Mvix Ultio "It Plays All" HD media streamer debuts in the U.S. July 6 for $179 - Page 3

UPDATE From MvixUSA:

It has been brought to our attention that some Unicorn Networks (our previous supplier) has initiated rumors about our products to distract attention.

Pls. note that "Mvix" is a registered Trademark of MvixUSA and all our products are fully supported by MvixUSA worldwide.

Here is the listing of the registered trademark on US Patent and Trademark Office:
http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?r...entry=77038184
(You will notice that MvixUSA is the rightful owner of the "Mvix" brand since 2006.

Sometime late-last year, MvixUSA had to cancel their manufacturing contract with Unicorn Networks due to the poor quality of products supplied to us last year, which cause significant financial and irreversible damage to MvixUSA's market reputation.

MvixUSA will be marketing, distributing and supporting the Mvix Ultio brand worldwide. We have a very comprehensive customer support platform via our Support Center (which our customers have used for over 5years): http://www.mvixusa.com/support

Mvix Ultio is expected to arrive at our warehouse (near Washington DC) by July 3rd. We expect to start shipping it to our customers as early as July 6th, 2009

Originally Posted by candre23

I found some more details on the Mvix USA vs. Unicorn squabble:

Originally Posted by Stu_

Interesting then that it appears that Xtreamer is indeed an Mvix product (allbeit MVixBenelux) built and distributed by Unicorn.

Originally Posted by candre23

If this is the case, then I think it's telling of the real trademark status that Unicorn chose not to use the Mvix name for the Xtreamer. I've seen a few mentions that Unicorn was somehow attached to the Xtreamer project, but you would think that they'd market it under the Mvix name if Unicorn actually did have any legal claim to it.

Originally Posted by dbone1026

you can see side by side pics on this post - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post16677510

Originally Posted by telemike

By looking at the user manuals, the Mvix Ultio and AC Ryan PlayON!HD are twins. The interface looks exactly the same except for some of the graphics. The menu structure is the same. The manuals read the same.

Originally Posted by bonapart

Noontec is an OEM. Maybe MvixUSA made some sort of exclusive deal for the device where Noontec agreed to no longer offer in its own name or to anyone else.

Originally Posted by candre23

Just got a shipping confirmation email and a FedEx tracking number. Shouldn't take more than 2 days to get here from VA. Anybody have any specific files they'd like me to test when it shows up?

Originally Posted by candre23

Just got a shipping confirmation email and a FedEx tracking number. Shouldn't take more than 2 days to get here from VA. Anybody have any specific files they'd like me to test when it shows up?

Originally Posted by DDAY-VA

I'll give the files a try. I live 10 miles from their office. I will be getting my unit today.

Originally Posted by DDAY-VA

I'll give the files a try. I live 10 miles from their office. I will be getting my unit today.

Originally Posted by candre23

Just got a shipping confirmation email and a FedEx tracking number. Shouldn't take more than 2 days to get here from VA. Anybody have any specific files they'd like me to test when it shows up?

Originally Posted by candre23

Surprise surprise, it showed up early.

Unboxing and internal pics. Click for full size:



Some comments:
The unit came without the screws installed. They probably assume anybody who buys one without a hard drive would immediately install their own. Unfortunately, this means that when I pulled it out of the plastic bag, it fell apart. No damage, but if I had been standing up over a hard floor, there could have been.

The outer housing (everything but the front and back panel) is metal. This is surprising (in a good way), because nobody makes electronics out of metal anymore. It seems to be steel. Aluminum would have been better, but it should keep your internal drive cooler than if it had been plastic.

If you look at the PCB pic, you will notice the connector at the bottom of the pic is not fully inserted. I hope this isn't an indication of general quality control.

Included accessories consist of a 12v 3A AC adapter, 3ft USB (A to B) cable, 6ft RCA (composite + stereo) cable, 6ft HDMI cable, remote (batteries included!), instruction manual, screws, a tiny instruction manual, and a T-shirt.

More to come after I actually set it up and try it out.

Originally Posted by candre23

Initial results are... not great.

Performance for test videos posted by jakmal above (in order)
1. Pixelation / color distortion in video. Audio fine.
2. Severe pixelation and distortion in video. No audio.
3. Invalid file. Note that on my PC with SMPlayer, this file plays without audio and eventually crashes the program, so it may be a bad encode.
4. Minor pixelation in video (still unacceptable, but not as bad as others), audio is fine.
5. Video is fine. No audio. Has the same .ASS subtitle issues as the WDTV.

Other complaints:
No "home" button. If you're 6 levels deep in a network share and want to switch to a USB device, you have to hit "back" six times (pausing half a second for the system to read the directory contents each time) to get to the main menu to switch to USB.

Browsing menu only shows 6 items per page, and there is no way that I can find to skip through faster than one-page-at-a-time. This means finding a specific file in a directory of 1200 could take over a hundred button presses.

Aspect ratio options are limited to 4:3, 4:3 letterbox, and 16:9. My TV is 16:9, but the monitor I'm testing it on at the moment is 16:10.

I can find no way to change the size, font, color or position of the subtitles. Granted I haven't actually read the manual yet, so it might just be really well hidden.