Nearly a month ago I posted that Syabas had just announced the Popcorn Hour A-200. Since I obviously don’t have enough gadgets (I justify that I do it for our readers!), I decided to order one, which showed up at my door a few days ago. To be honest, I already felt like I had a good idea of what to expect since I own a PCH C-200 (you can see my review here) of which the A-200 is based off of. So, did the A-200 meet or even exceed my expectations? Well, throw on your reading glasses, put the dentures in some Efferdent, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
Hardware:
The A-200 comes with the usual compliment of goodies. Included is a power cord/brick, HDMI cable, USB cable, 2 AAA batteries, 1 IR Remote, some screws for mounting a HDD, and a quick start guide.
There are a couple of changes in the hardware versus previous PCH models. The first is the case is plastic, whereas previous models were aluminum. Because of this, the A-200 has an internal fan. I don’t have a problem with the plastic case but it does feel cheap when compared to the previous models. The fan is of a bigger concern, as with fans comes noise. I am guessing you could probably disable the fan if no HDD is installed, and expect that all the modders out there are licking their chops.
Here is a closer look at the fan.
There are slots for ventilation on the underside and side of the case. I am not sure exactly how effective this is since I thought hot air rises, but hopefully at a minimum the fan will push the hot air out the side of the case.
Here is a side by side comparison of the A-110 and the A-200.
Here is a picture of the PCH family!
Overall the PCH A-200 hardware appears just ok. Some people don’t like the look of the plastic case which is understandable, but then again the A-110 wasn’t exactly a looker! While operating the A-200 the case did get warm to the touch, but by no means hot (keep in mind that this is without an internal HDD). The fan was barely audible, only being able to hear a slight whisper by putting my ear up to the case. The bigger issue with the fan is that with daily use it is the one item I could see breaking down and getting loud over time (I didn’t get a chance to confirm is the fan runs 24/7 when you power down).
Before continuing I should mention that the first thing I did when I got the A-200 was update to the latest firmware.
UI Appearance:
Although the stock UI has been spiced up a little from the days of the A-110, I still think it sucks. There is however promise that a new Flash Based Rich UI will be available for both C-200 and A-200 owners come March (you can get details and a sneak preview here).
Current UI
Also, there is a very active community on the NMT forums that have created a variety of different jukeboxes/skins to use in place on the stock UI. My personal favorite right now is YAMJ + Aeon as shown below:
Responsiveness:
As with the C-200, the response time when navigating around the A-200 is much quicker then the A-110. The IR remote has decent range, but as with any IR remote if you lose line of sight it won’t respond. I do enjoy the RF remote that came with the C-200 since I don’t need to rely on line of sight to operate, however I think going with the IR remote makes more sense as many people will incorporate the PCH with their universal remote.
Network Performance:
When the C-200 was first released there were a lot of issues with playback over gigE networks. It appears that this problem hasn’t been fully resolved. There is an option to set the NIC to 10/100 or Auto. When I set to Auto (my network is gigabit) none of my videos would play back. When I set to 10/100 all my video files played without issue. 10/100 is more then adequate for video playback (including high bitrate content), so I am content with that. However, people who are looking to utilize the full gigabit network (main benefit probably being transferring data to/from the PCH) will be somewhat dissapointed.
Video Playback:
The Popcorn Hour players have a great reputation of being able to play back almost every file format out there. As expected, the A-200 continues this trend as every file I threw at it played fine (I tested over SMB and NFS with files ranging from basic xvid avi files to high bitrate Blu Ray mkv/ts to 1080p Apple Trailers). Below is a list of some of the types of files I played and the results:
- DVD ISO/Video_TS - The A-200 played as if there was an actual DVD disc present, with full menu functionality. No issues with playback
- Blu Ray ISO/BDMV Structure -This is where it gets a little interesting. The A-200 is only expected to have “BD Lite” functionality. What this means is that when playing back a Blu Ray ISO/BDMV you will not have the full Blu Ray menu that you would expect playing an actual Blu Ray disc, but instead have a very basic menu. When I tested out I did confirm that only a basic menu was available (see below screenshot However, other users have reported that they have full Blu Ray menus with certain movies, and witha Blu Ray ISO of District 9 I got no menus at all, not even BD Lite. It is still unclear exactly the reasoning for this. No issues with playback.
