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MG35Faq

Page history last edited by Vasile 14 years, 4 months ago

This FAQ contains only issues relevant to the end-users. For development issues, we have a special development page.

 

 


 

The original graphics are awful. Can I change them somehow?

Our custom firwmare has a better look. You can try it. But beware it is an unofficial firmware, so it may void your warranty. However, the community support is a lot better than what you can receive from the manufacturer.

 

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty :-), please continue reading here. We really need your help!

 


Do you really have an Internet radio application?

 

Yes! Thanks to John's work, the latest alpha versions of the firmware have this feature. As it is now, it can only play MP3 streams (no AAC, sorry!) and we recommend using DHCP for getting the IP address to your MG35 box. Read more here.

 


 

My TV screen is garbled and I cannot see the menus!

The most probable cause is that the TV mode set in the MG35 is not the right one for your TV. The fix is easy: repeatedly press the "Video" button on the remote control to cycle through all the video modes, until your picture is correct. Please be patient and wait at least 1 second between presses.

 

If your remote is lost or broken (you are not alone on this), unplug the LAN connection, then press the following buttons on the MG35 front panel: Power

(Wait about 30 seconds)

Enter (to select local hard drive)

Up

Enter (to select setup)

Enter (to select video)

Right
Down
Down
Down

Enter (that should select OFF for component video)

 

You should now see a picture. If you still have a scrambled looking picture do this next:

 

Down
Right

Enter (this selects video output to NTSC C/S-video)

 


 

What audio/video/image formats are suported?

 

There is a nice table here.

 


 

 

What is the maximum HDD size for MG35?

 

Teddy maintains a list of 1TB drives known to be working in MG35.

 


 

My MG35 doesn't recognize my HDD!

Check the HDD jumper is set to "master". Otherwise it would work as an USB drive and could be partitioned and formatted, but not recognized by the MG processor, so it will not show up as active in the TV menu.

 

Also, be advised that MG-35 does not recognize hard drives smaller than 6 GB.

Todo: test if a small drive can be accessed via USB, NDAS, TV i/f


 

Can I use a different remote?

 

Logitech Harmony remotes know about the MG35 and can be configured to control the device. Their IR signal is stronger than the original remote. However, they are pretty expensive.

 

[ Somebody posted the codes for the MG-35 in KM format for URC-8910 remote, but the link seems to be broken since].

 

To do: post here the remote control codes read using Girder

 


 

I really messed the settings, how can I do a "Factory reset"?

 

Go to the Setup page=> press StopPlay/PauseStopPlay/PauseMediaTypeMainPage.

 

If you can not see the screen, then press the following buttons on the remote:

SetupStopPlay/PauseStopPlay/PauseMediaTypeMainPageLeft ArrowOK.

 


 

My video shutters when I play video files over the network!

 

First of all, you're using a wired (not wireless) connection between MG35 and your server, aren't you?

 

Now make sure that the network is the bottleneck: copy the file to the MG35's local drive and play it from there. If it plays OK, the culprit could be either the server or the network.

 

Try to move the file to a more powerful server, if possible.

If the problem is still there, try to connect the MG35 directly to the server. It may be that your router is too overwhelmed by other traffic transiting in your network.

 

As a last resort, try to tweak the network parameters in MG35's smb.conf (and even add new options) to see if you can get better network performance. Only do this if you know what we're talking about here!

 

The MG-35 uses the following settings:

socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_KEEPALIVE SO_RCVBUF=32768 SO_SNDBUF=128

 

The procedure is really easy.

  1. cat current smb.conf and copy what's there - it's only two lines.
  2. create a new copy on a PC and make it available via a network share (remember to use dos2unix to turn crlf into lf!)
  3. copy the new smb.conf over the current one.
  4. browse to your network share
  5. play a video file

 

Remember that smb.conf may be over-written if you go back to the initial "Media type" screen - I haven't checked. Please let us know what parameters improve your playback.

 


My MG-35 is dead. Can I revive it?

