Niveus Media Players / servers

[thecodeman]

Anyone using them? Thoughts? Pros/Cons? What's current integration like?

http://www.niveusmedia.com/

If it was possible to have two-way control with cover art selection in Control4's GUI like Netgear/Media Player/etc, would anyone be interested? I know the price is a little high comparatively to those solutions, but thought I would pick the community's brain.

[ERDrPC]

I would be. I'm looking for a 16 to 20 TB server and front ends to go along which will distribute full TrueHD or DTS-MA/HD. I could build the server and HTPCs myself but then it would mean I would have to trouble shoot and worry about codecs and such.

2 way control would be ideal.

[dgbrown]

I'll bite. I'm interested. However I might be interested even without that integration. If it's all it says it is, it's a game changer on it's own. No JAP, no HDMI or component switching, no media player, no DVD/BD players.

One local Niveus Zone player for each room, and centralized: digital cable receivers/DVR (read Niveus or compatible), NAS for media storage, and a good cat5e/6 cable plant for gig/e and you're off to the races.

If the Niveus zone player had COP or flash Nav (read 2.0) built-in it would be the Holy Grail product.

Hey Wapp it even integrates with Sonos !

Edited to add: " flash Nav (read 2.0"

[thecodeman]

Well, I'm in contact with the company. They are a little slow to respond (I contacted yesterday at night, got a response at 10pm, emailed this morning..nothing since?) but hopefully I will have a piece to try out soon. There's already a one-way driver written for Control4 via IP.

[dgbrown]

Very hot product(s). Guess my quick re-hash was on point then. I had a little of that "I can't be reading this right" when I saw it.

Go figure !

[wappinghigh]

I'll bite. I'm interested. However I might be interested even without that integration. If it's all it says it is, it's a game changer on it's own. No JAP, no HDMI or component switching, no media player, no DVD/BD players.

One local Niveus Zone player for each room, and centralized: digital cable receivers/DVR (read Niveus or compatible), NAS for media storage, and a good cat5e/6 cable plant for gig/e and you're off to the races.

If the Niveus zone player had COP or flash Nav (read 2.0) built-in it would be the Holy Grail product.

Hey Wapp it even integrates with Sonos !

Edited to add: " flash Nav (read 2.0"

Hey..your right! And remember my post on 'what every media player needs, and it's crucial'! Niveus has TV tuner integration... AND Sonos integration. it's even called a Zone player! OMG! I've been asleep at the wheel..

Niveus- where have you been all my life! I love these guy's philosophy. They're absolutely correct Windows7 has jumped Apple. And it's from the good old USA! One very exciting product. Cody: I can't wait for your review!

Regarding the Niveus Zone player 2010: could anybody confirm a couple of things.

You can stream from ANY backend. Any Sort of share. Even an iMac?

Is Win7 actually accessible in the thing? That is can you run explorer or other Win7 apps...even XBMC?

Can you run 2 displays off one box. I want to run a small Win7 touchscreen alongside my HDTV.

There is already a sound one way IP driver, and a 2 way driver is coming?

What's the boot up time?

[well_armed]

Yes, can you run other programs other than their proprietary media platform?

[wappinghigh]

Yes, can you run other programs other than their proprietary media platform?

On ckecking their forums, I think you can run iTunes under the Win7 platform. And a browser. You can connect in a wireless keyboard an mouse for this. There are also alot of Niveus Win7 specific apps- but I can't find out what they are. You can also apparently load in WMC plugins like Hulu. My guess is you could also load XBMC either Win version or 'Live' ( if you wanted to). Seems to also stream from any non proprietry server/back end. I've no idea of what Sonos integration there is. Might just be the Sonos software controller. I'll jump on the Niveus forum and find out (if they'll have me!! )

This is one heck of an exciting product. It's got much better support, specs, etc than the Tawainese equiv. Like the Asrock Ion 330.

With a 2way C4 driver (like XBMC or Netgear 9150)- it would really rock things!!!!

I wonder if Alan Chows 2 way WMC driver would run things off the Niveus?

Anybody got any more specific info?

Can you run C4composer HE on it?

