Topic: Mede8er MED500x

[nerveblocker]

Here is another NMT contender with a Realtek chip which I won by the way from a raffle.  It is reasonably priced at P8k and with the looks and the features, this would be another winner.

Here's my initial non-professional review for those who are eyeing for an NMT.  

Box Contents



The box has the usual unit, quick start guide, component video cables, USB cable, another USB cable extender for the Wifi adapter (not included),  power adapter, analog audio & video cables, a carrying bag and an HDMI cable!

Front



On initial look at the unit, it really looks like a small HK AVR.  In the front, there are buttons...YES!!!  There are buttons for Enter, Return, Stop, TV Out, Up, Down, Left and Right for easy menu navigation without a remote.  It would be better though if there was a display in the front like a DVD player to show the status of the player without using the OSD.  

Back



At the back, connectivity is also versatile.  There is component video out, composite video, analog left & right audio, HDMI, optical and coaxial audio out.  There is also a LAN port where you can attach to a wired network.  There is an option of attaching a wifi adapter in one of the USB ports for wireless networking but sad to say the adapter didn't come in the box.  You can also find the cooling fan here.

Internal Storage

You can attach an internal 3.5" HDD inside which I don't have at the moment so I just relied on my external drives as sources.

External Storage



Additional external storage connections are found at the side with an SD card reader (for direct access from your camera's memory card), 1 slave USB port (for attaching the Mede8er to your PC for management and transfer of files in your internal HDD) and of course 2 USB slots for your external HDDs.

Personally, I would prefer the USB ports at the back.  I just don't want to see some cables coming from the sides in any of my AV equipment.  

Remote



The remote is the best I've seen and held.  Feels like the remote and size of a branded DVD player not the usual small remotes of NMTs.  Personally, I find the buttons strategically laid out and very easy to navigate even without looking at the remote.  

I laid my HTPC to rest for awhile and replaced it with the Mede8er.  Attaching it to my Onkyo 705 via HDMI and a coaxial cable from the unit to my AVR.

GUI (These pics were only borrowed from the net.  I find a hard time taking sharp pictures from my PJ)



The GUI for me is impressive.  I haven't timed the loading of the startup screen but I think it was faster than my Xtreamer.  



I downloaded and installed right away the latest firmware from the Mede8er website.  Installation was a breeze.



Here you can calibrate your screen size. There are red lines on all sides and you just have to press the directional keys until the red lines on the sides disappear.  



After clicking on Media Library, you can choose your source from this screen.  I did choose USB to access my external HDDs.



Very much like the Xtreamer, you can zoom it vertically or horizontally and you can also adjust the top/bottom and side margins in increments of 5% if you want to eliminate the black bars of the movie you're watching.

The thing I missed though is the reset option which I found in the xtreamer to bring it back to the default size after adjusting the image size.  In the Mede8er you have to push the up,down,left,right buttons manually to bring it back to default.



The movie is divided by Mede8er into small chapters for easy access to certain scenes of the movie. While viewing the movie, just type in a number and it just jumps to that scene.  You can also manually input the exact time in the movie where you want to go to by just pressing the Goto button in your remote and inputting the data.



In terms of subtitles, you can choose the size, color, position etc. of your subtitles.  You can also download and attach .srt files in the movie folder to add more subs.



If you have some cover art in .jpg in your movie folder, it will show while scrolling on the titles you want to watch. If you are scrolling too fast, the covers won't show.  Pause for a second then the cover will show.




You can also download some movie info from the net i.e. if you are connected via LAN or Wifi to your router.  I don't have any internet connection in my HT so my cover arts will do.

Image Quality

IQ is good when I hooked it to my plasma.  Probably on par with my Xtreamer.  When I hooked it to my PJ, my HTPC still is better in terms of sharpness as compared to the Mede8er.  Don't get me wrong, my mkvs are still sharp and clear using the Mede8er but I was just used to watching before using my HTPC that's why I noticed the slight difference.

Playability

It played every video I tossed at it so far and there was no lag or any hiccups on my 1080p files.  This also plays m2ts files but I haven't tried any yet.  

