Closer look at the MU-7000AVi

The device itself is quite small making it a very portable device, thus making it a great advantage for mobile users as well. The front interface of the unit is kept very simple and most of the functionality is offered through the remote for easier access.

To turn on the unit you hold the power button for about 2-3secs and you’ll see the power LED turning on. There are two LED at the bottom as shown in the diagram above.

When you want to play content on the unit the LED should be on MP4 and when you want to copy content to the drive through the network the LED should be on NET HDD. Interchanging the LED from one another can be done through the remote or pressing the power button on the device quickly will change the operating modes.

Going to the rear of the MU-7000AVi you’re offered with USB and Ethernet connectivity for data transfer, a one touch backup function if you wish to backup a predefined folder at the press of a button, AV connectors and power connector.

The audio and video connectors which connect to the device are like stereo jacks with the opposite end being standard RCA jacks.

There’s hardly anything you need to do in terms of setting up the unit, other than installing the hard drive. Once that’s done and data is copied via USB or Ethernet, you’re good to go. Simply hook up the cable to your TV and power the unit and the TV will show an interface with the Airlive logo, which allows you to navigate to your desired mode. (i.e. Watch Photos, Music, Video or browse files)

The Mu-7000AVi supports the following video and audio formats as given in the specifications.

Video format

- MPEG-1(AVI, MPG, DAT)
- MPEG-2(AVI, VOB)
- MPEG-4(AVI, Divx, Xvid V5.0 below)

Audio format
- MP3
- Photo format
- JPG baseline and progressive up to 8 mega pixel
- Motion JPEG

The video formats supported cover most of the popular video formats being used in the market. Ideally you would want to setup this unit according to the image shown below. Since most of us download movies or songs off the net, you can directly download the movies onto the MU-7000AVi itself.

The quality of the video and audio played through the unit will of course depend on the quality of the actual file being used; nevertheless we did not find any loss of quality in the movies we watched through the MU-7000AVi.

The device also comes with its own audio player so that you can play MP3 music through it. There are a few predefined equalizer settings you can choose as well. Connecting the audio outputs from the MU-7000AVi to a stereo system you would be the ideal way forward if you plan on using this system as part of your home theater setup.

The remote offers all the required functionality you will need from the device; however it requires line of sight with the MU-7000AVi for it to receive the signal properly.

The built quality of the MU-7000AVi and the remote is above satisfactory and there’s no cheap feeling to it at all. The unit retails close to US$199 which is somewhat high considering a full fledged UPnP network media player isn’t much more than this. Nevertheless the device offers great functionality, is very portable and works as advertised. It’s certainly an ideal solution if you want to save some money and yet have a decent network media player.

One of the main problems most of you would have however is finding this product in the market as it seems Airlive’s main focus is the EU region. Let us know if you’re interested in this product and we can direct you to the relevant personnel at AirLive who can give you a quicker response than normal.

Features: 96%
Performance : 94%
Build Quality: 95%
Value: 92%