Hi Guys

I have been trawling this forum and others and think I have decided on getting the Mediagate 350HD.

The seem to have very similar, if not identical features, and the Mvix seems to be a bit better priced, however I seem to read about more problems with the Mvix vs the MG.

Is this a fair comment ? is it just that the Mvix is more popular so will therefore have a greater install base to highlight any problems ?

Has anyone tried or owned both ?

I know there are other "better" devices out there, but I think these two are the only wireless options out there with a hard disk. I want to spend less than $500AU including a 320gb+ hard disk

Your comment would be much appreciated.

Very interested in what everyone thinks on this as well. Personally favoring the mvix because of the display screen so i can play music without having the tv running (well know whats on). Dont want to spend large amounts to get a tvix.

circuit central seems to be the cheapest australian shop thats stocking the mvix, the mediagate seems to be sligtly cheaper..

I have the MG-350HD. It's a very capable player, and the wireless functionality was the reason I chose it. However, I find that I never use this feature. It's fast enough to stream an MP3 or a divx from a PC, but I don't like having to leave another PC on at the same time - it's very quick to simply connect a laptop to the MG with USB, and transfer my files to the MG.

I wanted to transfer files wirelessly to the internal harddrive, but this is dead slow. It uses a propietary protocol, and I just find it easier to get up and transfer files over USB.

I used to have issues with the MG freezing while playing DVD IOS dumps. Since update 1.0.9, it's worked flawlessly.

thanks animaal.

Just out of curiousity, can you pls clarify how you can xfer files to the MG350HD. I keep reading conflicting reports.

My understanding was that it could just act like a mass storage device, ie so you can connect a PC / Laptop to it and copy that way.

However, I believe you can also connect a mass storage device to it directly. But can you copy the files b/w them or just play media from the mass storage device. I've read conflicting reports about this.

Can you copy files wirelessly natively or do you have to setup NDAS ? (even though it's slow)

Lastly is there anyone who streams video wirelessly from their PC to their TV via the MG350HD. I understand that HD may not be possible, but about SD or DVD iso/vob ?

Thanks again

Animaal, where did you get the 1.0.9 firmware for this unit? I just found 1.0.8. Thanks.

Just out of curiousity, can you pls clarify how you can xfer files to the MG350HD

The device can play files from the internal drive, from a network share, and from attached USB storage devices.

I have found two ways to transfer files to the internal drive;

1. Connect the entire device to the USB port of a PC. The PC sees it as an external drive, and can copy files to/from it.

2. Use the supplied NDAS software. This is a Windows driver that accesses the device over a network, and makes the device appear as a local harddrive to the PC. It's a bit like SCSI-over-TCP/IP. However, it's very slow. Using the wireless connection, I can only get around 1MB/sec transfer from the PC to the device.

[EDIT: While using NDAS to transfer files from a PC to the device, the PC becomes far less responsive. It's as if CPU usage is high, but in fact it isn't.]

We can hope that some enterprising people will provide patches to the (open source) operating system, to add FTP support.

Animaal, where did you get the 1.0.9 firmware for this unit? I just found 1.0.8. Thanks.

It was on the Mediagate support site, but only briefly. Apparently, it has bugs in it, so it was removed. However, I haven't come across any bugs yet, and 1.0.9 does the following for me:

- No more locking up while playing ISO images
- Much quicker browsing of the internal harddrive.
- Quicker startup (no splash screen animation).

Hey Coookster670, I am also in Oz and also pondering which one of these to purchase.
I am going to purchase the Mediagate MG350HD for two reasons.
1: as its been available for longer than the Mvix 760HD, its a more mature product, had longer to get the firmware working properly.

And the clincher for me

2: Just checked the MvixUSA sight and they have just released new firmware (DEC31st) for the NORTH AMERICAN market ONLY. It looks like they are primarily focused on getting it working for the US market (rightly so)
Nothing worse than a new product that doesn't get firmware updates.

I recently bought one of these and the 1080i output mode does not work (via component video) with my TV which is an Hitachi HD 37inch plasma. My TV can display 1080i when connected to my set-top-box via component video cables.

Very strange.

I was very happy to see that the MG350HD can play back HD WMV files.

Does anybody know if the DVI out works on the MG350HD. I noticed it actually has one but the specs dont mention it at all. :)

Does anybody know if the DVI out works on the MG350HD. I noticed it actually has one but the specs dont mention it at all. :)

Yes it works great on my Optoma HD6800, with a DVI-D cable to HDMI,

Bye, Michel

If the Tvix 4000P does not ship on Jan 4th, it looks like I'll be ordering one (or both) of these as I cannot wait to "charlie test" what we will be using for the Hollywood DV Festival this year.

ok...i got the unit tonight and and so far am happy. It was very easy to setup, even the wireless. I have been able to stream video (mpegs, avi's, ifo/vobs..etc).