[well_armed]

Yes' date=' can you run other programs other than their proprietary media platform?[/quote']

On ckecking their forums, I think you can run iTunes under the Win7 platform. And a browser. You can connect in a wireless keyboard an mouse for this. There are also alot of Niveus Win7 specific apps- but I can't find out what they are. You can also apparently load in WMC plugins like Hulu. My guess is you could also load XBMC either Win version or 'Live' ( if you wanted to). Seems to also stream from any non proprietry server/back end. I've no idea of what Sonos integration there is. Might just be the Sonos software controller. I'll jump on the Niveus forum and find out (if they'll have me!! )

This is one heck of an exciting product. It's got much better support, specs, etc than the Tawainese equiv. Like the Asrock Ion 330.

With a 2way C4 driver (like XBMC or Netgear 9150)- it would really rock things!!!!

I wonder if Alan Chows 2 way WMC driver would run things off the Niveus?

Anybody got any more specific info?

Can you run C4composer HE on it?

Exactly, can you operate it like a computer if needed....otherwise no thanks.

[thecodeman]

Exactly, can you operate it like a computer if needed....otherwise no thanks.

You probably could. I will be able to confirm this soon as I have a N7 Pro on the way. However, I would not suggest it since the O/S is "locked down", meaning that for the best playback experience, automatic updates and other nags are turned off. This isn't an issue for a Windows machine that you don't surf the Internet with, email, etc. as you're not exposing it to any "nasties" on the web. It does make for a very stable platform that does its job very well. When you add and remove and update programs, programmers treat the registry as a playground (better in 7 than previous versions) and it will ultimately get trashed in the long run, causing slowdowns and possible crashes. MS has made significant strides in this area. However, if I am paying good money for a very "important" piece in a lot of regards, I *do not* want issues with it. From firsthand customer experiences with Axonix Media Max, they did not execute this well and customers were not 100% satisfied.

All my opinion, your mileage may vary. If you want to do 1000 things with your media box you're going to be better served to build your own, to varying results. You may be willing to accept a different threshold of inconveniences than others.

[well_armed]

Exactly' date=' can you operate it like a computer if needed....otherwise no thanks.[/quote']

You probably could. I will be able to confirm this soon as I have a N7 Pro on the way. However, I would not suggest it since the O/S is "locked down", meaning that for the best playback experience, automatic updates and other nags are turned off. This isn't an issue for a Windows machine that you don't surf the Internet with, email, etc. as you're not exposing it to any "nasties" on the web. It does make for a very stable platform that does its job very well. When you add and remove and update programs, programmers treat the registry as a playground (better in 7 than previous versions) and it will ultimately get trashed in the long run, causing slowdowns and possible crashes. MS has made significant strides in this area. However, if I am paying good money for a very "important" piece in a lot of regards, I *do not* want issues with it. From firsthand customer experiences with Axonix Media Max, they did not execute this well and customers were not 100% satisfied.

All my opinion, your mileage may vary. If you want to do 1000 things with your media box you're going to be better served to build your own, to varying results. You may be willing to accept a different threshold of inconveniences than others.

And I agree, but I have a hard time paying that much money for a piece of equipment in an industry so rapidly changing.

Also, the price point is just too dang high for what it does IMO. Windows did the work, they build a box and tweak the GUI, and slap $KK on it -- too much margin built into the price for what is actually being delivered. Now if it were the all-in-one box that we so need desperately (HDMI switching, etc), then I'll pay good money for it....

[wappinghigh]

Exactly' date=' can you operate it like a computer if needed....otherwise no thanks.[/quote']

You probably could. I will be able to confirm this soon as I have a N7 Pro on the way. However, I would not suggest it since the O/S is "locked down", meaning that for the best playback experience, automatic updates and other nags are turned off. This isn't an issue for a Windows machine that you don't surf the Internet with, email, etc. as you're not exposing it to any "nasties" on the web. It does make for a very stable platform that does its job very well. When you add and remove and update programs, programmers treat the registry as a playground (better in 7 than previous versions) and it will ultimately get trashed in the long run, causing slowdowns and possible crashes. MS has made significant strides in this area. However, if I am paying good money for a very "important" piece in a lot of regards, I *do not* want issues with it. From firsthand customer experiences with Axonix Media Max, they did not execute this well and customers were not 100% satisfied.

All my opinion, your mileage may vary. If you want to do 1000 things with your media box you're going to be better served to build your own, to varying results. You may be willing to accept a different threshold of inconveniences than others.

And I agree, but I have a hard time paying that much money for a piece of equipment in an industry so rapidly changing.

