Mvix Ultio "It Plays All" HD media streamer debuts in the U.S. July 6 for $179

We'd heard rumors Mvix USA would be rolling out an upgraded 1080p capable media box to rival the earlier MvixPVR and here it is. Dubbed the Ultio, it has a list of supported codecs and containers that rivals the new Popcorn Hour C-200 in its thoroughness -- DivX® (3/4/5/6), Xvid, AVC-HD, MPEG 1/2/4, WMV-9, ASF(WMV9), MKV, DVD(IFO, VOB), ISO, MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, AC3 -- it's all here, with a slightly awkward Swiss Army knife-themed tagline to boot. The $169 price tag is sans-3.5-inch SATA HDD, though you can add one for $79 (500GB) $90 (1TB) or $139 (1.5TB). Of course network streaming is a part of the package, with Mvix's usual suite of Samba / UPnP / BitTorrent (mentioning compatibility with PlayOn and Tversity specifically to get all your Netflix, YouTube and other streaming sources to TV) via Ethernet or optional Wireless-N dongle. It's up for pre-orders now, take a close look at the specs and pics then get in line before they start shipping July 6.

Gallery: Mvix Ultio

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[ChillyCat @ Jun 25th 2009 12:35PM]

Tho my PS3 can do most of this..... i'd consider an upgrade

[Mack211 @ Jun 25th 2009 12:40PM]

I'm with you. This is a great price and if it performs as well as my PS3 it might be a great addition for a bedroom.

[strap @ Jun 25th 2009 2:47PM]

Just buy a mac mini, install Boxee and be done with it.

[Chip @ Jun 25th 2009 4:49PM]

The PS3 is $400 and the Mac mini starts at $600. This is only $170. Believe it or not, there are people out there who haven't already paid entirely too much for Sony or Apply hardware. For those people, this is a much better device.

[ChillyCat @ Jun 25th 2009 5:18PM]

Hey strap-on.....

A mac mini ?? Ya bustin my balls ??

Why in the world would I buy or need a mac to
stream video ??

And BTW... since when did Mac start putting Blu-Ray
in their Mini's ?? Oh, they don't ?? Hmmmmm......

mac mini = got about 100 different things I could
piss my money away on... a mac ain't on that list

[Ordeith @ Jun 25th 2009 5:29PM]

I am actually comparing this to the 360, but I hear ya.

at $199 the 360 gives me streaming + live TV + Whole house DVR in another room.

at $179 this device will give me the streaming. I will have to consider if the better codec support will make up for the loss of DVR and live TV.

[BluesK1d @ Jun 26th 2009 5:15PM]

For all those citing the PS3 or 360 as an alternative, those don't apply. Attempt to play a mkv on either of them and youlll see why. You can't. You can attempt to use a realtime transcoder like TVersity but you will find you can't use it on HD content worth beans not to mention it degrades the quality. In order to play the most common HD format (mkv with x264 video and DD/DTS audio) and output a full 1080 signal with 5.1 or 7.1 audio you either need an HTPC or one of these streaming devices. Period.

[Jeff @ Jun 25th 2009 12:36PM]

I might get this for the bedroom and keep xbmc in the living room

[richb93 @ Jun 25th 2009 12:38PM]

Impressive stuff

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 25th 2009 12:38PM]

That's some fantastic image editing they did there. I'm not sure that I'd feel confident buying a product from a company that uses MSPaint for their press photos.

[Jesse Anderson @ Jun 25th 2009 12:46PM]

I noticed the same thing. At first I thought is that a really crappy heat sink under that thing? not it's just a really crappy photo edit!

[ChillyCat @ Jun 25th 2009 12:46PM]

OH....you know for a fact, that MVIX supplied Endgadget with photos ?

C'mon Dude.......that's a lame arsed comment with no use to anyone.

[Richard Lawler @ Jun 25th 2009 1:03PM]

Sorry about that, things went terribly, horribly wrong when we (I) resized the photos the first time and we all saw what was hiding under that transparency.

[Lando Calrissian @ Jun 25th 2009 1:07PM]

Haha it looks waaaay better now.

[ProfessorDex @ Jun 25th 2009 3:20PM]

@ ChillyCat

Were you making an example of a "lame arsed comment with no use to anyone"?

[elyria71 @ Jun 25th 2009 12:41PM]

YEP
My PS3 kicks ass if connected direct via cat 5 = plays everything
using TVersity

This device would indeed be great for the bedroom

[Mike Wines @ Jun 25th 2009 12:44PM]

Very nice!

[BigBosch @ Jun 25th 2009 12:44PM]

ps3 can play MKV 1080p?


i got 720p to work with mkv2vob..

[Vidikron @ Jun 25th 2009 12:50PM]

The PS3 can't play files in an MKV container, no. But mkv2vob can remux them into a playable format in seconds... yes, including 1080p. Or you can use a program like "PS3 Media Server" to transcode/remux on the fly.

[hexydes @ Jun 25th 2009 1:55PM]

Or I could just use a good piece of hardware that actually keeps up with technology, rather than hacks around it.

