http://www.osnews.com/story/12823/Review_Linux-based_TVisto_Series_3_5_Multimedia_HDD_Enclosure Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:37:25 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://osnews.com/thread?66659 http://osnews.com/thread?66659 What were they thinking? If it had a network jack I would consider getting one, but I'd hate to have to this thing to my desktop just to load up the files.


matt Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vondur) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66666 http://osnews.com/thread?66666 Well, don't forget that this IS a mobile solution. So getting it to your PC is not a big deal. But yes, there is some inconvenience there.

In my case, it is very easy to actually move the enclosure, but it's really a pain to have to also move the power supply to my office and re-attach it there. I have LOTS of cables on the back of my desks and doing so is really, really a pain.

So, yeah, while moving the enclosure itself is easy, having to deal with the power supply is not. This is why an ethernet jack with a samba server in it would be ideal. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66682 http://osnews.com/thread?66682 The Mvisto looks even better; it appears to be the same hardware/firmware as the TVisto but in a much smaller case. Unfortunately the Mvisto appears to be available in every country except the USA!? Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Wes Felter) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66686 http://osnews.com/thread?66686 The MVisto is for 2.5" laptop hard drives, which are more expensive and slower than the 3.5" ones.

Alternatively, you can always get the TVisto for 2.5" if you really need something really small. It's linked from the article above. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66715 http://osnews.com/thread?66715 On the TVisto's site, systems requirements I noticed it only shows it is for Windows and MAC.
How come no mention of Linux.
It is running Linux, and you would think even if the bigger market is for Windows users, at least a mention of Linux should be appropriate.

This makes no sense. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 20:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (LinuxHawk) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66720 http://osnews.com/thread?66720 From the pictures of the back, it looks like they use some sort of proprietary video/audio connectors. They provide one A/V cable with the package. For VGA/HDTV video and digital audio, it looks like you have to purchase some additional accessories.

There seems to be some good potential for car installs. I really like that it supports ISOs and Ogg Vorbis. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66721 http://osnews.com/thread?66721 For a commercial company, it does make sense of sense actually. Points:

1. MacPower, the manufacturer, doesn't necessarily develops the firmware too. In this case, they don't have developers on board to "force" their marketing/sales dept to support Linux as a desktop platform for it.
2. Most Linux distributions don't mount automatically and give the right RW permissions to normal users. This is a major support headache for all similar companies. They simply don't want to deal with it (and I personally would do the same, support people cost too much).
3. Formatting the disk (which is required the first time you put a new drive in it) under Linux is also not a "right-click affair". Again, support costs.
4. The recommended file system to format the drive with is NTFS. Many Linux distros don't come with NTFS pre-installed because of patent issues, so users would have to use either FAT32 (which is problematic with filesizes over 4GB) or HFS+ (which Windows doesn't support -- no other file systems are supported by the firmware). Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66723 http://osnews.com/thread?66723 3.5":

# Playback Media Formats Video:
# MPEG-1 (AVI, MPG)
# MPEG-2 (AVI, VOB), ISO
# MPEG-4 (AVI, DivX, DivX VOD, XviD)

# DivX Subtitle:
# SUB (MicroDVD format)
# SRT (SubRIP format)
# SMI (SAMI format)
# Embedded Multiple Subtitle support

# Audio:
# WAV
# MP3
# MPEG-4 (AAC)
# WMA
# AC3
# OGG Vorbis

# Photo:
# JPG baseline and progressive up to 8 mega pixel

# Supported File Systems:
# NTFS
# FAT32
# HFS+

2.5":

# Playback Media Formats Video:
# MPEG-1 (AVI, MPG)
# MPEG-2 (AVI, VOB)
# MPEG-4 (AVI, DivX, DivX VOD, XviD)

# Audio:
# MP3

# Photo:
# JPG baseline and progressive up to 8 mega pixel

# Supported File Systems:
# FAT32 (single or up to 4 multiple partitions)

Isn't the difference a little bit too drastic? Why is format and FS support in the 2.5" version so poor? After all, 2.5" drives, while smaller, obviously have enough capacity to install all necessary software ;-) They could make a much cooler product with 2.5" (the same versatility plus a more compact package), but apparently didn't want that... What's the reason? Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Temcat) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66728 http://osnews.com/thread?66728 My guess is that because the 2.5" is physically much smaller, they had to use less memory and maybe even less video-related electronics. For example, if the firmware of the 3.5" runs on 4 MBs with two chips of 2 MBs each, they had to run on a single chip of 2 MBs on the 2.5" version. And that would mean only one thing: removal of drivers and code in order to fit on the 2 MBs ROM. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66763 http://osnews.com/thread?66763 Eugenia,

