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Mede8er Announces MED500X2 - Page 2

post #31 of 259
9/12/11 at 8:12am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamibob View Post

I bought the MED500X2 and I am very happy with it. It supports DNLA server for remotely streaming from a smartphone app, plays many podcasts, has played all media formats I have tried just like the MED500X did, is much quicker than the older realtek chipset that was in the med500x. Can support up to a 3TB hard drive (must be SATA II). Plays music through my network without missing the first second or two of the song. Has 1000Mbs ethernet. Movies that were 1080p high bitrate with master audilo or True HD playing through my network would sometimes glitch or artifact with the audio dropping in and out. This was because the original MED500X was only at 100Mbp. The new X2 version is at 1000Mbs and this seemed to have made it fast enough to stream even the highest bitrate .mkv files like Avatar exteneded edition in 1080p and true hd. Of course anything on the external USB or internal HD if you decide to put one in there plays perfectly, I upgraded to the MED500X2 to get the 1000Mbs and I couldn't be happier. And for the new online features like internet and other video apps. I hope this translated good enough for you to understand. If you have any questions just write back to this thread and i'll get back with you. I bought mine for $209US at http://www.mediaconceptusa.com/mede8er.html
Swami

Do you use the YAMJ jukebox, and if so, how do you like? I was planning on picking up in the next few weeks to review
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post #32 of 259
9/12/11 at 8:21am
Yes I use YAMJ to make the folder.jpg, about.jpg and .xml files. It works great. They have a new setup so when you are browsing, it shows 10 movies at a time. when you highlight the covers it shows the synapses at the bottom of the screen, which it gets from the .xml file yamj makes. Note: This is a custom version of yamj just for Mede8tor. If you press the slow button, it brings up the about screen which gives a movie poster style background, with the synapses, file info embedded like 23.976fps and master audio logos and graphics, and also a picture of the actual bluray case. I think you will like it. I really like the integrated streaming video stuff they added and the DLNA support. You can get many more streams than they support in the menus using the DLNA and free imediashare app for iphone and android as long as you have upnp support in your router.
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post #33 of 259
9/12/11 at 8:25am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamibob View Post

Yes I use YAMJ to make the folder.jpg, about.jpg and .xml files. It works great. They have a new setup so when you are browsing, it shows 10 movies at a time. when you highlight the covers it shows the synapses at the bottom of the screen, which it gets from the .xml file yamj makes. Note: This is a custom version of yamj just for Mede8tor. If you press the slow button, it brings up the about screen which gives a movie poster style background, with the synapses, file info embedded like 23.976fps and master audio logos and graphics, and also a picture of the actual bluray case. I think you will like it. I really like the integrated streaming video stuff they added and the DLNA support. You can get many more streams than they support in the menus using the DLNA and free imediashare app for iphone and android as long as you have upnp support in your router.

Thanks for the feedback and the link to mediaconceptusa
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post #34 of 259
9/12/11 at 10:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamibob View Post

I bought the MED500X2 and I am very happy with it. It supports DNLA server for remotely streaming from a smartphone app, plays many podcasts, has played all media formats I have tried just like the MED500X did, is much quicker than the older realtek chipset that was in the med500x.......... I upgraded to the MED500X2 to get the 1000Mbs and I couldn't be happier. And for the new online features like internet and other video apps. I hope this translated good enough for you to understand. If you have any questions just write back to this thread and i'll get back with you. I bought mine for $209US at http://www.mediaconceptusa.com/mede8er.html
Swami

Thank you very much for your response. I have translated perfectly, everything is written in clear English.
The truth is that I really like this player, I just want to compare a bit with the Dvico TViX Slim S1.

My player will buy in Spain, and now are both in existence, so thanks again for your information and would be grateful if you could guide me a bit like comparing both players
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post #35 of 259
9/12/11 at 12:40pm
Well from what i can see by the specs, the dvico is only 100Mbs, the med500x2 is 1000Mbs ethernet for streaming video from your computer. Dvico only has USB 2.0, MED500X2 has USB 3.0 for transferring data to the device. The processor in the Dvico the 1283DD+ is from older technology from 2009 like the original MED500X, the MED500X2 Realtek 1185 is from 2011 and has about twice the processing power. I also do not see in the specs where the Dvico has an internet browser or can stream video podcasts from the internet like the MED500X2 can. The MED500X2 also supports DNLA which the Dvico does not. The Dvico supports up to 2TB SATA II hard drives internally, the MED500X2 supports 3TB SATA II hard drives internally.

