Cisco-Linksys 500 GB Media Hub with LCD

by Cisco

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 11.2 x 9.4 inches ; 6.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001M0MPK0
• Item model number: NMH405
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,330 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

	"The sleek, intuitive interface does an excellent job of both searching for and organizing photos, music, and movies. Storing and streaming media might not be novel, but it's never been this user-friendly." "…presents an easy way to consolidate and navigate through all of your networked audio, video and photos."

Unlike other storage solutions, Media Hub organizes your videos, photos and music for you!

Music
Easily search and play your music collection by title, artist or album. Want to listen to your music at the office or when you’re traveling? Just access your Media Hub over the Internet.

Photos
Media Hub gathers all your photos, even if they are scattered across multiple computers to create a more complete digital photo collection.  Now finding the photos you want is quicker and easier. And you can share them with family and friends over the Internet right from you Media Hub.

Video & Movies
Home videos or downloaded movies take up an enormous amount of room on your computer.  Move them to the Media Hub and make sure that they are safer and easily accessible.  Media Hub stores hundreds of hours of home videos or high definition movies.

Includes two hard drive bays. With the Linksys by Cisco Media Hub it's easy to view and listen to your digital memories on any PC, laptop, or TV(2) in the house. The Media Hub consolidates songs from the same album but stored on different PCs into one virtual album. And when you’re traveling or away from home, you or your family and friends can remotely access your media from anywhere in the world through an available Internet connection. Now you can upload and instantly share your digital photos or listen to your entire music library right from the Internet without lugging around a hard drive. Remote access is available free from Cisco for the first 12 months after you sign up (thereafter fees may apply). Linksys by Cisco Media Hubs also include automatic backup software so you can save your treasured photos, music, and videos in one device should your computers ever crash or are stolen. Media Hubs have also been engineered to be automatically recognized and accessed by Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio components, so you can get your digital music off of your PCs and playing throughout your home.  

Product Features:
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet port for incredibly fast file transfers to Gigabit capable routers or switches * Vibrant color LCD display for monitoring status of the device or activating tasks * Includes Ethernet cable * Includes power adapter with power cord * Two USB ports for additional connection to external USB hard drives * Two SATA  hard drive bays * UPnP Certified * Integrated flash card reader

Introducing Linksys by Cisco Media Hubs
You love your media, so treat it well. The Media Hub makes it easy to organize, access, and share your digital video, photos, and music--around your home and around the world. With massive capacity, intelligent aggregation, and media-optimized sharing and file-serving capabilities, it’s an ideal way to manage your material, enjoy your entertainment, and share your memories. Show your media how much you love it--give it a Hub.  


Store Your Treasured Files
Find It, Store It, Access It 
The Linksys by Cisco Media Hub finds your files where they live on your home network. Got three songs on your laptop and the rest on another computer? It’ll find them and organize them by artist and album. Same for your photos, movies, and documents. So your files are accessible and orderly, in one place, whether you’re at home or on the road. 

Share with Family & Friends
Web Access--It’s a digital photographer’s dream. If you shoot a lot of photos and have had issues emailing them, then the Media Hub offers you a better way. Thanks to our remote access hosted by Cisco, you can give out your Media Hub’s Web address so friends and family can view your photos in the same place. 

Remote Streaming and Downloads
Music fans know that their favorite songs are more enjoyable when they’re accessible. Imagine if you could set the mood anywhere you go with just the right track, or DJ a party without bringing a thing. Movie buffs and home videographers can also upload and download wherever they go. So no one has to miss those first steps. 

Media Readers (NMH400 Series)
With the Media Hub 400 series, you can even pop your SD card right into the Media Hub, skipping the PC step entirely. Off on an adventure? Stop in an Internet cafe to upload photos remotely to your Media Hub’s Web address, so they’re more secure and available for viewing. 

Now Playing: 3 HD Streams at Once
Play your media around your house. The Media Hub is capable of streaming three simultaneous high-definition video streams. So you can have a dance party in the living room, a photo slideshow in the family room, and movies for the little guys in the basement.

Automatic or On-Demand Backup 
Photos, home movies, and precious documents are irreplaceable. But they’ll be safer and more secure with timed automatic backup. The files in the folders you choose can be automatically copied to the Media Hub on a recurring basis. So you never have to think about backing them up again. 

Expandability 
You’ve got options. Use your own hard drive, or choose one of ours. Media Hub models are available with hard drives and there’s an extra drive bay so you can add another hard drive. Depending on your hard drive configuration, you can have room enough to fill your Media Hub with hundreds of thousands of photos or music files, and hundreds of hours of movies.

