Is the MediaMVP worth it?

[rdefino]

I have a regular CRT TV in my bedroom that I would like to watch some of my records shows on. I'm running a GB lan and 54g wireless. Do the wired and wireless MVP's give the user interface and fuctions as a HTPC client would?

Will I be able to watch my RIP DVD's that are under "Imported Videos?

What is the down cons of these units?

thanks for any help
Ron

[ChePazzo]

The MVP GUI is exactly that of the server GUI. In fact, I am able to have one stv for my server PC and a completely different one for the MVP! Very cool.

I use wired and have not tried the wireless. I imagine that streaming high bitrate video over wireless will never be as good as over a wired LAN.

But I love my MVP. For $100, it's a GREAT buy.

[rdefino]

Does it do HD fine? Thanks for the info.

[Lucas]

HD files are fine but shown in SD since they are transcoded on the server. The Sagetv server has to have some muscle though......

[JUC]

Yes-if you're using it for SD (of HD with a powerful server) the MVP is GREAT!!! You can play 'personal' DVD's stored on your server's hard drive. Pick whatever UI you want. The MVP is silent and just works. YMMV with wireless however. Go wired if you can.
JUC

[jbarr]

MediaMVP is excellent. In fact, because it uses a hardware decoder, the picture quality is actually better than the tube TV connected to my HTPC!

One tip for you: The MediaMVP features smooth FF/REW, unlike SageTV Media Center which has user-definable "skips". THis also means that the four "skip" buttons are defined differently on the MVP than from SageTV Media Center. I suggest that unless you really want the smooth FF/REW on the MVP, just re-assign the remote buttins FFSkip, REWSkip, FFSkip2, and REWSkip2 to match the settings on your SageTV media Center. This makes moving from one to the other simple and less confusing, increasing the WAF.

[ChePazzo]

Keep in mind that the MVP only decodes MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. Anything else is transcoded on the server.

It does not do HD. There was talk a while back about an HD extender, but nothing recently.

I keep my entire lib as MPEG-2 and I couldn't be happier.

[mayamaniac]

For standard tube TV and recordings, the MVP is the best thing. It produce the best picture quality, its small and makes no sound, and very affordable. The 45 button remote is really functional.

Get the wired version if your bedroom are wired or can be wired. Wireless version seem to be problematic for a lot of people.

For HD TV and content, you need probably a 3.2ghz CPU or above to transcode it to the MVP. For transcoding standard Divx, Xvid, Mpeg4, etc, I think any CPU above 2ghz will do.

[ybrew]

The wired media mvp is great. That is the only reason I chose sage over beyondTV. I was ready to go Beyond, found the MVP, and went with sage.

The wireless MVP sucks.

My laptop works great as a client wirelessly - I use it everynight and I'm using it now while I'm surfing the web. But the MVP wirelessly is useless (for me).

[rdefino]

Thanks for replys. I just ordered one. Can't wait till it shows.

[stevech]

I wonder how reliable and dropped-frame free the wired MVP would be if its ethernet port is connected to a good WiFi bridge?

Correct ? .... I assume that one has all the same menu choices via the MVP as with the server, i.e., configure favorites, delete recorded shows, etc?

[Jesse]

Hi,

I was using (well, sometimes I was using and sometimes I was trying to use) an mvp. It was one of the older wired only versions. When I first bought it the only thing available was Matt's plugin. Other than a few quirks it worked very well and was quite reliable.

FFWD to official sage mvp support...when it worked it worked great. But only when it worked, which was about half the time. The other half of the time it would not boot.

My mvp died (along with my router, modem, and a few other things) when we had a lightning strike in the back yard. I really would like to be able to use an mvp, but I am pretty hesitant based on previous experience. So before I buy another one I was hoping that the folks having success might share their system specs with me. It seems these things are pretty picky about network hardware and configuration so I would like to know what is working for others so that I can try and replicate their results.

What router and or switches are working? What about a static IP address? Whatever is pertitnent I would like to know.

BTW, this will be a wired install.

TIA

Jesse

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Hi,

I was using (well, sometimes I was using and sometimes I was trying to use) an mvp. It was one of the older wired only versions. When I first bought it the only thing available was Matt's plugin. Other than a few quirks it worked very well and was quite reliable.

FFWD to official sage mvp support...when it worked it worked great. But only when it worked, which was about half the time. The other half of the time it would not boot.

My mvp died (along with my router, modem, and a few other things) when we had a lightning strike in the back yard. I really would like to be able to use an mvp, but I am pretty hesitant based on previous experience. So before I buy another one I was hoping that the folks having success might share their system specs with me. It seems these things are pretty picky about network hardware and configuration so I would like to know what is working for others so that I can try and replicate their results.

What router and or switches are working? What about a static IP address? Whatever is pertitnent I would like to know.

BTW, this will be a wired install.

TIA

Jesse

Works Great for me.

Sage Server 6.0.12 Beta in basement
Tyan S5112 MotherBoard with 3.4Ghz Pentium4 2GB memory
LSI MegaRaid 150-6 - Raid 5 with one Hot Spare (1TB recording space)
2 PVR-500's, 1 PVR-250 and a PVR-USB2
Static IP on the Server & DHCP from Linksys BEFSX41 router for internet access and for MVP's.

Both the Server and the Router are connected to a
Linksys EG008W 1000mbit (old style) switch which is connected by a
50ft Cat6 cable to a Linksys SD2005 1000mbit switch upstairs which is
connected to a Linksys EZXS88W 100mbit switch which is connected
to 2 old style MVP's and 1 Dlink DSM-520 and 1 Dlink DSM-320 (need to dump this one).

I wanted to keep all of the 100mbit players on one old switch separate from the rest of my 1000mbit network with only one port used on my 1000mbit switch. This made more 1000mbit ports available for my computers upstairs and allows me 1000mbit speeds to my server for reencoding, RDP&VNC access, etc... I originally bought the EG008W for upstairs but the fan had a nasty whine so got the SD005 and reused my old EZXS88W as quite replacements for upstairs.

For the most part no problems. I do get the occasional need to reboot the SageTV Service and the squeels from the MVP's but they are only a minor annoyance. I always have been able to get it to connect to the server after the reboot. Also I probably only have to reboot the service maybe 10% of the time or less (with v5 SageTV). Hoping to add a R5000 to the mix this Tax Return season.

BobP.

[rickgillyon]

Bob, do you have import folders?

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Bob, do you have import folders?

If you mean imported videos - Yes. I have two other systems that are for imported videos for the server I listed above.

BobP.

[rickgillyon]

Do you run the service, or do you have the UI open on your server all the time? Did some testing today, and looks like the issues for me with MVP are just in Service mode...

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by rickgillyon

Do you run the service, or do you have the UI open on your server all the time? Did some testing today, and looks like the issues for me with MVP are just in Service mode...

I run mine as a service on a special account setup just for the service - a userid with a password. The same userid exists on all of the machines with Read access to the files. My problems with the MVP are just a connection problem - have to restart the service a little too often with V6. I just haven't been willing to dump the plugins for a day or so until I have to restart the service again - to get the debug logs.

BobP.

[rickgillyon]

Oh, I've sent enough debug logs and dumps for both of us. The MVP is two floors away too, I'm getting lots of exercise...