Connecting my X5 to an iRiver h340

[RealCf]

Hello everyone!
would it be possible to use my iRiver h340 as an external hdd for the Axim X5?
Do I need any special cables for that?

Thanks for reading!

[Fishie]

Nope, doesnt work.
The X5 lacks USB host capabilities.

[RealCf]

Nope, doesnt work.
The X5 lacks USB host capabilities.

Thanks for the quick answer.

[Menneisyys]

Hello everyone!
would it be possible to use my iRiver h340 as an external hdd for the Axim X5?
Do I need any special cables for that?

Thanks for reading!

Not cables, but a CF USB host card, e.g., that of Ratoc: http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/subpages/cfu1u.html

[Fishie]

I stand corrected.

[unuselessj]

Is it possible for the H3x0s to actually host the axim? If I remember correctly, those models have a usb host feature. I've been thinking about getting the h320.

[Menneisyys]

Is it possible for the H3x0s to actually host the axim? If I remember correctly, those models have a usb host feature. I've been thinking about getting the h320.

Definitely not. PPC's can't work as mass storage devices (there's no CardExport for WinCE, unlike for Palm - a big advantage of Palm OS), so there is no way to access a PPC's file system from a "dumb", non-ActiveSync-capable USB host device like the new iRiver hi-end models.

[Janak Parekh]

there is no way to access a PPC's file system from a "dumb", non-ActiveSync-capable USB host device like the new iRiver hi-end models.
While you are correct, the utility of this is in question anyway. The entire goal is to be able to access the iRiver's capacity from the handheld, and even the T5's USB Mass Storage functionality wouldn't be all that useful in that capacity.

--janak

[Menneisyys]

But, at least you'll be able to attach a memory card reader/writer to the iRiver, so that you will be transfer the local HDD's content to it. You won't be able to stream to the PDA; but, that doesn't really work with the present-day peripheral access drivers shipped with WinCE with video playing, due to the severely limited background-thread access/transfer speed.

You wouldn't really be able to stream hi-quality video from your USB hosted HDD to yoiur PDA, even if the latter was capable of USB hosting. You'll need then to resort to copying the multimedia content you want to watch to a memory card first.

A bit of warning: I don't know the new iRiver op. systems. It's possible it doesn't have full-fledged to-from copying/transfer capabilities. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the recent image tanks (I've tested several) can't put any file on the built-in HDD back to card, only files of previous backups, as they're meant mostly for one-directional backups. The iRiver may be similar to this. So, ask for other iRiver users before buying because you may end up with something completely useless.

[Menneisyys]

(A quick remark: I'm posting from my SA BT keyboard + PL720 combo via a very slow GPRS connection. This is why sometimes I can't quote previous messages - the 'Reply with quote' icon (not even its placeholder!) arrives very slow, sometimes over a minute. This also means my prev post was meant as an add-on to my prev. post, and not an answer to Janak.)

there is no way to access a PPC's file system from a "dumb", non-ActiveSync-capable USB host device like the new iRiver hi-end models.
While you are correct, the utility of this is in question anyway. The entire goal is to be able to access the iRiver's capacity from the handheld, and even the T5's USB Mass Storage functionality wouldn't be all that useful in that capacity.

--janak

Yeah, if you meant it'd be mostly useful for streaming multimedia stuff from the iRiver to the PDA, that's true. Too bad current WinCE access code becomes about an order of magnitude less efficient when run in a background thread, rendering multimedia streaming from e.g. a UAB hosted HDD almost useless, because of the constant stops in the video.

So, I don't consider WinCE's inability to be seen as a mass storage device a necessarily bad thing - if the iRiver has the ability to write any file back to the USB hoisted card reader, then it can function as a useful, high-capacity file store even for a PDA. If it doesn't, then getting a CF USB host card is the only solution to be able to transfger files from the HDD to the PDA.

(I've tested a lot of Image Tanks, before the new iRiver series hit the shelves, about their ability to write back to cards (my prev PDA was a 2210 w/o USB hosting and here in Europe the USB host card costs almost the same as a 40-60GB image tank itself). Unfortunately, not one was able to do that. This is why I don't think the iRiver has a fundamentally better op. system - its USB hosting functionality may be only meant for backing up stuff from the USB hosted device, not writing anything to it. Hope I'm mistaken, though...)

[Fishie]

I can stream a movie from a portable hard drive on my Sigmarion3.

Are you saying the same thing using the same drivers on a PPC that has USB host does not work?

[Menneisyys]

I can stream a movie from a portable hard drive on my Sigmarion3.

Are you saying the same thing using the same drivers on a PPC that has USB host does not work?

It DOES work - to a certain degree. The movie just stops now and then, while BetaPlayer is reading from the USB hosted hard disk. It's all sporadic and sometimes very hard to reproduce - it mostly starts after any kind of position change inside the file. So, you may be lucky not to have any stops at all, while, at other times, you'll get mad at its constant stopping.

[Fishie]

Wht causes that behaviour?
The PPC uses its ram as heap memory and has to reload instead of stream from harddisc as needed?

[Menneisyys]

Wht causes that behaviour?
The PPC uses its ram as heap memory and has to reload instead of stream from harddisc as needed?

http://www.firstloox.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2621&page=1&pp=15 , Picard, author of BetaPlayer:

"The difference is that BetaPlayer decodes video during file reading. At the moment almost all CF and SD drivers I saw are poorly optimized for background operation. This means it needs quite much cpu time to read data and if video decoding uses all the cpu then there is a problem. Only exception I saw is the SD driver in X50v."

[Fishie]

Wht causes that behaviour?
The PPC uses its ram as heap memory and has to reload instead of stream from harddisc as needed?

http://www.firstloox.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2621&page=1&pp=15 , Picard, author of BetaPlayer:

"The difference is that BetaPlayer decodes video during file reading. At the moment almost all CF and SD drivers I saw are poorly optimized for background operation. This means it needs quite much cpu time to read data and if video decoding uses all the cpu then there is a problem. Only exception I saw is the SD driver in X50v."

Actually, the Sigmarion does so as well.
There is a huge difference in performance with Betaplayer with and without the official Sigmarion SD patch.

We are talking around 50% difference on benchmark mode with the highest quality Matrix trailer on the betaplayer site.
I get 107% without the patch and around 160% with the SD update on the highest quality VGA res movie.

[bdoherty]

Is it possible for the H3x0s to actually host the axim? If I remember correctly, those models have a usb host feature. I've been thinking about getting the h320.

Definitely not. PPC's can't work as mass storage devices (there's no CardExport for WinCE, unlike for Palm - a big advantage of Palm OS), so there is no way to access a PPC's file system from a "dumb", non-ActiveSync-capable USB host device like the new iRiver hi-end models.

Any idea how WM5 or Softick Card Export II for Pocket PC and Windows Mobile (http://www.softick.com/pocket-pc/cardexport2/) changes the above statement?

Maybe someone with an iRiver could trial Card Export on their pocket pc and see if it works.