I Love My Tvix

[TheLaughingMan]

Whenever I discover something really cool I always want to tell everyone. If you aren't a little computer savvy maybe TVIX is still ahead of its time but if you have any computer skill at all you should look into this device. I just got one of these.

The TVIX is arguably the best multimedia player available. It plays computer files on your TV. This includes, image files (jpeg etc) music files (mp3, flac etc.), video files (wmv, mpeg, flv, iso, vob, mkv etc.) including the ability to play HD blueray rips in crystal clear blueray quality on a hd screen. The image, music and video files can all be shown in thumbnail view which makes it very nice to peruse your collection and pick what you want to look/watch/listen. The movie files for instance will be portrayed as a page of movie posters to browse.

It has multiple types of connection including wifi which you can connect to your wifi network and access your computers files directly and even browse the internet from certain sites. I was streaming internet video straight to my TV in the bedroom over wifi. But the network access of my computers hard drives is what I love the most, I can access all my pics, music and videos without having to move them to the TVIX, they just stay stored on my pc in another room. It has some other features like recording hd tv and stuff but I havent touched that yet. Still marveling over my networked media I can look at on my widescreen plasma tv. Been going nuts ripping my entire DVD collection so I never have to pick up a dvd again to play it. Although now that I have discovered blue ray rips (MKV files) I really don't like DVD's anymore, they aren't nearly as nice and sharp.

Setting up the network was a little tricky, but once you figure it out its not bad, if anyone needs tips on setting it up send me a pm.

[petebkk]

Oh, I see.

I was thinking chocolate and caramel over a cookie base. Hmmmm. Sorry, wrong forum.

[craigt3365]

I have been looking into getting one of these media players. Where is your Tvix located? By the TV? How is it connected to your pc? I assume it is wireless, but guess it could also be connected via cable.

How is the performance over wireless?

I have looked into the Western Digital product as well as a brief look at Popcorn Hour. There are a few others out there as well...confusing!!!

[thaimite]

I too have a TViX (5100SH) and although I am generally pleased with it, thee is a great amount disssatisfaction from many users due to the fact that Divco the manufacturers have not been supplying firmware udates for well over a year now. Whilst other manufactirers are busy releasing new features and improving performance Divco have remained quiet. They have had a new version of the firmware for my model in Beta (pre release state) for over a year, with a silly bug that makes it impossible to transfer files over the network.

I would look at the reviews at MPC club or read some forums on http://www.networkedmediatank.com/ beofre buying

For me I would look at some of the alternative brands such as ACRyan Playon or Popcorn Hour. My favoiurite s the Popcorn Hour range because of their abllity to run 3rd party juke boxes that make the experience of browsing for movies and music so much easier, but then again many people are just happy to have the standard directory listing with no additional information.

There is a basic jukebox skin for the TViX models at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=951350 which is a good start but does not have the power and flexibility of the YAMJ or MLMJ jukeboxes f\of the popcorn hour or other Sybase chip based devices.

[TheLaughingMan]

I have been looking into getting one of these media players. Where is your Tvix located? By the TV? How is it connected to your pc? I assume it is wireless, but guess it could also be connected via cable.

How is the performance over wireless?

I have looked into the Western Digital product as well as a brief look at Popcorn Hour. There are a few others out there as well...confusing!!!

I have my TVIX under the TV in the bedroom. I connect to the pc across my apartment through wifi. But it has the capability to use a lan cable. So far absolutely no stuttering of video files over wireless, completely smooth.

Thaimite, interesting. I dont know anything about those other products but I'll look into them. Are they not updating your models firmware because its older? I have the new 6600 A and thought the firmware was just updated recently. They also have an official "jukebox" ui that lets you browse your media with movie poster type icons of your files. Here: http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/brand/coverartUI.aspx

[thaimite]

I have been looking into getting one of these media players. Where is your Tvix located? By the TV? How is it connected to your pc? I assume it is wireless, but guess it could also be connected via cable.

How is the performance over wireless?

I have looked into the Western Digital product as well as a brief look at Popcorn Hour. There are a few others out there as well...confusing!!!

I have my TVIX under the TV in the bedroom. I connect to the pc across my apartment through wifi. But it has the capability to use a lan cable. So far absolutely no stuttering of video files over wireless, completely smooth.

Thaimite, interesting. I dont know anything about those other products but I'll look into them. Are they not updating your models firmware because its older? I have the new 6600 A and thought the firmware was just updated recently. They also have an official "jukebox" ui that lets you browse your media with movie poster type icons of your files. Here: http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/brand/coverartUI.aspx

Don't get me wrong, my 5100 plays most things well, but it is annoying to know that the firmware has not been updated for over 2 years and there is a new firmware that fixes some bugs and offers some minor improvements that has been in Beta for over 12 months but cannot be used as it breaks some major functionality

See this link for all the firmware and history. Beta versions are on a different site with limited access

The Gui you point to looks very similar to the one I am using and does a good job. However I prefer the 3rd party Popcorn GUIs because they are HTML based and thus can be dynamic and let you do advanced searches such as Movies by year, or movies by genre etc. The TViX GUI I use is basically a a folder for each movie which contains jpg picture showing the movie details which have been collected from IMDB.com or similar.

