[ricko01]

James (or others)...

1- What is the native USB version on the BDP-1 (2 or 3)
2- Do the USB ports have enough current to power a USB drive (ie USB self powered drives)
3- Any restrictions on drive type (PATA/SATA/ESATA)...but should be transparent to the BDP-1
4- Any resstrictions on addressable drive size
5- I saw some mention of support for NAS storage... if this happening anytime soon?

Thanks,

Peter

[Welly123]

James (or others)...

1- What is the native USB version on the BDP-1 (2 or 3)
2- Do the USB ports have enough current to power a USB drive (ie USB self powered drives)
3- Any restrictions on drive type (PATA/SATA/ESATA)...but should be transparent to the BDP-1
4- Any resstrictions on addressable drive size
5- I saw some mention of support for NAS storage... if this happening anytime soon?

Thanks,

Peter

Hi Peter,

1 - BDP-1 USB ports are V2.0
2 - The rear ports can power connected devices as long as they are designed for that purpose.
3 - As long as the HDD "external" i/f is USB, then the drive's internals are not relevant
4 - For full read/write capability across your network, the connected USB drives need to be formatted as FAT32, I think this then limits the capacity to 2TB, but I'm not 100% sure. I have a 1TB connected, formatted as FAT32 with no issues. Please consider that the greater capacity and higher number of files will take longer to scan when the BDP-1 is powered-up.
5 - This is effectively already in place. My FAT32 formatted 1TB HDD is visible on my network and I can read/write to it from multiple connected PCs, Mac Mini, Media Player etc. The same is true for any USB sticks that are connected.

Regards

Russell

[James Tanner]

Thanks Russell - said better than I could

james

[vengky]

Hi Peter,

1 - BDP-1 USB ports are V2.0
2 - The rear ports can power connected devices as long as they are designed for that purpose.
3 - As long as the HDD "external" i/f is USB, then the drive's internals are not relevant
4 - For full read/write capability across your network, the connected USB drives need to be formatted as FAT32, I think this then limits the capacity to 2TB, but I'm not 100% sure. I have a 1TB connected, formatted as FAT32 with no issues. Please consider that the greater capacity and higher number of files will take longer to scan when the BDP-1 is powered-up.
5 - This is effectively already in place. My FAT32 formatted 1TB HDD is visible on my network and I can read/write to it from multiple connected PCs, Mac Mini, Media Player etc. The same is true for any USB sticks that are connected.

Regards

Russell

Hi
I assume that you won't be able to play from another hard drive which is connected to the same shared network but not directly connected to the BDP. Is this correct?

[Anonamemouse]

Hi
I assume that you won't be able to play from another hard drive which is connected to the same shared network but not directly connected to the BDP. Is this correct?

This is correct. The BDP is not a streamer.
It IS possible to write to the disk connected to the BDP via the network.

[Welly123]

Hi
I assume that you won't be able to play from another hard drive which is connected to the same shared network but not directly connected to the BDP. Is this correct?

Correct, the BDP-1 can only play from directly connected USB drives/sticks. This is a design decision in order to maintain the "simplicity" of a USB transport and not mix-in network streaming.

You can however play the files located on the USB drive when connected to the BDP-1 from other capable devices on the same network. i.e. I have a ViewSonic VMP74 media player that also uses Samba HDD share software, this can "see" the HDD connected to the BDP-1 and access/play the music files (even the 24/192 res ones, not bad for a £100 device).

Regards

Russell

Edit - Beaten to the punch by Anonamemouse...

[vengky]

Thanks for the replies. I think another thing we should avoid is using the hard drives which have separate power supplies. Might just introduce additional noise into the system.

[TomS]

Are there limits on how much current the USB ports onboard  the motherboard can source?

[Welly123]

Are there limits on how much current the USB ports onboard  the motherboard can source?

Yes there are limits, I believe the USB spec is 5VDC/500mA, more than enough for most 2.5" HDD and quite a few 3.5" HDD.

Regards

Russell

[James Tanner]

Are there limits on how much current the USB ports onboard  the motherboard can source?

I will check - but I think the rears are capable of 2.5 amps

james

[TomS]

I will check - but I think the rears are capable of 2.5 amps

james

Never mind.  It's definitely plenty.

[loopyground]

Hi Peter,

1 - BDP-1 USB ports are V2.0
2 - The rear ports can power connected devices as long as they are designed for that purpose.
3 - As long as the HDD "external" i/f is USB, then the drive's internals are not relevant
4 - For full read/write capability across your network, the connected USB drives need to be formatted as FAT32, I think this then limits the capacity to 2TB, but I'm not 100% sure. I have a 1TB connected, formatted as FAT32 with no issues. Please consider that the greater capacity and higher number of files will take longer to scan when the BDP-1 is powered-up.
5 - This is effectively already in place. My FAT32 formatted 1TB HDD is visible on my network and I can read/write to it from multiple connected PCs, Mac Mini, Media Player etc. The same is true for any USB sticks that are connected.

Regards

Russell

Hi Russell:

You obviously have a handle on how to get music files to a USB 1TB HDD connected to your BDP-1 and it sound like getting music files to USB sticks is just the same.  I have a wireless network and my BDP-1 is connected by Ethernet to my network router.  I can see any USB HDD drives or USB sticks (all FAT32) connected to the BDP-1 when I open up Bryston Max but how do I copy music files to these USB drives or USB sticks?  I thought cut and paste as I have been doing now but I have to dismount from the BDP-1 and connect to my desktop computer to do this.  Can you tell me exactly where I paste the files to please?  Once I copy the music files I know how I am supposed to update the drives or sticks under “Settings” in the Bryston Midi but I’m darned if I can see where to paste the files.