How Does Streaming Work?
The Media Hub plugs into your wireless router and then streams your files:  

The Media Hub’s software interface makes it easy to view and play your photos, music and movies right on any PC on your home network. You don’t even need a live Internet connection.	If you have a PlayStation3, XBOX 360 or other media extender/DMA, you can stream movies and slideshows from the Media Hub to your TV.	UPnP-enabled wireless music bridges or receivers, including Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio systems, can play digital music stored on your Media Hub.

Other Linksys by Cisco Media Hubs



Linksys by Cisco Media Hub with LCD (Model #NMH410)
• Includes one 1 TB SATA Hard Disk Drive powered by Western Digital GreenPower™ technology and an additional bay to add another
• Accepts Compact Flash devices, SD cards and Memory Stick, plus files found within your network
• Manage your storage space with a built-in full-color LCD (or from PC or Web) 

 

 

 

Linksys by Cisco Media Hub (Model #NMH305)
• Includes one 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive powered by Western Digital GreenPower™ technology and an additional bay to add another
• Accepts files from USB devices, plus files found within your network.
• Manage your storage space from your PCs or the Web 






Other Great Products That Work with Linksys by Cisco Media Hubs 

Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio
Invite a Whole New World of Music Into Your Home. Open up a whole new world of music to play throughout your entire home. Access millions of songs from Rhapsody®(3) or thousands of radio stations from all over the planet with RadioTime®(4). Play from your iTunes®(5) libraries or from your iPod® with the Docking Station. Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio makes it all possible. The leaders in networking technology bring you a whole new audio solution that brings all this music to your fingertips. Send and control music to every room in your home--wirelessly! Send different music to different rooms or the same songs for the whole house in precise synchronization.


Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N Routers (Model #s WRT610N, WRT310N)
Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N is an ideal technology to deliver audio and video throughout your home. Connect a Linksys by CiscoMedia Hub to a Gigabit Ethernet port at the back of a WRT610N or WRT310N router for incredibly fast file transfers between your home’s PCs and your Media Hub. With the Linksys by Cisco Wireless Home Audio system and a Linksys by Cisco Wireless-N router, there’s no need to hire contractors to drill holes in your walls and run cables throughout your home, to connect devices to one another. Now you have a system that’s quick and easy to install and place virtually anywhere in your house(6).

 

An Internet connection is required to access Internet services and Internet radio. Internet services availability may vary by country. A wireless router is required. A Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router recommended for best performance. A computer equipped with Adobe Reader is required to view the User Guide. IR Remote Control does not have full functionality with Player. Not all MP3 players may be compatible.  Specifications are subject to change without notice. Linksys, Cisco and the Cisco Logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries.  Copyright © 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 
1 - Includes Remote Access service for one year from date of purchase. Fees may apply thereafter and are subject to change. 
2 - Viewing media on a TV requires a UPnP-compatible digital media player
3 - Rhapsody is a registered trademark of RealNetworks, Inc. Rhapsody account required to access Rhapsody service.
4 – RadioTime is a registered trademark of RadioTime, Inc.
5- iTunes and iPod are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. “Made for iPod” means that an electronic accessory has been designed to connect specifically to iPod and has been certified by the developer to meet Apple performance standards. Apple is not responsible for the operation of this device or its compliance with safety and regulatory standards. Other brands and products are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. 
6 - Maximum performance derived from IEEE Standard 802.11 specifications. Actual performance can vary, including lower wireless network capacity, data throughput rate, range and coverage. Performance depends on many factors, conditions and variables, including distance from the access point, volume of network traffic, building materials and construction, operating system used, mix of wireless products used, interference and other adverse conditions.

Product Description
Enjoy your digital music, photos, and videos throughout your home! The Linksys Media Hub stores your favorite media files, and lets you view and listen to them on any PC, laptop, or TV¹ in the house, or through the Internet anywhere in the world! The pre-installed hard drive holds thousands of photos or songs, or hundreds of hours of DVD quality video¿, and the empty second drive bay and two USB ports let you add even more storage as your collection grows. The Media Hub presents your music, photo, and video collections in an attractive "catalog view" from most web browsers. There are no confusing network addresses to remember; give your Media Hub a personalized "name" (i.e., "Smith-Media"), and just type it into your browser to view the catalog. Use the same name to log in to your Media Hub from a web browser anywhere, and get the same easy-to-use access to your media.³

Product Description

Linksys By Cisco Media Hub with LCD ( Storage 500GB, additional Bay available to add more storage )

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Was expecting it to be a lot better then it actually was., February 16, 2009

By 

JohnZ "John" (NJ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys 500 GB Media Hub with LCD (Electronics)

The Good:
1. It was able to find all of my media files in the folders that I specified.
2. Navigating the files on the media hub was very easy and is usually pretty quick.

