2014-11-27, 05:08
(2014-11-27, 04:56)VidOn.me-Wolly Wrote: They need to redesign the PCB if they want move all ports to the back.
What is status for new Gotham and VMC ?
My Apologies!!!
What is status for new Gotham and VMC ?
My Apologies!!!
2014-11-27, 15:56
Yeah why do you guys keep going totally off-topic In threads about other players using different SoCs?
Very suspicious behavouir, especially when some of you clearly works for a competing company!
Very suspicious behavouir, especially when some of you clearly works for a competing company!
2014-11-27, 17:25
I guess no one here has the Mele X2000 yet? Would be nice to hear some impressions.
2015-01-04, 00:17
So I got one of these delivered to me this morning. I haven't had a lot of time to play with it, and the Mele forum and website are down, so I cannot see if their is any new firmware or fixes for the issues I am facing. But here are a few first impressions:
The box is physically big, as you may expect as it can host a 3.5 inch drive internally. The chassis as a whole feels bit plasticy but good enough to job intended, and it has a nice aluminium finish on the front. By virtue of size alone it looks a bit more serious than some of my other players. Given the large black fascia with just a power button and LED, I really can't see why they didn't put some kind of LED display on the front. The remote is plasticky but actually feels quite nice in the hand and has a decent range of functions.
The interface is as is shown in the preview YouTube videos. The installed version of XBMC is based on Gotham 13.2 and shows no branding or very conspicuous signs of ammendment from the stock build. The big problem the box has on the 1.09 firmware I received it with is that wired network performance is terrible. Streaming 1080p files via nfs with the installed XBMC build gives stuttering which makes the unit unwatchable. I installed the Kodi arm official build, which was no better. The 14.2 beta of SPMC seemed to improve the stuttering problem quite a bit, almost to the point of usability for 1080p files as the stuttering appeared to get less frequent after 30 seconds or so of playback. I haven't had time to try new skins and a few add ons but the box felt snappy enough that I don't anticipate these being a problem. I tried using both SMB and NFS networking for files in XBMC and the performance is just a joke - makes you wonder how someone can have signed off on releasing it in this form. Switching of refresh rate was not working under any of the XBMC/Kodi builds I tried.
The native video player crashed whenever I tried to access files over the network via SMB (NFS is not offered). And the bundled file manager offers no means of accessing files over the network at all!
Now you might be thinking this box sounds a complete bust...BUT. this player has one really good point which makes me think it has potential if the networking issues can be fixed. 3D ISO MVC playback of locally stored files (either externally via USB or if you put a drive internally) was very smooth from the native player. And the installed XBMC is already set up to run the external player when you tell it to play a 3D ISO (I haven't tested what it does with 2D). The switching between the XBMC and the native player for 3D playback worked quite nicely. And although you lose the XBMC menu while 3D is playing, the menus from the native player are okay. If Mele can just get the networking issues sorted out, this actually felt smoother than the Vidon box - I didn't notice any dropped frame or slowdown or audio sync issues with 3D ISO.
To end on a downside: I couldn't get Google Play store to connect, had to side load a couple of Android apps, but they worked okay. Didn't have chance to test HD audio bit streaming as the box is not in the same room as my AV receiver.
I know this is very patchy but I wanted to jot a few thoughts down as I have not seen any other actual reports of this in the field as yet. I will try and come back with more after I have had some more time to play with it.
The box is physically big, as you may expect as it can host a 3.5 inch drive internally. The chassis as a whole feels bit plasticy but good enough to job intended, and it has a nice aluminium finish on the front. By virtue of size alone it looks a bit more serious than some of my other players. Given the large black fascia with just a power button and LED, I really can't see why they didn't put some kind of LED display on the front. The remote is plasticky but actually feels quite nice in the hand and has a decent range of functions.
The interface is as is shown in the preview YouTube videos. The installed version of XBMC is based on Gotham 13.2 and shows no branding or very conspicuous signs of ammendment from the stock build. The big problem the box has on the 1.09 firmware I received it with is that wired network performance is terrible. Streaming 1080p files via nfs with the installed XBMC build gives stuttering which makes the unit unwatchable. I installed the Kodi arm official build, which was no better. The 14.2 beta of SPMC seemed to improve the stuttering problem quite a bit, almost to the point of usability for 1080p files as the stuttering appeared to get less frequent after 30 seconds or so of playback. I haven't had time to try new skins and a few add ons but the box felt snappy enough that I don't anticipate these being a problem. I tried using both SMB and NFS networking for files in XBMC and the performance is just a joke - makes you wonder how someone can have signed off on releasing it in this form. Switching of refresh rate was not working under any of the XBMC/Kodi builds I tried.
The native video player crashed whenever I tried to access files over the network via SMB (NFS is not offered). And the bundled file manager offers no means of accessing files over the network at all!
Now you might be thinking this box sounds a complete bust...BUT. this player has one really good point which makes me think it has potential if the networking issues can be fixed. 3D ISO MVC playback of locally stored files (either externally via USB or if you put a drive internally) was very smooth from the native player. And the installed XBMC is already set up to run the external player when you tell it to play a 3D ISO (I haven't tested what it does with 2D). The switching between the XBMC and the native player for 3D playback worked quite nicely. And although you lose the XBMC menu while 3D is playing, the menus from the native player are okay. If Mele can just get the networking issues sorted out, this actually felt smoother than the Vidon box - I didn't notice any dropped frame or slowdown or audio sync issues with 3D ISO.
To end on a downside: I couldn't get Google Play store to connect, had to side load a couple of Android apps, but they worked okay. Didn't have chance to test HD audio bit streaming as the box is not in the same room as my AV receiver.
