The Icy Boxs impressive list of supported formats seems incredible, especially considering that driving it all is a Sigma Designs EM8635 300MHz 32-bit RISC processor and 256MB of DDR for use as a video buffer.
How come high bit-rate H264 takes up 20% of a 2+Ghz quadcore CPU or needs a GPU on a regular PC when 32bit 300Mhz CPU can do it on a very low power draw... and for a small price? What kind of voodoo are this little chips performing and why hasn't intel, AMD or someone snapped up these guys and thrown the same tech into a small section of a regular CPU?
Am I missing something here? Can some one smart explain? A bit-tech article would be nice :D
The processor in the Icy Box is a RISC processor, for more information go to Wikipedia. Boiled down to essentials these are fairly specialized processor architectures with a pretty small instruction set that perform simple operations only. That way they can get through work load that is split into many parts quickly/quicker than CISC.
Intel's Core and AMD's Phenom series CPUs are CISC processors, information here. The CPUs we all love to hate because they can do everything except getting married but aren't really specialized so sometimes need a lot more grunt for the same task when compared to a RISC CPU.
Originally Posted by flibblesan wtf. £200 and it doesn't even have a hard disk inside it? Theres a Western Digital device for under £80 that does the job.
Please actually read the article before posting in future.
Originally Posted by perplekks45 I don't know if I'm smart but I'll give it a try:
The processor in the Icy Box is a RISC processor, for more information go to Wikipedia. Boiled down to essentials these are fairly specialized processor architectures with a pretty small instruction set that perform simple operations only. That way they can get through work load that is split into many parts quickly/quicker than CISC.
Intel's Core and AMD's Phenom series CPUs are CISC processors, information here. The CPUs we all love to hate because they can do everything except getting married but aren't really specialized so sometimes need a lot more grunt for the same task when compared to a RISC CPU.
Ah ha.. I see, thanks. But if these risc chips can do video so well, in such a wide range of formats... why haven't intel thrown one into a multicore CISC cpu? A RISC core going at 3GHZ next to 3 other CISC cores, for feeding the RISC and general tasks, could do some serious video encoding damage. I thinking about I suppose that could be tricky for the OS?
Originally Posted by flibblesan wtf. £200 and it doesn't even have a hard disk inside it? Theres a Western Digital device for under £80 that does the job.
Did you even READ the review? Or did you just see the price and went "Double-You-Tee-Eff-Mate?", then thought it would be cool to talk some uneducated stuff on the forum?
Kids these days...
Yes, I did read the review. The Icy Box has ethernet and the facility to add an internal hard disk. But I would say those are the only differences to other devices. The WD device plays back all video files and can output 1080p. In the months I have used the device, I have never experienced any buffering problems that the Icy Box apparently has.
Personally I think that spending an extra £120 for a few more output ports, internal drive capability and ethernet is not worth it.
I should have written a better message than "wtf" to be fair.
Originally Posted by flibblesan wtf. £200 and it doesn't even have a hard disk inside it? Theres a Western Digital device for under £80 that does the job.
Please actually read the article before posting in future.
I did read the article. I apologise and realise I should have wrote something better than "wtf".
I can definitely see your point and I agree that it is kind of overpriced but it's something like a new market and it'll take some time until prices have come down to a more normal level. My guess is that paying for all those licences makes the RISC chip quite expensive but if the WD drive plays them as well... maybe they just overcharge customers "a little".
Let's see how things develop within the next 6-12 months.
Icy Box IB-MP309HW-B HD Media Player hangs / freeze almost any operation: view the contents of the HDD, view the video from HDD or USB Drive, copying files over the network, etc. Either the picture is stopped or the screen goes black. On the remote control does not respond. I have to turn off the device and than turn it on to continue. The latest version of firmware.
Either my player is defective or the firmware is VERY defective.
