iPlayer review now up

[Sinkhead]

iPlayer review now up
By Toni Plutonij
Toni Plutonij has finished his review of the iPlayer, the slot-1 flashcart known best for its revolutionary built-in processor which allows videos to be played in their native format without having to convert them to DPG or to other specialist DS-only formats.

After Shaun's initial impressions, will the cart really be as good as it sounds?

 Read the review

 Visit the DS iPlayer website

Thanks to Gamezway for the sample unit!

 

[sepinho]

Really nice review of an interesting card, thanks Toni.

Two questions remain for me:

• This is somewhat nitpicky, but since AVI is actually a container format for audio and video codecs, it'd be interesting what the actual codec was. And Xvid should be added to the codecs tested.
• Given that I've just ordered an SCDSTWO, will it have all of the iPlayer's multimedia features and its GUI for that?

 

[House Spider]

The iPlayer and Supercard DSTWO have different GUIs.

 

[shakirmoledina]

looks kinda rushed but if it were well tuned esp mpeg then that would be better (though i dont think ppl use mpeg often)
those who travel long distances on train or so, can get this rather than a laptop as the battery life is much greater even though the iplayer sips more power

 

[Killermech]

Nicely done Toni! I bought mine for mostly watching anime and playing GBA.
After replacing the game config file for the GBA emulator, then it played the games really good.
As for the anime, not much success. As it turned out most fansub groups were hiding H.264 codec conversions as avi files.

So I basically just watch movies and regular series with it now which is all good

Seems S. DSTWO will be the ultimate card once it arrives!

 

[Toni Plutonij]

Really nice review of an interesting card, thanks Toni.

Two questions remain for me:

• This is somewhat nitpicky, but since AVI is actually a container format for audio and video codecs, it'd be interesting what the actual codec was. And Xvid should be added to the codecs tested.
• Given that I've just ordered an SCDSTWO, will it have all of the iPlayer's multimedia features and its GUI for that?

Thanks for nice words.
When testing files/formats, I simply went trough the list that iPlayer team created. I know that AVI is actually a container, but even with the way I tested it, it took a LONG LONG time to get a result for everything, so imagine if I went into it even deeper.
I've tested numerous AVIs, (big variety of codecs and filesizes) and never had any problems with it, so I think that everything "within standard" will work.
Xvid works as well

(haven't added any formats out of the list made by iPlayer Team)

For now, I have no idea how will SCDSTWO handle multimedia, I'm pretty sure that GUI will be completely different, I'm under impression that it'll be actually the same cart, with firmware coded in a way that it supports ROMs.
We'll know for sure once we have it "in hands".

QUOTE(Killermech @ Apr 7 2010, 12:49 PM) Nicely done Toni! I bought mine for mostly watching anime and playing GBA.
After replacing the game config file for the GBA emulator, then it played the games really good.
As for the anime, not much success. As it turned out most fansub groups were hiding H.264 codec conversions as avi files.

So I basically just watch movies and regular series with it now which is all good

Seems S. DSTWO will be the ultimate card once it arrives!

Hey man, haven't seen you in a long time

I thought you left temp, good to see you here..
Thanks!
I use DS for multimedia quite a lot, so I really loved this cart. It could be way better if some small things get corrected, but it's very powerful, no doubt about it.

Unfortunately it can't handle H.264 codec as it's really too much for this little thing, but any 700MB divx movie, or 320MB series episode you throw at it, should work

SCDSTWO indeed sounds like it'll be ultimate cart, but we'll see..I'm having high hopes for it.

 

[sepinho]

I've tested numerous AVIs, (big variety of codecs and filesizes) and never had any problems with it, so I think that everything "within standard" will work.
Xvid works as well

(haven't added any formats out of the list made by iPlayer Team)
I see, thanks for clearing that up!

