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.
posted Jun 25th 2009 12:31PM
Tho my PS3 can do most of this..... i'd consider an upgrade
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.
Just buy a mac mini, install Boxee and be done with it.
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.
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
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.
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.
I might get this for the bedroom and keep xbmc in the living room
Impressive stuff
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.
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!
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.
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.
Haha it looks waaaay better now.
@ ChillyCat
Were you making an example of a "lame arsed comment with no use to anyone"?
YEP
My PS3 kicks ass if connected direct via cat 5 = plays everything
using TVersity
This device would indeed be great for the bedroom
Very nice!
ps3 can play MKV 1080p?
i got 720p to work with mkv2vob..
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.
Or I could just use a good piece of hardware that actually keeps up with technology, rather than hacks around it.
@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.
Cool
whats with the junky photo editing, look at that edge! lol
Interesting
I would buy one if it ran xbmc or boxee.
Agreed. I dunno why someone doesn't make a player that uses it. By far the best media interface I've used.
Not bad, fair pricing for drives too.
I take that back, according to their website it doesn't support H.264 inside an MKV. Just MP4, AVI and TS... odd.
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...
http://www.mvixusa.com/download/manuals/mvixultio/Mvix%20Ultio%20Media%20Player%20Format%20Support.pdf
i guess engadget cleaned up that stock photo.......jaggies be gone! =P
I'll wait for a review. Sounds encouraging, but bad UI design or laggy response could still kill it.
I agree....in that case I might just get another modded xbox
Any pics or first looks at the software for this thing?
http://www.mvixusa.com/download/manuals/mvixultio/Mvix%20Ultio%20User%20Manual.pdf
I want that.
Never used such a box before... can I record to the HDD?
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.
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.
Site is so down right now
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.
No BD .ISO support no thanks .. Still waiting for the C-200 to answer that very important ? officially
This is what I need to know as well, until there is Blu-ray ISO support I'm using my HTPC.
wow reasonable prices for the HDD's amazing.
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.
The format support PDF says nothing about multichannel FLAC support in MKV. How unfortunate.
very nice
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.
Speaking of PlayOn support, am I the only one that can't play Hulu via Playon to the XBOX 360?
Try using tVersity.
Wonder how fast the GUI will be compared to PH
oh, and for those using tversity, "PS3 Media Streamer" simply rocks it. I switched and will never go back. It does 720p over Wireless G easily, and the full 1080p is stunning.
I've been waiting for a reasonable alternative to buying a PS3. Looks great, can't wait!
Doesn't Western Digital have a device that does all this cheaper out already?
Sorta, the WDTV does all of this except for one really big BUT. It doesn't have network access out-of-the-box. It's GUI is awesome, and there are hacks available for networking, though. I have a WDTV, and as much as I love it, I really want something with network access. I'm currently leaning strongly towards a Mac mini with Boxee installed.
WDTV from Western Digital plays any media flawlessly I have thrown at it. (1080p, MKV, DivX whatever). GUI is very good as well. I have two 1 TB Ext HDDs connected to it. Much much simpler that streaming through Xbox 360.
Yes, it doesn't have a network interface out of the box. But then again, I can use Xbox 360 for that. Or, you can hack WDTV & get your network on.
Under $100, it can't be beat. PCH is expensive
You might also notice that they are releasing the source code for the firmware. I can see a lot of nice mods being done if the interest in this takes off.
Guys. This thing is FUGLY. Forget it. Look at the MVIXEurope backed product -- Xtreamer, www.xtreamer.net, looks a hell of a lot better (remote too) it launches July 1, it's got the Realtek 128X chipset, and it's got as much if not more going for it than this POS from MVIXUSA IMHO.
They should call this thing the MVIX Fuglio because it looks like something out of the 1960s. fail!
do you still live with your parents or something?
It's a box with connectors on the back. What do you expect it to look like? The Xtreamer (which you're clearly being paid to promote) is also just a box with connectors on the back. At least this thing has controls on the unit itself, as well as component video output.
