I wasn't aware of this device, and I feel that with better support for file format (like ogm) and supper for all kinds of subtitles, it would suit me perfectly. So something I will keep my eyes on when they decide to release a new device next year or whenever it happens.
I also like that the UI seem to be very basic, which suits me just fine.
So, if it supports ass in mkv, does that mean it supports proper styling (colours, packed fonts, animations)? Or does it just render them in a default config, as your "The subtitles are white" statement would suggest?
Why dont you create a media player since you have all those test files? lol. Anyway, one important thing to me in a media player is how fast it can navigate through a directory with over 100 files. Also, can the usb port be used to stream video off a flash drive, without a hard drive installed?
There is no delay in navigating the folders of a drive. The simple interface means navigation overhead is very low. However, for the sake of being able to find a file easily, it's not recommended that you keep over 100 files in the same folder - you'll have to do a lot of scrolling.
The USB port can be used to play videos from a flash drive or an external USB hard drive, up to 2TB in size. And the flash card reader can be used to play videos from a SD/SDHC card.
You do not need to install a hard drive in this player. Many of our customers buy one to keep in their car (there is a car power adapter available) and use it with their in-car video systems to play videos/cartoons from a flash drive.
In its defence, 60fps 1080p h.264 would give even reasonably fast processors a run for their money. It's a pretty uncommon configuration outside of the 3D world, and personally, I wouldn't hold the fact that it struggles with it against a device like this. :3
I dont know about anyone else but the no iso support is a deal breaker for me. It is just so much easier to be able to rip dvds into one file. The other thing is that this device really doesn't offer much that isn't already out there. I have a Patriot Box Office which allows room for a notebook drive and it plays anything you throw at it, and is on sale at newegg from time to time for 59.00 with rebate. The UI on the PBO is probably similar to the Micca but also offers network support so you can stream from a home server.
Personally, I would wait for the Boxee Box to come down in price and iron out their bugs before I get anything else.
You can rip DVDs into one file using something like MakeMKV. You would not have any of the DVD menus or extras, but you would have a smaller file and retain all of the original audio tracks, chapters, subtitles, and etc.
Full size players like the Pariot Box Office are great if portability is not a concern. The Slim-HD is idea for those that would like to be able to take the player with them. Many people have a portable USB hard drive anyway, why not have one that also plays 1080p videos?
Saw that Amazon is selling the unit for $79, which is really a good price for a portable harddisk container that also will play HD movies, music and photos as a bonus. I've actually been waiting for something like this!
Someone like me that takes his media everywhere :) My family loves it as we can watch anything at any time without any hassle. Same when we travel and stay at relatives home.
But I can see this not being so attractive to someone that doesn't have/enjoy the things I have. Good price too.
That's very true. I know you'll loose some quality, but you can get a very good conversion into H.264 and get a movie down to 1/3 or even 1/4 its original size.
I believe the test unit already has the latest firmware. We do release new firmware frequently, however, and hope to improve handling of less-than-popular encoding methods and parameters.
The look of the UI would be the least important aspect of any media player. I'm far more interested in media compatibility, so thanks for doing a throrough job on that. x264 support is high on my list of priorities. Personally, I have no interest in streaming media.
The Slim-HD seems like a handy device to hook up to an hotel TV when you're traveling.
Couldn't disagree more with you on that, the GUI is supremely important which is why Apple trounces many of their competitors.
For far too long media players have had very poor GUI's designed by people with no UI experience or training at all. See the stock skin of the Realtek RTD1073 players.
I agree with you that the GUI is important. And to that point, I would say that the Slim-HD's GUI while not pretty, is functional, simple, and responsive. Sure it doesn't have fancy transitions, a movie jukebox interface, or movie cover-art/info displays. But if you take a look at the modern digital media player with such fancy interfaces, they are either very expensive, and/or have a lot of bugs.
I am not saying a nice interface is impossible, but industry as a whole is searching for an efficient way to present the massive video collections that users have in some coherent user friendly fashion.
For us, usability is still the main focus for now. Future firmware versions will add a bit of eye candy to the various pages. But we will control such changes so as not to impact usability.
Does the player need external AC power when you hook it up to a PC as a storage device or can USB supply enough power when you only want to copy stuff to/from the unit?