I know this is very patchy but I wanted to jot a few thoughts down as I have not seen any other actual reports of this in the field as yet. I will try and come back with more after I have had some more time to play with it.
2015-01-04, 02:52
Sounds promising... between VidOn, Mele, Cloud Media, etc., someone will hopefully crack the code and deliver Kodi + 3D + hd audio + proper framerates + stutter-free playback.
2015-01-04, 22:49
A quick update (for those who care) - after a bit more experimentation it turns out that this box is shipping with an XBMC 13.2 build which is set to use the native player not just for 3D ISO, but for any file stored locally on the box (be that on an internal disk or connected via USB). When I have installed the Arm release of Kodi, it appears to have picked up this behaviour from the pre-installed XBMC build. But when you play media that is not stored locally, the box uses XBMC's internal engine for playback, and that is where the stuttering begins. SPMC uses the internal engine for all files, and the stuttering is less than under the XBMC/Kodi building but still there. But there is stuttering even with locally stored files under SPMC (although it is mitigated) - which suggests it is partly the playback engine rather than the networking per se which is causing the problems.
It is a bit discouraging to me that Mele have chosen to set up XBMC to use the native player for playback for all locally stored files - suggests they haven't got as far as Zidoo has with supporting XBMC/KODI on the Mstar chipset on their X9. X9 3D ISO is not functional though.
I sat and watched some of the Prometheus 3D ISO for a while on the X2000 and the playback really is very smooth - better than Vidon or Himedia Q5 4K.
Mele forum and website is still down - I really hope they haven't gone bust!
It is a bit discouraging to me that Mele have chosen to set up XBMC to use the native player for playback for all locally stored files - suggests they haven't got as far as Zidoo has with supporting XBMC/KODI on the Mstar chipset on their X9. X9 3D ISO is not functional though.
I sat and watched some of the Prometheus 3D ISO for a while on the X2000 and the playback really is very smooth - better than Vidon or Himedia Q5 4K.
Mele forum and website is still down - I really hope they haven't gone bust!
2015-01-06, 13:18
(2015-01-04, 22:49)malcolmbarr Wrote: A quick update (for those who care) - after a bit more experimentation it turns out that this box is shipping with an XBMC 13.2 build which is set to use the native player not just for 3D ISO, but for any file stored locally on the box (be that on an internal disk or connected via USB). When I have installed the Arm release of Kodi, it appears to have picked up this behaviour from the pre-installed XBMC build. But when you play media that is not stored locally, the box uses XBMC's internal engine for playback, and that is where the stuttering begins. SPMC uses the internal engine for all files, and the stuttering is less than under the XBMC/Kodi building but still there. But there is stuttering even with locally stored files under SPMC (although it is mitigated) - which suggests it is partly the playback engine rather than the networking per se which is causing the problems.
It is a bit discouraging to me that Mele have chosen to set up XBMC to use the native player for playback for all locally stored files - suggests they haven't got as far as Zidoo has with supporting XBMC/KODI on the Mstar chipset on their X9. X9 3D ISO is not functional though.
I sat and watched some of the Prometheus 3D ISO for a while on the X2000 and the playback really is very smooth - better than Vidon or Himedia Q5 4K.
Mele forum and website is still down - I really hope they haven't gone bust!
Hello Malcom, please would you be so kind to test 4K files for playback ? (H264 and H265)
2015-01-06, 14:43
afss - i don't have any 4K files to test (or a 4K TV), I can give playback downscaled to 1080p a try if you point me toward a couple of test files I can download.
2015-01-06, 14:51
malcolmbarr, when you mention you watched Prometheus 3D ISO and playback was smooth, was it via the box's internal player (vs. Kodi)? And, was the file stored locally or streamed from network?
Never mind, just saw you mentioned native player and locally stored in your earlier post above. If Mele can use the native player from within Kodi and fix the network transfer issue, it may be a real contender it sounds like. BTW, does hd audio get bitstreamed w/o issues?
Never mind, just saw you mentioned native player and locally stored in your earlier post above. If Mele can use the native player from within Kodi and fix the network transfer issue, it may be a real contender it sounds like. BTW, does hd audio get bitstreamed w/o issues?
2015-01-06, 14:52
I once had a Mele with similar networking problems.
When I especially turned off WiFi the wired network performance came back
and stuttering disappeared.
Maybe worth a try.
When I especially turned off WiFi the wired network performance came back
and stuttering disappeared.
Maybe worth a try.
2015-01-06, 16:12
Odd that the site is down for so long... its still down now...
2015-01-06, 16:30
(2015-01-06, 14:43)malcolmbarr Wrote: afss - i don't have any 4K files to test (or a 4K TV), I can give playback downscaled to 1080p a try if you point me toward a couple of test files I can download.
Thanks for replying Malcom, follows a site with a lot of 4K files for playback test. Even if your TV is 1080p, it's a valid test on the player 4K decoding capabilities:
http://www.demo-uhd3d.com/categorie.php?tag=hevc
(I am specially interested on the 4K HEVC testing)
Thanks again for the help !!
2015-01-06, 16:36
(2015-01-06, 16:30)afss Wrote:(2015-01-06, 14:43)malcolmbarr Wrote: afss - i don't have any 4K files to test (or a 4K TV), I can give playback downscaled to 1080p a try if you point me toward a couple of test files I can download.
Thanks for replying Malcom, follows a site with a lot of 4K files for playback test. Even if your TV is 1080p, it's a valid test on the player 4K decoding capabilities:
http://www.demo-uhd3d.com/categorie.php?tag=hevc
(I am specially interested on the 4K HEVC testing)
Thanks again for the help !!
That's the best site for True 4k content
