Customer Reviews

EGREAT EG-R1 HDTV Streaming Network Media Player with Torrent Downloader (MKV, DIVX, ISO, Realtek Chipset)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have this EG-R1 NMT for 3 days. It is the worst experience I ever had after purchasing a stuff.

The item is a media player which connects to an external hard drive. However, this item keeps freeze and reset while I am browsing the video file list. After working with the seller back and forth many times, the problem is still not resolved. I think this product is not either stable or mature enough to be a commercial product. I am sick and tired to do testing and debugging for the manufacturer. I am attaching the conversation between me and the seller for your reference. Let's just hope I can get my money back.

Me:
The EG-R1 keeps freeze while I am parsing the movie list on HDD. I can not use it at all because of this issue. What should I do?

Seller:
Thank you for your inquiry!
The behavior is consistent with too many files in the root directory.
We suggest organizing media files into several directories.
ONMP USA

Me:
Thanks for your reply. However, the folder which I have problem is not the root directory and there are only 20 video files in that directory.

Seller:
There could be many non-media files (including corrupted, hidden and system ones) interfering with the media file search.

Me:
I removed all srt subtitle files from the folder. Also I make sure there are no other files 6 avi files and 1 mkv files in this folder. All these files are playable on PC. But I still have the freeze problem EVERY time I parse the folder in EG-R1. Every time it freezes, several seconds later, it restart itself. To me, EG-R1 is totally unusable.

Seller:
Please try EG-R1 with another USB media. The current USB media may need re-formatting.

Me:
FYI, it is not a USB HD. It is a brand new 1.5 TB SATA drive I just purchased from Amazon. I connected it to EG-R1 with sATA interface.

Seller:
Was the (e)SATA disk formatted by EG-R1? I have a similar setup with 1TB eSATA and 1TB USB HDD's formatted for NTFS.

Me:
Yes the 1.5 TB SATA HD was formatted by EG-R1.

Seller:
We plan to test EG-R2A and EG-R1 with 1.5TB or 2TB HDD this week. We suspect SATA HDD needs to be NTFS formatted and then with a player.

Me:
I do not think the bug is related to big SATA hard drive. I have noticed that if I press button very slow, for example, press scroll down at least 3 seconds after last time pressing scrolling down, it is probably OK. It is definitely a UI bug. I am sick and tired to do testing and debugging for EGREAT. I demand a refund!

I just got my Egreat EG-R1 through a local shop.

Some feedback...

I use an external Buffalo 250GB USB HDD formatted to NTFS.

It works with .mp4 h264, .rmvb, .ogm, .avi, .mkv, divx, xvid encoded video files.
It even worked with .wav audio. In one (out of two) .mp4 h264 file, seems the subtitles where being displayed out of sync, that is not the case when played on my HTPC. The PQ however was excellent specially with the .mkv files at the shop's HDTV.

However, was not happy with the PQ (looked like a pixelplus enhanced image - yuck) of that same .mp4 h264 file when displayed at the shop's HDTV, but at home it looks excellent on an old CRT TV though via composite. My HTPC rendered that same file beautifully on my HDTV.

At home, this same problematic .mp4 file (PQ and subtitle problem) has been rendered perfectly using the EG-R1 and my HDTV. I didn't change anything (firmware).

On a quick .avi (paused video frame) test at the same timecode using my HDTV, EG-R1 (via component, HDMI), HTPC (via DVI-VGA), seems EG-R1 component was giving me the best PQ (more natural) followed closely by the EG-R1 HDMI then the HTPC via DVI-VGA, go figure. Seems I need to adjust my HTPC settings.

On another quick test .mp4 h264 (paused video frame) test at the same time code, the EG-R1 HDMI gave the best and sharpest image, followed closely by the HTPC DVI-VGA then a far third by EG-R1 component.

The EG-R1 might have some issues with .ogm-xvid files. When a scene pans from say left to right...it sort of skips (a video stutter if you like), but the audio is fine. Watching it makes me dizzy, it is noticeable. The same file works fine on an HTPC. Sometimes, you would need to load the video twice inorder for audio to work.

It doesn't look like an internal drive (2.5" or 3.5") can fit in due to the large heat sink inside the unit.

The unit does get hot...not sure if additional cooling is needed.

Overall I am satisfied with the EG-R1 (almost bought a generic/unknown brand HDD player at another local shop for the about same price that couldn't even work well with an external USB HDD).

I just hope it doesn't burn-out from the heat

I also like the fact you can adjust the subtitle font size and color, and choose audio/subtitle languages via the remote.

If you decide to upgrade the firmware like I did, just download it from Egreat, extract it, and put the .img in the root directory of your USB device. Go to setup/system, do the upgrade twice (first time nothing happens), the unit will take over from there.

EDIT Nov 20:

I have tried using the EG-R1's coaxial and HDMI to my receiver and 720p/1080i projector. I must say, it gave an excellent AQ and PQ. I also like the fact that extremely long filenames are displayed by the EG-R1, it scrolls them automatically from left to right instead of concatenating them. It also has a preview, just highlight the video file while still in the select menu, and the highlighted file is played by the EG-R1 on a smaller window next to it.. neat feature. So far, from the tests I have made, I would say the EG-R1 has trouble playing only less than 1% of all the videos I have collected for the past 3-4 years and I have about 2+Terra Bytes worth. It also played the DVD backups I have made using DVD decrypter, all you need is to play the .IFO file. I can also confirm that it did not work with .AVI files encoded using FFDS. The video files I have for testing are no larger than 720p 4.5GB, so I cannot confirm how well the EG-R1 would work with extremely large 1080p 10-30GB video files.

To Egreat makers: The case, though made of nice black aluminum, really looks like an electronics project for a high school, and I don't know if this would work, but what would it take to upload an existing codec that someone made that does all formats (like klite codec) into an Egreat's flash memory for it to work as well as an HTPC?

I am [still] very satisfied with the EG-R1 despite the minor shortcomings. Good value for the money.


E. Gutierrez
Manila, Philippines

I am addicted to foreign movies, but watching them on my computer has become unbearable. My friends from Europe recommended the player to me. I am very happy with the purchase, especially after discovering that it plays all Sony AVCHD home videos as well as all my pictures and music!ONMP-EGreat EG-R1 HDMI Network Media Player