14 DAY TRIAL // Media server streaming devices have quite started to show up on the market recently, and each addition seems to bring more and more nifty features to the home-theater PC enthusiast. Most of the media servers are wired devices, that will add an extra layer of cables under the living-room rug, but this is where Mvix's innovation kicks in.
The manufacturer has started shipping its new wireless media center high-definition server, and, despite the fact that it does not add much to the HTPC department, it comes with some nice features. For instance, the media server is most of a HDD enclosure, and it does not ship with a recommended disk drive. Instead, the users can add up any disk drive of their choice, as long as it comes in a 3.5-inch form factor and supports either S-ATA or IDE connectivity. More than that, the device will surely "cooperate" with the disk drive inside, no matter how much storage space it can provide.
The Mvix media player connects to the network either via Ethernet or 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. If you want, you can also access internal or external hard drive files in order to bridge them into your home entertainment setup. The player comes packed with other goodies such as a broad offering of quality video output modes for your high-definition setup, such as composite, component, s-video or DVI, not to mention the standard, classic HDMI interface.
The media server from Mvix comes with massive file support, including Mpeg-1/2/4, VOB, WMV 9, DivX, and Xvid, as well as standard formats, such as MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, WAV and AC3 files. The device can store this type of files either internally, or externally, on an USB-connected disk drive of your choice. That's not it, as the streaming device can also serve digital images in either one-by-one, or in slideshow mode.
The Mvix MX-780HD wireless HD media streamer is available immediately for an estimative retail price of $300.