Hauppauge MediaMVP
The Hauppauge MediaMVP is a Linux-based embedded diskless workstation which was created solely to display audio, video and still images from streaming servers or from network-attached storage.
A special-purpose device, it has no disc drives and no tuners of its own. It is a networked playback device only.
There are multiple versions of this device, with minor differences in boot sequence:
The original ("flashless") units obtained the addresses of network servers via DHCP. It would then connect to a server using TFTP to download a file (dongle.bin) containing the firmware for the device.
The newer ("flash") units (current revision codes beginning H1 through H4, as of 2007) contain more memory and use a slightly-modified boot sequence. On these units, DHCP provides only a network address for the MediaMVP client itself; the information on which servers to access for firmware download is provided by a separate network server application, mvprelay, on port 16881. The mvprelay application provides the address of a TFTP server, which is also on a non-standard TCP port - port 16869.
The processor is a 250MHz embedded PowerPC with hardware MPEG2 decode capability; output is PAL or NTSC with composite and s-video; newer revisions also provide coaxial sp/dif output for digital audio. An infrared remote control is included.
The software is otherwise the same for the various versions of MediaMVP.
Most MediaMVP units rely on a wired LAN as the sole source of data input; provision has been made on some of these devices to add wireless support. The firmware is based on an open-source model and third-party firmware is available for these units.