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Hauppauge's MediaMVP
 To start this review off, I have to admit that I have very little expertise in the realm of digital media display. I bought this product as part of my initial baby steps towards converting my existing PC into a part-time PVR. As such, my standards might be lower than the power users of this site. But I figure I can give you folks a basic idea of its usefulness for me.
The mediamvp basically is a Linux based digital media receiver that hooks up to your network and handles output to your stereo and TV for digital files. In effect, it reads the video, music, and picture files on the computers on your network and plays them to your TV and stereo.
Setup for the system was not difficult at all. All I had to do was to connect the mediamvp to a standard network cable (not provided), hook up the audio/video cable to my TV (actually to my stereo and TV), install some minimal software, and plug the sucker in. It worked the first time I turned it on. The hardest part of the process was convincing my wife that it was necessary to string network cable from my office to the living room at the other end of the house.
The basic software setup has a media search that was fairly easy to figure out. The only issue that has popped up so far is that it does not refresh itself, so if you make major changes in your collection, you need to run it again.
As for performance....
When it came to displaying pictures, I was quite impressed. It only supports .jpg and .gif, but that is all that I usually deal in. The pictures were crystal clear on the screen and not niceably distorted. It was easy to set up a basic slide show.
The music performance was also solid. The mp3 sounded great on my stereo and it was easy to set up basic play lists. The unit also reads and plays a variety of playlists that can be created ahead of time in winamp or similar programs.
When it came to digital video playback, I had some mixed results. The first MPEG that I tried to play has its audio delayed by a few seconds. The second that I played was visually jerky. At that point I tried playing them with no other programs running on my pc. Once I did that there was no problem so I have to conclude that I can not multitask when it comes to the video playback (there is no problem with mp3 playback, however). One note of warning, however, is that I am not certain how the quality of my MPEG2s matches up. I installed a cheap tuner card with a software based encoder (TV wonder ve) and so I am not certain what the results would be with higher quality files.
The unit is controlled with a remote that allows for pausing, rewind, and other useful functions. There is a slight pause in the response which I can only assume is the result of accessing the network. After using the unit for a while I did not notice it much.
My main criticism of the device arises from the limitation in the files that it can play. For images, it only handles .jpg and .gif files. For audio it only handles MP3s and certain playlist files. Finally, for video, it only plays MPEG1 and MPEG2 files. This was frustrating for me because much of my music collection was .WMA and I can not play my DIVX Red Dwarf episodes. I emailed the company about this and they responded that they were looking into the possibility of a software upgrade, but the subtext of their message told me not to hold my breath.
Overall, I am pleased with this gadget. Its performance is generally good and since I got it for $65 as the result of a $30 rebate, the price did not break the bank. The cheap tuner card that I purchased along with it was about $45, which means that I have basic PVR functionality on my computer and in my living room for about $110 dollars. The company also has hinted firmware and software upgrades, so there is a good chance the functionality of this product will increase (crossing my fingers for DIVX).
Feel free to post in my original mediamvp entry in the forum if you found my review helpful or if you have any questions for me.
EDITORS NOTE: (you can also add comments to the review below)
This item is available at Amazon.com with FREE super saver shipping
Added: Monday, February 02, 2004
Reviewer: 2n
Score: 
Related web link: Hauppauge's Media MVP page
hits: 35616
Language: eng
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Posted by Anonymous on Mar 17, 2005 - 06:59 PM
Your rating: 
On the comment about Tivo versus the home made PVR. After building my two tuner PVR, using all the best, most poular pats and software, I can tell you that I like my PVR, but I love my Tivo. They both have strong points, some are shared points, but others are exclusive of the machine.
Strong Points for PVR using one PVR-500 duel tuner are as follows:
1) Beyond TV v3.5.2 is excellent, commercial skip, when it works, which is often, is fantastic.
2) The Beyond Media v1.0 is nice, I enjoy music with 365.com, and instant Weather Channel data is very nice. I don't have to go to the Weather Channel on the TV and wait for my area to come up.
