C200 - My journey

[Deathquake]

Hi all, just received my C200 and thought I would start a thread about my journey to a hopefully fully fledged media streaming guru.

Me - I'm a programmer (OLAP databases) so whilst I know my way round I'm by no means an uber geek, I know nothing of Linux etc etc. I live in the UK.

So Chapter 1 - Purchase and the reveal.
Sunday - Well I purchased my C 200 on Sunday lunchtime. I was quite excited about buying one of these, then found quite a few posts saying it didn't work etc etc, went ahead with the purchase anyway. I'm looking forward to the challenge.
Since I'll be needing to use it as a NAS as well I also purchased a 2.5 500GB drive to allow for future expansion to blu-ray. (I don't have HD TV yet).
Tuesday - It arrives at lunch time, I've been impatiently tracking the package on DHL, it left the depot at 0819, seemed to take an age to get here. All seems in order which is great, the supplier included a UK type kettle lead to replace the euro one that it is shipped with.
Whilst reading up on how to fit the drive I discover that I have to choose between formats (Linux (ext3) or Windows(NTFS)). It seems that the only sensible choice is ext3 since I want to use the drive as a NAS while it's inside the player.

This presents me with a problem since I only have laptops so I think that means I have no way to format the drive. I guess I could take one apart and fit the new drive and boot from the disc. I guess that should work. I'll talk nicely to the wife about using her (Vista) laptop, mine is a work one and I don't want to mess with it.

So boxes and bits everywhere I discover I've no way of connecting the C200 to the TV. Ha ha what a noob! This evenings run will take me via B and Q to buy a component video to scart or a component video to component video, depending if I connect it to my home cinema system (Sony DAV SA30 old) or my TV. I guess I'll get both just in case, oh and I also need to get a network cable... (double noob..)

So a bit of an abortive start into the adventure that is the C200. Assuming I survive my run to the store this evening (bug busses and muggers), I'll update more later.

Cheers,
DQ

[cheaper_popcorn]

Before you do anything else you should update your firmware to the latest version, I recommend downloading the firmware to your computer, unzipping the files to the root folder (the very first/top level) of a USB stick.

Then connect your USB stick to the C-200, boot it up, wait until it has recognized the USB stick, then browse to the trident icon (symbol for USB) and press Enter.

The contents of the USB stick root folder will show.

Browse to and select the usbupdate.html file.

Press Enter on the link showing on the html page, which will start the firmware update.

Now wait for the firmware update to finish. It will take the time it takes, it may look like it gets stuck in a few places, this is normal, just let it run and it will eventually reboot.

Quote:Whilst reading up on how to fit the drive I discover that I have to choose between formats (Linux (ext3) or Windows(NTFS)). It seems that the only sensible choice is ext3 since I want to use the drive as a NAS while it's inside the player.

This presents me with a problem since I only have laptops so I think that means I have no way to format the drive. I guess I could take one apart and fit the new drive and boot from the disc. I guess that should work. I'll talk nicely to the wife about using her (Vista) laptop, mine is a work one and I don't want to mess with it.

If your drive is already initialized from where you purchased it, you do not need to format it using a computer.

The C-200 has its own formatting wizard for ext3. Connect the hard disk in the lower bay and attach the SATA cable, boot up the player and when you see the main menu (icon wheel), press SETUP on the remote, browse to Maintenance and you will see the NMT setup wizard where you can format your hard disk and install the NMT applications.

[werner]

Hi there,

first you don't need to format the drive at your laptop, just put the HDD into the C200 and then go to Setup => Maintenance and start the NMT Setup Wizard this will format the HDD and install the NMT Apps, only with the NMT Apps you can use it as NAS! so formatting it outside of the Unit will give you no option to access the internal HDD over Network.

About you Video Connection, if you have a old TV then component to scart won't work because there are not many SD TV which can handle Component at all, so easiest way which should work for sure is, when you buy a Composite + Stereo RCA Scart Adapter, for that you need normal chinch cables one for Video thats the Yellow connector and Red and White for the Stereo Audio Signal.

Also a good idea i think is if you look into our uploaded manual we posted some weeks ago for the C200
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showth...?tid=34851


Regards,
Werner

[Deathquake]

Thanks cheaper_popcorn,
I'd just read the start up guide that came in the box, this seemed to imply that the C200 would format the disc for me, but wasn't that conclusive. Thanks for firming this up for me.
I had planned on upgrading the firmware as the first exercise but I was going to do over the LAN but I'll go for the USB option if that is the preferred approach.

Also thanks to Werner for the comment on the cable, I think I got my terminology mixed up I meant composite not component (I'm getting scart + red/white and yellow jacks)

I have the manual in my favourites already.

Cheers

[silvom]

As a potential buyer of c-200 I have additional question related to the above discussion.
I plan to fit 2.5" HDD and all is clear to me regarding this one. But my question is what to do with additional 3.5" HDD fitted in the upper tray to enable it to be seen on the network as NAS ? NTFS or ext3 ?

[werner]

the second hdd can be what you want, because we licensed a NTFS driver with full read/write support, so every device also USB devices will get shared out and you can access them then over NFS, SMB or FTP with full read write access.
It only needs the Apps installed on one hdd, i prefer the 2,5" hdd because you can't remove it easy .

Regards,
Werner

(02-09-2010 03:18 PM)silvom Wrote:  As a potential buyer of c-200 I have additional question related to the above discussion.
I plan to fit 2.5" HDD and all is clear to me regarding this one. But my question is what to do with additional 3.5" HDD fitted in the upper tray to enable it to be seen on the network as NAS ? NTFS or ext3 ?