Teddy gets smashed in the face for actin' like a 10 yr old.
Go take out the trash.....then go make your bed
Fuglio... I like that. So true.
Hey, not everybody bends over for the "ugly but good". Some of us expects more...
I hate technology.
I just bought a WDTV 3 weeks ago, flashed to custom firmware for added network capability and now this comes out.
This made my WDTV old and obsolete. Just pre-ordered...waiting for July...lol !!!!
Ummm how about some UI shots?
http://www.mvixusa.com/download/manuals/mvixultio/Mvix%20Ultio%20User%20Manual.pdf
check the manual
it looks like XBMC..
I just ordered one.. Way hyped about it. I've been looking for something reasonably cheap to replace my xbox1 with. The HDMI connector and the GUI sold it for me.
I wish these things would have native support for Hulu and whatnot
cool
How does it work? Internal hard drive? or connect to an external hard drive and load stuff from there and play on TV???
Looks very cool to me.
So, I could connect up to my linux box via smb serving up all my videos and view them on my tv over cat5? Just like I do now with xbox + xbmc but this will play those mkv's that i now watch on my pc?
can it play an 8GB MKV or an 8 GB mp4? if it's only 4G i'll get a 360.
*sigh* The only thing keeping me from selling my ps3 and getting one is the bluray. Why in gods' name did I ever get started with it?
I got me a Popcorn Hour A-110 recently on all the glowing reviews sopping over the codec support. I hate the goddamned thing. It's one of these clearly-designed-by-engineers products. I want a box that "just works", and when it doesn't it at least makes it clear why not and how to go about fixing it. Trolling forums is not my idea of help. Especially when those forums yell at anyone who asks a question that they perceive as too basic.
So in short, if this thing gets reviewed and shows evidence of an elegant interaction paradigm, then I'll trade up. This is even cheaper - the A-110 still lists for $215 (w/o hard drive or wireless). And the C-200 is the Blu-Ray one and that's $300. And physical media needs to die anyway.
Did I mention the A-110 feels like cheap crap?
"Unfortunately MvixUSA - Unicorn partner in USA for the last few years has recently announced their new device - the so called "Mvix Ultio (MX-800HD)" This announcement is to clarify to all that device is not a Unicorn product, nor it will be supported by Unicorn now or in the future in anyway. According to initial Unicorn Investigations to the subject matter, the device is an independent unauthorized OEM initiative made by MVIXUSA and originated from other vendor. The use of the mvix name brand on any product or publication without the advance explicit authorization or permission of Unicorn Korea was reported to the legal department of the company with a clear instructions to take all necessary steps to protect Unicorn rights without delay. Please note : Any dealer or an e-tailer worldwide offering the sale or distribution of any Mvix devices without explicit authorization in advance from Unicorn Korea will be held liable for infringing Unicorn rights and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent allowed by the law. Mvix Korea Official site is www.mvix.net
MVIX.NET: * Mvix Ultio is UNAUTHORIZED, Not a Genuine Mvix Product *
I wouldn't give my money to MvixUSA for the Ultio just yet.
This was posted this morning on the MVIX.net OFFICIAL Forums:
Unicorn Admin Group:
"Unfortunately MvixUSA - Unicorn partner in USA for the last few years has recently announced their new device - the so called "Mvix Ultio (MX-800HD)" This announcement is to clarify to all that device is not a Unicorn product, nor it will be supported by Unicorn now or in the future in anyway. According to initial Unicorn Investigations to the subject matter, the device is an independent unauthorized OEM initiative made by MVIXUSA and originated from other vendor. The use of the mvix name brand on any product or publication without the advance explicit authorization or permission of Unicorn Korea was reported to the legal department of the company with a clear instructions to take all necessary steps to protect Unicorn rights without delay. Please note : Any dealer or an e-tailer worldwide offering the sale or distribution of any Mvix devices without explicit authorization in advance from Unicorn Korea will be held liable for infringing Unicorn rights and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent allowed by the law. Mvix Korea Official site is www.mvix.net "
Posted 06/26/2009
http://www.mvix.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1256&FID=8&PR=3
So the product is unauthorized, and subject to legal injunction. Sounds like a hot deal if you want a player that won't be around or supported in a month.