The only thing that I can think of that would be better about the Dvico is the way the hard drive installs easily though the door in the side of the case verses the MED500X2 you have to take out 4 screws on the botton of the case and plug in the power and data cable then put it back together. The only other thing that I can see is the price is about $20USD cheaper, which in my opinion is no reason to buy something that has 2 years older technology. I can tell you from experience, the new realtek 1185 chipset is much faster than the older one that comes in the Dvico. The menus are quicker, the playing of video files are quicker, and the scanning of cover art is faster when you change directories as well.

There are other cheaper players out there than the MED500X2, but from reading around and from my experience with the original MED500X, most people will say the the support from Mede8tor is much better than from the cheaper Chinese boxes and have less glitches and bugs in the firmware. When there are bugs found, the mede8tor team fixes them quickly with a new firmware release that you just put on a usb stick and load into the machine.

I think there is no comparison really, the MED500X2 beats the Dvico Slim S1 hands down.
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post #36 of 259
9/12/11 at 2:29pm
No problem dbone. That place I got mine from always ships next day and then use USPS priority mail so you will get it in a couple of days. It shipped from CA and i had it in FL in 2 days.

Here are some examples of what the yamj for Mede8tor does when it makes the makes the files. The .txt file is actually the .xml file that it makes but this forum won't allow me to upload an .xml.
LL
LL

 

Live.Free.Or.Die.Hard.2007.txt 1.9541015625k . file
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post #37 of 259
9/13/11 at 3:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamibob View Post

Well from what i can see by the specs, the dvico is only 100Mbs, the med500x2 is 1000Mbs ethernet for streaming video from your computer..................................hes and bugs in the firmware. When there are bugs found, the mede8tor team fixes them quickly with a new firmware release that you just put on a usb stick and load into the machine.

I think there is no comparison really, the MED500X2 beats the Dvico Slim S1 hands down.

Thank you very much for your information and your time. It is definitely much more complete and updated MED500X2. Which will probably buy it.
Thanks.
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post #38 of 259
9/21/11 at 5:38am
Hi,
I'm french (so forgive my language !) and I own a Dvico TVIX S1.
For several reasons (usb 3.0, DTSHDMA...) I may replace it by this MED500x2.
My question is about video quality, upscaling...
They both use REALTEK chips, the Mede8er using the RTD1185 and TVIX the RTD1283DD+.
The RTD1185 is meant to be the new generation of the RTD1283DD+, but in reality, has anyone been able to compare them ?
Anyone gone from the S1 to the MED500x2, able to tell me if it is better ?
And by the way, can I just put the herd drive full of movies that's in my S1, in the MED500x2 or do I have to format it first ?
Thanks a lot.
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post #39 of 259
9/21/11 at 2:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vinvin View Post

Hi,
I'm french (so forgive my language !) and I own a Dvico TVIX S1.
For several reasons (usb 3.0, DTSHDMA...) I may replace it by this MED500x2.
My question is about video quality, upscaling...
They both use REALTEK chips, the Mede8er using the RTD1185 and TVIX the RTD1283DD+.
The RTD1185 is meant to be the new generation of the RTD1283DD+, but in reality, has anyone been able to compare them ?
Anyone gone from the S1 to the MED500x2, able to tell me if it is better ?
And by the way, can I just put the herd drive full of movies that's in my S1, in the MED500x2 or do I have to format it first ?
Thanks a lot.

I don't have the Mede8r but I have both the TViX S1 using RTD1283DD+ and a HiMedia using RTD1185. My observation is that video quality is the same, the new chip does add YouTube XL. I wasn't aware of the 1185 doing 1Gb, and while it is a little faster, the differences were too minor. But the 1186 is just around the corner, which will add Android 2.3, and hopefully better video scaler.
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post #40 of 259
9/21/11 at 3:37pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kei Clark View Post

I don't have the Mede8r but I have both the TViX S1 using RTD1283DD+ and a HiMedia using RTD1185. My observation is that video quality is the same, the new chip does add YouTube XL. I wasn't aware of the 1185 doing 1Gb, and while it is a little faster, the differences were too minor. But the 1186 is just around the corner, which will add Android 2.3, and hopefully better video scaler.

