E-great R6A-II - anyone have one? Jitter problems

[PhireSide]

Hey guys

So I bought the parents an E-great R6A-II media player with a hard drive to keep them busy since they got rid of DSTV a while ago, but lately I have been having issues with it playing certain files.

This one:



It has been running fine but ever since I bought them another hard drive (Transcend StoreJet M523), it has been very jittery in the playback. Most of the files are .mkv's around 300MB in size, so certainly not HD quality. If they pause the playback and resume after a while it seems as if it is better for a few minutes. To me it seems like it cannot stream the data fast enough, but it happens on small files around 300MB in size and even on larger ones close to 12GB. I have had them copy the files off the new HDD to the old one, yet it does the same thing. They reset the player to defaults and they say it is better but not like it was.

The player is around 2 years old, but I do not want to replace it with another unit just to have it do the same thing. Is there anyone here who has had the same issue? If I cannot get it fixed I will probably get them a new media player, but in the world of AC Ryan's and Mede8ters I won't know which one to get.

I don't need anything fancy, but it has to have a USB port, HDMI out and component out as they want it linked to the HiFi which only has composite connectors as well as the TV which uses HDMI. Can anyone recommend a good unit that would suit them best?

Thanks

 

[Yotch]

Have you tried copying the problematic mkv file over to a flash drive to test? Are you connecting a 2.5" portable hard drive or a 3.5" external with a separate power supply? Is it a USB 2.0 or 3.0 external (Transcend 25M3?)? The problem might be caused by a damaged/overloaded power supply.

 

[PhireSide]

It's a 2.5" USB powered one, the USB3 ones with the cables that do not have the splitter for additional power. Their old drive is a USB2.0 one with the y-split cable for additional power. Haven't tried playing back the file from a flashie yet - I'll ask them to give it a go.

Good news is that a friend of mine's parents have one too but their remote is bust so they aren't using it - I might ask if I can borrow it and narrow down the problem

 

[Yotch]

Try their power supply first but don't test it for long as you may overload it. It sounds as though the hard drive might have damaged the power adapter by drawing too much current. A USB 3.0 hard drive usually needs a lot more current than the 500mA which is the maximum that a USB 2.0 port can normally supply. The R6A-II should also have an eSATA port which you could use if both USB ports are damaged.