I don't suppose you know where I can find documentation on the new firmware beta? In particular, I can't seem to find the ftp username & password; the SAMBA details (media:gate etc) don't seem to work.

Edit: D'oh, I found the ftp login details in the settings screen.

Cheers.

I don't suppose you know where I can find documentation on the new firmware beta? In particular, I can't seem to find the ftp username & password; the SAMBA details (media:gate etc) don't seem to work.

Edit: D'oh, I found the ftp login details in the settings screen.

Cheers.

try in here

http://mediagateusa.s10.forumsplace.com/viewforum.php?f=5

hi, been reading through this whole thread and wow!

just got my mg-350hd today and a few hours later... its not working.

First i had it connected to my pc through usb and was transfering some video files to try and watch. I also transfered over the 1.1.2 firmware.

I connected it to my tv and the menu came up. Selected the firmware upgrade, and it proceeded to update. Minutes later, the updating process froze.

It said not to turn off, but 5-10 minutes had passed and it was still stuck on the 6th bar. I didnt know what else to do, so I turned it off.

And now it wont work. Every time I turn it on, the blue flashing lights come on and nothing else. Wait and wait and wait, and nothing.

Reconnected it to my pc, and I could still freely move files back and forth but thats all.

What should I do now? Please help.

And now it wont work. Every time I turn it on, the blue flashing lights come on and nothing else. Wait and wait and wait, and nothing.

What should I do now? Please help.
Try pushing the "TVOUT" button on the remote a few times until you get video.

Try pushing the "TVOUT" button on the remote a few times until you get video.

Thats the first thing i did. the only button it ended up responding to was the Power button.

i emailed the store i bought it from, they are refusing warranty because of the firmware update.

i emailed the store i bought it from, they are refusing warranty because of the firmware update. Unbelievable! You should publish their name so that everyone else can stay away.

Others can confirm what I'm about to say, which I think applies equally to the MG-35 (which I own) and the MG-350HD. The flashing blue light is actually a good sign, since it indicates that the bootloader is intact. Your MG-350 is not irretrievably dead. The bootloader can be used to restore the firmware via serial cable, or to fix trivial problems such as the MAC address being blown away. We've seen the MG-35 get bricked like that simply by trying to view a slideshow with a "killer jpeg" in it.

hi krell, that is such a relief to hear! The details are :

Megaware Computers

Founder : Andy Kiswanto

19 Queen St
Beaconsfield NSW 2015

(02) 9698 1593

I would like to point out that at no time was a warranty void mentioned even after they claim 3 yrs Australian warranty!

I'm not a very tech-y person, so would you be able to give me the procedure to restore the firmware? I would appreciate it very much.

I have posted in the Q & A section of Al Tech, but now it seems the post function has been disabled for me.

Hey Kaiden,

Sorry to hear about the MediaGate issue along with the return issues. I have informed the appropriate person that hopefully can help you to obtain a replacement unit. Hope everything goes well.

Tony - MediaGate USA

Hey Tony,

thankyou for your reply, I appreciate your concern. I'm from Australia though >_>

kaiden, yes i am aware that you are from austrialia ... but I have notified the appropriate person so they can hopefully resolve you situation in austrailia.

Does anybody know if it is possible to use the firmware updates on the Freecom version of this device?

there is a post on the freecom forums that says you can

I tried posting the link but i cant!

its on the freecom official forums

Does anybody know if it is possible to use the firmware updates on the Freecom version of this device?

Hi Koets, it's exactly the same under the hood, the only difference is the branding and the the box. I have the Freecom version but always use the MediaGates firmware updates since freecom very rarely release any updates.

I've also tried the recent 1.1.3 Beta Firmware from the MediaGate and to be honest I prefer the stable 1.1.2 FW.

WHY?

1. The 1.1.3 takes way longer to boot, I have a 500gb hard drive installed with about 400gb taken up, I found without the drive in running on the Wless NDAS network it took about 15 seconds to boot (on average), however with the hard drive in, it can take over 1 minute, way slower than 1.1.2.

2. The Player crashed on me several times when saving settings in the set up menu, I had to unplug which I hate doing in case I kill it.

I didn't hve any problems with Flash Drives as Teddy mentioned above though and I use these quite alot. I also don't use ftp so didn't try the speeds on that.

I have now Flashed back to 1.1.2.

On another note my power supply stopped working a week ago and so I emailed Freecom who sent me w new one NEXT DAY, excelent service, I then changed the fuse in the old psu and it now works, so now I have a spare power unit for free. Bonus !

CIAO

Damo

What should I do now? Please help.
Which video output are you connected to? If you aren't using the yellow composite jack, try hooking that up and see if you get a picture. When I put the 12 firmware on I had a similar problem. Once the firmware once on, my 350 didn't seem to respond to the remote. I originally was hooked up with DVI, so I got no picture and it looked like it wasn't working. I hooked up the composite video and got a picture and was able to work the box by the controls on the front. I used them to put the old firmware back on and it's been great ever since.

Good luck,
tk

Today , Al Tech Released a updated manual related to the 1.1.3 NEW features ie FTP,uPnP,NFS,Samba etc..

download it here..

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?param=e_manual&page=1&kind=&uid=85&keyfield=&key=




Regards to all

Teddystacker
(Moderator - Official Mediagate USA Forums,Owner MG-35 & MG-350hd Yahoo support groups)

asked this question in a couple of places. perhaps you guys might be able to answer.

Saw a great deal on the Buffalo Linkstation Pro 500GB NAS and was thinking of getting it as a central store for my media.

I have a Mediagate MG 35 and Mediagate MG 350 at my home. Will these be able to pick media off the Buffalo NAS and stream it using windows share[other options?]? How difficult is the configuration?

Thansk for all the help guys

new version of the beta firmware is up.

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?param=e_sw&page=1&kind=&uid=86&keyfield=&key=

Can anyone help. Directories that are no longer shared or no longer exist remain in the list. How can I refresh the listing?

how does this device compare to the tivx devices?

I'm sick of waiting for stuff to come out on wmvhd, to play on 360 from ext. hdd so i'm looking to get something that can play x264 in 1080p.

does the MediaGate MG-350HD do 1080p? does it have hdmi or only dvi?

i guess my wait continues for something that plays x264/mkv and can do 1080p.

hopefully ps3 gets a hack/workaround to do so. if it does it would sell a ton of consoles, so sony would be smart to leak it themselves though i guess they can't officialy release it due to codecs and stuff.

but if they dont do it soon, eventually 360 will have xbmc like xb1 did and then no reason at all to ever buy a ps3

whereas if ps3 could do x264/mkv at 1080p through hdmi now, i'd buy one today.

Wizkidshaw has offered to try and add some new funtions to the MG-350 such as Telnet,busybox etc etc..

Over at the MG-350 Yahoo Group we are seeing if we can raise enough $ to buy him a "development" MG-350 for him to work on..

If you are interested in helping (even in a small $5 way) then please see here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support/surveys?id=1900535

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help..

Teddy

does the MediaGate MG-350HD do 1080p? does it have hdmi or only dvi?

Only DVI. DVI digital resolution maxes out at 1600x1200. Analog component output does 1920x1080i. I _think_ you can do 1080p through the analog VGA output, but I have not tested it.

Is anyone using the MG35 to display 1080i content routinely?

My family just got an AVCHD camcorder, and it is only a matter of time before my wife will want to view clips on the TV. I've tried exporting some of the clips from Vegas in different formats, but the MG350hd only plays some of them - and doesn't play the audio properly in those that get the correct video.

Hi ... my mate brought over his MG-350 yesterday and I accidentally plugged it in to the power cord on my external usb hard drive. It was only in there for a maximum of 30 secs, there was no light come on at all, even when press the power button - which is when we realised the mistake.

so we swapped in the MG's proper power adaptor, turned it on and it powered up fine. we plugged it into my computer's usb and transferred some files from MG to my computer. all seemed fine.

however, when my mate got home, he says it won't work when plugged into his tv - the usual MG interface doesn't start up and all he gets is flashing blue light on front or something.

when plugged in wrong power adaptor, there was no smoke, burning smell, or anything, so maybe all is not lost?

the power adaptor i used is:

input: 100-240Vac 0.8A,50/60Hz,50-80VA
Output:: +5V----- 2A Max +12V ------- 2A Max
Output Power: 34W

How do I know if it's dead or could be saved by debricking? It can still be accessed as USB external drive.

he probably just needs to change the video mode.

he probably just needs to change the video mode.

Geez, I hope so!

Today Freecom (The European MG-350HD Clone) Released v 1.1.4 of their Firmware..

I have loaded this on my own MG-350HD and it appears to be pretty much the same as Al Tech 1.1.3 Beta 4.. But the file creation date is a month later than that of 1.1.3B4 - I presume this is just because Al Tech added the Freecom Logo etc etc..

Maybe those that were having certain issues with 1.1.3B4 would like to try it and see if it is indeed Exactly the same (functionwise) as 1.1.3B4 - As I say , I have tested it myself , and is safe to load on your 350..

http://www.freecom.com/objects/00011587.zip

Comments Welcome..

Kind Regards To all

Teddy

Network Media Player Wlan - 350 Firmware Update (beta) v.1.1.4

Updated to this firmware, first boot, hdd worked, second boot and later boots, hdd didnt work

went back to 1.1.2, hdd works

ow yeah, I have a freecom device, and before I updated to 1.1.4. my firmware was from mediagate (it came straight out of the box) cause I had a mediagate screensaver, is that normal :p ?

edit : anyone knows a link to the last 1.1.3 firmware ?

There is no Freecom 1.1.3 firmware - here is the Mediagate one..

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/firmware/MG350_1.1.3_BETA4_ENG_070612_2216.upgrade

Regards

Teddy





Network Media Player Wlan - 350 Firmware Update (beta) v.1.1.4

Updated to this firmware, first boot, hdd worked, second boot and later boots, hdd didnt work

went back to 1.1.2, hdd works

ow yeah, I have a freecom device, and before I updated to 1.1.4. my firmware was from mediagate (it came straight out of the box) cause I had a mediagate screensaver, is that normal :p ?

edit : anyone knows a link to the last 1.1.3 firmware ?

Hi all!
Just ordered a MG-350HD today from Newegg.
Looked through the owners manual and the online forum without result...
Question: I plan to use my existing 500GB NTFS hard drive that I have in a USB enclosure for the MG-350HD's internal hard drive. I have media (Mpeg video and MP3 music files) on that drive already. If I simply stuff that drive inside the MG-350HD, will my existing files be lost?
Thanks...:)

Welcome to the Mediagate world..

No, you will not loose any data - Just make sure you set the jumper on the 500 gigger to MASTER - then it may be a good idea to connect it to your pc via USB and organise the content into folders of your choice , this is the folder layout I have:

Movies
TV shows
Music (make sure you use lower case here show you can use the feature that allows you to listen to music on your 350 while playing a slide show..)
Pictures
Recent

Recent holds stuff i watch and then delete..

You dont have to use these names,its just a suggestion.. you can organise it as you wish...