 

That depends... There are two states of "dead" for the MG35:

  1. If you hit the power button and the HD spins up but no LEDs light, then your bootloader is probably corrupted or erased. This is the worst case. There were some discussions to figure out if the EM8511 has a JTAG port and if it's usable for JTAG recovery, and we finally abandoned any work on this.

 

  1. If the red power LED lights up and the blue panel LED is flashing, your bootloader is probably intact. Probably only the kernel and/or cramfs images have been corrupted or erased. You may be able to recover your unit following the debricking instructions.

 

If you have broken your MG-35 and really can't recover it yourself, then please post a message on AVSforum and someone in your country might be able to help. You'll have to pay the shipping in both directions.

 

Killer JPEG

 

There are a few reports of bricking the MG35 by just viewing some images. This dates back to 1.4.5 firmware version, but it's probably still present in the latest ones. We don't have too much either, since it happens very infrequently, and none of the affected people shared the culprit image with us :-(. Some possible causes could either an odd aspect ratio or a large file, or some combination of both, but that's only a guess. However, J.L succesfully repaired one unit and posted the method on AVS forum. We shamelessly borrowed the information provided by him.

 

The symptoms of a "killed" unit are the blue light flashing, but nothing else happens when attempting to power up the unit. So far, no fix has been offered by the manufacturer for this killer jpeg bug. The manufacturer will simply replace a unit under waranty.

 

The problem is what to do if your unit is no longer under warranty... but don't dispair, there is hope! At least so far, the blue flashing light indicates the boot loader is intact and it is possible to fix the unit via a special serial cable connected to the internal port and a subsequent upload/upgrade/input.

 

The one unit that was de-bricked had its MAC address zeroed out by the killer jpeg, and apparently because it was missing, the boot loader prompted for it on the console (serial interface) and was patiently waiting for a new MAC address to be entered via the serial port every time the unit was re-booted. Since usually nothing is connected to the serial port, the unit nicely waited forever for some input at that point in the boot process.... and acted as a brick.

 

So, connecting a serial cable to the PC as explined in the debricking section will allow one to input the MAC address (it's usually also written on a label on MG35). Here is the session as provided on the same forum:

 

boot> config net

Protocol : (0) None (1) Static IP (2) BOOTP (3) DHCP : (1)

MAC Address : (ef:fe:ff:ff:ff:ff) 00:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx [enter your proper MAC here!]

IP Address : (192.168.1.2)

Netmask : (255.255.255.0)

Gateway : (0.0.0.0)

DNS : (0.0.0.0)

Server : (192.168.0.4)

Writing : 0x00020430

.

 

If this still doesn't solve it, you can always do a full firmware update at console, which should fix everything. Either way, let us know in a comment on this page if/how it worked for you.

 


 

What is the best PC software to transcode my existing video files

 

MG35 is picky about the video formats. Here are the programs some of us recommend for processing video files. Please report your experience with them.

 

Windows

 

PVAStrumento for TS to PS conversion (freeware)

autoGK Just select the file (or files) that dont play on your MG, set the desired file size, select CBR/MP3 as your audio codec and hit the button. It takes a bit of time to convert. It can also do batch conversions.

 

MPEG PS Utils provides the user with a visual representation of the multiplexed stream structure of MPEG-2 Program Streams (ISO/IEC 13818-1). The application allows the user to investigate the basic program stream packets with their fields. The application also allows the user to manipulate with program streams by demultiplexing to PES and ES streams.

 

 

Fairuse Wizard

Use it to convert dvds to xvid. Well worth the few $...

For movies under 90 mins I set it to make a single 750mb file and if a longer movie either 2x 750mb or 3x750 for movies that are very long..

 

Super(R) - freeware

Settings:

Select output container = avi

Select codec = Xvid

Select Audio = mp3

 

You can then select video size to your requirements , I suggest to use the audio bit rate of at least 128 or 192.

 

One slight caveat... The MG35 won't play an AVI larger than 1G. So, when you select your video size, be sure and select something smaller than 1,000 MB.