- The infamous bird scene from Planet Earth - Played stutter free up to 90MB/s over NFS and 60MB/s over SMB.
- Transformers 1080p H.264 16 reference frames – Played stutter free over NFS and SMB
- Casino Royale Variable BitRate Averaging 47MB/s – Played stutter free over NFS and SMB
Audio Playback:
When I look at audio playback my focus is as always on how each player handles HD Audio. I check to see if bitstreaming of HD Audio (DTS-MA and TrueHD) is supported, as well as downmixing to stereo. For me the downmixing to stereo is important mainly because I want a player that if small enough I can travel with, and odds are if traveling wherever I stay will not have a state of the art home theater setup to decode the hd audio. Also, I want to be able to put the player in any room in my house and not have to worry about having the “right” equipment setup. As was the case with the previous PCH models the A-200 successfully downmixed TrueHD and DTS(MA) to stereo for playback when connected directly to a TV.
Now for the big one, bitstreaming of HD Audio. It seems more and more this is the first question that is asked when a new player is announced, can it bitstream DTS(MA) and TrueHD. It also became somewhat of a hotly debated topic with the C-200. The A-110 was capable of bitstreaming HD audio from standalone m2ts files, so it was expected that this same feature would apply to the C-200 (adding to the confusion is that the specs do state Audio Pass-Through of DTS-HD and TrueHD). However, it was discovered that the C-200 could in fact not bitstream from standalone m2ts files, only from Blu Ray disc structures (i.e. ISO or BDMV). It appears the lack of this feature is due to the new Sigma chip that is used with the C-200, so there is still hope that this “bug” can be resolved soon enough.
Since the A-200 has the same Sigma chip as the C-200, I would expect the same results with Bitstreaming. Unfortunately I ran into problems at the start. To confirm that bitstreaming from standalone files did not work I played a few of my Blu Ray ts/mkv rips, and as expected only the core audio (DTS for DTS-MA and AC3/DD for TrueHD) showed up on my Receiver. However, for any movie that had a TrueHD track, audio would drop out about every 5-10 seconds, not good. Next up were my Blu Ray ISO/BDMV rips which I should expect bitstreaming. To my surprise though I only got core audio, another bad sign. Yet I just created another Blu Ray ISO of District 9 and I got DTS(MA) bitstreaming perfectly. Interestingly enough, the movies that only gave me core audio had BD Lite, yet the one movie that gave me DTS(MA) did not have BD Lite available, so I am wondering if BD Lite is killing the bitstreaming??? From reading around the nmt forum there seems to be mixed results about getting bitstreaming to work, so it is not clear what the culprit is, but I hope this will be a quick fix in the next Firmware update. Unfortunately as I write this review the A-200 has mostly failed in not only being able to bitstream HD audio from Blu Ray structures but also failed in that I cannot play a TrueHD movie without audio dropouts every 5-10 seconds.
I should also mention that the A-200 played multi channel FLAC without issue.
Online Content:
Aside for the typical online content that has been available there is also an App center which is interesting because the apps in there are flash based. This gives a good sense of what is potentially in store for the new Flash UI. Below is a screenshot of the Weather Bug app (The latdy bug flies around the screen!).
Youtube Trailers (this is not flash based but probably the Online Content I use most frequently, you can read about how to set up here). Please note that Youtube is not supported with the A-200, this is separate “plugin” that must be added manually.
Final Thoughts:
At this point I am a little unsure what to think of the A-200. In many ways it met my expectations and felt just as if I was operating the C-200 (aside from a few bumps in the road at launch I am very happy with). Network performance was flawless for me when using the 10/100 setting, bu the moment I switched to auto I lost the ability to play back any files. Every video file I threw at the A-200 played perfectly, and my already created YAMJ + Aeon jukebox operated without issue. The stock UI still sucks, but there is hope that in the next few months the new Flash based Rich UI will finally put all my complaints about the UI to bed. The plastic case and internal fan may turn off some potential buyers, but this isn’t a deal breaker for me. I also like the fact that as a PCH owner you have access to the many different jukeboxes out there, whereas with many other players out there you are at the mercy of the manufacturer when it comes to the UI. However, I cannot look past the audio issues. I like to think that the C-200 served as testing ground for the A-200, so with the C-200 already having 4 months under its belt and much more stable Firmware from its inital release I would expect the A-200 to come swinging out of the gate. I didn’t expect bitstreaming to work on standalone files, but the inability to consistently bitstream HD Audio from Blu Ray structures as well as the frequent drop out of audio is inexcusable (I figure right now I have lost the ability to play about 1/4 of my movie library with the A-200 due to the audio drop out issue). I would hope (or really expect) that this issue gets resolved very quickly in one of the next Firmware updates. As much as I want to recommend the A-200 because I think once these issues are worked out and the new UI gets implemented it will be a killer player, I just can’t until the audio issues are resolved.
