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Niveus Media Players / servers


thecodeman

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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' date=' 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![/quote']

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)

Splitters don't work well. You need to have a system that can run simultaneous souce outputs in order for it to be a true media system -- even though we will see a sunset on Component soon, that doesnt mean that people upgrade overnight (Control4 navigators, older boxes, etc).

eSata is a great way to attach NAS/DAS or other external drives, you NEED to have it on your top system. Or at least allow one expansion of a PCI-Express slot for whatever the end-user needs to add to your computer.

Don't get me wrong, I like your efforts and your system designs. But I suspect that if you are buying into this type of tech, you are going to be hypercritical of the system design because of the price tag (regardless of whether you say it "works" on your website, because nothing works 100% of the time)

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I understand why you would want to see a detailed pricing and I will provide it but here is the background on why we don't openly post it on our website. We do not typically sell direct to consumers but through a network of authorized dealers. Those dealers often don't give their customers line item pricing on the complete home automation and entertainment systems they design but rather one large quote that includes materials, labor, ongoing support and more. As soon as dealers give their customer a line by line pricing of items, the customer naturally will start shopping around, using the system specs the dealer worked hard to put together, they then compare prices to what a TV costs at Walmart and the dealers just can't compete. Niveus is not alone in this practice, I believe Control4 is the same way.

Another reason is that we prefer to speak with customers directly, explain the benefits and features of the system and why it carries a premium price.

When I was referring to splitters, I was not suggesting Y splitters but HDMI or Component distribution amps like a 1x2 or 1x4. Atlona, Gefen, Key Digital, Extron, Autopatch, Crestron all work well.

It would be great if eSata was included on every system and maybe in the future it will be but there's little demand for it amongst our dealers. Most systems are purchased as turnkey where they are pairing our media servers with either our NAS or a suitable alternative. The benefit of a gigabit Ethernet enabled NAS vs. directly connected eSata is that you don't need an eSata host that acts as the bottleneck. If you have 5 different media servers throughout the home, they can easily and efficiently connect to a gigabit ethernet enabled NAS device. If your storage was all eSata based, you would need to use another computer to act as the host. I would not suggest one of our media servers for this task as they should really be focused on just playing media, not sharing it out to a bunch of other media servers.

eSata is sometimes requested by our customers who are extremely technical enthusiasts who are very hands on, that is a very small percentage of our customers and even then we would still recommend Network Attached Storage for them.

These are all very good questions, keep em coming!

Now on with the pricing

-Niveus ZONE $1,599 (full fledged Media Server, great for secondary areas like Bedrooms or Kitchens)

-ZONE Pro $2,399 (identical to the ZONE but with double the RAM and fast Intel Solid STate Drive, recommended for large movie or music collections as the meta data and cover art is cached on the local drive, even if content is stored on NAS)

-Pro-Series n4 $4,999 (3u rackmount, faster processor, better performance, mirrored drives for the OS, more connectivity options)

-Pro Series n7 $7,999 (also 3u rackmount, Screaming fast performance, even more RAM, mirrored Solid STate Drives, improved graphics, Component video output, supports bitstream output of uncompressed audio)

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I understand why you would want to see a detailed pricing and I will provide it but here is the background on why we don't openly post it on our website. We do not typically sell direct to consumers but through a network of authorized dealers. Those dealers often don't give their customers line item pricing on the complete home automation and entertainment systems they design but rather one large quote that includes materials, labor, ongoing support and more. As soon as dealers give their customer a line by line pricing of items, the customer naturally will start shopping around, using the system specs the dealer worked hard to put together, they then compare prices to what a TV costs at Walmart and the dealers just can't compete. Niveus is not alone in this practice, I believe Control4 is the same way.

Another reason is that we prefer to speak with customers directly, explain the benefits and features of the system and why it carries a premium price.