[Vidikron @ Jun 25th 2009 2:05PM]

@hexydes

Umm... the PS3 is a DNLA server. I hardly call remuxing and transcoding "hacks". Go ahead and buy something like this, it seems like a good deal. But there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of a piece of hardware you already own.

[Anton @ Jun 25th 2009 12:45PM]

Cool

[naz @ Jun 25th 2009 12:46PM]

whats with the junky photo editing, look at that edge! lol

[joeybeast @ Jun 25th 2009 12:51PM]

Interesting

[EE @ Jun 25th 2009 12:53PM]

I would buy one if it ran xbmc or boxee.

[Garry @ Jun 25th 2009 1:08PM]

Agreed. I dunno why someone doesn't make a player that uses it. By far the best media interface I've used.

[David Hildreth @ Jun 25th 2009 12:53PM]

Not bad, fair pricing for drives too.

[David Hildreth @ Jun 25th 2009 12:58PM]

I take that back, according to their website it doesn't support H.264 inside an MKV. Just MP4, AVI and TS... odd.

[hexydes @ Jun 25th 2009 2:22PM]

Uhm...

VIDEO
MPEG-1
DAT 320×240
MPG 720×576
MPEG-2
VOB 720×576
M-JPEG 640×480P
MPG 1920×1080p
TS 1920×1080p
M2TS 1920x1080p
TP 1920x 1080p
MPEG-4, DIVX, XVID
AVI 1920×1080p
MP4 1920×1080p
MKV 1920×1080p
VC-1
WMV 1920×1080p
H.264
AVI 1920×1080p
MP4 / AVCHD 1920×1080p
MKV 1920×1080p
MOV 1920x 1080p
RM / RMVB 1920x 1080p

AUDIO
MP3
WMA
WAV
AAC
OGG
AC3 (Dolby Digital)
FLAC
REAL AUDIO

PICTURE
JPG/JPEG
BMP
PNG
GIF

Hopefully that parses correctly...

[David Hildreth @ Jun 25th 2009 3:03PM]

http://www.mvixusa.com/download/manuals/mvixultio/Mvix%20Ultio%20Media%20Player%20Format%20Support.pdf

[JasonD @ Jun 25th 2009 12:56PM]

i guess engadget cleaned up that stock photo.......jaggies be gone! =P

[Fanfoot @ Jun 25th 2009 12:58PM]

I'll wait for a review. Sounds encouraging, but bad UI design or laggy response could still kill it.

[Jeff @ Jun 25th 2009 1:01PM]

I agree....in that case I might just get another modded xbox

[z @ Jun 25th 2009 1:01PM]

Any pics or first looks at the software for this thing?

[z @ Jun 25th 2009 1:06PM]

http://www.mvixusa.com/download/manuals/mvixultio/Mvix%20Ultio%20User%20Manual.pdf

[Jed @ Jun 25th 2009 1:01PM]

I want that.

[joe @ Jun 25th 2009 1:05PM]

Never used such a box before... can I record to the HDD?

[erik @ Jun 25th 2009 1:07PM]

I don't think it has any kind of inputs (output only). They're probably using their own interface on a Linux platform, so I think you'd have problems getting a USB TV tuner (or other input) to work with it.

[erik @ Jun 25th 2009 1:04PM]

Would be nice if it supported Blu-Ray like the new Popcorn Hour box will. Obviously wouldn't be internal on this one, but would be a good feature. Has anyone seen the interface on this box or the Popcorn Hour one? That's what concerns me the most.

[jorge13 @ Jun 25th 2009 1:09PM]

Site is so down right now

[Jeff @ Jun 25th 2009 1:10PM]

This is a great idea if it works solid. I have Vista Media Center PC’s on all my TV’s – at best it’s a pain in the butt.

[Jon @ Jun 25th 2009 1:14PM]

No BD .ISO support no thanks .. Still waiting for the C-200 to answer that very important ? officially

[Murdock @ Jun 25th 2009 1:17PM]

This is what I need to know as well, until there is Blu-ray ISO support I'm using my HTPC.

[GingerFox @ Jun 25th 2009 1:24PM]

wow reasonable prices for the HDD's amazing.

[Scott @ Jun 25th 2009 1:45PM]

can it handle MKV with embedded subtitles?

That's the biggest issue with TVersity. Is it will stream my MKV files, but it won't display subtitles.

[gm76 @ Jun 25th 2009 1:49PM]

The format support PDF says nothing about multichannel FLAC support in MKV. How unfortunate.

[lostchi @ Jun 25th 2009 2:14PM]

very nice

[Rambo @ Jun 25th 2009 2:21PM]

I have a previous gen Mvix player that does everything this does (gobs of codecs, 1080p, etc) that works quite well. The user interface is a bit rough around the edges, but all the Dvix TV shows I have, plus ISOs play beautifully. A single device serves as our media server, media streamer to TV, and storage server. It's quite handy.

[Mark S. @ Jun 25th 2009 2:34PM]

Speaking of PlayOn support, am I the only one that can't play Hulu via Playon to the XBOX 360?

[Ordeith @ Jun 25th 2009 5:34PM]

Try using tVersity.