I checked the docs, and there is not the ability to copy files from an SD card to the hard drive. It should be a simple software change to add this functionality, and adds flexibility to let Micca address a different market. There are products for in-the-field backup for digital cameras. Plug in the media card to a portable hard drive, and media card contents are automatically copied to disk, to have a second copy in the case of media card failure. Smaller than a laptop when there are packing constraints (photo-journalism, nature photography). With newer digital cameras now supporting video, the ability to do this in-the-field backup, and then do playback from the Micca drive...it's a nice all-in-one package that does more than the dedicated photo-backup hardware, and cheaper to boot.
The sochip SC9800 is definitely Arm based as there is a Chinese forum that deals with it used by Ainol players and someone hacked Android onto one of the PMP's
If the rumors are true the Boxchip F10 is supposedly the same although why the different names is a mystery.
Can you please confirm that this device can play the 1080p60 M2TS files produced with Panasonic HTC TM700 camcorder? I see that it is mentioned that it plays 1080p60.AVC.AAC.MP4 The Panasonic 700 camcorders stream M2TS files 59.94 fps, H.264/AVC (1920x1080), audio AC3 (5.1, 48000Hz) If it plays smooth the 1080p60 files from Panasonic 700, this will help the owners of this type of camcorder, as there till now there are no devices that can play these 1080p60 files, except the camcorder. Can you please try playing this file that was shot with Panasonic TM700 at 1080p60?: http://www.vimeo.com/17273401 You can download it if you have or create a vimeo account.
It's Cyber Monday now but I dont see this player has a special price (at least in Micca Store) as mentioned in the article. Anyone able to find this player at $59.95 somewhere?
Yes, after I emailed their support, they updated their store site. Also found out this special will only be available via their official store and not Amazon.
I don't have a use for this device unfortunately, but I just wanted to point out the fact that a representative of Micca is taking the time to answer questions and take feedback.
Jack, First off, thank you for taking the time to answer all of these questions. That is top notch customer support. I am looking for a media player that I can use in a haunted house attraction. It will have two movies on it...One is a video of a still picture, the second is that same picture, but it has motion. The idea is that when a customer walks up to the static image, a sensor is tripped which skips the media player to the next movie, which moves. For example, you can have a picture of a guy, but when the customer approaches the picture, the guy jumps out of his chair.
The problem that I have been having with dvd players, and the media players that I have tested display text and graphics on the screen when the Skip track button is pressed. Does the Micca Slim do this, and is there any way to suppress it? I was hoping that you could just pull up a pin on the F16 chip or something simple, but I fear that this would require a firmware modification.
Nevermind, I just received my slim-hd and its a full-sized HDMI cable. So far the player is awesome. I mostly play .mkv and .avi files and they're playing great. Thanks for the reviews...
Recently, some .mkv files will not play on my player. They transfer to the slim-hd successfully but when I choose to play them it skips right over them. Most of the files I put on it are .mkv files and they play just fine. What would cause some to play and some not? Also, none of the LED indicators on the front illuminate, ever. My hard drive is sometimes not recognized by the player or my computer.
Does anyone know how to reflash the device , from micca store they told me to send it and they will do it for 25$ , but to send it from Greece to Usa cost mores than to buy a new one .
So does anyone knows how to reflash it ?
I have extract the placket but dont see any reset button or something.
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Freddo - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
I wasn't aware of this device, and I feel that with better support for file format (like ogm) and supper for all kinds of subtitles, it would suit me perfectly. So something I will keep my eyes on when they decide to release a new device next year or whenever it happens.I also like that the UI seem to be very basic, which suits me just fine.
GreenArrow2k4 - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Can this device play the iso format?therealnickdanger - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
I would say "RTFA", but that would be rude.No, it does not play ISOs.
Pino - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Can someone comment about subtitles support?Wich formats are supported?
How the subtitles looks on screen? Yellow? White?
Thanks.
jack@micca - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Hi,For subtitle, this player supports SUB, ASS, SRT, SSA, SMI. Of course it also supports embedded subtitles in MKV files.
The subtitles are white .
Here are some additional specs for this player:
http://content.miccastore.com/micca-slim-hd
Jack
Sufo - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
So, if it supports ass in mkv, does that mean it supports proper styling (colours, packed fonts, animations)? Or does it just render them in a default config, as your "The subtitles are white" statement would suggest?jack@micca - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Hi,The subtitles will be displayed, but will not be stylized. This is a limitation of the player for the moment.
Jack
MrCromulent - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Thanks for the thorough review.Are subtitles shown while fast forwarding at 2x and 4x speed (or even higher)?
