Media MVP HD/DIVX

[camtabor]

I'm trying to gain an understanding of some of the features of the Media MVP before I grab one.

I see that there is a nice skin written for use on the MVP that makes it act like Beyond TV. That's really cool.

What I'm wondering about:
1) The advertisement for Media MVP mentions that it plays MPEG1/MPEG2, but never mentions DIVX. However I read a forum post that mentioned that it can do DIVX. Does anyone have DIVX video playing through an MVP?

2) I understand that it can't show HD content directly from BTV. However, can it stream HD shows that have been "Showsqueezed" to DIVX (dependent on the answer to question 1)?

I appreciate any answers to this and/or success stories of all the cool things users have pulled of with Media MVP, like using network shares, etc.

Thanks.

[tjstraz]

I am watching DivX videos through my MediaMVP. You need to have DivX installed on the machine with BTV for it to work.

I have yet to try HD converted to DivX and stream it through the MediaMVP, but am also interested if others have done this.

[bits]

The MVP is not really designed for playing DivX files but with the latest MVP drivers it can BUT only to a fashion. I personally have never gotten it to work robustly. It will require a fair amount of cpu while streaming DivX, so hopefully you will have enough cpu to play the Divx files smoothly. For example on my system(see my signiture below) playing a mpeg1/2 file uses about 2-3% of my cpu but playing a divx file uses 88-98 %cpu. It is minor but if your file has a .divx extension you will need to change it to .avi.

I doubt very much it will be able to play HD DivX files because it does not like resolutions other than SD.

The MVP is ok for streaming mpeg1/mpeg2 files but if you are really going to do DivX I would look elsewhere. The divx files I have played using the MVP tend to have A/V sync issues, which I think is related to the high CPU usage.

The MVP is also a bit finicky....mine requires frequent unplugging in order to shut it off for example. Sometimes the act of rebooting my server will cause the MVP to want to re-find the IP address and that requires unplugging. As a cheap mpeg1/2 media streamer it is ok.

[camtabor]

Originally Posted by bits

The MVP is not really designed for playing DivX files but with the latest MVP drivers it can BUT only to a fashion. I personally have never gotten it to work robustly. It will require a fair amount of cpu while streaming DivX, so hopefully you will have enough cpu to play the Divx files smoothly. For example on my system(see my signiture below) playing a mpeg1/2 file uses about 2-3% of my cpu but playing a divx file uses 88-98 %cpu. It is minor but if your file has a .divx extension you will need to change it to .avi.

I doubt very much it will be able to play HD DivX files because it does not like resolutions other than SD.

The MVP is ok for streaming mpeg1/mpeg2 files but if you are really going to do DivX I would look elsewhere. The divx files I have played using the MVP tend to have A/V sync issues, which I think is related to the high CPU usage.

The MVP is also a bit finicky....mine requires frequent unplugging in order to shut it off for example. Sometimes the act of rebooting my server will cause the MVP to want to re-find the IP address and that requires unplugging. As a cheap mpeg1/2 media streamer it is ok.

Thanks for the perspective. When you say "I would look elsewhere", do you mean there are alternatives?

The only alternative I know of is to build a computer as cheap as you can and install Beyond TV link.

[bits]

Originally Posted by camtabor

Thanks for the perspective. When you say "I would look elsewhere", do you mean there are alternatives?

The only alternative I know of is to build a computer as cheap as you can and install Beyond TV link.

There are a fair number of networked media players(NMP) and more are being introduced all the time.

I do not have an HTPC and I have no desire to. About 18 months ago I purchased a Linkplayer2(LP2) from I/O Data and have not looked back. It is wired to my network (not wireless) and is connected to my Sony HDTV using component cables. I record both SD and OTA HD video using my family computer which is located on the other end of my house. I then semi-automatically cut the commercials and store them on internal and external USB drives (these drives are connected to my family PC). My family and I now watch about 90% of our TV shows without commercials, when we want to watch them and then we delete them. All from the family PC located on the other side of the house. I can watch DivX, HD DivX, WMV, HD WMV, mpeg1, mpeg2, HD transport streams (HD video), mp4 and DV avi, ISO images from DVDs for example. I also own a MVP which is connected to my TV upstairs.

I should mention that the Family PC is still used as the family PC. There are times when someone is viewing a recording on the LP2 downstairs, someone is viewing a recording upstairs on the MVP, I am surfing the internet and two shows are being recorded all at the same time! I am not sure there are many HTPCs that can do that.

The LP2 costs around $279 but is not perfect. It has a built in DVD player that is not worth much but I do not use it anyway. Tech support is poor but the system has been solid for video and digital picture streaming and I can not remember having to ever un-plug it to unscrample it or reboot it.

Some NMPs out there:
D-Link DSM-520
DVICO TVIX 4000
Buffalo Linktheater
Media Gate MG-350HD
Netgear AV8000
Pixel Magic MB100
Zensonic 500

Now some sobering advice:

1. Do not try to go wireless, wirelessly streaming video is not ready for prime time yet
2. All the NMPs out there have some quirks and you need to visit their forum sites
3. Visit the AVS forum

If I had to purchase a NMP right now I would purchase the TVIX 4000 because it has very active tech support, it is not perfect but its predecessor the TVIX 5000 was quite popular. My second choice is the LP2 even though tech support is poor...for MY specific needs it has worked very well.

[camtabor]

Thanks for the info. I actually ran some CAT 6 to connect my 2 entertainment centers and run a gigabit switch between them. I never thought wireless would be a good long term solution as I know I want to stream HD content more and more as it becomes more prevalent, I currently record OTA HD and hope to do some dare I say QAM digital cable recording some day.

I appreciate the advice, I'll check those out. If I would end up spending more than $300 or so I would probably look at building a custom PC to handle the task.

[bits]

Originally Posted by camtabor

Thanks for the info. I actually ran some CAT 6 to connect my 2 entertainment centers and run a gigabit switch between them. I never thought wireless would be a good long term solution as I know I want to stream HD content more and more as it becomes more prevalent, I currently record OTA HD and hope to do some dare I say QAM digital cable recording some day.

I appreciate the advice, I'll check those out. If I would end up spending more than $300 or so I would probably look at building a custom PC to handle the task.

I am pretty sure that it will cost more than $300 to build a custom PC that will play HD smoothly...unless you have access to lots of free PC stuff.

My understanding is that you need a pretty good video card in order to play HD smoothly. Also, if you intend to cut commercials or do anything cpu intensive then you will need another PC with some horse power.

[Bigbird999]

LP2 here as well and I agree totally with bits.

BB

[JimF]

In addition to those listed above, the new D-Link DSM-750 should do HD. It and the Netgear EVA8000 are supposed to be available in a month or so.