PCH A100 vs Egreat

[soccerdad]

I am getting ready to buy a NMT now. Given the $99PCH refurbs are available, is this a better deal than the Egreat? It does not look like I would give up much by buying the PCH. I only watch .ts shows from HD QAM recordings and sometimes DVDs that saved as ISOs but I can convert them if needed. I don't need anything except basic stereo output but digital sound would be nice in the future. Is there any need for a hard drive? from what I have read, I take it that I would not need one.

[leaded1]

I can't speak to the EGreat unit, but I'm thoroughly impressed with my new (refurb) A-100. Harddrive is definitely not needed. Everything runs off a share on your GB-PVR server. My HD QAM recordings look great. All my ripped DVDs play well, but I needed to remux them from .m4v containers to something else (I used .mkv's) so that I could play them from the GB-PVR video library. Remuxing only takes a few minutes and doesn't lose any quality. My server is a 1.7GHz P4 from ~2001 and it runs the PCH-100 well. I'm using HDMI audio out to my TV, but the A-100 does have an digital audio out (RCA cable) that you could run to a receiver if you wanted surround sound.

[Jaggy]

And I can't speak for the A100 as I don't have one but it does have the advantage of having a remote with all the buttons unlike the M34a (not a problem if you are going to use a different remote like I do, using my Hauppauge remote).

[Jaggy]

Can someone post the physical dimensions of an A100 please?

I was asked if it was bigger than the M34a which is approx 6" wide 2" high & 41/2" deep.

[SLR_65]

Width 10.5"(270mm) x Depth 5.25" (132mm) x Height 1.25" (32mm)

From:
http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/i...item_id=13

[jtokach]

I just received an A-100 and it's far more responsive than an MVP by comparison.

I'm running HDMI to my Denon 1909, which doesn't modify HDMI signals, and that looks great and sounds great with SD content, although there are a lot of HDMI handshakes on boot and when switching from the menus to any media playback, which is annoying, but tolerable. Either the Denon or Philips TV might be slow on these handshakes exacerbating the problem, but I think it's PCH software related.

As far as uPNP from Windows Media Player, it is slower starting and switching tracks than my XBOX360, but still good.

I tried installing three different HDD's. None of the three matched up with all four mounting screws and one only matched with two of four and was cocked quite a bit. Only one of the three actually worked to install NMT apps. The others probably need to fbe ormated as the device will not boot when they are connected. The box gets pretty hot with a disk installed and there are no fans. I also heard the drive spin up in standby mode, so not sure about that one.

The remote key repeat is faster than the PCH/mvpmcx2 can handle. e.g. If you hold down the down arrow in the TV Guide, the device queues the commands an you may end up 40 channels higher than expected, similar to the MVP, but not as bad.

I was able to setup my Harmony 880 with no problem and that works great too and even adds discrete commands such as reboot.

It took approximately 12 hours to get to this point and expect another 12 tweaking and fixing.

At $115 shipped, I highly recommend the device, but be prepared to invest some serious tinker time.

[mvallevand]

Are you seeing handshake errors in mpvmcx with mpeg ts/ps files? I have never used UPnP on my PCH so I can't comment on it's performance, if it is slow that is the native interface at play.

As for navigating don't go line at a time for long lists, use page at a time. It is prev/next except in the guide where it is blue/green.

Martin

[jtokach]

No handshake errors, just lots of them. On boot, the PCH must flicker 10 times before the interface comes up. Switching from menu to playing uPnP music, 4 or 5. Starting video in or out of mvpmcx, same. After the content is started there are not more handshakes until I stop the media.

[mvallevand]

My question was really about when you are in mvpmcx2 watching GBPVR recordings analog or digital are you seeing this? It should stay synced as long as the TV source is active.

I don't think GBPVR users watch that many avi and mkv files in a typical day anyway. I usually disregard this as negative commnt because it is often comes when people are playing with all there files when they first buy it. Afterwords when you settle into watching video and not testing, the number of seconds lost is really trivial.

Martin

[Jaggy]

On boot, the PCH must flicker 10 times before the interface comes up.

I get this as well, not the PCH but the TV screen flickers like mad.

Starting video in or out of mvpmcx, same.

I don't get this, once I have mvpmcx2/GB-PVR loaded, a number of flickers while it is loading but then it plays everything, changes menus, plays recordings, plays music etc. without a flicker.

I don't know if you saw this

jtokach's change to the screen dimensions aren't right either, but I don't expect that will make a difference.

Martin could this have anything to do with it?

Another thought you have changed from "Auto" in the NMT setup? & you are running PCH2 mode?