It's really barely a draft

Mvix Ultio – part 3: I think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence

July 30th, 2009 Posted in gadgets, rant, software

the other day I decided to send my MVix Ultio back for a refund and buy an Xtreamer instead. Now I want to make it clear that it’s not because the MVix Ultio is a bad product – not at all, there are just some things that annoy me and some ways concerning how I have setup my network (wired/wirless) and home stereo system that makes the product undesirable. Also, probably one of the bigger points as well, is the fact that MVixUSA seems to have hired someone/some company to post bogus comments around the next, who, on top, have the nerve to plargiarize my comments – perhaps because I seem to be one of the only people posting (somewhat) positive things about the device.

Product related reasons for sending it back

No DTS-Down-mixing: I haven’t got a home stereo system that can decode DTS sound, so any trailers or other video files I download online which are encoded with DTS sound will have…get ready for it…no sound! This sucks cow-balls and I can’t figure out if MVixUSA will ever support it. When I asked their technical support, they told me they are “looking into that in the future”, but that doesn’t cut it for me as I need it now and there’s an alternative player out there that has it which can be bought for cheap!

No Wireless capability: Yup, even though they are advertising that it is possible to get the device online with wireless (by means of 802.11N no less), it is in fact not true at time of writing (end-July 2009). Don’t believe me? I was told it isn’t currently possible by MVixUSA’s support team. I was, however, told that any 802.11G USB dongle based on the Realtek RTL8187b chipset would work. To test it, I ordered the Netgear WG111v3 dongle (which MVixUSA mentioned to me would work), but to no avail – it didn’t! It could be that the WG111v3 isn’t based on the right chipset, but I was starting to get a little sick of it all!

Bittorrent implementation sucks: Sure it does do bittorrent, but the implementation is hopeless. You have to actually download the .torrent file to your computer, then login into the Ultio’s webinterface and upload the .torrent file to the unit before it will start download. Where’s the firefox extension or greasemonkey script or Windows/linux/Mac application that automates this? Also you can’t specify which port the bittorrent client should use, so if you (like me) don’t have UPnP turned on on your router, you can’t know which port you should forward. Sure, you could ask MVixUSA support about which port is used by client but you will likely get the same answer as I did which is that “we currently do not have this documented”…*sigh*

It’s too big: This is really minor, but I find the Ultio too big for my setup. I’d have to some how get it mounted on the wall (I was going to drill some holes in the enclosure which would have worked), but from looking at my setup the unit is too deep. It’s due to the 3.5″ drive support of course, but I have decided this is too big for my setup. Really really minor though, but I thought I’d mention it as it has affected what option I have chosen instead.

Finally, the next point, which is also really important to me as I won’t support a company that engages in this kind of activity. I will explain in-depth below…

Fake comments all over the net and I am even being plagiarized

Sure sure, we’ve all plagiarized, I might even have done it on barelyadraft.com on one occasion, but I’m just a guy who spews rants out on the net. MVixUSA is a public, professional company that wishes to sell its products and needs to behave in a professional way.
Unfortunately I, as a blog owner and reader of other blogs I have come to notice a sad tendency that MVixUSA should fix ASAP! From what I can gather from my server blogs, Google Analytics and comments on other blogs, they seem to have hired some Filipinos to go to various blogs that writes about the MVix Ultio (might be MVix products in general) and write positive comments about the product. Well it is either that or they have some VERY dedicated fans of the product, which seems quite unlikely (see below on the plagiarization of ME note I document later in this post).

The two fake comments I noticed here on barelyadraft are from the previous article I wrote about the Ultio from the commnenters “music_gaga” and “techgirl” (she also commented on another post here on this site). They read:

fake comment from “music_gaga”:

“I just got my Ultio package and enjoying it day by day. It took me around 6 minutes to complete the set up and configurations. It’s samba server with UPnP works amazingly for me. No found problem with the playbacks and the MKV works flawlessly as I wanted.:)“

fake comment from “techgirl”: “

I placed a pre-order of Mvix Ultio as soon as they made it public that it is already available. I am very much satisfied with its built-in BitTorrent client that downloads videos faster than my PC. It is now hooked up to my wireless network and plays MKV.”

Also I have not approved comments from “sheci”, but this person writes the following bogus comment:

“I just purchased my Mvix Ultio 1080p this month and I am very inclined on using it. I thought that I will get a little amount of satisfaction with this product because there are so many bad feedback about it. But because I want to experience the “Internet capable” HD system, I bought it without further thinking.
Well, at first I’m in doubt but as I used and experience it, I am really convinced that all of its acclaimed features were true.
This Mvix Ultio can actually read and play different file formats without a need for conversion. Also, you can upgrade its firmware and hardware if you want,.And lastly, it is really an internet ready/capable device.
I can assure you that this product is worth your money.”

