[A-100] Firmware 01-17-090204-15-POP-402-000 (12.06.2009)

[int15]

(10-15-2009 03:25 PM)Burnerbum Wrote:  Thanks, that's what I read. Already placed the order with Newegg. Looking forward to getting it. Too bad it's Thursday, now I won't get it until Monday.

Cool, now you can be my guinea pig! No, seriously, let me know how it goes. You also might be interested by this: XBMX on the ION 330.

[dc11ab]

Let's have that discussion in the Off-topic section, so this thread can carry on discussing the firmware. Thank you.

[Burnerbum]

(10-15-2009 03:36 PM)int15 Wrote:  Cool, now you can be my guinea pig! No, seriously, let me know how it goes. You also might be interested by this: XBMX on the ION 330.

Thanks for the link, that was my next search. I'm currently downloading all the drivers for it but they keep timing out. I wonder if anyone has tried to load Mac on it. Plex is really nice too. I will be busy next Monday night. I will let you know how it goes.

My C-200 isn't scheduled for delivery unitil Nov at the earliest so I needed something to keep me busy in the mean time.

[int15]

@dc11ab

Sorry you're right, moving on.

[Burnerbum]

(10-15-2009 04:03 PM)int15 Wrote:  @dc11ab

Sorry you're right, moving on.

Me too! Got carried away.

[chris57]

New beta firmware is released for beta testing on the A100, see part changelog in beta firmware thread!

[kadi]

(10-16-2009 09:05 AM)chris57 Wrote:  New beta firmware is released for beta testing on the A100, see part changelog in beta firmware thread!

is it support External Arabic subtitle in beta firmware

[dc11ab]

+1 Arabic subtitles.

[chris57]

No it doesn't appear to but havent tested it. External srt subtitles I take it, external sub/idx arabic subtitle is a possibility.

ext srt arabic is not 100% yet on the C200, I would expect them to look at porting it only wen it is correct.

[rshri]

I am happy with beta firmware news. Hope it doesn't takes too long to get a stable firmware released.

I think people are being too hasty if they are thinking of dumping their working A100s and buying something new altogether. I have seen demos of the new streamers/ion330 etc., and my conclusion is that its not really a big significant jump over A-100.

If idx/sub support comes along in A100, I can still live with it for at least till another year or so. My breaking point will come when I will actually feel a need to connect it to an external USB blu ray drive.

If you have money to burn, sure go ahead and buy anything you want. If not, my advice is to not to get swayed and be a little patient. After 1-2 years even better products & technologies will come along. Till then, A-100 should be sufficient for current urgent needs.

[murpm3]

(10-18-2009 09:02 AM)rshri Wrote:  I am happy with beta firmware news. Hope it doesn't takes too long to get a stable firmware released.

I think people are being too hasty if they are thinking of dumping their working A100s and buying something new altogether. I have seen demos of the new streamers/ion330 etc., and my conclusion is that its not really a big significant jump over A-100.

If idx/sub support comes along in A100, I can still live with it for at least till another year or so. My breaking point will come when I will actually feel a need to connect it to an external USB blu ray drive.

If you have money to burn, sure go ahead and buy anything you want. If not, my advice is to not to get swayed and be a little patient. After 1-2 years even better products & technologies will come along. Till then, A-100 should be sufficient for current urgent needs.

I can see your points....however I think the difference with XBMC is that it has been in development for years and is very polished. The interface and functionality are incredible. I liked the A100 for what it was, but there were critical things missing that I got impatient waiting for. Biggest nags for me were in terms of the gui functionality and playing audio:

1) Always had to pick network share, then choose video/audio/picture folder icon. This functionality has always been backwards. I should be able to choose "Video" then have my shares linking to my videos underneath that. I know...its a small thing, but the reality is...its an annoyance that could be fixed and make the whole experience smoother.

2) Playing music.... no good browsing system. A couple firmwares ago they implemented functionality to type a number in and at least get further down in your list..this is trial and error though.

3) Playing music...no ability to browse music while a file is playing. This was a huge issue for me. If you were playing an album you could not go an look at what you wanted to play next.

3) No music shuffle. Your only option is to play 1 file or play them all. I am not into creating play lists....I guess a lot of people are...but I am more a fly by the seat of pants kinda person and I play what I want when I want to...I hate play lists and never bother with them.

That being said....the A100 can play any damn video you throw at it always. The little box always exceled at that. However, my new XBMC device hasn't stumbled on any video yet and it does everything that the A100 didnt do as I mentioned above.

Anyway...I am really happy I upgraded. I only mentioned this to other users of the A100, because I imagine a lot of you are in the same boat and are ready to take a next step and don't want to wait any longer.

[lchiu7]

(10-18-2009 09:49 AM)murpm3 Wrote:  ...

That being said....the A100 can play any damn video you throw at it always. The little box always exceled at that. However, my new XBMC device hasn't stumbled on any video yet and it does everything that the A100 didnt do as I mentioned above.

Apart from any files captured from a DVB-T system (possibly DVB-S) where the host broadcaster has chosen to use AAC-HE LATM audio. This is now becoming increasingly common as broadcasters move to the DVB-T platform for HD content (outside the USA) and want to use the latest and greatest audio codec which the A100 cannot decode. Not sure if the A110 or C200 can decode it either.

To me this is the biggest failing of the A100 (and I have two of them!)

[rshri]

Guys, I would also like to bring to your attention some recent comments that I read in a different forum. Reproducing them here word for word -

"I used the ZOTAC ION/Atom combo. unfortunately I have been having lots of problems getting XBMC live to work correctly....

wrong video refresh rates
fast audio playback
no GUI sounds...
every 3-5 reboots, the whole thing just craps out and I need to start from scratch....
VDPAU is not working at all for me. I cannot play any BD rips I have....

unfortunately I am having far better luck under windows 7 but the interface is still not XBMC"

So it seems very clear that no platform is without its own share of problems and its not as if you will be in heaven once you dump A100 for XBMC.

All I want to finally say is - If you can live with current limitations of A100 then currently its not such a bad idea. Rest is of course up to you! I for one will stay with A100 for a while!

Hoping that current A100 beta firmware will do well in testing and make a good stable firmware release!

[haggisbingo]

The A100 really needs to fix the PlayON issues - I'm hoping these are the UpnP fixes that were mentioned. Right now NetFlix and PlayOn are disasters on these machines and really are giving them a bad name!!

(10-18-2009 01:48 PM)rshri Wrote:  Guys, I would also like to bring to your attention some recent comments that I read in a different forum. Reproducing them here word for word -

"I used the ZOTAC ION/Atom combo. unfortunately I have been having lots of problems getting XBMC live to work correctly....

wrong video refresh rates
fast audio playback
no GUI sounds...
every 3-5 reboots, the whole thing just craps out and I need to start from scratch....
VDPAU is not working at all for me. I cannot play any BD rips I have....

unfortunately I am having far better luck under windows 7 but the interface is still not XBMC"

So it seems very clear that no platform is without its own share of problems and its not as if you will be in heaven once you dump A100 for XBMC.

All I want to finally say is - If you can live with current limitations of A100 then currently its not such a bad idea. Rest is of course up to you! I for one will stay with A100 for a while!

Hoping that current A100 beta firmware will do well in testing and make a good stable firmware release!

[castle]

giving them a bad name. I'm not even sure what they are or why anybody would want them, so I can't say they're giving them a bad name. same goes for this issue with AAC audio. I have yet to see a single file with this audio type.

.idx/.sub subtitle support, on the other hand, is a big deal.