Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming QNAP issues

It is the 6 Nations isn't it, you are showing your age.

All Blacks to beat Tonga

Russ

Russ,

Meridian still have dedicated hardware for running Sooloos (plus some dealers are prepared to sell QNAP and charge for this to cover their time and warranty) so are not reliant on third party hardware.

But there are no control solutions that do not use third party devices, like Touch:PC on Windows or iOS Sooloos app. In case of former, Meridian recommend that the Touch PC device be solely used for Sooloos - much like C10/15 - several £000 vs several £0000 - so a win for Sooloos users that want a Cxx type interface even if they have to buy a dedicated PC to do it.

With QNAP, it's a similar scenario to Touch PC and iirc they recommend a dedicated device - similar significant cost saving to the user. But in case of store/core, Meridian have an alternative (MC200 and dealer supported QNAP), unlike control.

If Meridian don't have a product that they can sell, then they won't sell it. But they do have products, but not at the same price point of a DIY QNAP solution. Other alternatives exist as they say.

Ian

Do any dealers on HH sell QNAP's they fully support?

The MC200 is I believe currently the only core device available, if I have an MS or ID4x endpoint then the MC200 makes little sense as I am purchasing a second endpoint of lower sound quality than the MS or ID range.

Also storage with no RAID and limited to 1TB just to get the core which Meridian make available as a free download for the QNAP and do not specify a firmware version your QNAP must have.

Touch:PC you are correct should be run on a dedicated PC, not seen any restrictions saying you must not update Windows though?

Russ

I sell and support QNAP with Sooloos and have quite a few out there. I placed a warning about the QNAP firmware here last May.

I check periodically with Meridian and so far have been told to not update the firmware in the QNAP.

Generally when I sell a QNAP, it will come with the client's albums burned in it along with trainings on how to add albums, do backups and some basic troubleshooting should there be a problem. The QNAPS I sell are with the understanding that they are a dedicated stand alone appliance.

At some point, all new QNAP hardware will be unable to run old enough Firmware to allow Sooloos to run.

It would be nice to have some idea as to whether that date will be:

1. Around the time the fix is released
2. When the problem starts being looked at
3. When the QNAP Sooloos core is abandoned


?

Some public reassurance from Meridian as to whether the QNAP Core is actually an ongoing project would be nice?

Poking around QNAP's support site, I can find at least a couple of models where 4.2.1 is the **earliest** software available.

Given QNAP updates their firmware to solve problems, it seems unlikely they would be keen to keep building antique (broken) versions of their firmware each time they introduce new hardware to support a single third-party application.

Matt.

The current QNAP situation is appalling and if I were still a Sooloos customer, I'd make sure someone brought it up at the pub with any Meridian employees that showed up!

I am now of the opinion that QNAP is to be avoided.

I am minded to buy an MC200 instead of a QNAP/MS200 combo.

I started with Sooloos using a QNAP TS 253A (4gb memory) and once I had put it on 4.2.0 firmware I have had no trouble at all. Just avoid firmware updates (as Meridian specify) and you will be fine - and dedicate the QNAP to Sooloos. By shopping around for the nas it is the cheapest route to Sooloos that I could find - aside from finding a second hand bargain.

I am now of the opinion that QNAP is to be avoided.

I am minded to buy an MC200 instead of a QNAP/MS200

Spinaltap

So if I understand you correctly, Meridians lack of support or development for their officially released QNAP Sooloos core and storage app motivates you to buy an MC200
Note the only storage available for a Sooloos system aside from the non raid MC200 is QNAP.

Russ

Regarding QNAPs being too new to run old firmware, that may become true, but mine is a current model and can be downgraded (I did that). However, the firmware file I have (for the 253A) has a name that is of the form ....X53A.....and I discovered (through trying to help a Hiker with a different QNAP nas) that the firmware did not load on to non-X53A series nases. It would be interesting to know whether just editing the file name would allow loading.

Longitude0

The point is that you shouldn't have to do any of that.

Russ

Indeed - your dealer does it for you (eg Bruce at CMB Integrations) if you don't like doing such things yourself - but I do. And there is the wonderful Meridian Unplugged Forum with a wealth of knowledge and friendly help for those who would rather not pay a dealer - some of it coming from dealers (eg Bruce etc.), but also from really well informed people such as you. What more could one want? I have dealt with Meridian over many years (I mean HQ) and their response times even for simple requests is very poor.

I accept that this is not how it should be and it is evident that they are driving customers away. Unfortunately, as I have remarked before in the Meridian Unplugged arena, there is no rule of business that says companies can't make massive errors of judgement.