PicoPix Max 8 month Update | Why I am Disappointed with my PPM

#Philips #PicoPixMax #8Month #WifiProblem
Hi Everyone! It has been almost 8-month since I have my PicoPix Max mobile projector. I really think the projection hardware is great. Overall, I enjoy the viewing experience very much. But the firmware is still very glitchy, that most apps unstable to use. I am going to share my biggest disappointment of the PPM with you all in this video.

[@moshe0340]

Thank you you have been very helpful

[@kaidoshun143]

Great Video! I already watched it 2 years back and also thought 700€-800€ were too much, considering how many issues you had with the software. Now it is currently listed for 399€ on Amazon. Would you recommend it for this price? Did the software improve in the last 2 years? I heard there were issues with the Netflix app, which would‘t properly output FHD - is this still the case?

[@tech.gate.28]

I'm thinking of ordering this one, I'm not really into using the apps directly in the unit, but it's definitely a nice feature, however it's concerning that the wi-fi doesn't work properly.

[@KaLokHong]

I don't really use the app either. The picture qualities are awesome. I am not sure if the wifi problem is only limited to some units. If you don't need the apps, I think the latest PPM One would be a better buy. It is a lot cheaper than the original PPM, and with the same resolution and brightness. Thanks for watching my video!

[@ehsanjaan7314]

At the early production there was a lot issues and later they fixed most of the issues and I have 2 of them never come a cross with WiFi issues at all.

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks a lot for the suggestion! I will look into it.

[@clarrot]

Have we tried mirroring it? in 2022, the screen mirroring feature freezes everytime I try to isolate the audio to come out of my macbook instead.

[@naufeldekli9004]

hello, We are going to contact you and have a look at it with our engineer. Don't worry we will take care of it. If it's defective, we will change it.

[@jomzisvlog]

❤️❤️❤️ problem solve!

[@moshe0340]

Thank you for your response I have another question Is this device can be charged with power bank while its working

[@KaLokHong]

I believe so. I remember seeing some viewers may have commented in my other videos. But you need a powerful power bank with a USB-C connection. The ac adapter it came with was rated with a 65W output, and up to 20V at 3.25A. I am not an expert in this, these are only the ratings I copied off from the adapter. Thanks!

[@gaeuman]

I bought one second hand for 200 bucks to use as a portable projector on the go. My recommendation is to completely ignore the built in software and use a phone as the brain of the device or install the VLC Media Player and use a USB Stick. The processor is slow, so don't expect it to run movies bigger than 8 GB or so via the internals. Best practice is to use a HDMI to USB C cable and your phone. This way the Pico will not drain itself loading your phone's batterie. Also if you are looking to prolong the battery life and use full brightness away from a power socket buy a power bank that provides 15V at 3A (Not 5A). The Sharegeek 100 works for example and will power the Pico for about 2h 30m in "Normal Mode". If you find one for a good price and you already have some or all of the stuff I mentioned it's a fun device. But the software, internal processing and the internal batterie are all bad bad bad.

[@ehsanjaan7314]

I would say your first device is faulty as I never had any issues with WiFi I would say try the new one will work good

[@Jtoprider]

Have you considered to do a review on the newest Picopix Max One, or maybe the NeoPix Ultra 2 TV? It would be interesting to see if those two models also have the same software issues!

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for the comment! I am aware there are new models of Philips mobile projectors. But I think since Philips is an European company, they don't ship their first batch of product to USA. I have not been able to find the new models in any local or online (USA) retailers. (With the pandemic and holiday season, I am reluctant to order from European online retailers). From what I understand, the PPM One is stripped from all the "smart" function, while keeping all of the hardware from the original PPM. The price of the PPM One is a lot more attractive. If you don't own any mobile projectors right now and are willing to just plug a TV device (such as Amazon Fire TV), I think the PPM One is the best option. Honestly, I have not been using the PPM's smart function for a long time. I just plug my Amazon Fire TV stick into the HDMI and use it that way. It works perfect! Thanks for watching my videos.

[@AninoNiKugi]

I never encountered the wifi issue you have so perhaps your PPM is defective or the bug is specific to your wifi setup. I have mine for almost a year now and I'd say there are fixes and improvements since then but the software is still not good enough. It is a promising product but sadly, it didn't turn out well. I'm still with it though since I got it a lot cheaper than its retail price and it has been my bestfriend since the start of the pandemic 😂 And also, with the latest firmware update, I started to encounter some issues. My PPM won't charge while turned off and fully charged. The led light just alternates between red and blue. It charges when turned on though so it's still usable. Also, my autofocus fails on first try almost everytime. Before it rarely happens.

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for the comments. I have saw quite a few posts saying the new update have caused the issues you listed. I hope Philips is working on resolving the issues. Right now, I don't use much of its internal "smart" function anymore. I am not sure if it is my own wifi network problem or else. I just plug in an Amazon Fire TV stick, or other HDMI enabled devices. I don't like to use the Airmote either. It is still a great projector. I think the new PPM One (without the smart function) would be a great buy for people looking for awesome picture quality, but can live without the wifi capability.

