Thinking of a Vero 4K - some questions first

[dortmunder]

Hi. The Vero 4K seems to be what I’m looking for but I’d first of all like to be sure that:

A) I can easily connect it to my old hi-fi amplifier with a ‘one jack, two jack’ RCA cable, and
B) I can carry out a file search of the content of an attached HDD. I don’t mean ‘scraping’, just the ability to find all files with a keyword in their name.

The remote control is minimalist which worries me a bit as I’m used to buttons for everything. Will the remote let me:
C) turn srt subtitles on and off easily?
D) let me skip back and forward by varying intervals? (Given the absence of number keys, I guess you can’t jumpt to 10%, 50% etc?)

Many thanks for any help offered.

[sam_nazarko]

Hi,

@dortmunder

A) I can easily connect it to my old hi-fi amplifier with a ‘one jack, two jack’ RCA cable, and

What is the make and model of the receiver?

@dortmunder

B) I can carry out a file search of the content of an attached HDD. I don’t mean ‘scraping’, just the ability to find all files with a keyword in their name.

Yes

@dortmunder

C) turn srt subtitles on and off easily?

You need to select Sound icon then enable disable subtitles.

@dortmunder

D) let me skip back and forward by varying intervals? (Given the absence of number keys, I guess you can’t jumpt to 10%, 50% etc?)

Yes – these are called skip steps. You can adjust them so one press is 10s, two presses are 30s etc to meet your needs. These are done by time rather than a proportion of the length of the material you are watching

Do let us know if you have any questions

Cheers

Sam

[Kontrarian]

Also, if you find the remote to minimalist you could use a cell phone app like Yatse.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.leetzone.android.yatsewidgetfree&hl=en_US
That way you could use your phone to type out words and other nifty stuff (it’s got a zillion features).

[dortmunder]

Thanks, Sam and Kontrarian. My amp is a Denon PMA-735R (standard RCA inputs).
Excellent news that a file search is possible. Is it a matter of calling up an on-screen keyboard and using the arrow keys to pick letters?

Also, will the search cover everything on the attached HDD i.e. folders and subfolders or does it search in one folder only?

While I’m here, I take it the Vero automatically plays the ‘next’ file i.e gapless playback?

Thank you once again for your time.

[fzinken]

@dortmunder

My amp is a Denon PMA-735R (standard RCA inputs)

The Vero4k has a 3.5mm audio out so with the respective cable you can connect. But be aware that it is a multi signal plug means normal stereo cable might sometimes need to be re-positioned to work.

@dortmunder

Also, will the search cover everything on the attached HDD i.e. folders and subfolders or does it search in one folder only?

My understanding is that a recursive search for items not in the Library would not be possible (need to test)

@dortmunder

While I’m here, I take it the Vero automatically plays the ‘next’ file i.e gapless playback?

Yes, play next is possible for videos and music files.

But to be honest for audio (gapless) playback there are better option out there than a Vero4k.

[bluefuzz]

@fzinken

But to be honest for audio (gapless) playback there are better option out there than a Vero4k.

FWIW, I’ve not had any problem with gapless playback on my Vero4k for a long time (if ever) – and I use it as much for music as I do for movies …

[fzinken]

@bluefuzz

FWIW, I’ve not had any problem with gapless playback on my Vero4k for a long time (if ever) – and I use it as much for music as I do for movies …

Thanks for your comment. Maybe my comment was not accurate enough. Yes the Vero4k and Kodi can do perfect gapless playback. I just wanted to avoid disappointment as for plain analog playback I believe there are more suitable devices.

[bluefuzz]

@fzinken

I just wanted to avoid disappointment as for plain analog playback I believe there are more suitable devices.

Yes, of course. I admit I’ve never tried the analogue outputs on the Vero4k as OP seems to want to do.

[grahamh]

@fzinken

I just wanted to avoid disappointment as for plain analog playback I believe there are more suitable devices.

For a device to play analogue audio in the best ‘golden ears’ quality, there are indeed better choices, but the OP wants to play video as well - presumably 4k. For my ears, the analogue output is fine.

If you are referring to the functionality (eg gapless playback, repeats, playlists) then I’m not sure what could be better than Kodi (OSMC).

[dortmunder]

Thanks, guys. As long as one video is automatically followed by the next then I’m happy.