 

Linux

 

MEncoder

 

Add to/create ~/.mplayer/mencoder.conf:

[mg]
profile-desc="MPEG4/MP3 encoding"
ovc=xvid=1
oac=mp3lame=1
xvidencopts=vhq=4:bitrate=800
lameopts=vbr=2:q=3

 

Create a shell script (eg. /usr/local/bin/mgrecode):

#!/bin/bash
BASE=`basename "$1" .avi`
mencoder -profile mg "$1" -o "${BASE}.mg.avi"

 

This can be used from the command line:

 

 

.../mgrecode greed_1924.avi

 

to create greed_1924.mg.avi as a 1Mbps video (with good quality vbr mp3 audio ~192kbps).

 

If you use gnome, put your script in ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts for context menu access within the file manager.

 


 

How to configure a computer to be accessed by MG35?

Configure Windows XP

MG35 tries to access the selected computer using a hard-coded set of credentials (user/password).

 

Be sure that the "guest" account is enabled (it is disabled by default).

If somehow this doesn't work for you, try to create an account called "Media" with the password "gate".

 

Note: In case you wish to share an external drive from your XP to the MG35, you might get an "access denied" error along with a system event log "Event ID 2011". You will have to increase the "IRPStackSize", or create this key. Check out this article from Microsoft. Try any value above 15. The top limit is 50. The same may apply to other versions of Windows.

 

Configure Windows Vista

As posted by crombiecrunch at another forum - all credit to him. Note that this is for MG-350HD, but it is presumed to work also for MG35.

 

First this is how I have my system setup: All media is on my D drive in the folder "Multimedia". In Vista I set the "Multimedia" folder as a shared folder.

 

The issue:

When I browsed my LAN connection I could see my computer and see the "Multimedia" folder, but when I navigated in to the folder I couldn't see any of the sub folders. And if I shared a sub folder I couldn't see the media.

 

In my network and sharing center I changed to the following settings:

  • Network discovery: ON
  • Public Folder sharing: ON
  • File Sharing: ON
  • Printer sharing: OFF ( I have no printer share on this PC)
  • Password Protected sharing: OFF
  • Media Sharing: ON

 

I rebooted after making these changes.Then I went back to my "Multimedia" folder

  • right click on the folder go to "Properties"
  • click on the "Security" TAB
  • click on "EDIT"
  • click on "ADD"
  • click on "ADVANCED"
  • click on "FIND NOW"
  • Double click on "EVERYONE"
  • click on "OK"
  • click on "APPLY" then if needed "OK" and "OK" again 

 

Restart your PC and after reboot refresh your MG-350 for browsing your network. You should now see your shared folder and all subfolders/media under it.

 

If your MG35 cannot connect to the Vista shares, try the following:

 

  1. Open the Control Panel, then Administrative Tools. The select the Local Security Policy.
  2. Open Security Settings->Local Policies->Security Options.
  3. Add the share names your MG35 needs to access under "Network access: Shares that can be accessed anonymously"
  4. If (and only if) that doesn't work, set "Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only" to disabled.

 

Configure Windows7

 

As posted by Andrei:  The only known way to get it working is to run a virtual XP inside Windows 7. The outdated request, used by smb client to enumerate shares, is not implemented in Windows 7.

 

 

Some more details from Al Tech Q and A user William:.

  1. Do a Clean install of Windows 7
  2. Download "Virtual XP for Windows 7" - Its a Free download from Microsoft for windows 7 Users.
  3. You may have to configure Virtual XP to use your REAL network card , as opposed to a virtual one (So Virtual XP can pull a IP from Win 7).These settings can be found in >prefrences>extras
  4. Create a folder within Virtual XP  and share it out in the normal way.
  5. Re-boot both MG  and PC  ansd your MG should be able to find the share as it normally would.

 

Configure Linux

You can get MG-35 to work with a Linux SMB share, preserving the opportunity to have security=user. For this, you need to create a samba user called “guest” (command: smbpasswd -a username). Use any password if your not allowed to create a new user with an empty password and later reset the password to null (command: smbpasswd -n username). Some users reported they only had success using user "media" with password "gate".