[cheaper_popcorn]

(02-09-2010 03:18 PM)silvom Wrote:  As a potential buyer of c-200 I have additional question related to the above discussion.
I plan to fit 2.5" HDD and all is clear to me regarding this one. But my question is what to do with additional 3.5" HDD fitted in the upper tray to enable it to be seen on the network as NAS ? NTFS or ext3 ?

I use the upper tray with NTFS formatted 3.5" drives.

Whenever I want to shut down my computers and network and only run the C-200, I quickly pre-load a hard disk with content from the computer and then slot the hard disk into the C-200. To connect the hard disk to the computer easily, I use a HDD docking station connected via USB, like these:

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.as...68&ID=1642
http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/295
http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=1600

[silvom]

Thanks - very good idea.Any recomendation where can I purchase it in EU ?

[werner]

you can look here but there could be other local stores where you can get them also

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/i...e=reseller

Regards,
Werner

[silvom]

(02-09-2010 03:57 PM)werner Wrote:  you can look here but there could be other local stores where you can get them also

http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/i...e=reseller

Regards,
Werner

Sorry Werner , I did not ask where to buy C-200 , I know where . I asked about that nice HDD docking stations that your colegue proposed. Sorry...

[werner]

maybe that helps you, this one is mostly sold in europe http://geizhals.at/eu/a299382.html

here are also some other models http://geizhals.at/eu/?fs=quickport&in=

Regards,
Werner

[Deathquake]

OK so chapter 2.

Got the cables, plugged the machine to power, network and TV. All working well.
Upadated the firmware using the LAN rather than the USB stick, worked fine with no issue.

Internet radio and shoutcast all worked well so that's the first tick in the box for me.
I could access all the media on my NAS no problem, it took a bit of fiddling with the remote to get a slideshow working but mostly it's been pretty intuitive and I've not had to resort to the forum to get any of the out of the box stuff working.

So now I'm wondering what to do next....
I was wondering if there are any more web services I can link too? I had a look at the ones supplied and I can't seem to find much that catches my eye. This might be because I can't find it as there was so much content or when I found it, it didn't work. (Saya TV was offline, is this permanent?). Is there some kind of directory / overview of what's in the web services somewhere, it might be a quicker way of finding something rather randomly wandering through menus.

My drive should be here in the next couple of days,so any suggestions of what I should do (on the content side) once I get that?

So far so good!
Cheers

[chris57]

There re two types of webservices, default ones provided in the firmware and ones users have created.

A couple of useful ones are youtubelite, only way to get youtube presently on the NMT since google wanted $$$$$ for it. Also youtube trailers and imdb.
On the default ones then checkout the flash ones, weatherbug, revision3 (HDNation etc).

The webservices links for the 200 series will include flash streams which the 100 series cannot decode. MMS may also be supported more extensively. Look at the MSP section of the forum as well as the 200 series webservices section.

It is also worth saying that the majority of the 100 series webservices will run on the 200 series. So that sections webservices also worth a visit.

Other things to consider:-
CSI - http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wiki/i..._Installer for user apps
Index.htm - themes for changing the default menu.
Jukeboxes - http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wiki/i...es.2FSkins

[Deathquake]

Chapter 3.

Ok so my drive (WD5000BEVT, 500GB / 5400 RPM / 2.5) arrived, fitted with no issue, formatted with no issue.

The reboot following the format took a scarily long time, like 15mins, I was beginning to get worried. It seemed to sort itself out in the end.

Start-up time seems to be back to normal now.

The next thing I want to do is copy all the files from my NAS onto the drive on the player for back-up purposes. My noobiness is showing though!

Though I can see the network from the C200, I can't see the C200 from the Vista PC. I've tried Ext2IFS and Ext2FSD but the drive doesn't show up in the mapping window.

I powered everything down and then up and though the C200 showed up on my router (SKY) for a while it appeared to drop off the "attached devices" list. I can ping the C200 though and the C200 can still get on the web

I've never set up a domain for my home network everything's just plugged into the router and a hub

Any thoughts as what I can look at to get the C200 onto my network properly?

thanks in advance for anyone taking time out to reply.

Cheers

[pin21]

(02-11-2010 07:26 PM)Deathquake Wrote:  Chapter 3.

Ok so my drive (WD5000BEVT, 500GB / 5400 RPM / 2.5) arrived, fitted with no issue, formatted with no issue.

The reboot following the format took a scarily long time, like 15mins, I was beginning to get worried. It seemed to sort itself out in the end.

Start-up time seems to be back to normal now.

The next thing I want to do is copy all the files from my NAS onto the drive on the player for back-up purposes. My noobiness is showing though!

Though I can see the network from the C200, I can't see the C200 from the Vista PC. I've tried Ext2IFS and Ext2FSD but the drive doesn't show up in the mapping window.

I powered everything down and then up and though the C200 showed up on my router (SKY) for a while it appeared to drop off the "attached devices" list. I can ping the C200 though and the C200 can still get on the web

I've never set up a domain for my home network everything's just plugged into the router and a hub

Any thoughts as what I can look at to get the C200 onto my network properly?

thanks in advance for anyone taking time out to reply.

Cheers

Did you enable the NMT apps for Samba etc on the PCH?
I have Vista as well, and using the ExtIFS, the drive letters get assigned. You should have 3 drive letters, 2 small partitions and the third large one that displays the video, download folder etc..
Either that, or if you have the FTP app enabled, u should be able to FTP the PCH from your PC. The password is 1234 and the user is NMTUSER I beleive. The WIKI has a good page on this. http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wiki/i..._using_FTP