Mediagate MG-25

The advent of digital content has opened up new markets for devices that play them back. DVD players now support DivX, Microsoft is pushing the Media PC platform, and media extenders and wireless streaming products are appearing rapidly. These are all attempts to bridge the gap between consumer product and PC, and the Mediagate MG-25 is no exception.

At first glance you would be forgiven for thinking that it is just another external hard drive case, and indeed it is just that, and allows you to encase a 2.5” hard drive with USB2.0 providing the necessary connectivity. Closer inspection reveals more than just the usual USB and power sockets:

Rear view

These are AV connections, and allow the box to be connected to a TV and hi-fi. Coupled with the nifty Sigma 8511 MPEG4 chipset inside, it turns your hard drive into a portable media player.

Contents

Bundled with the unit is a wide selection of AV cables, a power supply (2-pin), remote control (with batteries), USB cable, and a quick start guide. Pretty much everything required to operate the unit is included. If you live in Europe and your TV only has a SCART socket, then you’ll need to get hold of an S-Video-to-SCART or Composite-to-SCART adaptor.

The unit is reasonably compact. It is the same width and length as other external casings, but it is noticeably deeper. The cause of this is mainly due to the internal Sigma video decoding board, but even with everything packed inside there is still a lot of empty space. With better design the case could have been made smaller and more compact. As it is, it is attractive, if a little chunky.

The front of the case shows the power light, infra-red control, and drive activity light. As shown above, the back has a 5V DC power socket, a mini-USB2.0 socket, and two AV sockets.

The custom cables provided within the package give access to a variety of outputs:

  • S-Video
  • Composite
  • Component
  • Analogue stereo
  • Digital coaxial out (e.g. for Dolby and DTS)

All cables except the S-Video are gold plated (or gold coloured anyway!)

Depending on the configuration of your equipment, you may need to make use of one or both of these AV sockets. Although it has not been verified, it should be possible to get a dual-display system working using both the S-Video and composite outputs.

For some reason the Composite/Stereo cable has a right-angle plug, whilst the rest of the cables are all straight. This does look odd, and causes the cable to stick out somewhat.

back plugs

110 comments

  1. Hello!
    I have a problem, and would like to ask if anybody had something like that. I’m in NY and obviously have an NTSC TV set. By mistake, I clicked on a PAL Tab in MG-25 setup window, and now I can not see anything on the screen to change it back to NTSC.
    Any solutions? Is there any way I can reset the player?
    Thanks in advance!

  2. Has anyone had any luck playing High definition video??
    Ive tried .ts and .mkv files converting them but no luck yet 🙁

  3. Anybody know whether the MG25 supports large hard drives (say 250GB+)? I love my little MG25, but only have 8GB left on my 80GB drive.

  4. I have 2 questions:

    1] Can anyone point me to a link where I can download the latest firmware.
    2] Does anyone have the 4 digit device code for the remote so that it can programmed into a universal remote?

  5. Hi

    I fell asleep holding my remote , when I woke up it was on a screen to do with screen resolution (dpi’s) and I thought I would change it, I think I choose 720? 740…dunno, then turned of the media player and went back to sleep…when I tried to turn it on in the morning, I couldnt see the screen. player is working and I reformatting the HDD just in case, I thought that would reset it but no, took the drive apart reassembled it still same, blank screen../

    can I reset it without plugging it in the TV, like through my pc? n e suggestions would be awesome.

  6. Hi I have managed to change the video display on my unit and cannot see anything now on screen. I am looking at my control but cannot see the F1 key to cycle through the options to get the correct one. Can you tell me where the F1 key is on the remote control please?

    Cheers

    Andy

  7. heya everyone,

    noob question- got a mg-35 changed my setup by pressing the wrong button under the video tab. now i only see blue and i do not have my remote control. what do i do. how can i reset my setup or settings without the remote.

    thanks

    ice noob

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