Mede8er Tips, Tricks and Tutorials

As it is one of our biggest selling player’s and won our Media Player of the month award we thought it would be nice to write up some little hints n tips for mede8er users.

Let’s start off with the Mede8er beginners guide - Click more for the rest!

Regards, DE Support Team support@digitalera.co.uk

1.Should you be having difficulty seeing your network shares, you can create a shortcut as follows:

      o Go to Media Library > Network > ‘My Shortcut’
      o Press MENU on the Remote & select ADD;
      o Type in your User Name, Password and IP Address

      OR

      o Select DETAIL
      o Type in a LABEL for the shortcut
      o Type in the USER NAME
      o Type in the PASSWORD
      o Type in the DOMAIN / WORKGROUP
      o Type in the SERVER (PC) NAME
      o Type in the IP ADDRESS

You will cut out a lot of the navigation nonsense and go straight into your shares. Pressing enter on the login field makes an on-screen virtual keyboard appear.
Use navigation buttons and ENTER to select the letters and select the OK button to finish.

2.

System setup menu description

System setup menu description (firmware version 2.0.2)
(this is a first attempt, a ‘living/growing’ document)

Menu Language
Set the desired Mede8er menu language

Change system font
User-defined font support – save any TTF font onto the root of your Local HDD or the root of a USB flash drive or the root of a SD Card and rename it font.ttf. Selecting this option you will then be able to choose between the Default font and your Font.ttf file and change the system font used in the GUI and subtitles.

Text Encoding
Text Encoding support for different languages (movie subtitles & music tags)
Set it to the correct value to correct the character support for your language if you are experiencing incorrect characters in subtitles or music tags.

System Update (System Upgrade / Save configuration / Restore configuration )
For all this features an USB Flash Disc (USB Stick) needs to be plugged into one of the 2 available Mede8er USB ports..
  o Save configuration: saves all setup values in a file on your USB flash disc
  o Restore configuration: restores configuration settings saved with the Save configuration option (loads file from the Flash disc)
  o System Upgrade: Used for upgrading or downgrading firmware revisions. Don’t use this option if Emergency Recovery Procedure is described in the firmware release notes as the preferred method.
WARNING – Configuration settings are not transferable between firmware versions 1.x and 2.x.

Time
Will synchronise Mede8er to set current time with NTP protocol.
This feature is only functional when your Mede8er is connected by network to the internet.
Set the right time zone and choose a time server.

DVD Auto-Play
Create an “autoplay” folder on internal HDD or USB Stick / SD  Card and load the folder with either music or video files (Do not mix media types, i.e do not mix music with pictures). On start up the Mede8er will automatically launch the “autoplay” folder automatically. ( “autoplay” folder name can be autoplay / Autoplay / AutoPlay)

Angle Mark[ (off / on)
Used when playing a dvd with multi-angle scenes. Select ‘ON’ and enjoy the same scene from all different angles contained in the DVD.

HDD Format
To format your Mede8er internal hard disk. Will create one NTFS partions and several small linux partitions to support Mede8er features.
Warning: using this feature will erase your disk. You will loose all data on it.

System Info
System information page showing: Software (Firmware) version, compilation date of firmware, bootloader version, hardware Mac address of both wired lan and wireless lan adapters (the wireless dongle is optional), HW board revision, internal hard disk model, internal hard disk capacity, internal hard disk free space available.

Restore Default
Feature to reset all the menu settings back to factory default settings.

3.Audio setup menu description

Audio setup menu description (firmware version 2.0.2)
(this is a first attempt, a ‘living/growing’ document)

Night Mode (off / on / comfort)
A description what Night Mode is: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080125184700AAB57dY

Digital Output
Setting used to configure your digital audio connection when using HDMI, Digital Coax or Digital Fibre-optic connection.
When using only analogue RCA cables you will always get only 2 channel stereo sound, regardless of the settings in this menu.

o HDMI Downmix (2ch): Use this setting when your Mede8er is connected with a HDMI cable to your TV and you only have 2 speakers in your TV. Also if you have attached a Home Cinema set or Audio Amp with only 2 speakers that is attached via HDMI cable to your TV.

o HDMI LPCM Multichannel: Use this setting when you are playing AAC Multichannel files and you have a audio amplifier attached to your TV with HDMI cable that is capable of playing LPCM Multichannel. (With this setting; AAC Multichannel is outputted as LPCM multichannel)

o HDMI Passthrough: Use this setting when your Mede8er is connected with a HDMI cable to your TV and your Home Cinema set or audio amp is connected through HDMI to your TV. Your audio set will switch to the right audio mode

o SPDIF Downmix (2ch): Use this setting when your Mede8er is connected with a Digital coax or fibre-optic cable to your audio set and your audio set is only capable running stereo (2 speaker system).

o SPDIF Passthrough: Use this setting when your Mede8er is connected with a Digital coax of fibre-optic cable to your audio set. Your audio set will switch to the right audio mode.

