There's a good reason why I choose Himedia HD600A to be my 1st HD media player. Seeing that people tend to give good comment regarding their firmware support I felt it'll be safe to bet on them for a 1185 player.

My decision is correct, at least I think it is ^^; HD600A is officially released on 10th April 2011 in China. 1st batch HD600A comes with 1.0.1.17 firmware I think. On 15th Apr they released 1.0.1.21, on 19th Apr they released 1.0.1.24 and on 25th Apr 1.0.1.29 firmware. You have to admire their dedication to fixing bugs. Also there's even DIY firmware for 1.0.1.29 out today, but I have problem downing from the China file sharing site

I think although price factor is important, but you can't really go wrong with what brand most ppl use in China. Himedia, MyGica, Kaiboer, Eaget are some of the more brands HDPfans seems to favour. It doesn't matter who made these player brands, the key is you have a better chance of having better firmware with more IMS, features, etc.

Back to HD600A. Comparing it the Eaget M9 (1283) I just bought for my dad. I find that HD600A plays 1080p movies better over the network. M9 after playing a few mins might freeze a little, but H600A doesn't have this problem. This was also mentioned in a recent China review for HD600A.

HD600A is slim and nice, with a metal casing. The heat generated is acceptable, but if you put a SATA HDD on top, it becomes a little too hot^^; So do look into the casing if you were to get a fanless design 1185 player.

M9 have more IMS compared to HD600A, but the player had been out barely a month. Give it sometime I think the firmware goodies will increase^^ Web browsing is a plus for HD600A, I believe most (if not all) older players don't have this. Tried connecting USB keyboard and mouse to HD600A, I can surf the net, but the typing interface could be improved. It's good for very basic surfing.

Youtube don't work well for HD600A yet, but YoutubeXL works nicely. PPS doesn't work, although M9 PPS works for me.

Hope my sharing will be of use to u.^^

edit: Based on a review, HD600A build-in wifi works better than 1073DD+ player. On his network 1073DD+ gets 3xxx but HD600A get 4xxx.

Regarding AC Ryan, I suggest you look in Singapore WHZ forum.

This post has been edited by lordsbm: Apr 27 2011, 11:13 PM

I don't have PS3, but I do believe HD600A is worst than PS3. The whole interface is still buggy. Surfing net is still better on PC lol

When I put the modem closer (about 2-2.5m away), my wifi speed is about 5xxx to 9xxx. Enough to play 720p movie over wifi without too much interruption.

Ya I'm streaming from PC. I bought a media player cost want to save electric bill lol <15W vs 200-300W (on my HTPC).

HD600A is also reviewed to work better as a NAS than it's precessor. What other wifi usage u thinking of?^^; Stream movie, play IMS, browse internet. Is there anything else?

no flash support, just simple surfing. I don't enjoy browsing on media player or with iptv^^;

Youtube requested for flash 10, at least that's what it display.

I don't have an Iphone, but the new Himedia + DIY firmware has added these support^^

一、测试平台

硬件：42寸飞利浦电视
海美迪HD600A(标准版）
IPAD 16G（wifi版）
西数绿盘 1T

软件：基于官方HD600_1.0.1.29版固件

福星数码DIY测试固件

IPAD iOS 4.3.1
测试高清片源若干
imediashare 3.1 for iphone （APP商店下载，有免费版）

二、测试内容

1.HD600A对BD1.0导航支持
2.DIY固件试用情况
3.智能手机和HD600A的推送（DLNA)功能试用

IMS RSS I'm still trying, but the DIY firmware has added HDPFans IMS, so the main IMS in China are all in now^^

I have a mid-end Internet LED (Sony NX710), it can't play some of the common video formats If you don't stream from NAS/network PC & don't need surf net, a 1073DD+ or 1283DD+ player will be sufficient and cost effective^^

Compare to Eaget M9, I like HD600A better. Simple and easy to navigate. For file browsing there's list and thumbnail view.