Also, the price point is just too dang high for what it does IMO. Windows did the work, they build a box and tweak the GUI, and slap $KK on it -- too much margin built into the price for what is actually being delivered. Now if it were the all-in-one box that we so need desperately (HDMI switching, etc), then I'll pay good money for it....

I'm going to agree with Codeman on this. I'm spending hours fooling around trying to find the best, quickest, easiest way to just get a decent video library happening....with all the carrying on with which format to use, not to mention getting the darn name of the file right....I mean what's your time worth? I say if Niveus does all this for you in a simple to use Win7 based interface. That can't bomb. Then add decent C4 driver control. I mean there are hours saved right there and then. The niveus library would be all scanned in and happy family watching before dumb 'ol me had figured out what the correct video name and library settings were for the very first DVD scanned and streamed to XBMC. :rolleyes: Time is money (not to mention a saved marriage )

[mrcaseyb]

Hello everyone, my name is Casey Benjamin. I am the sales manager and resident control systems expert here at Niveus.

I've had the pleasure of speaking with Cody and Bryan @ The SOHO shop recently and their Niveus Pro-Series n7 is currently in production and will be shipping to them soon.

CytexOne is also a Niveus Authorized Dealer with a Pro-Series n7 (which reminds me I need to follow up with them, see how it's going.)

Just a little background on me, I've been with Niveus for over a year, handling domestic sales and control system support. I mostly program Crestron but have written a one-way IP controlled LUA driver for Niveus-Control4. It was my first crack at Lua so I worked off the sample programs Control4 provided, it's probably not very good but I'm learning.

Prior to Niveus I was with VUDU, we also had a one-way Control4 IP driver which I did not write, but that's where I first met the folks at CytexOne (CEDIA 08) through a good friend and colleague Jen Safady. Prior to VUDU I was with Kaleidescape for many years managing the technical support department and handling all the control system case escalations.

Niveus provides well built Media Servers (based on the Windows 7 Media Center platform ) and Storage Servers (based on the Windows Home Server platform)

In addition to reliable hardware we also develop several Media Center plugins that are exclusive to Niveus such as

Niveus Movie Library (lossless rip, catalog, browse and play DVD, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, mpg/avi/wmv movie files)

Niveus Sirius Radio (nothing fancy here, if you subscribe to Sirius online, provides a friendly interface in Media Center for listening to high quality internet streaming Sirius Radio)

Niveus Control Server (the brains behind Movie Library and also the method of integrating with third party control systems like COntrol4, Crestron, AMX, RTI, etc.)

Niveus Weather (a very simple but elegant app for providing weather forecasts for you)

If any of you have tried building your own Home Theater PC before you know it can be a time consuming and sometimes frustrating science project. Which hardware to choose, how do you make it run quiet & cool, what drivers are stable, should I install this windows update or not, how do I simplify the process of ripping discs?

You have to be a media center expert to get it right and honestly who has the time for that, I just want it to work.

Niveus offers a complete system of custom engineered hardware and software running on the media center platform. We can pre-configure it with all the best practices, recommended settings and tweaks so it runs as a dedicated, reliable media server. We disable automatic updates which have been known to bring an otherwise stable system down. Niveus goes through the headache of testing and qualifying every driver update, service pack, hot fix, patch to ensure reliability and compatibility. We roll the important updates into a single download for our dealers/customers, or there is an option to have these installed automatically via remote support. When you build a system yourself you are the one accountable for any problems or failed components, when purchasing a Niveus system you or your dealer have a single point of contact for support or hardware warranty issues. We also offer upgrades and trade-ins for our existing customers as new models and features come out.

So what do I use my Niveus for? As I mentioned before I worked at VUDU and Kaleidescape and I have both systems in my home. Neither system will play my photos, mp3s or Blu-ray movies so I use my Niveus for almost everything now.

-I browse the 1000s of photos that my wife takes (windows 7 supports RAW image format for those for you with Digital SLR cameras)

-I browse and listen to a modest library of about 9000 high quality mp3s (Windows Audio Lossless is supported, iTunes DRM free music as well, you can install a codec for flac)

-I LOVE connecting our HD Camcorder via USB, it automatically copies over all the movies and we can browse and play these 1080p AVCHD files through a user friendly interface.

-I can purchase or rent HD content via Amazon Unbox, CinemaNow or ZUNE Marketplace from any of my laptop computers,s ave the download to the Niveus or NAS device and play throughout the home.

