Review? Thoughts?

[shindo]

Hello, everyone! While I torture myself by refreshing my tracking info several times per day, only to see that my VidOn.Me player is still on the slow boat from Hong Kong, I understand that some people have received their units. Would anyone who has gotten theirs be willing to post some information for the rest of us who have not been as fortunate?

It certainly doesn't have to be a full-fledged review, but general impressions of the unit or things that have surprised you about it would be very interesting to read.

Thanks, and good luck to all those still waiting!

[signals]

Hi shindo,

Mine has not arrived either, and I have no tracking info. My friend Gregiboy in Australia has received his and worked with it extensively, send him a PM if you have any questions, he is very sharp on media players.

[shindo]

Interesting, I wonder why some people received tracking numbers and others didn't. I got my tracking number from Ashley at DVDFab, and it's valid at 17track.net. I'm in the US, so I would guess that my tracking info may be valid for a number of people, so here it is:

Destination Country - Usa:

April 18, 2013, 5:04 pm, Processed Through Sort Facility, HONG KONG INTL MAIL CENTRE, HONG KONG, , Origin Post is Preparing Shipment

April 10, 2013, 1:22 pm, Acceptance, HONG KONG

Origin Country - Hong Kong
23-Apr-2013, The item (<tracking number>) left Hong Kong for its destination on 23-Apr-2013

Not the most organized info, but I guess the important thing is that it left Hong Kong on 4/23.

I saw that GregiBoy had received his and had come to the conclusion that he had a lot of knowledge on media players, so he's one of the people I was hoping might chime in with some insight into their experiences with the unit. I would PM, but I'm sure there are a lot of other people who would like to hear what he has to say as well.

[signals]

These are shipped in batches, so that info may not be valid for everyone. I am sure Greg would be happy to hear from you, he will probably find this thread.

[shindo]

True, but I guess it may give people an idea on how long it ends up taking to get here once it ships.

[GregiBoy]

Hi Guys.

Yes I have received mine and it arrived just before I headed off to visit my new Grandson who live 1500 miles away. I'll be back on the case next week though with more details.

By popular demand, here are my initial impressions for those that are interested:-

Packaging
Quite professional and sturdy looking. Arrived here in Oz in perfect condition so that says a lot.

It is quite plain looking which is quite refreshing because most packaging I have received out of China is loud, tries to make 500 marketing statements and is usually covered with poor translations, innumerable pictures and wild claims of what it can do. Refreshingly clean!!!

I like it and I like the logo but I think it should have something on it saying that it uses Fab/XBMC technology instead of the Sigma/Realtek SDK's of a lot of other players which are closed source and less than ordinary.

This is a Unique Selling Point and big differentiator.

Contents of Package
Remote, batteries for remote, power supply, unit, HDMI cable & a supposed manual. The power supply comes in a 2 pin version which is no good for Oz & the UK. I have plenty of adaptors so it is a minor issue to me but the inclusion a 2 cent adaptor would go a long way to stop the whingeing multitudes.

The HDMI cable is a nice inclusion but I feel it is unnecessary as I always to tend to use high quality cables that I purchase separately to ensure that there are no cabling issues.

I don't know what others think on this issue.

The remote feels quite solid and is equivalent or better than most remotes that come out of China.

I would not like to have to drive the unit totally with it though, hence my prior purchase of a mini-keyboard. I will include details of this keyboard when I get back home.

The Manual
It may as well not have been included in the package. It is not worth the paper it is written on.

It would have been better to print download instruction on the packaging and get it right. This has been a longtime bugbear of all chinese manufactured units and one of my pet peeves as you may guess.

That said, the manual is totally unnecessary for setting up and driving it. It is so simple that if you can't work it out, you shouldn't own it.

Sorry to any that take offence at the statement but I have always called it like I see it.

The Unit
It looks very well put together and well ventilated and quite a clean design. The back connections are fairly well labelled but I feel these are the shortfalls.

Labelling of the USB ports.
I assume that the 2 x back ports are USB 2.0 whilst the side port is USB 3.0 (will be testing later). I think that fact should be labelled with a 2.0 and 3.0 instead of just the USB symbol.

The Front Lights
They need labelling to indicate what they indicate. I am thinking Power and USB activity but there is nothing to say what. Again, once I have had a chance to play more, I will get it worked out.

General Design
My thoughts are still out on the rounded, curvy shape. I have been used to square box-style designs or DVD Player look-alikes and this curvy look is certainly a departure from that and again, it is certainly a differentiator.

Maybe it'll grow on me. Things like this usually do.

I have only managed to do quick playback tests but it has played every test file that I threw at it without glitching. Again, more details to follow.

More to follow when I get back home.

Best Regards
Greg

[shindo]

Thanks for the write-up, GregiBoy, for some reason I feel better about the whole thing after reading it. I guess it seems more "real" now Congrats on the addition to your family, it's awesome that you're able to visit from so far away.

I look forward to reading the follow up.

[dfran1]

Hi I received mine today and none of my files .mvk 720 or 1080 files play without choppy and audio sync issues, what setting am I missing??

Also one of the files out of 5 so far reboots this device??

[scotton49]

INFO

VidOn.Me Set Top box.

Got mine yesterday. User manual basically useless!

Hooked it up to cable modem via Ethernet cable.

I can see the connection on my ARRIS cable box.

HDMI connection to my 720p. I see the VidOn.me MENU Okay.

Unable to get the firmware update to download... Getting error

Have not hooked up my 1 and 2 TB WD drives yet.

Plugged in a thumb drive with a MP4 file - Dark Shadows
Plays Okay. Was not created via DVDFAB, got it from my Son.

Remote control: Cannot Pause video.. Cuts off the audio but video keeps playing.

Not sure if the new firmware will fix anything. Will still try to get the update to download.

NOT really impressed! Hope someone can get it to work.

[lostpuppy45]

i got my vidon.me friday first hooked it up with hdmi to a samsung tv and the tv said incompatible resolution. but nothing of the vidon menu shows up. took it out to 55 inch panasonic plasma hooked it up with hdmi and nothing .i tried the cable that came with it and one i had been using.

took the vidon back to the samsung tv and hooked it up with rca audio video cable and all i got was a vidon.me logo screen and could get nothing else . tried every button on the remote and nothing

[90312]

Did you have it connected to the Internet via CAT5 when you powered up? That's the only way I could get mine to work and take the update.

[lostpuppy45]

no i did not ..i'll try that now

[lostpuppy45]

did not help . same thing .wont work hooked up hdmi and with rca audio video it just stays on the vidon.me logo

[dfran1]

Also if that does not work

Try holding the power button while plugging in power, with network cable in and hdmi only , hold for 1 minute then release . I dont know if this will do anything, but i think it might get you up.

If that does nothing then remove power from vidon then remove sd card and power on.

I have a 55" panasonic 3d plasma and I get the menu, just choppy playback video most of the time.

Waiting impatiently for a reply from suport on this, since I paid $100 for a device that does not work most of the time.

[lostpuppy45]

that does not do anything either