Mede8er Technical Specifications

Network setup menu description

Network setup menu description (firmware version 2.0.2)
Wired Lan Setup (DHCP IP Auto / FIX IP Manual)
Choose DHCP IP Auto if your Mede8er is connected by wired utp lan cable to a network router that has a built in DHCP server functionality that is enabled. (most routers have). Your Mede8er will get automatically an IP address then to be able to setup communication over your network. Leave the DNS server IP address default, only change this if you want to change this manually and not filled by DHCP protocol automatically. When DHCP setup is successful, you will see an IP address here, If not you will see the message DHCP Not ready. Then check your cable (link led on), check your router DHCP setting, hard-reset your Mede8er by unplugging DC-jack, power cycle your router.
Choose Fix IP Manual if your want to set your Mede8er IP-address manually. Fill in the IP address (should be unique, non existing on your network), subnet address (leave it standard 255.255.255.0 is just right for most home networks), fill in gateway address (ip address of your router if you have one, DNS server if you have one or supplied by your internet provider.
Using fixed ip configuration is used for: direct mede8er to pc connections with a wired utp crosscable, mede8er to hub/switch to PC connections without a DHCP (router)-server available and for the more experienced user to setup network parameters manually.

When you have setup your Mede8er IP-address (both manually or by DHCP method), you can verify functionality by opening a dos box on your PC and typing ping .  When setup correctly you should see a response.

Wireless Setup
Can only be used when there is a wireless WIFI dongle plugged into one of your USB ports and you have a wireless router or access point in signal reach of your Mede8er. Could also be a direct Wifi connection on your PC by USB Wifi dongle or other adapter.
Use the supplied USB extension that came with the Mede8er always, using this it will improve wireless signal quality.
Setup by selecting a profile (e.g. Connection1). Select a mode. Infrastructure when using a wireless router or access point. (in most cases the one to choose). Use ad-hoc setup when using a point to point wireless connection between mede8er and pc when you have no wireless router.
Infrastructure setup mode:: In the Get SSID Name you can select Auto and Manual setup mode. First try Auto, if that doesn’t work, try to use manual. Press enter on Auto. You will see the loading icon. After that a window opens where you can select your wireless router SSID name. Select the right one. On the Test Connection screen press enter again. On the next screen choose Wlan security setting used on your WLAN connection: Open (no security), WEP or WPA. Please check your router Wlan configuration if you don’t know what to select or what your security key is. Using WPA2 mode is preferred on your router configuration, because this will give the highest speed over wireless connection.
Now fill in your WEP or WPA key if using a secured connection and select OK on the virual keyboard on the screen.
On next screen you can choose to setup your WiFi ip address Auto or manually (same as in the Wired Lan section, read that regarding when to choose auto or not for IP setup).
Choose the one you like and confirm. The next screen will show all the settings, press again enter to save settings.
You will now see Testing on the screen. When setup is successful you will see Test OK on the screen and a confirmation of all the settings. Now press enter again and you have finished wireless setup.
On the network setup screen you will see now an IP address right to the Wireless Setup Menu option. If you see DHCP Not ready you failed your setup steps and you have to try again.

PPPoE Setup
PPPoE connection allows the Mede8er authenticate itself (user name, password, DNS) on ADSL so you can have multiple ISP accounts running concurrently.
This is useful in bandwidth-starved countries such as SA where you use one expensive low-latency ISP account for gaming, one cheap local-only account for surfing domestic internet sites and downloading email from local POPs, a Pay-As-You-Go account for the kids.
How to setup this section, please check your Internet Provider configuration parameters for PPPoE.

NAS Mode (Off / On)
Set this option to On if you have an internal disk in your Mede8er and you want to be able to access it over the network.
When enabled you can reach your Mede8er by browsing to it in Windows File Explorer under the network icon.
Or you can type \\hostname in your Internet Explorer window (e.g. \\mede8er if you left the hostname setting on default).
Warning: don’t use Filezilla browser, this method seems not to work with this browser.
When you have connected to your Mede8er you will see an icon call HDD1 which is the internal disk of your Mede8er.
You are now able to do all the usual things, like creating maps, copy files to it and deleting or renaming files.

Host Name
Option to set a preferred hostname. The default is Mede8er.

FTP
Option to enable FTP file transfer. Set a desired login name and password and switch it to on to use it.
Now your Mede8er can be reached over the network by using a FTP program on your PC pointing to the IP address of your Mede8er.
Don’t forget to open port 21 on your router pointing to the ip-address of your mede8er and also open port 21 in your firewall software on your PC, otherwise you will not be able to connect using FTP.
If you want to connect to your mede8er by FTP connection over the Internet, just use your WAN IP number of your router/broadband modem. Easy way to find it: What is my ip

Connecting the Mede8er to your PC via USB

USB CONNECTION TO PC
You can transfer files to and from the Mede8er via fast USB2.0 transfer. Use the included USB cable to connect the Mede8er MED500X to your PC. As soon as the cable from the Mede8er is connected to your PC the front LED on the Mede8er will switch off. To make the USB connection press the on/off button on the Mede8er and the LED will pulse blue then red then blue and switch off. The Mede8er will now connect.

The computer will automatically install the correct drivers and then you will be able to navigate the Mede8er like any normal external USB drive.
EXTERNAL USB DEVICE DRIVER NOT REQUIRED
NOTE: This described method of course only works if you have an internal disk in your Mede8er