Just ordered a-300

[Rick98761]

Like the subject said, I just ordered a A-300, pretty excited. I had been using my pc as kinda a sudo HTPC by running it into my projector and using XBMC. Kinda lead to hassles with my other stuff stealing focus on occasion and locking the pc down from anyone else using it.

Currently I rip all my blurays with makeMKV and store them in a bulk movies folder with just the files.

Few questions to help me prepare.
- will my current storage structure work ok? Just a bunch of files in a movie folder.

- I also thought about reripping some movies in full folder format so I can use the menus and special features since this player supports that. Do I just drop all the folders into a folder with the movie name?

-MakeMKV is set to just rip the forced subtitles. It does not mark them as forced. I leave them in PGS format. Does PCH autoplay the first subtitle in the file. Or do I need to remux the files and mark them as forced? Does PCH handle PGS subtitles fine? I know some players have a problem with them.

Anything else you think I should do to prep?

[halfelite]

First thing first yes putting all your movies in one folder works but it can get messy if you start adding local artwork/nfo files, Most people do something like
/movies/movie.name/movie.name.mkv Just to keep everything separate but it does not matter. make sure all your movie titles are good and clean something like moviename (year).mkv

Ripping folder, correct you will get a folder that is called bdmv just do something like /movies/movie.name/bdmv/

subtitles gets a little tricky, If they are not marked as forced it will not autostart them and it doesnt play the first file but it does play a track that matches default language. Under setup you set your subtitle language and if it matches it will play, so if your language is set to english and the tracks are titled english they will default play . There are still a couple problems with mkv/PGS but i have not tested lately there was an issue with the subs staying on the screen to long after the line had finished.

[Rick98761]

If I play straight from a bluray folder rip it should play just perfect regarding subtitles correct?

[halfelite]

correct

[Rick98761]

The more I read, the more it seems like thier are a lot of little quirks and what not. Is this exaggerated because of the Internet, or are you constantly having to tweak stuff?

[halfelite]

there are quirks but it depends on your media, For me I run avi/mp4/mkv without issue, I rarely use subtitles so no issue there, and i for the most part play 100% trouble free

[Rick98761]

Only subtitles I use are for foreign language sections in movies.

[accident]

these players are many peoples first experience with any media device or non-windows/mac.. so yes there are a hell of a lot of the same post making it look like widespread problems but it's mostly inexperience.

You'll probably need to tweak a few settings at first but you will not be constantly tweaking and adjusting things.. I also got tired of the htpc world, while better than it was 5 years ago, these boxes are far more reliable. not flawless but simple to deal with the flaws.