB port of A-500 PRO/A-500 PRO-U
3. Access to Setup->Maintenance in UI
4. Select Firmware Update and press Enter on the "Check For Firmware Update" button
5. If the file a500pro-update.bin/a500prou-update.bin is found in the USB thumb drive, it will prompt for firmware update

*Alternately you can access to Setup->Maintenance in UI to perform online update as well.

Release Notes:
- Added support on Full DVD Navigation
- Fixed ES9018K2M volume sometime could not be saved after reboot issue
- Improved the ES9018K2M DAC volume control performance
- Fixed some MKV encounter crash regression issue
- Added support for encoding auto detection on m3u and pls (ANSI, UTF16 and UTF16BE)
- Added support for encoding auto detection on lyrics (ANSI, UTF16 and UTF16BE)
- Fixed some VOBSUB entry show wrong color palette issue
- Fixed unable to show correct border color if text color is black color issue
- Fixed display wrong alpha value at some point during fading effect issue
- Fixed some SSA tag unable to apply if it appears after transform tag issue
- Added support for embedded font in MKV
- Added support for move tag in SSA or ASS
- Added support for SSA or ASS fading effect
- Fixed some ASS entry show wrong color regression
- Improved text subtitle collision handling
- Improved text rendering speed
- Fixed VOBSUB display wrong color palette regression
- Fixed some PGS entry stuck at display and unable to clear
- Fixed some DVD playback crash regression
- Improved handling on subtitle encoding auto detection (GB18030, BIG5, SJIS, EUC_KR, UTF8)
- Disabled gapless playback when channels are different
- Added support for cuesheet encoded in ANSI, UTF16 and UTF16BE playback
- Fixed crash happen when playback cue file with backslash appear in front of double apostrophe
- Fixed formatting problems for hard disk more than 2TB issue
- Fixed formatting HDD without NMT installed will not be able to auto set media destination issue
- Create 2GB swap partition if perform formatting using NMT Apps setup
- Mount NTFS with dirty-flag fix
- Fixed TV or Receiver tv modes are not updated when TV is turned on after player on issue
- Fixed some MKV has more than 32 embedded subtitles unable to show all subtitle streams issue
- Fixed some 3D SUBIDX entries unable to display issue
- Fixed some VOBSUB entries dropped issue
- Fixed some PGS entry unable to display when it has same start time as previous clear entry regression
- Fixed some MKV which has no any audio default flag encounter no audio output when start playback issue
- Fixed some ASS or SSA text subtitle overlapping and unclear issues
- Fixed BDMV filename with dot unable to detect external SUBIDX issue
- Fixed some text show incorrect color when alpha or color tag do not have H character in between and clip tag exist at the same time issue
- Fixed some audio and subtitle language code not shows as full text issue
- Added support for auto detection on ASS or SSA encoding
- Added support for M2TS subtitle track selection according to subtitle language
- Fixed certain SUBIDX and VOBSUB subtitles entry display time too long issue
- Fixed certain PGS some subtitles entry display time too long issue
- Fixed randomly encounter framework crash when playing BGM with photo slideshow issue
- Fixed audio stuttering issue during playback of BDMV or BDISO in downmix mode

Continua nel msg successivo. Raggiunto limite massino di caratteri!

[adslinkato]

Segue dal msg precedente.