One more thing regarding HD Audio. For me, if a media player cannot bitstream HD Audio from standalone files then it is completely useless in my Home Theatre. For some players such as the PCH C-200 and A-200 (assuming this feature gets fixed) there are ways to get around this by converting the standalone files into a Blu Ray structure, but for me this is just not practical nor do I have a desire to waste time going through my entire video collection. So FOR ME, I would not even consider the C-200 or A-200 for my home theater until standalone bitstreaming is added. However, many other people use Blu Ray structures and the PCH works perfect for their home theater. And lets not forget there is another group who could care less about HD audio. My point here is that don’t just go by what someone says about a product, do your research, figure out what features are most important to you, and then make your decision.
Pros:
- Ability to play a large selection of video/audio formats, including HD content
- Large user community
- HD Audio downmix
- Pending Flash UI
- Ability to implement 3rd party jukebox in place of stock UI
Cons:
- Audio dropouts
- Inconsistent results with bitstreaming DTS(MA)/TrueHD and Blu Ray Lite menu functionality (possibly related?)
- No bitstreaming from standalone files
- Hit or miss gigabit network
- Plastic case and fan
Links/Useful Information:
- PCH C-200 Review
- Setting Up NFS in WHS
- Setting Up Samba Sharing in SMB
- Setting Up YAMJ + Aeon in WHS
- Using Clown_BD With Your Blu Ray Collection
Known Issues:
- Issues negotiating certain gigabit networks
- Inability to bitstream from standalone files
- Frequent audio drop outs
Article by Damian
Hi, my name is Damian, and I'm tech gadget addict! Although I always had some interest in technology, it wasn't until I got my EX470 and more importantly found Mediasmartserver.net, that my interest became an addiction. My goal, aside from world domination and to see the Mets/Broncos win another championship, is to set up the perfect digital home where all my media is available at the click of a button. When I am not writing for Mediasmartserver.net you can find me over at my blog at http://dbone1026.blogspot.com.
ok.. cause the... 
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thx damian for ur answer!
Maurice in the popcorn site it mention it supports srt subtitles-along others.
I would guess they have to be the same name as the movie, at least this is how they work in the pc and the wdtv
Thanks Damian!
so how do u put subtitles on mkv formats? if u have a mkv format and a srt subtitle.. will that still work?
Is popcorn hour a-200 the best media player under $200? Whats the best media player atm? Just curious! Thanks!
Also i noticed that the popcorn a-200 has a slot for hard disk? Would it fit a 3.5 sata hd? Also how do u install the hard disk to the popcorn hour? is it just slide it in the slot and its good? So ways of storing files to the hard disk is copying from an external hard disk? Thanks!
@ Maurice
I have never used the oplay, wdtv, or patriot box, but from what I have read you get what you pay for, meaning the PCH A-200 is a better product. You also have much more flexibility over the UI.
As for subtitles, as Fairman mentioned, you should be fine with srt subtitles.
Yes, you can install a 2.5 or 3.5 internal HDD. It is as easy as sliding it in, and screwing to the case to secure, takes less then a minute.
Cheers
Damian
Thanks damian!
So basically the hard disk that u install in the pch a-200 is for storage or u can install other things too? 
Maybe i should get a pch a200 and see if my mp4s are not buggy anymore and once its all good.. then i might get a sata hd for internal storage 
would a wd caviar green sata drive be good enough for the a-200?
Also, updating to the latest firmware is recommended after i get my pch a-200?Whats the fastest way to update? is there like something in the GUI that would say update firmware? Thanks! sorry for so many questions!