It would be great if eSata was included on every system and maybe in the future it will be but there's little demand for it amongst our dealers. Most systems are purchased as turnkey where they are pairing our media servers with either our NAS or a suitable alternative. The benefit of a gigabit Ethernet enabled NAS vs. directly connected eSata is that you don't need an eSata host that acts as the bottleneck. If you have 5 different media servers throughout the home, they can easily and efficiently connect to a gigabit ethernet enabled NAS device. If your storage was all eSata based, you would need to use another computer to act as the host. I would not suggest one of our media servers for this task as they should really be focused on just playing media, not sharing it out to a bunch of other media servers.

eSata is sometimes requested by our customers who are extremely technical enthusiasts who are very hands on, that is a very small percentage of our customers and even then we would still recommend Network Attached Storage for them.

These are all very good questions, keep em coming!

Now on with the pricing

-Niveus ZONE $1,599 (full fledged Media Server, great for secondary areas like Bedrooms or Kitchens)

-ZONE Pro $2,399 (identical to the ZONE but with double the RAM and fast Intel Solid STate Drive, recommended for large movie or music collections as the meta data and coert art is cached on the local drive, even if content is stored on NAS)

-Pro-Series n4 $4,999 (3u rackmount, faster processor, better performance, mirrored drives for the OS, more connectivity options)

-Pro Series n7 $7,999 (also 3u rackmount, Screaming fast performance, even more RAM, mirrored Solid STate Drives, improved graphics, Component video output, supports bitstream output of uncompressed audio)

I understand trying to protect your distribution channels, but I believe you are hurting yourself more than helping by not being dilligent about your pricing structure. This is the Internet age, you have basically 30 seconds to get your websites point across and if I have to spend a bunch time to just try and find the price, click...I am off to my next ADD website.

You need to have this summary type information on your website, easy to read with simple verbage! :) I consider myself a pretty good clicker, and even I gave up after an hour and a half of looking for current system pricing lists. Most of the time consumers know how much XX costs before they walk into the store, and that is all we are asking-- you can still protect dealer pricing strategies, a LOT of companies execute this strategy successfully (cough, AAPL)

I also understand that your typical customer is X, but you maybe could expand by courting customers Y & Z who wear a more inelastic price jacket. :)

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Mr Casey. Hi. I think you have a fantastic product here. Would suit my setup to a tee.

Everybody on this forum keeps telling me I need a NAS. And I keep telling them - been there done that - NAS's can be a hastle with iTunes. I'm different. I actually like keeping all my video content within iTunes and organised with iTunes. Mac users don't need NAS's. If they want backup they use timemachine. If they want RAID, they use a macpro with Raid card or the new raided macmini, or a DAS. Right now Im happy with H264 standard files within iTunes. I don't need Blueray.ISO etc right now.

So my question is - can I hook up a Zone to stream straight from the iTunes library or the movies folder on a networked mac. Where the video and movie files are. I've asked this question on your forums, but haven't got an answer. Also is there a complete list of supported file formats?

Also a second monitor capability would allow Win7 touchscreen functionality. Have you considered doing this?

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As soon as dealers give their customer a line by line pricing of items, the customer naturally will start shopping around, using the system specs the dealer worked hard to put together, they then compare prices to what a TV costs at Walmart and the dealers just can't compete.

During the times I've frequented Wal Mart, the customers I saw in the store did not strike me as the type that were looking for Media servers with i7 chips, SSD's, and 4TB of storage. Control4 publishes an MSRP list of its products. C4 Consumers understand that the dealer will charge additional for system installation/programing and more for support. Give us a little credit, we understand there is no free lunch.

It would be great if eSata was included on every system and maybe in the future it will be but there's little demand for it amongst our dealers. Most systems are purchased as turnkey where they are pairing our media servers with either our NAS or a suitable alternative. The benefit of a gigabit Ethernet enabled NAS vs. directly connected eSata is that you don't need an eSata host that acts as the bottleneck. If you have 5 different media servers throughout the home, they can easily and efficiently connect to a gigabit ethernet enabled NAS device. If your storage was all eSata based, you would need to use another computer to act as the host. I would not suggest one of our media servers for this task as they should really be focused on just playing media, not sharing it out to a bunch of other media servers.

