Mediagate’s feature rich MG-450HD networked media player looks promising.
There is a lot of competition brewing in the stand alone networked media player market. My favorite so far is the Popcorn Hour networked media tank. Today however, I’m looking at Mediagate’s MG-450HD. Talk about features, This player can stream media from networked PCs wired or wirelessly (802.11g/b). It can play media from any capacity 3.5" HDD you install in the MG-450HD and any additional storage you connect through a sole USB port. You can set it up as a FTP server, you can listen to internet radio stations. There’s component, HDMI, 5.1 audio, HD output up to 1080p… Seems like this thing does it all, actually a little more than the Popcorn player.
What about the media? Just like the Popcorn Hour player, it plays almost every file format you can think of (yes Xvid, no MKV). Rip your DVDs, it’ll play them also. Music? no problem the MG-450HD got it covered. Photo’s? Yep that too. Yea, I know there are a few very enticing features of the Popcorn Hour player that the Mediagate’s offering is lacking, like the built in Bittorrent client and the ability to stream from internet video sites (Hulu.com anyone?). Weighing in at about $229 (check monoprice), the MG-450HD is a little more than the Popcorn Hour player but some of the added features may justify the extra cost.
June 28th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
That’s a lot of features for that kind of price. Does it have a remote capability for controlling all the media too?
June 29th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
It comes with a remote (not sure if that is what you are asking). It does stream video from other sources. If you have a folder on your PC that you store movies, you can from the media gate player, see those files and play them (through the network)