Evesham iplayer - the Freeview PVR you've dreamt about!

[damianw]

Hi... newbie posting... *wave*

Just coming back to the question raised earlier in the thread re playing content off a NAS device. Answer was probably not because it needs Media Connect. Just wondering if this is absolutely the case, or whether the iPlayer just uses UPnP but Evesham only guarantee it'll work for Media Connect? If you see what I mean?

Be really interested if someone would try it, my ideal setup was going to be something like an iPlayer with a Synology NAS appliance to stream video/music. If it can't do that then I certainly won't be buying it, I don't want a full blown PC server on all the time.

Thanks for a really useful thread! Even though it has put me off buying for now.

[Bob Crabtree]

Prompted by your message, I've just sent an email to a distributor, asking if the company could lend me a NAS box to test the possibility you mention.

[damianw]

Crikey, top service there Bob, thanks very much!

[Bob Crabtree]

Crikey, top service there Bob, thanks very much!

Yeah, but let's see if the NAS box turns up!

[daniel_owen_uk]

I wrote to the technical support a bit back, asking; "Will WMC be the only way of connecting to the iplayer".

I was told it will be the only way of connecting.

If you think about it, the fact that MS are allowing them to use the 360 HD DVD drive had to come at a price.

[damianw]

But from what I understand, WMC is pretty much just UPnP (could be completely wrong there, so flame away if so). Therefore I'm just wondering if thats the company line. We'll see (hopefully).

Must say I think thats rather daft of Evesham if it is the case.

[agentdav0]

I've broken into my iPlayer to give you all a pic of the insides. :-)

http://www.agent-smith.net/motherboard.jpg

I'll be trying it out with my Thecus N5200 NAS tonight.

---- Decoder
Sigma Designs SMP8635LF. The SMP8634 media processor provides a complete system-on-chip (SOC) solution with powerful multimediaprocessing, robust content security system, and a full complement of peripherals. Its advanced decoder engines support video decoding of H.264 (MPEG-4 part 10), VC-1 (as well as Windows Media®Video 9, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (part 2) with multiple streams, up to the equivalent of two high-definition video streams. High-performance graphics acceleration, multi-standard audio decoding, advanced display processing capabilities, and HDMI/HDCP output round out its multimedia core. Powerful content security is ensured through a dedicated secure processor, flash memory, and a range of digital rights management (DRM) engines for high-speed payloaddecryption. The SMP8634’s 300-Mhz host CPU, 3.2 GB/second unified memory controller, Ethernet 10/100controller, dual USB 2.0 controller, and IDE controller provide for a single-chip solution for most set-top boxes and consumer players.

---- Memory
128MB 4x Nanya NT5DS32M16BS-5T DDR-400

---- Flash Memory
128MB Spansion GL128N

---- Hard Drive
80Gb Hitachi Travelstar HTS541080G9AT 5400rpm 8mb cache

---- HDMI Transmitter
Sil9002 HDMI Tx PHY. Fully compliant with HDMI 1.1 and HDMI 1.2

---- UHF Demodulator
Thomson Unknown

---- Audio/Video Switch
Sony CXA7002R. An Audio/Video switch designed primarily for application in Digital Set Top Boxes. It provides video and audio routing from the digital encoder source to the TV and VCR scart (peri-television) connectors. In addition, the TV audio output has a programmable volume control.

---- Audio chipset
Sony CDX1975R??

[daniel_owen_uk]

You could be right about uPnP wiki suggests it's reliant on it, I know an MCSD that will know will ask him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Connect
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win.../industry.aspx

[damianw]

Sounds like its very much a UPnP thing, but that could be just for device discovery, listing etc. The actual streaming protocols could be MS specific?

Agentdav0 - is your NAS a multimedia server as well (i.e. has UPnP support)? Had a quick check on the specs and it didn't look like it. Also now you have the machine, any impressions?

[agentdav0]

Well, it worked for about 10hours then the ethernet port on it died... ohwell. Another *rappy Sigma bites the dust.

[daniel_owen_uk]

How did you find it until that point? Any more news on this product?

[damianw]

Yes I was eagerly awaiting an update from someone today, I really fancied getting an order in for something so that I might just get it by Christmas. Its this or a Topfield. I like the built in networking of the iplayer, and the high def support, but the glowing reviews everyone gives the Topfield makes me think I ought to be sending the money that way.

[wudang]

I understand any attached USB hard disk needs to be FAT32 format. Given FAT32 restricts file size to 4GB maximum and a single 1 hour recorded HD TV programme requires over 5GB of space how does this square with the HD ready, future proof claim

There seems to be some confusion at Evesham as to how the iplayer is going to be able to increase its storage capacity. I have just received the following reply from their tech support;

I have been advised by our TV specialist that we don’t recommend the use of an external USB hard-disk for the storage of recorded TV programmes.

The recommended method of archiving recorded TV programmes is to use the "Transfer to PC" option available on the Iplayer.

This will allow you to stream recorded content across a LAN to a PC, where it can be stored in MPEG2 format.

This seems to ignore their response during the Hexus review of 24th November;

"Not so", says Evesham, "because you can save off your recorded TV programmes over the network to your PC - and play them back from there - and, in two weeks' time, when we make available a firmware update, you'll be able to save them off directly to an attached USB hard disk that can be as big as you like - as long as it's formatted as FAT32".

And I'm still no clearer as to how FAT32 formatted disks will manage >4GB files

As I run macs on my home network the streaming to a pc is not much of an option for me so unless Evesham can clear this up my £300 is staying put.

p.s. For those wanting to see how the iplayer is shaping up in the real world and pending a fuller Hexus review this has just been posted:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36444

[daniel_owen_uk]

Evesham have included support for the majority of media codecs, so you should find most of the files you have squirreled away will work just fine.

Thanks for the link, although they rather glossed over the part that was important to me

[damianw]

I've got one on order now, decided in the end that it just satisfied my gadget lust a bit more than a more traditional PVR (and I'll probably end up with NTL's TVDrive at some point). Will let you know what I think.

[Bob Crabtree]

p.s. For those wanting to see how the iplayer is shaping up in the real world and pending a fuller Hexus review this has just been posted:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36444

That is a review?

Oh dear.

So much glossed over, so little detail - it's really a news story, not a review.

No one could safely buy a product based on the information contained within.

People would be FAR better off just to read my original news story (and it was a news story NOT a review as you said) and then crawl through this thread.

That way, they'd know far more about the real-world use of this product than that "review" imparts.

And, yes, a review is coming!

Oh, and as for saving directly to USB - that response from Evesham pretty much confirms my hands-on experience. It doesn't work.

If you are running a Windows PC and Microsoft's Windows Media Connect app, then you can attach a USB drive and save off files over the network but doing that is a VERY slow and tedious business with the transfer rate far slower than the network is capable of (and here I'm only talking about 100Base-T, cos that's the theoretical rating of the iPlayer's Ethernet port).

But, that USB drive does have to be formatted as FAT32 if you want to connect it directly to the iPlayer for playback. And, here, the file-size restriction I've been seeing has been 2GB - NOT 4GB - as I have mentioned earlier in this thread, I think.

If you are going to be playing files directly from the PC, though, there should be no FAT32 restriction - you can use drives formatted as NTFS, to allow you to save BIG files; as yet, though, I've not tried to see if, in fact, this is really the case. That's in part because the transfer via Ethernet is so very slooooow!

I think that, for Mac users, the iPlayer is, currently, not a valid option - except if they are running Windows on their Macs.