OOPS!
Really?
Mvix is the authorized trademark of MvixUSA, Inc.
so says this USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office)
http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4001:ev18tg.2.2
Teddy, why dont you just quit - you are trying way too hard.
How will this cope with high def audio found in blu-ray rips? I understand they some are a kind of "onion" format that includes the older technology too. Is AC3 the lowest common denominator here or is DTS required?
Check out the AC Ryan:
http://www.playonhd.com/
Video Formats Supported: AVI / MKV / TS / TP / TRP / M2TS / MPG / MP4 / MOV / M4V / VOB / ISO / IFO / DAT / WMV / ASF / RM / RMVB / FLV resolution up to 720p / 1080i / 1080p
Video Codecs Supported: MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 SP/ASP/AVC (H.264) / XviD / DivX / WMV9 (VC-1) / RealVideo 8/9/10 (up to 720P)
Video Output Supported: PAL / NTSC / 480p / 576 / 720p / 1080i 50Hz / 1080i 60Hz / 1080p 50Hz / 1080p 60Hz
Audio Formats Supported: MP3 / MP2 / WMA / AAC / FLAC / WAV / OGG Vorbis / PCM / LPCM / MS-ADPCM / LC-AAC / HE-AAC / COOK / RA-Lossless
Audio Output Supported: Stereo, AC3 Dolby Digital 5.1 (passthrough & downmix to stereo), DTS (passthrough), DTS-TrueHD (passthrough), DTS Master Audio (passthrough)
Image Formats Supported: HD JPEG / BMP / GIF / TIF / PNG
Subtitle Formats Supported: SRT, SMI, SSA, IDX/SUB, SUB
Character sets supported (needed for text subtitles): Unicode (UTF8), BIG5 (Traditional Chinese), Western, Turkish, Central European, Greek, Cyrillic, SE European, Hebrew
Doesn't have USB for external drives. Otherwise looks cool.
The AC Ryan has a card reader and USB ports on the right side of the box
http://playonhd.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!454A6850F2AFC553!211.entry
I got my mvix today at work... I can't wait to try it at home!! it comes with an HDMI cable.. I thought I was going to have to unplug something else, glad I dont have to now!
I got my Ultio today as well... a few first impressions...
I got it with the 1.5TB installed, it wasn't formatted, formatting it didn't take as long as I was expecting, though a progress bar would have been nice instead of a spinner.
Network play didn't seem to work right off the bat, the network showed up, but none of the shared files did... after a quick firmware update that started working, the screen was freaking out a bunch on me until I found the setting to force it to 1080i (sadly my TV isn't 1080p) It previews the file you're hovering over if you wat a moment, sound and picture. It even previews ISO files.
The mkv I tried was a pretty bluray rip, looked great, played great, no complaints on that.
While it came with an HDMI cable and an audio cable, is didn't come with an optical or component cable... if you want to use that you'll have to pick them up on your own.
The samba server and bittorrent server you have to download from their site and install, took a while to figure out how to do that, but it seems to be working. The samba install was a little confusing in how it worked, you just have to install each file one at a time and it will work.
The menus are prettier then the MX-760HD, but that's not hard to do. Going to have to be careful with it though as it feels like it will burn in on my plasma rather easily.
Navigation is relatively quick, the image viewer has a bunch of transitions, haven't messed with it yet, but it looks like you can view them while playing a directory of mp3s.
People are saying it's ugly, but I kind of like how it looks on top of the DVD player, I'm not big on the upright thing. If I don't like the huge logo, I can always electrical tape over it. it's nice that it has buttons on the front.