For photo can refer to this review^^ only difference is the language I use is english and my remote is english^^

http://hd.zol.com.cn/226/2262681.html

Edit: actually Eaget M900 GUI looks nice too http://hd.zol.com.cn/223/2236983.html


This post has been edited by lordsbm: Apr 29 2011, 12:37 AM

see the photos^^ I can't really read Chinese too

Do make sure the remote you get is in English. I think I'll get a bit of headache when I ask someone to help me buy a set of of either HD600B or MyGica V8 from China end May. The remote will likely be in Chinese >.<

Edit: I think MyGica and Giec players are quite similar, think can cross firmware. But this is at own risk^^; IIRC MyGica R5 firmware can work with Giec HD230.

This post has been edited by lordsbm: Apr 29 2011, 12:51 AM

Facebook, Sina, ESPN, BBC, WeatherBug, Yelp are in RealPilot IMS

Edit: .33 firmware and .33 DIY firmware were released today. DIY firmware they took away Yahoo Finance IMS and replaced it with HDPfans IMS^^

This post has been edited by lordsbm: Apr 29 2011, 12:28 PM

Think it can only put 15 IMS on the layout. The firmware given by Himedia still have it, just that the DIY they replaced it with HDPFan.

Make sure u test out before u buy^^ enjoy^^

specs for HD600A
http://www.himedia-tech.cn/en/product_show.php?id=24
specs for HD600B
http://www.himedia-tech.cn/en/product_show.php?id=25

it's as powerful as what other 1185 player. The only diff I find is they really work hard on their firmware support and they make effort in the design for their players.

Firmware is important to me cause it's a new player, there're a lot of bugs. A good company normally will get the bugs fix faster, where as 3rd party or unknown brand will wait for other better brand. Also there are a good user based who are willing to DIY firmware. Like yesterday, Himedia release .34 firmware (.33 was 1 day before), within 18hrs, there's a DIY firmware out

I do advise if you wanna get HD600B, wait to see if there's any heat issue. Fanless 1185 player with HDD may have heat issue if the casing is not well design. Also if you intend to put HD600A (aluminium case) in an enclosed area (like small gap in tv rack), it might get a little hot but still acceptable. I don't think plastic fanless casing will be good.

BTW China Taobao sellers just gotten their HD600B stocks yesterday I think. So it'll soon be in Singapore and Malaysia^^

edit: Here's a seller in TB who had gotten the HD600B stocks^^
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9922227555

This post has been edited by lordsbm: May 1 2011, 04:16 PM

latest firmware is 1.0.1.34, but it's buggy. Suggest you use .29 which is more stable. It's a nice small compact player with network function^^ I believe I'd also pm you the DIY firmware, but do remember to use at ur own risk^^; Have fun^^

ya it's a good player^^ actually there's a design fault for wifi version, think it'll be valid for HD600B too. The fault is the metal casing and internal wifi, it reduced the connection speed by quite a bit >.< Maybe getting a non-wifi version with a usb wifi dongle might be a better choice (at leatst I think it'll work).

there's no indexing for HD600 yet.

edit: Just found out there's a new firmware^^ http://dl.himedia-tech.cn/HD600/HD600_1.0.2.0.rar

This post has been edited by lordsbm: May 7 2011, 05:33 AM

Yet to try, but based on my understanding of it's log, 1.0.2.1 (released today) have included file sorting^^

http://dl.himedia-tech.cn/HD600/HD600_1.0.2.1.rar

I won't be updating the official 2.1^^; I prefer to wait and get the DIY version^^

Main diff is maybe some download features and more IMS^^ If you don't wish to risk ur warranty, I suggest you stick to HiMedia or your seller firmware^^

Edit: Just tested DIY 2.1 firmware^^ Ya name sorting/indexing is working in file manager^^

This post has been edited by lordsbm: May 8 2011, 01:49 AM

Just to confirm, anyone else have problems with some vids in Youtube? Some or most unporpular vids will show "cannot play this file".