Having a large movie collection makes a good navigation system for finding movies a must for me.

I stream all my moves and music over a wired network connection from a central NAS and have had very little problem with stuttering or failed playback. I have never tried using a wireless connection

[TheLaughingMan]

Ya Im really happy with the wireless, its pretty awesome. Going to hook my friend up to my network when he gets his TVIX, he lives down the hall and he'll be able to browse and play my entire collection without coming to my room to borrow dvds like he used to. If that other gui is really that good I'll go look at it now. They updated the firmwares for my model recently, but I guess they leave older models behind when it comes to updates.

[thaimite]

I use the MLJ jukebox for the Popcorn Hour (http://www.treasure-cove.net/features.htm) . I am not saying it s the best, but it is does make my movie experience much more enjoyable.

There is a You tube video of the above in operation, but I am at work and Google here will not let me search for anything that involves the words TV or Video (which as I am managing the installation of a CCTV system amongst others) can make life difficult when looking for information.

[TheLaughingMan]

Looks nice but went to the "how to install" page and seems you need a doctorate to get this installed! Really long instructions... dam_n and going to need a real or copied version of movie collector right? Hmmmm

[thaimite]

It is not that difficult, and I think you can get Movie collector on a trail basis. There is also a similar product called YAMJ (Yet Another Movie Jukebox), which does similar things and does not need Movie Collector. I beleive there are also Youtube videos of that available.

However the problem is that they do not run on the TViX, although thy are porting the YAMJ to the Playon HD which I believe is based on the same Realtek chipset as the later TViX.

However as I have invested a lot of time and money setting up Movie Collector with 900+ movies I am unwilling to start again with another jukebox at this time

That is why my next player will probably be the Popcorn Hour A200, although if the directory structure is right YAMJ is supposed to scan and compile all the information automatically

[TheLaughingMan]

Wait.... the ui you suggested and linked doesnt work on the TVIX?

[thaimite]

Yes. If you read my post carefully I said I was using one that looks similar to the TViX built in on the new models that was a simple JPG in each movie folder, but the reason I prefered the Popcorn and Sybase range of devices was because of the more flexible GUI options.

I thoughgt maybe you had misunderstood me from your last post.

Sorry for not being more clear.

See post number 6 for the link to my TViX GUI

[TheLaughingMan]

Post number 6 is a list of firmwares... is this correct?

[thaimite]

Post number 6 is a list of firmwares... is this correct?

Your right again. Sorry it was in Post number 4 and here it is again

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=951350

This gathers the information automatically from the Internet using the folder name as the search criteria. It expects each movie to be in a folder where the title of the folder is the name of the movie. Like any automatic system it has problems sometimes in getting the wrong movie, (usually the wrong version of a remake) but then it can be edited before saving.

The resulting information is saved as a picture file called TViX.jpg in the folder and a thumbnail of the movie cover is saved as the file folder.jpg in each folder. It does provide a nice viewing experience and an easy way to view and find movies

With a liitle ingenuity and patience you can improve on it by making sub folders for box sets or movie genres.

The system should also work for TV series episodes. Sometimes it has problems findin cover art and then you need to do a Google picture searchj and paste in the right poster. The search can be customised but I usually use a combination of IMDB.com and Amazon

[TheLaughingMan]

Ya ok I know what you mean, I use tvixie and it searches the folder name and all that, but I am really interested in the organisation and search functions of those other ui's you showed me... but they don't work on TVIX which makes sense since they were probably made for a different device. I'm sure TVIX will add those functions but it might be next year or worse. Would really be nice to organise them and be able to find movies easily without having to seperate them into many different folders myself.

[thaimite]

I would have thought that in theory if the newer TViX devices supported HTML and some Java then it culod be done, however I have not seen any such thing. This my future purchaes would have to be a Popcorn Hour type device. In addition it would be a 2nd device and I want 1 GUI and menu structure so that I do not have to update 2 different systems.

Currently I have my TViX in the bedroom and the Popcorn in the living room of my home in Thailand, so when I am home I am maintaining 2 lots of databases. Currently I am working away from home and am in the market for a new device to use here, that will fit in to my home structure when my contract ends in a few years, but there is VERY little choice here and import duties are Very high in the region fo 30% plus customs administration fees, so I may wait and buy while on home leave.

[Phil Conners]

I already have both an AC Ryan and a WD HD Live, but I'm missing the option to browse to a website and watch flash video. They can show things like youtube, but there are many other sources of flash video on the Internet, notably many European national TV stations provide their content for free in flash video through their websites.