Please feel free to ask any other "newbie" questions , as we were all Newbies at somepoint...
Also, dont forget to visit my 350 Yahoo Group and also the Official MedigateUSA forums:-

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support

http://mediagateusa.s10.forumsplace.com/index.php

updated Manual here:-
http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?param=e_manual&page=1&kind=&uid=87&keyfield=&key=

Kind regards

Teddy

Hi all!
Just ordered a MG-350HD today from Newegg.
Looked through the owners manual and the online forum without result...
Question: I plan to use my existing 500GB NTFS hard drive that I have in a USB enclosure for the MG-350HD's internal hard drive. I have media (Mpeg video and MP3 music files) on that drive already. If I simply stuff that drive inside the MG-350HD, will my existing files be lost?
Thanks...:)

Welcome to the Mediagate world..

No, you will not loose any data - Just make sure you set the jumper on the 500 gigger to MASTER - then it may be a good idea to connect it to your pc via USB and organise the content into folders of your choice , this is the folder layout I have:

Movies
TV shows
Music (make sure you use lower case here show you can use the feature that allows you to listen to music on your 350 while playing a slide show..)
Pictures
Recent

Recent holds stuff i watch and then delete..

You dont have to use these names,its just a suggestion.. you can organise it as you wish...

Please feel free to ask any other "newbie" questions , as we were all Newbies at somepoint...
Also, dont forget to visit my 350 Yahoo Group and also the Official MedigateUSA forums:-

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support

http://mediagateusa.s10.forumsplace.com/index.php

updated Manual here:-
http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?param=e_manual&page=1&kind=&uid=87&keyfield=&key=

Kind regards

Teddy

Thanks for the warm welcome teddy!
I appreciate the info on the hard drive installation. I pretty much have the directories setup as you suggested since this was the most logical way to find my stuff anyway. I'm excited to get the 350HD now as I'm getting a bit tired of firing up my HTPC just to watch some ripped DVD's and such.

I have been using DVDShrink (in uncompressed mode) to rip my DVD's to my hard drive, is that program recommended for use with the 350HD?

Thanks for the warm welcome teddy!
I have been using DVDShrink (in uncompressed mode) to rip my DVD's to my hard drive, is that program recommended for use with the 350HD?

Yep , I use it myself , but you will also need to use it in conjunction with Slysoft's "Anydvd" if you want to rip the newer highly protected titles,esp those with Macrovision "Ripguard"

Great to have you on board mate..

Regards

Teddy

Yep , I use it myself , but you will also need to use it in conjunction with Slysoft's "Anydvd" if you want to rip the newer highly protected titles,esp those with Macrovision "Ripguard"

Great to have you on board mate..

Regards

Teddy
Since you brought it up...
I've been using DVDFab Decrypter v2.9.6.6 (freeware) version on the hard to crack titles like the Bond flick- Casino Royale- that DVDShrink can't decode. It seems to work fine and copies the entire DVD to the hard drive. Any reason to switch to the $49 AnyDvD?
Thanks very much!
Rob

Since you brought it up...
I've been using DVDFab Decrypter v2.9.6.6 (freeware) version on the hard to crack titles like the Bond flick- Casino Royale- that DVDShrink can't decode. It seems to work fine and copies the entire DVD to the hard drive. Any reason to switch to the $49 AnyDvD?
Thanks very much!
Rob
Well, one reason is if you want to rip HD-DVD or Bluray disks to hard drive you'll need AnyDVD HD. You have to buy the whole package anyway and in my experience AnyDVD works with pretty much all DVD titles and is updated very oftren... weekly is typical. Highly recommended.

Well, one reason is if you want to rip HD-DVD or Bluray disks to hard drive you'll need AnyDVD HD. You have to buy the whole package anyway and in my experience AnyDVD works with pretty much all DVD titles and is updated very often... weekly is typical. Highly recommended.
Thanks mnn1265!
If I understand correctly, it seems AnyDVD is simply a Windows plugin that decodes DVD encryption/macrovision protection- it's not a ripping program like DVDShrink... correct? So you install the AnyDVD plugin- then rip the DVD with DVDShrink or any other ripper. Is that about the gist of it?
As to ripping HD-DVD to hard drive- that is something I will need to do in the future, but presently I only have about 20 HD-DVD's and I use my Toshiba HD-A2 for viewing them. At this time, I don't have a HD-DVD drive in my HTPC, and I think I'd like to wait till a reasonably priced HD-DVD burner is released before I install just a HD-DVD reader in my HTPC. So, the need to rip HD-DVD may still be months to a year or more in the future. I'm planning to use the MG-350HD for watching full season DVD sets (Star Trek Enterprise, Dark Angel, Firefly, etc...) that I've ripped to hard drive. I don't really see ripping a single standalone SD movie or any TV series single episode- but I've recorded some really excellent HD stuff of cable; Underworld, Minority Report, DragonHeart, Polar Express, assorted NOVA presentations, etc... that I will use the MG-350HD to view.

Just checked with Newegg- my MG-350HD is scheduled to arrive this Friday :D:D:D

Well, one reason is if you want to rip HD-DVD or Bluray disks to hard drive you'll need AnyDVD HD. You have to buy the whole package anyway and in my experience AnyDVD works with pretty much all DVD titles and is updated very oftren... weekly is typical. Highly recommended.
The free DVDFab HD Decrypter (http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm) reportedly does both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray. I use it for regular DVDs and it works with all titles I have tried, even the ones DVD Decrypter doesn't, and it's free.

Jay

The free DVDFab HD Decrypter (http://www.dvdfab.com/free.htm) reportedly does both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray. I use it for regular DVDs and it works with all titles I have tried, even the ones DVD Decrypter doesn't, and it's free. Jay

The only limitation with the freeware version of DVDFab Decrypter is that it rips the whole DVD, extras and all- no way to cut out all the fluff (menus, commentary, deleted scenes, etc...). You have to then open the fully ripped title on your hard drive with DVDShrink to remove the extras (if that's what you want to do). It's one extra step, but I've never had a disc I couldn't rip using DVDFab Decrypter first then DVDShrink next. It looks like with the AnyDVD plugin running- you skip the full rip with DVDFab and just use a single program like DVDShrink to do the rip/re-author job.

Yep,you are correct , I just Brought AnyDvd a long while ago , when it was way less than $50 , and it has worked very well since,and as the other poster stated really regular updates are good - i just never bothered to look into anything else cause it works well for me - but I do hear good reports about dvdfab etc etc..

Regards

Teddy



The only limitation with the freeware version of DVDFab Decrypter is that it rips the whole DVD, extras and all- no way to cut out all the fluff (menus, commentary, deleted scenes, etc...). You have to then open the fully ripped title on your hard drive with DVDShrink to remove the extras (if that's what you want to do). It's one extra step, but I've never had a disc I couldn't rip using DVDFab Decrypter first then DVDShrink next. It looks like with the AnyDVD plugin running- you skip the full rip with DVDFab and just use a single program like DVDShrink to do the rip/re-author job.

Well, according to UPS, my MG-350 has been delivered to my house- I plan on hooking it up tonight! :D:D:D

A question for those in the know: Several places in the online users manual it's stated "Please do not connect LAN Cable and USB Cable at the same time".

Is this restriction still in effect for firmware 1.1.2?
From what I've read, If I want fast uploads to the MG-350 I connect the USB cable to my computer and upload my content directly to the MG-350- then I have to (safely) disconnect the USB cable? I planned to have the MG-350 hardwired into my network 24/7/365 for in house streaming, what happens when I want to upload to the MG-350 via USB- do I have to remove the RJ-45 network connector, upload via USB, remove the USB cable then plug the hardwire network wire back in?

It's a bit confusing...

I have used rj45 (it never gets unplugged) and USB for almost 12 month now with my 350 and never a problem.
I really dont know what they mean in the manual.On a 100mb network Ndas is not as slow as many try to imply - I use this for copying files that are under 1gig to the 350 and then use USB for things any larger.. My 350 is in a different room to the pc that fills it , but I simply use a "USB Repeater cable" and it works very well..

I really suggest you use the latest firmware , 1.1.5 wil be released real soon ,so you may want to wait for that and then upgrade..

Please feel free to ask any other questions..

regards

Teddy



Well, according to UPS, my MG-350 has been delivered to my house- I plan on hooking it up tonight! :D:D:D

A question for those in the know: Several places in the online users manual it's stated "Please do not connect LAN Cable and USB Cable at the same time".

Is this restriction still in effect for firmware 1.1.2?
From what I've read, If I want fast uploads to the MG-350 I connect the USB cable to my computer and upload my content directly to the MG-350- then I have to (safely) disconnect the USB cable? I planned to have the MG-350 hardwired into my network 24/7/365 for in house streaming, what happens when I want to upload to the MG-350 via USB- do I have to remove the RJ-45 network connector, upload via USB, remove the USB cable then plug the hardwire network wire back in?

It's a bit confusing...

Thanks once again Teddy!
Since most of my content is either single Mpeg files @ 1.9GB-12GB or larger, and ripped DVD's @ 5-7GB... it looks like I won't be using Ndas to upload, no big deal.
In addition to the 500GB drive I'm installing in the MG-350, I also have media files on my Simpletech SimpleShare 250GB NAS in my "network closet" upstairs. The Media folder is "shared" and I can see all the files in it from the various computers in my house- I can also play MP3 files off it with my Acoustic Energy Internet radio via UPNP. Is there anything I need to do to configure the MG-350 in order to see this (UPNP) NAS device on my hardwired network, or should the MG-350 discover it on it's own- like my internet radio does?
Thanks again for all the support... Rob


OT: Sorry to hear of your departure from the manufactures forum Teddy. I saw many of your posts there. You will be missed!

@Rob

Ref UPNP , you have to go into the "setup" panel of the350 and then under "protocol" enable UPNP , then to go back to your normal network shares , you must switch back to SAMBA - you cant have them both enabled at the same time..

Ref O/T , I will still be posting here ,and at my Yahoo groups, as this forum is not "owned" by either MediagateUSA or Al Tech - thanks for your kind words..

Regards

Teddy


Thanks once again Teddy!
Since most of my content is either single Mpeg files @ 1.9GB-12GB or larger, and ripped DVD's @ 5-7GB... it looks like I won't be using Ndas to upload, no big deal.
In addition to the 500GB drive I'm installing in the MG-350, I also have media files on my Simpletech SimpleShare 250GB NAS in my "network closet" upstairs. The Media folder is "shared" and I can see all the files in it from the various computers in my house- I can also play MP3 files off it with my Acoustic Energy Internet radio via UPNP. Is there anything I need to do to configure the MG-350 in order to see this (UPNP) NAS device on my hardwired network, or should the MG-350 discover it on it's own- like my internet radio does?
Thanks again for all the support... Rob


OT: Sorry to hear of your departure from the manufactures forum Teddy. I saw many of your posts there. You will be missed!

@Rob

Ref UPNP , you have to go into the "setup" panel of the350 and then under "protocol" enable UPNP , then to go back to your normal network shares , you must switch back to SAMBA - you cant have them both enabled at the same time..
Regards
Teddy
Thank You.