Do we know when to start expecting 1186 players, and realistically what the difference would be over the 1185 (i.e. if the 1186 is right around the corner and is considered a significant upgrade than the timing of Mede8ers latest players seem odd)
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post #41 of 259
9/22/11 at 5:25am
HiMedia HD HD 600A and 600B are not as well known in the world of the players. Is that they are of Chinese origin and therefore not much is said about them?
Any holder of any of these devices can attest to its quality?
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post #42 of 259
9/22/11 at 2:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by brm66 View Post

HiMedia HD HD 600A and 600B are not as well known in the world of the players. Is that they are of Chinese origin and therefore not much is said about them?
Any holder of any of these devices can attest to its quality?

I tested it, and the problem is typical in many brands, lack of real development on the firmware. The last time I tried...and I haven't checked for new version in a while....the web browser was not working properly, and the inconvenient placement of a button on the remote to connect to the HiMedia site which is in Chinese is annoying, and it tended to be a bit unstable in my environment, although others have told me theirs work quite well. The hardware is really nice, but software leaves too much to be desired.
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post #43 of 259
10/4/11 at 4:34am
Damian,

Glad to hear you got the MED500X2 in. I am enjoying it. If you have an iphone or android get the imediashare app. It supports DLNA so once you have the MED500X2 plugged into you network (need to have upnp enabled in your router) you can play shows from the internet by selecting them on your smartphone. There is built in podcast support in the MED500X2, but with imediashare you can play different streams not natively supported as well. I think this is a pretty cool feature especially if you don't have a TV with DLNA support. You can also display pictures and play music from your smartphone to the MED500X2. It will do video as well from you phone, but I can't get it to perform fast enough to watch 720p video from my iphone so I don't recommend it. Lower would probably stream ok from the phone

Also, if you have a gigabit router all movies should stream without any problems. The original 500X with it's 100Mbps connection and the older realtek chip could not stream the highest bitrate blurays 1080p with master audio without studdering and dropping audio in and out every once in a while, but since I upgraded to the MED500X2 I have not had this problem at all. I guess the combination of the new reatek 1185 chip and the gigabit connection it got the extra speed it needed to do the job. The data transfer speed through the gigabit connection is still chip limited to 8.5MB/s, but the extra speed is enough to have movies play perfect. You can also transfer movies to an internal HD if you decide to go that route though the network about twice as fast as the old model, but if you have much to move to it you could just connect it to the computer via the UBS 3.0 since it is much faster than the 8.5MB/s you will get through the network.
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post #44 of 259
10/4/11 at 4:52am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamibob View Post

Damian,

Glad to hear you got the MED500X2 in. I am enjoying it. If you have an iphone or android get the imediashare app. It supports DLNA so once you have the MED500X2 plugged into you network (need to have upnp enabled in your router) you can play shows from the internet by selecting them on your smartphone. There is built in podcast support in the MED500X2, but with imediashare you can play different streams not natively supported as well. I think this is a pretty cool feature especially if you don't have a TV with DLNA support. You can also display pictures and play music from your smartphone to the MED500X2. It will do video as well from you phone, but I can't get it to perform fast enough to watch 720p video from my iphone so I don't recommend it. Lower would probably stream ok from the phone

Also, if you have a gigabit router all movies should stream without any problems. The original 500X with it's 100Mbps connection and the older realtek chip could not stream the highest bitrate blurays 1080p with master audio without studdering and dropping audio in and out every once in a while, but since I upgraded to the MED500X2 I have not had this problem at all. I guess the combination of the new reatek 1185 chip and the gigabit connection it got the extra speed it needed to do the job. The data transfer speed through the gigabit connection is still chip limited to 8.5MB/s, but the extra speed is enough to have movies play perfect. You can also transfer movies to an internal HD if you decide to go that route though the network about twice as fast as the old model, but if you have much to move to it you could just connect it to the computer via the UBS 3.0 since it is much faster than the 8.5MB/s you will get through the network.