Really you would use the internal drive if you want store movies on that drive, if you want to use the PCH to download bit torrents, etc… A WD Green drive would be perfect.
You can update directly from the A-200, which will go online and grab. I just prefer to download the update onto a USB stick and do manually. Either way, updating the FW is definitely the first thing you would want to do
Maurice:
srt subtitles work fine on PCH. You need to name the sub file exactly the same as the movie file (but with an added .srt in place of .mkv, or .avi or whatever) and it needs to be in the same folder as the movie. Delete that Eng that you have in your subtitle file names.
ex) Monster.mkv is the movie and Monster.srt would be the subtitle file
@David Thanks!but usually the mp4s i get have lots of subtitle included.. different version! so i have to check it out then.. if it doesn’t work then i have to delete all the other subtitles and leave the english one
@Damian Thanks for the reply! So was wondering i know that the wd black is more expensive but is a lot faster right? so for pch, storage capacity is much more important than getting a super fast sata hd? So i don’t need a wd black?
Also u said that u can download torrents with pch.. thats a nice feature.. but that means u have to turn the pch on always while downloading right? I think id rather download the movies to my desktop pc and transfer it to the external hard disk then transfer the files in the external hd to the internal hd of the pch? I know its a long way but at least i dont have to turn the pch on while downloading the movies off the torrents…
Is transferring from an external hard disk going to the internal hd of pch takes a long time? hows the transfer speed from an ext hd to the internal hd of the pch? Thanks!
Maurice: A Caviar Green drive would be plenty fast enough for use in the PCH. I used one in each of my PCHs until I eventually went with a separate 12TB server. The extra speed of the Caviar Black would not make any real world difference and would only create more heat in the PCH case.
I actually prefer the new samsung 2tb drive over even the Caviar Green as it seems to run a little cooler.
I forgot to add that the torrenting part of the PCH did not seem all that robust to me, so I never really put it to good use. It is not up to par with the modern clients like utorrent.
Also, as far as I know, there is no way to easily unpack RARed files, which some people insist on upping to torrent sites, though there is no good reason to do so anymore.
I never turn off my PCHs and no one I know does either.
@David Samsung 2tb drive? Never tried samsung for hd so i have no experience.. are samsung hd reliable and durable? What model is that and how much are those? So its better to download torrents from my desktop pc then transfer it through an external hard disk then to the internal hard disk of the pch.. that’s ok right?
U never turn off the pch? why is that? doesnt the pch over heat or something? Well.. if im going to get the pch.. ill just use it when im transferring new movie files and when i am gonna watch movies i guess.. i dont see the point for me to turn the pch on the whole time…
david.. have u tried wdtv live? well i got one and im planning to return it and spend a lil more for the pch a-200
Btw, for the a-200.. playing movies from an external hard disk would still be ok right? No lag or audio drops ? cause i might not buy an internal hd right away.. i have to try out the mp4s movies first with the pch then if its all good then i might get an internal storage
i have probs with my wdtv live with aac audio.. theres like a audio drop for 1sec that happens once in a while.. its annoying! thats why im leaning towards the pch.. seems a better media player and hopefully theres not audio drop when playing aac audio 
Also when u have an internal hard disk for the a-200.. it does the actual formatting when newly installed? does it format the new hd with ntfs or fat 32? Thanks!
Maurice:
It is the Samsung Spinpoint F3EG HD203WI 2TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive. I have five of them and also have three of the 1.5TB version. If you read reviews at newegg, you will see that it is basically the only 2TB drive that has almost no zero or low ratings. It is quiet and cool. Price now is 179 but it goes down to 150 sometimes.
You can DL torrents to wherever you like. If your PCH is going to be on your wired ethernet network, I would not even bother putting a drive in it. I would just DL all your torrents to your computer and then setup a network share so that the PCH can just stream from that computer’s drive.
My PCHs never even got past warm with a drive in them, although they were on 24/7. And this was keeping them in an enclosed cabinet in my tv stand. I don’t know why you would want to turn it off. That just means another step and some boot up wait time before you get to watch your movie. It is not like the unit has some limited lifespan that you have to conserve by turning it off. I have not had any problems with overheating.
