Question - best file format for HiMedia

[roscoe62]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a new media streamer. I used to have a couple of Dune players, which I found to be mostly reliable. However,  as they're getting older (one has died already after 4 years service) I need to find a worthy successor. I tried an Intel NUC using Openelec Kodi as the media manager - although it was easy enough to set up I have MAJOR issues with it pausing mid-movie/episode (sometimes exiting out to the main Kodi menu) so I've parked that for the moment.

I also recently purchased a Zappiti player....BUT - I've encountered some issues with no sound from an mkv file with AAC audio, and no chapter support for mkv files. And then when I found they've now shut down their support forum, I figure that was a waste of money.

Doing some research online I see a number of people are very happy with the HiMedia players - specifically the Q5 and Q10 so I'm interested to know more.

Anyway, that was a very round-about way of getting to my question - I see the HiMedia players do not support chapters in mkv files, so I'm re-thinking my preferred movie storage file format so I can future-proof it. (all our movies are on a server & connected to the streamer via ethernet).

Can you tell me - how are you saving your blu-ray movies so they will 'play nice' with the HiMedia players? I need support for forced English subtitles (where applicable) and chapter support. I already know the HiMedia will support Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio (and Dolby Atmos - nice!).

I was thinking of using a movie-only ISO file, but would like to hear what everyone here is doing?

Thanks for your replies!

[Mostwest]

First thing, if you go with HiMedia boxes forget about Kodi, it just don't work no matter what.

Another strange situation is that if your TV is set to 720p and you wanna play 720p contenent it will switch your resolution to 1080p and then play the file as 720p50 frame packing wich is really stupid IMO. Why not just play as 720p24 since the box isalready able to 1080p24.

Besides that is an OK box, i don't know how it works with 3D stuff since my TV doesn't support 3D.
Works good with all the formats 264/265, ISO and BD ISO works fine for me.

[futeko.com]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a new media streamer. I used to have a couple of Dune players, which I found to be mostly reliable. However,  as they're getting older (one has died already after 4 years service) I need to find a worthy successor. I tried an Intel NUC using Openelec Kodi as the media manager - although it was easy enough to set up I have MAJOR issues with it pausing mid-movie/episode (sometimes exiting out to the main Kodi menu) so I've parked that for the moment.

I also recently purchased a Zappiti player....BUT - I've encountered some issues with no sound from an mkv file with AAC audio, and no chapter support for mkv files. And then when I found they've now shut down their support forum, I figure that was a waste of money.

Doing some research online I see a number of people are very happy with the HiMedia players - specifically the Q5 and Q10 so I'm interested to know more.

Anyway, that was a very round-about way of getting to my question - I see the HiMedia players do not support chapters in mkv files, so I'm re-thinking my preferred movie storage file format so I can future-proof it. (all our movies are on a server & connected to the streamer via ethernet).

Can you tell me - how are you saving your blu-ray movies so they will 'play nice' with the HiMedia players? I need support for forced English subtitles (where applicable) and chapter support. I already know the HiMedia will support Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio (and Dolby Atmos - nice!).

I was thinking of using a movie-only ISO file, but would like to hear what everyone here is doing?

Thanks for your replies!

ISO is the best format for BD rips on Himedia Q5/Q10. Chapter support is via custom menus, not BD menus (no Android box offers full BD menu support). Forced subtitles are not supported.

I think if you're used to Dune you might be slightly disappointed by any Android based media box. They are getting better, and Himedia are the best you'll get, but for pure media playback they still don't match Dune (or some of the Realtek 1186 dedicated media players). Stuff like forced subtitles are not yet supported for instance. What you do get with the new Android boxes is a much better interface, and with Himedia you get better image quality than the equivalent Himedia 1186 media players.

[roscoe62]

Thank you for the honest reply!

I know that ever since Cinavia came out, no media streamer will give full Blu-ray menus - and that's fine - I'm not looking for that.

However, forced subs is a big deal. I've got a reasonable collection of English movies that have subs specifically for when foreign languages are spoken. Are you saying that you can still watch subs, but you'll have to select them manually each time you play? Is this being worked on at all?

Again, I appreciate your honesty.

[futeko.com]

Thank you for the honest reply!

I know that ever since Cinavia came out, no media streamer will give full Blu-ray menus - and that's fine - I'm not looking for that.

However, forced subs is a big deal. I've got a reasonable collection of English movies that have subs specifically for when foreign languages are spoken. Are you saying that you can still watch subs, but you'll have to select them manually each time you play? Is this being worked on at all?

Again, I appreciate your honesty.

Forced subs will display but aren't differentiated from normal subs. So all subs on or all subs off.

Himedia are aware of it so hopefully they'll fix it.

It works properly in Kodi with Kodi internal player, so you'll be able to display forced subs correctly for some files, just not the ones that require Himedia player (high bitrate, 7.1 audio).