 

Here is an /etc/samba/smb.conf file example for one "Private" share holding your private files (requiring username and password) and another "Public" share granting all users read and write access.

 

[global]

workgroup = YOUR_WORKGROUP_NAME

netbios name = YOUR_SERVER_NAME

passdb backend = tdbsam

security = user

encrypt passwords = true

guest account = guest

null passwords = yes

socket options = TCP_NODELAY

 

 

[Private]

comment = Private files on server

path = /path/to/privte/files

read only = no

valid users = your_user_account

 
 

 

[Public]

comment = Public files on server

path = /path/to/public/files

invalid users = root

guest ok = yes

public = yes

writeable = yes

 

Configure Mac

 

The MG35 will see Windows shared folders on the local network. If you have windows sharing on your mac, then your home directory might be visible, but I don't think that the mac enables guest access to the home directories.

 

So I think that in order for a folder to be visible to an MG35 you need to enable a shared folder with guest (i.e. with no security protection). I don't think you can do that with the options in the system preferences.

 

Windows networking on a Mac is done by samba. Which is controlled by various setup files. An easy way of working with these files is with a utility called SharePoints. So the next thing to try is to download Sharepoints and use it to create a SMB or Windows share that is publicly available.

 


 

 

How to connect to the MG53 internal hard drive via USB

 

Connect to Mac

 

The mac should be able to recognize the MG35 as an USB disk, it should show up in the Disk Utility. This application is normally hidden in the Utility folder in the Applications folder. So you should be able to install a hard disk into it and use it that way.

 

Connect to Windows

 

As long as you have a decent version of Windows (post-Win98/WinMe) it's just plug-and-play. The drive appears directly in Explorer/My Computer/etc.

 

 


 

How to access the MG35 internal drive via NDAS

 

In order to use NDAS, you must install on your PC a software driver, which will communicate with the NDAS device. Then you will see the NDAS device (e.g. MG35) as if it was physically connected to your PC, in other words as an internal disk drive. This is opposed to the usual NAS devices, which offer some network shares which have to be mapped on the PC.

 

However, there are some limitations with NDAS:

  1. NDAS requires the PC to know the "Device ID" of the device you want to use, before the PC driver can find it. After attaching the NDAS device on the PC, you must have a "Write Key" registered in order to have write permission to the device. Both the Device ID and the Write Key are normally printed on the device.

  2. Because NDAS uses its own Network Layer (Layer 2) protocol, it is not routable. An NDAS device can only talk to other systems at Ethernet level (via MAC address). This means that some home network configurations won't work with NDAS. Specifically, access over routers is impossible. The NDAS protocol acts in a similar fashion to UDP, which has no session management, no means of detecting dropped packets, no packet sequencing, etc. This also affects speed (especially on the MG-35), since the bulk of the TCP streaming code needs to be basically duplicated in the proprietary driver in order to ensure data is properly written.

 

Finally, here is the NDAS user documentation provided by ALTech.

 

NDAS software for Windows is also provided by ximeta.com

 

Where can I get the NDAS keys?

 

In order to register the device in the NDAS PC software, need the NDAS "Device ID" and "Write Key". Without registering the device, you can't copy files from your PC to the MG-35 over the network.

The needed keys are usually written on the label affixed on the box or on the MG35 itself.

 

Historically, MG-35 wasn't originally intended to be an NDAS device, so on some earlier versions the Device ID is not printed on it. To make the things worse, and the sellers usually charged a fee to provide them (Ximeta refused to provide them directly). Freecom was the notable exception, sending you the keys for free. Nowadays, it seems that posting a request on Altech's support page is enough, and you'll get your keys by email. Be sure to provide your MG35 MAC address in the message.

 

 

NDAS on Mac

 

There is some software on the Ximeta web site.

But whether this will work I don't know, google for OSX NDAS and see what you get. When I did this I saw a forum pointing to the above site, with a comment about needing a beta version for intel macs.

 

 

NDAS on Macbook

This is a post from Lyndell, who managed to access MG35 via NDAS from a Macbook.