I think most people on this forum are thinking of using the Zone Pro as a server and distribute it via component switching or HDMI switching straight to the TV. So the Zone Pro would be "playing" the media from the direct attached storage via eSata, straight out to the TV (but routed through a distributed video system). The eSata just allows a whole host of DAS options. Can we trade a few of the 8 USB ports for an eSata? Just a suggestion.

-ZONE Pro $2,399 (identical to the ZONE but with double the RAM and fast Intel Solid STate Drive, recommended for large movie or music collections as the meta data and coert art is cached on the local drive, even if content is stored on NAS)

-Pro-Series n4 $4,999 (3u rackmount, faster processor, better performance, mirrored drives for the OS, more connectivity options)

-Pro Series n7 $7,999 (also 3u rackmount, Screaming fast performance, even more RAM, mirrored Solid STate Drives, improved graphics, Component video output, supports bitstream output of uncompressed audio)

But your website says the Pro version starts at $4999. http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/pro.html (see box to the right of youtube video). I guess this is an error? The website doesn't even list the various models that you discuss above, let alone the prices. I think you would help yourself by showing the different models. Its not hard to appeal to a guy's sense of having a souped up _____. But you gotta show us what we get for the $$$.

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Mr Casey. Hi. I think you have a fantastic product here. Would suit my setup to a tee.

Everybody on this forum keeps telling me I need a NAS. And I keep telling them - been there done that - NAS's can be a hastle with iTunes. I'm different. I actually like keeping all my video content within iTunes and organised with iTunes. Mac users don't need NAS's. If they want backup they use timemachine. If they want RAID, they use a macpro with Raid card or the new raided macmini, or a DAS. Right now Im happy with H264 standard files within iTunes. I don't need Blueray.ISO etc right now.

So my question is - can I hook up a Zone to stream straight from the iTunes library or the movies folder on a networked mac. Where the video and movie files are. I've asked this question on your forums, but haven't got an answer. Also is there a complete list of supported file formats?

Also a second monitor capability would allow Win7 touchscreen functionality. Have you considered doing this?

I'd like to address some of your comments and concerns, none of which is meant to be critical though. :)

NAS can be a hassle with iTunes but that is purely on the fault of Apple and their poor support for networked music folders and limitation of not supporting multiple music folder paths, this is not a fault of NAS devices. Mac, PC, Linux; everyone can benefit from Network Attached Storage, it just depends on whether it's the right solution for your needs.

In the case of multi-room audio & video streaming, it is definitely the smart choice.

NAS devices have numerous uses besides just backing up a mac using time machine, the most common use is mass amounts of storage for media and even then a Macpro with raid card is not the best option since it can't accommodate large quantities of drives...and honestly it's overpriced and over spec'd to be running as just a network storage server, a Macpro is best utilized as a workstation. I've used Apple XServe + XRaids as well and although this is a better solution than the MAcPro is still kind of overkill for building a multi-room Media Server system.

I hope this information is helpful, I don't mean to start a debate on different mass storage devices, just sharing some insight and opinions. I'm also not trying to convince people they must buy a Niveus Cargo Storage Server, there are many great affordable NAS devices out there such as the HP MediaSmart, Netgear ReadyNas, Drobo, or even DIY, personally I use a home built system with 12 drive bays running Windows Home Server.

To answer your questions,

ZONE is capable of indexing and playing content from a network share on an OSX system. Media Center can play non-DRM h.264 files as long as they arent in a .mov wrapper, if your files are .mp4 it should work.

It will not play DRM protected mp4 VIDEO files like you purchase from the iTunes store. You could install iTunes on the ZONE and use that to play those files, but the Media Center application will not play the DRM video files.

Similar case for music purchased from iTunes store, the non-DRM iTunes plus files will index and play fine, the DRM protected files would need to be converted to iTunes plus.

