Mvix (MX-760HD) HD Wireless Media Center (750GB HDD Bundle)

Average customer rating:

The Best Entertainment Center

Mvix (MX-760HD) HD Wireless Media Center (750GB HDD Bundle)

Manufacturer: Mvix
ProductGroup: CE

Drive Enclosures | Computer Add-Ons | Computers & Add-Ons | Categories | Electronics
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Mvix Wireless HD Media Center (MX-760HD)

Cables Unlimited, HDmi To Dvi-d Cable, 6ft

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series [Blu-ray]

Product Features:

Bundle Includes: 1 x MX760HD plus a 750GB PATA (16MB) HDD Bundled

Hi Definition Video Decoding: Supports resolution of 1920 x 1080p video output

Hard Disk-based Media Center - Home theater PC (HTPC)

Networked System: Supports Video Streaming via Wireless (802.1g) or LAN (10/100)

DivX® (3/4/5/6), Xvid, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV-9, ASF(WMV9), DAT, DVD(IFO, VOB), ISO, HD-level TP, TS, TRP, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, PCM, AC3, DTS decoding including down-mixing, DTS pass through, BMP, JPEG/JPG, PNG

ASIN: B000MVQF9M

Product Description

Experience a hi-definition media file playback and take your audiovisual experience farther than ever before. The MvixTM Wireless High-Definition Multimedia Center (MX-760HD) provides an unprecedented file format support and literally puts life back in your digital media content. This hard drive-based multimedia center, built around linux-based architecture is a true home-theater PC offering endless possibilities.The MvixTM Hi-Def 802.1G Multimedia Center links to your home network and plugs all your digital media content directly into your TV. You can now access all your multimedia files (music files, videos, and photos) and play it on your large-screen plasma or HDTV. It features the wireless 802.11g technology with WEP infrastructure to deliver maximum wireless signal rates (of up to 54 Mbps) for streaming digital media. The MvixTM player supports over two dozen media formats, including high-definition video (WMV-9 or MPEG-4 format). The media center is capable of accessing files no matter where they are stored - on it's internal hard disk drive (INCLUDED 750GB PATA HDD), on your Personal Computer, External USB Storage or even a Network Attached Storage (NAS) box. It provides an easy way of viewing your digital photo files or a slide show with background music. It is even programmed for automatic decoding and convenient bookmarking (playlist) of multiple files within a folder.Installing and setting up the MvixTM MX-760HD is a breeze. Simply pop-in a typical 3.5inch hard drive (INCLUDED 750GB PATA HDD), transfer all your media content from you PC and you are good to go. The built-in Setup menu and a full-featured Remote offer optimal flexibility and control over the entire system. Simple firmware upgrades keep this media center updated with support for latest file formats.

Customer Reviews:

The Best Entertainment Center.......2007-06-14

Before I Bought my Mvix MX-760HD, I had the 5000U Media Center. The 760HD has
Everything I've ever wanted in a device like this. High Definition Videos option is great. I can number every feature:
1. Video: Excellent.
2. Pictures: Excellent. No more opening Notebook for others to see my pics.
3. High Definition: Better than My High Definition TV.
4. Networking: I can share my videos wired and wireless.
5. USB hosting. State-of-art. Never thought I could open my another extrenal drive to browse my stuff in it.

I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS PRODUCT.

Silvestre Perez
silvestreperez@hotmail.com

Mvix (MX-760HD) HD Wireless Media Center (500GB HDD Bundle)

Average customer rating:

One Word " Amazing "
Disappointed but Hopeful
I'm pretty happy with this little thing.

Mvix (MX-760HD) HD Wireless Media Center (500GB HDD Bundle)

Manufacturer: Mvix
ProductGroup: CE

All Home Theater Systems | Home Theater Systems | Audio & Video | Categories | Electronics
Similar Items:

Cables Unlimited, HDmi To Dvi-d Cable, 6ft

Product Features:

Bundle Includes: 1 x MX760HD plus a 500GB PATA (16MB) HDD Bundled
Hi Definition Video Decoding: Supports resolution of 1920 x 1080i video output
Hard Disk-based Media Center - Home theater PC (HTPC)
Networked System: Supports Video Streaming via Wireless (802.1g) or LAN (10/100)
DivX® (3/4/5), Xvid, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV-9, ASF(WMV9), DAT, DVD(IFO, VOB), ISO, HD-level TP, TS, TRP, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, PCM, AC3, DTS decoding including down-mixing, DTS pass through, BMP, JPEG/JPG, PNG