 

"...it IS technically possible to install the Windows

NDAS software on the Macbook, then to use the Macbook to transfer files to the MG35,

without resorting to the ftp solution already mentioned.

 

Overall, you will need to install a Windows virtual machine, in which you then install the

NDAS software, after which you will be able to access the MG35 as a mounted volume

(within the Windows VM).

 

Here's how I accomplished this:

 

(1) Install a copy of the "Parallels Desktop for Mac" software. (http://www.parallels.com/

en/products/desktop/)

This useful software lets you run various flavours of Windows side-by-side with Mac OSX.

For this, you WILL need an Intel-based Macbook.

 

(2) Download the NDAS software, perhaps from [http://www.ximeta.com/web/support/

download/windows_xp/drivers/v3x/index.php|Ximeta site].

 

(3) Install it within the Windows virtual machine.

NB: You should have already installed the SUPPORTED Windows operating system of your

choice.

 

(4) To copy files to the MG35, you simply launch the Windows VM, run the NDAS software,

and then access the media player (which appears as a mounted volume).

 

(5) You drag and drop files to your heart's (and your media player's) content."

 

NDAS on Windows

 

This is easy, just take a look in the documentation coming with the MG35.

 

NDAS on Windows Vista

 

It is reported that NDAS version 3.20.1523 works correctly on Windows Vista.

 


How can I access my MG35 using FTP?

 

The modified firmware automatically starts the ftp daemon at boot (if you have a version which doesn't, consider upgrading or just start it manually in a telnet session). You can just connect to it using any FTP client (e.g. Filezilla or wsftp on Windows). You have anonymous access, so use user="anonymous" (without quotes) and no password.

 

However, there are some limitations. The maximum file size on a FAT32 drive is 4 GB, but the Mediagate system software cannot address files larger than 2GB. Files up to 4GB can be transfered to the device in USB mode but not by FTP and it is unlikely that media files larger than 2GB can be played. This means you cannot transfer a full DVD ISO image (which is generally larger than 2GB) on the internal hard drive. But you can transfer smaller files, e.g. audio files, pictures, even ripped DVDs.

 

On the other hand, a NTFS drive could hold files larger then 4 GB. The problem is that the NTFS driver implemented in MG35 is read-only.

 

To put it in less words: you can use FTP to transfer files (smaller then 2 GB) to and from FAT32 internal drive or to transfer even bigger file from NTFS drive.

 


 

Why can't I access my MG35 over the network using Windows' My Neighborhood (or equivalent)?

 

In order to do that, MG35 should be running a Samba server, implementing the CIFS protocol. But this is not yet ported on MG35, and probably will never be due to MG35's space and processing power limitations.

 


Is this normal to have such a low transfer speed over wired Ethernet?

 

That's normal, probably due to the low processing power of the Sigma chips in general processing.Davicom has already measured network performance for Sigma EM811 clocked at 200 MHz. Please note that MG-35 runs at 166 MHz, so it's underclocked (to avoid overheating?). The test uses iperf and the results are posted here and here.

 

Can this be improved somehow? Not a definitive answer, but probably not. Even the Davicom tests show cca 16Mbps, well below the Ethernet's theoretical 100Mbps.

 

Altech tried to avoid some the TCP/IP overhead by using Ximeta's NDAS. But because it is implemented in software, the speed is still too low for  serious media transfers. Here are some real-life measurements for transferring a 1.068 GB file from a MG35 (firmware 1.5.2.3-a7) to a 3Ghz P4, over a 100baseT connection...

 

Method

Time

Notes

FTP

33 min 34 s

usingFireFTP  client

NDAS

13 min 14 s

 

 

 

Andrei: I did some testing and found that:

- 1K RX performance shown in the Davicom test is 15.82 Mbits/s, which is very close to my result

- increasing TCP_WINDOW_SIZE significantly improves the transfer speed, so that at least 30 Mbits/sec is possible in both directions.