Maybe someone could expand on the ‘Library’? This sounds like it might be a ‘scraper’ based function which doesn’t interest me. What I’d like is what I had with my old WDTV Live Hub – my HDD had Folders and SubFolders which the WDTV would search through in one go when I entered a keyword.

If the ‘Library’ is indeed a scraper, can it be bypassed so that the Vero simply deals with my collection as it is currently structured?

Am I right in saying the Vero isn’t a player, it just provides Kodi as the player? Or can other players’ software be used? Again, my thanks.

[grahamh]

You don’t have to use the Library but things get a lot easier if you do. Have a look here

[Wiki] Noobs guide to Kodi

Getting started with Kodi This is not supposed to be a detailed How-To but a brief overview of Kodi for those unfamiliar with it with some things to consider when setting up your system. Inspired by this thread. Kodi is a mediacentre which is available for a wide range of devices. It can organise all your audio and video media files and on-line sources; share its database of your media with other devices; grab data from the internet relevant to your media (artwork, artist bios, subtitles, …

and in the Kodi Wiki.

@dortmunder

Am I right in saying the Vero isn’t a player, it just provides Kodi as the player? Or can other players’ software be used?

Vero is designed to work with a customised version of Kodi. Kodi provides the GUI, so other software will not work if it relies on a windowing environment like X11.

[bluefuzz]

@dortmunder

If the ‘Library’ is indeed a scraper, can it be bypassed so that the Vero simply deals with my collection as it is currently structured?

The library and the scraper are two separate but related functions. Kodi needs the movies and music files to have a regular – and to certain extent configurable - naming scheme to able to be added to the library. When adding to the library the scraper can go out and find cover art, posters, fanart and other metadata about the movie/music being added. If your movies/music already conform to a naming scheme Kodi can understand then your files can be added to to the library with or without scraping any metadata.

Personally. I prefer to ‘scrape’ the metadata using an external program like TinyMediaManager and then set Kodi to ‘use local information’. This keeps metadata independent from Kodi itself and makes setting up a new device much quicker.

You don’t have to add your files to the library or scrape any metadata, but I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to as it makes the using the device much more useful and enjoyable.

[Phydeaux]

The Kodi search function (actually its an addon called Universal Seach) is confined to items contained in the library - it won’t search for filenames on a mounted share or video/audio source.

Cheers,
Robert

[dortmunder]

Thanks for that. A trickier topic than I expected… I have hardly any movies or TV shows stored, that’s why I have no interest in Movie Art etc. No database in the world would suit my collection of vids as they’re mostly personal. I’ve found this:

“…each directory on your network containing media files has to be defined as a source in Kodi, and videos have to be classified as above before scanning the files to the library”

“NFO files can be used to provide metadata to the library. They are helpful if data for a particular file does not exist, such as for home movies.”

I’m not streaming or using a NAS, there’d just be a HDD USB’d to the Vero. If I made my HDD a ‘source’ and classified my videos as ‘(other) Videos’ am I then free to search that HDD (folders and sub-folders)?

Or would I have to use those NFO files?

[sam_nazarko]

I think File Manager will let you do this.
How are your files named? Setting up a library may be easier than you think.

Sam

[Phydeaux]

No offense Sam, but Kodi’s File Mangler I wouldn’t wish on an enemy. Frick is that thing bad… Lol…

Cheers,
Robert

[sam_nazarko]

It’s a little rough around the edges, yes.

[grahamh]

The simplest thing for you to answer questions about file management is to download Kodi for Windows (or whatever OS your computer runs) and play around with it while refering to the Kodi Wiki.

[bluefuzz]

@dortmunder

No database in the world would suit my collection of vids as they’re mostly personal.

I wouldn’t say that at all. It just means you have to provide your own metadata (which need not be anything more complicated than a title) rather than Kodi scraping it from online databases. Again, I would recommend TinyMediaManager or similar for that.

Unless you only have a small handful of movies you really want to get them into the Kodi library somehow to benefit from Kodi’s GUI and search functions etc.

But as Graham suggested, you can download Kodi for pretty much any platform and have a play with it. The functionality will be essentially the same on the Vero4k.

[dortmunder]

My sincere thanks to you all. Putting Kodi on my PC is an excellent idea but I’m not going to bother. From what you’ve told me, file searching should be doable (without all that scraping nonsense) so I’ve no qualms about buying a Vero.

Are there any current Coupon Codes, does anyone know? There’s a space for one in the shopping section but I can’t find any online…