ASIN: B000LYAAGY

Product Description

Experience a hi-definition media file playback and take your audiovisual experience farther than ever before. The MvixTM Wireless High-Definition Multimedia Center (MX-760HD) provides an unprecedented file format support and literally puts life back in your digital media content. This hard drive-based multimedia center, built around linux-based architecture is a true home-theater PC offering endless possibilities.The MvixTM Hi-Def 802.1G Multimedia Center links to your home network and plugs all your digital media content directly into your TV. You can now access all your multimedia files (music files, videos, and photos) and play it on your large-screen plasma or HDTV. It features the wireless 802.11g technology with WEP infrastructure to deliver maximum wireless signal rates (of up to 54 Mbps) for streaming digital media. The MvixTM player supports over two dozen media formats, including high-definition video (WMV-9 or MPEG-4 format). The media center is capable of accessing files no matter where they are stored - on it's internal hard disk drive (INCLUDED 500GB PATA HDD), on your Personal Computer, External USB Storage or even a Network Attached Storage (NAS) box. It provides an easy way of viewing your digital photo files or a slide show with background music. It is even programmed for automatic decoding and convenient bookmarking (playlist) of multiple files within a folder.Installing and setting up the MvixTM MX-760HD is a breeze. Simply pop-in a typical 3.5inch hard drive (INCLUDED 500GB PATA HDD), transfer all your media content from you PC and you are good to go. The built-in Setup menu and a full-featured Remote offer optimal flexibility and control over the entire system. Simple firmware upgrades keep this media center updated with support for latest file formats.

Customer Reviews:

One Word " Amazing ".......2007-03-26

it is a must have, if you are a movie lover , you got to get one.
i bought 3 so far , and i cant Imagen my life with out it.

Disappointed but Hopeful.......2007-02-23

I had been eyeing the previous generation of MVIX boxes for quite some time. When I heard they were going to offer a network enabled version I decided to wait and then I ordered. Getting it so early I expected some glitches but even with those expectations I have been very disappointed.

From a hardware design perspective the device is outstanding. I was able to quickly install my media harddrive into the device and plug it into the TV within minutes. It booted up fairly quickly and I immediately went to start testing some media - that is where the disappointments began.

AUDIO PLAYBACK

I first went to play some music. The navigation system is clearly not advanced as newer handheld devices but my music library is structured nicely into hard drive folders so I didn't mind too much. Playing a single song or an entire album was easy to do. I started to wonder about queuing up music from various folders.

NOW PLAYING - JUKEBOX MODE???

I struggled to find some sort of "Add to Now Playing" capability to no avail. The user manual referenced a Jukebox mode and the remote had a "Jukebox" button that seemed to be what I was looking for but the device did not work as described. After contacting tech support I learned that their developers have no clue what a Jukebox actual is (although their manual writer must have). My definition of a Jukebox is a device where you can queue up tracks on the fly. There definition of a Jukebox is a button that you have to press to get the PREV and NEXT buttons to work while listening to an ablum.

REMOTE CONTROL

Despite the remote control having dozens of buttons most specifically labelled with unambiguous behavior (e.g. PREV/NEXT/F FWD/F RWD/etc) - most of these buttons dont actually work while listening to music unless you put the device in "JUKEBOX" mode. This mode makes it impossible to actually navigate around the media files, it simply enables the PREV/NEXT buttons. Additionally the fast forward and rewind buttons still don't work in this mode for music files. I have the feeling this is because they try to have the small led and controls on the front of the device have most functionality exposed. This is a bad design choice because it renders a fully functionaly remote to only limited use.

VISUALATIONS/SCREEN SAVER

One would assume that while in this Jukebox mode (which makes it impossible to navigate around) they may consider some sort of visualization, cover art (if a jpg file were on the harddrive), or screen saver - but you would be wrong. It simply displays a small progress bar over the existing file listing maximizing burn-in potential for Plasma TV owners. The device is capable of playing music while viewing pictures - it is particularly confusing that they wouldn't use this capability to look for AlbumArt.jpg (or something similar) and display that along with ID3 TAG information while playing music.