 

VasileB: I also did some real-life testing a while ago, using FTP. I found that the transfer of a big file (79453020 bytes) from PC to the MG35 took around 100 seconds, which is approx. 6Mbps. Getting the same file from MG35 to the PC took only 54 seconds, so the speed is almost double. This suggests that writing to the MG35's harddrive adds a significant overhead.

 


 

Can I access my MG35 over Wi-Fi?

 

Yes, it's possible. It's not cheap nor easy, though :-)

 

For instance, my home network looks like this:

 

[DSL Modem]---(wired)---[WRT54G-host]---(wired)---[My Computer]

                           |

                           |

                   (wireless network)

                     /           \

                    /             \

          [WRT54G-client]   [Wife's Computer]

                  |

               (wired)

                  |

               [MG35]

 

I first connected WRT54G-client as a wireless client of the WRT54G-host using the "Client Bridging Mode" of the DD-WRT firmware. This mode works fine for streaming content off my PC to the MG-35 using the Windows Filesharing features of the device.

 

However, in Client Bridging Mode, the MAC address of the MG-35 is replaced with the MAC address of the WRT54G-client when the packets leave my computer. So my computer thinks the MG-35's IP address belongs to the WRT54G-client device, and it also thinks that it is serving the content to the WRT54G-client.

 

In reality, the packets that the WRT54G-client receives also contain the IP of the MG-35. So the client router (WRT54G-client) knows to send that data to the MG-35. The upshot is that the MG-35 thinks it's getting the file directly from the client router, and my PC thinks it's serving the content directly to the client router. The WRT54G-client is actually performing a kind of MAC Address Translation to keep the subnet devices (the MG-35) in the same IP space.

 

But NDAS bypasses the TCP/IP protocol entirely and relies on the MAC address + Device-ID to identify and talk to the device. Because the WRT54G-client is altering the MAC address, NDAS doesn't work across across the wireless link in this configuration.

 

To make it work across the wireless link, I needed to configure WDS (Wireless Distribution System) on both routers. This avoids the MAC translation and allows the PC to see the MG-35's MAC address, enabling NDAS to function correctly.

 

According to Wikipedia, this WDS setup will NOT halve the speed between the computer and the MG35, since they are both wired to their respective routers.

 


 

How to create a playlist for my MG35?

 

First, please note that the media files should be specified in the playlist with paths relative to the playlist's own location.

 

I store all my media on a NAS device on my network, structured as follows:

MUSIC
+-- A
|   +-- Artist_A1
|   |    ....
|   +-- Artist_A2
|       ....
+-- B
|   +-- Artist_B1
|   |    ....
|   +-- Artist_B2
....
+-- Z
+-- Artist_Z1
|   ....
+-- Artist_Z2
....
playlist_1.m3u
playlist_2.m3u
playlist_3.m3u
playlist_4.m3u
playlist_5.m3u
PICTURES
...
VIDEO
...

 

My playlists are stored in the root of my MUSIC directory. Here is an example from my playlist......

 

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:416,Carlos Santana - Friendship (feat. John Mclaughlin) 
C/Carlos Santana/Playin' With Carlos/Carlos Santana-Playin' With
Carlos-01-Friendship (feat. John Mclaughlin).mp3
#EXTINF:273,Carlos Santana - Too Late, Too Late (feat. Gregg Rolie)
C/Carlos Santana/Playin' With Carlos/Carlos Santana-Playin' With
Carlos-02-Too Late, Too Late (feat. Gregg Rolie).mp3

 

NOTE the 'C/' in the lines above is NOT the c drive, it is the 'C' directory in the 'MUSIC' directory. Maybe I should have used a different artist :-)

 

To create the playlist, I use Winamp on a Windows box to create a m3u playlist, saving it to the root of my MUSIC folder on the NAS storage. Then I open it in a simple text editor (Editpad is my choice) and I do a find&replace and change all '\' for '/'.

 

Playing the playlist is where I think the MG35 could be improved, as you don't actually play the playlist, instead it's more like you load the list then play it.

 

First choose 'PLAYLISTS' in the main menu. Then navigate to where your playlist is stored, chose a playlist then click OK. The screen should then say 'Please wait'. Once this is complete, navigate to the top menu and click OK on 'LIST'. You should then be presented with the list of songs in your play list. On the top menu choose 'PLAY'.

