Yesterday withdrawn the 1.10.02, but now releasing 1.09.21.06 where the changes made in 1.10.02 are applied, but only keeping the 2.4 Kernel.

The 2.6 Kernel release needs some more time to test / debug before releasing.

Release notes: check the 1.10.02 entry

1.09.21.06 will be released officially soon, beta testers have been informed for the download

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I saw a request (but cannot find the e-mail anymore) from someone asking if it could be possible to separate the power ON and power OFF for the CFULLHDMA

Unfortunately, the Power ON/OFF is not only controlled by Firmware. the IR codes are, next to firmware, also controlled by another micro processor (a very small IC on the PCB) so therefor it’s not supported. I’ll keep it in mind.

If you want to have the IR codes: find them here

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Due to some issues found during playback of the 1.10.02 firmware I have decided to withdraw it as beta testers would have much more issues causing a crash of the device rather than it is working stable

More info will follow when available

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Based on a new Linux kernel I am releasing a new beta firmware version with following fixes/changes:

v01.10.02

1. Updated: support changing audio track (Lang Key) for MKV files.
2. Updated: language translation.
3. Fixed: sound disappears after fast forward for playing some wmv files.
4. Changed Linux Kernel 2.4x version to 2.6.15.
5. Fixed: iMedia list restore issue after power down.
6. Fixed: NFS shares cannot resume and play.
7. Fixed: DVD menu issue.
8. Fixed: MKV subtitle disappeare issue.
9. Fixed: DVD [LANG] key issue.
10. Fixed: AVI mutltiple language srt issue.

Known issues:

• Some jpeg images cannot be shown correctly.
• no support for Video file auto detection (4:3 / 16:9 issue).
• Some DVD’s still do not allow switching audio or subtitle by remote.
• Some DVD’s will give a hickup during switch chapter.
• Some TS files do show wierd encoding artefacts when playing.

there are more issues not written in this list but you can find them here

The new firmware is only available for beta testers.

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As it was the purpose to have the 1.04RC3 being released officially I’ve decided not to release it through the official channel. I have just received an important bugfix which was finished earlier than expected. So probably early next week this version will be released.

In this release only the following has been fixed:

• The samba server time setting is not synchronized with FTP server and device web time setting.

This means that in certain conditions you could see time differences when uploading / copying files to the CH3SNAS.  Download the 1.04RC4 here

Note: the PS3 issue is still under debugging. Playing a 7GB .ts media file can show the correct size, but it can only be played for 2 hours.

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For beta testers released today:

Release notes:

• Updated MKV parser.
  this means that many issues reported about MKV files should be fixed. Please test / use your files and share your info.
• Updated the Translation table.
  This means that we have fixed some language issues. Some items were not translated correctly in some languages

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After listening to users of CH3SNAS I finally present you the 1.04RC3 which will be released on the official webpage soon as 1.04-0627 version

Release notes:

In this release we have fixed a number of issues needed to be fixed for an official release:

(this release is about to be released through the official channel as wel as official supported download)

1. http://ch3snas/server.pem & http://ch3snas/etc/shadow can reveal information: fixed
2. Certain UPnP Devices (Like PlayStation 3) could only browse but not play content: fixed
3. Files > 2GB could not be played entirely: should be fixed
4. Issue with mt-daapd when using bonjour tool: Partly fix: we only support to see the status. New features needed can be proposed and if useful, we can try to add.

Please reset your device to factory defaults after upgrading to have certain scripts work properly. Without resetting to factory defaults I cannot guarantee any option to work properly.

Download the 1.04RC3 file here.

Posted in Generic, Work 18 Comments »

It could be possible that you encounter an issue with a certain multimediafile (music / video / photo) during playback on the CFULLHDMA.

To analyze your issue it is important to have exactly the same content you are using. A lot of people do not have the ability to provide the content themselves, but are able to upload.