This is just my initial review and hopefully will be able to add as I am still enjoying and experimenting this new toy of mine.  

Comparing it to the previous NMTs I've owned i.e. WDTV, Xtreamer, this is the best so far.

I highly recommend this product!  The looks, connectivity, GUI and performance explains it all.  





  

 

[iiinas]

great review doc, now it will get more confusing for people hunting for a new media player. 

[Bluebeard]

Except for the brand label, external features looks 100% HDPro although Gui is only similar!

[comet]

Doc Mel kindly comment on its networking feature on your supplemental reviews.  I would like to know if it can auto-detect a network like the Xtreamer.   

[Clondalkin]

Is there an option to select the native AR of the movie?

I notice the video grabs are full screen and stretched vertically.

Thank you.

[gaol]

Yes, it looks exactly like the HD Pro. I think one HD Pro user mentioned trying out a Mede8er firmware on the HD Pro, but it didn't work.

[nerveblocker]

Doc Mel kindly comment on its networking feature on your supplemental reviews.  I would like to know if it can auto-detect a network like the Xtreamer.   

Yes it can.  It was demoed to me at eHome using their local network. 

Mede8er Wifi 1080p

[nerveblocker]

Overview

Play just about everything on your TV
The award winning MED500X is the latest generation Multimedia Player specially developed for today’s demanding media enthusiast. The Mede8er has been designed for media playback from a hard drive, USB device, SD Card, Internet or Local Network source. The User Interface is neat and intuitive without being complicated.

The Greatest Show on Earth

The MED500X is the latest generation multimedia player specially developed for today's demanding media enthusiast. The Mede8er has been designed without fancy frills - just good solid media playback from a hard drive, USB device, SD Card, Internet or Local Network source. The User Interface is neat and intuitive without being complicated. The MED500X has more than achieved its design goals of offering a media player that supports most of the popular media formats at a very affordable price.

The Mede8er fully supports the very latest MKV/H264 codec that achieves an incredible compression ratio whilst still maintaining a reasonable file size.  The Mede8er supports most SD & HD Camcorder formats - so now you can easily store all your family videos on the Mede8er and play them back in crystal clear quality on your large screen TV.

Now you can really enjoy your Movies, Pictures, Camcorder Videos, Music and Internet Radio at home or when you are  on the go. Just connect the Mede8er to your TV and start enjoying all your digital media on your big screen.

The Mede8er incorporates a HD JPEG engine that renders still digital images with superb clarity on your large screen TV.

Now you can enjoy slide shows with background music with your family and friends. For easy convenience you can even insert your Camera's SD card directly into the Mede8er and view your pictures directly from the memory card.

Designed with people in mind. The Mede8er remote is real easy to use as all buttons are clearly laid out and easy to get to. When watching video content the navigation buttons can be used to control key functions like Fast  Forward, Rewind, Play, Pause and Volume. So now you can easily control your Media Player in the darkness of your TV Room.

Leading edge features  also include in folder preview facility that enables users to easily view cover art and content info.

It has never been easier to stream digital media content from your network PC or NAS storage device via Ethernet or optional fast speed USB 802.11n WiFi dongle.

Expert Tip:

While WiFi is very useful, streaming HD content should really be done over a hard wired network (cat5e/6 cables) Or at the very least HD approved homeplugs a lot of factors can affect the WiFi speeds and we don't want anyone to be disappointed while streaming HD movies! It is the same advice for all networked media players, WiFi just isn't up to the task yet in our opinion so our advice as always is buy a NAS keep that content safe and stream it through a router/hub/switch to make up a home network. Need help? just get in touch!

Like we said, play just about everything... on your TV!