 


 

Were can I find new firmware for my MG-35?

 

Original ALTech English firmware

 

The official firmware releases, their release notes, what was fixed, and what, if anything, broke are here.

 

Modified firmware

Our improved firmware (let's consider it in beta phase) has new features and can be found at Yahoo Group. The archive is at

Rapidshare.

 

If you want to know what's new and hot, please read the Changelog page.

 


Can I play my .tivo files on MG35?

 

The .tivo files are encrypted MPEG2. There is a model of MG-35 named T1, which seems to be able to do that. See more details here.

 

Another option is to use TVharmony AutoPilot, which allows you to schedule downloads from your TIVO to your PC and automatically decrypt them so that the format is MG35-compatible. You can set it to have nightly downloads to get the shows to your PC, and then play them on the MG35 over the network.

 

And here are some comments from someone owning a T1:

 

-There are 2 versions out there that support Tivo. One is the Mediagate T1, from Pogo Electronics and then there is another called the normal "mg-35", but it also has the Tivo support. How I found this out was I purchased one on ebay and it had all the original Pogo packaging, but when I booted it up, it had the MG-35 name on it. I didn't think anything of it, so I continued to use it as normal. Then I booted another one up, straight from Pogo, not ebay, and this one says "T1" on the main menu. Both have the same dark blue background and three menus (Mediagate, Tivo, Network) and everything looks identical, except the name throughout the menus. Both units say the firmware version is 1.3.1.

 

-To use the direct Tivo functionality, you must have a HD in it and it must be formatted FAT32. This is weird because you can play .Tivo files in 2 different ways.

  1. I was able to use Tivo Desktop on my PC to transfer a show to my PC and then stream it directly to the MG(no HD required). The file is completely untouched and requires you to have the same MAK key stored in the MG which is provided on your Tivo.

  2. Connect to the Tivo directly so you can see what's on the "Now Playing" list. Select the shows you want and click play. This requires the HD because it can not directly stream the video. It has to copy the video directly to the HD and then you can play the videos locally.

 

-I did have a few problems at first. It would connect to the Tivo, but I couldn't see any of the shows. I tried another Tivo on my network and it worked fine. Since I didn't have much on the 1st Tivo, I deleted everything and started recording a new show. Once I did that, the Mediagate saw the show and I was able to transfer it over. I'm not sure what went wrong, but by clearing some videos off, it was able to see it afterwards.

 

-Even though the T1 claims it only works on Tivo Series 2 boxes, I tested it on a Tivo S3 and it works fine.

 

-The 2 versions of the MG with Tivo support that I have do not have the NDAS support. Hopefully someone will be able to take all the work done for the latest firmware and add the Tivo support to make it even better.


 

Is it possible for MG35 to start my server (Wake-on-LAN)?

 

Not directly, but there is a workaround. Set your server's network card or BIOS for Wake-on-Activity. Also set it to go into Standby(S3). When you turn on the MG-35 and go to either Movie/Photo/Music etc, the network activity will wake-up the server.

 

But it will not read the directory or files immediately, as the servers are still waking up. You will have to wait for the server to start and then retry to go to Movie/Photo/Music. The second time it should work.

 


 

What's inside the MG-35?

Basically it is based on SigmaDesigns' EM8500 reference design, and it's running the Sigma Designs 2.4.17 ucLinux port for ARM processors without an MMU (the JASPER architecture platform). For more details, take a look at the Hardware and Firmware pages.

 


 

What other links would be of interest?

Mediagate MG-35 Thread @ AVS Forum

Mediagate MG-35 Firmware Mods @ Yahoo Groups

AL Tech Homepage

Official Mediagate Korean Homepage (More firmware images)

Freecom Homepage

Digital Cowboy Homepage

 


 

How can I help improving the firmware?

That's easy! Please see our MG-35 Development page to see how you can start working on the code in the MG-35. There's a lot left to do!

 


 

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