Hi Guys,

I,m rather new here so I hope I can ask you guys for assistance with a problem where I dealing with for quite some time now.
I bought recently a mg 350.
I tried for severall days to play a DVD from my network drive. (LAN-DISK based upon a linux server).
The problem lies within the VIDEO_TS.ifo file.
When i want to open this file (wireless), the screen goes on black.
I do can play the several VOB files from this drive. Also all other media is no problem.
When I access the same ifo file on the local harddrive or the attached USB drive the DVD plays perfectly.
I tried also with FTD protocol, but the same results.
When I access this ifo file on the lan-drive with my laptop (also wireless) there's no problem.
When I access this ifo file on my laptop with the media player there's also no problem.

The problem seems only to occur between the network drive and the media player but i am unable to fix this.
Maybe there's a solution or some ideas how to fix this problem.
Thanks in advance.

Kind Greetings,

Paul (NL)

Hi Paul
Good to see you make it to the Mg-350HD thread in the end..

Ok,lets try to de-bug this problem for you..

What speed is your wireless 11B or 54G?

Regards

Teddy

Hi Teddy,

Speed is 54G.
I tried also with the wired connection, no results.
The VOB files within the DV folder plays fine (with FTD protocol smootly, with SMB protocol it plays sturdy), but as soon as I open the ifo file, the player hangs.
Also tried a DVD as a .iso file. Also no problem playing that, the only problem is that FAT 32 only can handle 4 GB so I miss the last part. I can't format my network drive in NTFS format (limitation of the LanDrive itself).

Greetings,

Paul.

Well, my MG-350 arrived yesterday- I hooked it up last night.
Placed my existing 500GB USB drive inside the case and fired it up. Happy to report all my files on the drive remained intact and were accessible. Used the DVI connection to my 42" Plasma TV. Went through the setup menus- 16X9, wired network, internet settings, etc.. Setup Samba protocol and browsed my network- the MG-350 found my 250GB NAS hard drive on my network, and the shared drive "D" on my computer. All audio and video files from both networked drives play back perfectly without stutter.

So, I'm 97% happy with the MG-350!
1% off for the rather odd non-illuminated remote that's missing an exit/cancel button (which doesn't seem to be very powerful either). Guess I'll check if Harmony has the MG devices on their code list.
1% off for overly bright red power LED- when will these HTPC accessory manufactures get the idea that we need toned down indicators in a home theater environment. Looks like it's time to break out the black Sharpie again.
1% off for the butt-ugly off-white faceplate. I already removed the Plexiglass shield- is there a black or silver or two-tone faceplate available or do I have to roll my own here?

And a big THANKS to Teddy who saved me a tremendous amount of time by answering all my pre-delivery questions, it made setup a snap. Media Gate should send you some $$ for tech support!

@Rob

Glad you are 97% happy with your Mg

To answer you questions...

1)Yes there are Harmony remote codes available for the 350 , and also ones so you can re-program any JP1 remote yourself.You may want to hold off though , as I hear that MediagateUSA **MAY** be bringing out a replacement remote that is a little better.
2)Sorry there are no replacement faceplates - we are talking Al Tech here :-) - Astehics just don't come into their way of thinking sadly..
3)Ref the LED - See #2 he he


And a big THANKS to Teddy who saved me a tremendous amount of time by answering all my pre-delivery questions, it made setup a snap. Media Gate should send you some $$ for tech support!

Thanks for your kind comments , maybe if you made a post to this effect at their "official" forum it may get through to them - somehow though, I doubt it very much..

http://mediagateusa.s10.forumsplace.com/viewtopic.php?t=695

Also ,please consider making a small donation to the overall MG-350HD project that I am involved in,that way we all benefit - Details here..

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support/message/498

Thanks and kind regards

Teddy

Thanks for your kind comments , maybe if you made a post to this effect at their "official" forum it may get through to them - somehow though, I doubt it very much..
http://mediagateusa.s10.forumsplace.com/viewtopic.php?t=695

Also ,please consider making a small donation to the overall MG-350HD project that I am involved in,that way we all benefit - Details here..
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support/message/498

I'll do both!



- Ref the ugly faceplate- I found a gray marbled cardboard bookcover that just happened to match my AV equipment- trimmed it w/button holes for the nav/on-off controls, etc.. and placed it under the 350's clear front bezel. It now matches my AV stuff perfectly, and It covers the offensive red LED just enough that I can still see when it's on, but not enough that it annoys me any more.
- I'll jump on the Harmony site and update my remote w/the MG codes. I do have a few JP1 remotes too, but since I got the Harmony- they're all in the closet now.

FWIW: here's what I found ref leaving the USB and RJ45 network wires both plugged in at the same time on my particular HTPC...
1) With my computer off and the RJ45 network wire plugged into the 350HD, if I connected the USB wire to one of the USB ports on the rear panel of my computer- the MG-350 turns off and the blue LEDs start flashing- indicating a normal USB connection. I can not use the 350HD for TV viewing in this condition.
2)With my computer off and the RJ45 network wire plugged into the 350HD, if I connected the USB wire to one of the USB ports from the motherboard USB port 5/6 or 7/8 headers on my computer- the MG-350 remains on and can be used with the TV until I power up the computer at which time the MG-350 turns off and the blue LEDs start flashing- indicating a normal USB connection.

Conclusion- if your USB ports are powered even when the computer is off- the 350HD will be in exclusive "USB connect" mode. If your USB ports are powered down when the computer is off- then the 350HD is available for TV Viewing even though the USB cable is still plugged in to the computer.

@Rob

Thanks for that ref MedigateUSA I am very grateful for your support..

Also thanks for your testing - just the type of unput we love here..

Regards

Teddy


I'll do both!

-Conclusion- if your USB ports are powered even when the computer is off- the 350HD will be in exclusive "USB connect" mode. If your USB ports are powered down when the computer is off- then the 350HD is available for TV Viewing even though the USB cable is still plugged in to the computer.

@Paul

This one has me stumped for sure..

i take it that the dvds you are trying to play are de-prorected?

Do Xvids play ok over the wireless lan?

Its a real long shot but did you try the 350 factory settings re-set procedure?..

Regards

Teddy


Hi Teddy,

Speed is 54G.
I tried also with the wired connection, no results.
The VOB files within the DV folder plays fine (with FTD protocol smootly, with SMB protocol it plays sturdy), but as soon as I open the ifo file, the player hangs.
Also tried a DVD as a .iso file. Also no problem playing that, the only problem is that FAT 32 only can handle 4 GB so I miss the last part. I can't format my network drive in NTFS format (limitation of the LanDrive itself).

Greetings,

Paul.

Teddy,

My first unit was faulty (sometimes not booting up) but also the same troubles with the ifo file. For this unit I tried the reset procedure with no results.
This morning I changed the HD in my network drive and re-formatted it.
I've read this somewere else as a possible solution. Ofcourse no results.......
I did however found something strange..
I put the original drive from the network drive into the mediaplayer.
I can access it and see the root folder "public", but I can't access the folders in this root folder. This was no problem when this drive was in the network drive.
This "public" folder has something to do with the structure of the network drive server. I don't know if this is always the issue with a network drive, but I am unable to change this, I only can change the name. Till now it was no problem for me because i could access my data normally, but mayebe it has something to do with the problem accessing the ifo file?

I also have a printer server with a extra USB port. I connected a 2.5 inch drive to this extra port and tried to access it from my media player. No problems with opening the ifo file accept the sturdy playback.

So, my conclusion is that it has something to do with the protocol in the network drive.
This is a landisk, but similair to the Fantec drive :http://www.fantec.de/html/en/2/artId/__2200/gid/__500905309053390/article.html

So, i am totally out of ideas for now accept buing a new network drive but that would spoil this fun isn't it?!?

Thanks for your suport so far, and if you have any further ideas about this problem I would be gladly to hear it from you (or other forum members offcourse).

Meanwhile I am playing from my USB drive with excellent results......

Greetz, Paul (NL)

Does the new internet radio feature work without having the PC on?

Does the new internet radio feature work without having the PC on?
Yes it does. Test your 350HD's internet connection in the setup menu. If it checks out ok, you're good to go...

Now That Wizkidshaw and a few others have started working on the 350 firmware , I thought it may be a good idea to have our own splash screen in any New firmware produced..

It would be nice to define this firmware from the "official" ones..

Somthing that contains maybe the name "Produced by.... The MG-350HD Development Team" , and then maybe the url of this group and also the350 Wiki Address..

Could Anyone here produce one for us please??

Will be Very gratful of anything you can produce..

If you can help,please post here or email me direct @
teddystacker@hotmail.com

you can keep up with any new firmware Developments here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support

Many thanks

Regards

Teddy

Hi all. After much consideration and reading I have purchased a 350. I am very happy with the little unit. I think the main attraction for me is the internet radio streams and up to now every video type I have thrown at it works fine!

Had some minor issues with installing a hard drive, but in it's defence I am using a laptop drive so had to get the connections right with the little adaptor and I think i have either a slightly dodgy cable or little usb connection.

Yes it has some little quirks about it. It seems to get a bit confused sometimes as to what you want it to do, but overall very impressed.

Question for the experts. Can you browse your music (or anything else) while another track is playing? Can you point me in the right direction for more skins?

Thanks

@djjon

Welcome mate,good to see you on board.. and glad you are happy with your 350 - I think in general most of us feel that way...

To answer your first question - at the moment you CANNOT Browse while a song is playing , but Al Tech added this feature to the latest MG-35 firmware , so we hope soon to see it on the 350 - a new firmware release is planned for the 350 anytime now - I will always announce this both at this thread and at my 350 Yahoo group..

Ok , Skins , here are the two sites you need to be looking at.. If you find any others , please report to us..

http://mediagate.bbhosts.net/index.php
http://www.mgskinner.newsit.es/

Also, dont forget to visit my MG-350 Yahoo group,and lok out for new firmware Modifications as thet are made..

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support/?yguid=10889628

Please feel free to ask any other questions.. We are here to help and were all "newbies" at one time..

Kind Rgards

Teddy

Question for the experts. Can you browse your music (or anything else) while another track is playing? Can you point me in the right direction for more skins?

Thanks

Hi All,

Just purchased a MG-350HD and very happy with its capabilities, I'm not very tech savvy and am having problems setting up in wireless mode. the wireless icon is highlighted but does not detect any other computers in my home network.
I find the instructions confusing and require help setting this up in layman terms that a newbie can understand. I have the latest firmware and a 500gb HDD installed and using a belkin 802.11g router with WEP enabled and NDAS installed on each computer.
I know this may have been covered earlier but I would really appreciate some help in a step by step manner to make this awsome product even better.

Thanks in advance
Caddy065

Hi Caddy,

And Welcome to the thread and the MG World..

going todo this Step by step with you but need some info 1st...

Couple of questions...

what operating system are you using?

Have you "shared" the contents of the network drives you want to view on your 350?

kind Regards

Teddy



Hi All,

Just purchased a MG-350HD and very happy with its capabilities, I'm not very tech savvy and am having problems setting up in wireless mode. the wireless icon is highlighted but does not detect any other computers in my home network.
I find the instructions confusing and require help setting this up in layman terms that a newbie can understand. I have the latest firmware and a 500gb HDD installed and using a belkin 802.11g router with WEP enabled and NDAS installed on each computer.
I know this may have been covered earlier but I would really appreciate some help in a step by step manner to make this awsome product even better.