MrCromulent - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Since jack@micca didn't answer, I guess the answer is no :)jack@micca - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
I needed to get my hands on one to check. And the result is that subtitles are not displayed when fast forwarding.Jack
Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Why dont you create a media player since you have all those test files? lol. Anyway, one important thing to me in a media player is how fast it can navigate through a directory with over 100 files. Also, can the usb port be used to stream video off a flash drive, without a hard drive installed?jack@micca - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Hi,There is no delay in navigating the folders of a drive. The simple interface means navigation overhead is very low. However, for the sake of being able to find a file easily, it's not recommended that you keep over 100 files in the same folder - you'll have to do a lot of scrolling.
The USB port can be used to play videos from a flash drive or an external USB hard drive, up to 2TB in size. And the flash card reader can be used to play videos from a SD/SDHC card.
You do not need to install a hard drive in this player. Many of our customers buy one to keep in their car (there is a car power adapter available) and use it with their in-car video systems to play videos/cartoons from a flash drive.
Jack
Sufo - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
In its defence, 60fps 1080p h.264 would give even reasonably fast processors a run for their money. It's a pretty uncommon configuration outside of the 3D world, and personally, I wouldn't hold the fact that it struggles with it against a device like this. :3chomlee - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
I dont know about anyone else but the no iso support is a deal breaker for me. It is just so much easier to be able to rip dvds into one file. The other thing is that this device really doesn't offer much that isn't already out there. I have a Patriot Box Office which allows room for a notebook drive and it plays anything you throw at it, and is on sale at newegg from time to time for 59.00 with rebate. The UI on the PBO is probably similar to the Micca but also offers network support so you can stream from a home server.Personally, I would wait for the Boxee Box to come down in price and iron out their bugs before I get anything else.
therealnickdanger - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
True, but the Boxee Box doesn't fit in your pocket.jack@micca - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
You can rip DVDs into one file using something like MakeMKV. You would not have any of the DVD menus or extras, but you would have a smaller file and retain all of the original audio tracks, chapters, subtitles, and etc.Full size players like the Pariot Box Office are great if portability is not a concern. The Slim-HD is idea for those that would like to be able to take the player with them. Many people have a portable USB hard drive anyway, why not have one that also plays 1080p videos?
Jack
Milleman - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
Saw that Amazon is selling the unit for $79, which is really a good price for a portable harddisk container that also will play HD movies, music and photos as a bonus. I've actually been waiting for something like this!The0ne - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
Someone like me that takes his media everywhere :) My family loves it as we can watch anything at any time without any hassle. Same when we travel and stay at relatives home.But I can see this not being so attractive to someone that doesn't have/enjoy the things I have. Good price too.
Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
I do like ISOs, but if you're going to rip it into an ISO, why not go the extra step and convert it to something less than 4-20GB?jack@micca - Thursday, November 25, 2010 - link
That's very true. I know you'll loose some quality, but you can get a very good conversion into H.264 and get a movie down to 1/3 or even 1/4 its original size.Jack
abrar - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
i noticed that there is a Firmware download link on the Micca website, have you tested it ?and if so , have you noticed an appreciable difference ?!
jack@micca - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
I believe the test unit already has the latest firmware. We do release new firmware frequently, however, and hope to improve handling of less-than-popular encoding methods and parameters.Jack
blowfish - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
The look of the UI would be the least important aspect of any media player. I'm far more interested in media compatibility, so thanks for doing a throrough job on that. x264 support is high on my list of priorities. Personally, I have no interest in streaming media.The Slim-HD seems like a handy device to hook up to an hotel TV when you're traveling.
Rainman200 - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
Couldn't disagree more with you on that, the GUI is supremely important which is why Apple trounces many of their competitors.For far too long media players have had very poor GUI's designed by people with no UI experience or training at all. See the stock skin of the Realtek RTD1073 players.
Shouldn't have to be that way, we can have both.
jack@micca - Thursday, November 25, 2010 - link
I agree with you that the GUI is important. And to that point, I would say that the Slim-HD's GUI while not pretty, is functional, simple, and responsive. Sure it doesn't have fancy transitions, a movie jukebox interface, or movie cover-art/info displays. But if you take a look at the modern digital media player with such fancy interfaces, they are either very expensive, and/or have a lot of bugs.I am not saying a nice interface is impossible, but industry as a whole is searching for an efficient way to present the massive video collections that users have in some coherent user friendly fashion.
For us, usability is still the main focus for now. Future firmware versions will add a bit of eye candy to the various pages. But we will control such changes so as not to impact usability.