Specifications

Processor: Realtek RTD1073 - 128MB SPI Flash - 128MB DDR2 SDRAM
Video Codec Supported: MKV, H264, DVD (VOB - IFO - ISO), DIVX, XVID, DAT, AVI, MPEG, HD MPEG-2, TS, HD MPEG-4, SP, ASP, AVCD (H.264), MTS, M2ts, WMV9, FLV, VC-1, Real Networks (RM/RMVB) 8/9/10, up to 720p

Audio  Codec Supported: MP3, MP2, OGG Vorbis, PCM, LPCM, AAC, RA, Dolby AC3 Passthrough, Dolby AC3 Downmix, DTS Passthrough, DTS Downmix, FLAC, WAV,
WMA Standard (DRM, & Advanced Profile not supported)
HD Audio supportGUI Main Page
Dolby digital                  - support decode & bypass
Dolby TrueHD               -  not supported -- under development
Dolby digital Plus            - support decode - bypass is in testing
Dolby digital EX              - support - compatible up to 5.1
Dolby digital Pulse           - not supported
DTS digital Surround       - support decode & bypass
DTS-HD Master Audio     - not supported - under development
DTS-ES                        - not supported

Photo format Supported: JPEG, BMP
File System Supported: FAT32, NTFS - UI Format Feature

Input / Output

•  HDMI 1.3, Component video, Composite Video
•  Stereo RCA audio for analog audio connection
•  SD / Sony Pro Duo Card Slot
•  S/PDIF optical Output / Coaxial Digital RCA Output
•  Video output resolution - NTSC, PAL, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 1080p24hz
•  USB - 2.0 HOST port x 2 (compatible to USB 1.1)
•  USB - 2.0 SLAVE port


General

•  3.5" SATA Internal Hard Drive Bay up to 2TB compatible
•  Built in 40mm cooling fan - TPE mounts for low noise
•  Playlist creation from remote
•  Built in NFS Client
•  Screensaver – Selectable in GUI setup
•  In folder JPEG preview feature
•  Easy navigation button use (excl DVD files)
•  Time Bar FF/FR and Time Bar jump
•  Media Library Jump To file number feature
•  Resume playback feature
•  Photo slide show with background music
•  Network - Ethernet 10/100 Mbps - Streaming MAX Samba 26Mbps / NFS 36Mbps
•  Optional Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
Achievable Streaming G router - Samba 12Mbps - NFS 18 Mbps @ 1m - unprotected
Achievable Streaming N router - Samba 14Mbps - NFS 22 Mbps @ 1m - unprotected
(Typical MKV 720p Play 10Mbps max FF/RW 15Mbps)
•  Samba server - NAS storage
•  A/V streaming via UPnP Media Server (CNN - YouTube etc via optional program such as PlayOn, Tversity etc)
•  Internet Radio (SHOUTcast)
•  File Copying - Card, USB, HDD and Network
•  Subtitle: SRT, SSA, SUB, SMI format

What's in the box?

MED500X, RC, AC Adapter, Carry Bag, Cables - AV, HD HDMI, USB, Component, USB extension with Base

Source

[nerveblocker]

Is there an option to select the native AR of the movie?

I notice the video grabs are full screen and stretched vertically.

Thank you.

By default, the videos are showed in their native aspect ratios.  You can zoom horizontally and vertically if you want to take out the black bars on the top/bottom and on the sides.  There is also a feature where you can adjust the height and width manually in 5% increments to remove the black bars.

[Clondalkin]

By default, the videos are showed in their native aspect ratios.  You can zoom horizontally and vertically if you want to take out the black bars on the top/bottom and on the sides.  There is also a feature where you can adjust the height and width manually in 5% increments to remove the black bars.

Thanks!   This is good indeed.    The default AR should be the native one. 

[nerveblocker]

The movie is divided by Mede8er into small chapters for easy access to certain scenes of the movie. While viewing the movie, just type in a number and it just jumps to that scene.  You can also manually input the exact time in the movie where you want to go to by just pressing the Goto button in your remote and inputting the data.

Tried it again and while playing a movie you can input any number that you want then press enter and that corresponds to the minutes where you want the movie to jump to not small chapters created by the mede8er as I have previously posted.

