Declutter your living space with the impressive TViX multimedia jukebox. This innovative silver-and-black gadget can be used as a multimedia jukebox, music depository, photo album and even as a portable storage solution for viewing videos, photos and playing back audio on a large display or hi-fi. There's no support for networking - wired or otherwise - but this truly is one of the most impressive hard disk drive-based gadgets we've seen. Definitely worth considering!

Pros: Snap to use; portable; remote control; flash upgradeable
Cons: Not networkable; no Wi-Fi or Bluetooth


TViX is a portable (123x172x68.5mm, 1.2kg) and stand-alone multimedia jukebox that plays back digital music, videos, and still images on a TV or hi-fi (it has no built-in screen). The extremely clever and useful product is available in a number of models and kits, with the 120GB unit costing £165 (ex. VAT) and the higher capacity 250GB model costing £230 (ex. VAT). Incidentally, the box works with any 3.5in. PATA hard disk drive formatted using FAT32 and NTFS (supports multi-partitions), so you can swap an existing drive and continue to use the data on it.

Using the gizmo couldn't be simpler. Simply connect TViX to your Windows-based PC using the built-in USB 2.0 port and the supplied cable and your PC should then recognise TViX as a regular USB external storage drive. Technophobes will be pleased to know that no software or drivers are required. You can then copy-and-paste your multimedia files, disconnect the device from your computer and then hook it up to a large display or hi-fi (after creating an auto-run folder) for more comfortable viewing of movies, images and listening to audio.

The greatest benefit of a device like the TViX is that it can be connected to different TV screens in various rooms in your home or friend's house, linked to a TV in a hotel room or even used as a digital jukebox in your car. However, you can't slave this device over a wired or wireless network to your PC and you can only download movies and music via a wired USB 2.0 connection - there's no FireWire port.

You don't need to be a computing geek to get the best from TViX, either. Its graphical, on-screen menu is intuitive and lists your media files in an easy-to read format. And you can point and click with the included infrared remote control for full navigation of all your media from the comfort of your sofa. You can also adjust video playback preferences and volume levels from the remote control, just like a regular TV and DVD player.

TViX is compatible with a relatively wide selection of media files, and DVD-Movies buffs will be pleased with full support for AC3 and DTS 5.1-channel playback. Video formats supported include DVD, DivX (3.11/4.0/5.0), Xvid, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, DAT and VOB, while audio formats comprise PCM, Ogg, MP3, WMA and WAV. Digital images have to be save in JPEG format (up to 1920x1080 pixels) and there's no support for RAW files, ASF, WMV, 3ivX and other file formats. Hopefully, support will come because the device can be flash updated.

Home-made DVD-Movies can be copied onto TViX to backup originals and to create a DVD library. And because the system supports DVD file formats, it retains the complete menu structure. In other words, you can copy across all of a DVD-Movie's files to the TViX and then watch the entire movie just like the original disc was playing in your DVD player. Audio files can also be classified into separate folders, where you can then create playlists.

Video output caters for both NTSC (720x480 pixels) and PAL (720x576 pixels), with up-scaling to 1280x720p and 1920x1080i. Aspect ratios include both 4:3 (Letter Box, Pan & Scan) and 16:9 widescreen. It also comes with just about every connector you could need, including analogue stereo audio out, composite, component (YPbPr), and S-Video out, and both co-axial and optical digital audio outputs. It's a shame there's no Bluetooth, because you could wirelessly send camera phone images to the device without having to boot your computer.

In addition to the relatively large remote control, playback of media files can be achieved using the player's silver buttons. For instance, you can play and stop files, forward and rewind tracks, access the on-menu screen, as well as confirm options.

There's also a power button at the front of the device, in addition to three LEDs that indicate when the unit is powered, writing to the hard disk drive or playing back media files. The remote receiver is also situated at the front of the device. [8]

BIOS, Aug 04, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Multimedia