The Mvix 5000U
Making a big step toward consolidation, the MV-5000U from Mvix is a
hard-disc based multimedia center capable of playing back a ton of
different audio and video formats. When you get down to it, it's
an external USB 2.0 hard-drive with built-in multimedia playback
capabilities. Why did it take so long for someone to make this
work?
The beauty of it is its simplicity. You buy the enclosure, than
add whatever 3.5" Drive you want, it's that easy. After
formatting the drive, you copy all your multimedia files to it and play
them back from any TV anywhere. It also includes a built-in FM
transmitter that can give you a quick and easy way to get whole house
audio, or with the optional car kit, a multimedia player for your car.
From MvixUSA.com:
FEATURES
Enjoy your Movies on TV: You can enjoy your
favorite movies and home videos on your TV, because Mvix supports
numerous video formats including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, DivX
3.11, 4x, 5x, XVID, DVD(IFO,VOB), VCD(DAT), etc.
Digital Photo Album: MviX can display a slideshow
of digital photo files and display them to TV or projector. Store JPEG
photos directly from a PC through the USB 2.0 interface and enjoy a
slide show for your family and friends without using a computer.
Digital Music Box: MviX can play various audio
files such as AC3, MP2, MP3, DTS pass through, WMA, OGG through TV
speakers or your existing audio system.
Portable HDD Storage: MviX uses a 3.5" HDD and it
works just like a external USB 2.0 hard drive when you connect it to
your PC. The USB 2.0 interface is capable of data transfer rate of
480Mbps.
FM Transmitter: MviX has an internal FM Transmitter
module to broadcast audio through FM frequency (four channels). So you
don't need audio cables anymore!
Easy Firmware Upgrading: You can download the
latest firmware easily from our website. New firmware helps support
latest media codecs and keeps your MviX player updated all the time!
The player works as advertised. While the interface isn't
incredibly sexy, it's functional, and make sense. The FM
transmitter isn't very powerful, and there's no where to connect an
external antenna to increase the performance, so it won't give you
whole house audio if you have an 8000 sq. ft. home. It worked
reasonably well in our more normal sized abodes. You can also use the transmitter for playback in the car. Or, if you have the option, connect the RCA cables directly to your car stereo or entertainment system for higher quality.
The two big missing formats are DiVX 6, which Mvix says they're working
on and hope to have available shortly, and AAC audio. I had to
re-rip all my AACs to MP3s to play them, which isn't a huge deal, but
AAC would be nice to have. Aother great feature is how easy the
device is to upgrade, so when Mvix gets the DiVX 6 support done, all
you'll hopefully have to do is upgrade your firmware and you'll be set.
Our next test is to add the optional car kit and see how this baby
performs on the road. I certainly wouldn't mind taking several
hundred (legal backup) copies of my DVDs on roadtrips - to play them in
the car, at the hotel and at grandma's house.
The next step for Mvix is a wireless version of the same device.
This will make it much more user friendly. You won't have to drag
it from your Computer tot the TV and back again to update it's files,
just copy them over the network. That will be especially cool for
the one I mount in the car...
Retail price:
$249
With a 80 GB Drive: $308
With a 300 GB Drive: $408
Optional car pack: $24.99