Thanks in advance
Caddy065

Hi Teddy,

Thanks for your quick reply, operating system is Windows XP Home and have shared drives, because daughter and son can network already from their laptops to computer in study which is were router is connected, hope this helps.

Thanks again

Caddy065

Will this unit work without a computer at all. i want to get one for my Dad who is very computer stupid. He dosn't want one or own one. I want to fill up an internal harddrive with all my apple tv mpeg4 so he can play them on this unit. Is this possible?

Will this unit work without a computer at all.
Yes, most definitely! Put a good size hard drive in it- say 500 or 750GB and life will be good.:D

Hi Teddystacker,

Did you recieve my last post re wireless setup.

Thanks for your trouble

Caddy065

Hi Caddy,

Yes i did receive it,sorry for late reply , but My wife has ben in hospital,just have not had the usual amount of time to devote to my MG-35.

Ok,ref sharing..
1)Are you using "Simple" File sharing?

2)Have you tried connecting from your MG with the XP firewall off?

Regards

Teddy


Hi Teddystacker,

Did you recieve my last post re wireless setup.

Thanks for your trouble

Caddy065

Hi Teddystacker,

Sorry to hear about your wife I hope she is recovering.
Yes file sharing is enabled and firewall disabled.

Thanks again

Caddy065

Hi all.
Does anyone know if it is possible to get tversity running with the mediagate and secondly, the internet radio stations I have in the iradio work fine. But the 350 only shows me the url's not the names of the stations in the list, so I have no idea which is which. Can I name them somehow?

Thanks

PS. Hope wife is ok Teddystacker

..the internet radio stations I have in the iradio work fine. But the 350 only shows me the url's not the names of the stations in the list, so I have no idea which is which. Can I name them somehow?
I've only used the i-radio once , but as I recall the station name is listed on the left and the related URL's are just alternate streams for that particular station. If you select DI (Digitally Imported) you see maybe 10 URL's listed- those are alternate streams for DI in case the default stream is down.
Is this what you are referring to?

Anyone have any idea why when I try to play mp4 or h264 files I get sound but no picture? I have FW 1.12 i believe.

Hi all.
Does anyone know if it is possible to get tversity running with the mediagate and secondly, the internet radio stations I have in the iradio work fine. But the 350 only shows me the url's not the names of the stations in the list, so I have no idea which is which. Can I name them somehow?

Thanks

PS. Hope wife is ok Teddystacker

Try here:

http://mediagateusa.s10.forumsplace.com/viewtopic.php?t=627

This unit does not support H264.

Looking at this thread and couple other places I read that it did support h264 so that is why I bought it, but now that I look at official documents I see it doesn't mention it does.

Oh well, I guess I will use it for playing music in my garage. Unless there is a way to watch HD quality movies off of it. So far all the ones I have downloaded havent worked.

new firmware 1.1.7 for the mg-350hd posted at the support site.

Many thanks to Jferia for reporting this release,while I was sleeping..

Here is my test report so far..

Upgrade went ok and all your old settings are kept from previous installs.

From the tests I have done so far,seems quite stable - I did get the "Checking NTFS File system" once , after I first enabled the FTP server,but it DID NOT keep appearing at every single Boot , as it did with previous versions of the firmware..

Bugs found so far..

1)When loading a M3U playlist the FIRST track in the playlist is NEVER loaded ,the MG350 starts playing at track No.2 , even though track one is present in both the playlist and directory the other tracks are in.

2)When connection to a Iradio station,if this will not connect,the timeout is super long (I gave up waiting) , and sometimes if you try and cancel by pressing STOP , it will crash the unit totally (red light goes off,and you have to de-power the unit).

The above two bugs were already reported to Mediagate USA on the last 1.1.5 Beta release,but clearly have not been cured yet..


Other Observances:

In the info screen,in the "Signal Strength" section , now the Wireless Speed is also displayed ie 54G,11B.

The Avi intro screen is not longer played at bootup,dispite being enabled in the Seup section.. looks like they have removed it..

Look forward to other users comments...

Teddy

(Teddystacker - Moderator/Owner MG-35 and MG350HD Yahoo Groups
Offering the very best in MG35/350 Support)

I'm considering buying one of these, but need to make sure it will play some commonly found file on my machine.

I use several HD tuner cards to record HD on my computer. While I believe these records are really MPEG files, they are recorded with either a .ts or .tp extension.

Can anyone verify that the 350HD does in fact play .ts and .tp files?

I just finished reading this thread and I didn't see anyone ask the question before.

Many thanks,

Can anyone verify that the 350HD does in fact play .ts and .tp files?

I just finished reading this thread and I didn't see anyone ask the question before.

Many thanks,
My 350HD plays .ts files just fine.
You may want to purchase VideoRedo ($49 online) to convert those .ts files to mpeg.

@sic0048

If you would like to upload a SMALL sample of each file you want to play,to www.rapidshare.com (and then post the link here), I will gladly test them for you , just to be 100% sure,before you fianlly make your buy....

I have played .TS file without any problems myself..

Kind Regards

Teddy






I'm considering buying one of these, but need to make sure it will play some commonly found file on my machine.

I use several HD tuner cards to record HD on my computer. While I believe these records are really MPEG files, they are recorded with either a .ts or .tp extension.

Can anyone verify that the 350HD does in fact play .ts and .tp files?

I just finished reading this thread and I didn't see anyone ask the question before.

Many thanks,

I've had one of these for a few weeks now and I think it is great. Right now I am using it exclusively for DVD ISOs. Everything seems to be working fine.

I have kind of an odd setup on the hardware side of things. Ethernet works fine for streaming files but instead of relying on a server type setup for central storage I decided to go the USB route. I have a 4 port USB hub plugged into the USB host port of the 350HD. And attached to the 4 ports I have 3 external USB HDD enclosures and a DVD drive. Each USB HDD enclosure has a 500GB drive and I also have a 500GB drive installed in the 350HD for a total of 2 terabytes of local storage. I have modded the USB enclosures by installing removable IDE drive racks. Which allows for easy additional storage options.

I administer this setup with a notebook PC. I picked up a 15ft USB cable. I unplug the USB hub from the 350HD at the USB hub. Plug the USB hub into my notebook PC using the 15ft cable. And then plug the 350HD using the USB slave port into the hub. The result is easy access to the two terabytes of drive storage for ISO additions, file deletion etc. I can use the DVD drive in my notebook to rip a DVD to any of the 4 drives or I can use the DVD drive mentioned above if it is plugged into the hub.

It is a pretty simple setup and seems to work fine. Only one small problem so far but it is an easy work around.

Also I noticed when using ethernet or wifi using AnyDVD allows me to play commercial DVDs from my notebook DVD drive to the 350HD. The 350HD does not like commercial DVDs if using the USB DVD drive as a player when hooked up the the 350HD USB host port.

My question is how many drives has anyone had hooked up the the 350HD simultaneously. I've had a total of 5 if including the internal one. Is there a limit? I tried a cheap 7 port USB hub but it did not play nice. So I'm back to using the 4 port hub.

@nextoo

Thanks for sharing the details of your system,very interesting.
In all the reading I have done on the 350 since its release,I think you are the only person that has added that many USB devices to the 350!!.

Please let us know,if you ever mamage to add more than four devices..

Question: Do all of you four USB devices display correctly on page three of the "info" when you press the info button on the remote?

Regards

Teddy

Thanks to Colin and Wizkidshaw , today we can release the very first "Developer" version of the MG-350HD Firmware..

**If you don't know what Telnet is,then this firmware is not for you,and is really only aimed at users developing the firmware for the MG-350HD**.

The Firmware can be downloaded via the Files section of the MG-350HD Yahoo group,located here..

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support

Here are a few details from the read_me file,which is included with the release.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
September 20th 2007

This firmware is based upon the "Stock" MG-350HD 1.1.7 firmware ,as released by Al Tech on 19th September 2007.Only the following modifications have been made - No others..

1)nbusybox binary 1.2.2 built per the Development page, with many many useful things enabled. Don't be tempted to replace the whole original busybox build yet, though -- doing so will brick your device-
telnetd running by default (just telnet to the box for a root shell)-
2)Altech.ttf font file contents replaced with Arial for space savings
3)mkdosfs and dosfsck built from dosfstools-2.1.1 (I wanted to seeif I could change the NTFS filesystem on one partition of my internal CFcard to FAT32 via telnet to the box -- and I could, success!)
4)The Splash graphic has been replaced with one containing the MG-
350HD Support group web address.

Credits:
Colin Panisset - Developent of the above.
WizkidShaw - Integration of the above into the 1.1.7
firmware,Testing.
Teddystacker - Altering Splash Screen image,Testing,creating this read_me.
----------------------------------------------------------

Regards to all,

Teddy

@nextoo

Thanks for sharing the details of your system,very interesting.
In all the reading I have done on the 350 since its release,I think you are the only person that has added that many USB devices to the 350!!.

Please let us know,if you ever mamage to add more than four devices..

Question: Do all of you four USB devices display correctly on page three of the "info" when you press the info button on the remote?

Regards

Teddy

No. The only drive that shows up is the drive that is installed in the 350HD. The USB devices are not represented on the info page. I mentioned in my previous post that a 7 port USB hub did not play well with the 350HD. It plays well now when plugged into the 4 post USB hub that has been working fine. Total USB ports now are 10. Up till now I have not gone past using 5.

Here's a pic of how the USB devices appear.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb143/nextoo/drives.jpg

Nice setup nextoo!
Have you tried any powered 7 port USB hubs ? (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817807003)

Nobody's having problems with heat these big hard drives put out?
I have a MG 35 that I took the 160GB hard drive due to the heat.
I remember when these first came out some people were recommending
anything around 400GB or bigger just put out too much heat.

Just bought a Acoustic Research DMP3000 Media Bridge.
too bad it doesn't have the flexibility the MG 350HD does........
(it's built on a motherboard with K7 AMD,Nforce2 video and a solid state hard drive with Linux)

I'm waiting to see if the MG 350HD is as good as the AR DMP3000

Nobody's having problems with heat these big hard drives put out?
No problem with a 500GB 7200rpm drive in my 350HD.
I don't leave it running all day, but sometimes it's on for 6hrs or more without heat problems.

Hi teddystacker,

You were going to help me step by step with this post.

Just purchased a MG-350HD and very happy with its capabilities, I'm not very tech savvy and am having problems setting up in wireless mode. the wireless icon is highlighted but does not detect any other computers in my home network.
I find the instructions confusing and require help setting this up in layman terms that a newbie can understand. I have the latest firmware and a 500gb HDD installed and using a belkin 802.11g router with WEP enabled and NDAS installed on each computer.
I know this may have been covered earlier but I would really appreciate some help in a step by step manner to make this awsome product even better.

Thanks in advance
Caddy065

@caddy065

As per my earlier post... My wife is recoverying from some serious back surgery , so I have very little time on the forums atm - As soon as I get time I will gladly try and help you , but sure you understand that family must some 1st at this time?..

Maybe someone else can help until I get a bit more time to spare..

