OSD n00B - Handbrake/OSX networking/.mp4 files/USB HD

[illin_technology]

I got an OSD for my birthday today and I've been messing with it a bit.

A couple observations/questions:

Most of the video files I'd like to watch are Handbrake'd .mp4 files.  I loaded some up on an SD card and some of them don't play.  They're encoded with similar (if not identical) parameters, some of them are not playing on my OSD.  Any ideas?

Not only are they not playable, but when I'm browsing the file list and click on a video I want to watch that doesn't work, it automatically starts playing one it can (rather than just bumping me back to the file menu).  Kind of an annoying "feature".

I'm looking forward to having the OSD hooked into my home network so I can stream videos from my iMac to my livingroom TV (and store the recorded files from my OSD onto my iMac).  I searched a bit on the forums and found some references to SAMBA, Sharepoints, etc...  Whats the simplest way for a n00b like myself to do that?

Also, I tried hooking up my external USB HD (that I use with my iMac) to the USB port on the OSD and it didn't do anything.  I was hoping that I could browse the file structure but, nope.  Would an external HD have to be formatted special for the OSD or would an OSX file structure not be navigable with the OSD?

Thanks.

-nate

[greyback]

Happy birthday first of all.

First, let me remind you that the OSD is still being polished and refined. I have the exact same problem with MP4s as you have, and I've been told it'll be fixed in a few weeks with luck.

Yeah, it's an annoying "feature" when it jumps to the first file in the directory. When MP4 playback is fixed, this shouldn't be a problem then.

For Mac sharing, read this guide (best read the 5th post): http://forums.neurostechnology.com/index.php?topic=8149.

Finally, what file system do you have on your external HD? The OSD can't (right now anyway) read HFS+ the usual Mac filesystem. You can find out by plugging the HD into your Mac, Ctrl-clicking it's icon on the desktop, select "Get Info" and read the "Format" line.

The OSD with the current official firmware (3.31-1.24) can only read FAT, ext2 & ext3 file formats. You can easily reformat the drive to FAT using Disk Utility (see the "Erase" tab).

Hope this helps
-G

[illin_technology]

Great, thanks!  Thats exactly what I was hoping to hear. 

Any hopes that the choppiness of .avi files will go away with the next firmware release?

-nate

[illin_technology]

Another thing I've noticed, .mp4 files encoded with the newest version of Handbrake seem to work perfectly (and look really great) but I don't think I've had any  luck getting .mp4 files encoded with an older work at all.  Weird detail, the parameters were all the same/similar.

-nate

[FJ]

Please send mea couple of small clips of mp4 and avi files that do not play with the OSD (jabadieATneuroDOTus), we will look into this.

[budwzr]

Great, thanks!  Thats exactly what I was hoping to hear. 

Any hopes that the choppiness of .avi files will go away with the next firmware release?

-nate

I don't have any choppyness issues. Can you give more detail about your network setup?

[illin_technology]

Ok, progress has been made, but still, things aren't up to what I'm hoping for.  I'm sure I'll get it all worked out soon but I've hit some dead ends.

1.  .mp4 (handbrake'd DVD files) playback is EXCELLENT (if the files are made with the newest version of Handbrake, don't know why the older Handbrake files don't work).

2.  .AVI/DIVX files playback with a reduced frame rate when loaded onto an SD (of questionable quality).  I converted those .avi files to .mp4 files with Podner and they played a lot better, hopes are that sometime, somehow the files will play smoothly without being converted.  Maybe the SD card is to slow/funky, which leads me to my next point.

3.  Networking......  I downloaded Sharepoints and fiddled with it a bit, modified my "Sharing" in my iMac's sys-prefs.  The OSD now can see the folder on my iMac but when it asks for my user-name/password it says that they are incorrect (they aren't).  I made another user on my iMac with a very short username and password but that gave me the same username/password error. Hrrmph.  I also posted this problem on the Sharepoints forum, so hopefully between the two sites someone will have the answers I seek.

4.  YouTube.  I can search/browse with the YouTube client but when I try to load a file it just brings up the "opening file...." dialog box and things grind until I hit the home button.  After doing that once, whenever I try to go to YouTube again it doesn't let my try to open files.  Anyone else experiencing these problems?  Not a big deal, but YouTube is fun and it would be nice if it could work for me.

5. External HD.  The HD is formatted to Mac OS Extended, so I guess thats why it doesn't work.  I dont think I'll be reformatting it as its the main drive I store all my big projects on.  Hopefully soon I'll have a new drive for my iMac and I'll move this one over to my OSD.


All in all, I'm very excited for this thing and can't wait to get it rolling smoother.  Thanks so much!

[greyback]

Hmmm,
still have password problem with your Mac? What firmware are you using? I'm using a beta 3.33-1.42 at the moment, and it does work for me (i've not tested the procedure with older firmware I'm afraid). Does your username or password use any strange characters? The short username works for me.

Sorry if this is thick sounding, but just to eliminate the obvious, are you sure you've "Windows Sharing" turned on in "System Preferences" -> "Sharing"? And the firewall is letting the traffic through (it will by default).

Google changed the Youtube interface recently, that's why Youtube is broken. It should be fixed by now in a Dev release, and soon in a beta/official.
-G

[budwzr]

3.  Networking......  I downloaded Sharepoints and fiddled with it a bit, modified my "Sharing" in my iMac's sys-prefs.  The OSD now can see the folder on my iMac but when it asks for my user-name/password it says that they are incorrect (they aren't).  I made another user on my iMac with a very short username and password but that gave me the same username/password error. Hrrmph.  I also posted this problem on the Sharepoints forum, so hopefully between the two sites someone will have the answers I seek.

Try making the share name conform to "8dot3" rules, i.e. No more than 12 characters, no spaces, and no symbols like apostrophe.

[illin_technology]

I'm using the most up to date firmware (I had the OSD check when I got it connected to my network).

I do have Windows Sharing turned on in SysPrefs and I do have SMB sharing activated on the share.  The OSD recognizes any changes I make to the name of the share on my iMac (I shortened it, no spaces, etc...) but when it asks for my name/passoword it gives me an error.  No Firewall is active either.

[budwzr]

I'm using the most up to date firmware (I had the OSD check when I got it connected to my network).

I do have Windows Sharing turned on in SysPrefs and I do have SMB sharing activated on the share.  The OSD recognizes any changes I make to the name of the share on my iMac (I shortened it, no spaces, etc...) but when it asks for my name/passoword it gives me an error.  No Firewall is active either.

OK, since OSD is seeing changes, it must be a sharing issue. I'm not familiar with Mac, but are you sure the share has full access applied. In windows this password dialog message will appear if "Allow other users to change my files" option is not selected. Is there something like that on the Mac?

[illin_technology]

Got everything worked out with my shares, took some tinkerin' but with your help I finally got everything in order.

My house-mates and I are psyched.

I wait with great anticipation for the next firmware update which will hopefully allow playback of .mp4 files I generated with an old version of Handbrake, and, well, YouTube fix,  etc....