PLAYLIST ORDER

When playing an album there are two options for Sequential or Random. Early versions of the firmware on Random seemed to favor Track1 90% of the time and produced play orders like Track1, Track4, Track1, Track1, Track5, Track1, Track1, Track1, .... although it seems to have gotten slightly better with one of the firmware upgrades although, because the rest of the audio playback functionality is so bad, I rarely actually use the device for listening to music.

VIDEO PLAYBACK

I next went to my video files and chose a DIVX video file as well as some DVD VOB files to test out playback. Things looked pretty promising on this front until I hit the fast forward button a few times... As I went to 2x and 4x fast foward things worked great - I hit 8x fast forward and the entire device locked up forcing me to reboot it. Early firmware upgrades focused on new closed caption formats and additional codecs which seemed like bad priorities given this major flaw. I have read the firmware upgrades. I have read in one of the firmware upgrades indicating they have just fixed this but I haven't tested yet.

NETWORK/WI-FI

Even despite my initial dislikes the reason I waited for this device was that I didn't want to have to have the device next to my computer or carry it back and forth to my computer to update my media files.

After accepting the few bugs in media playback I went into the wireless configuration options and set up a link to my LinkSys router. After a few minutes I was able to verify that the device was connected to the router and quickly tried to browse to the network harddrive from within Windows. It didn't work.

I then started to read the manual closer and was confused by the protocol/file sharing options that it was telling me to do. It finally dawned on me that all the instructions where for how to enable your PC to stream content to the MVIX device to play remotely. There was nothing about how to actually transfer media files on to the internal harddrive of the actual MVIX device. A terrible terrible feeling hit me at this point. My whole reason for waiting for this device and paying the extra hundreds of dollars was for the Wi-Fi connectivity. It had never even remotely crossed my mind that someone would create a network enabled harddrive device that wouldn't actually act as a network harddrive or FTP server.

NOTE: I know there are some users that just want this device to stream content from their PC - but if that is all that one wanted it makes no sense to have an internal 500MB HardDrive in the device. I wanted this device to BE the media server not the just the media player.

I read the manual closely and examind the MVIXUSA website and noted that they never actually claimed to support maintaining media files over the network - you must use USB for this. When I contacted tech support they said that they hoped to get this into a firmware upgrade but it was not there now and they never claimed it was (and they didn't). But they clearly also downplayed the absense of such an obvious feature on their website.

There latest firmware upgrade appears to add additional Wi-Fi security options but does not address this shortcoming. This strange prioritization scheme was mirrored in the video issue above. They seem to place a much higher priority on adding to the list of protocols and codecs supported for the 10% over actually fixing or adding the features that 90% of their customers could benefit from.

SUMMARY

Despite all of the complaints above this is still a very nice piece of hardware with a lot of potential. Possibly the open source community will step in and really take advantage of this. The firmware clearly is geared more around watching video and seems to have tossed music and picture playback in without the proper thought. It would seem that if someone were actually focusing on the audio jukebox behavior it wouldn't take much time at all to create a nice interface with some basic cover art. I also fully expect that they will get some sort of network file update capability in the firmware soon otherwise this device simply will not sell as more people write reviews like this one.

I'm pretty happy with this little thing........2006-12-20

In response to an earlier blog post on OS X wireless video streaming solutions, fearless reader Scott noted the Mvix MX-760HD as offered by ThinkGeek. Out of all the possibilities posted, this seemed the most relevant: wireless, internal hard drive (entirely optional), USB connectivity, DivX and XviD playback, and composite video connectoids (along with others). After talking with Rich Knitter, MvixUSA's Director of Marketing, he agreed to send me a review unit with the hope that I also get step-by-step sharing instructions for (the as-yet-tested) Mac OS X.

Hardware setup was easy - the unit comes with a stand (which seemed a little loose until I found the center sweet spot), USB and composite video cables, a driver CD, remote control (a block of plastic with a central keypad similar to, but not as good as, a TiVo), the requisite power cables, and a 5dBi antenna. While the unit does support HD and progressive scan and all those other high-falutin' feel-goods, you'll need to supply your own cables. For this review, I've only used composite video.