I'm not sure I understand the use case for a second monitor to drive touch capability, are you saying you would like to see Media Center on your large TV and the picture mirrored to a smaller touch screen? This can be easily accomplished with inexpensive 1x2 distribution amps or switchers like those found on monoprice.com

All very good questions wappinghigh, keep em coming and I will do my best to keep up with the long winded replies!

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As soon as dealers give their customer a line by line pricing of items, the customer naturally will start shopping around, using the system specs the dealer worked hard to put together, they then compare prices to what a TV costs at Walmart and the dealers just can't compete.

During the times I've frequented Wal Mart, the customers I saw in the store did not strike me as the type that were looking for Media servers with i7 chips, SSD's, and 4TB of storage. Control4 publishes an MSRP list of its products. C4 Consumers understand that the dealer will charge additional for system installation/programing and more for support. Give us a little credit, we understand there is no free lunch.

It would be great if eSata was included on every system and maybe in the future it will be but there's little demand for it amongst our dealers. Most systems are purchased as turnkey where they are pairing our media servers with either our NAS or a suitable alternative. The benefit of a gigabit Ethernet enabled NAS vs. directly connected eSata is that you don't need an eSata host that acts as the bottleneck. If you have 5 different media servers throughout the home, they can easily and efficiently connect to a gigabit ethernet enabled NAS device. If your storage was all eSata based, you would need to use another computer to act as the host. I would not suggest one of our media servers for this task as they should really be focused on just playing media, not sharing it out to a bunch of other media servers.

I think most people on this forum are thinking of using the Zone Pro as a server and distribute it via component switching or HDMI switching straight to the TV. So the Zone Pro would be "playing" the media from the direct attached storage via eSata, straight out to the TV (but routed through a distributed video system). The eSata just allows a whole host of DAS options. Can we trade a few of the 8 USB ports for an eSata? Just a suggestion.

-ZONE Pro $2,399 (identical to the ZONE but with double the RAM and fast Intel Solid STate Drive, recommended for large movie or music collections as the meta data and coert art is cached on the local drive, even if content is stored on NAS)

-Pro-Series n4 $4,999 (3u rackmount, faster processor, better performance, mirrored drives for the OS, more connectivity options)

-Pro Series n7 $7,999 (also 3u rackmount, Screaming fast performance, even more RAM, mirrored Solid STate Drives, improved graphics, Component video output, supports bitstream output of uncompressed audio)

But your website says the Pro version starts at $4999. http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/pro.html (see box to the right of youtube video). I guess this is an error? The website doesn't even list the various models that you discuss above, let alone the prices. I think you would help yourself by showing the different models. Its not hard to appeal to a guy's sense of having a souped up _____. But you gotta show us what we get for the $$$.

Thanks for the reply brown. I used the TV / Walmart example with dealers since it is the most common scenario of why dealers do not itemize their bids, they are selling solutions to their customers...not boxes. Obviously Walmart customers aren't cruising the Walmart for media servers. :) But they will work with a dealer who designs a system, then take that design and bid and shop it to other AV installers in the area, dealers understand that customers want to save a few bucks but they put in the work to design the system and hate to see this happen.

I'm not saying I agree with not listing our prices, I'm just reiterating that it's our current company policy of not putting them on our website and our dealers who we sell to appreciate that.

ZONE does not have component video so it is not ideal for a distributed environment that uses component (our Pro-Series n7 or older Vail units would work best) it DOES have eSata but I would definitely suggest NAS over directly connected eSATA. The problem may arise where you decide you want another independent playback stream so you can watch two movies at the same time, you would add another ZONE or Pro-Series to the system.

Now how would you have both Niveus Media Servers access the library of content if it's physically tied via eSata to one of your media servers? You could possibly setup a network share on the ZONE and have the second ZONE access the content that way, but now you have another point of failure and you are using the first ZONE for both playback and for media storage and file sharing duties.

When designing a system you try to avoid bottlenecks and potential points of failure, and this would be one.

ZONE is affordable because it has plenty of power to play BLu-ray, but if you pile on storage server and file sharing duties....you're pushing it beyond what it's designed to be, a dedicated media player.

