Mvix Wireless Hi-Definition Media Player (MX-760HD)

Finally!........I have been waiting for this system to come out since I first read about it during the last CES. It was suppose have been released way back in march but I guess its better late than never.

Kerry

It's an interesting product at a good price point, but I question some of their design choices.

1. The hard drive interface is PATA instead of SATA. The SATA drives are more common now, easier to hook up and (I believe) getting cheaper than comparable PATA in the largest sizes.

2. The product doesn't seem to support FLAC.

3. The digital video output is DVI instead of HDMI.

The MX760HD supports .iso DVD playback, as well as .vob/.ifo and .ts. Plus DTS pass-thru. Not bad.

If only they had a way to support Cover-art for DVD titles (and album-art for ripped mp3) this unit *might* be perfect.

As it is, they only use icons for each title (movie reel icon for movie and folder icon for album)

Well, if the MVix page is correct, and they are in stock, I should have my hands on one early next week.

I'll make sure to let everyone know how well it works. I'm primarily looking to use it for IFO and HD transport streams, but I can toss a divx or two at it.

Edit: They confirmed it will ship today. (Monday)

I ordered mine last Thursday. It shipped on Friday and I received it this morning. I'll start playing with it tonight and let everyone know how it works.

Where's the WPA support? Why is wireless security an afterthought on every box but the DSM-520?

Yeah, that kinda irked me too, but I planned on going wired for it anyway since I don't trust wireless for 2-3MB/sec HD traffic.

All I can figure is it might be a licensing deal? WPA may require paying license fees that many of these companies don't want to have to tack on to the price? D-Link having WPA makes sense... they are primarily a router vendor anyway.

I'd be curious if they are paying all the MPEG-LA fees.

I'm also curious if H.264 support is in the wings. Don't really need it now since everything I encode is either TS or XviD, but it would be handy in the future.

Is Mivx and Tvix the same company? They seem to use similar model numbers?

I think it is driven primarily by the chipset. The latest Sigma chip has features X, Y and Z, so all the latest gen media players have features X, Y and Z.

Yesterday afternoon I pulled the drive from my Mvix MV-5000U and installed it in the 760hd. Hooked it up to my RPTV via component and audio/video receiver via optical when I got home. Played some iso's,ifo and vob's from ripped dvd's with no problem.

Then I connected it to my Linksys WRTG54GS wireless router with a cat5 cable, followed the directions in the manual to enable connection to my PC in the basement (via wireless)that has video and mp3's stored on a USB and local drive. Started to stream an avi file and it handled that with no problem. Switched to an iso from a ST:TNG ripped dvd and the unit froze twice while selecting an episode to play. Rebooted the unit and on the third try it played with no apparent difficulty (only played 5 minutes). Switched to an mpg4 file I had and that began to play after approx. a 2 minute delay (not sure why). After 5 minutes I switched to another ripped dvd, selected the ifo and the menu came up. I was able to navigate the menu like normal. I played the movie for about five minutes with no difficulty. Switched to mp3's, once again no problems.

I'll be able to give it more of a test this weekend when I'll (hopefully) have the time to play a full movie.

Please do so and make sure you post your findings!
TIA!
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Axel

Please keep us posted about your findings. I am very interested in its IFO/VOB playing capabilities, in particular over LAN.

TIA!
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Axel

Is the firmware support on Mvix compareable to Tvix? (Since M4000 has been delayed to almost end of the month, i am toying with the idea of cancelling the order and ordering MX-760HD instead)

Great minds think alike

From what I have gathered thus far from my research (I found that Hi-Jack also has good info on streamers), it seems TViX support is really at the top of the line. Or in other words MViX comes not even close in this regard. However, please note that this is rather an uneducated assumption.
I hope I can be proven wrong on this one....
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Axel

hmmmnnnnnnn.... support is very important, given that these embedded systems are difficult to work with (by noobies....)... guess i will stick with thought of staying with M4000 for a couple of more days

I just got my MX-760HD today. Setup was easy (I've got a 4000U too) and I had it on my network in a matter of minutes. I tried to play a ripped movie from my computer (DVDshrink rip) and it was very jumpy via the wireless. (Unwatchable) I figured that I wasn't getting a good wireless signal and I would have to tweak that, so I ran a honkin' long ethernet cable from my router to the new player. Same issue. Didn't see much in their knowledgebase. The only reason that I bought this thing was so that I could watch movies that I have stored on my computer as well as the ones that are on the hard drive in the unit itself. Anyone have any ideas?

Eric

Eric;
To narrow down the issue I would probably try next:
1. to play another movie over your LAN
2. to play a movie from the MX's HDD and/or a connected USB HDD

How do you access the files on your PC? I understand that depending on the product there are different ways (NFS, SAMBA); some are better, i.e. faster, more reliable, etc., than others.
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Axel

Won't have mine till tomorrow. What has me a little confused is according to the PDF, they have you install the IPX/SPX stack on your PC for sharing files... WTF?

I tried several movies over the LAN. They'll play ok until there's a lot of action on the screen, then it gets jumpy. I've contacted their tech support, but haven't heard anything lately. I'll try to return it if I can't get it to work, as it won't be any better than my 4000U.

Movies play fine off of the internal HDD. I haven't tried a USB hard drive yet. I left my external one at work, but I'm assuming that it will work fine. I'll give it a try though.

My "network" at home is a XP Pro box connected to a WRT54G router. I had to install IPX/SPX NWlink on the XP box apparently to get the Mvix to see my windows box. I'm assuming it's just a bandwidth issue, as I don't know how much bandwidth a DVD consumes. All QoS is disabled on the router. I suppose I COULD try to put a second NIC in the XP box and connect it direct with some static IP configurations and see if bypassing the router helps at all.

Thanks!
Eric

Hi,

- Are you using NAT on your Router ? (Disable it and try)

- Do you have firewall enabled on your Router ? (Disable it and try)

Let Us know and thanks in advance.

Ric

I'll dig around in the router and see if I can change some settings around. All of my computers/network nodes are on the 192.168.1.x network and the router has a separate external address...

Eric

Along those lines and as an interim you could also try a cross over cable to connect PC and MX directly to see if the issue is with the router.
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Axel

Can this also serve as a NAS? Or is USB the only way to put content into it?

Note to self: DO NOT remove the upper most thumbscrew when installing the hard drive. Springs and other bits will come flying out at you. The spring and E clip were pointless anyway. The top thumb screw only needs to be loosened one turn or so anyway.

Why in the world they made the top screw a thumbscrew is beyond me.

Still trying to find a TV here in the office I can nab for a while ;-)

I only see the product available for MvixUSA .. is there any place else to buy it? They have a 25% restocking fee (in case it doesn't live up to expectations).

Can't you plug it into a monitor since it has a DVI port and a 1/8" audio jack?