Jack
WingNutZA - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
Does the player need external AC power when you hook it up to a PC as a storage device or can USB supply enough power when you only want to copy stuff to/from the unit?jack@micca - Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - link
No AC power is needed as this works as USB hard drive while drawing all the power it needs from the computer's USB port.Jack
mfeller2 - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
I checked the docs, and there is not the ability to copy files from an SD card to the hard drive. It should be a simple software change to add this functionality, and adds flexibility to let Micca address a different market. There are products for in-the-field backup for digital cameras. Plug in the media card to a portable hard drive, and media card contents are automatically copied to disk, to have a second copy in the case of media card failure. Smaller than a laptop when there are packing constraints (photo-journalism, nature photography). With newer digital cameras now supporting video, the ability to do this in-the-field backup, and then do playback from the Micca drive...it's a nice all-in-one package that does more than the dedicated photo-backup hardware, and cheaper to boot.Rainman200 - Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - link
The sochip SC9800 is definitely Arm based as there is a Chinese forum that deals with it used by Ainol players and someone hacked Android onto one of the PMP'sIf the rumors are true the Boxchip F10 is supposedly the same although why the different names is a mystery.
Pooki - Thursday, November 25, 2010 - link
I'd like to pick up the micca slim hd and pair it with a boxee remote. Combined, that's about the price of an AppleTV. Would it work, you reckon?iurie - Sunday, November 28, 2010 - link
Can you please confirm that this device can play the 1080p60 M2TS files produced with Panasonic HTC TM700 camcorder?I see that it is mentioned that it plays 1080p60.AVC.AAC.MP4
The Panasonic 700 camcorders stream M2TS files 59.94 fps, H.264/AVC (1920x1080), audio AC3 (5.1, 48000Hz)
If it plays smooth the 1080p60 files from Panasonic 700, this will help the owners of this type of camcorder, as there till now there are no devices that can play these 1080p60 files, except the camcorder.
Can you please try playing this file that was shot with Panasonic TM700 at 1080p60?: http://www.vimeo.com/17273401
You can download it if you have or create a vimeo account.
snail3 - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
It's Cyber Monday now but I dont see this player has a special price (at least in Micca Store) as mentioned in the article. Anyone able to find this player at $59.95 somewhere?ganeshts - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
The link to the deal has been updated in the article.http://www.miccastore.com/micca-slimhd-1080p-fullh...
snail3 - Monday, November 29, 2010 - link
Yes, after I emailed their support, they updated their store site. Also found out this special will only be available via their official store and not Amazon.davmat787 - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
I don't have a use for this device unfortunately, but I just wanted to point out the fact that a representative of Micca is taking the time to answer questions and take feedback.I will certainly lookup Micca in the future.
jeffMS - Friday, December 17, 2010 - link
Jack,First off, thank you for taking the time to answer all of these questions. That is top notch customer support. I am looking for a media player that I can use in a haunted house attraction. It will have two movies on it...One is a video of a still picture, the second is that same picture, but it has motion. The idea is that when a customer walks up to the static image, a sensor is tripped which skips the media player to the next movie, which moves. For example, you can have a picture of a guy, but when the customer approaches the picture, the guy jumps out of his chair.
The problem that I have been having with dvd players, and the media players that I have tested display text and graphics on the screen when the Skip track button is pressed. Does the Micca Slim do this, and is there any way to suppress it? I was hoping that you could just pull up a pin on the F16 chip or something simple, but I fear that this would require a firmware modification.
djsilence - Thursday, December 23, 2010 - link
Thanks Jack for the time you spend answering questions. Does this player require a mini-HDMI cable or full-size? Thanks...djsilence - Sunday, December 26, 2010 - link
Nevermind, I just received my slim-hd and its a full-sized HDMI cable. So far the player is awesome. I mostly play .mkv and .avi files and they're playing great. Thanks for the reviews...djsilence - Wednesday, April 13, 2011 - link
Recently, some .mkv files will not play on my player. They transfer to the slim-hd successfully but when I choose to play them it skips right over them. Most of the files I put on it are .mkv files and they play just fine. What would cause some to play and some not? Also, none of the LED indicators on the front illuminate, ever. My hard drive is sometimes not recognized by the player or my computer.iplocker - Saturday, March 2, 2013 - link
Hello.Does anyone know how to reflash the device , from micca store they told me to send it and they will do it for 25$ , but to send it from Greece to Usa cost mores than to buy a new one .
So does anyone knows how to reflash it ?
I have extract the placket but dont see any reset button or something.
Thanks