- Added bookmark support for DVD
- Added external SUBIDX support for BDMV or BDISO
- Fixed choosing last audio track in MKV instead of first audio track when there is no any default flag issue
- Fixed certain MTS files show black screen when playback
- Fixed some FLAC unable to display embedded album art issue
- Improved HDMI handshake timing
- Fixed dizzy or flat effect on 3D subtitle display regression
- Fixed non-unicode SSA or ASS external subtitle follow UTF8 encoding issue
- Fixed always prompt user to login when list windows samba shares issue
- Added support for color name inside color tag in SRT and SMI
- Fixed syabas command server minor memory leaks issue
- Fixed SUBIDX and VOBSUB display wrong color palette issue
- Fixed PGS subtitle playback cause memory leaks issue
- Fixed 3D subtitles will show in wrong position when its x pos is less than 20px issue
- Fixed unable to display VOBSUB when playback with HEVC video codec issue
- Fixed MKV MVC, 4K H.264 playback regression issues
- Changed GB2312 to GB18030, and improve text subtitle encoding handling
- Fixed some H264 MKV encounter wrong detection and unable to start playback issue
- Fixed SMB shortcut unable to take effect after reboot if Username and Password input with remote control issue
- Fixed 4K H264 playback no video output issue
- Fixed certain MKV PGS unable to show subtitle issue
- Fixed some PGS subtitle entries display too fast issue
- Added bitrate changing info for BD, DVD and M2TS issue
- Added audio and subtitle language indicator for M2TS and bdlite
- Fixed some SRT has long subtitle entry showing extra empty lines after word wrapping handling issue
- Fixed MKV and MP4 encounter random crash when first start or stop playback issue
- Fixed some text based subtitle may cause framework crash issue
- Fixed 720p24 clip play in tvmode 720p60 instead of 1080p24 when external video scaler is on issue
- Fixed DVD without video_ts folder unable to start playback issue
- Fixed 3D BDISO unable to continue playback after iframe forward or backward issue
- Fixed UTF8 text subtitle display style at wrong segment position issue
- Fixed unable to access NMJ through file browser issue
- Fixed some DVDLITE playback has no audio output issue
- Added language indicator on subtitle menu for DVD and MKV
- Fixed filename with xml escaped symbol unable to start playback issue
- Fixed SACD ISO with unknown title or artist cause framework reboot when playback twice consequently issue
- Fixed certain MKV PGS with heavy animated effects cause buffering issue
- Fixed wrong chinese translation for subtitle track issue
- Fixed SRT with an9 tag causing framework reboot when adjust y position issue
- Added italic, bold, underline and color tag handling for SMI
- Fixed color tag unable to display properly for certain languages issue
- Fixed sometimes unable to retrieve weather information correctly in Setup Wizard issue
- Fixed MKV invoke closing PGS function in text base subtitle playback issue
- Force system to perform clean reboot instead of restart framework when framework crash
- Fixed MKV which has forced subtitle unable to start playback if forced subtitle only option is selected
- Fixed certain MKV with SRT subtitle playback cause framework reboot issue
- Integrated new Sigma Designs SDK with playback engine and HDMI driver update
- Fixed some DVDLITE has wrong sequence of audio streams issue
- Fixed some MKV PGS subtitle entries display too fast issue
- Fixed some MKV x264 playback has no video display issue
- Fixed some zlib compressed PGS subtitle stream unable to display properly issue
- Fixed APE version greater than 3.99 unable to start playback issue
- Fixed DVDLITE unable to go to the next chapter with info bar turn on issue
- Fixed showing exclamation mark and unable to display lite menu when select same DVDLITE title issue
- Fixed DVDLITE get video freeze forever after seek till end of the clip issue
- Fixed DVDLITE title menu subtitle selection issue
- Fixed some JPG crash in zoom transition issue
- Fixed MKV encounter crash when repeat playback issue
- Fixed unable to set device name without NMT app installed issue
- Fixed MKV audio menu show undetermined for und tag issue
- Fixed DVD show wrong elapsed time after seek and sometimes playback from beginning when perform 10% or 20% seek issue
- Fixed MKV encounter crash when manually turn on external text subtitle issue
- Fine tuned MMS prebuf and underrun buffer
- Fixed SMB share showing invalid login after removing username and password in edit share
- Enhanced handling for DVDLITE module
- Update to new kernel to support SSD formatting and MMC 5.0
- Optimized PGS subtitle rendering speed to support special PGS subtitle effect
- Fixed video with framerate 25fps output wrong tv mode when external video scaler turned on issue
- Added MMS Internet Radio support
- Fixed MP3 Internet Radio streaming issue
- Fixed for some APE playback cause framework crash and some APE with ID3 tag unable to start playback issue
- Fixed for APE with ID3 tag unable to get metadata info issue
- Fixed for some MKV VOBSUB unable to display subtitle issue
- Fixed for some SACD ISO unable to perform seek issue
- Added Genre and Channels info for get_current_aod_info API
- Added language indication for BD or DVD or MKV Audio menu switching
- Fixed for some DVD ISO encounter crash at starting of playback issue
- Fixed FLAC ID3 album art not displayed in Music Home issue
- Always show device name option at preference settings
- Fixed unable to save username or password when edit samba shared issue
- Added MKV audio default flag handling

This firmware is same as last RC 7 build. ( http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showth...?tid=74043 ). You don't have to update if you already running a RC 7 firmware.

[Rockin_al]

Una domanda, la parte audio ha le prestazioni promesse? E così evidente la differenza con il Sabre 9023 del 410?

[adslinkato]

Via linea bilanciata in una catena tutta davvero bilanciata suona bene.

[adslinkato]

Con il nuovo anno Popcorn Hour riprende subito i rilasci firmware:

[A-500 PRO] Beta 1 Firmware 01-05-170105-25-POP Release Date: 5 Jan 2017

A-500 PRO
Firmware version: 01-05-170105-25-POP-430-802
https://www.sendspace.com/file/r88h0p

Firmware Update Steps:
1. Unzip the downloaded file into the root directory of a USB thumb drive
2. Plug the USB thumb drive into USB port of A-500 PRO/A-500 PRO-U
3. Access to Setup->Maintenance in UI
4. Select Firmware Update and press Enter on the "Check For Firmware Update" button
5. If the file a500pro-update.bin/a500prou-update.bin is found in the USB thumb drive, it will prompt for firmware update

Release Notes:
- Added RTL8812AU 802.11ac WiFi driver
- Fixed certain DVD playback encounter crash when select sub menu issue
- Fixed DVD encounter crash when language name is not found issue
- Fixed some DVD will stuck at black screen issue
- Fixed unable to play ANSI encoded M3U playlist issue
- Fixed unable to start M3U and PLS playback with play button issue
- Fixed unable to detect some GB18030 ANSI encoded file issue
- Added support for external SUP subtitle on MKV, M2TS, SSIF, BDLITE
- Added support for SSA style xshad and yshad
- Fixed some SRT entry has only empty line will display timestamp as subtitle text issue
- Fixed music cover art not shown when focus the file for FOLDER.jpg and Folder.jpg issue
- Fixed Youtue Leanback unable to start playback issue
- Fixed 3, 5, 7 days weather forecast not displayed in Media Home issue

Known Issue: RTL8812AU need to try few times in order to connect and it will not auto connect after reboot. We are currently working on the fix for this.