MediaGate announces MG-450HD entertainment server

When CES 2007 came around, a good portion of the US stopped and thanked their lucky stars as MediaGate's fairly well-spec'd lineup finally came stateside. Now, the same firm is introducing the MG-350HD's (pictured) successor, the MG-450HD. Said entertainment server enables owners to wirelessly stream HD video, music, and other media to an HDTV or stereo from their PC, and it also fetches content from networked hard drives and locally attached USB drives. Unfortunately, this one caps out at 802.11g, but it does include HDMI, optical / coaxial digital audio outs and Ethernet to boot. At $249, it's still a bit more expensive than Popcorn Hour's highly praised A-100, but loyalists probably won't mind.

[robindurden @ Feb 27th 2008 1:07AM]

mvixusa.com or bust!

[JohnTitor @ Feb 27th 2008 1:18AM]

MediaGate > Mvix
anyway I was thinking about upgrading to the MG-350HD, but I'll see how this turns out, The 350HD doesn't have an HDMI out, though I don't know if the DVI port is DHCP compatible, I don't even need wireless since it'll be next to the router, just hose they improve the NDAS speed

[Tim Dorr @ Feb 27th 2008 3:09AM]

If any of the previous MediaGate devices are an indicator, these things are complete crap. Flimsy feel, piss poor software, and a teeth-grinding installation process.

[Matt @ Feb 27th 2008 3:13AM]

John,

Surely you know if they improve NDAS speed or not? Or is your time machine broken?

[Josh @ Feb 27th 2008 4:47AM]

I have a Mediagate MG-350HD and a Popcornhour A-100. I'll be sticking with the Popcornhour thanks. Much better support and firmware updates to squash bugs arrive much quicker.

[emailtabs @ Feb 27th 2008 5:26AM]

These are brilliant, easy to use, great for storage etc etc.

They do however have limited codec support that cannot be updated (Chip based decoding), Slowass connection(Ndas) when copying files over network. (fine for playback), small remote (will be lost), huge power brick

If your looking for a media centre then this is not it. if your looking to update your vcr then get your credit card ready.

Community is huge so bios flashing is a must when you finally get your hands on one.

Weigh up your wants and needs and this shouldn't bring any buyers remorse.

[Ben @ Feb 28th 2008 7:19AM]

Wonder if this machine will play WAV files this time. The box, the manual & web page for the MG-350 proclaimed that it did. It didn't, & it was never fixed in any firmware upgrades in the year that I had mine. This, among numerous other problems with the 350, has left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Mediagate won't be seeing the contents of my wallet again.

[emailtabs @ Feb 27th 2008 6:58AM]

Hmmmmm!. mine was a 35 and it played wav, wma, mp3 and most avi formats. I can't remember which format it was but it didn't like some avi sound formats (Ogg vorbi? possibly). some of my files had to be reincoded.

As i said. if you wan't something customisable like a media centre then hold your horses. but if you are after a video playback machine for your lounge which is Cough *Ahem* "wimin" friendly then dive in.

[Fernando @ Feb 27th 2008 8:19AM]

I thought it was a new Wiimote when I first saw it.

[james @ Feb 27th 2008 10:22AM]

give me a break. If these guys would put some money into software development this might be a product worth talking about, but to date all they have done is marry a dvd player and a network card. I have one and it does the job to some extent, but the fact that hackers have supplied the software that runs my hardware means that if i have an alternate option I'll take it.

[Big Sam @ Feb 27th 2008 2:19PM]

I'll wait for Popcorn Hour to get my popcorn ready, T.O. style

[JuweLz @ Feb 27th 2008 3:05PM]

IS there another opition other then apple TV, MediaGate and popcorn that streams movie to your HDTV from your networked hard drives at a 802.11N. Oh yeasm that supports divx and vob.

[iain @ Feb 27th 2008 10:54PM]

Have you thought of getting an original Xbox, with XBMC, and a 802.11N wireless to ethernet adapter. Or even a Mac mini with the latest XBMC software? Both will give you great support for the codecs out there.

[JonnyPage @ Feb 27th 2008 9:26PM]

I have a MediaGate 350HD, and love it. It's probably the best thing I have in my home theater. But the 450? no x.264? fail.

[doug @ Feb 28th 2008 3:10PM]

Anyone know if the 350 or 450 handles 720p mkv's, or the mkv container at all?

[JohnTitor @ Feb 29th 2008 6:31PM]

yes, it does
the 350 anyway, 450 I suspect would to

[adjack @ Feb 29th 2008 5:47PM]

has anyone tried the dish dvr and the digital media storage option

[Gene @ Mar 13th 2008 6:04PM]

Bad link == Fail

[Jeff Danzig @ Apr 22nd 2008 3:19PM]

The MediaGate MG-350 box is an astounding piece of work. After sampling five other boxes, the MediaGate won hands-down.

Installation - Anyone complaining about the install - is probably a lumberjack by trade.

Interface - Basic enough my 5 year old daughter uses it unsupervised.

Other products require crazy shares - this is accessing four systems in my network, (Vista & XP), plays everything except the few MKV files I have and a few other oddly encoded files. You just never know what you'll catch on the internet.

I am sharing over 6TB of "stuff" internally, the MediaGate plays MP3's (not a true necessity) very nicely as well.

Down sides: Internet Radio - Ummm, yeah right! The other is choosing a drive, if you do install one, for inside the box.
Cooling is extremely important when choosing drives. I've tested and now strictly only purchase Samsung drives for their extreme coolness. As for well, putting one inside your MediaGate - grab a 400gb samsung drive - you'll be fine.

Wireless is not an excellent medium for sending true DVD rips to your T.V. via the MediaGate.

As with anything video files right now - MediaGate has a problem reading > 4gb files - so remember that when you rip those DVD's - plus, stick with a real DVD ripper, some of those others, including FAB products do some strange things to the files not allowing you to few them -

DVDShrink with DVD Decryptor are astounding at ripping / protection etc for movies...

Loads of Luck!

Can't wait to purchase the MG-450 once the "kinks" have been worked out of the firmware.

DVI to HDMI cable brings excellent quality (but it truely depends on your files) and costs $25 / $30 if you look hard it's cheaper.