Hauppauge MediaMVP Review - Conclusion

Overall, this device is very cool.  I can definitely see myself hooking this up to the TV in the living room, and being able to stream some music, either from my MP3 collection or from a live stream, and even show some photos from our latest vacation as the music plays.

Here are the pros and cons I found for this device:

Pros:

• Small, easy to configure product
• Easy access to photos, MP3s, and video on your machine
• Videos play nice and clear
• Full function remote control
• You can be up and running in less than five minutes
• Intuitive and easy to use

Cons:

• Video files can lock up PC services
• Internet radio requires odd two-step process

The fact that certain video files caused the PC services to lock up was a real weakness in this product, to me. You would think that some error correction would at least allow it to recover from a lock-up, or like I said earlier, maybe a monitor could be used to restart the service when it becomes unresponsive.  Either of these would have gone a long way to making this product a little better.

Based on this shortcoming (the odd Internet radio process was livable), I feel I must give this product a 6 out of 10 rating.  For most of what it does, this unit works flawlessly.  It's easy to use, easy to configure, and has a small footprint.  And for $99 at the time of this writing, it is a VERY cost effective way to get your computer media from your computer to your television.  But the weakness in the video stability is a hard knock.  If Hauppauge was able to address this issue, the score would have been much higher.

I'd like to thank Hauppauge for sending us the MediaMVP for review.  If you would like any more information on the MediaMVP, or any of Hauppauge's other products, visit their website at http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_mediamvp.html.