3) Recording two channels as easy as one, actually seamless, is another fantastic feature of using the PVR-500. I guess you can do it with two PVR-250's , or150's too, but I don't know that it is as seamless as BTV 3.5.2 with one PVR-500. I know that some DirectTV people with the Tivo DirecTivo box, can record two channels at once too. I also can do it with two Tivo's.
4) No monthy service charge has to be in here, since that is one of the first things any of you will say when asked about building your own PVR. It can't be the primary reason, since, in most cases, the cost of a PVR exceeds the cost of service on a Tivo.
5) The ability to resume or not when watching a show that you, or someone else already started is nice. On a Tivo, i have to do a fast reverse, or forward to get it to start from the beginning.
6) I can browse the internet on my PVR, I can do email, or get internet originated content on my TV.
7) The PVR can get shared network content, or be shared in any way that a computer can. Tivo has Tivo2go, but it is somewhat limited on what can be done.
There is probably more, but this may be the highlights for me. Now for the Tivo strong points.
1) Reliability - Tivo does not crash, never. Because it is a computer and subject to hardware failure, just like the PVR, I exclude this from the statement, "Never crashs.' I have one tivo that has been running since 2001 with lifetime service. I have replaced the hard drive twice, but it was an upgraded drive that I installed, and it was replaced under warranty from Maxtor. I call that a maxtor failure, not Tivo.
2) Cost, how much PVR can you build for 99.00 ? The answer is , not much. That is how much my newest Tivo cost, brand new. $199 with a 4100 rebate. i bought two of them and got $200 back from Tivo.The other new Tivo is a 80 hour model, both series-2.
3) Series-2 networked is wonderful. I can put one Tivo in the bedroom and one in the family room and watch the content from either in either place. With tivo2Go, i can get the contents of my two series-2 Tivo's onto my PC and burn it to a DVD, or CD.
4) Tivo has the best remote, smoothest fast forward, and reverse. I can use one remote to control two Tivo's. the new series-2 comes with the remote that can control a second Tivo.
5) Cost of ownership - Because I have a Lifetime Tivo box, every other Tivo I pay for is at a reduced rate of $6.95/month. So at $6.95 a month, plus $99, it would take 342 MONTHs, yes, 28.5 years to pay off the cost of my PVR. yep, i have one monster PVR that cost me $217 just for the case, $60 more for a killerquiet power supply, $60 more for a heat sink for the massive hot 3.0 GHz P4, not to mention the PVR-500, 1 GB DDR ram, ATIx700 with 256Mb DDR3 video, Media center 2005, BTV 3.52, Beyond media 1.0, Girder, IR blaster and so on.
6) Tivo is seamless, no upgrades, virus protection, firewalls, crashes, buggy software glitches, or stuttering.
Now you know why I love my Tivo, and like my PVR... Joe massimj @ hotmail.commmmm |
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Posted by greenly on Sep 23, 2004 - 01:07 PM
Your rating:
2n, Could you list your computer stats for comparison? Thanks |
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Posted by Anonymous on Sep 16, 2004 - 01:40 PM
Your rating:
Just a quick note...the MediaMVP now supports Divx, WMA, internet radio, and probably some other stuff, thats just what I remember. It is in the beta release of the installer, v 2.22.
Guy |
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Posted by Anonymous on Apr 28, 2004 - 11:41 AM
Your rating: 
The biggest failing of this unit is its lack of digital out/support for DD/DTS. DVD's ripped to HD work excellently with no problems at all, no jumps loss of sync or anything. If it could handle DD/DTS then it would be THE device, but at the moment the only real choice is the Pinnacle device. It's a real shame, the price difference is too low for Hauppauge to ignore this shortcoming.
A huge bonus is the fact that you can configure the interface and make the unit jump through hoops. You'll need an understanding of HTML and javascript to do this though.