-I use satellite TV at home and it is not YET supported in HD on Media Center, but CableCard is. Customers can attach multiple CableCard tuners and the Niveus becomes the most powerful HD-DVR on the planet (Record 8 HD programs at a time on the n7, store it to your 16tb or more storage server!)

- I can drop a DVD or Blu-ray disc in the tray, click on "Copy" it automatically retrieves cover art, meta data and movie backdrop via the internet and makes a bit perfect copy to the Niveus or any NAS device. All resolution, menus, audio & subtitle options are intact and functional. Once it's on the hard drive I can play it on that Niveus or any other networked Niveus Media Servers. Here is the big BUT.... when we ship a system, it has the ability to copy DVDs and Blu-ray but only those that were non-copy-protected will playback. If a customer would like to copy ALL DVDs and Blu-ray discs, they may purchase and install a popular third party decoder online. You don't really interact with that third party decoder, it quietly runs behind the scenes, you still use the friendly on screen display of Niveus Movie Library to copy the disc, it's easy enough for kids and grandparents. No hacker tools or crazy scripts required.

All of this is done through one elegant 1080p On Screen display that is as easy to use as it is lovely to look at.

To answer one of the questions that came up:

-We do not block any access to any part of the OS, you are free to do whatever you like but we strongly recommend you use this as a dedicated media server and leave tasks like Composer, web surfing and email to your laptop.

Sorry for the sales pitch but hopefully the info was helpful. If you have any questions please post them here or email sales@niveusmedia.com which goes to me. For more info on pricing etc you can contact your Control4 dealer and tell them to become Niveus Dealers, or ask SOHO Shop or CytexOne. As you know these guys know their stuff and we expect to see some great Control4/Niveus integration from them in the future.

P.S. In response to Codeman's 1/21 post: " (I contacted yesterday at night, got a response at 10pm, emailed this morning..nothing since?)"

I often check and reply to emails at all hours but am out of the office on Thursdays, the day you happened to email me and received a delayed reply.

[thecodeman]

P.S. In response to Codeman's 1/21 post: " (I contacted yesterday at night, got a response at 10pm, emailed this morning..nothing since?)"

I often check and reply to emails at all hours but am out of the office on Thursdays, the day you happened to email me and received a delayed reply.

I should clarify that I have been in touch with you at least once or twice since then.

[ERDrPC]

Casey,

Will this work with box set TV shows and movies? Will Niveus display fan art like mediabrowser and my movies will? Can we change the way titles are displayed like mediabrowser and my movies? Do you get rid of all the other 7MC icons and just have the Niveus icons? What brand of hard drives are used in the Cargo 16TB? You mention it's based on WHS so that means there is no RAID?

Thanks

[mrcaseyb]

Casey,

Will this work with box set TV shows and movies? Will Niveus display fan art like mediabrowser and my movies will? Can we change the way titles are displayed like mediabrowser and my movies? Do you get rid of all the other 7MC icons and just have the Niveus icons?

Thanks

Niveus Movie Library does display fanart, if you already have backdrop.jpg images in your folders then we will display it. When you use Niveus Movie Library to rip your DVD or BLu-ray it will even present you with your choice of backdrops to choose from, automatically pulled from the internet.

While on the topic, we only support VIDEO_TS and BDMV folders, not a collection of ISO images.

I'll admit we could do a better job of organizing multi-disc sets like TV on DVD. Currently we support a separate view of user-defined collections so I can group all of my James Bond Movies or discs of "24" But ALL discs will still show individually in the default view. We understand that this is not ideal and plan to address this in a future update of Niveus Movie Library.

Agai nthe beauty of a using an open platform like Media Center means people have the flexibility to use third party apps, like you mentioned, MediaBrowser does an excellent job managing multi-disc sets and episodic TV content. You are welcome to install that in place of or in addition to Niveus Movie Library.

We include a program called Niveus Studio which allows you to remove or restore certain media center strips (such as extras, tasks, tv, sports)

Cargo is based on Windows Home Server which uses their Drive Extender technology. Drive extender allows for the ultimate in protection (mirroring) but on a folder level basis. I like this approach as it gives the user the power to define what content is mirrored and what content is not. A common setup is to have the music, photos, home videos, and even DVD folders mirrored but to save space by not mirroring the Blu-ray folder. In a worst case scenario if a 1tb drive failed and you had nothing but BLu-ray on it, you would maybe have to re-rip 30 Blu-rays. And although that is inconvenient, some feel its better than wasting so much disk space to mirror all BLu-ray content. Again the ability is there to mirror your Blu-ray folder but at the cost of storage space.