[@YeayyyComePlayWithUs]

Hi Mr. Ka Lok Hong, 1 more question:) If the PicoPix is charger, it blinks blue n red right? If the PicoPix is fully charged, should it be only be blue light? My PicoPix is never fully charged, around 86%, and still blinks blue n red after a long night charge... I can't seem to find a decent Picopix product-manual anywhere on the web..

[@KaLokHong]

T Tenten I think you may have a faulty battery. My turns completely blue when it is fully charged. Red only when it is charging. Thanks for the question.

[@YeayyyComePlayWithUs]

I just read that the light should be red when charging..... hmmmm

[@nicolasl]

Sad to hear you have such an issue, and hope it gets fixed one way or another. Have you tried to factory reset it? I have to say I am pretty darn happy with my PPM. I haven't owned a projector before, but even with its limitations, I am having a blast with it. Also I assume you will sell your 2nd PPM, because otherwise why not just use that one until the other is software fixed or replaced :p

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for watching and commenting! I will try to do a factory reset to see if gets better. The PPM is a great machine, and I agree Philips has done a good job on the hardware. The firmware issue may be because they don't have a lot experience working with the Android system, and sadly Google is not supporting them solely because the PPM is not a touch-device. I don't have a plan for the second PPM yet. I don't know if I want to capitalized on selling the second one. I may use it as s gift during the Christmas holiday season.

[@Mwhite732]

@@KaLokHong I'm in the market for one if you want to sell it!

[@KaLokHong]

@@Mwhite732 Thanks for your interest! But I have already sold it to a local buyer. Thanks for visiting my channel.

[@YeayyyComePlayWithUs]

Hej Mr. Ka Lok Hong, is your battery also only 84% after a long nights charge? Thx!

[@KaLokHong]

T Tenten No, I don’t have battery problems. Though I only use it about 2 hours a week on average because of my busy work schedule. Thanks for watching my video and the question.

[@YeayyyComePlayWithUs]

Ka Lok Hong ; thx for your answer. I like the machine, but the Philips Support Team is extremely terrible!!

[@KaLokHong]

T Tenten I agree. I am very surprised that a big company like Philips would be so lack of customer support. The pandemic cannot be the whole reason for that. They said they were going to do regular frimware updates about 2 months ago, but so far that has not been the case either.

[@rob-123]

Try turning WPA off on your router and just use WPA2. WPA is old and a lot of new devices don't have the hardware to decode it, so the cpu is used to decrypt the traffic which can cause crashes and slowness. The cpu in the max is pretty slow, also 5.8 Wifi will be better if your are not using it.

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks a lot for the suggestion! I just looked into my security settings and unfortunately, I am using the Tp-link M5 mesh network system, and it won't allow user to disable WPA and just use WPA2. This problem is still being discussed on the Tp-Link official website (last month). I think I may have to get a new mesh system to fix the entire problem. It is strange that only the PPM has the drop signal problem when none of my other devices (PCs, Apple Devices, and Amazon Echo) have this problem. Thanks again!

[@jomzisvlog]

❤️❤️❤️

[@kaos1109]

I used it a few times since I got it (because I want to get a couple of speakers for a better experience) and the sunny summer season is not the best for projecting stuff on my wall, but that's beside the point. On the times I have used it, I used KZbin and Netflix and I had no disconnection issues. Grantes I don't have an Amazon account in order to stream shows from them, so I can't quite replicate this bug, but so far my WiFi connection on the PPM hasn't been an issue yet. Whichever is the source of the problem, I hope it gets fixed for you, and likely for everyone since this ought to be a Firmware problem.

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for sharing your experience. One of the viewers suggested changing the security setting. That could be the problem source, but unfortunately, my mesh network won't allow me to change it, so I may have to get a new network later.

[@mediathreat]

can you connect the projector to a blue tooth audio source? or can you cast video to it but send audio to a BT speaker?

[@KaLokHong]

Yes. I was able to connect to the Sony SRS-XB12 portable Bluetooth speaker. I'd imagine it could connect to larger Bluetooth speakers as well. Thanks for the question!

[@levysnir8701]

does it have a wireless/Bluetooth mirror screening option in order to connect your smartphone/Tablet/Laptop? Thanks for the help

[@KaLokHong]

Thank you for the questions. It does have Apple Air play function, and the Google screen cast. The Apple Air play does not work on content with DRM. So far I only got it to work on playing KZbin contents (without DRM). I don't have any Android devices to test how well the Google screen cast. You could cast your Chrome browser content from your laptop to the PPM, but it is a little lagging. Thanks watching the video!

[@levysnir8701]

@@KaLokHong Thank you for the respond 🤗

[@moshe0340]

Hi Is this projector has a wifi problem because I am very interested to buy one but this issue seems to be big problem if it's really the situation

[@KaLokHong]

From the info I gathered so far, this may be a unique problem with my unit. It could also be my network security protocol issue. I haven't got time to investigate this further. Many of the comments below stated they did't have this particular WiFi issue. Thanks for the question.