The WDLive was never an option for me. It is just not robust enough to play high bit rate 1080p files without any stuttering.
Before I put the drives inside the PCH, I used to use external USB drives with the PCH all the time. Played fine without issues, even on HD files.
I don’t have any AAC files, but I think the PCH should play those with no issue, according to the spec sheet.
As far as formatting, the PCH is a linux device and will format with EXT2 or EXT3 file system. This is not an issue as there is a little utility that lets windows read and write to EXT formatted drives. You can just attach an already formatted FAT32 or NTFS drive and that will work also. You won’t be able to use the torrent client in the PCH though though because the PCH cannot write to a FAT32 or NTFS formatted disk.
@David THanks for the reply! Ok im gonna check out that samsung drive of urs.. hopefully its locally available here…or might as well get it in newegg
so even if its 5400rpm.. its ok? Are the wd green 5400rpm or 7200rpm?
Well.. the actual plan for the media player is to play mp4s aac movies and i might eventually download mkvs as well.. basically download 720p movies instead of buying the actual blu ray movies in retail stores…also im not always watching movies due to full time work.. just on the free time.. so its still ok to leave it on ?
Are the 720p mkvs movies are good enough when comparing it to the actual blu ray disc copy?
So PCH is using linux! NICE
Im not sure if streaming would be ok with me.. cause my desktop pc is using a wireless pci adapter…so im not sure if its a good idea to stream from our wireless desktop pc and im only using G router…the pch would be connected wired to the router though…wouldn’t the streaming of mkvs or mp4s be delayed or keeps buffering because my desktop pc is using wireless?
I was wondering if im not gonna do the streaming part.. whats the fatest way to transfer files to the internal hard disk of the pch? Can i plug the a-200 to our desktop pc and copy paste all the movies from the hard disk of our desktop or i have to transfer all the files to external hd then transfer the files from the ext hd to the internal hd of the a-200?
Also would the cache of the hard drive matter when using it with the pch? Cause i noticed that there are the newer version of the wd green 2tb.. it now has a 64mb cache compared to the old ones with 32mb..
Is samsung gonna be better than the wd green when its going to be used in pch a-200? Thanks!
Caviar greens are 5400, as I recall. The samsung is also 5400.
In my experience, there is nothing wrong with leaving the PCH on all the time. But, it is your machine and you can turn it off if it makes you feel better.
I don’t DL 720p mkvs, only 1080p ones. On a 55 inch LCD, a 50 inch plasma and a 63 inch plasma, I see basically no difference between a full bluray and a high bit rate (that is the key) mkv. Your experience will depending on the size of your display and your viewing distance. What are they?
I have streamed standard def over wireless G to the PCH and had very, very few issues. Pretty rock solid. It will work with some 720p rips and not others, depending on the bitrate and the distance over wireless. 1080p does not stream over wireless without stuttering, even wireless N in my experience.
If you are going to transfer files like you mention, I would just use a large external drive and skip putting a drive in the PCH. Just copy the files to the drive from your pc and then just hook the external drive to the PCH and stream off the external drive.
Stick with 32mb, there have been compatibility issues with the 64mb versions. Don’t overcomplicate things
@Damian OK! Thanks!
So Samsung or WD?
Wow 1080p rips! NICE! omg 3 tvs! NICE i only have a 40″ full 1080p and a 42″ 720p
the pch would most likely be used in the 42″ 720p..cause im using a ps3 with the 40″ 1080p…
Well.. i dont really like streaming cause i tried streaming to my ps3 before and it keeps buffering once in awhile.. which sucks! i used tversity media server to stream the files from the desktop to the ps3
So should i just skip the the internal hard disk? Well..that would save me alot of money too…Cause i recently bought a 500gb external hard disk.. Is that decent size to be used for the pch? Well.. all my files will be mainly downloaded and stored on the 1.5tb hard disk on our desktop then transferred to the external hard disk if thats gonna be better:)
Thanks for answering all my questions! appreciate it! sorry for all the questions asked!
If you tvs are 40-42 inches and you sit more than 6-7 feet away, I don’t think you will see any difference between 1080p and 720p anyway, so just stick with 720p. Here is the relevant chart: http://s3.carltonbale.com/resolution_chart.html.
