"helios" mvp

[pvruser]

hi all,

I found a "helius" mvp version on ebay and i'm wondering if those who got this one have good or bad things to say about it - compared to the standard versions. this one appears to be 86001 EM1. in other words should i stay away and get the standard?
i'm particularly interested in the modulator (for an old but perfectly functional TV). is there a way to change channels (3/4) in the firmware and is that setting kept when switching to the mvpmc firmware?

thanks!

[prouton]

The Helios units were made by Hauppauge under contract for a company (umm, Helios) that sold conferencing systems, and has since dropped them. A while back new units started hitting eBay and a number of people here have purchased them and been quite happy. I got my father into three of them when I set up a GBPVR system for him back in October.

The addition of the RF output is the real deal maker in my father's case, as two of the televisions be fed by the system are 15" or smaller TVs whose only input is the coax connection.

Other than a different splash screen (an optically assaulting orange), these units work just like the regular MVPs. Unfortunately, I can't remember if the output RF channel can be changed between 3 and 4 -- sorry.

[rbelisle]

Bought one and it worked great. The only issue I had was that the composite out was dark, I switched over to s-video on it, and it works great (course you need s-video in on the TV)

[pvruser]

thanks all for the replies. sounds like it's a nice box but the current ebay price is $44 + $12 shipping, a bit too much for me still. looking at the seller's auctions he's already sold them as low as $35 (with best offer) so i'll probably pass on it for now until the price comes back down or i decide to get the PCH box.

[rbelisle]

Also, the only other thing that was a bit of a downer with the product was that it came with the 34 button remote, not the 45 button. Not a big deal, but the 45 is much nicer.

[pvruser]

i've been watching ebay for a few days now and it looks like the seller learned the lesson from "underselling" his big batch at $35 so he's now being smart and putting up only 2 at a time in a "buy it now" for $56 (incl shipping). they do go fast - like 1-2 days but i think it's waaay overpriced considering it's capabilities. :eek:

[prouton]

Its capabilities versus its price is really a matter of what you want to accomplish. Since the alternative (at least until now) has been to set up a full tower or laptop computer, the price is extremely good. You get a very small unit that can go in the livingroom, office or kitchen, and they're as easy to use as a VCR (which is very important when the people who have to use it "just want to watch TV"). No muss, no fuss (once it's set up and working), and it's quiet (and energy efficient for the task being solved).

Yeah, I like the 45 button remote better myself, but if you can come across one cheap the good news is that it will work with the MVP just fine.

[pvruser]

Its capabilities versus its price is really a matter of what you want to accomplish. Since the alternative (at least until now) has been to set up a full tower or laptop computer, the price is extremely good. You get a very small unit that can go in the livingroom, office or kitchen, and they're as easy to use as a VCR (which is very important when the people who have to use it "just want to watch TV"). No muss, no fuss (once it's set up and working), and it's quiet (and energy efficient for the task being solved).

Yeah, I like the 45 button remote better myself, but if you can come across one cheap the good news is that it will work with the MVP just fine.

well "energy" is the key word and a problem for me too - and i dont see how this would be efficient if it can only stream mpeg natively. all my videos are various avi codecs which do need a computer to be ON for transcoding. even HD mpeg files need to be transcoded since the box wont output anything that's higher rez than 480i (720x480). i did have one of the original boxes some time ago for a few days and refunded it because not playing HD mpeg (downsizing it on the fly to 480i) was a huge issue for me.

since the computer is already ON i might as well just use the S-video that my video card has. even better - my ATI card (in "theatre mode") will output the movie full screen to the TV while the PC's monitor can be used for browsing or other non-tv watching things and the movie player can be minimized. and i can also use my USB remote (non hauppauge, but useful nevertheless) to control the movie on the TV screen.

i'd love to have a device that can natively stream movies off my NAS at least in the most popular formats, and not just mpeg - much like there are wireless music players doing this already.

[pvruser]

i did find a (partial) solution. my new router asus wl500g premium has USB ports that can connect hard drives and using a linux based firmware called openwrt you can set up the mvp boot directly from the router and then it could potentially read files off the attached usb drive (as long as they are already mpegs converted to 480i).
i guess now i'm reconsidering getting one of these mvps but anyway i hope my research helps someone because it would be quite cool to play directly off the router without the need of a computer!

[stefan]

linux based firmware called openwrt

There is also the mvpmc which is maintained by mvallelland here at gbpvr. Subforum here:
http://forums.gbpvr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30