Thanks Swami, I hope to start testing this weekend. USB 3.0 would be nice since I do plan on installing an internal drive (most likely the mede8er will makes it way to a family member), but don't have USB 3.0 on my WHS, so will just have to stick with good ole USB 2.0
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post #45 of 259
10/23/11 at 2:43pm
Looking forward to your review Damian. Also, anyone know what the difference between this and the Mede8er MED450X2 is? The MED450X2 has a nicer, smaller, slicker form factor.
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post #46 of 259
10/23/11 at 2:52pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brajesh View Post

Looking forward to your review Damian. Also, anyone know what the difference between this and the Mede8er MED450X2 is? The MED450X2 has a nicer, smaller, slicker form factor.

Just plugged in this morning, testing YAMJ

450X2 is smaller (2.5in hdd). Better for portability
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post #47 of 259
10/23/11 at 4:28pm
Thread Starter 
So I had a chance to mess around with the Mede8er. Overall it is not a bad player. I didn't run my usual tests yet but from a quick run through it played most of everything I threw at it (it appears to hiccup on seamless branch Blu-rays at each m2ts jump).

One thing that is a disappointment is that there isn't a full jukebox, more of a hybrid view (similar to Popbox v8). You don't actually use YAMJ in the sense that it gets used for the PCH. Instead you use YAMJ simply to create the necessary metadata/artwork files (about.jpg, folder.jpg, xml). From there you browse through a typical network browser and each movie folder will show the folder.jpg (so just like a movie wall). If you want the info screen to show (fanart, metadata, and folder in a case) you hit the info button. However, since it is not a true jukebox your media is not all grouped together as one jukebox (so if you have your media stored on multiple shares or folders you still have to browse those multiple shares, no sorting by genre, etc...). So since for my videos I have a Movies HD, Movies SD, Movies Family HD, and Movies Family SD folder I still need to browse to those folders separately instead of seeing all movies in those folders as one big jukebox. I think this "movie wall" is in the previous Mede8er models but not in the Realtek 1185 models yet?

Oh, and when I try to register for the mede8er forum I get told that my email address is spam and won't let me lol
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post #48 of 259
10/23/11 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 View Post

I think this "movie wall" is in the previous Mede8er models but not in the Realtek 1185 models yet?

From what I've read, the Video Wall is now called "Favorites".
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post #49 of 259
10/23/11 at 6:11pm
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Originally Posted by crackerbear View Post

From what I've read, the Video Wall is now called "Favorites".

yeah, i was messing around with favorites as well. it was still breaking out my files though (for example my movies hd and movies sd would show as different). i will have to keep playing around with. the concept is good and i am hopeful i can make it work. i think prt of the confusion is that for anyone who is coming from pch the yamj used with mede8er is essentially a completetly different type of ymaj when it comes to actually interacting with the mede8er vs. pch.

one weird thing, yamj for mede8er decided to make fanart as the folder.jpg for all my non Blu-ray folder structure rips.
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post #50 of 259
10/23/11 at 10:24pm
Teaser video of new V2.0 beta firmware that addresses some of the issues. It's going to be searchable from the info in the .xml files if you are having it generate the metadata .xml when you run the mede8tor version of yamj. It is not available yet but good stuff coming out in the near future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBvJFSixuaE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmnriK2w3Uo
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post #51 of 259
10/24/11 at 3:02am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamibob View Post

Teaser video of new V2.0 beta firmware that addresses some of the issues. It's going to be searchable from the info in the .xml files if you are having it generate the metadata .xml when you run the mede8tor version of yamj. It is not available yet but good stuff coming out in the near future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBvJFSixuaE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmnriK2w3Uo

Good stuff. That is actually what I was talking about, searching via xml (i.e. genre, etc...). It takes a little getting used to moving around (for example on the main menu the movies/music/picture search icons are a little confusing and/or redundant since this only applies to attached media). Looks like it will definitely be a solid player.
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post #52 of 259
11/1/11 at 6:06pm
A few questions on this device -

Which apps does it support - ESPN3/Netflix/Vudu etc?

Which online music support does it have?

I am trying to find a way to replace my Tivo/Oppo/squeezebox in one device.
So I am looking for Netflix/Playback of MKV files, Flac files, would really like Pandora/slacker. I also would like to be able to playback my music without turning the tv on from an android app.
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post #53 of 259
11/2/11 at 4:58am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cburbs View Post

A few questions on this device -

Which apps does it support - ESPN3/Netflix/Vudu etc?