If you have issues and want to share them with me: upload your content to my FTP server. Create a folder and put there the file including a text file with the issue (English language please)

ftp://ftp.aroundmyroom.com - Username: conceptronic - Password: cfullhdma

You can upload, resume etc.. but you cannot download .. so do not bother trying (but you will) … If this FTP ability is successful I will keep using it, otherwise I will close the FTP again.

For freaks: I use a little updated version of these PROFTPD settings to prevent downloading and some other things ..

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Announcement:

v1.09.14

• 1. Solving the artefact issue on MKV files caused some issues at the On Screen Display: fixed.
• 2. CFULLHDMA could not work with Twonky Media Server on Music Level due to usage of M3U by Twonky. CFULLHDMA used it as PlayList, Twonky has other purpose for it, so things got messed up: fixed.
• 3. Issues with playing DVD’s and subtitles. It could not switched correctly (manually) and when selected it did not start at the beginning of the video. Fixed.
• 4. IMedia entries (like NFS) could not be edited after saving it. Fixed.
• 5. In the background errors on NFS could be created. An error causes the device to crash: fixed.
• 6. Files with for instance dvsd codec type crashed the codec engine: dvsd is not supported, crash fixed.
• 7. Certain movie files could not played properly (freezing video): fixed.

only available for beta testers (Check your mail. gmail accounts: it can be in your spam mailbox, Hotmail accounts are totally unknown if they get it .. Unreliable email host.

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This image from MediaInfo is showing the information of a MKV file which is causing artefacts on a SD 8635 based mediaplayer (like the Conceptronic CFULLHDMA).

I write this entry to have myself informed better about video encoding and get knowlegde about possiblities to find solutions getting things to work if hardware is not capable of doing due to limitations.

One of the major reasons of getting the artefacts are the amount of reference frames used in: I frame, P frame and B frame.

When we check WikiPedia for information about why we should use L4.1 or L5.1 than we can read that L5.1 should be used for high bitrates only. Even HDDVD and Blueray are encoded on L4.1 level

Although L5.1 is supported by the 8635 up to a certain extend, there will still be some clips with artefacts when playing the L5.1 profile.

Sigma Designs does not support L5.1 for their chipset. If they would say so, than they have to ensure 100% compatibility, including the ‘very’ high bitrates. The higher the bitrate, the more memory/processor power (and more) is needed to decode it. And even if we could extend memory still we would see clips with artefacts (if the bitrate would be high up to a certain level.

So if you want to ensure yourself with correct playable media you have to use these max. number of frames:

1280×720@68.3 (9), 1920×1088@30.1 (4), 2048×1024@30.0 (4) L4.1 (Source: Wikipedia)

You will not get better quality when using more stored frames when the resolution, bitrates and framerates are within the level 4.1. Even it is not understandable why some encoders / people within the ’scene’ are using L5.1 encoding when video bitrates are <25 Mb/s. What for use has it? Even if the original source is L4.1 it has no use to bring it to Level 5.1 and I’ve barely seen people using high bitrated uncompressed masters for encoding.

A valid question could be: how to play the L5.1 encoded clip without artefacts.

My answer: the easiest way is to remux the file to a TS or a M2TS stream.

Another simple tool for users like me could be: RIPBOT264. This tool was working fine when remuxing a 150MB MKV L5.1 clip I used for testing.

more info about ripbot264 can be found here.

This tool can remux the L5.1 file to L4.1 with correct reference frames, keep the audio as it is and put it all back in the MKV… (no idea about subtitles though).

A simple guide for ripbot can be found here

if you want to remux your clip to MP4 than I advise you to use Gotsent, This program can be found here

More all-in-one tools I did not find yet. Other tools do need a bunch of other programs to accomplish the same.

So sometimes it seems that a ’scene’ release is awesome encoded, but the performance is poor as hardware is not capable of decode it without artefacts or other issues

update: with the beta release of 1.09.11 firmware we were able to have L5.1 supported. Although not 100% of all files  can be played without artefacts (there are some reasons why it can’t be all) but I think 95% of the content we can .. And that is a huge huge improvement compared to other Sigma Designs 8634/8635 players. 

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