QUOTE(Toni Plutonij @ Apr 7 2010, 01:25 PM) For now, I have no idea how will SCDSTWO handle multimedia, I'm pretty sure that GUI will be completely different, I'm under impression that it'll be actually the same cart, with firmware coded in a way that it supports ROMs.
We'll know for sure once we have it "in hands".

Okay, I'll have to wait until my SCDSTWO arrives to see the multimedia GUI. I was hoping that it would have a button on the SCDSTWO's GUI that would launch the iPlayer's established interface for audio/video features. I really like the nifty sliding blade panel thingamajic the iPlayer has.

 

[WiiUBricker]

Nice review, but you forgot to mention the codecs of your videos. AVI works only if its codec is supported.
FLV works onky if its codec is supported as well. I own an iPlayer too and have a lot of avi, wmv, flv files that dont work because of unsupported codecs.

 

[Matthew]

Great Card, great review, BUT why was the GBA Emulator not mentioned????

 

[rockstar99]

Awesome review Toni, looks like you finally posted it now I can stop bugging you lol
Good work!
:yayiplayer: ?

 

[Jakob95]

Well I yesterday I was looking for a GBA emulator review about it but couldn't find any off them. I was hoping that GBAtemp will mention the emulator. Anyways nice review Toni for the iPlayer. After all the iPlayer is meant to play media not gba games.

 

[rockstar99]

Well I yesterday I was looking for a GBA emulator review about it but couldn't find any off them. I was hoping that GBAtemp will mention the emulator. Anyways nice review Tony for the iPlayer. After all the iPlayer is meant to play media not gba games.

Its Toni not Tony

 

[benjaminlibl]

Wasn't there already a review of this before?

 

[Arm73]

Great review, but I'd like to see more details.
For example the GBA emulator you say it works, but how well does it work ? Should we expect a separate review for that ?
Also you can't read e-books, but how about plain txt files ?
I like to download gamefaqs from the internet and view them on the DS, how's the output on the iplayer and how well does it work as a text reader ? Does it support bookmarks or search options ?
Still too many unanswered questions..........

 

[Toni Plutonij]

Okay, I'll have to wait until my SCDSTWO arrives to see the multimedia GUI. I was hoping that it would have a button on the SCDSTWO's GUI that would launch the iPlayer's established interface for audio/video features. I really like the nifty sliding blade panel thingamajic the iPlayer has.
Yeah, it does look very nice and sleek, and works great. I'm guessing that SCDSTWO will have even better working GUI, but few more weeks and we'll know for sure!

Nice review, but you forgot to mention the codecs of your videos. AVI works only if its codec is supported.
FLV works onky if its codec is supported as well. I own an iPlayer too and have a lot of avi, wmv, flv files that dont work because of unsupported codecs.
I didn't know codecs used for all AVI videos I've tested, and it would be virtually impossible to actually test ALL options, and ALL configurations.
That's why I said that most, if not all "within standard" files will work. Almost any Movie you download and is 700MB - 1400MB in size will work, same goes for shows that are 350MB in size.
Nobody expects that BlueRay rips of 4GB in size should work.

Great Card, great review, BUT why was the GBA Emulator not mentioned????

But it was mentioned (it's listed under working homebrew)

only I didn't tested it thoroughly.
Thing is, this is an iPlayer review, and even tho it's a fairly big selling point for most of the people, it is simply one of the many homebrews that iPlayer supports.
It wouldn't be quite fair to give a big section to GBA Emulator, and not to say Moonshell, or NES Emulator, or some other homebrew.
I agree that GBA Emulator should be properly tested and reviewed, but this wasn't place to do it.

QUOTE(Arm73 @ Apr 7 2010, 05:47 PM)

Great review, but I'd like to see more details.
For example the GBA emulator you say it works, but how well does it work ? Should we expect a separate review for that ?
Also you can't read e-books, but how about plain txt files ?
I like to download gamefaqs from the internet and view them on the DS, how's the output on the iplayer and how well does it work as a text reader ? Does it support bookmarks or search options ?
Still too many unanswered questions..........