Regards to all

Teddy



Hi teddystacker,

You were going to help me step by step with this post.

Just purchased a MG-350HD and very happy with its capabilities, I'm not very tech savvy and am having problems setting up in wireless mode. the wireless icon is highlighted but does not detect any other computers in my home network.
I find the instructions confusing and require help setting this up in layman terms that a newbie can understand. I have the latest firmware and a 500gb HDD installed and using a belkin 802.11g router with WEP enabled and NDAS installed on each computer.
I know this may have been covered earlier but I would really appreciate some help in a step by step manner to make this awsome product even better.

Thanks in advance
Caddy065

Nice setup nextoo!
Have you tried any powered 7 port USB hubs ? (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817807003)

Thanks. The only powered 7 port hub I have tried is the generic one from Geeks. Really cheap - something like $11. It's performance was flaky.

The 4 port hub I tried was one that was being sold a Walmart. CyberPower or something like that. It works fine.

I should add that using a USB hub is not free of its problems. For example if you have 4 USB HDDs hooked up via a USB hub and you access the internal HDD of the 350HD one of the USB HDDs disappears. I think it has something to do with the way the 350HD orders the drives. Not a deal breaker for me but it is something to note. If you don't access the internal HDD then there are no problems. And if you only use two USB HDDs then there is never a problem with a drive disappearing.

I think it is still a work in progress and performance may vary depending on the USB hub. But it is nice to know that the 350HD is not limited to a single host USB device.

By the way here is how 8 drives look. This is page two of the USB screen. Page one shows 6 drives. I had to change skins for the drives to appear right on the screen. The fact that the original skin has made provisions for listing extra USB devices leads me to believe that this isn't too far off the plan.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb143/nextoo/usb8.jpg

Here's page one. There is a down arrow below drive number 6 that moves you to page two.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb143/nextoo/USB6.jpg

I'm not sure how practical any of this is but it does demonstrate a capability of the 350HD. Also for some reason my camera doesn't like my LCD TV with the green skin. Ouch!

Thanks for posting nextoo it's an interesting setup.
Is there any problem if you don't power up any one particular external drive- does the 350 see it next time it's powered up?
What I'm getting at is that I'm considering adding a USB hub as you did and two or three 500GB external USB drives- keep my older content exclusively on them and keep them always powered down. When I want to watch something on one of those powered down external drives- power it up, then power up the 350 then access the content on one of those drives.
Do you see any problems with this approach? Thanks!

replaybob - that will work fine. Not a problem based on my experience.

My "default" setup is using 3 USB devices. I mentioned in another post that I modded some USB enclosures to accept removable drive trays. I have two of these hooked up to the USB hub. The removable drive trays allow me to swap drives pretty easily. The third USB device is a DVD burner. This allows me to play DVD discs using the 350HD and also use this drive as a burner/rom drive when I have the hub hooked up to my notebook for transferring content etc to the 350HD.

replaybob - that will work fine. Not a problem based on my experience.
Thanks again nextoo!
I see 500GB USB drives on sale locally for $99 now and then, I still have some room on my internal 500Gb drive. But, if the 500GB drives keep coming down, a two or three disk array might just do the trick for my storage needs.

Here's something that I just noticed on my 350HD...
Yesterday I put a password on the video folder on my NAS drive.
The 350HD still sees the drive on the network- but can't open the folder-it doesn't even show the password protected folder. How does the 350HD handle password protected Windows shares folders? I was expecting to see a password dialog box like my internet radio shows with protected folders.
Thanks.... rob

Look at yo firewall man

Look at yo firewall man
The 350HD has no firewall, neither does my NAS (Network Attached Storage) hard drive.
No PC or windows OS involved in this situation. Just a 350HD and a 500GB NAS drive with a password protected "Video" folder. If I turn off the "Video" folder's password protection- the 350HD sees it and all the files are viewable. If I password the folder- the 350HD doesn't see the folder any more.
Capiche?

After a little searching around AVS and the Mediagate forums- it seems the 350HD supplies the password "gate" when looking at an encrypted/password protected folder. So, I set the Video folder password on my NAS drive to "gate" and now the 350HD see the folder and the files in the folder are usable :D:D.
Strange that you can't set a new, stronger password on the 350HD?

One Of the members just reported this post over at the "Official" Medigate USA Forums to me via email - very interesting indeed..

Looks like they are scaling back what little support they did give? , I wonder whats really going on?? - looks like my Yahoo groups will now be the only RELIABLE source of obtaining info and support on Mediagate products for users Worldwide,a sad day indeed for MG users...

But..I assure you all that I wil keep these Groupd open as long as I can and will continue to offer the very best in Mediagate support..
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Good day all, first and foremost we at MediaGate USA would like to completely appreciate the efforts and support of all active MediaGate USA Community members. We sincerely appreciate your feedback and we hope that your active involvement will continue.

Unfortunately due to limitations, contractual obligations and liability concerns, MediaGate USA will no longer be providing technical assistance through this forum. For MediaGate USA customers please request for technical support via our e-mail. For customers outside of MediaGate USA, please contact your specific reseller/distributor for official technical support.

We would like to ensure all active users that we will continue to monitor this forum. So rests assure that your feedback, bug reports, and feature request will be noted and taken into serious consideration. We would like to again thank all users of this forum as without your help this forum would not be what it has been as of today.

-Team MediaGate"

From what I've read, it looks like there was only one company rep (Tony) perusing the forum with any regularity. Seems like it was mainly user supported anyway.
Lets see how their sales go without company representation on their own forum site. As a consumer- one of the factors I consider when buying a product is factory support. If I research a product and all I read are posts stating "support sucks" or "factory support is non-existent" then I really reconsider the purchase of that product. If sales decrease, MG may rethink their decision to drop forum representation.

I totally agree Rob,this can only hurt their sales,as this is the type of product that people do research on before buying,and as you say these type of actions from the importer will never aid sales in anyway.Its all about confidence for the consumer to buy.
Tony has done his best to keep it alive,but as you say mostly user supported and I noticed its been on the decline for a while.. I feel a bit sad really,as I was with it from the start and kept it alive when the company all but abandoned it to the spam bots.But things change I guess.

Regards

Teddy



From what I've read, it looks like there was only one company rep (Tony) perusing the forum with any regularity. Seems like it was mainly user supported anyway.
Lets see how their sales go without company representation on their own forum site. As a consumer- one of the factors I consider when buying a product is factory support. If I research a product and all I read are posts stating "support sucks" or "factory support is non-existent" then I really reconsider the purchase of that product. If sales decrease, MG may rethink their decision to drop forum representation.

Is there a legal way to rip a DVD to an ISO file for playback on the 350 if you own the DVD?

Is there a legal way to rip a DVD to an ISO file for playback on the 350 if you own the DVD?
I believe that ripping DVD's you own falls under the "Fair Use" category... but circumventing encryption is still considered illegal I would imagine? ... But I'm not getting into that legal brouhaha here.
Haven't played with ISO's, but you can get the freeware "DVDshrink" and rip the DVD's you own to individual folders on the 350's hard drive. Just use the "burn to hard disk" option with "create VIDEO_TS" subfolder box checked when using DVDshrink. The 350 does a great job with playback from DVD's ripped using this method.
There's an interactive DVDshrink guide here: http://www.dvdshrink.info/guides.php

All Dvd/cd ripping is againt the law for whatever reason,and I would never endorse it..

But...

The Combination of these two programs will rip anything on the market to a ISO which will play flawless on the Mediagate..

1)Anydvd from Slysoft.com

2)Dvd Shrink

Regards

Teddy


Is there a legal way to rip a DVD to an ISO file for playback on the 350 if you own the DVD?

If I set up the 350HD as a network storage device, will I get a 100Mbit connection over ethernet? I remember reading awhile back that you'd only get 10Mbit out of it. Has that been fixed yet?

The 10mbit thing is really not true (where streaming is concerned) , no device gets a true 100mbit.Think you may be a bit confused here , its the Mg-35 that has problems playing HIGH BITRATE iso's over a wired network.I myself stream iso's on my wired network on my 350 and have no problems,with wireless its a different story , but again , only at high bitrates.
Now you may be talking about NDAS transfer speeds,as opposed to network streaming , if that is the case then you are correct,NDAS file transfer is indeed quite slow.I doubt this will ever be fixed in NDAS , as there is emulation involved in the de-cryption stage , rather than it being done in hardware...

Hope this helps...

Regards

Teddy




If I set up the 350HD as a network storage device, will I get a 100Mbit connection over ethernet? I remember reading awhile back that you'd only get 10Mbit out of it. Has that been fixed yet?

Any date on the new MG-450HD that supports HDMI and SATA?

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/product.php?prod=mg450hd

Should I wait for the new model or buy the 350HD?

Thanks for you input.

Did anyone get problems with SAMBA when they loaded the 1.1.7 firmware? I was running firmware 1.1.0 and SAMBA was working fine. I did not enable Guest, instead I created the two accounts, Mediagate (no password) and Media (password 'gate'). It worked fine for months and months. I put 1.1.7 on my 350HD this weekend and now it sees the same servers, but it won't give me a share list on my main server. It says there is nothing shared. There most definitely is. I noticed some login failures for 'mediagate' account I believe, along with the Guest and Administrator accounts when the 350HD tries to connect.

Any suggestions?

tk

I'm not very impressed with the MG-350HD. It's a very buggy piece of equipment even when using it for very mundane purposes. When playing MP3's (wired gigabit LAN) sometimes the 350HD would just lockup for no apparent reason.

As a result I upgraded firmware to the newest available posted on the mediagateusa website (1.1.7) and now the screen simply goes blank when trying to access the share with all my MP3's.

This product doesn't appear to be ready for prime time. If anyone has had a similar problem please let me know.

I'm not very impressed with the MG-350HD. It's a very buggy piece of equipment ...
Sorry you feel that way mnn1265.
I've had my 350HD for several months now and it's flawlessly played everything I've thrown at it including SD Mpeg2, HD Mpeg2, VOB files, and lastly HD DivX files. I'm very impressed with the unit actually. Not even a single droupout or network error yet. I will admit, I don't use my 350HD for MP3 playback- I have a AE Internet Radio for streaming wireless MP3 playback in the house.

Mediagate USA has a user forum, maybe you can find some answers there: http://mediagateusa.s10.forumsplace.com/index.php

Curiously, the 350HD has no problem playing VOB's or other video from shares... I'm not sure why MP3's are creating problems. The only thing I can think of is that the MG-350HD (with 1.1.7 firmware anyway) has problems accessing my share because it has 15Gb of MP3s (about 3000).

I hope to get to the bottom of this problem so I can give it a chance to prove me wrong (about being buggy). I hope you're right replayrob.

Hi There,

I recently purchaed a MG-350HD. I have firmware v1.1.7 installed. When I boot up the device, the LAN sometimes does not light up in the main menu. I try resetting the device and SOMETIMES the LAN lights up and becomes available. Most of the time, however it does not work. I can turn it off overnight and turn it on in the morning and sometimes the LAN will work. I am using DCHP resoloution, but it dosnt seem to make a difference if I give it a static IP. (using 192.168.1.2 and 255.255.255.0 mask). Its almost as if the network card / drivers aren't even turned on for some reason- resetting only seems to fix the problem intermittently.

