Sumvision Cyclone Mini PC (1 Viewer)

[deadmonty]

Okay, so unpacked and set up my JUSTOP G-PC Quad Core Windows 8.1 Mini PC this afternoon. Firstly, it is HDMI only. Not really that much of a problem for most people planning on setting this up as a TV Client, but if used as a basic PC with a VGA monitor, it won't work.

Despite being £30 cheaper than the Sumvision Cyclone, I found it to be of equal quality. Win 8.1 Bing is pre-installed and the computer launches straight into that with an American set up - so a bit of an adjustment required to correct the region and time zone settings. Nearly 900 Mb of Windows Update later it was good to go. Might be down to my house network topology, but the Ethernet connection seemed much quicker than the Sumvision's, despite both being 10/100. They do have different network chipsets though. In fact, the PC as a whole felt more responsive than the Sumvision. That aside, once MP was set up it worked like a charm and played all the different files I had, and HD TV without any dropped frames.

Interestingly, it also supports S3 perfectly, whereas my Sumvision Cyclone doesn't, although I do wonder if it is because it is connected via HDMI to an AV Amp. Switching off, or changing inputs on my AV amp upsets the Sumvision and it either locks up or turns off whatever it is playing and goes back to the home screen, albeit with either overly large or smaller than normal fonts. That aside both units work well, but my money is on the JUSTOP G-PC as being the better of the two.

 

[SpudR]

Nearly 900 Mb of Windows Update later

And many reboots no doubt...
This sounds like a better prospect - though I wonder what those Inter NUCs are like...
(Not counting the many £££s more they cost)

 

[deadmonty]

Nearly 900 Mb of Windows Update later

And many reboots no doubt...
This sounds like a better prospect - though I wonder what those Inter NUCs are like...
(Not counting the many £££s more they cost)

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/23/intel-nuc-review/ Very expensive once you've bought all the extra bits.

 

[SpudR]

Cute though
lol

 

[deadmonty]

S3 now works on my Cyclone. I've made no changes to it, it just started working correctly. Spooky.

 

[HTPCSourcer]

Here is my user report and setup description of the Justop G-PC Quad Core Windows 8.1 Mini PC, which I bought from Amazon UK for 90 GBP (ca. 125 EUR):



The PC comes in a small carton, together with the PSU and a 1m long HMDI cable.

A few things should be considered when installing in a non-UK environment:

• Power Supply
  • First surprise: the PSU is a 12V/2.5 A unit that comes with fixed electric UK connector
  • International users will either have to use a UK->EU adapter (ca. 2.50 EUR on Ebay) or buy a new supply at additional cost
• Power consumption
  • 0.3W when completely off
  • 4.5W Windows desktop, inactive
  • 8.0W TITANIUS home menu screen
  • 7.1W MePo fullscreen TV 720p source
  • 9.0W MePo fullscreen TV 1080i source
  • 2.2W standby with "modified" energy options (see discussion about USB)
• BIOS
  • Pressing DEL during startup gets you into a pretty complex BIOS
  • Initial settings are quite good and very little further tweaking is required
  • Power management
    • I activated the only disabled function (use all C-states)
    • There is no visible option for WOL (see discussion about LAN chip)
    • There are two choices for action after power failure: resume (S0 state) or stay off (S5 state). Because of missing WOL I choose the first option.
    • All other options were left unchanged.
• Installation
  • 1. At the first launch the PC is booting into an American Windows 8.1
    • There is one user account "Mini" (Administrator) without a password set
    • Unless you want to have "Mini" as your name showing in network environment, etc. you should now create a new user account for your MediaPortal activities with the desired name. If you set this up as administrator you can delete the old user account Mini or keep it as the admin account.
  • 2. Net 3.5
    • As you know .NET 3.5 is required by the MePo installer to run (not by the MePo software itself).
    • Activate .Net 3.5 in the Windows features before changing Region and Language information and connecting the PC to a WSUS update system, that you might have running
      • The Windows system is an English one and some system data and messages will always be in English
      • When activating .Net 3.5 the Windows Update is searching for drivers in the original Windows language (English), which it is not finding on a localized system. It then tries to contact the Microsoft update servers. With WSUS in place chances are big that the installation will fail.
      • Surprisingly, after the initial download from Microsoft, .Net 3.5 security updates install without issues from the localized WSUS
  • 3. Set up your localization under Region and Language per your requirements
  • 4. Windows updates
    • Run Windows update until all important updates are installed. Be patient - especially KB 2919355 takes more than an hour. As there is no HD indicator, you could get the impression that the update got stuck.
    • Updates for the in-built Bluetooth adapter and the Realtek WLAN chip are available. These are quite new (2015), hence you may want to install them.
• System setup
  • Windows
    • Deactivate lock screen to allow immediate boot into the desktop
      • Create a new registry key Personalization in HKLM/Software/Policies/Microsoft/Windows
      • Create a DWORD entry NoLockScreen and set its value to 1
    • Automatic logon
      • Press Win-R and enter netplwiz
      • Deactivate "User must enter a password"
      • Click "Apply", select the account that you want to use, enter the password (twice) and close with OK
    • Reboot to test if Windows is now booting into the desktop
    • Clean up already installed software and delete the pre-installed Microsoft Office
• Standby and Wake-up
  • The system will correctly enter S3 according to the Windows energy profile that you have defined
  • Unfortunately all attempts to wake the system up with mouse, keyboard or remote fail. You have to press the button on the PC
    • Reason: the original settings shut off all USB hubs when in standby. The LAN adapter is a "DM9621A USB To FastEthernet Adapter", no surprise that no WOL is possible.
    • Solution: open the device manager and search for the Generic USB Hub entry. Open its properties and deselect the energy option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".
      • This way the connected USB devices remain on.
      • The PC can now be resumed from sleep with the MCE remote
      • This comes at the price of increased power consumption of 2.2W in S3.
      • Note that WOL from S5 will never be possible
• WOL
  • Magic packets will not wake up the PC!
  • I tried all different possibilities, i.e. keeping all USB controllers active, yet without success

Lastly install MediaPortal, configure it and enjoy.

The complete installation leaves approx. 10-12 GB of the 32 GB Flash ROM available for other usage.

 

[PaulT]

Can anyone confirm either the Sumvision or the Justop etc. are capable of running the server side of Mediaportal 1? I have a Vbox IPTV box and need a cheap Windows box to run mediaportal server for my Kodi PVRs.

Thanks

 

[PaulT]

Well I ordered it last night so will have it tomorrow and will test it myself.

 

[PaulT]

So I've hit a slight hump with the setup. I can't get it to activate the copy of windows and it won't connect to windows update etc. I have already adjusted the timezone and don't know what it was originally set to, so am a little stuck as I can't get .Net installed, windows updates etc... any ideas? I don't want to risk a full restore incase it wipes windows entirely, as no USB or product key is sent with the unit.

 

[HTPCSourcer]

The Justop comes with a fully activated Windows, and there should be no need for activation. Is Windows actually showing the copy to not be activated?

It also contains a hidden partition for restoring the Windows to its factory defaults, however, I am not sure how this would be launched. Check out the screen messages when booting for something like "F11 - Restore" or similar.

There is always the option to contact the vendor or rather the manufacturer and inform him about the missing activation. This should not happen.