Again, you can use direct attached storage, it works and the ZONE does have an eSata port. I'm just sharing best practices here and what we believe provides the best value, flexibility, performance, reliability and scalability. Luckily Niveus is an open platform so you don't have to listen to what we say, do whatever you want with it, it's very flexible!

Sorry for the confusion on the pricing and model names.

The ZONE Pro is not a Pro-Series model, despite that it has the Pro tag on the end, it's the souped up version of the ZONE model.

The Pro-Series does start at $4999 MSRP.

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I'm not sure I understand the use case for a second monitor to drive touch capability, are you saying you would like to see Media Center on your large TV and the picture mirrored to a smaller touch screen? This can be easily accomplished with inexpensive 1x2 distribution amps or switchers like those found on monoprice.com

Yep. Exactly. But touchscreens need feed back to the computer via usb. Wouldn't this be a problem? I'm not sure this would work with drivers etc unless the touchscreen was on a dedicated DVI or HDMI port...? I really have no idea. But touch interactivity straight into the Niveus would be sweet..

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I'm not sure I understand the use case for a second monitor to drive touch capability' date=' are you saying you would like to see Media Center on your large TV and the picture mirrored to a smaller touch screen? This can be easily accomplished with inexpensive 1x2 distribution amps or switchers like those found on monoprice.com[/quote']

Yep. Exactly. But touchscreens need feed back to the computer via usb. Wouldn't this be a problem? I'm not sure this would work with drivers etc unless the touchscreen was on a dedicated DVI or HDMI port...? I really have no idea. But touch interactivity straight into the Niveus would be sweet..

This is definitely cool, Just look for videos of Windows Media Center running on a touch enabled PC like the HP MediaSMart; you see the user flicking his way through a collection of album covers.

This was doable with some Crestron touchpanels like a TPS-6000 I have at home, it takes the VGA input (and can overlay touchpanel buttons) it then uses a serial driver to translate touch x-y coordinates to mouse-clicks.

There are many makers of touch monitors that should work, as long as they have drivers for WIn7. Check out ELO: http://www.elotouch.com/

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Sorry for the confusion on the pricing and model names. The Pro-Series does start at $4999 MSRP.

The ZONE is not a Pro-Series model, despite that it has the Pro tag on the end, it's the souped up version of the ZONE model.

I'm priced out of this. I like your concept but I don't see enough advantages to justify dropping $5k when a Netgear 9150 costs $350. Thanks for your input and keep participating in this forum! Its great to hear things straight from the source.

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Sorry for the confusion on the pricing and model names. The Pro-Series does start at $4999 MSRP.

The ZONE is not a Pro-Series model' date=' despite that it has the Pro tag on the end, it's the souped up version of the ZONE model.[/quote']

I'm priced out of this. I like your concept but I don't see enough advantages to justify dropping $5k when a Netgear 9150 costs $350. Thanks for your input and keep participating in this forum! Its great to hear things straight from the source.

The Netgear 9150 does not playback BD .iso files, nor handle menu structures, and has a handicap of 40mbit/s, for what it's worth.

For standalone players, PCH C200 and Dune 3.0 players are the only ones that don't appear "hardware handicapped". The only downside to these players is lack of integration...

Which brings us back around to XBMC for a free solution that you have to DIY to handle BD, or Niveus where you dont. Of course, you have to have a PC and if you don't those costs will factor in with the DIY PC / Standalone Player / Niveus argument.

There's a number of different ways to go about it, everyone just needs to be aware of the limitations that certain solutions have - and if you're OK with knowing those, then you won't have as bad of a case of buyer's remorse when something else comes out :)

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Well said Codeman. The options in this area are exciting.

BTW, the pocorn C200 specs say it is "Blu-ray ready (requires addition of compatible BD-ROM and at least 2GB USB memory stick)". Not so?

