[zybar]

I have around 7000 albums and wanted to hear about other BDP-1 users and their experience with running large collections on the BDP-1.

How many drives do you have connected?

How long does it take to load in your collection?

Any performance issues adding more albums (this is a nightmare on Squeeze Center)?

Any performance issues with search or album art?

George

[werd]

I have around 7000 albums and wanted to hear about other BDP-1 users and their experience with running large collections on the BDP-1.

How many drives do you have connected?

How long does it take to load in your collection?

Any performance issues adding more albums (this is a nightmare on Squeeze Center)?

Any performance issues with search or album art?

George

George

I use only usb sticks. Will not and do not plan on using HD's for large access. The largest usb stick i own is 64 gbs. Are there bigger ones... don't know?


Album art is only accessible with flac on your computer, you get no album art on your bdp.

Can't really comment on load times with huge hd's but its a non issue with usb sticks. There were issues with load times early on. From what i understand it fixed load time lengths on huge drives.

What it boils down to with me is its a usb stick flash drive player. You take a hit with gb size but you get to play redbook and hirez files with all its glory unhooked to a HD or comp. At first the bdp navigation was a little confusing. Got it mastered now and very often i just wiz through the bdp navigation to find songs rather than use the computer. 

The bdp and bda looked at home in your system - get black though and hurry up... hehe

[jtwrace]

Just curious why you wouldn't go the Mac Mini route using Pure Music and be able to have as big of a library as you want all controlled with your iPad?  Keep in mind that with Pure Music the music is played from memory so the HD doesn't affect the sound it just stores.  I would really suggest with a library that big you look into somethign like that and then use SuperDuper as a backup program if you don't do a NAS system (which isn't really recommended for a bootable backup).

Also, you've mentioned that you like tubes, why not use a tube Dac?

Just curious. 

[zybar]

Jason,

I can have a large library with the BDP-1 and I will control it with my iPad.  I have already used MPAD and I think it is a better interface than iPeng which I have been using for quite some time.

I believe that a stripped down and purpose built computer source such as the BDP-1 can be as good, if not better than a Mac Mini.  Having heard what the Bryston combo can do in my system, I am more than happy with my choice.  I know that it is a good match and helped produce the best sound to date with my system.

I have my entire collection already backed up and will continue to do so.

Given that I have tubes in my preamp and amps, I don't feel that I am losing anything by not having a tube DAC.

George

[skunark]

I have about 1500 albums on a 750GB Western Digital bus-powered portal drive so I can avoid a wall-wart and will add a second 750GB WDC drive when I finally can find hi-res music from the last decade or two.    The initial scan took about an half hour but since then it's just been less than a few minutes.   

Since the BDP is sadly limited to 500 mA per USB port on the rear (with front-two sharing current with one of the rear ports), you will most likely need a 3TB or larger drive with 7k albums.  I would probably be less interested in the brand of the HDD/enclosure but more interested in the type of power supply provided.   This is where I wish Bryston would offer an enclosure even if it wasn't the same form-factor of the BDP.   But i'm a ways off from having 7k albums, but I think I can probably put close to 2k album per 750GB drive and be content for several more years.   

[alexone]

Skunark,

i have a 1tb and a 500 gb drive connected on the BDP-1's back (1tb lower usb input, 500 gb upper usb input). both are WD and NTFS. one thing i still don't understand is that Minion can 'see' and load the 1tb drive but not the 500gb drive which has to be loaded by MAX. after that the content of the 500 gb drive is listet in Minion's playlist as well...

al.

[skunark]

Skunark,

i have a 1tb and a 500 gb drive connected on the BDP-1's back (1tb lower usb input, 500 gb upper usb input). both are WD and NTFS. one thing i still don't understand is that Minion can 'see' and load the 1tb drive but not the 500gb drive which has to be loaded by MAX. after that the content of the 500 gb drive is listet in Minion's playlist as well...

al.

Good to hear that I can connect up to two 1TB drives.  If zybar uses FLAC over AIFF or WAV then that might be enough for 7k albums?  I've switched to AIFF for CDs and FLAC for most downloads, so I'm guessing I might be able to hit 5k, which should last me a several more years. 

You might try the new firmware.  There seems to be a "scratch disk" feature that might help out your scenario.  Maybe James can elaborate?     

If it's what I think it is, i'm guessing all you would need to do is resize your NTFS partition on a drive that you plan to be a permanent fixture to the BDP so that you can create a small FAT partition.  The FAT partition probably only needs to be a few GB and you would mount that as your "scratch disk'.  Perhaps a small thumb drive would also do the trick. 

[zybar]

Ok, you guys are confusing me...

I thought that I could have multiple drives hooked up at the same time and see everything without any issues?

