Hauppauge MediaMVP Audio / Video Input

Pros: It improves downloaded movies!
Cons: Slow and sometimes hard to get the menu to come up!

The MediaMVP is a device that connects your computer to your TV for viewing Movies, Photos and listening to MP3 files. Connection is made using an Ethernet network cable from the Computer to the MediaMVP and then you connect two RCA cables for sound and o ...

Pros: Play MP3s, MPEG 1-2 videos and JPEG/GIF images from a PC, on a home theater.
Cons: No wireless LAN connectivity or access, limited ID3 tag info displayed.

WHAT IS IT? A few weeks back I received an e-mail from Epinions asking if I would like to preview a new product and write a review on it. When I learned that the item was the still unreleased Media MVP by Hauppauge Computer works, I jumped on th ...

Pros: MPEG 1,2 Decoder, Stereo, S-Video, Video, JPEG, GIF, MP3, WMA, WMV, DivX, Xvid, Web Radio
Cons: No Dolby Digital Outputs for: Optical or Digital Coax Sound

Media MVP (Music, Video, Pictures and now Web Radio) Access your PC audio and video media on your home TV by Albert Ashton I personally use Media MVP daily; really the fact is I always wanted to get my audio, video and pictures to my living ...

Pros: Great idea for a product.
Cons: Great idea poorly implemented. Has it ever been tested in the UK? Poor quality control.

And now the bad news...... The supplied CD supposedly containing setup programs had been mastered incorrectly. Instead of the expected files it had a single file, and that was a .iso cd image! Luckily I managed to download the required files from the H ...

Pros: Easy setup.
Cons: Does not play back all MPEGs; no tech support; little documentation.

I purchased the mediaMVP so that I could play back mpeg videos on my TV. This includes a collection of DVDs on my hard drive which have the vob extension (the most common format for DVDs on hard drives). As with any product, I also expect that ...

Pros: Easy Setup and fairly intuitive
Cons: Remote. Can't play MPEG4, VOB, WMA. Tech support is not adequate

I set up the unit easily. Hard wired to network. I've thought about returning it, but after rebates, I only paid $59.99, so may be worth keeping in hopes that Hauppauge will improve interface and firmware. Hope they don't abandon it. I capture ...

Pros: Very convenient, easy installation, adequate features, excellent price/performance
Cons: Features could use some refinement, AVI/MOV not support

I installed the Media MVP in less than 30 minutes including software. Everything ran flawlessly. (Actually, I did download a software update when the box rebooted twice, but ever since, its been rock solid.)

All features work but some of them could use some refinement. For example, playing a song or a list offers little feedback as to what the unit is doing. Good audio, although I'm only running through the TV speakers right now. Next week, I'll run it through the home-audio amplifier.

I would like to see this unit support MOV, AVI file formats very soon. I'll have to convert to Mpeg-1 or 2 to see my movies. (hint hint Hauppage! :-) )

I am very impressed and everyone I've demonstrated it for has run right out and purchased one. For the price, you can't go wrong. Highly recommended.

Pros: Easy to set up
Cons: Won't play RealMedia. Not good for listening to webcasts.

I just wanted to be able to listen to radio webcasts in a room with no computer. The MediaMVP couldn't even meet this simple requirement. One big problem is it won't play music/radio links in RealMedia format. This isn't a bug, the manual confirms this problem.

Another big problem when trying to play streaming audio from a web site is the MediaMVP can only play a radio station or music link if the link is to the actual media. Many times, the link you click to play media first takes your web browser someplace else, which then sends your PC the link to the actual media. In this case, the MediaMCP won't work. It will work with any station on shoutcast.com, but not any of my NPR member stations.

Finally, the MediaMVP played some video files I tried, but other ones crashed it or just didn't play. I'm not surprised because there are so many darn types of video formats.

Pros: Works great, easy hookup. EZ playback of MP3s, jpegs and mpegs1-2.
Cons: The remote control download is primitive as are the MEDIAMvp menus but who cares

I will not duplicate what the first two posters have said. They did a great job of describing the basics.

This thing rocks. Got it for 89.95 at Fry's, hooked it up in minutes (of course, we are already networked throughout the house and have a ReplayTV 5XXX already set up (which we DEARLY LOVE)).

We can play mpeg's that were downloaded from Replay as-is, and those who have Replays know that is a big plus.

If you want to hear amazing quality from your ripped MP3s, see your videos and jpegs on your TV, don't wait a minute, just get one. Combine this with that new Windows iTune or MucicMatch and you have a total winner, guaranteed (Circuit City carries them too, but I have not yet seen them on their website)

We were going to buy the Gateway Connected DVD which would probably do the same thing, but we already have a DVD player so we saved a hundred bucks by just buying the MediaMVP.

Have fun.

Pros: Easy to set up, small, good company with unusually responsive technical support.
Cons: Too painful to navigate large collections. No network drive support.

Others have described the main features and benefits of
the MediaMVP here.

I've decided to return the one I just bought because:
* The user interface isn't really up to handling large
collections of photos. I've got close to 200 folders,
organized by month, event, trip, etc. These are all
flattened on the television. Unbelievably painful to
scroll though (not to mention having 3 "April" folders).
* Once I've navigated to a folder, I can't see the pictures
anyway. This is because my pictures all reside on a
network drive. While getting the server up and running
on my Windows XP desktop was easy and straightforward
enough, Hauppauge basically doesn't support network drives,
particularly ones residing on Linux servers. Which really
confounds me, because it's mapped as a drive letter.

I didn't try out the MP3 features since I already have an
Audiotron - which, by the way, completely rocks. I would
highly recommend that. Given the navigation limitations
on MediaMVP pictures, I would be similarly concerned on how
it would deal with my close to 6000 MP3 files in several
hundred folders. Audiotron's navigation interface is
outstanding, and it doesn't require the TV display to do it!