From a layman's point of view what was the video and audio playback quality like compared to PC, any unecpected artifacts, colours, pops etc? Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66769 http://osnews.com/thread?66769 Quality was really good. Only one DivX video from the 15-20 videos I tried was ignoring some frames (it was not dropping frames per se, it was just ignoring some of them, it seemed like an incompatibility with the switches used on the encoder that created that video -- which seemed to be Cyberlink's encoder).

Other than that, quality of sound, pictures and all videos was perfect. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66779 http://osnews.com/thread?66779 Eugenia, can you try playing an .M4A file? The specs are a little unclear about whether this format is supported. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Wes Felter) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66793 http://osnews.com/thread?66793 Send me a (small) such file (or a download url) so I can try it. I have no .m4a files here. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66796 http://osnews.com/thread?66796 This thing looks pretty awesome, I wonder what the hackability of it is?

I'm thinking about getting one and hacking around with it to get a USB wireless adapter and Samba installed. (Once the wireless adapter is installed, one could mount a directory from one's mythtv and use this as a second head for it).

I was looking at building a wireless mythtv "client" (ie, just the player, no tuners(server in other room)) with similar hardware specs to this and kept coming up around $450, this'll save me some bucks. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (intangible) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66811 http://osnews.com/thread?66811 Ah, here we go, looking for a solution to make this work wirelessly, found these items; Theoretically, one can just plug it in as a USB drive and go:

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=12&l2=44&l3=0&mod...
Looks nice and small, does only what you need and nothing more, $88

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=12&l2=43&l3=0&mod...
Does a little more, can use as a replacement for my router, $99

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=390
About the same as above, but I seem to find quite a few people with problems with it... $99 Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (intangible) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66820 http://osnews.com/thread?66820 ive seen similar ones, and they all look more like hacks then proffesional products that will maintain support. One big question for me is: It says it supports VOBs, can it use DVD menus with VOB files?

Specs arent always everything, has anyone confirmed with the company that the 2.5" has that many more features lacking? Also any confirmation on FLAC support?

My basic desires are: FLAC and VOB w/ Menus

Price is a plus (thats why Im lookuing at the 2.5") Tue, 29 Nov 2005 22:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66829 http://osnews.com/thread?66829 ok, I encoded an .m4a file with the latest iTunes (non-DRM'ed) and placed it on the device. So, it doesn't play them. I even copy/renamed that .m4a file to .aac or .mp4 (just in case), and it would still not play them. So, I guess it doesn't support that particular file format.

This is clearly stated on the bottom of their page btw:
http://www.galaxymetalgear.com/Tvisto.htm
*** AAC stands for "Adaptive Audio Coding" and does not support AAC files created by iTunes!

If you want me to try a non-iTunes .m4a file, send me one and I will try it for you.Edited 2005-11-29 23:14 Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:06:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66832 http://osnews.com/thread?66832 > It says it supports VOBs, can it use DVD menus with VOB files?

I don't know about .vob files with menus (plain vob do playback), but it DOES support menus when the DVD is extracted as an .ISO instead. It is a much more prefered method to play DVDs via this device.

>Also any confirmation on FLAC support?

Not supported. Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66847 http://osnews.com/thread?66847 ...NTFS instead of FAT32 or HFS+ (all 3 file systems are supported in read/write mode)...

What's this? NTFS in read/write? Is that (safely) possible? Are they using OSS drivers, if so which ones? Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:36:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (DittoBox) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66853 http://osnews.com/thread?66853 The device has --obviously-- two modes: one as a simple drive enclosure and one as an embedded multimedia device.