I did this when the BDP-1/BDA-1 combo was at my house.  I had a self-powered 2GB drive connected to one of the rear USB ports and a 16GB thumb drive connected to one of the front USB ports.  Will things behave differently if both drives are self-powered 2GB drives?

George

[James Tanner]

Hi George,

Yes you can connect 4 different drives and they will be seen by your interface as 4 different drives.  I name mine so it is easy to manage. 

The only caution is once the drives get to the 1TB size and larger the USB connections on the BDP-1 may not be able to power all 4 drives at once.  That is because the spec for powered USB  ports are limited (500ma). So I usually recommend putting the largest drive on the bottom rear USB connection on the BDP-1 and share the other 3 with smaller drives.  Once you get into 2 and 3TB drives buy the powered versions of those drives and then there are no issues at all running them with a BDP-1.

I have a system at home with a powered 3TB drive and USB powered 1TB drive and all works extremely well.

That is why I am thinking about offering a powered SATA drive docking bay to go with the BDP for those folks that want huge storage attached to the BDP-1.

I would say this though - from an ease of operation standpoint I prefer smaller drives to one larger drive. So two 500GB drives works better than one 1TB drive when it comes to playing with different playlist etc.

James

[zybar]

James,

While the BDP-1 sees 1-4 actual drives, MPAD or whatever interface I use will see one complete collection - correct?

I am not following why it is "easier" to use multiple smaller drives vs. larger ones?

George

[James Tanner]

James,

While the BDP-1 sees 1-4 actual drives, MPAD or whatever interface I use will see one complete collection - correct?

I am not following why it is "easier" to use multiple smaller drives vs. larger ones?

George

Hi George,

NO - the BDP-1 will 'see' four separate drives not one large drive - unless you have one large drive of course.  I just like the smaller drives because accessing them and moving from drive to drive is just a bit easier in my opinion than having one big long list.  For instance I have a few 16GB thumb drives with my favourite high-res stuff on one - my top 100 songs on another, my 'I feel moody' on another  etc.

james

[zybar]

Hi George,

NO - the BDP-1 will 'see' four separate drives not one large drive - unless you have one large drive of course.  I just like the smaller drives because accessing them and moving from drive to drive is just a bit easier in my opinion than having one big long list.  For instance I have a few 16GB thumb drives with my favourite high-res stuff on one - my top 100 songs on another, my 'I feel moody' on another  etc.

james

Hmmmm....this is different than what I remember during my brief time with the BDP-1.  I had two drives connected, but I don't recall seeing two artist or song lists...I thought I saw all the music that was available on either drive.

I don't want to slice up my collection and have to remember what drive a particular artist is on in order to hear them - simply want to see all of my artists via the interface and select what I want.  So I can't do this?   

George

[James Tanner]

Hmmmm....this is different than what I remember during my brief time with the BDP-1.  I had two drives connected, but I don't recall seeing two artist or song lists...I thought I saw all the music that was available on either drive.

I don't want to slice up my collection and have to remember what drive a particular artist is on in order to hear them - simply want to see all of my artists via the interface and select what I want.  So I can't do this?   

George

Not unless you have one big drive - want me to cancel the order?

james

[James Tanner]

One of the advantages of the SATA drive docking station I am thinking about to go with the BDP-1 is you will be able to configure the drives as one large drive or two mirror drives or 4 smaller drives.

james

[terrycym]

Using MPaD and multiple drives, select "Artists" and artists from ALL the drives appear in a single list. You don't get this in Max which handles each drive seperately.
At least that how it works for me.

[zybar]

Using MPaD and multiple drives, select "Artists" and artists from ALL the drives appear in a single list. You don't get this in Max which handles each drive seperately.
At least that how it works for me.

Terry,

That's how I thought it worked for me as well...but based on James' comments, it has me thinking otherwise.

George

[James Tanner]

Terry,

That's how I thought it worked for me as well...but based on James' comments, it has me thinking otherwise.

George

You know what ... I may be screwed up here -   I never use the 'Artist' feature (always use the Browse feature)  - and your correct it does 'see' all artists on all attached drives and also Album view see's all the drives as one.

Boy - please give me some time to wake up guys

james

[jtwrace]

I've switched to AIFF for CDs and FLAC for most downloads,

I'd recommend using one format such as AIFF.  I always convert any FLAC to AIFF using Max.  http://sbooth.org/Max/

[OgOgilby]

George,

With MPad the Album, Artist, Song, or Genre list ignores how many drives are attached. For example, if you use the Artist list and select an artist, every album from that artist will show up, no matter what drives they are on.

If you use the Browse feature, MPad will allow you to browse the individual drives and directories.

-Greg

[zybar]

I'd recommend using one format such as AIFF.  I always convert any FLAC to AIFF using Max.  http://sbooth.org/Max/

My whole collection is in FLAC and I have no plans on switching to AIFF or any other format.

George