The Bad:
1. The software seems to have some bugs in it. When browsing the images, some of the images do not show any thumbnail pictures, but when you run the slide show, the image does appear. I have no idea how to fix this. The pictures were taken by the same camera as other pictures where the thumbnails work properly.

2. Wish you could change the transitions for the slideshow viewing. I found the transtions very annoying when watching a slide show.

3. I had moved some pictures from one folder to another on my PC after they had been backed up to the media hub. I found it difficult to 'fix' the media hub to make the albums resemble what the new folders on my PC. By fix, I mean I wanted the pictures to be moved to the new album folder. I had to deleted the old album (old folder name) on the media hub, then copy another picture to the new folder on my PC so the media hub would detect that there are new pictures there. I wish there was a way to force a scan of a specific folder to update the media hub.

4. Writing to it was very slow over a 100Mbit network. Was seeing write speed of ~ 2MB/sec, I was expecting to to be a lot faster then that.

5. Some of my music files do not show the album cover for them. I have no idea how to even start to fix this. The same music files on my PC do properly show the album covers.

Would I buy it again? Maybe. For the $350 I spent on it, I think I would have been better off getting a standalone NAS and backing up my files manually for a lot less $. If the software is updated to allow the user to have some more control or fix the thubmnails/album cover problems, I think it would be a good buy. I find it very frustrating how little control you have of the media hub.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Awesome!, February 17, 2009

By 

Mr. Special "Razmataz" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys 500 GB Media Hub with LCD (Electronics)

What can I say? This product is great for people who want a little more than the standard external hard drive. Here is what I found so far to be excellent:

The Good:
1. Included Software - Set-up choked the first time. I followed the process and tried again - everything worked as planned.

2. Support - The unit comes with a CD-Rom, unfortunately I do not have a CD-Rom drive on my laptop. No problem, hit the linksysbycisco.com website and download the CD image. Good to go!

3. Remote Access - Enabled the remote services. Got to work - started showing off my pictures to a co-worker while listening to my music and then downloaded the picture to their laptop. They asked "Is this picasa?" and I answered "No, this is running at my house." As Darth Vader said "Impressive - Most Impressive..". I will admit that in slide show mode, the way the pictures bounce around the screen is a little annoying. I am sure they will clean this up in a software release.

4. Coolness Factor - Not one person I showed to was not impressed. Granted, the software could use some improvements - this thing is awesome - loving it!

The bad:
A. It appears that after one year you will need to pay $9.99 for remote access. Only reason why this is bad is because it is not explicit when you buy the product.
B. Remote video access pretty much does not work. If you are buying this for this feature look elsewhere.
C. If your music is in the itunes m4a format - no web based play out for you! You will need to launch in quicktime outside of the browser.
D. It is next to impossible to locate a file on the server unless you know where you uploaded it from.

Nice job Linksys/Cisco. Not a game changer yet - but definitely a strong start.

Well Done!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Stable Beginner NAS Solution, January 20, 2009

By 

Brian Free (St. Joseph, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys 500 GB Media Hub with LCD (Electronics)

Purchased this NAS right after I heard about it at CES this January. Was very excited about having a Linksys/Cisco made product that I have always been able to trust. This product is replacing a current NAS solution that I had as it didn't provide me with a safe solution in terms of losing my data. I immediately added a 2nd 500 GB drive and setup a simple RAID 1 Array. After moving all my data & Media Files over, all my PCs as well as my Xbox 360 were both able to access all my files seemlessly.

One thing to note that almost made me want to rate this device with four stars is that the it is relatively slow when copying data files over. My files were all being copied over on a GB network but my speeds were faily subpar, however, they were better than my previous NAS solution. Read speeds however were much better. Obviously this isn't an Enterprise solution but is really perfect for your most all of your average home users. By far this device is much more stable than my previous device. Been up an running for over and week and I haven't had to reboot it once.

Overall this is a great little device. It has most all the features you would need including the option to increase storage later either by creating a Raid 0 array or totally replacing all of your drives with bigger ones down the road if you need to. If your like me, you wanted peace of mind that all your data was more safe, you can create that RAID 1 array to help protect against data loss. A couple of things that coule be improved on would be the lack of processing power the unit offers for copying large amounts of data at once as well as providing a bit more security in terms of setting up different accounts for others to access your unit without giving them a single password.