(Original Post) Preview : 'EVE' (1 Viewer)

emphatic

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    So, I'm gonna order an iPad pretty soon, currently trying to decide if I should get the Mini or the iPad2. Both should be able to run Eve fully when it's released, right? Or is one of them a better choice, hardware-wise? I'm leaning towards the Mini myself, but my girlfriend is concerned about the size, as the main purpose of this is that our children will use it for games and the Internet.

    Emph
     

    Scythe42

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    Don't get the Mini!

    No Retina display (same as iPad2). This is an essential and why I skipped the iPad2 and waited one more year for the iPad3 last Spring. Makes a huge difference if you use it for longer times.

    Also Real estate feels rapidly too small on the Mini especially if the main purpose is surfing/gaming at home.

    The current iPad is the right choice. Your GF and kids will love it. Perfect for surfing now and then on the couch or in bed if you are sick.

    Apple recently upgraded the processor and switched to the new dock connector. IMHO not a real biggie unless you already have some "old" speaker/docks that can't do Airplay.

    In addition, it's lightnight fast. Feels double as fast as my iPad3 from March. Display quality also improved, colors are even more accurate. Just the usual bump in components.

    This refresh was done quietly for Apple's manufacturing purposes, so they don't have to produce "old" connectors/cables as well as processors anymore. This allows faster shipping of the iPhone5 that's just catching up with demand. Foxconn can't produce them faster as they sell at the moment (contract upgrades as usually, all the iPhone4 people are now up).
     
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    emphatic

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    So, when the iPad2 arrives, what should I look out for to know I haven't been sent the old one? The new connector is a dead giveaway, and that's it then?

    Emph
     

    Scythe42

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    The smaller connector reveals it that it is the latest "revision". Exactly as shown on the Apple site.

    Also Apple doesn't sell the old ones anymore. That always applies to Apple. Once a refresh in hardware took place, the old ones are not sold anymore (unless a new product name is used). You will never get old "left over stock" revisions. These are used for repairs. Apple uses a fixed price (if not covered by warranty) on all repairs and give you a new one

    And as said don't go for the iPad2 either! It comes with the same 1024x768 resolution as the Mini. Forget it!

    The recent iPad is just called "iPad with Retina Display". Retina Display is an absolute MUST!

    The 100 bucks difference in price is worth it for the display alone. Not talking about the newer A6 chip you get more or less for free (plus camera and stuff, I personally don't care for) Just check the specs on the Apple page.

    Basically the iPad2 is the revision from 2011! Don't go for it, please. You try to save money at the absolute wrong place here.

    And do yourself a favor if it's in your budget: Get at least the 32GB version. 16GB are running out too quickly if your kids have several larger games on it, plus music & audiobooks.
     
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    johanj

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    I have not tested on an iPad2 so it's hard for me to talk about performance. A iPad 2 and a mini should have similar performance. My iPad third generation feels similar in performance to my wifes iPad 2 and Eve runs fine on my iPad third generation but I can not guarantee that everything will be smooth in your eyes.

    The size is up to personal taste, I'm happy with the size of the original iPad and would not like it smaller. However, in home automation industry they believe that the mini will be a hit because it is probably better when using it as a remote control only.

    The retina display makes a large difference and that is not available on the mini, yet. Rumors says that it will come to this version as well... So I would recommend you the latest regular iPad if you want to buy right now.

    With that said, if you buy it mainly for Eve. Wait until you can get Eve. Things are going quite well but I'm alone implementing right now and who knows if something comes up that will delay a release.

    Btw, I have been playing with streaming the last couple of days and I can now play Movies, Series, Recordings in Eve. Some issue with sound, it only play in headphones and not speaker, these things will be sorted so I'm hopeful that streaming will work without issues soon.
     

    Scythe42

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    How about HD streaming? What did you experiment with?

    I tried out various solutions but they all had terrible quality because of too much compression. And using players to stream HD MKVs (720p/1080p) didn't work as well. Wireless, pre-loading, splitting, decoding, playing at the same time was too much for a March iPad3 revision. Probably all players suck as they using the same code internally. Pre-Loading on the iPad = no issues.

    Of course battery died rapidly while playing MKVs anyway... Again that's caused by the players' overhead.

    Still looking for a decent streaming solution of MKVs in general.
     
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    johanj

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    I use the HTTP Live Streaming profiles that recently have been available in MPExtended. My HTPC is not powerful enough for for the HQ profile so have to use the LQ one. I stream 720p/1080p mkvs.

    The performance in Eve will be similar of using streaming in WebMP on your iPad.
     
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    Oxan

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    We might add remuxing-only streaming for some H.264 material in the future though, which basically means that MPExtended will just put the video stream in a new container (instead of encoding it again), and stream that to the iPad. That means low CPU utilization on the server, high bandwidth usage and a smooth stream on the iPad. The source material should be compatible with the iPad for that to work though.
     

    Scythe42

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    Thanks. Too bad, I will probably run into the same issue then.

    Mini in the Remote Control Market? Not with the low-res screen. But with Retina it could be a remote replacement hit given some decent software shows up and a Wifi-IR bridge can be used. RedEye is too bad from an app point of view and they don't make any use of the larger iPad screen. Also customization in their software is very limited.

    Any plans for supporting iTach Bridges? http://www.globalcache.com/products/itach/models2/ They have an open API. I'm using one as an Wifi-to-IR bridge right now with my own app (work in progress) as a remote on the iPad. It connects to an already installed IR blaster setup fine. Their app sucks, but they target more installers hence the API to allow integration of their products nearly everywhere.

    Only thing I am missing currently is a decent design. Aiming for a MP compatible Skin Engine directly on IOS itself with touch control interpretation that make sense. No streaming as it's just intended as a remote replacement including support for managing sickbeard/couchpotato over their APIs. Very cheap server part handles sending new graphical items to the iPad on request. Simple rsync daemon for elements I want to display (TVSeries MovingPictures stuff). Anything else is done by IR, where I use EventGhost for some more complex actions.

    Don't know if EVE would be a replacement for me. But I am eager to try it out as I am missing time to work on my solution. MPExtended wasn't something for me, when I last try it. Don't know where the development headed in the meantime.
     
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    emphatic

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    I totally misread you post about iPad differences, @Schythe42. I thought you meant that Apple secretly made iPad2 faster than the revisions that left their factories @ launch. :( Now I have to convince my girlfriend that we should go for the "New iPad" instead. Wish me luck. :) Personally, I don't think a 32GB is worth it, since we won't store music on it, I'll probably get a Spotify account instead or use Grooveshark.

    Emph
     

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