[mike c]

i want to upgrade my NMT (if budget allows) but this time i want to do the proper research before jumping into one.

my main complaint for my egreat 34 is that when using NTFS formatted-through USB connection (sometimes even through SATA), it stutters and loses audio.

i want to know if these new NMT's ABSOLUTELY don't do that anymore.

also, how long is the boot time?

i'm also thinking of just getting a mac mini to replace my NMT.  hmmm.

[raptor]

i want to upgrade my NMT (if budget allows) but this time i want to do the proper research before jumping into one.

my main complaint for my egreat 34 is that when using NTFS formatted-through USB connection (sometimes even through SATA), it stutters and loses audio.

i want to know if these new NMT's ABSOLUTELY don't do that anymore.

also, how long is the boot time?

i'm also thinking of just getting a mac mini to replace my NMT.  hmmm.

sir, if you have a budget for mac mini and NMT features lang kailangan mo, try to source out for a TVIX ... wala ka ng hahanapin pa - including TrueHD and DTS-HD pass through ... i've setup mine with one internal 1.5TB HDD and an external 1.5TB HDD via USB without any issues - NTFS is the default formatting of TVIX, including the external disk

[nerveblocker]

i want to upgrade my NMT (if budget allows) but this time i want to do the proper research before jumping into one.

my main complaint for my egreat 34 is that when using NTFS formatted-through USB connection (sometimes even through SATA), it stutters and loses audio.

i want to know if these new NMT's ABSOLUTELY don't do that anymore.

also, how long is the boot time?

i'm also thinking of just getting a mac mini to replace my NMT.  hmmm.

Mike,

All of my external hard drives are NTFS.  So far all of the movies I've watched doesn't stutter or lose audio.  If you are using an internal hard drive for the Mede8er, the Mede8er formats it for you.

What's the chipset of your Egreat?  The Mede8er uses a Realtek chipset which is a big improvement of the previous chipsets in terms of playback and boot up time. 

BTW, maybe the problem with your Egreat is a firmware upgrade lang.  Have you updated to the latest firmware?  Usually all the bugs are slowly being repaired through firmware upgrades.

I can attest now that boot time is definitely faster than my Xtreamer.   

[nerveblocker]

Transforming from this....



to this....



Baka pwede ko na ipahinga HTPC ko 

[iPhat]

Where i could buy this NMT? Is it locally available?
May torrent support na ba ito? Thanks

[nerveblocker]

Where i could buy this NMT? Is it locally available?
May torrent support na ba ito? Thanks

I bought my unit from eHome.   It didn't find any comment in terms of a built in torrent client in the reviews I have read. 

[Geren]

I bought this unit from ehome last week. I was at first choosing between xtreamer or wdtv live then finally decided on the Mede8er mainly because of the support for internal Hard Disk 3.5' up to 2TB.

Mede8er is not yet in the Logitech Remote Database but the AC Ryan (Play on HD) works fine on my Harmony One Remote. (Reduce the response time of the remote to 2 to avoid double commands)

I find the Mede8er forum to be very supportive as they have recently published before Christmas the latest version - 2.01 and the admin there is quick to reply to members.

No torrent download though not a big deal for me.

[Onkyo606]

Transforming from this....



to this....



Baka pwede ko na ipahinga HTPC ko 

sorry for the OT, kindly reserve the HTPC hahahaha, CONGRATS ulit doc mel.

[nerveblocker]

sorry for the OT, kindly reserve the HTPC hahahaha, CONGRATS ulit doc mel.

Haha! Abangan sa Buy & Sell.....

[Clondalkin]

I got my first chance to see the Mede8er in action yesterday at Ehome.  The only concern I have is the way it handles Aspect Ratio.  Perhaps I just didnt have enough time to find the correct settings but in all available AR settings (Pan Scan 4:3, Letterbox 4:3, 16:9, 16:10), something did not look right in my eyes - either a little bit stretched fat or thin - and I was able to discern the difference with that of Egreat when I asked the nice lady to turn on the Egreat 32 nearby and watch the same content.

I guess there must be another setting to force the native AR of the file (called Actual Size under Egreat) via Mede8er.

