Freecom Network Media Player 35 - Firmware Upgrades
1) During random play (remote control key 0), the folder and internal files
in the folder can play randomly.
2) Folder password => with a 4-digit password, you can show/hide a private
folder.
3) Auto Off Function
2. Auto Off Function
- In the Setup menu, if you press 8 on the remote control, you can set the
Auto Off Function.
- Auto Off can be set after 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes
(1 hour), 120 minutes (2 hours) or 180 minutes (3 hours).
- You can set the Auto Off Function on Video files. You can set it on Music
files only in Play All mode.
Bugs fixed in version 1.4.8
1. After video play by Enter key, if a user presses FF or REW & then Enter,
the video will pause & the user has to press Enter once more to play.
This symptom is fixed.
2. During random play (remote control key 0), the folder and internal files
in the folder can play randomly.
3. While playing A.iso, if a user stops the play & immediately plays B.iso,
the play will start from a strange location. This problem is fixed.
4. Bugs fixed where Sleep Mode doesn't work in DVD_rip.
5. In the case of DVD files, because the DVD menu should appear after File
Play ends, the 'Shutdown after File Play' feature is removed. Only Sleep Mode
is allowed.
1. After pressing the remote control ENTER key to play a song (single song only) & while listening to it, a user can use the remote control UP/DOWN/ENTER key to move to another folder to select a different music file to play.
2. No audio bug in MPEG2 + AC3 files fixed
Of these, the most significant improvement is the ability to browse and select other song titles while playing a track - a major improvement in my view! So, the upgrade seemed worthwhile.
Installation
This was straightforward - download the file from the Al Tech site (http://www.airlinktek.com/).unzip it to the Player's internal HDD, run the Player in video mode and select the upgrade file and - so long as you don't power off during the process, all should be well, with the upgrade taking less than a minute. Don't be tempted to upgrade over the network - ie with the upgrade file on your PC - ithat does work, but there is much more possibility of a network glitch causing the upgrade to fail - which might ruin your Player - put the upgrade file on the Player's internal disk.
Did it work? Well, yes...and no...!
First, a brief word on my setup. My Player has a Samsung 300gb drive fitted (jumper set to "Cable Select"), formatted (via Windows XP) to NTFS, and containing around 260gb of ripped DVD and MP3 files. Currently running on Freecom's 1.4.7 firmware, it has worked fine since the day I got it (almost a year ago).
I rebooted and ran the Player after the upgrade and it appeared to run fine but when I tried to play a music track I got an error message "Unable to find any files on the drive". Same with video and photo files. I checked the network files and found I could stream music and video from a networked PC without difficulty. I also found that I could play all files from the Player's HDD through any networked PC. I then disconnected the Player, reconnected with USB and could read/write to the internal drive without difficulty. I decided the drive's jumper setting must be causing the problem, so I then tried every possible jumper setting, without success. Now suspecting a formatting problem, I repartitioned and reformatted the drive - still no joy, despite again trying all the jumper settings.Thinking the drive might have developed a fault - (seemingly very unlikely, given that it worked in every way except when accessed via the Player itself) - I partitioned and formatted another drive (a Western Digital 80gb), transferred some content via USB and installed it (with Master Drive jumper setting). It worked perfectly. So - it seems I have a Samsung drive which, for some reason, is incompatible with the Mediagate 1.4.9 firmware, yet worked fine with the Freecom 1.4.7 firmware. Stranger still, the incompatibility only shows up when trying to access content through the Player itself - the LAN and USB modes each work perfectly in both directions, with full read/write capability.
I did make a brief attempt to reinstate the Freecom 1.4.7 firmware but that failed. That may be because I was trying to do that over the network (ie - with the upgrade file located on a PC) or (more likely) it may be that the Mediagate firmware was identifying the file as either not being a genuine Mediagate upgrade, or that it simply is programmed to reject earlier versions. Won't know unless I reinstall the working drive, copy the Freecom upgrade file to it and re-try the firmware re-install.
Conclusions
Well, inconclusive so far, I'm afraid. On the strength of only ONE test, it would seem that the Mediagate 1.4.9 firmware IS capable of being run on the Freecom 35 Player - but there are currently some major concerns in doing so. On the basis of my experience, the Player seems to operate satisfactorily as a network streamer under the new firmware (but note that I have not tested this thoroughly yet!), and the internal HDD can be made to work, although that might depend on what type of drive you have installed. There seems a strong likliehood that you will lose access to all files stored on the drive (not a problem for me as I have a full, verified working, backup) and if you have to reformat (as seems likely) you will lose all those files permanently. And - the final concern - it does not seem likely that you can revert to the Freecom firmware should it all go skew-whiff!
My strong recommendation therefore has to be - DO NOT use the Mediagate firmware until solutions to these problems have been found. Meantime - I shall keep trying to sort the problems and will report back to the Freecom Forum if I find the answer!