I first tested without installing a hard drive because my focus was wireless streaming - I wanted my bevy of disks upstairs to combine into one voltronic horde of video bliss. Thus, after a quick load screen (in which DivX was misspelt as "Dvix"), I hopped into the Setup menu and started tweaking the network options. The UI isn't ugly (see the online PDF manual for some examples), though it does seem a bit syrupy at times, but not enough to be annoying. What was annoying is its sole support for WEP as a wireless encryption standard. I don't look forward to reconfiguring all my game consoles, laptops, and handhelds away from the WPA I had been using before. After tweaking my network (as provided by a D-Link DGL-4300), the MX-760HD connected to it just fine, without having to manually specify IPs, routers, DNS, etc.

That left me with just nailing down the actual wireless file sharing and, in the interest of keeping this review generic, I'll leave out the steps to sharing files with OS X. Suffice to say, it works just fine and isn't difficult to set up. Once your files are shared, head back over to the MX-760HD and have it "Refresh" its Movie file listing. Should everything go as smoothly as it did for me, they'll be a bit of a pause as it scans (and caches) the share, but your movie files should be displayed; anything not a recognized movie file is not shown. One of the things I continue to appreciate is the long file name listings: you can actually see more than six or eight characters, and pausing on any one title will scroll the rest of the title in place. I don't understand why they didn't use this same interface for the "Recent Items" screen, which is utterly useless in its current icon-based incarnation. Choose what you'd like to watch, and depending on the size of the video, it'll start streaming to you wirelessly in 10 to 30 seconds. Awesome.

Installation of the optional hard drive is also easy: no tools are required though I did have some troubles getting the single case screw back into place, and it took a few tries of concerted jiggling to align it just right. Mounting the MX-760HD's hard drive does require its power adapter which can cause a bit of frustration when it's entangled into the mass of cables behind your entertainment center. Having a laptop in the living room is one solution; a separate internal drive enclosure for drive swapping is another. MvixUSA recently reported that a firmware update will allow mounting over the network as a NAS/NDAS device, but no ETA on this support has been provided.

Of the 20 or so ancient but much-cherished Britney Spears music videos I threw at it, all showed signs of bad cropping - some had a healthy 20 to 30 pixel column missing from the left hand side. Modern day movie rips encoded at 16:9 receive this same chopping on the right side too. This is disheartening but my previous standby, a Philips DVP-642, also suffered the same problem. Digital video software really needs take these files, figure out what dimensions they are at runtime, then display them shrunk to fit into the TV screen with a surrounding border. Either that, or a Zoom Out (nearly everything has Zoom In, why not Out? Cheap solution!) Some folks have suggested this may be due to my use of composite cables, and I cheerful admit my ignorance and luddism.

Codec and playback support was strong: after testing the first few minutes of nearly 150 movies stored on the hard drive, only two or three gave the unit problems. QPEL support is missing, nor can the unit handle the MS-MPEG4v2 codec which all the DAP's MST3K videos are ripped as, though they admit this is a problem. There are no current plans to support these codecs in a future firmware upgrade.

I did not test the Photo or Music playing capabilities to any persnickety degree, but the smallest increment of time for image slideshows is three seconds, which turns into roughly six or seven if you're wirelessly streaming 2 MB digital camera files. It'd be nice if the unit could start caching and requesting early so that a more smoother and faster slideshow transition is possible. There does seem to be some issues with the "Recent Items" function in relation to photos or missing media or perhaps amount of media: after looking at roughly 50 images of a 500 image directory, I deleted that share leaving me with just movies to be watched. However, browsing through the media list to get to the "Setup" menu caused a freeze on the "Photo" item, which showed "Recent Items" that no longer exist. I don't know the cause, but it was about 90 seconds before I regained control. There doesn't appear to be any way to delete the "Recent Items" so, at the moment, I'm just avoiding that menu item entirely and used the "Setup" button on the remote. A day later, I am unable to reproduce this particular freeze.