The remote isn't using the same codes as the last one, so my Harmony remote doesn't work with it yet, hopefully someone at Logitech will get on that. So far, I'm pretty happy with it, it's playing more formats, easier to get mounted on the net for access and even has a clugy file copy menu to copy things over the net or off of a USB onto the internal hard drive (samba is way easier)
Another nice thing about it is you can download the firmware, they're offering rewards for submitted features that they add to the firmware. I assume this means that eventually it will support blu-ray rips... we'll see.
I'm so far pleased with it. For those of you wanting to get one, remember to install the latest firmware and set the TV configuration before trying to use it.
Superb features my recent Mvix Ultio provided me considering the reasonable prize and few steps of installing, set up and configuring. No problems with playback as it supports MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, AAC, LPCM, FLAC, AC3 for my music and a lot to enumerate for videos and pictures. Great video resolution even ISO, I am enjoying it and excited to see what it also have to surprise me.
Before I'd buy this, the C-200, or one like it .. must
1. gigabit ethernet -- not interested in wireless I prefer reliability
1b. be able to stream/seek 1080 (x264 mkv)
2. eSata -- the other NAS
3. play well with NTFS NAS
4. proper CIFS/samba (client and server)
5. usenet client like HellaNZB or SabNZBd+ RSS&SSL -- do not want torrent, thanks
6. intelligent heat dissipation. When active easy user replaceable fans.
6b. no more plastic boxen!
--
USB2 is handy when traveling with the device to a movie night at another location..
until someone develops a 1394c flash pen drive ;)
I chose Mvix Ultio over WDTV because it supports many type of formats such as 1080 videos in RM/RMVB, ISO, MKV and all codec you can think of where in WDTV does not. My Ultio package includes HDMI cable but WDTV doesn't have it, infact it will worth ranges from $10 - $50 depending where you puchase it. Incomparable speed of shifting the menu using the remote provide by Ultio. WDTV has slow response remote. Ultio has it all, its prize id reasonable compared to other media player. Spend your money wisely!
Being able to experience the technology with this Mvix Ultio 1080p, I can now watch all videos I want. From streaming media up to saved files to your computer, you can now gain access with this product.
I just received the delivery today, and I got no hassle in setting it up. Now, I have invited all my friends to come at our house tonight and have fun watching movies. (I actually want to boast about my newly-delivered Mvix Ultio) :P
Either way, I have read lots of positive comments about this product, and I think I can support their suggestions now. :)
I want to purchase this kind of product because of its interesting functionality. You know, I love watching streaming videos on the net but sometimes I get tired because I have to sit in front of the computer just to watch a 2 hour video. Now, I think its the time to get this Mvix Ultio.
I prefer to buy this one because of its functionality and price of course. Anyone here who have this product?
I personally recommend Mvix Ultio to my friends and even you since it satisfies me with my cravings for streaming ISO, MKV, FLAC and even in RM/RMVB (WDTV cannnot play) files. The network connection works great, I enjoy watching vidoes from CBS, Youtube, CNN, ESPN because it has (UPnP) support with embedded Samba Client. The internal HDD allows me to directly stream media files and no need to wait for long burning process of DVD. I'm happy with its features and really prove me that the cost is indeed reasonable.
Any other reviews or links to published reviews from other sites?
Can anyone comment on how it will play files from a VIDEO_TS folder? Do you have to play the VOB files one by one or will it play them in order once you open the first one?
It does appear that it won't recognize the folder like recent XBMC builds will so a single-click will start the movie like clicking an ISO would as one of the support articles recommends converting the VIDEO_TS folders into an ISO which is why I ask.
I am very happy and satisfied with this Mvix Ultio 1080. I just bought it a month ago and from then till now, I’m fully satisfied with its functionality.
It’s the first HD that satisfies my list of required functionality. First of all, it has a price that really affordable compared to other HD products. Plus, it has high-end technology that gives me the convenience of easy access to the internet as well as to my computer system.
Being able to own such product is a great step for me.