Overall, this device should probably not make it into your home theatre setup until DD/DTS support is added. When (if) this is added then you'll have no excuse not to get one - or two, or three - since multiple devices are now supported from one system...
I'd have given this a 9.5 score if only it had DD/DTS support...
Did I mention I wanted DD/DTS support.... :)
ScaredyCat |
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Posted by 2n on Feb 03, 2004 - 07:01 PM
Your rating:
I have tried the timed recording and it is actually quite good. Remeber, this is the program for my decoder card and NOT included with the mediamvp. The program is called guideplus and it is apparently connected to Gemstar. All you do is search for the tv progam you want and click a little record icon. It works just fine as long as the computer is on.
I don't think my little setup really compares to Tivo. From what I have seen, Tivo is clearly more advanced and reliable. I am jealous of the feature that allows it to automatically store programs that it thinks you would be intereted in. On the other hand, I am pretty sure Tivo does not automatically connect to your network and play MP3s. Unless I am mistaken you need to buy an add-on for this. All together a spent a little over $115 and I don't know the going rate for Tivo. |
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Posted by Anonymous on Feb 03, 2004 - 06:18 PM
Your rating:
LOL! Good one 2N. HAHAHAHA!!!!
Thanks for clearing that all up. Have you troied the listings/timed recording feature yet, any luck? What are you saving going this route over doing a TIVO or the like? The monthly service fee is all? Do you thnk it's worth the savings? HAve you checked out a Tivo? Rampy showed me his, and now I'm jonesing... |
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Posted by Anonymous on Feb 03, 2004 - 05:51 PM
Your rating:
Heh. "Shaving Ryan's Privates". Didn't Rampy STAR in that one? |
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Posted by 2n on Feb 03, 2004 - 05:00 PM
Your rating:
I think my comments about having basic PVR functionality were not explained enough. First of all the Mediamvp is only a media "juke box" as thebryon asks. It does not have the ability to record or even decode my cable signal. I am able to do that because of the inexpensive decoder card, radeon's tv wonder ve, that installed in my system at the same time. This card allows me to view and record tv on my PC. After recording, I use the Mediamvp to watch the file on my television.
I have a tv out port on my video card, but the resulting image is just short of terrible, which is why I aquired the Mediamvp. Its display is good and I am able to control the playing of the media files right at my tv, so I don't have to worry about arranging some sort of remote control for my PC on the other side of the house.
As such, what I really have is a digial vcr setup. I can not pause or rewind live television and I basically have to leave my computer alone while it is recording. On the other hand, the video tuner card's software does include a free listing service that lets me search for my favorite shows and schedule my computer to tape them days in advance. This is enough for me for now.
In the future I hope to aquire a tv tuner card that uses hardware to record the signal to MPEG2. At such time I will fiddle with the mediamvp to see if I can view the file at the same time it is recorded to my hard drive.
Additionally, it is quite simple to tell the mediamvp search engine where to look for files on your computer and where not to. Although that was not a concern for me since I wouldn't think of having files such as 'blazing saddles" on my computer, users such as thebryon wouldn't have to worry about their wives stumbling onto their copies of favorite war movies such as "Shaving Ryan's Privates" . |
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Posted by valiamarkais on Feb 03, 2004 - 03:42 PM
Your rating:
Thanks for the review!
Very thorough article. I'm a bit intierested in what the lag from PC to TV was when doing movies. Is it CPU thing, or a NIC thing? RAM maybe? I want to know if I can record and export multiple media files at the same time.
Thanks again.
-V. Arkais
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Posted by thebryon on Feb 03, 2004 - 01:57 PM
Your rating:
I'm not sure if I missed this, but...
You said you have basic DVR functionality now... Can you record with this puppy? Or is it basically just a "juke box" interface that meshes up with your TV?
BTW 2N, make sure you scrub your hard drive for any inappropriate media. I'd hate to see someone accidently play your copy of "blazing saddles" on your living room TV... DOH! |
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