It is READ-only when Linux loaded when connected on the TV. It is Read-write when you connect the device to a Windows PC. You can't rename/edit/delete files when connected to TV (in linux mode). Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66854 http://osnews.com/thread?66854 Well, I am pretty lazy, and my computer is in a different building from my house, plus, did I mention I', lazy? Hopefully that rumored Intel Based Apple mac mini thingy will come out. Otherwise one of these days I'm going to have to put together a myth tv box.


matt Tue, 29 Nov 2005 23:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vondur) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66872 http://osnews.com/thread?66872 Thanks for trying this. I have to wonder what kind of "MPEG-4 AAC" files exsit that don't use the MP4 container. Maybe raw bitstreams.

I guess this is the new world of multimedia, where devices support tons of bastardized, nonstandard formats instead of the standard formats. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Wes Felter) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66886 http://osnews.com/thread?66886 I was wondering if you could test the following two files for me, they represent a sample DVB (satellite mpeg-2 format). This is the format DISH network uses, at 544x480 resolution NTSC.

http://rapidshare.de/files/8356896/DVB_Tvisto_Test.rar.html

The .vdr file is from my PVR, the mpg file is the same .vdr file converted into a program stream MPG-2. If you could please try this:

1. Try to play the .vdr file (if it doesn't recognize the extention..then..see #2)

2. Rename the .vdr file to .mpg/mpeg and try it.

3. Try to the converted .mpg file included (it's different than just renaming like above)

I'd like to know if Tvisto can play raw DVB recordings, either with the .vdr suffix or just renaming it to .mpg. If it won't, I'd like to know if it will play PS MPEG files that are nonstandard NTSC resolutions (544x480).

SOunds like a lot, but would only take you five minutes max! Thanks! Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66897 http://osnews.com/thread?66897 1. DVB_544x480_Raw.vdr
Doesn't "see" it at all in the file list.

2. DVB_544x480_Raw-vdr.mpg (the above renamed)
Doesn't play it at all.

3. DVB_544x480_Raw.mpg (converted)
Plays it for about 3 seconds correctly and then exits abruptly. It seems to be either too high-res to decode or something else in that specific format that doesn't like.

Please note that normal .mpg video files play just fine (e.g. SVCD quality). Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66899 http://osnews.com/thread?66899 Thank you very much, that format is nonstadard in almost every way, it was long shot. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66904 http://osnews.com/thread?66904 Also if you look at the specs, seems like TVisto supports more formats... especially in Audio and subtitles. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 01:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mail4asim) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66909 http://osnews.com/thread?66909 Found it for a little less over here...

TvistoU2F $155.00


http://www.dealsurprise.com/raatxmidtoca.html Wed, 30 Nov 2005 01:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mail4asim) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66952 http://osnews.com/thread?66952 Actually, I think i read mention that ntfs read/write support is stable enough in kernel 2.6.14. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 03:47:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (joelito_pr) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66954 http://osnews.com/thread?66954 hi Eugenia,

Does this wonderful stuff support 110V electricity? I am in Japan, and the only electricity voltage available is 110V, not 220V as in other countries.

I suppose that it is OK, as it is kind of mobility device (?), same as laptop, which supports all kinds of power voltage (?)

Thanks. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 03:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?66956 http://osnews.com/thread?66956 Yes it is. You will need an adapter for the different kind of plug, but the voltage is supported: from 100 to 240V. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 03:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67014 http://osnews.com/thread?67014 That is really nice, but unfortunately they dont ship it outside of US. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67017 http://osnews.com/thread?67017 Eugenia,

# Video Outputs:
# NTSC/PAL Composite Video
# S-Video
# Analog YPbPr Video
# SCART RGB
# VGA (1024x768)
# HDTV (480p, 720p, 1080i)

I have a very old TVset (produced in 199x), but I am not sure that this device supports my TV. How can I confirm that?

I guess the "NTSC/PAL Composite Video" stands for normal/old TV?

Thanks Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67019 http://osnews.com/thread?67019 Yes, your TV most probably has either S-Video and/or the normal 3 AV jacks (the red, white and yellow inputs). So yes, I am sure it works.Edited 2005-11-30 07:58 Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67020 http://osnews.com/thread?67020 I just tried to order this stuff from Geeks.com to Japan, and the lowest shipping price is "FedEx International Economy $86.00". That is a crazy price!!!

Anybody can recommend me a better online shop with cheaper shipping fee?