Streaming off of a USB drive attached to the PCH should be no problem at all. There is no buffering, in my experience.
500GB is a decently big drive if you only are watching SD. That is about 320 1.4gb avi rips after you format that drive.
I would skip the internal disk because I have not seen in your posts that you have any real need for it. If you really want to buy something, you can get a 1.5tb external USB drive online for 100-115 dollars. Then you will have more room to DL 720p rips (generally 4-6 GB each).
Here are some pics on the new modded case being worked on:
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=36535&pid=352270#pid352270
@David Thanks!
ya.. i think i wil just settle with 720p copy.. thats gonna be good enough 
so for 1080p.. the tv size should be in the 50″++ to see the difference? So if the tv is around 40-46″ a 720p would be enough? I tried playing an actual blu ray disc on my ps3 + 40″ 1080p tv and quality wise its really nice..
i think the 500gb ext hd that i got would be enough for me in the meantime
when i drop less than 50gig on the external hard disk then ill start looking for a bigger ext hd.. the price of the 2tb is still kinda expensive though 
hopefully in the next few months the prices will drop or go on a sale 
regarding the speed of the external hard disk.. are the speed of a usb powered and ac adapter powered ext hd be the same?
Thanks
@Damian Nice! should i wait for the modded version ? im planning to get a pch today after i return my wdtv live
@ Maurice,
Hard to say about the modded version. It is supposed to come out in a couple of days but without knowing the price and shipping costs it is a crapshoot. For instance, if the cost of the case and shipping brings the total cost of an A-200 close to $300 then you might as well just get the C-200.
@Damian close to 300? might as well get a ps3 then! haha
but ps3 sucks.. can’t play mkvs.. i just hope ps3 gets an update and will be able to play mkvs soon! 
ill just stick with the regular a-200 then.. hopefully everything will be ok
@ Maurice,
The C-200 costs $299 which is why I mentioned that if the cost of the A200 + mod gets anywhere near that price then it makes no sense to go with the A200. I honestly hate my PS3 for streaming, the UI is horrible as well as file support.
@Damian Isee.. c-200 is $100 more
hopefully the a-200 would be good enough for me 
wish that ps3 would be able to play mkvs!!!!
Just wondering, i saw some threads in the forums saying “a-200 dead” .. and many people posted that there a-200 died so fast or died out of the box.. so was wondering hows the durability and lifespan of an a-200? I just dont want to experience getting a faulty or problematic a-200.. Thanks!
@ Maurice,
Yeah, the C-200 has a few other bells and whistles that the A200 does not have, which is what accounts for the extra $120.
I have not had any issues with my A-200. Unfortunately every player out there is going to have a handful of bad user experiences (defective hardware, etc…), but those are the posts that always seem to be most apparent on the forums.
@Damian so are u saying that those people are saying negative stuff about popcorn hour in general? just to make the pch a-200 look bad and make other people look for alternatives?
@ Maurice,
No, my point was that really with any forum you are more likely to hear from people who are having problems (whether it be hardware or otherwise), where I find people who own a product and are perfectly happy with it are less likely to post about their experience. I am sure the people who had the A-200 die on them are real people
@Damian Well..i just hope im not those people whose a-200 dies…
i got my a-200 today.. haven’t tried it yet.. but i will later after dinner hopefully 
Was wondering whats the usb to pc for? Is that how u transfer files going to the internal hard disk of the pch? Thanks!
This is weird.. the popcorn hour a-200 still drops audio on the same movie that i was playing with the wdtv live.. thats weird! so whats the problem then? the actual movie itself?
Also the subtitles won’t work with my a-200.. i dunno why…
By the way .. the movie plays fine on my laptop and on my ps3.. only with the wdtv live and now the popcorn a-200…
@ Maurice,
Yes, the cable is if you wanted to connect your A-200 directly to your PC/Server to transfer files instead of over the network.
As far as the movie, what is the mediainfo for it?
With the subtitles, do you have to turn them on with the remote?
