Simple MP4 player

[sleah]

Can anyone suggest a simple, stand-alone (ideally not PI or equiv based) MP4 video player that can be configured to play a video on a loop from power up with no user intervention?

 

I've got a little Sumvision Cyclone Micro2 but it won't play from power up :(

 

Something I can stick on the back of a screen that will be switched off overnight (screen & player), possibly using a timeswitch.

[timsabre]

If you want an industrial quality device look at Brightsign products eg LS424.

 

https://www.brightsign.biz/digital-signage-products/LS-Product-Line/LS424

 

[eamon]

Hi

 

The sumovision players broke my heart with a plethora of random issues from not starting to just not behaving.

 

I know you said no to Pi but I use video looper on a pi for this type of auto playback. Has worked perfectly for me without issues. The cost works out a bit more than the sumo players but still great value for money.

 

https://learn.adafruit.com/raspberry-pi-video-looper/overview

 

I did look for cost effective media players and did not find anything worthwhile except the Pi's.

 

 

If money is not an issue, then definitely go with Bright sign. Par excellence.

[sleah]

Hi

 

The sumovision players broke my heart with a plethora of random issues from not starting to just not behaving.

 

I know you said no to Pi but I use video looper on a pi for this type of auto playback. Has worked perfectly for me without issues. The cost works out a bit more than the sumo players but still great value for money.

 

https://learn.adafruit.com/raspberry-pi-video-looper/overview

 

I did look for cost effective media players and did not find anything worthwhile except the Pi's.

 

 

If money is not an issue, then definitely go with Bright sign. Par excellence.

 

As I read that article, I was warming to the idea of using a PI (I have one lying about!) until I got to the end and the dire warnings about not pulling the power without clean shutdown - which is very very likely to happen. When in use it would be nowhere near a network (or way to connect to one) so clean shutdown can't happen anyway.

 

Shame, it looked so promising. Unless you can tell me you've pulled power and it hasn't caused problems?? I might give it a try, nothing ventured etc :)

[the kid]

Brightsign stuff is great. we use quite a few for installs.

[J Pearce]

That video looper project should run fine on a read only filesystem once configured. See here - pretty much rules out SD corruption due to incorrect power down.

Not sure if the USB stick with the content on would get upset or not, I suppose you might be able to mount that read only too, would probably need some editing of fstab (before you make the root filesystem read only).

[sandall]

The sumovision players broke my heart with a plethora of random issues from not starting to just not behaving.

Can you expand on this? I've had no problems so far, but it would be useful to know what sort of problems might suddenly bite me.

[eamon]

The video looper is a simple (once set up).

You can dial in and manually run shut downs with adafruit.

 

TBH, I have just been pulling the power at the end of the night. The gallery power on/off is done by our box office so simple switches and lo-fi for all set ups. I have yet to have a problem with a card getting corrupted and I did worry about it at the start.

Yes, long term you will probably screw up the card but it is easy to have spares etc.

I have been using them this way for about 2 years with little hassle.

 

If you are worried re control, have a look at info-beamer.com

Fantastic display signage for rasp pi. Simple to set up and totally customisable from any browser.

Maybe overkill but free for 1no. Pi. Can do scheduler etc.

 

Eamon

 

Re the sumovision players, some of my issues:

 

a) formatting. Sometimes I would have to format the usb stick from a PC not a mac due to mac creating hidden folders. This was a random problem. Very random and often would appear very randomly....!

 

b) may autostart, may not. Again worked randomly with no obvious solution.

 

c) would stop recognising working formats mid way through runs.

 

d) remote control was hit and miss in terms of working.

 

e) I threw them all away!! Bought cheap and paid for it in the long run....

 

Eamon

[Dave m]

The sum vision should work on start up if you set the menu to do so?

You need to go to settings and enable video on start from memory? also to power up on mains interrupt

[eamon]

Howdy

 

I did all of the above and more. Checked and re-checked all settings every second day.

 

 

All the issues were random and the units would ignore/forget the settings.

 

The sumo players were just terrible and I could not move away quick enough. A gentle persuader was used to send them on their way...:)

 

I bought them online and "may" have bought copies without realising. I do not believe I did.

 

The Pi's with interchangeable OS give me a great deal of flexibility and worked with a little tlc.

 

 

Eamon

[themadhippy]

until I got to the end and the dire warnings about not pulling the power without clean shutdown - which is very very likely

A ups type circuit will overcome that,when mains power is lost it switches to battery, one of the gpio's detects the loss of mains power and triggers the shutdown command.

[TomHoward]

The sum vision should work on start up if you set the menu to do so?

You need to go to settings and enable video on start from memory? also to power up on mains interrupt

When they start up they are on standby, require the remote to wake from standby, but then they will autoplay from then if configured, is my experience. Never managed to get one to start from hard power on.

[sleah]

The sum vision should work on start up if you set the menu to do so?

You need to go to settings and enable video on start from memory? also to power up on mains interrupt

When they start up they are on standby, require the remote to wake from standby, but then they will autoplay from then if configured, is my experience. Never managed to get one to start from hard power on.

 

^^ This, yeah but, no but ^^

The micro 2 I have here powers up in standby. Even then it won't autoplay the only file on the USB, despite being set to autoplay... :(

[TomHoward]

The micro 2 I have here powers up in standby. Even then it won't autoplay the only file on the USB, despite being set to autoplay... :(

I think you need to put the content it in a folder named AUTOPLAY in the root of the drive.

The other problem we have with them is if you are using the USBs you are using for content in Macs you need to use an application like Blueharvest or manually delete all the hidden system files, or it tries to play them and falls over. Doesn't just skip the file unfortunately.

[Stuart91]

The other problem we have with them is if you are using the USBs you are using for content in Macs you need to use an application like Blueharvest or manually delete all the hidden system files, or it tries to play them and falls over. Doesn't just skip the file unfortunately.

 

We've had similar problems trying to play video files on USB sticks directly on some flatscreens. The Mac icon files are treated as images in their own right, so each photo in a slideshow, for instance, is followed by a GIANT icon image stretched to fit the screen.

 

Blueharvest looks like a great solution - thanks for suggesting it.