At Kaleidescape we used a proprietary format called RAID-K it was most similar to RAID 5 in that if a single drive failed, you would be OK as long as you replaced that failed drive it would rebuild from parity. Unfortunately I saw waaaay too many double disk failures during my time there where customers lost ALL their content and would have to re-rip hundreds or up to 1000 DVDs. I was always the guy who had to call the customer and give them the bad news...I hated that part of the job.

Mirroring is the ultimate form of data protection although Raid-6 is nice too. If you decide Windows Home Server's method of data protection is not for you, no problem Niveus is an open platform so use whatever network attached storage server you like! We don't lock you into proprietary systems.

[well_armed]

What are the prices for your systems?

[mrcaseyb]

They range from $1,599 to $7,999 MSRP but your local A/V or Control4 dealer would be the person to ask. CytexOne and SOHO Shop are authorized dealers as well, they can answer some of those questions.

[thecodeman]

What are the prices for your systems?

I'm having DejaVu.

http://c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?pid=39285#p39285

[3fingerbrown]

Mrcaseyb:

I can speak from personal experience as a consumer that there is a large demand for a home theater media server/pc that "works" and I applaud your company for its efforts to fill this category. A Niveus Zone for each TV would be ridiculously expensive, but I would consider $2500 for a rack mountable HTPC with this functionality.

Some questions/suggestions for you:

It says that it ships with the HDMI output set as its default output. Can it utilize more than one output at the same time? In many applications, the user wants to output both to a dedicated home theater straight from the source, and also to a distributed video system (such as a component video switcher, etc).

How many hard drive bays does this have? Would 2TB hard drives increase capacity?

How about an eSata port for high-speed transfers with external storage? That would be nice.

thanks!

[thecodeman]

The Zone has an eSata port.

I don't believe you are able to add hard drives to the zone/zone pro yourself - which is why you can use USB, eSata, or your own NAS.

[mrcaseyb]

Mrcaseyb:

I can speak from personal experience as a consumer that there is a large demand for a home theater media server/pc that "works" and I applaud your company for its efforts to fill this category. A Niveus Zone for each TV would be ridiculously expensive, but I would consider $2500 for a rack mountable HTPC with this functionality.

Some questions/suggestions for you:

It says that it ships with the HDMI output set as its default output. Can it utilize more than one output at the same time? In many applications, the user wants to output both to a dedicated home theater straight from the source, and also to a distributed video system (such as a component video switcher, etc).

How many hard drive bays does this have? Would 2TB hard drives increase capacity?

How about an eSata port for high-speed transfers with external storage? That would be nice.

thanks!

Putting a ZONE player in each room is just one possible system architecture, one that works well for retrofit installs. My personal preference is video distribution, this is what I use at home. One or more Niveus Media Servers accessible from any TV in the house. Unfortunately not all of our products have component output (the N7 has it an older product called Vail has it) Component just works.. HDMI switching and distribution is maturing and products like Just Add Power certainly help.

Although Windows does support dual monitor mode, it does not work well for Media Center so in reality only one of the outputs on our system should be used and you can use HDMI/DVI/Component splitters if need be.

In 2010 we have pulled away from including large amounts of internal storage on our media servers, no matter how much you internal storage you have, it's never enough. So we suggest using Network attached Storage devices. NAS devices have numerous benefits over internal, external or directly attached storage. That's why you don't see eSata on many of our products (ZONE exlcuded)

[3fingerbrown]

The Zone has an eSata, but oddly the Zone Pro does not.

mrcaseyb, will Niveus be running Windows 7 any time soon?

[thecodeman]

Niveus already runs Windows 7.

*edit to add link*

http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/windows7.html

[well_armed]

They range from $1,599 to $7,999 MSRP but your local A/V or Control4 dealer would be the person to ask. CytexOne and SOHO Shop are authorized dealers as well, they can answer some of those questions.

What are the prices for your systems?

I'm having DejaVu.

http://c4forums.com/viewtopic.php?pid=39285#p39285

Are you not allowed to give a price break-out for each system? Why do I need to contact a dealer, why not just publish them on your site?

Seems silly that I have to do all this work to just see how much they cost, when there is hundreds of words talking about what they do. (your website doesnt clearly layout the different trim levels as well). Its not a national secret is it? lol