For GBA Emulator, check the answer before.
Considering eBooks, I've meant txt files as well.
It can't read any text or picture files

I really don't know why, and hope they'll fix it in the future. As I said in the review, you can easily start Moonshell on iPlayer, and read txt files, have bookmarks and view pictures, but in my opinion, iPlayer should support these "basic" files natively.
This, and some other small illogical things resulted with the silver award rather then gold!

 

[WiiUBricker]

Nice review, but you forgot to mention the codecs of your videos. AVI works only if its codec is supported.
FLV works onky if its codec is supported as well. I own an iPlayer too and have a lot of avi, wmv, flv files that dont work because of unsupported codecs.

I didn't know codecs used for all AVI videos I've tested, and it would be virtually impossible to actually test ALL options, and ALL configurations.
That's why I said that most, if not all "within standard" files will work. Almost any Movie you download and is 700MB - 1400MB in size will work, same goes for shows that are 350MB in size.
Nobody expects that BlueRay rips of 4GB in size should work.

I disagree with you here. In this time the x264 codec is very popular. Xvid/DivX are simply outdated. Unfortunately iPlayer cant handle the x264 codec properly. Many FLV videos have a similar codec like x264 and they dont work with iPlayer. I ripped some videos from youtube and other places, some worked, some not. So it's a question of luck if downloaded videos contain a supported codec or not ;-)

Furthermore, iPlayer cant handle video sections properly that contain many different colors and actions like fireworks or quick motions.
But it's still a fantastic cart for those people that dont want to play commercial roms with it.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

You are right that x264 is becoming the "standard" now, and more and more popular, and that iPlayer doesn't support it.. You're completely right..
I had a bit different experience with downloaded FLV files..Most of them were YouTube downloads, and out of 15+ videos, all worked....however, it was probably good luck then.

But then again, just to test it and write review like this, it took me a looooong time...I did the best I could, of course, there could be said a lot more about this topic. One could go much deeper into codec support, setup for converting files etc.

 

[sepinho]

You are right that x264 is becoming the "standard" now, and more and more popular, and that iPlayer doesn't support it.. You're completely right..
I had a bit different experience with downloaded FLV files..Most of them were YouTube downloads, and out of 15+ videos, all worked....however, it was probably good luck then.

Youtube has only recently (as in the last six months or so) switched to x264 for the FLVs. That means that more recent Youtube videos won't work on the iPlayer without re-encoding, which basically defeats the whole point of the device.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

You are right that x264 is becoming the "standard" now, and more and more popular, and that iPlayer doesn't support it.. You're completely right..
I had a bit different experience with downloaded FLV files..Most of them were YouTube downloads, and out of 15+ videos, all worked....however, it was probably good luck then.

Youtube has only recently (as in the last six months or so) switched to x264 for the FLVs. That means that more recent Youtube videos won't work on the iPlayer without re-encoding, which basically defeats the whole point of the device.

This is something that I didn't know, and kinda answers some questions

Thanks for letting me know....and I agree....that does defeat the basic point of the device..
As I said, more and more movies are actual BlueRay rips, rather then DVD rips, and such vieos can't be played on iPlayer......so this cart will loose it's main purpose trough time..
But it's still way more powerful then any other cart on the market (currently).

 

[Another World]

there is a lot more homebrew out there then what was tested for this review. infact that very small sample hardly represents the nds homebrew scene. i would like to see 30 or more homebrew projects tested. this card, after all, boasts an ability for homebrew, yet hardly anything was tested.

also the gba emu there should be a mention as to what roms were tested, what worked, what didn't. just putting it in green means it works but with no real description. that emu has played a big part in the sales of this kit. i understand that the inner workings of a homebrew project are out of the scope of any review, but this review has an emu specificially coded for that 1 card. this section of the review should be expanded upon.

otherwise great review.

-another world