TViX Digital Movie Jukebox

Rating:
Summary: Versatile and portable, but the manual needs improvement
Review: Pros: Small size and very portable, barely larger than two 3.5" HDDs stacked together. It supports a wide range of file formats, has lots of A/V connection options, and the jukebox UI is very easy to use.

Cons: The manual does not cover a lot of setup details. The tiny cooling fan is a bit noisy. Video and sound file support is great, but a few more photo file formats would be nice. It only supports jpeg.

I ordered this device along with a separate 250GB HDD, which I installed myself. When I tried to set it up, I discovered that several critical details were not covered in the manual. For example, after I installed the HDD, I plugged it into my TV and powered it ON, expecting to see the setup menu. Nope, it won't get past the splash screen until the HDD is formatted. OK, so I figured that out, no problem. I then discovered that it can either act as an external USB storage device, or it can act as a multimedia jukebox, but it can't do both at the same time. Whenever I plug the USB cable into my PC, the video output is disabled. OK, I can live with that, but it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the manual, and I thought it might have been defective until I realized what was happening. Finally, the manual was a little skimpy on the steps to update the device's firmware, which you can download from the dvico website. The manual wasn't clear that you had to unzip the files into the device's root directory, rather it implied that they had to be in a subfolder. I figured that out with a little trial and error.

The setup menu is pretty simple, and it has a lot of video options, including 480p, 720p and 1080i, as well as selectable screen size options such as 4:3 and 16:9. Selecting the best combination took some trial and error, but I found one that looked right to me after a while.

You can create whatever folder structure you want on the HDD. The jukebox's UI lets you navigate the folders, select files to play, and create playlists. It displays file properties such as size, length, etc. I loaded a few DivX files, and it plays them without any problems. I didn't try any other video formats. I saw no stutters or artifacts. I tried playing a few WMA files, and they played fine through my TV speakers. I haven't hooked it up to the HT receiver yet, but I don't expect to have any problems when I do.

There is a file management application available on the Dvico website. I downloaded it and installed it on my PC, but I have not yet spent much time with it to see how useful it is.

The Dvico website mentions a carrying case, which would come in handy if you plan on taking your TViX with you when you travel. I have no idea where they are sold. Portability is one of the best features of this unit.


Rating:
Summary: TViX - What a great idea!
Review: This box is fantastic. I can play the ripped VOBS from a DVD. All you need to do is create a playlist to list the vob files in order. Divx support is very good as well. I formatted this drive (which is not included) with NTFS, and it worked without a hitch. Updating the firmware was a snap as well.

I have nothing but accolades for this little box.