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Playing "ripped" CDs?

H

HumaxVictim

New Member
I assume that the HD-Fox T2 can playback MP3s stored on a USB memory stick but can it play "FLAC" files?
If not, is this facility available in any of the "Hacked" firmware versions?
 
HumaxVictim said:
I assume that the HD-Fox T2 can playback MP3s stored on a USB memory stick
Click to expand...
Yes, or from your internal HDD. Media >> Storage (blue) >> USB, Media >> Media (yellow) >> Music

HumaxVictim said:
but can it play "FLAC" files?
Click to expand...
No.

HumaxVictim said:
If not, is this facility available in any of the "Hacked" firmware versions?
Click to expand...
No, and we call it Customised Firmware - not "hacked".

Only the open source element of the software has been customised (with a few minor exceptions). The Humax black box code is almost impenetrable, and no standard OS drivers are provided for the video/audio output interfaces - therefore nothing can be done to add this or similar functionality that other people have requested (with monotonous regularity).
 
fenlander said:
Just about every other method you can think of of playing music files is probably better than using your Humax...
Click to expand...
I dare say that that is quite true. However, I just happen to have an HD-Fox T2 and a BluRay player in place and space is at something of a premium.

To be honest, my real interest was just curiosity about how widely adopted the superior "Free Lossless Audio Codec" (FLAC) compression method was, MP3 replay seems to crop up on everything but FLAC is almost totally ignored.


ps - Are there likely to be any significant advantages in using "Customised Firmware" rather than the latest Humax firmware? I now have three working HD-Fox T2 boxes, each with a 1TB USB HDD and I should perhaps think about having a play with Customised Firmware.
 
Click the links at the bottom of my post for more info. It's not an either-or, the CF adds facilities to the standard firmware - nothing is removed.
 
HumaxVictim said:
To be honest, my real interest was just curiosity about how widely adopted the superior "Free Lossless Audio Codec" (FLAC) compression method was, MP3 replay seems to crop up on everything but FLAC is almost totally ignored.
Click to expand...
Why would the typical man-in-the-street be interested in FLAC? Being lossless, it hardly saves any storage space to mention, and to the average listener in the average listening environment MP3 sounds good enough (especially at the higher bit rates). Storage is less of an issue these days, but MP3 became the de-facto standard for home digital audio while it was, and is unlikely to be supplanted now.

If you are interested in the original quality of the CD, there seems very little benefit in FLAC over the WAV file - unless maybe FLAC supports tagging and WAV doesn't?

Curiously enough, I hear that the "cool kids" are investing in turntables and vinyl, and debating whether direct drive or belt drive is best!
 
I still have my 1980's Marantz, Japanese-manufactured, direct drive turntable, complete with strobe for speed adjustment. It still sounds sweet. Back then a vinyl album cost £3-4; now one costs £20-30.
 
I'm sure I've got one knocking around somewhere too... but my only plans for it are to suck in the vinyl and then get shot!
 
Black Hole said:
Why would the typical man-in-the-street be interested in FLAC? Being lossless, it hardly saves any storage space to mention, and to the average listener in the average listening environment MP3 sounds good enough (especially at the higher bit rates).
Click to expand...
FLAC takes up less than half the space that WAV does and WAV doesn't support tags. MP3 at 320 kBits/sec is about a quarter the size of WAV.

However, you are right that the typical man-in-the-street listening on earbuds connected to a mobile phone is most unlikely to be able to tell the difference between FLAC and MP3 at 64 kBits/sec, in much the same way that HDTV doesn't magically turn Coronation Street into an artistic masterpiece.
 
The documented compression for FLAC is 40-50% reduction, which is somewhat larger than you say. I use MP3 at 192kbps, and I ain't listening through earbuds.

Frankly, while not wanting to start an argument, there's a load of crap shovelled around by "audiophiles" - I would dearly love to get them into a blind test and see if they really can pick out the difference between mega-expensive deoxygenated cable and a bit of cheap mains wire connecting their speakers. Even if they can, at the age of 30, I bet they won't at the age of 50.
 
On YouTube there are a number of audio tests that play different frequencies and tell you at what age you should be able to hear said frequencies. It is scary how much high frequency hearing you lose as you age. It is one on life's ironies that by the time you have enough money to afford a decent hifi your ears are likely to be too old to get the most out if it.
 
Black Hole said:
Curiously enough, I hear that the "cool kids" are investing in turntables and vinyl, and debating whether direct drive or belt drive is best!
Click to expand...
To cap it all, I've just been shopping in Tesco.... and they've got a shelf of vinyl 12" LPs! :eek: What is the world coming to? How long will this fad last???
 
Sainsburys are now selling Vinyl and my local Oxfam shop offers LPs at staggering prices - as much as £100 for a copy of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper!

I am amazed that people have the means to play these things - perhaps they just frame them?
 
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