Product Review:

Mediagate 350HD

Reviewed by: Eric Sauner

Even though I can use my Xbox to stream media to my TV fairly easily, I have to admit that to get any decent playback it has to be hard wired.  I don’t mind this; my current setup allows me to run any number of wires that I need.  But what if you could not run any wires?  Or maybe it didn’t make sense to run a long Ethernet cable to where you needed it.  That is where something like the Mediagate MG-350HD comes in.  The MG-350HD can playback pretty much anything you throw at it, and it can do it wirelessly.  To makes things even better, throw in a hard drive, and you can use it as Network Attached Storage and store anything on it.

The MG-350HD can playback video such as AVI/XVID, WMV and VOB files, photo files and of course several types of audio files.  It had no problem with several xvids I tried as well as some HD trailers I tested.  For my test I hooked it up via component cables, but as you can see from the pictures, the MG-350HD has several connections.  What is especially nice is you can achieve 1080p through the DVI connection, along with optical audio out for the best possible connection.  I installed a hard drive, hooked up the necessary cables and proceeded to boot up the MG-350HD.
Using the supplied remote I powered on the unit and noticed a blue ring around the disc control on the front, and it was flashing.  One thing I have figured out, at least in my case, is that until the blue light remains solid, nothing will happen.  After it initialized, a simple, yet intelligent menu appeared.  It had your media choices on one side, with your results on the other.  Using the menu it was easy to setup everything from the TV settings to the wireless settings.  Anything you have on the installed hard drive can be accessed by selecting the HDD icon at the top-left.

The most amazing feature of the MG-350HD is its ability to stream media anywhere in your house.  I was astounded when I tried an xvid that was being shared from PC downstairs played flawlessly upstairs through the MG-350HD.  I have never been able to test that feature with any other product we have ever received.  This was truly amazing.  A word of caution though, you will need hard wiring if you plan on utilizing 1080p processing.  One thing that stumped me for a while; I could not get the MG-350HD to share my folders on my PC.  Well, it turns out that this was a setting in Vista and not the MG-350HD.  A quick visit to Mediagate’s forums and I had the problem solved in 5 minutes.  This, by the way, is also a bonus if the manufacturer hosts a public forum in which you can discuss features, issues and even modifications if you know where to go.

I have no reservations in recommending the MG-350HD.  Mediagate has done a great job in providing a solution for media streaming that competes well with products like the Slingbox .  It has a great pricepoint of about $200, and it looks great too.  If you need to stream any type of media wired or not, the MG-350HD would be a great choice.

4/5