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=productspec&item_id=12

It is, I didn't say that it wasn't. You can add a drive and it's just like the Dune Prime 3.0. There's just no two-way IP control so you can start playing movies using Control4's interface, like we do today with XBMC, Netgear, and the C4 Media player. You have to use the interface of the PCH, Dune, or Niveus at this point, though with the C4 remote. If you're ok with the different guis and the learning curves associated with each, that's fine. Others have the wife or kid approval factor to consider, and it was work just selling the Control4 gui. It's a little more transparent if they think "Control4 just plays it" and instead "oh its another box, how do I work it and how much did it cost?" :)

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Funny, the C4 media player didn't come up in this conversation ....

A mismatch of a player for it's user base I guess.

Just say'in

Edited to say:

BTW, there's no reason a 2-way IP driver for PCH C-200 can't be written now - there's support out of the box for IP control built into the unit now.

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I'm priced out of this. I like your concept but I don't see enough advantages to justify dropping $5k when a Netgear 9150 costs $350. Thanks for your input and keep participating in this forum! Its great to hear things straight from the source.

No problem, our products may not be for everyone but you were comparing the price of our Pro-Series at $5k when you should maybe have been checking out our ZONE player at $1,599.

Even comparing the entry level ZONE player (or any Windows Media Center system really) to a Netgear is like apples to oranges. Don't get me wrong, I like the Netgear, that and PopcornHour are my media streamers of choice but they are so far behind a full media server which is why they are significantly cheaper.

Codeman highlighted some examples, here are some more.

-The Netgear is basically a media streamer, in most cases requiring the content be streamed from another machine, mac or PC. ZONE and other media centers are fully stand alone media servers capable of storing and playing content.

-The Netgear can not play a DVD or Blu-ray disc, there is no drive built in. ZONE can.

-The Netgear can not play archived Blu-ray movies with cover art, meta data, full Blu-ray menus and 7.1 audio.

-The Netgear has no HD-DVR option like Media Center with CableCard tuners.

-The Netgear is a proprietary device unlike the open platform of Windows Media Center supported by hundreds of software and hardware developers and used by millions.

-Netgear is not running Windows 7 like a full Media Center is, which means you cant install iTunes, Hulu Desktop, DirecTV2PC, Sonos Controller, Boxee, etc on the Netgear.

-Your wife can't walk up to the netgear, drop in a CD, DVD or BLu-ray and with the click of the remote, tell it to copy the disc to the hard drive or NAS. This is easy enough for kids and grandmas on the ZONE.

-Netgear does not really understand nor support the custom installer industry and probably have never heard of Control4. They are not equipped to provide the level of support that companies like Niveus can. How many guys answering the phone at Netgear know what an HC-300 or Crestron Pro2 is, let alone know how to write a LUA or SIMPL driver for one?

Again I'm not trying to discount the Netgear, like I said it's in my top 3 of media STREAMERs but I do not think it has the performance, features, usability, flexibility of a full Windows Media Center based system. Now comparing a DIY built system to something like Niveus is a more equal comparison. If I was looking for a low cost streamer and could accept the many limitations of such a device, I would use something like the XBOX360 running as a Media Center Extender. it may not play archived DVD and Blu-ray content but can handle many music, video, photo formats AND can interface with TV tuners on a host Media Center PC.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what SOHO shop can do with the system once they receive it, we provide full two way feedback of meta data, cover art for music and movies, direct commands to play a particular DVD or Blu-ray and more.

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BTW, there's no reason a 2-way IP driver for PCH C-200 can't be written now - there's support out of the box for IP control built into the unit now.

I was really excited by the possibilities of the C200 so I emailed several times and tried calling Popcorn hour to get more info and possibly a loaner unit to check out integration options but never got a response :(

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Edited to say:

BTW, there's no reason a 2-way IP driver for PCH C-200 can't be written now - there's support out of the box for IP control built into the unit now.

You're talking about Telnet on port 3000?

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=30168&pid=345502#pid345502

A step in the right direction now that it's "officially" supported, and what the current 1 way driver is written using (Alan Chow wrote it back in the day, and another dealer is learning LUA with it), but it isn't quite what we need...