However, I wasnt able to try that incremental horizontal and/or vertical zoom.   I imagine that must be the way to fix the slight stretch.

[eksi]

I got my first chance to see the Mede8er in action yesterday at Ehome.  The only concern I have is the way it handles Aspect Ratio.  Perhaps I just didnt have enough time to find the correct settings but in all available AR settings (Pan Scan 4:3, Letterbox 4:3, 16:9, 16:10), something did not look right in my eyes - either a little bit stretched fat or thin - and I was able to discern the difference with that of Egreat when I asked the nice lady to turn on the Egreat 32 nearby and watch the same content.

I guess there must be another setting to force the native AR of the file (called Actual Size under Egreat) via Mede8er.

However, I wasnt able to try that incremental horizontal and/or vertical zoom.   I imagine that must be the way to fix the slight stretch.

how about your comment on DTS HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, and 80+GB mkv files?

[Clondalkin]

Spent 2 hours at Ehome with about 4.5TB of data plus a dock - and ended up buying one at around 3:00pm because I was so impressed with the playability level of this device.

Successfully played ALL very very high bit 1080p mkvs (20GB-28GB per movie, approx up to 20Mbps video stream), some of which still stuttered badly on my Egreat even with the latest Dec 2009 FW, including ones that are not DXVA compliant.  No more concern whatsoever about high bitrate 1080p mkvs.

Successfully played a Fighter Pilot doc that my Egreat CANNOT play at all - the PC can but uses a great deal of resource on this particular file.

Successfully played ALL  pure BD files (approx. 40GB per movie) I brought BUT..and there is a BUT
a.  Ehome's demo set-up is connected to the Marantz AVR via SPDIF (optical).  By setting the Mede8er Audio to SPDIF passthough, sound output is possible for BD files with DTS-HD/MA audiosteam.  My guess is, the Mede8er has the capability to downmix DTS-HD/MA to regular DTS - or is it the AVR that downmixes to DTS???  Im not sure, but  the Marantz displays DTS on the front panel.  Either way, at least audio is indeed audible.

b.  When the soundstream is TrueHD, the Mede8er displays UNKNOWN AUDIO FORMAT message, hence although the m2ts streams are playing smoothly, there is no sound output.  Im not sure if this limitation is caused by the Mede8er itself or the Marantz AVR (I can read DTS-HD/MA compliance on the AVR but no mention of True HD).  At any rate, this is fine by me for now - switched to the regular 1080p DTS version muna.  

c.  The BD menu is not displayed like that of the amazing TVIX 6500 but playback of pure BD files is very straightforward - no need to select a particular m2ts stream unlike that of Xtreamer where you have to open the BDMV/STREAM folder as noted by Raptor.  However, the sequence of m2ts streams should be properly set, or, you might start up somewhere in the middle of the movies.  This can be an issue if the same folder contains multiple versions of the BD movie (theatrical, extended, director's cut, whatever cut) - in which case, they share most of the streams except for the ones that discriminate one film version from another - and in some cases, there are differences in sequence of streams depending on film cut.  A similar problem is faced when playing via a PC - the solution is to recognize the correct sequence of m2ts streams and then isolate the different versions, or simply downloading pure BD files containing only a single version of the movie.

In all cases, downmix to stereo was successful since audio can be outputted directly from the HDTV connected via HDMI.

As of this writing, the Mede8er has been running in my bedroom HT for about 6 hours straight.  Have watched This Is It and Paranormal Activity in 1080p flawlessly, among other new stuff out there.  My wife is loving the Mede8er so much that she has sequestered it.    Hence, I would end up with my Egreat after all.

No time and chance to test the networking and wi-fi features, as well as file management functions because my wife wont allow me to bring the unit to Tokyo yet, although the demo unit at Ehome is obviously networked.

The nice young lady named Jenny at Ehome was very patient with me - and we actually learned a few important tricks about the Mede8er together.     My Mede8er was updated to the latest FW 2.01 released on 24 Dec by Ms. Jenny.  Very simple FW updating process, and allegedly there is no risk of bricking the unit in case power supply is interrupted during the FW update.

