Conclusion
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: mediagate, mg, 350hd
7. Conclusion
I have to admit, in theory the Mediagate MG-350HD is a neat little device. It's compact, multifunctional, and it can play file formats on your television that would otherwise require an expensive HTPC setup. Someone looking to play a few family videos on the big screen periodically might find the MG-350HD useful. On the other hand, anybody looking to use this device as a day-to-day media player will most likely be disappointed in it. The wait times alone would frustrate even the most patient of people.
Setting the MG-350HD up was not difficult enough to require a degree in "geek", but it was definitely beyond the skill level of a novice user. The manual will not help the novice much either. Its instructions assume that the user has a basic knowledge regarding networking, computers and electronics. People who are intimidated by programming their VCR will likely be completely baffled by the setup instructions.
If you're interested in the MG-350HD because you're not quite ready to jump into a home theater PC, I'd hesitate to recommend it to you. Even if you're looking primarily for a single HDD NAS with wireless functionality, the cost of the MG-350HD should be considered (It was available without a HDD for about $250 at the time of this review) Considering that a quick google search brought up a Dlink multiple drive NAS with 802.11g and Gigabit for $156, the MG-350HD comes up short of a bargain.
Personally, I would not consider purchasing the MG-350HD, nor would I recommend it to others. There are just too many flaws to overcome before you can really sit back and enjoy the video playback functions. The cost is a little high for my taste as well. After all, I could be almost halfway to a functional HTPC with that $250.
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this is a neat device with some flaws.
the GUI is slow, but is much better if you upgrade to the latest firmware. A lot of GUI probs are fixed.
One (big) flaw remains : i found out that some movies dont play well, they have choppy playback. About 1 out of 10 movies fails to play properly, which is way to high for my liking. An xbox1 will play everything just fine.
I emailed freecom about it: they say new (and better) software that deals with the codecs wont be in any future firmware. The decoding is in the hardware, so the 'flaw' will never be fixed.
I stick with my xbox1