AND if the LAN is not working, and I try to use Wireless LAN, it lights up on the menu, but is unable to connect to anything. This is not the case however if the normal LAN (wired) is working.

As far as I can tell this is not an issue with my network, rather its a problem with my mediagate?
Im just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience or can suggest what else I could try to get my LAN connection working consistently.

As you can imagine it is quite annoying when I get home and want to watch something new and I cant get my MG to connect to the network when it was connecting fine the day before.

Thanks in advance!

Did anyone get problems with SAMBA when they loaded the 1.1.7 firmware? I was running firmware 1.1.0 and SAMBA was working fine. I did not enable Guest, instead I created the two accounts, Mediagate (no password) and Media (password 'gate'). It worked fine for months and months. I put 1.1.7 on my 350HD this weekend and now it sees the same servers, but it won't give me a share list on my main server. It says there is nothing shared. There most definitely is. I noticed some login failures for 'mediagate' account I believe, along with the Guest and Administrator accounts when the 350HD tries to connect.

Any suggestions?

tk
Anybody using SMB with 1.1.7?

tk

Just got my MediaGate hd350. Should I upgrade to 1.1.7 ?

Are there any special instructions or do I just navigate to the upgrade file and select it ?

Thanks,

Don

Just got my MediaGate hd350. Should I upgrade to 1.1.7 ?

Our there any special instructions or do I just navigate to the upgrade file and select it ?

Thanks,

Don
You might want to copy down any of your network settings and stuff, but otherwise yeah, just copy it over, select it and go.

tk

Yes , just copy the 1.1.7 .upgrade file to the 350's hard disk and browse to it , then dont touch it until it tells you to reboot - the whole upgrade process takes less than 5 mins total..

Dont forget to visit my dedicated MG-350 support group located here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support

Regards

Teddy






Just got my MediaGate hd350. Should I upgrade to 1.1.7 ?

Our there any special instructions or do I just navigate to the upgrade file and select it ?

Thanks,

Don

Thanks, Teddy and pendragn !

I joined the yahoo group yesterday!

Thanks for all the effort.

Don

Yes , just copy the 1.1.7 .upgrade file to the 350's hard disk and browse to it , then dont touch it until it tells you to reboot - the whole upgrade process takes less than 5 mins total..

Dont forget to visit my dedicated MG-350 support group located here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support

Regards

Teddy

Don

No problem , please feel free to ask as many questions as you like,only to pleased to help..

Regards

Teddy


Thanks, Teddy and pendragn !

I joined the yahoo group yesterday!

Thanks for all the effort.

Don

I have latest firmware with 500GB hdd and while very happy with this unit, I have 2 or 3 IMAX videos that are giving troubles. The latest firmware states it has addressed some AC3 starting issues and I think this problem is not completely fixed. In any case, let me explain. I take AC3 digital out to my receiver and for videos that are smaller than 720x400 there are no problems. For the videos that are 720x400 they start and I get no more than 3 or 4 frames and all stops with a freezed-frame. The unit is not hung, since when I press Stop it responds appropriately. Then if I re-play the same file and start it from where it stopped, it recovers and plays the file perfectly. Another MG350 I have in the bedroom which plays analog audio of the same files have no problems. This feels to me like a bug starting AC3, don't you think?

12/3/07 update: After more testing, it appears that something may have been wrong with those files. I tried to take a 1 minute clip so I could see if anyone else could reproduce the problem and the clip played fine. I have now redone those files and they play just fine... Al

I have been having wireless issues with the MG-350 HD for a long time. I finally found the issues.

Firmware.

All the firmware up till 1.11 beta 5 works fine with wireless and I can access my shared files no problems.

Firmware after 1.11 beta 5 wireless sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I get a lower signal strength 33% compared to 85% with the older firmware. Most of the time It won't even see my shared files.

Looks like that all the fancy extras that they have tried to implement in the newer firmware has degraded the basic functions such as wireless.

I have been having wireless issues with the MG-350 HD for a long time. I finally found the issues.

Firmware.

All the firmware up till 1.11 beta 5 works fine with wireless and I can access my shared files no problems.

Firmware after 1.11 beta 5 wireless sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I get a lower signal strength 33% compared to 85% with the older firmware. Most of the time It won't even see my shared files.

Looks like that all the fancy extras that they have tried to implement in the newer firmware has degraded the basic functions such as wireless.
I can't see how the firmware could have affected signal strength. Are you sure you have not changed your furniture, added some stuff between the MG350 and your router? Al

Just to report back, firmware upgrade went smoothly, thanks again Teddy and Pendragn.

Found some .wmv files won't play and some .jpg files won't display.

Otherwise satisfied with the MG-350HD, plays well over wired network and very inexpensive for the bridge between my computer and my theater/projector setup.

Don

I can't see how the firmware could have affected signal strength. Are you sure you have not changed your furniture, added some stuff between the MG350 and your router? Al

Nothing has changed.

every firmware except 1.11 drops the signal strength.

I have tried this in 2 seperate units and i get the same results for both units.

I have also found that I no longer have mp3, and jpeg file playing issues with firmware 1.11

Skimming through this thread- im having a bit of trouble figuring out how this player works etc/what it does/does not do. Is there a definitive faq for those that do not have so much time?

This unit does not support H264.

Dang, what a dealbreaker. Any chance of them updating it to support proper codecs?

I've run into a problem with my mg-350, which is either a nasty bug, or a silly blinder I've got.

Through some menu (I think during playback), I was able to customize a zoom and fit it to my screen (it gave me options like full stretch, incremental zoom, etc.). Now, if I try to watch other content, its zoomed too much, and I cannot seem to turn off the custom screen sizing I set up.

Any ideas?

Skimming through this thread- im having a bit of trouble figuring out how this player works etc/what it does/does not do. Is there a definitive faq for those that do not have so much time?



Dang, what a dealbreaker. Any chance of them updating it to support proper codecs?

The player is limited to not playback h.264 due to the Sigma chipset, thus any amount of updating the firmware will not enable it.

I've run into a problem with my mg-350, which is either a nasty bug, or a silly blinder I've got.

Through some menu (I think during playback), I was able to customize a zoom and fit it to my screen (it gave me options like full stretch, incremental zoom, etc.). Now, if I try to watch other content, its zoomed too much, and I cannot seem to turn off the custom screen sizing I set up.

Any ideas?

Yes, I have! I have already met this problem, you have to find out what was the last film where you changed the zoom level. While you playback that you will be able to set the original size of it, and then the zoomlevel of the next film will be okay. :)

Yes, I have! I have already met this problem, you have to find out what was the last film where you changed the zoom level. While you playback that you will be able to set the original size of it, and then the zoomlevel of the next film will be okay. :)
What I've found with this particular bug is that you do have full screen zoom control if playing back a mpg file, but no screen zoom control playing back ripped DVD VOB files. So if you adjusted screen zoom size while playing back a mpg file- it stays in effect until you re-adjust it again. If you need to adjust the screen zoom while watching a ripped DVD VOB- you have to stop play, bring up a mpg file- adjust the screen zoom while playing the mpg file, stop play, then start watching the DVD VOB file again- this time the screen will be the size you chose.
It's seems screen zoom adjustments for VOB files are prohibited, so you just have to use the little mpg file workaround.

I keep a small mpg video file in my MG 350HD's video folder just for screen size adjustments.

Thanks to A Al Tech Exclusive, I can bring you a NEW BETA release firmware for the MG-350HD.

MG-350HD_MG350_1.1.8_beta3

Download here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/83029766/MG-350HD_MG350_1.1.8_beta3_Firmware.zip.html

Some nice new features ,along with the Usual bug fixes.. Full read me included with the release , but here are the main new Features.

Please bear in mind this is a **BETA** release NOT final - I have tested it on my 350's and All Seems ok at this time.

Please post your comments and any bugs found here in this thread - Thanks..

Teddy

--------------------------------------------------------------------
The main additions to the beta firmware v1.1.8 include the following.


A) Delete Files from Internal Hard disk Feature (Does not work on the Network)

To use the new DELETE Feature:

1)Select the file you want to delete by putting the cursor over it in the main file browser.
2)Hit the "All Media" button on the Remote control (You may get a "checking NTFS file system

message,but this is normal).
3)At the very top of the screen you will now see a "Manage file" txt,together with a picture of a

wrench.
4)Press "OK" on the remote,and you will see that a RED checkmark has appeared next to the arrow on

the selected file.
5)Repeat step 4 on any other file you want to delete by browsing to it.
6)Press the "MENU" key on the remote control.
7)To delete the files you have "marked" hit "OK" on the remote,or you can cancel at this stage.
8)A warning dialogue will display alowing you to delete all the files you "marked" in steps 4 and 5.
9)Press the "ALL MEDIA" button again to return to normal file playing operation.


B)Sleep Timer - Mg-350 automatically powers down after a pre-determined period of time.

1)Press the "0" button on the remote control to activate this feature.
2)Each subsequent press of the "0" key will increast the amount of time before auto shutoff.
ie 10-20-30-60-120-180-240 Mins before shutoff ,the next press cancels the feature.A dialogue wil

display each time.

C)Mp3 Browse feature..

While playing a mp3 or audio file you can use the Up and Down arrows to broser other files on the


hard disk and network shares.
You can also adjust the Brightness etc (From the remote) while playing a audio file.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

MediaGate MG-350 firmware should be going official very soon. Here is a copy of the change log.

1. Fixed : After play ISO / DVD-Rip files, it does not go up to the updirectory.
2. Added : While play a movie, you can adjust volume, color adjustment and use menu icon.
3. Added : Color adjustment has up to 128 degree.
4. Fixed : Some MPG files that could paly at the old version are played at 1.1.8 version.
5. Added : While the unit is in the sleep mode, it shows NDAS message.
6. Fixed : Eventhough there is no file at FTP client HDD, it showed like there are files.
7. Fixed : When you play the contents from the PlayList, the unit was hangup.
8. Fixed : When you play WMV9 + WMV Pro(audio) with the subtitle showed, you could not hear the audio.
9. Fixed : When you play the photo at Play One mode, removed Loading message.
10. Fixed : When you play high capacity WAV file, it played after you heard some noise.
11. Fixed : When you play AVI file, the subtitle could not be shown.
12. Fixed : Now you can access by using windows account name [Medaigae] through network connection.
13. Fixed : When you play All Photo Play, you could not adjust the photo size(dimension).
14. Fixed : When you play All Photo Play, you could not adjust the photo location.
15. Fixed : You can adjust the photo size (dimension) when you give some effects on the photos.
16. Fixed : When FTP client is MG-350HD and FTP server is MG-350HD, you could not save the contents
the path you wanted.
17. Fixed : The file size was wrong when you use MG-350HD as FTP client.
18. Added : Now, you can use the Delete function directly on TV.
19. Fixed : FTP streaming play was not good on some servers.
20. Added : You can stream MPEG2 format when you use FTP stream function.
21. Fixed : While you play audio format by Playlist/m3u file, you will have screen-saver after time goes on
and then if you play the next file, the unit was hangup.
22. Added : If m3u file has Audio & Video files together.
23. Fixed : Now, MG-350HD can play the big resolution of the photos.
24. Added : Now, you can do navigation the folders or files while you listen to the music.