BTW, regarding my previous concern about Aspect Ratio, it was simply a TV setting issue - Egreat's demo unit was set to PAL (for whatever reason) and I didnt notice it yesterday.  Changed it to NTSC and voila - perfect proportions of images on screen.

Im using HD CRTs and a 32 LG full HD HDTV in Pasig. IQ is fantastic.  Sound output via Yamaha 757 is awesome as well.  Too bad I wont be able to test the Mede8er on the 50V plasma soon enough, not until March 2010 at least.

Im connected via dock with HDDs formatted to NTFS.  No internal HDD installed (dont want that).  No issues whatsoever similar to that of Egreat.

A preview of the content plays in a small screen at the right side if you scroll through the files slow enough.   Some people might like that but it's no big deal for me as I tend to scroll up and down as fast as the device would allow.

Im happy that my wife is very happy with it.  

[Clondalkin]

Update.

My Yamaha 757 is not HD audio compliant but playback of pure BD files with DTS-HD/MA with DTS audio is successful.  My Mede8er is set to SPDIF Passthrough - hence the DTS/DD limit.   I guess this verifies that the Mede8er downmixes DTS-HD/MA to regular DTS.  GOOD for us without new AVRs  

Subok naman ang TrueHD later because "dont disturb mode" and wife with that BD file.  

BTW, subtitles are working even with the native BD files.   

[jackryan]

Update.

My Yamaha 757 is not HD audio compliant but playback of pure BD files with DTS-HD/MA with DTS audio is successful.  My Mede8er is set to SPDIF Passthrough - hence the DTS/DD limit.   I guess this verifies that the Mede8er downmixes DTS-HD/MA to regular DTS.  GOOD for us without new AVRs  

Subok naman ang TrueHD later because "dont disturb mode" and wife with that BD file.  

BTW, subtitles are working even with the native BD files.   

Congrats bro... I think your visit to eHome was all worth the trip!

[eksi]

a.  Ehome's demo set-up is connected to the Marantz AVR via SPDIF (optical).  By setting the Mede8er Audio to SPDIF passthough, sound output is possible for BD files with DTS-HD/MA audiosteam.  My guess is, the Mede8er has the capability to downmix DTS-HD/MA to regular DTS - or is it the AVR that downmixes to DTS???  Im not sure, but  the Marantz displays DTS on the front panel.  Either way, at least audio is indeed audible.

bro should this work also in your egreat 31b, setting DTS to raw?

b.  When the soundstream is TrueHD, the Mede8er displays UNKNOWN AUDIO FORMAT message, hence although the m2ts streams are playing smoothly, there is no sound output.  Im not sure if this limitation is caused by the Mede8er itself or the Marantz AVR (I can read DTS-HD/MA compliance on the AVR but no mention of True HD).  At any rate, this is fine by me for now - switched to the regular 1080p DTS version muna. 

bro should the same also happens to your egreat 31b?
for TrueHD to work on egreat, try setting AC3 to analog. egreat will convert TrueHD to 2 CH audio, you need to activate prologic feature of AV receiver to experience 5.1 or 7.1
maybe you can try this also in Mede8er, setting SPDIF to other than passthrough

BTW bro thank you for additional review
knowing more about Mede8er push me to consider this as 2nd NMT
Playback of BDMV/STREAM is minor to me. I usually remux such file to select the video (director's cut, if there is) the audio (DTS-HD/MA, if there is) and subtitle files I prefer.

congrats bro 

[Clondalkin]

Ngayon ko lang nabuksan ulit ang thread since the morning of 30 Dec.  Some additional Info:

The Mede8er plays high def TS, WMW and AVI files much smoother/lighter than my PC and the Egreat.

Boot-up time is pretty fast that recognizing the USB connected external hard drive may lag a little bit depending on the size of the HDD and level of contents.  If you connect 2 huge external HDDs, mas matagal ma-recognize yung 2 drives but the Mede8er unit is well inside its main GUI already. 