Apparent "freezes" like this happened a little more often than I would like, and it always seemed related to the unit's rebuilding of a file list that I know has changed. After adding 100 GBs of movies to one directory, a new access to the hard drive caused the unit to appear unresponsive for nearly six minutes, nearly two minutes after I gave up clicking the "Down" arrow to check to see if it was working. Another down arrow finally teased a response, but my original request never happened. Accessing it again gave the lickety-split response I was hoping for and, save for these initial first requests after file modifications, access to large directories continues without incident. With that said, I dare not throw my 22,000 track MP3 library at it anytime soon (nor would I ever, as my sole desire is video watching).

I was unable to test subtitle support heavily, but there do seem to be problems with .sub and .idx files. Though it claims support for them, a Mvix help document suggests converting them to .srt instead; I was unable to get the files I had working (nor did I try to convert them). Another .srt file loaded with no problems, but the subtitles were in Italian so I am unable to confirm if they matched up with the video properly. There is support for timeshifting the subtitles backwards or forwards, and you can also change their position on screen. Finally, the color of the lettering can be changed from the default white to some others, but the font has black borders which should prevent any one color from being washed out by the current scene.

While there are problems here and there with the UI, I'm quite happy to have the MX-760HD as a central part of my video entertainment: I no longer intend to burn DVD-Rs anymore, and the wireless support removes the need for any other moving parts. Hopefully, future firmware updates will hammer out the remaining bugs, but until then, I'm quite happy to route around them: the advantages and other qualities make this combination of hard drive, streaming, and video too powerful to ignore.

Mvix (MX-760HD) HD Wireless Media Center (400GB HDD Bundle)

Average customer rating:

Best out there.
I'm pretty happy with this little thing.

Mvix (MX-760HD) HD Wireless Media Center (400GB HDD Bundle)

Manufacturer: Mvix
ProductGroup: CE

PlayStation 3 Wireless Sixaxis Controller

Product Features:

Bundle Includes: 1 x MX760HD plus a 400GB PATA (16MB) HDD Bundled
Hi Definition Video Decoding: Supports resolution of 1920 x 1080p video output
Hard Disk-based Media Center - Home theater PC (HTPC)
Networked System: Supports Video Streaming via Wireless (802.1g) or LAN (10/100)
DivX® (3/4/5/6), Xvid, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV-9, ASF(WMV9), DAT, DVD(IFO, VOB), ISO, HD-level TP, TS, TRP, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, PCM, AC3, DTS decoding including down-mixing, DTS pass through, BMP, JPEG/JPG, PNG

ASIN: B000MFJGGW

Product Description

Experience a hi-definition media file playback and take your audiovisual experience farther than ever before. The MvixTM Wireless High-Definition Multimedia Center (MX-760HD) provides an unprecedented file format support and literally puts life back in your digital media content. This hard drive-based multimedia center, built around linux-based architecture is a true home-theater PC offering endless possibilities.The MvixTM Hi-Def 802.1G Multimedia Center links to your home network and plugs all your digital media content directly into your TV. You can now access all your multimedia files (music files, videos, and photos) and play it on your large-screen plasma or HDTV. It features the wireless 802.11g technology with WEP infrastructure to deliver maximum wireless signal rates (of up to 54 Mbps) for streaming digital media. The MvixTM player supports over two dozen media formats, including high-definition video (WMV-9 or MPEG-4 format). The media center is capable of accessing files no matter where they are stored - on it's internal hard disk drive (INCLUDED 400GB PATA HDD), on your Personal Computer, External USB Storage or even a Network Attached Storage (NAS) box. It provides an easy way of viewing your digital photo files or a slide show with background music. It is even programmed for automatic decoding and convenient bookmarking (playlist) of multiple files within a folder.Installing and setting up the MvixTM MX-760HD is a breeze. Simply pop-in a typical 3.5inch hard drive (INCLUDED 400GB PATA HDD), transfer all your media content from you PC and you are good to go. The built-in Setup menu and a full-featured Remote offer optimal flexibility and control over the entire system. Simple firmware upgrades keep this media center updated with support for latest file formats.

Customer Reviews:

Best out there........2007-06-13

You will find a lot of choices when shopping for a device like this. Most big brands like apple, dlink, and microsoft have similar items. But this is the ONLY one that supports so many codec including DIVX and XVID. It's very easy to setup and use and very powerful.

So think about what matters the most which is that it will play anything you trow at it.

I'm pretty happy with this little thing........2007-01-09

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