I have one issue though which is that playing photos (jpegs) either wirelessly or off the local hard disk is painfully slow. it's probably 3-5 seconds of blank screen in between each photo. One of the big reasons I bought this was so that we could view photos on the big tv rather than having to go into the study every time we wanted to see photos.

So..anyone know why this takes so long..and more importanly, can anything be done about it. (i'm not very optimitistic)

Other than that..i'm happy with it. It wasn't hard to setup and all, and i've barely looked at the manual (which admittedly is not very good)

How large are your photo files? If they are any larger then 1MB each, then that is your problem.

How large are your photo files? If they are any larger then 1MB each, then that is your problem.

I have also problems with photos. Why would this be our problem if photo files are larger than 1MB ?? There should be some kind of caching so that the next photo is downloaded while the current one is being displayed. I think this is a firmware issue and that it should be fixed.

I have also problems with photos. Why would this be our problem if photo files are larger than 1MB ?? There should be some kind of caching so that the next photo is downloaded while the current one is being displayed. I think this is a firmware issue and that it should be fixed.

Great minds think alike. I emailed techsupport last night with that exact request. ie requesting a change to buffer photos in advance in the next f/w release.

And guess what, they emailed me this morning with a new firmware file. I don't know if it's still beta or how long it's been availalble. but it wasn't on the airlinktek site last night

MG350_1.1.0_ANYWHERE_AUS_1413.upgrade

Talk about great support. (esspecially considering i've read a few comments about support being not so great)

I'm at work now so won't be able to test until tonight, but I'll let you know how i go. (i'm currently at 1.0.8)

And guess what, they emailed me this morning with a new firmware file. I don't know if it's still beta or how long it's been availalble. but it wasn't on the airlinktek site last night

MG350_1.1.0_ANYWHERE_AUS_1413.upgrade

Talk about great support. (esspecially considering i've read a few comments about support being not so great)

Hi Cookster670,

That is interesting. What is the e-mail address you wrote to? I sent an e-mail about 2 weeks ago and did not get any answer yet. I'm at 1.0.8 too. Would you mind sharing the firmware you had with us if it works well?

Thanks a lot. Looking forward for your comments.

i wrote to techsupport and they responded within 12 hours.

i'm happy to share the f/w with you as long as you can accept at 7mb attachment. You may be able to download from the Anywhere website (the Australian distributors)....i haven't checked for it there though

ok....there is some good news, but mainly bad news.

I've tested the latest f/w (1.1.0) and can advise that all they have done is put a "loading" message in between transitions. It still takes just as long (ie 5-7 seconds), but at least it's not blank.

The good news is that there is some additional functionality now.

there is only one wireless setup now (not wireless-1 and wireless 2). and more importantly, it now supports WPA-TKIP and AES

WEP now supports 64bit or 128bit ASCII or HEX

There is now a "Folder Lock" option which allows you to password protect folders. Pretty a good idea.

oh yeah..one last thing..when you upgrade f/w you lose all your settings..ie network, screen size..etc I already expected this, but just thought i'd let you know.

anyway..it's a good upgrade, but doesn't fix the slow transition problem. I've emailed them back asking if they could either buffer pictures or at least leave the current photo up while it transitions to the next. at least you can look at a photo for longer rather then seeing a loading message.

That mostly sounds good although it is a shame about the picture viewing and settings loss. At least it sounds like we can enter the WEP key in text which will be easier than HEX.

The password idea sounds reasonable but it will probably only work for folders on the local hard disk. If, like me, you don't have a hard disk in the device but just stream everything off a PC/server then we will still be stuck with having to enable a guest account with a null password which annoys the hell out of me.

The increased wireless security will no doubt please a lot of people. I'm currently using WEP and I'd like to move to WPA but my daughter's Nintendo DS only supports WEP so I'll be stuck with it for a while.

It's a step in the right direction but not quite there yet. I don't think we are asking for too much or anything overly complex. Maybe their next version will give us all of what we want.

yeah...i agree...i think the 350hd is 90% there..im happy with everything except for the slideshows.

I received an email back from airlinktek who advised they have submitted my request to R & D...which I take it means it may be a while before we see anything...if at all

I have just purchased the MediaGate MG-350HD and don't regret my decision.
The only negative thing I could say about it; is the SLOW loading of jpegs, and the remote needs to be pointed EXACTLY at the unit, to work properly. :)

agree and agree. however i programmed my learning remote with the keys from the standard remote and it's much better.

i have noticed in the last couple of days with f/w 1.1.0 that i get lockups when playing iso's. it may only be when they are being streamed over wired ethernet though. Anyone have this problem ?

i have read about it being a problem in earlier firmware versions, but thought it had been fixed.