**some changes/fixes might not be official**

@infoman2001

Thanks for posting the info

Kind Regards

Teddy

MediaGate MG-350 firmware should be going official very soon. Here is a copy of the change log.

<snip>...
7. Fixed : When you play the contents from the PlayList, the unit was hangup.
<snip>....
21. Fixed : While you play audio format by Playlist/m3u file, you will have screen-saver after time goes on and then if you play the next file, the unit was hangup.

I hope they release it soon! I was decorating our living room today, and tried to create a long Rock playlist to listen to, but by the end of the second track, or the first if it was a long one and the screen saver had come on, the unit would just hang, and I had to reboot, then create the playlist again. After doing this 3 times I got fed up, and turned PlanetRock on DAB :)

Ok, so after pooring over forums for days, I think I am going with the 350HD because its cheap enough, and does what I need it to do...I think. So if I can just get a quick yes or no so I am sure I know what Im talking about, I would greatly appreciate it.

1) It does not support SATA, does that mean external drives cannot be SATA? Can I connect a HDD with USB of any type to this device and read the ISO's off of it?

2) I have to have an IDE HDD to put it in the 350HD correct?

3) If I get a 500GB IDE drive and put it in the device and then attach my Maxtor 500gig to the outside via the USB connection I can read from both of them?

4) Is the remote really crappy?

Hi Last.....
I'm selling my 350HD (bought it last September from Newegg- still has original firmware) if you're interested.
Drop me a PM...



I'll answer the questions I'm sure of...
1) It does not support SATA, does that mean external drives cannot be SATA? Can I connect a HDD with USB of any type to this device and read the ISO's off of it?
As long as you connect the external drive via USB the drives interface doesn't matter, PATA or SATA both work externally as long as you use a USB adapter to connect then to the 350HD. I've never tried to read an ISO DVD file with the 350HD.

2) I have to have an IDE HDD to put it in the 350HD correct?
No hard drive is required to operate the 350HD. I use mine off my network shares.

3) If I get a 500GB IDE drive and put it in the device and then attach my Maxtor 500gig to the outside via the USB connection I can read from both of them?
Correct!

4) Is the remote really crappy?
Yes, you pretty much have to point it right at the 350HD. It is powered by a lithium (the size of a quarter) watch battery.... so it's not very powerful. It does work as advertised, but you can't point it at a adjacent wall and bounce the signal to the 350HD like you can with other remotes... it's pretty much line of site only.

Do you know if it is possible to use a universal remote with this product?


I am going to run a DVI cable from my projector to this device. I have now noticed there are 3 types DVI, DVI-D, and DVI-S...which one do I need?

Thanks for your responses.

Yes I was able to use a LEARNING UNIVERSAL REMOTE with it.

excellent, thank you for the quick response.

I just searched "cover art" before asking this...

Is there any way to use DVD Cover art on the menu?

One more question. I am ripping my DVD collection to ISO's using DVD Shrink, every once in a while it asks if I want to modify the DVD to make it region free and I have been clicking yes...is this going to be a problem? Since these ISOs are strictly for use on the 350HD would it be safer to just leave them alone?

No, I have not observed ill effect on the 350HD when you use REGION FREE option in DVDShrink.

I have a 350HD coming. I plan to install the latest firmware (1.1.8_beta3). Can anyone tell me if the unit has full playlist functionality with audio files or must a playlist be located in the same directory as the files in order to work? Can playlists be shuffled or played in random?

Is this right player right for me ?


I have a PC that is in the other room about 50 feet away. Running a perm ethernet cable would be a real pain in the butt. So what i am looking for is this, a device where as i can can either plug into my PC load movies (drag and drop) then plug this into my TV and play away.

OR

I see this is wireless and i have a wireless router. Instead of using the wireless to stream (poss skipping problems) can i use the wireless to download the file to the internal drive then play the movie later ?


OR

If i really need to i guess i could run a 50ft ehternet cable to just download the moves if need be then remove the cable after downloading.

I been shopping for a cheaper media device for some time now and am losing a lot of hair over it.

I have upgraded to this release and so far have not had any problems as yet.

The changelog as copied from the A.L. Tech website:

Here is the latest firmware for the MG350HD that fixed the JPEG issue.

The change-log is as follows:

1. Fixed: After playing ISO / DVD-Rip files, it does not go up to the updirectory.
2. Added: While playing a movie, you can adjust volume, color adjustment and use menu icon.
3. Added: Color adjustment has up to 128 degrees of adjustment.
4. Fixed: Some MPG files that could play at the old version are played at 1.1.8 version.
5. Added: While the unit is in the sleep mode, it shows NDAS message.
6. Fixed: Eventhough there is no file at FTP client HDD, it showed like there are files.
7. Fixed: When you play the contents from the PlayList, the unit was hangup.
8. Fixed: When you play WMV9 + WMV Pro(audio) with the subtitle showed, you could not hear the audio.
9. Fixed: When you play the photo at Play One mode, removed Loading message.
10. Fixed: When you play high capacity WAV file, it played after you heard some noise.
11. Fixed: When you play AVI file, the subtitle could not be shown.
12. Fixed: Now you can access by using windows account name [Mediagate] through network connection. 13. Fixed: When you play All Photo Play, you could not adjust the photo size (dimension).
14. Fixed: When you play Photo in "All Play" mode, you could not adjust the photo location.
15. Fixed: You can adjust the photo size (dimension) when you give some effects on the photos.
16. Fixed: When FTP client is MG-350HD and FTP server is MG-350HD, you could not save the contents to the path you wanted.
17. Fixed: The file size was wrong when you use the MG-350HD as FTP client.
18. Added: Now, you can use the Delete function directly on TV.
19. Fixed: FTP streaming play was not good on some servers.
20. Added: You can stream MPEG2 format when you use FTP stream function.
21. Fixed: While you play audio format by Playlist/m3u file, you will have screen-saver after time goes on and then if you play the next file, the unit was hangup.
22. Added: If m3u file has Audio & Video files together, MG-350HD can support both formats.
23. Fixed: Now, MG-350HD can play the big resolution of the photos.
24. Added: Now, you can navigate to the folders or files while you listen to the music.

Is this right player right for me ?


I have a PC that is in the other room about 50 feet away. Running a perm ethernet cable would be a real pain in the butt. So what i am looking for is this, a device where as i can can either plug into my PC load movies (drag and drop) then plug this into my TV and play away.

OR

I see this is wireless and i have a wireless router. Instead of using the wireless to stream (poss skipping problems) can i use the wireless to download the file to the internal drive then play the movie later ?


OR

If i really need to i guess i could run a 50ft ehternet cable to just download the moves if need be then remove the cable after downloading.

I been shopping for a cheaper media device for some time now and am losing a lot of hair over it.

Not knowing where you are or where you want to be w.r.t. watching multimedia will make any answer difficult. Not knowing if you are looking for a free open source or bought commercial solution isn't helping either.

On the assumption you want a plug and play solution and are willing to walk a thumb drive between your PC and TV you could buy a SigmaDesign hardware based / Syabas software based solution. That should turn out to be a $150 to $250 box. There are a lot of them. Here's a list from the SwissCenter web site. These *should* be the type of boxes described above:

* ADS Media Link
* Buffalo LinkTheater
* Elgato Eyehome
* H&B DNX 8620
* IO-Data Linkplayer and Linkplayer2
* Lite-On 2010
* Momistu V880N
* Netgear EVA700
* Neuston Virtuoso MC-500
* Pinnacle Showcenter 1000, 200 and 250HD
* Snazio 1300, 1310 and 1350
* Zensonic Z400

The software may leave you wanting. Especially if you are used to TiVo like menus. And pay attention to their features!!!! Some may not have USB sockets. Some cost more because of built in wireless and/or DVD players. But you were not interested in those features.

In the end, anyone serious about computer based multimedia will probably have a hard wired network and a computer available 24/7 for HDTV TiVo like recording and serving.

I have upgraded to this release and so far have not had any problems as yet.

The changelog as copied from the A.L. Tech website:

Here is the latest firmware for the MG350HD that fixed the JPEG issue.



Does anyone know if there are any differences from the beta3 firmware? The beta has been working well for me and I was wondering if there is any reason to re-flash with the final version.

I just recently put a 750gig free agent to my vista machine and the mediagate see's mpgs and plays them fine but wont see the dvd iso's I have on there.I have a usb drive connect direct and iso's work fine. I just upgraded to the newest firmware but no change.Not sure why it works via usb but not Network. Also I notice that they now have a built in server samba,nfs,.... if I was to turn that on will it share usb drives connected to the mediagate or just the internal drive?
Thanks for any help

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone knows what video resolution is outputted(?) from the MG350HD as in component, dvi or vga....can it do 1080p? Thanks for any help,

dreamer

DVI:1080p
Component:1080i

Thanks for clarifying...

dreamer

New Firmwares released today for the MG-350HD and MG-450HD.

Now available in the Software section of The Main Al Tech Website..

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard.php?class1=pds&class2=swfw

1.1.11 changlog:

1.1.11 version update features (from 1.1.8 version)

1. Fixed : HDMI/DVI detection problem.
2. Fixed : Some usb devices in USB host ports, were not detected correctly.
3. Fixed :IRadio Buffering and "Stop" lockup issue.
NOTE:
This is a PAL upgrade ,so on NTSC systems you will need to hit the "TV OUT" button on your MG-350's remote control in order to see video on screen after the update.

Regards to all,

Teddy

teddy this seems to be a minor update, and not worth trying. Is there anything else thats not listed in the Changelist?

thanks

Is it just me or is the ALTech website never accessible?

dreamer

Not really a minor update (Iradio did not work before this) considering it only takes 4 mins todo a upgrade.There are always minor things that the programmers dont list in their chagelog,as sometimes it hard as these guys dont speak much English.
I dont know if you are aware,but I now have a direct link to the Al Tech R&D team,and by doing so I manage to get this update "out of the door" only 2.5 weeks after the last one (not the months it used to be).I can't proise it will always be like that,but we have to take "baby steps" here , and hopefully the updates will be just as regular in the future.If you have any firmware bugs that you would like me to report,there is a database at my 350/450 Yahoo group,and I will gladly pass them on for you..

Kind Regards

Teddy





teddy this seems to be a minor update, and not worth trying. Is there anything else thats not listed in the Changelist?

thanks

Could someone post a mirror for the new fimware, I can't connect to the ALtech site at all!

dreamer

Here we Go:

http://rapidshare.com/files/106937503/MG350_1.1.11_ALTECH_EU_080404_1628.upgrade.html

Don't forget to hit the "TV OUT" button on your remote,if after you have upgraded you cannot see video on screen.

Regards

Teddy




Could someone post a mirror for the new fimware, I can't connect to the ALtech site at all!

dreamer

Teddy, nicely done, I appreciate you're quick help, thanks again

dreamer

P.S. So I guess there is no difference in PAL/NTSC firmware? You just have to switch video output on the MG350HD?

Thanks for your kind words..

