MEDIAGATE WIRELESS MEDIA SERVER

I used to like the older model which is the MG-350HD but it only had DVI, this new MG-450HD has HDMI amongst other things. Pretty sweet device if you wanna send movies, videos, pics, etc from your PC via wireless to your TV.

With the MediaGate MG-450HD, users can easily surf for content from multiple sources—including PCs on the home WLAN or attached USB devices like a digital camera or USB flash drive. Easy to setup and use, the MG-450HD operates on 802.11g wireless networks, and supports HDMI for high definition output, composite, S-video, and component video outputs, in addition to stereo L/R, optical/coaxial digital audio, and analog 5.1 channels.

For maximum flexibility, users can add the hard drive of their choice, letting them customize their media center for their storage needs – whether it’s 80 or 750 GB. The MG-450HD can also act as a Digital Media Adapter (DMA) and stream multimedia content from a PC to HDTV without any hard drive.

http://www.hometoys.com/news.php4?section=view&id=17324857

$249 MSRP is not bad at all.

Yeah but for only $150 more, you can get one that also plays Blu-ray disks.

True but $250 MSRP (I'm sure you'll be able to get it cheaper online) is still a lot cheaper than $400 especially for those that don't want a gaming system, or I should say have no use for one.

Also doesn't the $399 40GB PS3 have issues? I've been reading online that the 40GB PS3 has some issues and I've also read that the 60GB PS3 (which has been discontinued) seems to be the most reliable one of them all.

Skyhawk I've always said the PS3 is a great console that plays games and movies (bluray and DVD's) but some people can't afford it and they just wanna be able to send videos, pics, etc to their TV's. I especially like the fact that it's wiress (like the PS3) and that you can hook up an external USB drive to it for even more media storage (on top of whatever sized internal drive you throw into it). You can get 1 terrabyte external drives for around $300 and a lot cheaper when they go on sale. Here's a Western Digital 1 TB external drive for $299 at Bestbuy.ca

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10097092&catid=20238

That's a lot of movies! Anyway it's always nice to have options and I personally like this Wireless Media Server idea.

[Post edited by Falcon01 on Feb 27, 2008]

I'm a big fan of the Mediagate boxes. I currently have their 350hd housing a 320gb hd. Perfect for my MULTIFORMAT video flics... not restricted to just DVD. Combined cost: $400. I probably stored (at one point) 30 FULL-SIZE DVD movies in one hard drive. This was the only way for me to catch up on the TV series, without killing my $50 dvd player.

The best part: Playing 'ts' formats in UNCOMPRESSED gusto. FULL HD from pre-recorded hd shows from my htpc.

Blu ray.... not even a contender for flexibility.

As for upgrading to their latest model... I may pass. My video is DVI-to-HDMI adapter & the audio goes through spdif to my receiver. Good enough. What's not good... is the slow firmware updates by the company.

[Post edited by xplaytendo on Feb 27, 2008]

xplay, I like the sound of that setup...

It's really beneficial to dump your dvd collection in the hard drive. ZERO LOADING & EJECTING on your dvd player.

I just finished my collection of Family Guy, Boondocks, South Park, Afro Samurai, Futurama... & other ANIME/Adult-toon titles - without any lag in loading, nor stress on my dvd player.

Best of all, the pause, rewind... etc, are flawless. With the combination of my htpc to record hd shows (in hidef format)... I get to have my own tivo, without the monthly cost.

Get me some help on trying to install a setup similar as yours...

Still, having to transfer the ten Simpson seasons, Justice League...soooo much time, right?

Here's another Wireless Media Server...

Mvix Now in HD 1080p and Wireless with HDMI Output!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/drives/8e50/

Doesn't look like it supports HD audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD though.