@Damian So thats the way to transfer files to the internal hard disk
Im gonna download media info now
Subtitles ..using the remote.. to enabled it, it is on the track ? when i go down to track it says OFF.. and i can’t change it
Complete name : C:\Love Happens 2009 BRRip H264 AAC-SecretMyth (Kingdom-Release)\Audio 2 ch\Love Happens audio track 2 ch.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 102 MiB
Duration : 1h 49mn
Overall bit rate : 130 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-01-21 08:15:03
Tagged date : UTC 2010-01-21 08:15:03
Writing application : Yamb 2.1.0.0 [http://yamb.unite-video.com]
Audio
ID : 101
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1h 49mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 129 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 171 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 101 MiB (99%)
Encoded date : UTC 2010-01-21 08:15:03
Tagged date : UTC 2010-01-21 08:15:05
Oopps.. copy pasted the wrong one.. heres the right info
Complete name : C:\Love Happens 2009 BRRip H264 AAC-SecretMyth (Kingdom-Release)\Love Happens.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 1.54 GiB
Duration : 1h 49mn
Overall bit rate : 2 025 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-01-20 19:33:45
Tagged date : UTC 2010-01-20 19:33:45
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 8 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1h 49mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 784 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 15.7 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 690 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.855
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.084
Stream size : 1.36 GiB (88%)
Writing library : x264 core 84 r1391M 3d0f110
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=8 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0×3:0×113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.0:1.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8×8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / slices=4 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=4 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=24 / keyint_min=2 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=24 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1784 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=40000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00 / pulldown=0 / nal_hrd=1
Encoded date : UTC 2010-01-20 10:28:16
Tagged date : UTC 2010-01-20 19:34:48
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1h 49mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 238 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 324 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 186 MiB (12%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-01-20 19:34:40
Tagged date : UTC 2010-01-20 19:34:48
Also for the audio settings.. all the aac wmv are all in analog.. when i set it to digital.. the receiver won’t work and i have to set it back to analog to have the audio back..
Whats the DRC? should i enable it? also how about the surround mode.. should it be stereo or 5.1? Thanks
Which setup is better?
PCH connected through tv using hdmi then hdtv connected to the receiver with toslink?
or
PCH connected through tv using hdmi and toslink to the receiver for audio?
Also im confused on how to remove the external hard disk on the pch a-200.. do i just have to put the GUI on the usb icon then press eject? then remove the ext hard disk or i can just remove the ext hard disk ?
Update: Was able to make the subtitles work.. finally. The original srt file was Love Happens Eng.srt and i had to change it to Love Happens.srt and now its working.. BUt question if u want to have multiple subtitles to work how do do that?
Sorry for all the questions! im just getting paranoid about the audio issues!
Is there a way to completely turn off the a-200? Cause even if i press the power button.. the fan is still running.. is this how the a-200 really works? Thanks!
Hold the power button down for 5 seconds on the remote to shut down and shut off the fan
I usually just remove an external drive (such as a USB drive), never have issues.
Set to 5.1. Not sure about the other settings, not at home so cant check on my unit
This option:
PCH connected through tv using hdmi and toslink to the receiver for audio. Does your receiver not accept HDMI (i.e. tv to receiver via hdmi, and then PCH to receiver via HDMI)?
Not sure why you are having issues with the AAC file. Best bet I would ask on the NMT forums to see if others have that issue.
Sadly my receiver doesn’t have hdmi. So what’s the best connection then? Well it might be the movie itself. I just have to try other mp4 with aac and see if there also problem. The movie love happens apparently has the most audio dropout so far. So have to observe the other movies when I have time. Ok I will set the surround audio to 5.1. How about the drc? Is that suppose to be on as well? For my receiver what’s the best setting to use? The settings I have are music movie games dolby prologic 2 and surround stereo? So I can just remove the ext hard disk anytime. Thanks!
Since your AVR does not have HDMI I would connect as follows:
PCH connected through tv using hdmi and toslink to the receiver for audio
Honestly cannot tell you what the best settings are for your receiver, just trying playing a movie and switching through the various modes to see what produces the best sound for you,
@Damian Thanks..so the toslink is pch to recevier right?
ok.. cause the surround stereo.. all the speakers have the conversation while when i move to dolby prologic II.. the conversation is on the centre channel while background music/effects are on the remaining 4speakers.. which is usually better? Conversation on the centre only or on all the speakers?
*receiver haha wrong spelling.. my bad!
Yes, toslink from PCH to receiver
Only having dialogue coming from center speaker seems odd, at least to me.
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