[TIP] Mede8er 500X2/400X2/450X2 Beginners Guide

[Maasbommel]

Mede8er 500X2 Beginners Guide (based on firmware version 2.0.1)
(this is a 'living/growing' document)

First an impression of the MEDX500X2:
Short Youtube Impression
New V2 GUI part 1
New V2 GUI part 2

Start with reading the user manual.
You can find it here.

Placing and connecting your new Mede8er:

First make sure you place your new mede8er in a well ventilated spot.
Avoid placing it in a closed cabinet.
There should be enough airflow to cool your equipment otherwise it will become defective.
Also be careful when stacking several devices on top of each other, this could also heat up your equipment and eventually brick it.

Connecting the cabling:
 o Connect it to your TV with supplied HDMI, or if not available using the supplied RCA cables as described in the Quick Start Manual;
 o If you use a separate A/V receiver or amplifier for audio, you can connect that by a coax digital cable or a optical digital cable. If you have a receiver with HDMI inputs then that is not required if your audio set is also connected via HDMI cable to another HDMI connection on your TV;
 o Connect a wired (UTP) network cable if you want to use network functionality.

Now you are ready to power up your Mede8er.

Starting up your Mede8er for the fist time:
Be sure you have set your TV to the right auxiliary input (HDMI or analogue AV depending on what you are using)
Now press the power switch. Your Mede8er will power up, blue led goes on.
You will see the Mede8er logo on the screen. After some 10-15sec it is fully powered up and you should see the startup screen to choose your language and configure your network connection. Set this as desired - if network cable is attached then choose DHCP, otherwise cancel.
If you don't see anything on your screen, don't panic:
 - First check if you have selected the right input on your TV.
 - If that is OK, then press 1x on the TV Out button on your Mede8er and wait 10 secs. If you don't get output on your TV, repeat this step again until you get output on your screen. You can also use the TV SYS button on your remote control, this has the same function. By doing this procedure you will skip through all the different video modes of the Mede8er until it is set to a mode your TV set recognises, resulting in output on your screen.

Now you are ready to configure your Mede8er.

Go into the System Setup Menu from the Home screen.
Browse to it with the arrow keys on your remote and confirm with the ENTER button in the middle of the arrows.

Now go to the System Setup menu and select Misc and check Version Info. On this screen make a note of the Software Version. If it is not the latest version, then we need to update it. You can find the latest version in the Firmware Download section

Formatting your internal Mede8er disk and updating to latest firmware version:
If you have a hard disk installed or it was pre-installed, first format it from Mede8er setup menu. It is recommended to always format your HDD from the Mede8er Setup before you start using it in order to be able to make use the full Meder8er features and functionality; this will also prevent instability caused by improper format. You can find the format option under the Setup System section. It is default protected with a pin code (defaul pin is 0000).
Be carefull, any content on the disk will be erased.
If your Mede8er is not on the latest Firmware Version (Software Version), then now is the time to update it to the latest version. You can find the latest version here: Latest Firmware

Extract the downloaded firmware to a USB flash stick and follow up the attached update instructions carefully. Unpack the zip-file or rar-file. Be sure to place the install.img file on the root of your USB stick, preferably freshly full formatted before using it for the update.
There are 2 ways to install the update:
- by using the usb upgrade option in the Setup Misc menu (this will preserve configuration settings)
- by using the Firmware recovey emergency upgrade procedure.

Now you are complete ready to set up your video, audio and network.

System Setup Menu
o Setup System menu
o Setup Audio menu
o Setup Video menu
o Setup Network menu
o Setup Misc menu

If you have an internal disc in your mede8er the best way to organise your media files:
Just create some main folders on the disk, e.g. a folder Movies, Photos, Music.
And create Genre subfolder below.
 See this example
And then under these folder you create sub folders for each separatie Movie, etc.
Now link every Genre folder to the Favorites by pressing the menu button and choose Add to Favorites.
With TVIXIE or YAMJ or Thumbgen you can create nice about.jpg movie description files in each movie folder.
These files will be then visable in the preview window or media wall.
When pressing on the (i)nfo button on the remote control, you can "zoom in" to these movie descriptions.
With the View button you can switch between the 4 different view modes:
o Movie View mode: small cover size icons
o Audio View mode: square music cover size icons
o Photo View mode: rectangle photo size icons
o List View mode
o List View mode with preview picture

Basic functionality
o Favourites Menu and setting up JukeBox View Mode
o Media Library Menu
o Movie Search Menu
o Music Search Menu
o Photo Search Menu
o Internet Media Menu

Technical questions? Please look at the Technical support guidelines before posting them in the Technical Issue section or the Bug Report section. Good problem descriptions give fast answers.....

Frequently Asked Questions
[SETUP]
o Firmware recovery emergency upgrade procedure. READ THIS ALSO IF IT FAILS
o Where to find the latest available firmware version
o When should I use the 1080p 24hz option
o Connecting your Mede8er with supplied USB cable to your PC to copy files to the internal disk
o Mede8er MED10WF WiFi Dongle Quick start guide
o Easy setup your PC shares as Public share with Mede8er Share Manager Program
o How to setup network connection from Win 7 PC to Mede8er (Samba/Filesharing mode)
o How to setup network connection from Win Vista 32 PC to Mede8er (Samba/Filesharing mode)
o How to setup network connection from Win XP PC to Mede8er (Samba/Filesharing mode)
o How to setup network connection from Mede8er to PC (Samba/Filesharing mode)
o How to setup network connection from Mede8er to NFS server on PC
o How to setup NFS on the Mede8er
o How to get better (NAS) Network stability

[GENERAL USE]
o How to create a music play-list
o How to create shortcuts to your favourite folders for easy access
o Using the DNLA DMR function with Windows 7 Push To
o How to play all music contained in a folder & subfolders
o How to speed up loading of mp3 files with embedded artwork
o Mede8er 500X2 supported video codecs and audio codecs
o Where to download Media Info to check file video or audio codec
o Copy over network. How to increase speed
o How to convert a DVD TS structure to one iso file

[CUSTOMIZING]
o Creating nice movie description backgrounds with "scraping" tools YAMJ To-Mede8er or Thumgen
o Howto setup Thumbgen for use with V2 JukeBox view
o GlynRS2 genre icons for Mede8er Video Wall
  How to use these genre icons in your Favourites Menu, see How to create shortcuts to your favourite folders for easy access
o How to make use of the MED500X2 XML metadata functionality
o Howto give your Mede8er X2 a custom background
o Howto customize GUI font or Subtitle font


o more to come...

I hope this beginners guide is useful for all those new Mede8er 500X2 users here on the forum.
Please give a reply to this post if you like it or what improvement you like to see.
Expressions of compliments are ofcourse also welcome  

To the more experienced members over here:
If you have material to add to this Mede8er beginners guide, or other good remarks to make the contents better, please feel free to reply with a post with that contents to this beginners guide. If it really contributes, I will add it.

Cheers,
Maasbommel

[Maasbommel]

Revision update to match the new V2.0.0 firmware.

[Gandalf]

Link to the manual (line doesnt work

[Maasbommel]

Thanks - just fixed it.