I visited Bryston factory back in October and I was eagerly awaiting my BDP-1 which I had ordered back last May as I could see that this piece of gear would likely be what I was looking for……simplicity and the ability to play high quality music even without a computer involved. 
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=86873.msg848038#msg848038
I was amazed at how easy it was to get music playing and listen to the USB stick of HD Track HD music that came with my BDP-1 (000039).  Even though the music was not what I usually listen to I was awestruck by the naturalness, detail and expanded soundstage.  Unfortunately I have not had a great deal of time of late to enjoy my new toy but I have noticed that even regular ripped CD’s sound more natural and dynamic than when played back through my BDP-1 / BDA-1 rather than my Transporter / BDA-1.  I will comment more later but I must say that 24/192 downloads from Linn that I had listened to previously now sounded amazing but ,of course, the Transporter would only play up to 24/96 so until now I had never listened to true 24/192.  As an example, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 downloaded from Linn filled the whole end of my 14ft x 22ft listening area and the soundstage was deeper than I had ever experienced in this room previously.

Cheers,
Roger

P.S. Finally figured out how to get music files to a USB stick on my BDP-1.  The BDP-1 player was hiding in Workgroups and I guess I never saw it.  The process is so easy and now I figured it out I will change a 1TB external USB HD from NTFS to FAT32.  Being a new one that I purchased on sale way back it has nothing on it to lose when I change the file system to FAT32.                      

[ricko01]

Correct, the BDP-1 can only play from directly connected USB drives/sticks. This is a design decision in order to maintain the "simplicity" of a USB transport and not mix-in network streaming.

You can however play the files located on the USB drive when connected to the BDP-1 from other capable devices on the same network. i.e. I have a ViewSonic VMP74 media player that also uses Samba HDD share software, this can "see" the HDD connected to the BDP-1 and access/play the music files (even the 24/192 res ones, not bad for a £100 device).

Regards

Russell

Edit - Beaten to the punch by Anonamemouse...

I am going to try a USB  drive cradle as a test... they are cheap enough...using a 2.5" drive... which is USB powered

If the sound from the drive is minimal... its a great way to move files to the drive (obviously would need two... one on the ripping PC and one connected to the BDP-1)

Peter

[Welly123]

P.S. Finally figured out how to get music files to a USB stick on my BDP-1.  The BDP-1 player was hiding in Workgroups and I guess I never saw it.  The process is so easy and now I figured it out I will change a 1TB external USB HD from NTFS to FAT32.  Being a new one that I purchased on sale way back it has nothing on it to lose when I change the file system to FAT32.                      

  You asked and answered your own question before I even had a chance to read it...

There is another factor that should be considered, as was published in the latest copy of HiFi News: Don't leave unused drives/sticks connected as this can decrease the sound quality. In this case it refers to higher levels of digital jitter, I won't scan/post the full article here as I might infringe some rules, but here is the jitter plot, with the Red element representing an unused but still connected USB drive.



I'm not sure if these "timing issues" will be audible at <-90db, but to ensure optimum sound quality (which is why we're buying these things, after all), its probably better to disconnect unused USB devices. I'll stick to my single 1TB drive, rather than multiple smaller devices.

There should be no impact on sound quality with the BDP-1 due to the way it uses the drives and reads the data, but why take a chance when its not necessary and why risk the possiblity of introducing noise into a system.

Regards

Russell

[alexone]

  ...strange things are happening. jitter from an unused USB drive. weird!

al.

[Welly123]

...strange things are happening. jitter from an unused USB drive. weird!

Its mainly directed at synchronous/asynchronous streaming audio data from a USB drive where timing is critical and potentially audible, but the BDP-1 doesn't rely on these timing elements, so it should be immune.

The article is really quite interesting, but unfortunately is not detailed enough. There is also reference to USB cables making a measureable difference to digital jitter, where a 5M "bell wire" USB cable has 4~5db lower induced jitter compared to an expensive "audiophile" 1M cable...

Regards

Russell

[BrysTony]

You asked and answered your own question before I even had a chance to read it...

There is another factor that should be considered, as was published in the latest copy of HiFi News: Don't leave unused drives/sticks connected as this can decrease the sound quality. In this case it refers to higher levels of digital jitter, I won't scan/post the full article here as I might infringe some rules, but here is the jitter plot, with the Red element representing an unused but still connected USB drive.



I'm not sure if these "timing issues" will be audible at <-90db, but to ensure optimum sound quality (which is why we're buying these things, after all), its probably better to disconnect unused USB devices. I'll stick to my single 1TB drive, rather than multiple smaller devices.

There should be no impact on sound quality with the BDP-1 due to the way it uses the drives and reads the data, but why take a chance when its not necessary and why risk the possiblity of introducing noise into a system.

Regards

Russell

Is there a link to that article that you could post?
Tony

[Welly123]

Is there a link to that article that you could post?
Tony

Afraid not, HiFi News is not available on-line, its hardcopy only. They do post some test reports online (http://www.milleraudioresearch.com/avtech/index.html) but this article is outside of their "normal tests" and not showing online.

Russell

[alinto]

Anyone worried about usb powered drives drawing too much power. When I was in the market to buy a 2.5 inch external hard drive, i came upon a discussion group that warned about using some powered usb drives.  Some of the drive drew more power than what the usb port was rated at.  That is why there are y-usb cables - to plug into 2 usb ports simultaneously to draw more power.  I am using a usb dock just incase.