Originally Posted by amarrak Icy Box IB-MP309HW-B HD Media Player hangs / freeze almost any operation: view the contents of the HDD, view the video from HDD or USB Drive, copying files over the network, etc. Either the picture is stopped or the screen goes black. On the remote control does not respond. I have to turn off the device and than turn it on to continue. The latest version of firmware.
Either my player is defective or the firmware is VERY defective.
After trying this version of the firmware if you still have the problems please arrange for the unit to be sent back to Nanopoint for service. This problem sounds to me like a heat issue, you could check that the heat sink is correctly seated however I would suggest letting our technition look at it in case you cause any damage to the PCB or void your warranty. Please visit our care forum on here and visit the Icy Box to discuss this further.
The latest firmware is installed. I'll try to check tonight if the heat sink is correctly seated.
The device was bought two days ago. If I can't find a problem - I'll send it back to shop.
Hi Evryone,
I have this Icy Box IB-MP309HW few weeks now, first a had some problem, but installed the Firmware 01-17-090125-15-DST-403-000 and was looks working fine until a while when I realised all the setup menu went inactive. I woud like to install the new firmaware, but I cant clik on it. :( Any idea what I should do?
And an other thing the fan is whistling very often.
Thanks
Originally Posted by Spityu Hi Evryone,
I have this Icy Box IB-MP309HW few weeks now, first a had some problem, but installed the Firmware 01-17-090125-15-DST-403-000 and was looks working fine until a while when I realised all the setup menu went inactive. I woud like to install the new firmaware, but I cant clik on it. :( Any idea what I should do?
And an other thing the fan is whistling very often.
Thanks
Hi Spityu
Did the first firmware update complete? Firstly I would suggest opening the device, removing the hard drive etc and then put it all back together, It could be a loose connection causing problems. Try this, if it does not resolve the issue please come into the Nanopoint support forum and click on ICY BOX to discuss this further:- http://forums.bit-tech.net/forumdisplay.php?f=98
I bought this product last week.
My problem is when i want to watch 1080 P movies if bit rate bigger than 20 Mbps movie start to jumping pictures and DTS sound disappears.
Is it formal. I mean Was Icybox made only " >20 Mbps bitrate" or problem only my ICYBOX?
Looks like I'm late to the party as this thread is old at this stage but given that my current set up involves my fiance's laptop, a mybook drive and xbmc this looks very very appealing to me.
I see a couple of you here have one already so if I may ask:
1) Iso playback : Does it handle the menus or does it just play the movie? (this seems to be an issue for the wd players)
2) The interface : Is it customisable (change colours, bg images, etc) or (maybe you, Nathan will know) are there/will there be skins available?
I have just bought an "Raidsonic HDD Media WLAN Player ICY BOX IB-MP306HW". The thing is super cool, but it freezes every 5-15 minutes in case a film is watched on it...
Theoretically, i have updated the box to the latest firmware. I say theoretically as i started the update process and went away. After an hour or so, i came back but the box was frozen with black screen on it. I restarted it, it works now and the latest firmware is apparently used (when i go to the update menu it says no updates available), but of course i cannot be sure that it is really updated.
I would like to keep the box, so do somebody has an idea how to minimize the freezes?
Comments 26 to 47 of 47
ReplyLOL :)
How come high bit-rate H264 takes up 20% of a 2+Ghz quadcore CPU or needs a GPU on a regular PC when 32bit 300Mhz CPU can do it on a very low power draw... and for a small price? What kind of voodoo are this little chips performing and why hasn't intel, AMD or someone snapped up these guys and thrown the same tech into a small section of a regular CPU?
Am I missing something here? Can some one smart explain? A bit-tech article would be nice :D
The processor in the Icy Box is a RISC processor, for more information go to Wikipedia. Boiled down to essentials these are fairly specialized processor architectures with a pretty small instruction set that perform simple operations only. That way they can get through work load that is split into many parts quickly/quicker than CISC.