The Mede8er recognizes both external sub files (SRT) and hard-coded ones just like a PC.  The Egreat 31B as I recall, would disable the hard-coded subs if it detects the SRT file.

No issues on files with long names as the Mede8er scrolls horizontally to display the entire filename.  I also like that the Mede8er displays the filesize and duration, unlike that of Egreat.  Beginning to appreciate the preview screen. Its not actually a preview screen since it continuously plays the file on that small screen until you actually play the file.

I finally tried playing some pure BD rips using my Egreat 31B last night.  What I observed is that the 31B plays the m2ts streams ONE AT A TIME (and you have to select the stream) and then returns to the main menu/list.  Im using the latest FW on the 31B already.  I dont know the fix yet (and how the Egreat 34A does it) but the Mede8er "stitches" the m2ts streams properly for continuous playback from start to finish if you choose "Play The Folder" (BDMV) - assuming the order of m2ts streams is correctly defined within the BDMV folder.

I dont have an HD-audio compliant AVR but it should be noted that other members have posted that the Egreat is supposed to be more capable in terms of HD-audio pass-through than the Realtek based players.

The South African company (Sanji) that markets this device is not denying that the Mede8er is basically a derivative of the HD-Pro and other brands that look similar.  However, the FW implementation on this brand seems to be well done already, at least on the playback and GUI functions.

No matter how fast the response of the Mede8er is, in my observation, my relatives are always finding ways to demand more speed with the way they operate the buttons on the remote.   Galit na galit sa fast forward or rewind or time seek sometimes   

[mike c]

sir, if you have a budget for mac mini and NMT features lang kailangan mo, try to source out for a TVIX ... wala ka ng hahanapin pa - including TrueHD and DTS-HD pass through ... i've setup mine with one internal 1.5TB HDD and an external 1.5TB HDD via USB without any issues - NTFS is the default formatting of TVIX, including the external disk

95% of the time NMT lang talaga, pero having a second "desktop" would help para di na kami agawan ni mrs. sa PC ko.  will look into the TVIX as well.

Mike,

All of my external hard drives are NTFS.  So far all of the movies I've watched doesn't stutter or lose audio.  If you are using an internal hard drive for the Mede8er, the Mede8er formats it for you.

What's the chipset of your Egreat?  The Mede8er uses a Realtek chipset which is a big improvement of the previous chipsets in terms of playback and boot up time. 

BTW, maybe the problem with your Egreat is a firmware upgrade lang.  Have you updated to the latest firmware?  Usually all the bugs are slowly being repaired through firmware upgrades.

I can attest now that boot time is definitely faster than my Xtreamer.   

my egreat 34's solution to the stuttering is the formatting of the HD's as ext2 or 3  (don't know which).
it works ok that way, but is a bit inconvenient since i'm mixing and matching the content of my hard drives myself now e.g. animation, kids stuff, comedy on one HD, etc.

i'm mulling between the mede8er and the mac mini  esep esep

[Clondalkin]

i'm mulling between the mede8er and the mac mini  esep esep

Both.     Having more than 1 PC is definitely convenient for simultaneous internet and regular computing within the household.  Tapos the Mede8er purely for playback of all kinds of multi-media stuff -especially the "unrestricted" ones.   

[ditoy_eagle]

I finally tried playing some pure BD rips using my Egreat 31B last night.  What I observed is that the 31B plays the m2ts streams ONE AT A TIME (and you have to select the stream) and then returns to the main menu/list.  Im using the latest FW on the 31B already.  I dont know the fix yet (and how the Egreat 34A does it) but the Mede8er "stitches" the m2ts streams properly for continuous playback from start to finish if you choose "Play The Folder" (BDMV) - assuming the order of m2ts streams is correctly defined within the BDMV folder.

Bro Allan, this is really a useful capability. I do have a lot of BD Rips as well but my Xtreamer and egreat m34a can't stitch together the various m2ts streams so hassle ang playback! hehe  What other media player (except TivX kasi not available locally) has this same function?  I am tempted to upgrade to the Mede8er just for this, but since there is still no HD audio passthrough, bitin pa din.