Which online music support does it have?

I am trying to find a way to replace my Tivo/Oppo/squeezebox in one device.
So I am looking for Netflix/Playback of MKV files, Flac files, would really like Pandora/slacker. I also would like to be able to playback my music without turning the tv on from an android app.

Your best bet for what you want is a Boxee Box. The Mede8er does not support Netflix/Hulu/Vudu
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post #54 of 259
11/2/11 at 7:00am
Damian - Thanks for the heads up. Which apps does the mede8er support. I didn't find a listing at all. FYI....love reading your stuff at your blog/MediaSmart keep up the wonderful work.
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post #55 of 259
11/8/11 at 6:51am
Thread Starter 
Swamibob or others,

Does the Mede8er support TV show views? I was testing this weekend and the movie side works fine along with the YAMJ create files, but with TV Shows it is just a basic file explorer when you drill done into the Season folder.
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post #56 of 259
11/8/11 at 7:20am
Unfortunately that is how it handles it. No special views for tv. It is handeled just like movies. The .xml file it creates is always just the shows synapsis, not the individual episode synapsis so I always go and manually add the correct plot to the xml file so it will display at the bottom of the screen when I highlight it. If I really care about the show, I will use photoshop to add the synapsis to the about but I always cut and paste it to the so when i scroll down the list I can see what the episode was about if I don't remember by the title.

V2.0 is about to be realsased very soon, i'll post over here when it is, testing RC now.
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post #57 of 259
11/8/11 at 7:22am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamibob View Post

Unfortunately that is how it handles it. No special views for tv. It is handeled just like movies. The .xml file it creates is always just the shows synapsis, not the individual episode synapsis so I always go and manually add the correct plot to the xml file so it will display at the bottom of the screen when I highlight it. If I really care about the show, I will use photoshop to add the synapsis to the about but I always cut and paste it to the so when i scroll down the list I can see what the episode was about if I don't remember by the title.

Thanks for clarifying. I actually ran some cat6 to another room in my house this weekend just so I had another room for testing lol. Mede8er is set up now in the guest room where I do cardio. Hope to have all my testing/pics/etc done this weekend.
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post #58 of 259
11/8/11 at 8:19am
They just updated their site with the new V2.0 info if anyone wants to check it out. http://www.mede8er.com/mede8er_products_med500x2.html
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post #59 of 259
11/11/11 at 5:00am
Thread Starter 
So here are a few odd things I came across. I was testing out a few other movies last night and noticed:

- I have a folder with all my Family HD Movies and a folder with my HD movies. With the Family HD Movies when I scroll over each movie the metadata appears as I would expect. However, when I do this for my HD Movies no metadata shows (even though the metadata for my HD movies is the same as with my Family HD movies). Strange, will need to investigate more

- I went to play Harry Potter Hallows Part I which is a main movie Blu-ray rip. When I click play the mede8er starts to play but the screen stays black the whole time and the movie does not play. The mede8er does not freeze, it just doesn't play. To make things more odd, so instead if I navigate the Blu-ray folder directly to the m2ts file the mede8er will play it. However, the picture will get darker for a few seconds, revert back to normal, then go darker, then normal, etc... I have tested a few Blu-rays and so far this is the only one I have run into such an issue. I have tested this Blu-ray on my PC, Dunes, etc.. and it plays fine so not sure what the issue could be.

Oh, and I should mention that so far I have yet to have any sort of stuttering while testing playback

Not a bad player so far. Most everything I have tested as of yet has played back, no audio dropouts, responsive UI. The internal jukebox is a step in the right direction, but there are definitely some features missing that are needed for me to consider it a full jukebox (many of which appear will be addressed when v2.0 is released). The biggest disappointment to date is the lack of tv show support in jukebox mode.
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post #60 of 259
11/11/11 at 8:18am
Hello all,

I'm looking at this medi8er 500x2 for the bedroom. I have a HTPC in the family room and thought this would be a nice solution to have access to media on the network from the bedroom flat panel without the cost, size or maintanence of another HTPC.

Anyone tried using a USB wireless keyboard with this unit.

Thanks for any input.
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