Intel's Core and AMD's Phenom series CPUs are CISC processors, information here. The CPUs we all love to hate because they can do everything except getting married but aren't really specialized so sometimes need a lot more grunt for the same task when compared to a RISC CPU.
More in-depth? Here or just google it. ;)
Please actually read the article before posting in future.
Ah ha.. I see, thanks. But if these risc chips can do video so well, in such a wide range of formats... why haven't intel thrown one into a multicore CISC cpu? A RISC core going at 3GHZ next to 3 other CISC cores, for feeding the RISC and general tasks, could do some serious video encoding damage. I thinking about I suppose that could be tricky for the OS?
Yes, I did read the review. The Icy Box has ethernet and the facility to add an internal hard disk. But I would say those are the only differences to other devices. The WD device plays back all video files and can output 1080p. In the months I have used the device, I have never experienced any buffering problems that the Icy Box apparently has.
Personally I think that spending an extra £120 for a few more output ports, internal drive capability and ethernet is not worth it.
I should have written a better message than "wtf" to be fair.
I did read the article. I apologise and realise I should have wrote something better than "wtf".
I can definitely see your point and I agree that it is kind of overpriced but it's something like a new market and it'll take some time until prices have come down to a more normal level. My guess is that paying for all those licences makes the RISC chip quite expensive but if the WD drive plays them as well... maybe they just overcharge customers "a little".
Let's see how things develop within the next 6-12 months.
Do not forget the MP309 also has a NAS feature (UPnP, Samba, NFS & FTP)
.... and can also be operated via RF wireless keyboards ;)
Either my player is defective or the firmware is VERY defective.
Hi Amarrak
Sorry to hear you are experiencing troubles with the device, did you try the latest firmware?:- http://www.raidsonic.de/de/data/driver/firmware/IB-MP309HW/01-17-090204-15-DST-403-000.zip
After trying this version of the firmware if you still have the problems please arrange for the unit to be sent back to Nanopoint for service. This problem sounds to me like a heat issue, you could check that the heat sink is correctly seated however I would suggest letting our technition look at it in case you cause any damage to the PCB or void your warranty. Please visit our care forum on here and visit the Icy Box to discuss this further.
let me know how you get on.
The device was bought two days ago. If I can't find a problem - I'll send it back to shop.
I have this Icy Box IB-MP309HW few weeks now, first a had some problem, but installed the Firmware 01-17-090125-15-DST-403-000 and was looks working fine until a while when I realised all the setup menu went inactive. I woud like to install the new firmaware, but I cant clik on it. :( Any idea what I should do?
And an other thing the fan is whistling very often.
Thanks
Hi Spityu
Did the first firmware update complete? Firstly I would suggest opening the device, removing the hard drive etc and then put it all back together, It could be a loose connection causing problems. Try this, if it does not resolve the issue please come into the Nanopoint support forum and click on ICY BOX to discuss this further:- http://forums.bit-tech.net/forumdisplay.php?f=98
Hi xgrey
I've contacted raidsonic this morning out this development, I should have more information for you soon.
My problem is when i want to watch 1080 P movies if bit rate bigger than 20 Mbps movie start to jumping pictures and DTS sound disappears.
Is it formal. I mean Was Icybox made only " >20 Mbps bitrate" or problem only my ICYBOX?
Please help.
I see a couple of you here have one already so if I may ask:
1) Iso playback : Does it handle the menus or does it just play the movie? (this seems to be an issue for the wd players)
2) The interface : Is it customisable (change colours, bg images, etc) or (maybe you, Nathan will know) are there/will there be skins available?
Really appreciate any answers guys.
Theoretically, i have updated the box to the latest firmware. I say theoretically as i started the update process and went away. After an hour or so, i came back but the box was frozen with black screen on it. I restarted it, it works now and the latest firmware is apparently used (when i go to the update menu it says no updates available), but of course i cannot be sure that it is really updated.
I would like to keep the box, so do somebody has an idea how to minimize the freezes?
many thanks!!!!
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