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The Niveus does sound like a promising solution form a pure integration standpoint with C4. I have a large collection of Blu-ray .iso and DVD .iso files stored on a WHS that I would like to incorporate. While I was truly hoping for a cheaper PCH C-200 or Dune 3.0 solution, I am excited to see you are offering C4 integration.

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

So this solution cannot play Blu-ray and DVD .iso files like the PCH c-200 or Dune 3.0? I ask this because i find it safest to have all my media saved as .iso being that they are the easiest contained for a 1:1 perfect copy. Is there any plans on adding .iso support?

Also, does the Zone pro support HD audio like the Dune 3.0 and PCH boxes currently offer? From your description, it appears only the $7900 Pro player supports HD audio options. Is it possible to upgrade the HDMI audio card in the Zone player to play HD audio as these solutions only run $150 now a days and its hard to justify the cost difference for the HD audio alone.

Thanks

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Funny, the C4 media player didn't come up in this conversation ....

A mismatch of a player for it's user base I guess.

Just say'in

Edited to say:

BTW, there's no reason a 2-way IP driver for PCH C-200 can't be written now - there's support out of the box for IP control built into the unit now.

I thought the same thing now that there is an iphone app that allows 2-way control of the unit. This should be possible for C4 integration now that there is an iphone integration app for the PCH C-200.

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Edited to say:

BTW' date=' there's no reason a 2-way IP driver for PCH C-200 can't be written now - there's support out of the box for IP control built into the unit now.[/quote']

You're talking about Telnet on port 3000?

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=30168&pid=345502#pid345502

A step in the right direction now that it's "officially" supported, and what the current 1 way driver is written using (Alan Chow wrote it back in the day, and another dealer is learning LUA with it), but it isn't quite what we need...

Cody, there is even an android 2-way control app for the C-200. It looks like its possible to do this now. Maybe we could chip a few dollars together here at C4forums and get someone to write us a C4 integration driver.

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The Niveus does sound like a promising solution form a pure integration standpoint with C4. I have a large collection of Blu-ray .iso and DVD .iso files stored on a WHS that I would like to incorporate. While I was truly hoping for a cheaper PCH C-200 or Dune 3.0 solution, I am excited to see you are offering C4 integration.
While on the topic, we only support VIDEO_TS and BDMV folders, not a collection of ISO images.

So this solution cannot play Blu-ray and DVD .iso files like the PCH c-200 or Dune 3.0? I ask this because i find it safest to have all my media saved as .iso being that they are the easiest contained for a 1:1 perfect copy. Is there any plans on adding .iso support?

Also, does the Zone pro support HD audio like the Dune 3.0 and PCH boxes currently offer? From your description, it appears only the $7900 Pro player supports HD audio options. Is it possible to upgrade the HDMI audio card in the Zone player to play HD audio as these solutions only run $150 now a days and its hard to justify the cost difference for the HD audio alone.

Thanks

If you were to individually mount each ISO it will definitely play. We support the BDMV folder format which eliminates the step of having to mount an ISO image. It's still a bit for bit copy of the movie with complete support for menus, 7.1 uncompressed audio, special features even BD-Live, it's just that the BDMV folder has been extracted from the ISO image. It's very easy to convert your ISOs to BDMV folders and back again.

The ZONE and ZONE pro can decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA and output 7.1 audio via HDMI. It is decoded internally and output as 7.1 LPCM, most people can not tell the difference between the ZONE decoding the 7.1 in the digital realm or their A/V receiver decoding it.

Our Pro-Series n7 supports bitstream output which means you can choose to have the Dolby TrueHd and DTS-MA decoded by your A/V receiver, not the Pro-Series n7. In both cases you get 7.1 digital sound.

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Found this video from CES, some may find it interesting. Our development box arrives Friday...

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=21935

Interesting because when you read the AVS forum dedicated to this, it is fraught with errors and trouble shooting. It's not plug and play. Especially when using a Denon or Onkyo receiver.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1172451

People are download nightly builds and overriding codecs/install files in order to make it work, and it still doesn't all the time.

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