Thanks. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67026 http://osnews.com/thread?67026 Please email me in person, I might be able to help out with this. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67066 http://osnews.com/thread?67066 It's a bloody shame that they don't support ext2 / ext3. My external harddisk now uses ext3, and I mostly use it with windows. ext2 support for windows is much better than ntfs support for linux. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 11:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (evert) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67107 http://osnews.com/thread?67107 The MediaGate MG-35N is basically the same device but also allows you to access it via ethernet.

http://www.mediagate.co.kr/english/prod_mg35n.htm

I currently own the 2.5" version, and it plays back almost anything I throw at it.

http://www.mediagate.co.kr/english/prod_mg25.htm

Here's a review of the MG-25:

http://www.urbangiraffe.com/2005/03/03/mg25/

Coolerguys.com has the 2.5" version for US$99.95

http://www.coolerguys.com/840556020455.html Wed, 30 Nov 2005 13:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (SkyLr) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67133 http://osnews.com/thread?67133 Is there an ext2/ext3 driver for Windows XP? If so, where could I download it?

I'm currently using an extra FAT32 partition to move data back and forth between Linux and Windows, but having r/w access to my Linux home folder from Windows would be so much better! Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (null_pointer_us) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67167 http://osnews.com/thread?67167 There are 2 drivers with RW support, so you CAN use ext2 in Windows. Beware: no journalling (ext3). You can read/write to ext3 without journalling, so no problem there.

I recommend Stephan:
http://www.fs-driver.org/

But more mature is Matt:
http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/

Matt rules with ext2fsd, which is a reasonably mature file system driver, around for much longer than Stephan Schreiber's Ext2 IFS. But using it with USB devices is sometimes a hassle.

Stephan Schreiber's Ext2 IFS may do for USB Harddisks and memory sticks, and is also easier to install and configure.

Stephan Schreiber: Neither different code pages nor UTF-8 encoded file names are supported. The driver always uses the current code page of Windows. The next version will support UTF-8.
Matt: codepage utf8 supported (but not working?) Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (evert) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67176 http://osnews.com/thread?67176 Thanks! I installed Stephan's but still couldn't see my drives. Apparently, my ext2 partitions are in a Linux LVM partition which Windows doesn't know how to handle, so I'm back to square one. Do you any idea how to resolve this? My search on a LVM driver for Windows turned up nothing. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (null_pointer_us) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67186 http://osnews.com/thread?67186 I'm sorry, but I think there is no software to handle Linux LVM partitions for Windows. Bad luck. You could consider to move your linux home directory to the partition where FAT32 now resides (first, format it to ext2 and make backups). Be careful. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (evert) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67207 http://osnews.com/thread?67207 Yeah, I've "misplaced" my user data enough times in both Windows and Linux to steer clear of any quick fixes. The safest way is probably to wait until FC5 is released, move my /home partition out of LVM, and use the FC5 installer to select the right location for the new /home mount point. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (null_pointer_us) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67258 http://osnews.com/thread?67258 Does it have a fan? Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:55:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67266 http://osnews.com/thread?67266 No, it does not have a fan. But it has holes in the alumninium base for the hard drive to "breath". So, regarding noise, it all depends if your hard drive you place in it is noisy or not. Wed, 30 Nov 2005 19:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?67461 http://osnews.com/thread?67461 I recently purchased a Tvisto unit from one of Macpower's OEM customers.

I only bought it after reading the Cnet review. I guess seeing Iomega was carrying it also helped.

In the US http://www.g-technology.com/index.cfm is reselling the Mvisto version.


http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/dvdpvr/0,39030417,39188428,00.htm

http://www.iomega-europe.com/eu/en/products/screenplay/screenplay_f...


Lots of good products out there. Thu, 01 Dec 2005 03:54:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments http://osnews.com/thread?68677 http://osnews.com/thread?68677 Im wondering, you said "I did the "mistake" of drag-n-dropping all my 240 music files to the "Music" folder and so I then experienced a very slow response"

does this mean 240 individual songs or 240 folders with songs in them? Would it access faster if albums were in their own folders?

Also, is there anyway to sort the music collection when using the remote and tv?

Thank-you Sun, 04 Dec 2005 18:28:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Anonymous) Comments