What a great concept: Play the media that resides on my pc (music, videos, digital pictures, webcast radio) from anywhere and as many locations as I have wired network access.The MediaMVP hardware appears very well conceived and implemented (see the Hauppauge site for specifications). Sound and video quality of streamed content are entirely satisfactory (providing your recordings are of good quality). Yep. Hardware appears to be Hauppauge's forte.
Their software, however, which manifests itself most noticeably as the user interface, is unforgiveably crude. File system navigation and remote control key mapping are noticeably misprogrammed. Even the most rudimentary MP3 playing capabilities are missing or broken. I would compare the display with the old Commodore 64 but that would be an insult to my C64. Sad to say, Hauppauge does not appear to be interested in fixing any of these deficiencies as they have persisted for at least the last 3 software releases and are still present in the current Beta release.
Service is a mixed bag. If you call them, they will replace defective hardware well enough. But don't expect much more support than what you can do for yourself by reading the FAQ on their website. And don't bother emailing a question to support. With the exception of the automated reply, they never answer email. The good news is that there is a large, vocal user forum for this and other Hauppauge products (hey, I said their hardware is pretty good) and, if you don't mind wading through web forums, you can get a lot of answers there.
I want to love this product but I can't. I purchased it primarily to play MP3 music throughout my house and this is certainly the thing it does worst of all (did I mention the LOUD inter-track popping?). So my dissatisfaction should be taken in that context. Certainly its webcast radio (which I use often and enjoy), picture slideshow, and video playback capabilities suffer much less from the UI's lack of sophistication. And people who use the MediaMVP as a front-end for their Hauppauge based PVR systems (personal video recorder think Tivo only no service charge) love these things.
One hope I hold out for my MediaMVP is the global community of private software developers that are hacking away, rewriting its software. I have no doubt they will eventually do what Hauppauge won't. But until they do this is a seriously crippled product.
1. A ReplayTV unit connected to a home Ethernet network.
2. A PC on the same network running DVArchive (free software)
3. The MediaMVP connected to the network and to a TV
Once DVArchive is installed, you need to configure it to download recorded shows from the Replay; a simple task that can be scheduled periodically. You then plug the MediaMVP in (power, network, and TV connections), install the software on your PC, and then set it up to point to the directory used by DVArchive to download the videos.
The MediaMVP will find all MPG video files in the DVArchive download directory and present them on a menu on the TV. Pick the video and you're off and running.
I have tested both Medium and High quality recordings and they play flawlessly almost 100% of the time. The few minor glitches I noticed were apparent 'stutters' in video playback. The only thing I miss on the MediaMVP (that is available on the ReplayTV) is commercial advance, variable speed FF/Rewind (only 2x is currently implemented), and 29 second skip ahead. But for the price, it can't be beat.
Check back in a few days if the product is shown Out Of Stock as Amazon/Office Depot seem to keep a low inventory.
Buy Hauppauge MediaMVP Digital Media Receiver (Model 1000) Now
This product is in what I would call beta stage but will hopefully get better as Hauppauge releases new firmware and software for it.It is missing vital features:
1) It does not have the ability to fast forward and rewind MP3s.
2) It will play an entire folder of MP3s or one MP3 at a time but it is missing is the ability to pick and choose MP3s you want to play. You have to go to the computer and create play lists, then the MVP will play those playlists.
Bugs I have found:
1) The MVP server software that runs on the computer and allows access to shared media has to be restarted once a week or more before the MVP will find the server.
2) When playing videos (mpg, avi, etc) you can fast forward and rewind but often after doing so the audio gets out of sync with the video.
Conclusion: Good, fair-priced device (under a hundred dollars) but it definitely needs some improvement. Also, be wary of wireless "Media Receivers." I have done some research on them and their biggest complaint is that they only work well when wired. That is why I bought the MVP, it is wired (only) so you are not paying for the wireless feature.
Read Best Reviews of Hauppauge MediaMVP Digital Media Receiver (Model 1000) Here
I've been using this box for about a month now and love it.The user interface, although very basic, gets the job done.
It probably has far fewer features than competing boxes, but
the price it right.
The software on the PC is very light. When the MediaMVP is
powered on, it will load its software from the PC. I have
downloaded a couple upgrades from Hauppauge already. Each
upgrade adds more features. Recently they added a skip ahead
15 seconds feature and jump to 10%-90% (1-9 buttons) of the
video. I did not expect such continued development from a
manufacturer for such an inexpensive box. Hats off to
Hauppauge. I think recent updates may have also fixed sluggish
response from the remote. I noticed that problem at first, but
I don't see it anymore.
I did need to upgrade my home network to 100Mbps. With a 10Mbps
network, I could not watch MPEG at a bit rate faster than about
2.5Mbps without problems. 100Mbps solved that problem.
I also bought the WinTV PVR-250 which I use to record TV shows
and then stream the recorded video to the MediaMVP. I can even
stream the video while recording. This allows me to pause
live-TV and the picture quality is great. Who needs Tivo? I
just wish they could integrate the 2 products together so I
could control the WinTV through the MediaMVP.
For MP3s, I usually create a playlist (Winamp format) on my PC
and the MediaMVP will just play the playlist. It shows the song
title down the bottom of the screen. I just wish it had a
shuffle feature. Maybe on the next software update.
I haven't used the photo album feature much, but it does work.
I have noticed the following bugs an occasional MP3 will
abruptly stop and go to the next song; after long periods of
pausing video, the box will sometimes hang and need to be
turned off/on.
In summary, the box is everything I expect and more.
Want Hauppauge MediaMVP Digital Media Receiver (Model 1000) Discount?
I recently purchased this unit becuase it was a lot cheaper than the other units and I was planning on hard wiring the unit to my network anyway. This unit also does streaming MPG1 and 2 when a lot of the other units only do audio and JPG. You can get this unit to work with a wireless bridge as well but some people have had problems doing so. All in all the unit works like it should. My only complaints so far are that the user interface could be better and you cant quue up a song. You can create playlists though. One neat thing is you can mirror the TV interface on your computer screen with a download from Hauppauge's website. This works good for me as I have speakers hooked up to my stereo that are out on my deck. I can take my wireless laptop on the deck, then remote into my server and control the music through the mirro image of the interface. pretty cool huh? I would recommend this unit to anyone looking for a way to stream MP3 JPG and MPG1 & 2 that does not want to spend a lot of money. There are probably better units out there but they also cost twice as much.Save 59% Off
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