The difference in PAL/NTSC Firmwares,is the default mode of the output , I guess they issue PAL upgrades because the majority of the world uses the PAL TV system, and issuing two different firmwares would only cause confusion , being as its very simple to switch the output in the setup area..
Also more and more TV's these days support both systems , so many people won't even notice..

Regards

Teddy

Teddy, nicely done, I appreciate you're quick help, thanks again



P.S. So I guess there is no difference in PAL/NTSC firmware? You just have to switch video output on the MG350HD?

my mg-350 works fine as a hard drive but will not play video files on my tv

the blue light keeps flashing; if i press setup sometimes it freezes on the green mediagate screen.......it will always freeze and stop blinking when i use the remote sometimes with/without seeing the screen

it works fine as a hard drive

help!

my mg-350 works fine as a hard drive but will not play video files on my tv

the blue light keeps flashing; if i press setup sometimes it freezes on the green mediagate screen.......it will always freeze and stop blinking when i use the remote sometimes with/without seeing the screen

it works fine as a hard drive

help!

See my post in the other thread you created...

Can the 450HD play BluRay Isos?

No , if you want to read the specs , go to www.airlinktek.com

Regards

Teddy

Can the 450HD play BluRay Isos?

No , if you want to read the specs , go to www.airlinktek.com

Regards

Teddy

Odd according to this site: http://www.mediagateusa.com/mg450hd.html

It plays more formats. If you put your Blu Ray movies into .ts format would they play then?

Hi,

The 450 DOES play .TS files but remeber there are many variants of .TS files , .TS stands for "Transport Stream" , and thus , each dvd/PVR manufacture uses a slightly different variant , hence the 450 cannot play every single variant.

If you really want to transcode Blue ray stuff and play it on the 450 I woulld suggest you use DIVX HD , files which go upto full 1080P

I am just interested what EXTRA formats you saw for the 450 over at the MGUSA site? , as opposed to:

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?class1=cs&class2=faq&page=2&kind=&uid=1350&keyfield=&key=&product=

Regards,

Teddy



Odd according to this site: http://www.mediagateusa.com/mg450hd.html

It plays more formats. If you put your Blu Ray movies into .ts format would they play then?

Hi Everyone,

I am trying to compile a database on which 1TB hard Disk Drives have been *confirmed* to work in the MG-350,MG-350SHD or MG-450HD (or its many clones).
If you use a 1TB drive in your unit,could you please post details of the drive's make and model number here , and I will add it to the database at the main Al Tech site.
Thanks for your help..
Regards,

Teddy.

Here are a couple of Youtube videos that my wife and I created today , nothing that professional,but they do detail the basic look and functions of the New Mediagate MG-250HD,and were also fun to do.
Comments are welcome here or at the MG-250,350,450 Yahoo user group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support

Part 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKKvkt6tT6U

Part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVSK2crfs00

Regards to all,

Teddy

Hi,
I read this forum with interest and have the MG-350 which has been working fantastically until I updated to the recent firmware.
Im not sure if its a combnation of things, but I cannot connect wirelessly now. I also updated the NDAS hoping it was yet another Vista problem, but still no joy.
I can connect with the wired LAN no problem.
Anyone know of any trick or recent similar problems?
Thanks
Jeff

Hi,

I suggest you do a "soft factory reset" as detailed here:

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?class1=cs&class2=faq&page=1&kind=&uid=1834&keyfield=all&key=factory&product=

This will wipe all your system settings and allow you to start fresh , then you can just re-enter your wireless details.

The are no issues using the latest firmware 1.1.11 , and also the latest 3.20.1528 NDAS sofware.I use both on my 350 and have no issues with either wireless or NDAS.

I think your wireless settings may have become corrupt , and this reset will wipe anything like that , and allow you to strat fresh..

Regards,

Teddy

Which are the main differences between this Mediagate MG-350HD and the Mediagate 350SHD ?

http://www.mediagateusa.com/assets/products/mg350/mg350.jpg

http://pan4.fotovista.com/dev/4/6/00434064/g_00434064.jpg

@xpto2008

Hi,

and welcome

The 350 = IDE hard drive, and DVI output.

The 350SHD = SATA hard drive and HDMI outout + re styled case.

Other functions are pretty much the same..

Hope this helps..

Regards,

Teddy




Which are the main differences between this Mediagate MG-350HD and the Mediagate 350SHD ?

http://www.mediagateusa.com/assets/products/mg350/mg350.jpg

http://pan4.fotovista.com/dev/4/6/00434064/g_00434064.jpg

I still have my MG-350HD I'm not using if anyone's interested :)

I've seen this mediagate 350SHD with 1TB SATA for 336€ at http://www.pixmania.com/pt/pt/978560/art/mediagate/350shd-1-tbyte-1-000-gb.html but many people are telling this is not very good, bad support and no updates from the company.
Many people are telling me that Mvix MX-780HD ( http://www.divxplayer.nl/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=87&products_id=1701 ) with 1TB its much better than mediagate..

what do you think? Price is not the main problem for me, i just nead a ready-to-go solution with easy setup and that allows me to transfer files using wireless/ftp (divx files, avi 700MB) and subtitles srt or sub.

Thank you for your help!

@xpto2008

This is JUST NOT TRUE - I run the English support board at Airlinktek - just spend 10 mins having a good read , and also check some of the response times.. Very ,very few companies answer support questions at the weekends do they? , Al Tech do..

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard.php?class1=cs&class2=qna

Also just look at the regular firmware updates , and see how regular they are issued.. Al Tech are even fully supporting a product that came out three years ago..

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard.php?class1=pds&class2=swfw

I am all for fairness , and the comments above (even though you just "head them") are simply not just not true these days..

You may also like to read some of the posts in this thread.. - I think you will soon understand that what you "have been told" is indeed not true..

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?class1=cs&class2=qna&page=1&kind=&uid=2451&keyfield=&key=&prod_sch=

Kind Regards,

Teddy






I've seen this mediagate 350SHD with 1TB SATA for 336€ at http://www.pixmania.com/pt/pt/978560/art/mediagate/350shd-1-tbyte-1-000-gb.html but many people are telling this is not very good, bad support and no updates from the company.
Many people are telling me that Mvix MX-780HD ( http://www.divxplayer.nl/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=87&products_id=1701 ) with 1TB its much better than mediagate..

what do you think? Price is not the main problem for me, i just nead a ready-to-go solution with easy setup and that allows me to transfer files using wireless/ftp (divx files, avi 700MB) and subtitles srt or sub.

Thank you for your help!

Teddy thanks, this worked a treat. All up and running again.
Cheers
Jeff

[QUOTE=teddystacker;14349292]Hi,

I suggest you do a "soft factory reset" as detailed here:

This will wipe all your system settings and allow you to start fresh , then you can just re-enter your wireless details.

The are no issues using the latest firmware 1.1.11 , and also the latest 3.20.1528 NDAS sofware.I use both on my 350 and have no issues with either wireless or NDAS.

I think your wireless settings may have become corrupt , and this reset will wipe anything like that , and allow you to strat fresh..

Regards,

Teddy

Hi, I wanted to know if the Mediagate 350-HD can play .mkv files encoded with .x264? And if it can't does anyone know a good file converting program that can convert the file into a file playable on the MG-350HD losing little to no quality.
Any help? Thanks in advance.

Hi,

No, the 350 DOES not play .MKV files ,as it was designed long before the .mkv format became popular - see my FAQ here:

http://www.airlinktek.com/english/atboard_view.php?class1=cs&class2=faq&page=1&kind=&uid=2222&keyfield=all&key=mkv&product=

A VERY good (and Free) conversion tool is "Super" from Erightsoft:

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

Regards,

Teddy








Hi, I wanted to know if the Mediagate 350-HD can play .mkv files encoded with .x264? And if it can't does anyone know a good file converting program that can convert the file into a file playable on the MG-350HD losing little to no quality.
Any help? Thanks in advance.

I extended my wireless network (SSID = Net) with a repeater which generate a new field (SSID = Net_Ext).

When I connect the Mediagate to Net_Ext I can't have access to the network.

Why??

Bye.


P.S. Does Mediagate support forum turn off?

Hi,

I've just purchased a 350HD.

If I have a directory which contains large amounts of files, I'm limited to it showing only the first 255 files(approx).

As an example, I have over 400 divx files in my 'Documentary' folder, but it only show me up to the letter 'R'. (I know......I'm a nerd :D). My MP# directories are even worse, I can only get up to the letter 'B'.

I've tried using 'All Music' or 'All Movies' but it still only displays 255.

I've updated to 1.1.11 but the problem still exists.

Is it possible to see more than the 255 files in the 350HD?

Thanks in advance.

Marty

Hi Koets, it's exactly the same under the hood, the only difference is the branding and the the box. I have the Freecom version but always use the MediaGates firmware updates since freecom very rarely release any updates.

I've also tried the recent 1.1.3 Beta Firmware from the MediaGate and to be honest I prefer the stable 1.1.2 FW.

WHY?

1. The 1.1.3 takes way longer to boot, I have a 500gb hard drive installed with about 400gb taken up, I found without the drive in running on the Wless NDAS network it took about 15 seconds to boot (on average), however with the hard drive in, it can take over 1 minute, way slower than 1.1.2.

2. The Player crashed on me several times when saving settings in the set up menu, I had to unplug which I hate doing in case I kill it.

I didn't hve any problems with Flash Drives as Teddy mentioned above though and I use these quite alot. I also don't use ftp so didn't try the speeds on that.

I have now Flashed back to 1.1.2.

On another note my power supply stopped working a week ago and so I emailed Freecom who sent me w new one NEXT DAY, excelent service, I then changed the fuse in the old psu and it now works, so now I have a spare power unit for free. Bonus !

CIAO

Damo
Hi ne1cdamo,

Looks like the power supply in my 350HD has died too as the red power light is not going on and there is no output to the tv or audio. The HDD is fine when connected to a PC. I was curious how you replaced the fuse in your power supply. I presume you are not referring to the external ac-to-dc power supply but to an internal part within the mediagate casing/board? Can you please tell me where the fuse it located, what it looks like and where you got the replacement from? If it had a specification you can remember, it would be helpful too. Also, how exactly did you fit the new power supply unit that you bought, once again assuming it is not the external one. Your early response will be much appreciated by this Mediagate lover, feeling lost without my unit :-) :-(. Thanks in anticipation. Regards, Shashi

I tried searching for it and this is not a posting of sale but I have a brand new 350HD still wrapped up that I want to sell. If anyone knows of any forums or other places to do that please let me know.
Thanks!

AS Many of you already know,in windows 7 , Microsoft changed the way in which it deals with Samba shares.Thus Non of the Medigate products work with streaming.

Al Tech Q and A user William has now provided a soloution that works..

Details can be found at my MG-350/450 Yahoo group..

Edit:
Edit:



In order for Virtual XP to work on Win7, you need to have a capable CPU and motherboard (something that supports Intel VT virtualization technology). Most machines within the last year or 2 will likely have this but it may be disabled by default and/or require a BIOS update to enable.

Above info emailed to me by Alex


http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/MG-350HD_Support/message/3474


Regards and thanks go to William,

Teddy