At the moment I use an old discarded Samsung netbook connected to my TV for this purpose, but I'm looking for something a little smarter, i.e. a small box next to my satellite receiver and DVD player/amp, rather than a netbook on the shelf. I'd also like to have a functional remote. I already have a remote with a sort of joy-button that allow the user to slide the cursor around on the screen, but it is still way too clunky. There must be a better solution.

I checked out the Tvix but I have to say their website does not impress me. Very glitzy but no content. Their product page lists no less than 10 different players but practically no information about their features/differences. Just pointless marketing fluff such as "a cup of digital media time" or "become the master of time". Two different models are both listed as "the smallest player in town".

If I was in the Apple eco-system (or willing to go there) Apple TV could be an option, but I'm not.

Any other option that I don't know about?

[shriah]

What you are looking for is this http://www.boxee.tv/box

[Phil Conners]

Boxee looks cool! I love the remote with the keyboard on the back! But it's a little expensive at $199 - about twice the competitors that are all around $100.

Pretty cool they provide the software free to install on your PC as well. Gonna give that a spin.

I'm flabbergasted by the fact they provide a remote-app for iphone only, as Apple seems to be their major competitor. Why not make an Android app instead? There are more Android phones sold than Iphone phones at this time, and Android don't have a competing product.

[richard_smith237]

I already have both an AC Ryan and a WD HD Live, but I'm missing the option to browse to a website and watch flash video. They can show things like youtube, but there are many other sources of flash video on the Internet, notably many European national TV stations provide their content for free in flash video through their websites.

At the moment I use an old discarded Samsung netbook connected to my TV for this purpose, but I'm looking for something a little smarter, i.e. a small box next to my satellite receiver and DVD player/amp, rather than a netbook on the shelf. I'd also like to have a functional remote. I already have a remote with a sort of joy-button that allow the user to slide the cursor around on the screen, but it is still way too clunky. There must be a better solution.

I checked out the Tvix but I have to say their website does not impress me. Very glitzy but no content. Their product page lists no less than 10 different players but practically no information about their features/differences. Just pointless marketing fluff such as "a cup of digital media time" or "become the master of time". Two different models are both listed as "the smallest player in town".

If I was in the Apple eco-system (or willing to go there) Apple TV could be an option, but I'm not.

Any other option that I don't know about?

PC I know you mentioned you weren't into in the Apple system, however paralleling Laughing Man's initial aims of finding something useful and spreading the word: I have a Man Mini set up with HDMI to TV and Optical to Surround Sound, with a Wireless Mouse / Track Pad and Wireless Keyboard.

The MAC Mini Plays all movies formats from Flash to UTube, avi, mpeg etc and downloads torrents while I'm out. An iPhone VPN link can control the MAC Mini and add downloads while I'm out (on a wifi network only).

It comes at a price though - About B30,000 all in but probably the most convenient and 'clean' set up I found.

When full I simply transfer the Movie files etc to my 2 TB time machine (partitioned as a wifi Hard drive and backup).

[Phil Conners]

Uhm, yeah, the Boxee software on a Netbook was a bit of a disappointment. Very slow, maybe needs more processor power, though I don't see why, browsing the Internet is hardly rocket science. A couple of preset areas (youtube, netflix etc) that I already have in both AC Ryan and WD HD Live but never use. It did have a browser, but the first website I brought up - a page from a TV carrier with some flash ads on it - completely broke, and I wasn't able to click anything after that - in fact I had to go into the task manager and kill Boxee to get the PC back.

The Boxee and the remote for it looks gorgeous though. I hope their dedicated Box works better than the PC software. It would be cool to see it work somewhere, but I don't suppose it's sold anywhere in Thailand?

[shriah]

Boxee is a fork of XMBC and it has a Android app http://xbmc.org/freezy3k/2010/07/13/official-xbmc-remote-for-android/.

http://xbmc.org/download/

[Phil Conners]

Tried XMBC but that doesn't seem to have a browser, which was my original requirement...

[Spoonman]

Sounds like it does just the same as my Xbox360.

[Phil Conners]

Actually while I was messing about with Boxee and XMBC I fell over a couple of Windows remote controls for Android which fits the bill perfectly. I now have the functionality I require. I can even pack the netbook away on a shelf now I don't need to use it's touchpad/keyboard anymore...

[shriah]

You are using a laptop, you can minimize XBMC and use a wireless mouse and keyboard to use a proper browser like Firefox or Chrome. You can use addons in XBMC to stream from most popular video sites (Youtube, Vimeo,etc).

You can use a VNC app in your android too if you are comfortable with it. http://code.google.c...oid-vnc-viewer/

Edit: Reread your post and realized you ARE using a remote control app (VNC).