Wouldn’t it be great if someone actually added a comment like the ones above, not following the rules which I will describe below? Just proving my point without a shadow of doubt? Here’s hopin’!!

Now I’m not definitely not saying MVixUSA is the only company who does nefarious things like this, but they seem to have hired a very lousy company do this this for them, as the comments given in forums and on blogs are absolutely crappy and obviously fake as you can see above from the two exerts (also look at jazzme‘s comment here on geek.thinkunique.org). If you are to engage in “create positive press” black-hat tactics, please keep the following things in mind before you post / higher company to post (heck, I’ll do it well if you pay me enough, just contact me here):

• Actually read the article you are posting a comment to
• Make your comment relevant to the article (answer/comment/add something in the article)
• Don’t link directly to the manufacturer’s homepage
• Don’t bother thinking links will increase your page rank on Google (most blogs have links with a “no follow” tag anyway)
• Don’t post the same messages (or slight variations) on many boards and blogs
• Don’t just state marketing speak crap like “I like how everything gives me an orgasm with this device…”.
• The people you get to post shouldn’t make the same wording mistakes / quirky wording / style with every post they make.
• Just don’t use “Amazon mechanical turk”, it’s been proven so many times to lead to bad things
• While flattering, don’t plagiarize a blogger who has written something positive about the product and make into your own comment on another site (like Yen_34 did here when he plagiarized). Also note on the link that all comments are spam and share characteristics with the ones listed above.

Return and refund

Alright, enough bitching and on to a very very very positive experience with the retailer, thinkgeek.com, from whom I bought the MVix Ultio. I can’t really explain fully how painless the customer service is with those guys. I mentioned how pain free the ordering was in this post, and the return/refund process was even better/leaner/smoother/silkier.

I had ordered the Ultio and the MVix nubbin. When I wanted to return it I went to thinkgeek.com and started a chat windows with a supporter and explained my situation. The person told me, after asking some questions, to just through out the MVix nubbin USB dongle and and he would credit me the money immediately (nice ‘ey!). Next, the Ultio I just had to send to them in the original box and I would get my money in a matter of days. Great stuff!

Well, great stuff, yeah, but it turned out that return shipping would cost 300+ DKK (more than $50), so I decided to sell it online in Denmark in a AV forum. Huge response and it was sold within 30minutes. Gotta love it (or hate it, as I probably could have gotten a lot more money for it…rats!)

Anyway, it’s a real shame Thinkgeek.com doesn’t  carry the Xtreamer, which I have bought instead of the Ultio, as I would have LOVED to do business with them again. Actually I will do another purchase there, but due to this going to be a surprise I can’t reveal anymore about it currently!. I will, next time I buy gadgets, look to thinkgeek.com for where to buy!

Xtreamer – The replacement

I went to the avsforum.com‘s forum to find inspiration on what to choose and there, in one of the sub-forums there was a handy comparison grid of many of the popular and available media centers & content streamers. I looked through a lot of them and decided on the Xtreamer. From looking through the forums online I already know it’s not without issues, but it have generally received good (non-bogus from what I can tell) reviews, even from MPCClub (PDF link to review).

I’m realistic about what to expect this time (or at least more realistic…). I do know, however, from the reviews online that 802.11N networking WORKS on the unit AND, more importantly, DTS-down-mixing also works on the unit (as it uses a variant of the realtek 1283 chipset as opposed to the Ultio’s realtek 1073). It currently doesn’t have a bittorrent client, but I’ll live without it, as the implementation on I witnessed on the Ultio  leaves too much to be desired to be useful (hopefully Xtreamer proves me wrong when they release their bittorrent support).

It’s on back-order though, so won’t arrive until Mid-August so I’m without a media center until then. The version I will be getting is a Rev2, which should fix some of the fan-noise experienced with Rev1 of the Xtreamer, as a new fan will be used according to Xtreamer forums. Also, details of other fixes have leaked online. Also, hopefully the new firmware version (1.02) will be released by then which should fix some of the small annoyances people are experiencing. I’ll make sure to review it in September when I’ve played around with it.
Is the grass really greener on the other side?

You might also be interested in reading:

1. Xtreamer Media Player – a good replacement for MVix Ultio with a future (English)
2. MVix Ultio part 2 – It’s great, but not quite as advertised… (English)
3. Mvix Ultio: My new “Special Retirement payout (SP)” funded media center (English)
4. This just in: HideItMounts.com has world’s best customer service; allround good people