A-200 pre-buy questions, picture quality

[th14]

Hey folks,

I'm looking to buy an A-200, however there are still some points I'm pretty unsure about:

1. I want to buy a PCH for 1080p mkv playback. For now I have been burning these files to a BD-25 and then played them on a Pioneer bluray player over a Full HD projector. Now compared to that Pioneer bluray player, how is the picture and audio quality with the A-200 unit playing these 1080p mkv files directly from hdd on a full hd projector? Exactly the same, or worse?

2. I also like to rip my bluray movies and then play them back from harddisk. Can the A-200 playback a BDMV folder with the menu interface like the original bluray?

[chris57]

!. Find out the chip of the BluRay player to see how it compares.

2. No. You need a BD license to play BD menus plus java. Only the C200 can play BDMV rips with menus.

[th14]

Hello,

Thanks for the answers.

1. I have a Pioneer BDP 320, but couldn't find the name of the chip installed. Is there a known comparison between the BDP 320 and PCH C-200?

I have some more questions:

3. I heard the noise/fan with the A-200 is quite an issue. How is it with the C-200?

4. I plan to put the C-200 in a cabinet. Will the signal of the remote control be able to get through the cabinet-door? And do you have to point to the PCH to get an answer to the signal?

5. Putting it in a cabinet. Will heat be an issue? (The HDD would be in the cabinet too because of the noise)

6. I have a Western Digital Elements 3.5" HDD, 1000GB, USB2.0! Will it work smoothly with the C-200?

Many thanks for your patience and I'm looking forward to the answers.

[xor]

The C-200 does not have a fan.
My A-200 is pretty silent, it does not have a disk drive in it.
The C200 uses RF, so you do not have to point the remote at it, as to getting through the door, it should unless your cabinet is a faraday cage.

I do not know how much heat will be an issue, it depends on what other heat sources you have in the cabinet, the amount of ambient air flow in your cabinet and to some degree how much heat your internal disk drive will generate.

[accident]

3. If your someone that needs a completely silent room, the a-200 fan will bother you especially in a bedroom. I don't find it a problem at all. I do know there were some where the fan came a little loose in shipping but if you open the unit and click it back in its back to normal. The c200 has an optional fan slot but doesn't come with on. You probably don't need one unless you load it up inside with drives and then you probably still don't need it. I had a really good fan that fit which has a temp sensor so I personally added it, it just makes me feel better to know if there is a heat issue one day it can whirl up and protect the unit.

4. the c-200 remote is RF, you can put it just about anywhere the cabinet will be fine.

5. It usually is not a problem but its a very generic we can only guess question. Just keep in mind if it starts to suddenly act up to include powering it off and let it cool for 5-10 minutes to make sure its not a heat issue. Theres many cabinet fan options on the aftermarket to help if its actually a problem. I personally wouldn't worry about it as any player, bluray, amp, dvr etc is prone to the same thing.

6. usb drive will run fine, drives are optional. There are some troubleshooting cases where you do need a thumbdrive so you might want to pick up a little 2-8G if you don't have any readily available at home. they are pretty cheap these days to have just in case.

[th14]

Many thanks!!

There is one thing that just crossed my mind:

7. When i have the USB 1TB HDD attached to the PCH, will I be able to access the drive from 2 different laptops at the same time? And is it possible to stream those files from the PCH to the laptops or only vice versa? Would this only work with the Wi-Fi enabled C-200?

[chris57]

Remember WiFi is not very good at streaming. SD xvid may be OK and going from your PC to the NMT may perform OK for 720p if you are lucky but generally you need wired connection.

A USB attached HDD will be visible to your PC's provided you install the NMT Apps and turn on the SMB/NFS or other server app. You dont have to have a HDD installed for NMT Apps a USB stick will suffice, get a 4Gb one.