Product Description

Model Number:ME1 Package Type:Retail Warranty:90 Days Enclosure Type:External Compatible With:3.5" P-ATA HDD External Interface:USB 2.0 Device port USB 2.0 Host port Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) port AV Out AV In Y, Pb, Pr (NTSC/PAL, NTSC/PAL progressive scan, 720p, 1080i) Internal Interface:P-ATA Data Transfer Rate:RJ-45: 10/100Mbps USB2.0: 480Mbps Width:44.3mm Height:136.6 mm Depth:207.5mm Net Weight:0.65Kg Special Features:Play music, high resolution photo, and HD video Browse photo with background music playing One Touch Record and Time-shift input video from AV-in port Stream file from PC in the LAN through Ethernet port Capacity: max 500GB Package Contents:Power Adapter Power Lead A/V Leads USB2.0 Lead Remote control

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38365 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Emprex
• Model: ME1
• Released on: 2008-10-29

Customer Reviews

Very good low cost product almost worth 5 stars
SUPPORT AND UPGRADING OF FIRMWARE:-
Firstly it is well worth the trouble of visiting the Emprex web site and downloading one or both of the firmware upgrades. There is information for each in a pdf file. I downloaded both and applied the one named MEB_S2.08.K1 USB_InstallAP.zip first then the one called MEB_P1.08.K1.b1.zip. I am not sure if the order is important but doing it that way worked. The upgrade allows for the scheduling of recordings and also allows the automatic preview, which can slow things down, to be turned off.

THE REMOTE:-
The remote can be a bit awkward in use and some of my other remote controllers seem to cause the device to stop recording. I am assuming they share the same signal. This may account for some problems other user's have with missed recordings.
The interface is a little unrefined but so far it runs very well and I am happy with it.

THE DISK DRIVE:-
Fitting an IDE 3.5" drive (in my case 320 GB) to the enclosure is very easy. The device will tend to run a little hot but I would suggest this is normal. Do allow the device to be well ventilated and the small, almost noiseless fan to be unobstructed.

A possible PROBLEM:-
On 7/8/2008 disaster struck and I lost the 65 entries (127GB) I had recorded. The recordings were held, in an area of the device invisible to Windows users, as one large file with a ..vro extension. This is the way the device works even if each recording is made separately. The trouble is that if for any reason, such as loss of power, a corruption occurs the entire file can become corrupted.
The device may then be unable to play previous recordings, make new ones or delete previous ones. In short nothing involving the .vro file works very well. The solution to this is to reformat the disk using the format option from the menu system. Note that everything is then lost including the contents of the fat32 partition.

A possible SOLUTION:-
It is better to use the maximum fat32 partition during the formatting. This is because it is best to copy the recordings to the fat32 area of the disk as soon as possible after recording because each recording is then held as an individual file and much less likely to get corrupted.
After coping the original can be deleted to keep the size of the .vro file to a minimum, thus avoiding the data loss of a corruption.
In the event of the .vro file becoming corrupted the media file area will still be usable and your recordings can be downloaded to computer BEFORE you use the utility on the menu system to reformat the disk.
Unfortunately there seems to be no way to delete the corrupted .vro file without also formatting the disk and so losing everything in the fat32 partition.

Using the device with UBUNTU/Linux:-
I originally used the device with UBUNTU/Linux and made the FAT32 partition the minimum size possible. UBUNTU can see the other disk partition so files can in theory be copied to computer directly, without first coping to the FAT32 partition, using the USB port. Due to the way the device stores recordings this turned out to be a bad idea. So use the method above to keep the files on a large fat32 partition.

If connecting this device to a computer running UBUNTU only access the fat32 partition if you want to copy files between the device and the computer. When you are finished unmounted the fat32 partition then unplug the USB cable. DO NOT unmount the other partitions on the disk as UBUNTU appears to corrupt them when it unmounts them. In any case these partitions should have been unmodified by you.

BEST FORMATS:-
Recording using LP works quite well in UBUNTU and the files can then be viewed using VLC media player or Movie Player simply by coping the files from the fat32 partition of the device to disk.
If it is required to generate .avi files these files can be read into Avidemux and saved.
The following settings seem to work well in general and also for burning to a DVD to be played in most modern DVD players.
Video :- MPEG-4 (lavc)
Audio :- MP3 (LAME)
Format :- AVI

SCART to RGB:-
As the input to the device is using RGB you may have to use a SCART to RGB converter. The best type has a switch which should be set to OUT if you are using the SCART socket of a freeview box, DVD player, ect. Also remember to check that you have set the device with the SCART socket to output an RGB signal within the SCART. This may require you to use the setup menu on the freeview box or DVD player depending on the model.


An additional note about the device stopping recording :-

The device will at times stop recording for no apparent reason. I have no idea why but if you playback a recording as you record a new one then this fixes the problem.


SUMMARY:-.
It should be a much better and more cost effective option than the DVD Recorder/ Re-Writeable DVDs I was previously using. The loss of about one months recording was a bit annoying as I tend to record things I really wanted to watch when I have time. The only disadvantage to this method is like a PC if you lose the disk it is all lost! Regular backups might be a good idea.
It would also help if the software on the device would allow a new .vro file to be created without the need to reformat the fat32 partition. Also one .vro file for each recording might offer a more fault tolerant design.

good product
I bought one of these and installed a 500gb drive for plenty of storage, was going to go for a normal external hard drive, but spotted these media players that can serve both as a hard drive and a media player for my lounge. Ive had no problems with it yet, apart from remote being very directional. Ive wired it up to my surround av amp in the lounge to play my extensive music collection and its great for that. photos look good through the hi-def output. all in all very happy

Brilliant Product
I've had this unit for around 8 months now, and it's now become an essential part of our living room. Easy to download to and play, the upgraded firmware on the internet is a definite must.

What I hadn't realised about this unit is the massive fan base on the internet. Typing Emprex ME1 into a popular search engine should reveal a blog, Google Group and forum dedicated to the unit, which is apparently visited by one of the Emprex UK managers. Very useful.

Little notes... the remote is appalling, however it seems there's possible interoperability with the Xbox remote in the near future, which should hopefully improve things ten-fold.

The unit itself however, is faultless.