[@stefansiegenthalerch]

You have no IP address assigned... (0.0.0.0) Router Problem?

[@sammckenzie2331]

I have just got one but it shows a black image for videos with DRM protection via AirPlay. Do you know if this is by design or if it can be fixed?

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for the question. It is by design. KZbin videos were the only content I was able to cast with Airplay when I first got it. I haven’t been able to get it project any videos from apple devices even with the HDMI adapter. It was a pain. Thanks for checking out my videos.

[@sammckenzie2331]

@@KaLokHong well that’s annoying. The hardware is very impressive but the software is quite disappointing. I just tried playing a Netflix video from my iPad with a USB-C cable and that works at least.

[@sammckenzie2331]

@@KaLokHong I just saw they released a PicoPix Max One which has the keystone correction with USB-C and HDMI and a lightweight OS with *5 hours* of battery life... seems like that might be the way to go

[@KaLokHong]

@@sammckenzie2331 The PPM One seems to be a much better buy. But for some reason, I cannot find this for sale in any local or US-based online retailer.

[@sammckenzie2331]

@@KaLokHong I just ordered one from a Dutch retailer, will let you know how it works

[@vasilisbenekos2066]

I have no issue with the Wi Fi, but it doesn't recognize the latest update. Apparently it is just a zip file and it can not open it with the file explorer. Does any one now a fix for this? Also can't find and install any new Apps

[@KaLokHong]

Are you on v1.1.04 or 1.1.05? community.philipsprojection.com/t/service-update-v1-1-05-is-now-available/10278 I personally haven't got the time to update yet. I will check back later. Thanks for visiting my videos.

[@vasilisbenekos2066]

@@KaLokHong no issues. Just a corrupted download. Thanks for the interest and sorry for taking your time

[@clarrot_4187]

Definitely not worth the hype because you can never calibrate the brightness and skew while projecting the image. We always gotta exit into the main setting menu. Then what's the point :(

[@KaLokHong]

I started to think this is a half-baked product. It was a ok deal for early backers, but I would never pay the full retail price of $899US for it. Thanks for watching my video!

[@fuattk6551]

Hmm did you try it on a other wlan? Maby your smartphone as a hotspot. If you didnt, you can make a complete factory reset and there is a how to for flashing the device completly. Hmm and you can try to find one setting in the develiper settings. Google will tell you hie to activate it on android.. good luck.

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for the suggestion尸. I will try to reset and connect to a phone hotspot to see if the problem resolve. May be I will even bring it to work and see if my wifi at work will do better. Good that the PPM is made for travel! I will be bring it out for the first time! Thanks a lot again!

[@muraxz]

What about the picture quality?

[@KaLokHong]

They are good up to about 100 inches (diagonally).

[@rajsingha1099]

Maybe you should try the unused projector?

[@KaLokHong]

Too bad, I have already sold the extra unit. I am actually fine with connecting it with the Amazon fire stick. Again, I really don't like the Airmote controls. The Amazon Fire stick is much more responsive in my opinion. Thanks for watching my video!

[@sarahacapulco9733]

Hi, just want to ask if is it good for ps4 gaming?

[@KaLokHong]

Hi, I no longer have a PS4 to test it. But I have used the PPM with the Nintendo Switch, and it works great. Thanks for watching my videos!

[@sarahacapulco9733]

Thank you...

[@AninoNiKugi]

I've been using it for PC gaming and it works well, at least on single player games. perhaps it'll be different for competitive games.

[@diujay]

Viewsonic M2 or Philips pico Max??

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for the questions. I think spec wise, the M2 is pretty decent at its price range. I think it really comes down to your budget. The PPM is for sale on Amazon US for $899. So it is quite expensive. I don't know how's the Viewsonic supporting its product. So, I think these are all factors you will have to consider when choosing a pico projector. Thanks for the question.

[@diujay]

@@KaLokHong thank you for quick reply ... I will buy viewsonic M2 £600 on Amazon

[@rix077]

Can you use one of these for gaming?

[@KaLokHong]

Yes. I can connect my Nintendo Switch to the PPM. Thanks.

[@brisg74]

Watched till 3:32. Your Wi-Fi chip is faulty. That's probably why they've sent you a replacement.

[@jon964]

I have no problem with wifi. It stays stably connected

[@KaLokHong]

Jon Åge Oppedal thanks for checking! I hope you are enjoying your new projector!

[@lg-spook]

Dude you look like Matthew James Moy from 2 broke girls

[@zeusbluemenkron1589]

Wow I was very close to buy it there no point to buy it

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks for the comment. Yes, I agree. I would not pay a full retail price for this project, it it weren't because of Indiegogo campaign.

[@macsan1234]

Try 5ghz

[@KaLokHong]

Thanks, mac san!

[@luc1ferblack]

Your complaining whilst sitting there with a free one. Why not try the free one?